Man: "Hey, wait! You, over there!"

The men who had been running caught up to Ryujin and surrounded him.

Man: "You're Ryujin, right?!"

Ryuu: "Nope, you've got the wrong guy."

The man who had arrived late spoke.

Man 2: "No, I confirmed with the shopkeeper. This is Ryujin, no mistake."

Ryuu (looking down and to the side): "Tsk."

Ryuu (facing the men): "Who are you? Do you need something from me?"

Man: "We're A-rank adventurers from the capital. I'm Raiou, the Thunder King. This is Shoou, the Auspicious King."

Man 3: "I'm Seiou, the Holy King."

Man 4: "…Houou, the Phoenix King."

Man 5: "Why are we introducing ourselves? Whatever. I'm Gaou, the Fang King. You've heard of the Iron Fist, the Fang King, right?"

Raiou: "We received a request to capture you. You better cooperate."

Ryuu: "Oh. So you're all A-ranks?"

Raiou: "Yes. We're a party of five A-rank adventurers called "The Blazing Heroes." Individually, we're A-ranks, but our party rank is S. You don't stand a chance, so you should stop resisting."

Ryuu: "Really? By the way, who's the one who asked you to capture me?"

Shoou: "We have a confidentiality agreement. We can't talk about the client. You know that, right? You’re an adventurer."

Ryuu: "Is that so?"

As an adventurer, Ryujin had almost never received any requests other than the guild’s permanent requests for gathering herbs. His only named request was the recent kidnapping case, and he didn’t know much about the knowledge and common sense required for requests that high-ranking adventurers receive.

Shoou: "Oh, you don't even know that? Well, what do you expect from an F-rank?"

Raiou: "I don't know why the client wants you captured. We just received a request to capture you."

Ryujin tried reading Raiou’s mind, but it seemed that they had just accepted the request from the guild and hadn't met the client. Ryujin thought, "Well, that’s understandable." He didn't know who was buying the herbs he delivered to the guild either.

Ryuu: "You weren’t instructed to welcome me politely, were you?"

Even if he could read minds, he could only read subjective interpretations. There was always the possibility of misunderstanding when viewing things objectively.

Gaou: "As long as you're alive, it doesn't matter if you're not in one piece. It’s in your best interest to not resist."

Ryujin was considering the possibility that Sophie had asked someone to welcome him and that one of her subordinates had misunderstood and given the wrong instructions. But he couldn’t get any further information.

Ryuu: "I see. But, if you were inviting me politely, I'd consider it. However, if you are going to capture me by force, then this is going to get messy."

Raiou: "We'd rather not resort to violence, but it depends on you."

Ryuu: "I… hate people who use their power to forcefully control others. If you come at me with force, then I won’t hold back. But I'll play by your rules. I won't kill you. But I won't guarantee you'll be in one piece."

Raiou: "Haha, you’re an F-rank, and you think you can beat us, S-ranks? That's a surprise."

Ryuu: "An adventurer’s rank doesn’t always accurately reflect their strength. Just because an adventurer’s rank is F doesn’t mean they don’t have hidden abilities. You’re claiming to be A and S-ranks, but you don't know if you really have that strength."

As he spoke, Ryujin had finished appraising all five men.

Raiou: Level 80, Heavy Swordsman
Gaou: Level 70, Boxer
Shoou: Level 60, Mage
Seiou: Level 50, Priest
Houou: Level 60, Magic Swordsman

He didn’t look closely at their detailed stats and skills, but it was true that there weren’t many parties with this level of strength. He thought that the S-rank rating was probably justified.

Houou: "You’re so arrogant, you're asking for a beating."

Ryuu: "Humph. I’ll give you a little test."

Ryujin smiled maliciously.

At that moment, a magic circle appeared under the men’s feet.

Raiou: "…!! Be careful!"

Raiou, who noticed, shouted. The men jumped back quickly. However, the magic circle followed them and didn’t disappear from their feet.

Raiou and his men faded away.

Ryujin had sent them to the ninth floor of the dungeon. The same floor he had sent the royal knights to.

Ryuu: "I wonder how long it’ll take them to come back?"

Meanwhile, Batt, the S-rank adventurer, was watching the interaction between Ryujin and "The Blazing Heroes" with his Clairvoyance skill. This skill allowed him to see what was happening in a distant location.

Batt muttered.

"Hmm, this is…? Teleportation? Looks like I underestimated him."

The royal knights were teleported to the dungeon.

Seiou: "This is… teleportation?! We were teleported?!"

Raiou: "Looks like the knights were telling the truth."

Shoou: "To think there’s a mage who can use teleportation magic."

Gaou: "Where are we?!"

Houou: "According to the information we received beforehand, the knights were sent to a dungeon called the "Earth Dragon's Lair" east of Mimul."

Raiou: "This is guild confidential information, but Ryujin supposedly solo-cleared the Earth Dragon's Lair. If that’s true, then he might be the dungeon master."

Shoou: "I see. So teleportation magic is a type of dungeon trap. He must have figured out how to bring it out of the dungeon."

Suddenly, a cyclops appeared and attacked Raiou and his men. A few trolls appeared too.

These were the monsters that Sophie had failed to defeat. But Raiou and his men easily dealt with them. A-ranks weren't to be underestimated.

In the end, Raiou and his party quickly escaped the dungeon and returned to the city the next day.

…

…

…

Shoou: "But what do we do? It's a pain in the neck if he can use a teleportation trap."

Gaou: "It was easy to escape from that dungeon, but it's a pain to have to go back there again and again."

Raiou: "Then we just have to take him down before he can activate the trap."

Houou: "A sneak attack?"

Seiou: "That's a cowardly tactic. It's not how the Blazing Heroes operate... But I guess it can’t be helped."

Raiou: "Who's going to do it?"

Gaou: "Let me do it."

Raiou: "Don’t kill him. That teleportation trap technology is too valuable."

Shoou: "Is that why the client wants him captured?"

Seiou: "Are we just going to hand it over to the client?"

Raiou: "We were just told to capture him. We weren't told to secure any magic item."

Seiou: "That's more like it. We can’t afford to lose something so convenient."

Gaou, the fastest member of the Blazing Heroes, had the unique skills Godspeed and Blink. Even though he was a boxer, he could use his incredible speed to close the distance from afar and then knock his opponent out.

Raiou extracted Ryujin’s address from the diner owner using a combination of threats and bribes, and they waited outside his house for Ryujin to come out.

Eventually, Ryujin left his house.

Gaou began preparing as he watched Ryujin walk down the street.

Gaou crouched down, storing his strength like a short-distance runner, and then took off. He was quite far away, but using his Godspeed skill, he accelerated quickly and then activated Blink, instantly closing the distance to Ryujin. He kept the speed of his full sprint.

Gaou passed Ryujin on the left side and swung a right hook at the back of Ryujin's head as he passed by.

…

…

…

Next Time

Ryujin and the Blazing Heroes finally face off!

Don’t miss it!