"How can I let you escape!"
Himmel chased after them with his sword in hand. He made short work of the remaining bandits, not allowing a single one to get away.
Sheathing his sword, Himmel walked back to the carriage and spoke gently to Nanoda.
"It has been about a year since we last met, hasn't it?"
"Yeah."
Nanoda remained expressionless; to be honest, she did not particularly want to run into this Hero.
"As a member of the Demon Race, why have you come here?"
Himmel's tone was gentle, yet it carried an unquestionable intensity.
Nanoda took out the red magic potion from her pocket and shook it at Himmel.
"Do you know what this is?"
"Are you also here to investigate it?"
Himmel was somewhat surprised. He had thought this magic potion might be related to Nanoda suddenly appearing here, but as it turned out, the other party seemed to be looking for clues just like him.
"Mm. Just now, you eliminated all the bandits who might have had intelligence."
"..."
Himmel looked at the swath of bandits fallen by the carriage. He wanted to say, 'You clearly killed more than I did,' but he held his tongue.
"Isn't there still one here?"
Pointing at the survivor whose hand tendons he had severed, Himmel felt a bit helpless.
Under Nanoda's 'affectionate' interrogation using Severance Magic, the bandit confessed everything. Quite coincidentally, he happened to be a member of that smuggling ring.
After revealing the trading location of the magic potion, the man passed out from excessive blood loss.
"What? Do you want to save him?"
Nanoda asked, seeing Himmel staring at the unconscious bandit.
However, contrary to her expectations, Himmel drew the longsword in his hand and quickly slit the bandit's throat.
"No. Although he was full of wickedness, this at least lets him go with less pain."
"You are unexpectedly decisive."
"Because I am an ally of justice."
Himmel wore a gentle smile once more.
"So, Mr. Hero of Justice Himmel, are you going to drive me away or stop me?"
"Your reason for investigating is also to stop this magic potion from circulating in the market and harming people, right?"
After a brief moment of contemplation, Nanoda replied.
"Well, something like that. It is also because this magic potion has caused quite a bit of trouble for the people in my territory."
"Then let us cooperate. We will find the source of this magic potion together. How about it?"
"Having a powerful helper is indeed not bad..."
At this point, Nanoda suddenly changed her tune.
"However, I refuse!"
Himmel was stunned for a moment.
"Can you tell me why?"
"I have no need to cooperate with the Hero."
After saying this, Nanoda rode the horse away. Now that she knew the trading location of the magic potion, she planned to find a place to discuss things with Aura first.
Seeing that Nanoda did not agree, Himmel shook his head. Traveling alone was actually quite lonely; he had wanted to take this opportunity to get to understand Nanoda. After all, this Demon was too much like a human.
After the carriage had traveled for a while, it stopped. Nanoda shouted at the bushes by the roadside.
"Aura, stop hiding."
With a poof, the bushes by the road turned back into the appearance of Aura.
"Eh? Transformation Magic? You know this?"
"This is magic to turn into a bush. It can only turn into a bush."
Aura explained.
One week later, near the magic potion trading point in Nava Town.
A man dressed as an adventurer, wearing light armor and a scarf, was pacing anxiously back and forth.
It was already an hour past the agreed time, yet the contact had not arrived.
sensing in his heart that something had gone wrong, he gave up waiting. Clutching the wooden box containing the magic potions, he took off running.
Two clumps of bushes nearby moved slightly, and a crow flew up from a branch, following the adventurer all the way from the air.
The scarf-wearing man did not know he was being tracked; he just ran with all his might, wanting to go back and inform his companions of the situation.
After winding around, he came before a broken stone monument. He leaped over the monument, and after a distortion in space, he vanished without a trace.
Behind a tree not far away, Himmel, who had been tailing the man the whole time, revealed himself. He mimicked the man's actions and crossed the stone monument, disappearing entirely.
"Crap, Himmel beat us to it."
To prevent exposure, Nanoda and Aura had turned into bushes, with Aura manipulating and sharing the crow's vision to track the adventurer selling the magic potions.
Unexpectedly, Himmel had also tailed him all the way without being discovered.
Feeling her clothes being pulled, Nanoda heard Aura's miserable voice from behind.
"I don't want to go. The Hero is too scary."
"Fine, you stay here and keep watch for me."
Hearing Nanoda agree, Aura was instantly delighted. She silently prayed in her heart that this time Nanoda would also get into a fight with the Hero, preferably getting hacked down by him. That way, she would only need to wait for the Hero to die of old age to be a free agent again.
Looking at Aura's expression, which was a bit abnormal, Nanoda frowned.
"Aura, you aren't thinking of something bad, are you?"
"How could I? I will be here praying for your triumphant return."
Aura picked at her hair, revealing a bright, fake smile.
Ignoring Aura, Nanoda followed the path and caught up.
"Mm, interesting. Is this a barrier?"
Crossing the stone monument, there was an unreal sensation of passing through space. The scene before her eyes changed, and a small tower appeared.
This hidden tower was white in its entirety, covered in climbing green vines that spread inward through the windows. The top of the tower was oval-shaped. Perhaps due to its age, many parts of the tower body were damaged, with gaps scattered like black spots all over.
The main door on the first floor was half-open, with a faint light shining from within. It looked like Himmel had already infiltrated.
Nanoda took a deep breath and pushed the door open to enter.
The first floor of the tower was filled with large bookshelves, but there were no books on them. They were covered in dust, with several spiderwebs strung between the shelves.
After walking past two rows of bookshelves, there was a staircase leading to the second floor. Nanoda walked up the stairs.
The second floor was a place like a laboratory. Several old tables were filled with glass vessels of various shapes. As soon as she came up, Nanoda saw Himmel standing by a table, carefully reading something.
"Himmel?"
Hearing Nanoda's voice, Himmel immediately placed his index finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet.
Nanoda lightened her steps and leaned in, whispering:
"What are you doing?"
Himmel pushed the notebook on the table toward Nanoda, gesturing for her to take a look.
The pages were yellowed and had become somewhat brittle when turned. Even though preservation magic had once been applied, it looked like it was about to fail now.
Nanoda discovered that this was a research notebook.
____
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