He would be chopped to pieces, restored, and then chopped up again. It went on and on, endlessly.

He couldn't fight back at all.

The situation broke Raiou and his men.

Raiou: "We’re defeated. Please, have mercy."

Raiou put down his sword and got down on his knees.

Shoou, Seiou, Houou, and Gaou gathered behind Raiou and knelt down together.

Raiou: "We’ll cancel the request! We’ll report back to the guild that this was a mistake. Please forgive us."

Ryuu: "Well, alright… I heard that there were other adventurers who accepted the request. Do you know who they are?"

Raiou: "Y, yes. There was a guy at that diner named Batt. He was one of them."

Ryuu: "I know that guy. Anyone else?"

Houou: "I think it was 'The Midnight Wind' group..."

Ryuu: "?"

Raiou: "They’re an A-rank party. We don't interact with them much, but I hear they're good at the kind of behind-the-scenes work like assassination."

Ryuu: "Assassination, huh? Sounds unpleasant."

Seiou: "You’d be fine against them, wouldn't you?"

Ryuu: "I hope so. Hey, could you tell them to give up? No, I have some more things I want to try out, so they can be my training dummies."

Hearing this, Raiou and the others imagined what would happen to the Midnight Wind group and grimaced.

Ryujin sent Raiou and the others back to the city and they decided to go back to the capital immediately.

Batt was watching from afar.

"Oh my, what happened? The Blazing Heroes are running away without completing the request…?"

But then he noticed another group entering the city.

"Oh, that’s the Midnight Wind group. They’re here too. Well, I might as well watch a little longer."

Raiou and the others grabbed their belongings from the inn and checked out.

But they accidentally ran into the Midnight Wind group at the city gate.

One of the Midnight Wind members approached them and spoke.

Midnight Wind: "Oh? You guys are the Blazing Heroes. Did you already complete the request?"

Raiou: "N, no… The request was canceled. We're going back to the capital."

Midnight Wind: "What? Canceled…? Why?"

Raiou: "We failed the request."

Midnight Wind: "…What? Did you not find the target?"

Houou: "We found him."

Midnight Wind: "Then why? Was there some special reason for the Blazing Heroes to withdraw without fighting?"

Gaou (in a small voice): "We fought…"

Midnight Wind: "What? What did you say?"

Gaou: "We fought, and we lost!"

Midnight Wind: "What? …Are you serious? The Blazing Heroes lost? I can’t believe it. I heard the target was just an F-rank adventurer."

Raiou: "That information is wrong. Well, it’s true that he's an F-rank, but don’t think his abilities are at the same level. We’re an S-rank party, and we couldn’t even land a single hit on him."

Midnight Wind: "I find that hard to believe…

Did the Blazing Heroes get cocky or something?"

Gaou: "Are you calling us out for a fight?"

Midnight Wind: "Oh, sorry, I was just kidding."

Raiou: "…You’d be wise not to go after that guy. You should go back to the capital."

Houou: "It's not like they’ll listen to us, though."

Midnight Wind: "Of course not. We can't just accept a failed request without doing anything. We’re an A-rank party too. By the way, did the Blazing Heroes get a new member?"

Raiou: "?"

Midnight Wind: "Who is that guy?"

They turned around, and there was Ryujin, standing behind the Blazing Heroes, as if he had been there the whole time.

Ryuu: "Oh, I’m just introducing you to the party called the ‘Midnight Wind’ who’s trying to capture me!"

Shoou: "Ugh."

Raiou: "Ryujin…!"

Ryuu: "I’m going to beat up whoever gave that request and take it to the capital. I don’t have much time, you know. I saw you guys talking and thought maybe you were in trouble, so I came to check."

Midnight Wind: "…You’re Ryujin? I'm surprised. You’re actually coming out to meet us… Are you incredibly confident? Or are you giving up and turning yourself in?"

Ryuu: "You guys probably won’t understand unless you experience it yourself. I’ll guide you to a wider area where we can fight.”

But then, one of the Midnight Wind members shouted.

Midnight Wind: “No, we're not fighting! We’re leaving!"

Midnight Wind: "Leader! Why?"

Midnight Wind Leader: "Raiou said we should stop. There’s no need to take unnecessary risks!"

Ryuu: "You’re so understanding. That’s a first for this world."

Midnight Wind Leader: "It's too late tonight. We’ll stay in town for tonight, but we're going back to the capital tomorrow. Ryujin, was it? We have no intention of fighting you. We’d appreciate it if you’d let us go."

Ryuu: "If you’re not going to bother me, I have no interest in you."

The Midnight Wind members returned to the inn and confronted their leader.

Midnight Wind Member: "Are you sure? We’ll have to pay a penalty for failing the request."

Midnight Wind Leader: "Raiou and the others are skilled. They said they were defeated. We’re no match for him.

And anyway, we're good at ambushes and assassinations. We're at a huge disadvantage when it comes to a head-on confrontation.

Plus, that S-rank adventurer, Batt, took the job and should already be in town. He'll take care of it if we fail. They agreed that if anyone who received the request succeeded, it wouldn't count as a failure, and we'd still get paid. There's no need to push ourselves."

Midnight Wind Member: "That’s a waste… if we kill him tonight while he’s asleep…"

Midnight Wind Leader: "They said we can't kill him!"

Midnight Wind Member: "They said as long as he's alive, it doesn’t matter if he's not in one piece."

Midnight Wind Leader: "…I’m going to eat and sleep. I don’t care what you do during my free time."

Meanwhile, Ryujin was meeting with the Lord, who had summoned him again to the mansion, with Goran, the captain of the guard (the Lord's son).

Apparently, a royal order had been sent to the Lord to capture Ryujin and bring him to the capital. The order stated that an adventurer named Ryujin was suspected of killing a noble and needed to be tried in the capital.

But Goran's report made it clear that the Lord's forces would be incapable of capturing Ryujin, so there was no choice but to rely on Ryujin.

Although he had been asked to cooperate, Ryujin was not going to accept being escorted to the capital as a prisoner. He had once agreed to accompany them to escort Baron Topp, but it had been boring and he hadn't gotten anything out of it.

The Lord would be in trouble if he didn’t bring Ryujin, but Ryujin didn’t care about that. In the first place, Ryujin didn’t feel obligated to do anything for the Lord. He had no desire to do anything for him.

However, Ryujin was angry at the situation and was planning to go to the capital. He told the Lord to inform the capital of that.

In the end, the Lord decided to report that he had tried to capture Ryujin, but he had escaped. He also told them that Ryujin was going to the capital, as he had been told.

They had made it clear that if they wanted to capture Ryujin, they could deal with him themselves when he arrived in the capital.

…

…

…

Next Time

Ryujin is attacked by the Midnight Wind!

Don’t miss it!