Chapter 13 – Departure

I spent the night at the inn. During that time, Meon did not wake up as expected. At noon, she still hadn’t woken up.

When I was thinking, “I had enough of waiting, I’ll just leave her here.”

“Ugh…”

Finally, Meon awoke.

“You’re finally awake.”

“Hmm? Where am I…? You are…!”

The moment Meon saw me, she jumped up in surprise.

“What was that reaction? Your reaction was like waking up to find a cockroach under your pillow.”

“Why did you still… no, I see… I couldn’t kill you then, I fainted… where am I?”

“We were in the inn”

“Where’s that?”

“It’s in a town called Bemusakas.”

“Why am I not at my hideout?”

“You were about to get caught, so I saved your ass.”

“You saved me? Why did you save me?”

“Although you didn’t succeed, it would be heartless to just abandon the person who tried to kill me. I’m a fairly reasonable person, despite my appearance.”

“…you always were a hard man to figure out, weren’t you?”

Meon looked at me with a furrowed brow.

“Anyway, I have something to tell you. First of all, I don’t remember the name of the organization you created, but I’ve heard that it’s been destroyed.”

“What did you say?”

“And then… huh? I guess that’s it? Anyway, you’re in the city, so be careful. Bye.”

That’s all I’m going to say.

“Hold it, where are you going?”

“I’m going to ask someone to teach me how to break the curse of immortality.”

“You don’t have to ask for it. I will kill you myself.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but you couldn’t do it.”

“Don’t be happy about that! Just because I couldn’t, doesn’t mean I won’t in the future. I will not leave you until I kill you.”

“Hmmm. I don’t mind, it’s not a problem. Don’t you have any other research to do?”

“I do, but I feel like I have to kill you first before I can move on. So we must kill you first.”

“I see. But I’m going to go ask the sage how to break the curse, so if you want to follow me, feel free to do so.”

Having said that, I left the inn, with Meon following me. I had brought her staff with me, so it’s in Meon’s hand now.

“You’re going to ask the Sage?”

“Yeah.”

“You don’t even know if they’re real but you’re going to ask them?”

“They’re not real?”

“I don’t know, Every place where they live is said to be a danger zone where humans are not supposed to enter. Are you planning to go to such a place?”

“I think I’ll be fine.”

“…well, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“I wish I was not fine, but I guess I will…”

I muttered to myself.

“The closest place in this area to have a Sage is the Dragon King’s Lair to the west. It’s also a place that would make anyone in the vicinity tremble upon hearing of it.”

“The Dragon King’s Lair, huh… I remember going to this place a long time ago… But from the name, it doesn’t seem like the kind of place where people are supposed to stay there… Is there really any sage there?”

“It is said that the Sage of the Yellow is half-dragon, half-human.”

“Hmm, I see. Is that why he lives in such a place? I guess we’d better get going to the Dragon King’s lair.”

“It’s not the kind of place you can go to lightly, though.”

Apparently, the Dragon King’s Lair is a very feared place. But if there are any leads, I’ll go.

As we were walking out of the city, I felt someone’s eyes on me. I glanced in the direction of where I felt the gaze. I saw three people staring at me from the shadows of a building in the distance.

…It made me annoyed. I moved fast and went in front of those people.

“Do you need something?”

“””Hyaaa!!”””

The three of them screamed at the same time.

“Staring at people from a distance is not good taste.”

“No, I’m sorry, Perez-san.”

“Hmm? How come you know my name? Who are you guys?”

“He’s already forgotten about us,” said the only man of the three as he did so.

“We gave you the location of that hideout!”

“Ah, So you’re Aisha, Mina, and Remi.”

I remembered. I mean, the only people who know my name are these guys and the priest.

“Who are these people?” Meon asked me.

“They’re the adventurers who destroyed your hideout.”

“Hou.”

“No, we didn’t! We only reported it, we didn’t destroy it!”

Remi hurriedly denied it. No, it’s because you guys reported it that it was destroyed.

“Oh, that’s one thing, but I think we have some business with Perez-san…”

“With me?”

“Well, a lot of things happened. Would you mind following us for a moment?”

“What? No, I don’t want to. I have somewhere to go.”

“Could you do something about that?”

“No way.”

I didn’t want to waste any more time.

As soon as I clearly expressed my rejection, the three of them huddled close together and started whispering. I could hear everything they were saying.

“Any ideas?”

“Maybe we could meet up later? Like, you know, he could come by afterward.”

“Do you think this man will listen to you? Once you lose him, you may never see him again.”

“Well, why don’t we try to accompany him? We could ask him to come with us when he’s done.”

“Eh, Eh~?”

“Mina’s not very good with Perez, is she?”

“No, I mean, he’s scaring me.”

“However, accompanying him is not a bad idea. The longer you stay with him, the easier it will be for him to listen to our requests. I don’t think there’s anything else we can do here.”

“Hmmm… I guess that’s the only way…”

“I don’t think he’s going to give us permission, though.”

“What, are you guys going to follow me?”

“””Whoa!!”””

When I called out to them, the three of them were surprised in an exaggerated way.

“Did you hear us?”

“I can hear you, and I’ve got a good hearing, so if you want to go with me, I won’t refuse you.”

To be honest, I don’t really care whether they come or not. I personally don’t have any good or bad feelings towards these guys.

“Oh, so these people who destroyed my hideout are coming with us?　Kukukukuku. They better be careful where they sleep.”

“Hiiiiek.”

“Can we just call it a quits?”

“I’m just kidding. I never had any feelings for that organization in the first place. My subordinates were all the kind of people who would gather around and worship me on their own.”

“I-Is that so?”

“Well, they obeyed my orders very well, so they were easy to use. I just wish there was someone else to replace them~”

As soon as she said that, the three of them shivered.

“Oh, dear. I’m thirsty.”

“I will go get some water.”

“Me, too!”

Aisha and Mina acted quickly to get some water and handed it to Meon, who accepted it with a grin. No, she’s got a bad personality. Also, both Aisha and Mina were pretty jumpy, I mean they got them as fast as they could.

“Don’t you guys feel pathetic…?”

“Tehe~”

“Scary thing is just scary…”

Remi scolded the two of them for being so scared.

“Ah. By the way, where are you headed to?” Remi asked.

“The Dragon King’s lair.”

As soon as I said that, all three of their eyes bulged.

“What? You’re lying, right?” Mina asked.

“It’s true.”

“Why are we going to such a dangerous place?”

“I’m going to ask the Sage how to lift the curse.”

“””…………”””

The three of them seemed to be speechless.

“You don’t have to come along.”

 “Ugh.”

“…do we have to go?”

“Looks like that way…”

They were very reluctant, but the three of them followed me. Thus our journey to the Dragon King’s Lair began.

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