Chapter 321 – Trailing
Chapter 321 – Trailing
Even though I said I’d let him go, all of the thugs looked at me with mistrusting eyes.
That’s why I smiled back.
But they couldn’t see my smile behind my wolf mask.
「Go home.」
「...」
I had set them free and they were set to go, but Bill and the others didn’t move.
They were waiting for me to react.
「What? You won’t go? Then...」
I turned around to Femm and the men began to freak out.
「Ok, we’ll leave! We don’t want to be hurt!」
「Then go.」
「...if you let your guard down, this guy might attack us...」
「Don’t worry about that. I could kill all of you with your guard up.」
They all looked a bit scared, but tried to cover it up with a smile.
「I don’t want to kill you, so go home.」
「W...we will!」
And so they all left the little hunter’s shack.
When they were gone, Cruz said, 「We’re letting them go home?」
「We still haven’t figured out the crime.」
「Hmmm.」
Cruz didn’t seem to understand, but I knew exactly what we had to do.
「Cruz. Tokul, Moofy, and you wait here in this shack.」
「Okay, and what about you Al?」
「We’re going to trail them.」
「Aren’t they just going to go back to base?」
Cruz looked confused.
「I wonder. They know where Tolf Trading is, but I don’t know where there hideout is.」
「So, then what?」
「Well, give them a little warning.」
「Got it.」
I petted both Femm and Moofy. Then I gave Moofy one last snack.
「Mmmfp mfff」
「Moofy, eat those and wait here.」
「Moff mo」
Moofy happily ate the snack while nodding her head.
Seems like she would wait for us.
「I need you to use that nose and try to find anything strange here in this house.」
「Moo moo!」
Then I said to Femm, 「Femm, come with me to the capital gate.」
『Sure. And then you want for me to watch outside?』
「No, I want you to come in, but in the smaller size.」
『You got it!』
I cast a perception blocking spell again, and we left the shack.
『Femm, let’s track them.』
『My specialty. Much easier than tracking a magical boar.』
I jumped on Femm and Femm ran at a slow trot.
Smelling the ground and checking for scents.
『I can smell them already.』
『Not too close.』
『I know already...it’s like hunting.』
I could hear the thugs ahead cursing themselves while walking.
We stayed quite a bit a way, while I used magic to sharpen my hearing, 「Those bastards mocking the Negly Gang. They’ll get what’s coming to them.」
「But sir, they got that huge wolf!」
「Yeah!」
「What, you scared of a big DOG?!」
「That wasn’t just a big dog!」
The one they were calling sir was the shady Bill.
The old fat one was Dag.
「But they also got in the magically defended house right? They had to be some strong magicians!」
「Well, I bet a place like the Tolfs could afford magicians like that!」
Bill said.
「We gotta teach them that money can’t buy everything, right?」
「Sire. What do you mean ‘teach’?」
「Just pester the Tolfs a little bit.」
And then Bill told the others what he meant by ‘pester.’
Just your normal thug stuff.
Find a way for the gang to pick fights with people in the Trading firm, toss some junk through their front door.
『After you scared them that much they still don’t have any sense, do they?』
『That’s why they’re still thugs.』
Femm was right.
「Tolf’s got a bunch of kids other that Tokul, right?」
「Yeah, little ones that we can carry off!」
Bill and Dag began talking about abducting Tolf’s kids.
『I can’t believe these guys are talking about this.』
『I thought they would right away.』
『You want me to jump on them and threaten them again?』
『No, I have something in mind.』
『Ok.』
Femm and I spoke in spirit speech while the thugs ahead of us kept blabbing.
「We gotta get back that house too.」
「Yeah, we paid a good price to make that place our hideaway.」
「Maybe get the boss to raid the place.」
Seems that the hunting shack did have some value.
We arrived at the gates, and Dag, Bill, and the other two walked straight in.
『Femm, I have perception stopping magic on us.』
『I know. No sudden movements, right?』
『Yup, and get smaller too.』
『Sure.』
So I waited for the thugs to walk in town, and after a bit, slipped right by the guards, 「Those guys look like they’d been in a fight.」
「Hey, you shouldn’t judge people by their looks. It could have been a monster.」
「Yeah, sorry.」
We heard the soldiers say as we walked past them.
『Femm, you have their smell again?』
『Sure do.』
There were a lot of people in the capital, so I was afraid the smell would get mixed in with everyone else.
Even so, Femm was following them.
We came to the eighth ward of the capital, to a certain house.
It was the slum district, so it was strange the house was so large.
『So this is the Negly hideout.』
『You want to raid it?』
『No, first, let’s just scare them.』
I sunk into the shadows and wrote on the casing above the door, “The Wolf Watches Always.”
Using my magical power, and digging the words in so they couldn’t just be scrubbed off.
『Okay then.』
After a few minutes, a bunch of young thugs ran out the back of the house and towards the gate.
They were probably going to try to reclaim the hunter’s shack, but with Cruz and Femm, that was impossible.
『Okay Femm, time to check out Bill’s house. You ready?』
『And drive the stink out of his house?』
『Sure.』
『Leave it to me.』
And Femm began to run.