My Childhood Friends Are Trying To Kill Me

Romeo and Griffith burst into Relia’s room with a wry smile.

Griffith asked, “Can you trace him?”

“… He left everything I used for tracking.”

Griffith frowned at Romeo’s answer.

“But what’s that?”

Griffith saw a bunch of vials and asked.

“That’s mine! I have a special request for you.” Kalix answered and packed the vials.

It was the painkiller and sedative that Lelia left behind for him. Kalix pinched his nose as if holding back tears.

“He knows how to impress people…”

Falling into a wave of emotion, Romeo and Griffith pretended not to see.

Let’s leave the fool alone for now.

“Can you trace it?”

“It’s not hard.”

Romeo answered lightly and pulled the fountain pen out of his pocket from the inside of his arms.

Now Romeo’s magic was in the process of stabilizing. So he could track Leo’s fountain pen just like he did last time. 

Romeo immediately started the chase.

He didn’t know how Lelia found out there was a tracking spell on the cufflinks, but he probably didn’t know the fountain pen. Because it wasn’t intended for that in the first place.

Besides, even if he knew there was a trace on the fountain pen, Lelia would never throw it away.

Because he’s Leo.

“Wait… What’s wrong with it?”

Romeo tilted his head. He thought it would be possible to trace him  immediately, but it was impossible to trace through Magic Stone.

He felt like it was blocked by a wall that stopped his magic. What the hell is it?

“No?”

“……”

Romeo touched his head.

His magic was now in a very stable state. Yet it can’t track him?

It didn’t make sense.

Lelia had no magical powers or anything like that, nor divine powers. What the hell did he do?

Looking at Romeo’s confusion, Griffith said, “… Then track down Oscar.”

At that, Romeo immediately grabbed the fountain pen again, saying, “Ah!

The magic stone shone and absorbed the magic from Romeo’s fingertips.

After waiting for a while, “This son of b*tch…” Romeo uttered a low-pitched swear word.

Oscar’s fountain pen was also untraceable. It was clear that he had blocked it.

Griffith raised one corner of his mouth as if he knew it would happen.

‘Did he recognize Leo?’

It was clear.

Looking at his attitude that was particularly affectionate to Lelia yesterday.

After parting ways after leaving the temple when they were young, the five of them had reunited again. 

Griffith thought Oscar had gone mad. Oscar lost that soft, gentle look of his former days. The red pupils were as lifeless as artificial beads.

Oscar sat alone, hugging his knees whenever he had time, muttering unidentified words.

What drove him crazy was Leo’s death.

When the magic sword came to Oscar’s hand, Griffith instinctively felt it.

He could bring destruction to this world.

Even Oscar began to freely manipulate the power of the magic sword, which was difficult to handle. And now the sword must have absorbed an unquestionable amount of blood. It was a terrible force that could never be called clean. The dark force will grow stronger and stronger.

So at this moment, Griffith was irritated and impatient.

Oscar’s obsession with Leo was at a level that no ordinary person would ever understand.

He didn’t know what the madman would do to Leo.

When he found out that Leo was still alive, he was the kind of obsessive guy who would do anything.

He had to keep them both apart.

Never let him fall into the hands of Oscar.

Obviously, that obsession and madness will ruin Leo.

The Superion Territory

It’s been a week since she left the capital. Lelia ran and ran over the wide meadow near the border. Now, after a large estate and one small estate, she will arrive at the Superion estate.

Traveling alone was lonely, but it was a good experience in its own way.

Riding horses, camping, getting food and eating.

It’s something she couldn’t do until now.

It was great except that she missed her friends.

Still, the thought that she could meet her family when she arrived at the estate was comforting. She especially missed her uncle because it was the first time she would meet him ever since he left for the war.

She passed through a wide meadow, and entered the estate of Count Trick. This place was famous for being the holy site of Kreutzism. It was also a tourist city, with many people coming for pilgrimage.

As it was a holy place, there was a temple of enormous size, and she was told that they sent priests directly from the Holy Neutral Zone to manage it.

Perhaps that’s why as soon as she entered the estate, she could see many people wearing priest’s uniforms. 

Lelia was shocked for some  reason and hurried into her robe.

She was going to stay here tonight at the Count’s Inn.

After choosing an inn to stay at, she left her horse to the stable keeper and went inside.

There was a big commotion in the restaurant next door.

As she turned her head, a man was being dragged away by people who had caught him on both sides.

“I’m not! I’m not an alchemist! Save me!”

The man struggled with all his might. Maybe he was dragged away while eating, but he was holding a spoon in his hand.

Lelia squinted and looked at the men dragging him.

They were not priests. They were as tough as mercenaries.

As he was dragged away, people clicked their tongues and talked. Lelia listened carefully and overheard.

“Tsk tsk. If you use something like alchemy medicine, you’ll get caught… nothing to do bout it.”

“I know. Perhaps it was announced directly by the temple, but mercenaries and hunters are going crazy.”

“I don’t know if they’re taking real alchemists! He’s an ordinary blacksmith. Why are they taking him? He didn’t even get a chance to finish eating!”

“You have to be extra careful. It would be terrible if they were forced to do so.”

Lelia heard the story and entered the inn.

***

Entering the room, Lelia bit her lips nervously.

She asked the owner whom she encountered on the stairs, and he said they were conducting a massive search to wipe out the alchemists at the temple recently.

It started as a city that favored the temple, like the county where the pilgrimage was located, but the problem was that the temple offered a large bounty.

Mercenaries and hunters, all flocked there. Maybe that’s why, like before, even ordinary people are being captured.

She somehow seemed to understand the reason for the strangeness she felt when she entered the border of the county.

The line to the checkpoint inside the estate quickly decreased, but it took a long time to get out of the other side.

There are a lot of mercenaries who come in for a bounty, so it is relatively easy to let them in, and tightly manage those who go out.

Lelia felt nervous for nothing.

[I have to leave as soon as dawn comes.]

Although she doesn’t have the same power as the alchemists in another world, in the eyes of others she will be no different.

Lelia left only one for emergencies and put the rest in her inventory.

After that, she ate the meal that the innkeeper brought to the door, washed up and slept.

***

Before the light of dawn could even rise, Lelia woke from her sleep and set off.

At the place where she checked the entrance, she put the medicine she had left in her inventory while waiting for her turn.

Thanks to this, the inspection was able to pass through the inspection.

But as soon as she passed the check, Lelia realized that there were people following her from behind.

When she turned her head, she saw a dozen men on horseback chasing her.

Looking at their appearance, they were the mercenaries she had seen in front of the inn yesterday.

Lelia bit her lip and drove her horse.

But they were more adept at driving horses. Lelia was surrounded by them near the forest.

“Darn it… didn’t you say you gave him sleeping pills?”

“I don’t know. I guess he didn’t feed it to him even for the money.”

“Should I go back and kill him?”

“I’ve got more money in front of me. Why?”

They smiled with a greedy look. Lelia frowned.

“Why the hell are you following me?”

When Lelia asked, they shrugged.

“How can you travel alone in this harsh world? There are people like us.”

“Don’t worry, you won’t get hurt if you act quietly. We just need to get a bounty.”

“What bounty?”

[No way…]

“Yes, you’re going to be an alchemist from today. The Teles next door offers more rewards than the Trick Territory. So, let’s go there quietly. ”

The bearded man giggled, then pulled out his bowstring from behind.

What he was aiming for was the horse Lelia was riding on.

Once dropped from the horse, it looked like they were going to tie her hands and feet together.

Lelia hurriedly opened her item window and grabbed her horse’s reins. 

Laughing at Lelia, the man quickly released the bowstring.

However, the man could not hit Lelia’s horse, even being within close proximity of her.

The arrow he shot floated in the air and stood there as if time had stopped.

“What?!”

It was then as the men were murmuring at the strange scene.

“Ahhhhhh!”

Suddenly, one fell off his horse and screamed.

A terrible scene followed. The man fell to the floor and screamed. The blood that had flowed out of his body was being absorbed somewhere. The man was horribly twisted as the blood was sucked out all over his body in an instant.

The men were startled as if they had witnessed a demon and then began to run away quickly. But Lelia stopped on the spot and did nothing.

That sword, which had absorbed the blood, pulsated, radiating a red mist.

Holding the sword, Oscar was looking at Lelia.

“Leo, didn’t I tell you?”

“…”

“I have no ability to learn.”

He tilted his head and smiled. It was a creepy smile.

“I warned you yet… Will you leave me again?”

***