Ryujin had wasted time at the Merchant’s Guild and the Adventurers’ Guild, so he didn’t actually leave town until the next day.

Ryujin walked down the road, leaving the city behind him.

Then he noticed a goblin moving a little off the road.

He had banned monsters from leaving the dungeon (the Earth Dragon’s Lair) using his authority, so the number of monster encounters around the city was significantly reduced. However, monsters could still come from other areas. Therefore, the further you went from the city, the more encounters you would have with monsters, which was a bit of a reversal of the usual situation.

It was the custom of humans in this world (especially adventurers) to hunt goblins if they found them. Even though he had quit being an adventurer, Ryujin was still a member of the Merchant’s Guild. It was recommended that he hunt them because it would be a nuisance if a merchant was attacked by a goblin.

Since he had seen them, Ryujin decided to take care of them. But it was an easy job for him. He could just teleport their magic stones out of their bodies and that would be it. He could even teleport them to a subspace he created himself and store them directly, leaving no trace.

The goblins he had been walking past suddenly collapsed and stopped moving, as if they had been switched off.

Magic stones in this world also served as a type of battery for simple magic items. Ryujin couldn’t use magic items that required him to inject his own magic because he had no magic power, but there were some magic items that could be used by inserting magic stones like batteries. He always made sure to collect them whenever he found them. So, Ryujin’s subspace storage was actually full of magic stones…

Actually, Ryujin could now use simple life magic like turning on lights or running water. He wasn’t sure why he could use it even though he had no magic power. —Actually, if he observed magic with his divine eyes, he could understand its principles and learn to use it— but it seemed Ryujin would take some time to realize that.

He had stored the magic stones, but goblins had almost no value as materials. However, if he left the corpses alone, they might become undead, so he had to dispose of them. Ryujin teleported the goblin corpses into the dungeon. They would be absorbed and disappear in the dungeon.

… He was distracted by the goblins when an arrow flew towards the back of his head.

It was Batt’s attack.

He was the last one left who had come from the capital to capture Ryujin. The S-rank adventurer, Batt.

Before leaving town, Ryujin had scanned the city with his divine eyes, but he hadn’t been able to detect Batt’s magic power.

He thought Batt had gone back to the capital, but after expanding the range of his divine eyes to find the location of the capital, he accidentally sensed Batt’s magic power in a location quite far from the city.

And Ryujin could tell, using his divine eyes, that Batt didn’t just give up and go back to the capital. He was clearly hostile.

Ryujin had already confirmed the location of the capital with his divine eyes, so he could teleport there whenever he wanted. But he had one more thing to do, so he deliberately avoided teleporting and left the city on foot.

He had to take care of Batt.

He would have left him alone if he hadn't been hostile, but now it was clear he was targeting Ryujin, so Ryujin decided it was best to take care of him early on.

Batt had been hiding quite far away, using his skill Clairvoyance to watch Ryujin and the A-rank party who had come to capture him.

The skill Clairvoyance was similar to Ryujin's divine eyes. It allowed him to see a specific target from a distance, like looking through a telescope.

You couldn’t see through obstacles with a telescope, but Clairvoyance could see through obstacles.

(It was less powerful than Ryujin’s divine eyes, which included appraisal, precognition, and mind-reading, but it was specialized in visual information, so he could look at whatever he wanted, as much as he wanted. Ryujin’s divine eyes could also be used to focus on visual information and see as clearly as if he were looking with his own eyes, but he didn’t feel the need to do that often, so he hadn’t tried it very much.)

Of course, only a very small number of people had skills like Clairvoyance. There were probably only a few in the entire world. It was because of this ability that he was an S-rank adventurer.

Batt had been watching Ryujin and realized that he could teleport. That was a very troublesome ability. The A-rank parties that had targeted Ryujin, “The Blazing Heroes” and “The Midnight Wind,” had both been sent to the dungeon.

If Ryujin could teleport, it meant he could escape even if they captured him. It would be fine if he just ran away, but it would be a hassle if he teleported him somewhere.

In that case, the best strategy would be to attack him from a distance and kill him before he even noticed. Raiou and the others hadn’t been wrong to try to capture him by surprise. If they didn’t kill him and seal his magic before he knew what was happening, he would escape.

And long-distance ranged attacks were Batt’s forte.

Batt hid in a distant location, waiting for the perfect moment. And finally, it came.

Ryujin left the city on foot and was distracted by dealing with goblins.

Seeing his chance, Batt nocked an arrow and fired it, using his weapon of choice, a bow.

He could hit his target from tens of kilometers away. That was Batt's power.

An arrow flew from a blind spot behind him, attacking Ryujin. It was enchanted with a concealment spell, so it would be impossible to see with the naked eye, as it was traveling fast and hidden from view.

But Ryujin sensed it with his danger sense and dodged the arrow by simply tilting his head to the side.

The arrow landed on the ground, but instead of sticking in the dirt, it rolled, carving a groove in the soil. The arrowhead was round, heavy, and made of a soft material. This arrow wasn’t meant to kill him, but to stun him with a blow to the back of the head.

Ryujin looked in the direction from which the arrow had come, but he couldn’t see Batt, who was hiding far away.

…

…

…

Next Time

VS the Magic Arrow Archer!

Don’t miss it!