Volume 3 Chapter 11 ACT.47 Spider's Web (Ⅱ)
Rai held the sleeping boy in his arms, the whispers of the alley creating a strange lull around them.
This boy, after all, was a clue to the identity of the precious Reincarnator.
That was why they had chosen not to kill him but to secure him instead.
"──Hmm, what's going on?"
Just then, as Rai and Noah were engaged in their secretive discussions, 3 red-faced men appeared from around the corner.
Judging by their bright red faces and the cheap liquor bottles in their hands, it was clear they'd been drinking on this back street since midday.
They must have come to investigate the peculiar sounds.
The trio, looking like the quintessential petty townsfolk, stopped in their tracks, their faces frozen in shock at the sight of Rai and Noah clad in imposing armor.
And who could blame them?
It was rare to see knights dressed in such splendid armor wandering about on any ordinary day.
Spotting a knight, especially one affiliated with the Holy Church or the ruling powers, would naturally stir a sense of unease──even among those with no reason to fear such figures.
"Geh! A knight!?"
"D-Don't say things like 'geh'!"
"I-I'm so sorry──"
As expected, the trio wore expressions that screamed "I want no part of this" and began to inch away with suspicious glances.
But then, one of them suddenly changed.
He halted mid-sentence, staring at Rai and Noah with vacant eyes.
"──Die!"
In that split second, he lunged forward, swinging the half-empty bottle of booze down at Rai's head.
The other 2 looked on, their faces twisted in shock at their companion's sudden aggression.
Rai, however, instinctively raised his right arm to block the bottle.
The impact echoed as the bottle shattered against his armored arm, spraying the remaining liquor everywhere.
In that instant, a splash of alcohol almost got into his eyes, prompting Rai to instinctively close one eye.
──Perhaps that had been the man's intention all along.
Seizing that fleeting moment, the man aimed to stab the jagged edge of the broken bottle into the slit of Rai's helmet, aiming for his eye.
"Tch!"
Sensing the imminent danger with razor-sharp instinct, Rai ducked his head, narrowly avoiding the bottle's thrust, and charged at the man, tackling him with all his might.
Despite the size difference, the strength Rai had built from constant training made the discrepancy clear.
The man was sent flying, rolling across the ground.
"Wait!!"
In an instant, Rai shouted "Stop!" at the top of his lungs.
Hearing this, Noah, who had instinctively drawn his bow toward the man, let his arrow loose.
He had been about to shoot the man down.
"W-Wait, Johnson!?"
Two companions rushed over to Johnson, who was sprawled on the ground after being tackled by Rai.
Still trying to process the situation, Rai called out to them without moving from the spot.
"Just now, he attacked me. What's going on?"
At Rai's question, the remaining 2 exchanged panicked looks, shaking their heads vigorously.
"We don't understand either!"
"This guy isn't the type to pick fights with people like you!"
One of the guys started to argue, but suddenly trailed off.
He picked up a sizable shard of glass from the ground and stealthily moved behind the other man, pressing the point against his neck.
"H-Hey, Sanson!?"
"Don't move."
Sanson, the man called out, stood there like a kidnapper, holding the life of his fellow comrade in his hands as he faced Rai and the others.
"If you're a knight of justice, you wouldn't just stand by and let innocent people be harmed, right?"
Sweat dripped from his forehead as Sanson smirked.
Blood dripped from the hand gripping the shard of glass.
Seeing this shocking display, Rai and Noah braced themselves.
──An unidentified Reincarnator.
The hand of darkness had appeared right before them.
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