Sword of Gluttony Queen - Chapter 24 - Werecat Race

Chapter 24 : Werecat Race

Never in my dreams would I have expected that one of the three adventurers in front of us was none other than Morgan.

「So that means, the other one is… Gilbert. So he left both of you who were injured behind to chase after the Gold Maimai himself huh.」

「…………」

Morgan silently averted his gaze.
He might have felt awkward meeting me again in this kind of place.

I glanced at the youth who covered his head with a robe.
The cowered youth’s age was around 12 years old.
There’re traces of cuts on his skin and a bloody hole on his foot.
That bloody hole might be caused by him getting bitten by goblins.

「… A 《Felinema》, is it? Which means that you’re not a user of 《Search》 type magic, but a user of 《Enhanced Hearing》 battle arts. I see now, that skill is more useful than 《Odo Perception》 in term of chasing after prey.」

Mani said as she looked at the head of the youth that was covered by the robe.
Surely, there are two unnatural protrusions on his robe.
《Felinema》’s ears were located in a higher position than a human’s, it was atop of their head.

Their race rarely had magicians but it makes more sense now I know that Gilbert was making full use of 《Felinema》’s battle arts.

Most of all, although I almost never heard of a 《Felinema》 adventurer in Romburgh, now it made sense that it’s not that their number was zero. It was more like they’re hiding their identity since discrimination against race other than 《Legman》 runs deep in Romburgh city.
Thus he used his robe to hide his ears.

《Enhanced Hearing》 was a skill that strengthened one’s hearing by using one’s fighting spirit.
It was a kind of racial skill, a battle art that can be used without the aid of a magic sword or demon core.
Trying to learn this kind of inherent skill was even more difficult than trying to learn magic.

Basically, only 《Legmans》 have an extremely small chance to learn an inherent skill.
Minorities of the 《Legmans》 finally managed to learn those kinds of skills after doing something like drinking the lifeblood of demon beast or a secret elixir, or through secluding themself deep in the mountains.

The majority of 《Felinema》 had a great chance to learn parts of battle arts with a minimum amount of training.
In exchange, their aptitude with magic was the worst. It took a really long time for them to learn magic.

「… Y-Yes, my name is Carol. I was asked by Gilbert-san to lend him my power to look for the Gold Maimai.」

「Don’t talk anymore….」

Morgan was glaring at Carol.

「In short, you guys took such a young child all the way to the 3rd floor, and that Gilbert went ahead and abandoned you guys who can’t fight anymore. Well, although I didn’t hear Gilbert’s version of the story, I guess that’s the gist of the situation. And let me guess, this boy isn’t even an adventurer, right?」

I agreed with Mani.
I guess I could understand now why there are no rumors about adventurers with the《Enhanced Hearing》 skill. He isn’t even an adventurer, to begin with.

「LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID BY BLABBERING YOUR MOUTH, YOU SHITTY BRAT! HE WENT AHEAD TO OBTAIN MY PART TOO! WE’RE GOING TO SUFFER A HEAVY LOSS IF WE FAIL TO HUNT THAT GOLD MAIMAI!」

Morgan shouted at the boy.
… I see, they came fully prepared and went as far as employing a special porter.
They went for the sink or swim method huh.
So their plan was for these two to regroup with Gilbert and go back to the surface as quickly as possible by using Carol’s 《Enhanced Hearing》 to avoid the demon beast.

「HA! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? YOU LOT CAME HERE SNEAKING BEHIND US TO STEAL THAT GOLD MAIMAI FROM US, RIGHT? UNFORTUNATELY, THE ONE WHO WILL HUNT THAT GOLD MAIMAI FIRST IS OUR GILBERT.」

I ignored Morgan and looked at Carol.
At this rate, Carol was going to suffer the same fate as me.
Gilbert will definitely be sacrificing Carol when he was backed into a corner.
But, the one who caused the situation which will lead to choosing Carol to be a sacrifice was none other than Gilbert. He who chose to keep going on rather than retreat.

For example in this situation, he went as far as bringing an extremely low leveled underaged child into the demon labyrinth. As if that wasn’t foolish enough, he even chose to chase the Gold Maimai by himself, abandoning his injured party members behind.
Though others might take my opinion about Gilbert with a pinch of salt due to my personal grudge against him, I’ve no doubt that he was a piece of trash.
「… Listen to me, Carol. These guys are the kind of people who employ a porter so that they can use them as bait for demon beasts just to save their own asses. Make sure that you never accept a job offering from them ever again, even if you’re in dire need of money. I suggest you leave this place as fast as possible.」

It should be better for Carol to leave this place as soon as possible rather than endangering his own life by staying here for too long.
That was my suggestion for him.

Morgan’s face turned pale.

「Y-YOU BASTARD, NOW YOU’RE TRYING TO PULL OUR LEGS! WE REALLY HAD NO OTHER CHOICE AT THAT TIME!」

After looking at me and Morgan with a troubled look on his face, Carol was looking at me again and then shook his head.

「… Thank you for your warning. But, I’ll see through this job until the end. In addition, both Gilbert-san and Morgan-san will have a hard time leaving this place without my help. Thus they won’t go as far as using me as bait for demon beasts.」

「… I see.」

Maybe, Carol was also extremely in need of money.
Even if I at that time received the same warning from another adventurer, I doubt I’d heed that warning due to my own situation.

Morgan seemed extremely relieved from the bottom of his heart.

「Well I guess I’ve to offer my apologies since that Gold Maimai is mine.」

I said so while turning around.

「HA! TRY IF YOU CAN! AS IF THE LIKES OF YOU CAN KILL THAT GOLD MAIMAI IS FASTER THAN GILBERT!」

Morgan shouted.
I didn’t waste my time to shout back at him and went ahead, following the passage.
Mani was following along slightly behind me.

Although I was worried about Carol… I guess he won’t have any problem escaping from this place with his 《Enhanced Hearing》.
Moreover, I don’t think I could persuade Carol who went as far as saying that this job was his own responsibility.

I could understand his feelings.
Carol wanted proof that he could make a living as an adventurer.

He was the same as me, he took the job even knowing that his employer wasn’t the kind of person who treated their porter kindly.

Nevertheless, I felt that I had to at least give him a warning since the majority of the people who employ porters, like me, treated us poorly and weren’t a nice kind of party to be in.

Carol wanted to finish this exploration without borrowing a third party’s help, he has the making of an adventurer.

As long as Gilbert returned safely, I’m sure that Carol will be fine.

We’re advancing as I searched for the Gold Maimai with 《Odo Perception・Low》.
As we moved through the passage, I could feel a Gilbert-like Odo sign chasing after the Gold Maimai’s Odo sign.

That Gold Maimai suddenly stopped in its tracks.
I don’t know whether Gilbert managed to corner it, or if the Gold Maimai chose to fight back its pursuer instead of running away.

「…. No, something feels………….. Wrong!?」

Right ahead of the Gold Maimai’s Odo sign, I noticed several demon beasts’ Odo.
That Gold Maimai led its pursuer towards flocks of other demon beasts.
Maybe, the Gold Maimai planned all along to lure Gilbert to that place seeing that it no longer had any power left to escape.