Chapter 2-20 : The Ones Lurking In The Darkness And The Ones Exposing Them (part 2)
ーNyat’s perspectiveー
「Is that their hideout-nya?」(Nyat)
The other day, Elvent’s subordinate managed to find the bandits’ hideout, and currently, I’m watching it while hiding in the darkness-nya.
「Yes. Now we’re waiting for them to make a move.」(soldier)
「Got it-nya」(Nyat)
I’m not alone. One of Elvent’s best men who specializes in spying and tracking enemies is with me-nya.
After hiding for a while, we could see a few bandits come out of their hideout, going somewhere as expected. Now it’s time for us to tail them-nya.
「Alright. Let’s move.」(soldier)
「Wait-nya. I think it’s better if we tail them from the roofs-nya.」(Nyat)
「Good idea. You lead the way.」(soldier)
I nodded to the soldier and quickly climbed up the nearby house, but the person on my back shrieked as we got to the roof-nya.
「Hiiy!」(Sheila)
「Sheila, be quiet-nya.」(Nyat)
Other than the soldier, there’s another person with me-nya. It’s none other than Sheila. She’s wrapping her arms around my neck, riding my back-nya.
Her job is to identify the stolen goods, but she’s not a fighter. That’s why Kako told me to be her temporary bodyguard and protect her-nya.
Of course, I’m not doing this for free-nya. My reward is obvious. Kako’s delicious food-nya!
「I’m sorry. I’m not used to high places like this.」(Sheila)
「Then you can close your eyes for now-nya.」(Nyat)
「A, alright…」(Sheila)
She nodded and hugged me tighter. I then started jumping from one roof to another, tailing the unaware bandits who were walking down the dark street below us-nya.
The soldier followed me without breaking a sweat. He is a human but he can keep up with me no problem. Seems like he’s a quite trained person-nya.
After tailing the bandits for a while, we saw them entering the grounds of a mansion through the back gate-nya.
「This is Count Oglan’s villa in this city. As we expected, he has connections with that bandit group.」(soldier)
The mansion seemed to be Count Oglan’s villa-nya. I can hear music and hustle and bustle from inside the main building. They are holding a party, and Kako and the others are currently there-nya.
The bandits walked through the backyard, but they didn’t enter the main building where the party was held. They entered a small building at the back of the main building-nya.
「It’s probably an outbuilding for the servants. However, those bandits entered without even knocking on the door, meaning that it’s currently being used as their second hideout.」(soldier)
Crouching down next to me, the soldier calmly observed the situation-nya.
After a while, we could see many luxurious-looking carriages coming out from the main gate on the other side. It seemed that the party was over-nya.
At the same time, the bandits came out of the outbuilding in the backyard. There are much more of them now than when they entered. Moreover, they’re all fully armed-nya.
「They’re moving. It’s just like Lord Elvent said.」(soldier)
That’s right. We know where they’re going-nya.
They’re going to attack Kako’s carriage, trying to steal the Blizzard Magic Sword. However, there’s another squad ready to prevent that from happening-nya. Meanwhile, our job is to find the stolen goods while those bandits are absent-nya.
I’m Kako’s guardian, so honestly, I wanted to join the other squad, but Kako said I was more suited to this job-nya.
Although I can’t be there to protect her, I’m not worried-nya. Elvent’s soldiers are strong, and Maitenya is with her, plus, they have the Blizzard Magic Sword, so I think she will be fine-nya.
「Alright, they’re gone. Let’s go.」(soldier)
「Roger-nya.」(Nyat)
After confirming that the bandits had left, we jumped off the roof, landed on the street, and immediately approached the back gate-nya.
They locked the gate before leaving, so we jumped over it and sneaked through the backyard, heading to the outbuilding-nya.
「ー!? Hold on-nya!」(Nyat)
However, before we got close to the building, I stopped and gave a signal to the soldier to follow me and hide behind the nearby bushes. The reason was that I felt people’s presence-nya.
The windows are shut and covered with curtains, but I can tell there are some people inside the building-nya.
「What’s wrong?」(soldier)
「Not all of them have left-nya. Some are staying-nya.」(Nyat)
「Wait, you can tell?」(soldier)
「I’m a catto-nya. I can smell them-nya.」(Nyat)
「Ah, I heard cattos have an excellent sense of smell. So it’s true, huh?」(soldier)
「I’ll take care of them-nya.」(Nyat)
「Huh? But that’s my job.」(soldier)
「It’s not that I doubt your fighting skill, but I can sense their positions. It’s safer if I do it-nya.」(Nyat)
「…Alright, I understand. I leave it to you then.」(soldier)
Not only are Elvent’s soldiers strong, but they seem to be smart too. An arrogant soldier would argue with me, but he meekly nodded at me, thinking it would be better to leave it to me rather than show off his skills-nya.
「You wait here and take care of her for me-nya. Sheila, you stay close to him, okay-nya?」(Nyat)
「Alright. Be careful, Nyat.」(Sheila)
「Please call me if you can’t handle them yourself. I’ll try my best to assist you.」(soldier)
「Got it-nya.」(Nyat)
I put Sheila down from my back and slowly approached the building while sniffing and straining my ears, trying to sense the people’s presence inside-nya.
There are two… No, three people-nya…
One is in the living room, one is in the next room, and the other one is further inside-nya.
The windows are tightly shut, so I have no choice but to enter through the door-nya.
Luckily, the door was not locked. Howeverー
Creeeeakkー
ーit unexpectedly made so much noise-nya.
「Hm? Who’s there? Is that you guys? Forgot something?」(bandit)
The bad guy in the living room heard the door-nya.
Without panicking, I quickly pushed my back against the wall by the door and made a cat’s noise while showing the tip of my tail-nya.
「Meow~」(Nyat)
「A cat, huh? Why are you here? Are you lost?」(bandit)
He fell for it. He mistook me for a cat and approached the door-nya.
When I sensed his presence right behind the door, I came out of my hiding and quickly launched a strong cat punch to his jaw, instantly knocking him out before he could even make a noise-nya.
「ー!!?」(bandit)
I then gently caught his body before he fell to the floor so as not to make too much noise and hid him in a barrel nearby-nya.
I proceeded quietly and found another bandit in the next room. He is focused on cleaning a piece of armor and doesn’t seem to notice me-nya.
I approached him from behind and knocked him out silently by hitting the back of his head-nya.
There’s one left, but when I walked the hallway, the wooden floor I stepped on made a cracking noise-nya.
First the door, and now the floor. Seems like this building has not been taken care of for a long time-nya.
Noticing the noise, the last bandit came out of his room and saw me-nya.
「What theー A catto? Who the hell are you!?」(bandit)
「Meow~」(Nyat)
「Huuh!? You think pretending to be a cat would work!? Don’t mess with me!」(bandit)
Seems like it doesn’t work-nya. Well, at least I tried-nya.
He drew the dagger on his waist and pointed it at me. There are no other bandits, so it will be an easy one-on-one fight for me-nya.
He charged forward but I quickly deflected his dagger with my claws and at the same time sent a good uppercut to his chin with the other hand-nya.
「Gaahh!」(Bandit)
I sent him into the air and caused his head to hit the ceiling before he crashed to the floor and lost consciousness-nya.
「Phew~ It’s safe now! Come in-nya!」(Nyat)
I didn’t sense other people’s presence in this building, so I told Sheila and the soldier to come inside-nya.
「Whoa. You defeated them alone? Impressive!」(soldier)
「As expected from Kako’s guardian!」(Sheila)
After the soldier tied the unconscious bandits with rope, we proceeded further inside, heading to the back room where they kept their stolen goods-nya.
「Sheila, it’s your time to shine-nya.」(Nyat)
「Leave it to me!」(Sheila)
It’s time for Sheila to identify the stolen goods-nya.
We entered the room and looked around-nya.
There are so many things stored in this room. Tools, food, and of course, weapons-nya. Howeverー
「No way…」(Sheila)
Sheila’s reaction when she saw the weapons was weird-nya.
「Are these weapons what we are looking for-nya?」(Nyat)
「No, they’re not the stolen goods… I don’t see any of them here…」(Sheila)
She kept looking around the room with a confused face. It seems that the stolen goods are not here-nya.
「This is weird… I will search the other rooms.」(soldier)
The soldier left to search the other areas in the building, but after a while, he came back and shook his head-nya.
「I didn’t find weapons that seemed to be the stolen goods, and I didn’t find any magic bags to hide them either. Where the hell did they store them?」(soldier)
「Hmm… The only thing we can think of is… a hidden room-nya.」(Nyat)
「A hidden room… You’re right. There’s probably a hidden room somewhere in this building. A hidden basement most likely.」(soldier)
「A hidden basement… Aa! I know-nya!」(Nyat)
When Sheila was searching this room, I heard a weird noise when she stepped on the floor in the corner-nya.
I approached it and stepped on it-nya.
ーThomp thomp!
There’s definitely something beneath this wooden floor-nya.
Without hesitation, I clenched my fist and punched the floor as hard as I could-nya.
ーCRASHHH!!
I broke the floor into pieces and made a hole that showed a hidden staircase leading to a room at the bottom-nya.
「There it is-nya.」(Nyat)
「Whoaa…」(Sheila)
「Uhh, there has to be a lever or something to open it, but… whatever. Good work, Nyat-dono.」(soldier)
We went down the stairs and found beautifully displayed weapons all over the room-nya.
Rather than a hidden basement, this room looked more like a hidden museum of weapons-nya.
「Aa! There they are! That’s my master’s sword and there are weapons from other workshops too!」(Sheila)
It seems that the weapons in the room above are just dummies to distract guards’ attention from the real stolen goods stored-nya.
「It’s confirmed then. Let’s collect them.」(soldier)
「Aye, Sir!」(Sheila)
Sheila looked so happy to find the stolen goods from her village. I’m glad for her-nya.
Without delay, we put all the stolen weapons into the magic bags that Elvent gave us-nya.
「Good work, everyone. I will call some of my men to deal with the unconscious bandits upstairs. You two can go back now. We will take it from here.」(soldier)
「Alright-nya.」(Nyat)
「Nyat-dono, it’s a pleasure to work with you. Thank you.」(soldier)
「You’re welcome-nya.」(Nyat)
Just like that, we completed our mission-nya.
After shaking hands with the soldier, I left to take Sheila back to her inn and then returned to Elvent’s mansion to wait for Kako’s return-nya.
However, it wasn’t over yet-nya. After all, we haven’t captured the leader of this bandit group and the evil man behind all this-nya.
Well, it’s not my job-nya. Capturing their leader is ‘their’ job-nya.
I know how capable they are, so I’m sure they will pull it off-nya.
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