Chapter 24, Running Amy
Chapter 24, Running Amy
Translator: TipToe
The day after the Solit interview. Amy was excited to see her article after the wait and got up unusually early to buy a 200g newspaper.
While humming, she looked through the headline, with the names of all three party members, and skimmed through. Amy’s eyes were more and more focused.
Amy was furious. She would not allow this attack by Solit, and so she headed towards Solit Headquarters.
“Eh, Amy-sama? Why are you here alone?”
“You wrote that article, huh? Correct it now!”
The Solit headquarters was a large three-story building. Amy, who knocked some guards unconscious on the first floor, grabbed Mille’s chest on the second floor and shook her. The surrounding employees ran away, scattered.
“…Ah, you’re threatened by that Lucky Boy again! It’s okay, I’ll help you!”
“Haa?! What?! Who said that?!”
“Say no more! I’m announcing the truth, so you’re safe now! You’re not going to get bothered by Lucky Boy anymore!”
There was a clear rift between Amy and Tsutomu. Mille was confident that there was something behind the scenes from the interview. Then, the editor-in-chief, who showed disappointment in the content of the article, forced the staff to make revisions.
The editor-in-chief, looking at the situation disdainfully, was not afraid to help Amy out of evil hands. Mille had a proud face, seeing as Amy would be rescued. Amy left her like that and ran up the Solit headquarters’ stairs.
“I thought the bottom floors were chaotic, but it turns out you’re the one behind all this.”
On the third floor, there were three guards in black uniforms waiting for Amy. Among them, a female guard who was familiar with Amy stepped forward.
The security team, which had been entrusted with maintaining peace by the nobility who controls the labyrinth city, required the ability to pass thirty levels of the dungeon as part of the entrance examination. Since it is assumed that explorers might be inclined to commit crimes, captains of the guard team usually had to patrol levels in the 40-59 range.
And unlike explorers who fight against monsters, the guards are professionals in dealing with other people. Even if the Red Demon Group, who was at the forefront of dungeon exploration, were to commit a crime, the guard forces would be able to deal with them easily.
“I’ve already requested support from the headquarters. Give up.”
“If I get the Solit Chief Officer on my side, will you surrender?”
“You can’t do it. Your disposition isn’t gentle enough.”
“No negotiating then. Boost.”
As soon as the words were heard, Amy held a wooden stick in her hands and charged. Three people faced Amy, who raised her AGI with the skill.
The stick was a magical tool with a rare thunder magic stone embedded in it. Amy avoided a baton swung at her, and she quickly hit the man’s wrist back. The man stopped.
Batons approached from the left and right. Amy threw the wooden stick and avoided the batons, crouching. With that posture, she tackled the woman down like a whip.
“Double Attack.”
The skill was a two-handed blow with bare hands. A man fluttered when he was hit on both sides of his head, his ears ringing. Amy came behind the man, sinking a sword into his neck, as his consciousness faded.
She then kicked another man’s jaw and picked up the dropped batons. The man, who struck his head against the wall, was swearing. All that remained was the female security guard.
“Why…”
The woman had been sent multiple times to catch Amy in the city. She could actually fight with Amy, bare-handed. She is also a 40th-level strategist like Amy and has also received man-to-man combat training. They couldn’t be late in capturing Amy. There was no margin for error now.
Amy, who turned to the woman in a hurry, hung the batons that the two men dropped on her waist, and narrowed her almond-shaped eyes, as if bored.
“That wasn’t serious. That was practice.”
“P-practice?”
“Ah, whoops. Forget about that.”
Amy approached the woman with her bare hands. She avoided swinging the batons and instead used them to entangle her. As the woman was rendered unable to move, she hit the ground.
“Let me go!”
“Alright.”
Amy tightened an arm around the woman’s neck and restrained her knees with the other. As she stunned the woman by constricting an artery, she picked up a wooden stick and tried to go further.
“Kitty~?”
“…ugh.”
As Amy turned towards the catlike voice, there was a man built like an orc, standing well over 2 meters. Even in the black uniform, his toned body was visible.
“I was out running this morning when I got a rescue signal from Solit~. It was Amy-chan, wasn’t it~? Let’s go clothes shopping!”
“This is the worst.”
Amy pulled out her double swords and slashed mercilessly at the man, who looked like a lump of muscle. The iron blade cut through the part of the uniform of his arm, that was raised to prevent an attack on his face, but it did not pierce his body.
“Ah!”
Amy doesn’t stop even as the big man seems to pant. The uniform of the big man was peeled off with her sword, as if in a wild dance. However, Amy feels as if she was slashing sandbags.
There’s more to this man than I thought, Amy said to herself, trying to keep cool. This big man was set apart from the other guards, due to his unique skill, “Muscle Body”. He put his hand on his chin and twisted his neck.
“I can’t gauge the situation well, but getting into Solit and doing this … you could get arrested, you know?”
“I know.”
“Yes … your eyes. I know them well.”
The big man activated a magic tool wrapped around his arm and requested support from headquarters, and clenched both fists.
“Come at me. I can handle you.”
The man took slashes on his face while posing fabulously. Amy, annoyed that she could cut only thin skin with a full attack, hit the man’s arm with a baton that was used by the guards. She turned on a switch to release current from the magic stone in the baton.
“Ah~ A taste of getting my muscles burned in my morning training~!”
Amy got away from the big man who stretched with a cunning expression. Even the best equipment could not defeat this man. Even so, he had no armor, and he had decent equipment at best. Plus, he already called for support and was just biding his time. It was a hopeless situation.
Amy thought about running away. If she jumped out of the window and dashed with full power, there was a possibility to escape. What to do? In order to concentrate, she opened both her closed eyes and had a realization.
Amy chose to fight. There was no time to waste. Aim for his eyes. If he lost vision, there was a chance.
However, even the big man knew that his face was surely protected. His arms and legs could block any swords.
“Boost. Double Attack. Rock-breaking Blade.”
Skills were used one after another, and the big man was slashed, but the blade didn’t cut. After that, Amy decided to try incapacitation techniques, but the big man was skilled enough to avoid them. Time passed by without anyone getting damaged for a while.
Amy began to breathe heavily, but the big man was still fine. He was immovable. Still, Amy moved her body even as she began to lack oxygen.
“If your weapons were a bit better, I think we’d have lots more fun!”
His right hand gleefully tried to catch Amy, who had slowed down. Amy got entangled and was pulled down to the ground. However, she grabbed his ankle and jumped.
The big man got up. Amy rushed and threw a baton at his face. She aimed for the big man’s left hand with her twin swords.
The big man played with the swords as if they were toy knives. However, Amy, who approached him, kicked him in the crotch. It was a hit on the man’s most important point.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAHN!”
Amy tried to target the eyes of the big man, who was now screaming, but noticed that her right leg did not move. The big man’s legs pinched Amy’s leg like a vise grip.
“Fufu~n. I~caught~you~. That was a bit too obvious, wasn’t it, Amy-chan?”
It seems that the big man was expecting to get hit in the privates, and swung his hands towards Amy’s head. However, Amy avoided it by bending her upper body greatly and raised her right leg that was still trapped while pulling her arm back with her left hand. The big man was thrown behind Amy.
However, Amy’s right leg was still caught, and Amy was thrown with him. In midair, she aimed for the man’s eyes with her swords.
The sword hit the big man’s eyes. However, the legs that held Amy’s right foot didn’t give out. Amy, who fell to the floor with the big man, immediately took out her foot.
“Blind.”
It was at that time that black gas, then yellow, entered the fray. The magic skill caused an abnormal condition. Amy’s field of vision was shrouded in darkness. Her body was numb, and she started to suffocate.
The headquarters that the big man requested had arrived. Most of the people were gathered here in response to the request from the man, who was the head of security, in addition to an additional request for support from Solit.
The security team immediately restrained Amy, who was still suffering from the status effect, with a rope. As a white mage cast Medic on the big man, he woke up.
“Ara, seems like I was helped. Thank you! But stop being so forward with me!”
“If you have an urgent request, just say so… Isn’t that Wild Dance Amy?”
“Oh~? Probably, right?”
“… Maybe it’s about the article. There’s also a possibility that Lucky Boy and Garm are invading as well.”
“Oh~! Dibs on Garm-chan!”
The big man, still with a dagger in his eyes, his weak spot, pulled it out and was healed by the white mage. The big man was delighted by the words of the man in glasses talking.
“We are currently searching for them. Lucky Boy is a white mage. His abilities are unknown. And Garm is troublesome.”
“I haven’t had a lot of work lately, so I’m fine!”
“It would be troublesome if the White Mage and Garm were working together. I was investigating the entire area of the building, but with his strength, we would have already noticed Garm. Maybe he’s missing. I will continue to examine this building.”
With those words, Amy regained consciousness. And when she did so, she was transferred to a detention center.
Surprisingly, Amy was released in about three days. But Solit interpreted Amy’s actions as something forced by Tsutomu and wrote in a tone implying that she was innocent. There were no deaths from the guards, and only that big man was injured. The man was not particularly praised or made noteworthy, aside from being stabbed in the eyes.
However, she was lectured by the warm-hearted vice guild head. The guild officials’ authority, as well as Tsutomu’s reputation, were further lowered. Some of the security guards and those who have started to seriously think about Solit’s articles were coming out.
Amy, who listened to the long sermon, tried to come out to apologize to Tsutomu. The deputy guild chief stopped her.
“Are you going to apologize to him?”
“I have to apologize!”
“Solit will make an article about you apologizing to Tsutomu again. And his reputation will fall again.”
“…”
Amy, who was pounding on the door, broke down. The deputy guild chief did not break his strict expression.
“The apology satisfies itself. If you are really sorry, you should not contact Tsutomu until this blows over.”
“…Okay.”
“…I also want to tell him about your feelings. So wipe your tears and go out with dignity. That will also help him.”
“Uwaaaaaah!”
The deputy guild chief, breaking his strict expression, gave Amy a towel. A guard on duty stared at Amy crying in the guild chamber. Amy, who came out of the guild chamber as if she had received a gift, wouldn’t leave the guild’s dormitory until something would happen.