A Warrior Exiled by the Hero and His Lover - CH 184

Chapter 184 – Imposters, fear the warrior [Part 1]

We got to know the “Fake Brigade” surprisingly quickly.

And now we’re in a bar.

“I thought you were a bunch of jerks, but you guys turned out to be good company! Pwah!”

The leader of the group, Toru, who I’ll refer to as “Fake Toru” for confusion’s sake, was in a good mood with a mug in his hand.

Fake Toru was carrying a large sword on his back, but he has a one-handed sword on his hip, suggesting that the large sword is just for decoration. It was too brand new and clean to be his favorite weapon.  He is also a member of the Beast Tiger Tribe.

There were three of them.

A man of the demon tribe who seemed to be a well-built fighter. A dark elf woman with a cloth covering her mouth, looking like an assassin. And an elf woman with a robe, like a wizard.

And as Panta, a white pig was walking under the table.

“You look like that thing!”

“Kyu…”

Frau and Panta, both tired, looked down at the pig.

I’m feeling the same way. If you’re going to call yourself that, you need a more authentic likeness.

Will… they eat that pig when it grows up?

“I’m really uncomfortable with this. Not only with they calling themself the “Manyu Brigade”, but also talk about Master’s name and refer to his accomplishments as if they had done them. This is unacceptable.”

“Well, well, calm down. If they’re doing something bad in our name, we’ve got a big problem, but there’s no sign of that at least for now. Obviously it’s  not good to let them do what they want, but we can wait for a little while to see what happens”.

“If Master says so…”

The normally mild and quiet Kaede is angry. When the smiles disappear, dark intentions were directed to them.

It seems she’s very upset.

I’m sure she’s proud of being a member of the Manyu Bridge.

“Sure is good to drink on other people’s dime!”

“Heck yeah!”

“I guess it’s good to be in the Manyu Brigade!”

“Shh~!”

The fake party was enjoying their drink. I’m the one who’s paying for it.

The purpose of the meeting was to apologize for the suspicion of being a fake group, but the actual purpose was to gather information.

The leader grinned.

“Well, I can’t believe I’m using the name of the Manyu Brigade. It’s a good thing that they were so generous, or we’ll be in big trouble.”

“That ‘s scary”.

“You should be grateful. I’m going to miss this a lot.”

Snap.

Kaede’s glass started to crack.

Her smile was the same as always, but I could feel a dark aura. Frau and Panta said “awaaah” when they saw it.

Please, bear it.

“We’re actually investigating a fake Manyu Brigade. Do you know anything about them?”

“The real one… no. But the fake one is famous as far as I know. It’s supposed to be led by Toru, but it’s actually run by a fighter woman.”

That’s useful information.

The woman could be Nei. She’s the only martial artist who is a member of the Manyu Brigade.

I leaned forward to ask for more information, but the man showed me his palm and took a ‘I don’t know anymore’ attitude.

“With everything that’s happening, I’m not in the mood to talk.”

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“You guys look like you’re pretty good at what you do. Why don’t you guys work for me? I’ll pay you half in money, and half on information.”

So we have a deal. There’s no reason to refuse, but… it seems suspicious.

“There’s a ruin we’re after, but it’s too tricky to explore on our own. And that’s where you guys come in. You can get a lot of money for a little bit of help-”

“You’re trying to trick me, aren’t you?”

“Oh, come on. If you have a problem with that, just say no. Or maybe you’re not the real Manyu?”

He grinned. It’s easy to read that I’m scared of something behind it.

Kaede asked without thinking.

“What’s the level?”

“All of them are around 400. It’s normal in this area.”

I guess I can handle anything with that level.

Our current levels are:

Toru Lvl: 3321Kaede Lvl: 2530Frau Lvl: 2426
As expected from a different continent, the two of us increased our level tremendously.

“Okay, I’ll take that offer.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Little Dog Luto.”

Yes, that’s right. We called ourselves the Little Dog Gang.

My name is Luto. Make sure to not be mistaken.

“… we need to end this soon as possible.”

Kaede, stop muttering like that.

It was about ten kilometers from the city.

A huge rock was rising in the wilderness. In what appeared to be a hollowed-out entrance, there was a sculpture of a multi-headed dragon.

It has six long snake-like heads, a kind I had never seen.

“What ‘s that?”

“It’s a Hydra. Don’t worry, it’s not here.”

In ancient times, there was a great dynasty in this area. They worshipped the dragon Hydra and they offered sacrifices to him.

The Hydra responded to them by protecting the country.

But all nations come to an end.

The prosperous country was destroyed in a night by a demon king invader from a distant land.

“This is a ruin from that era. The common belief is that it was a temple, but I suspect it was a huge treasure house. There’s a lot of precious metals and valuable things here.”

“That sounds exciting.”

“I believe that there are still areas that haven’t been explored. So, it’s our job to do it and find the treasure.”

The leader made a circle with his fingers and then he grinned. He looks more like a low-cost bandit than an adventurer.

Kaede walked next to me.

She’s still suspicious of them.

“Master is being too lenient with them. I don’t think it’s  a good idea, even if it’s just to get information.”

“I don’t trust them, but I don’t think it’s right to be suspicious. Besides, I’m glad that you brought me here. Ruins are such a romantic place.”

“The Lord doesn’t care about most things when adventure is involved.”

You know what I mean, Frau. Compared to the excitement in front of us, our fakes are insignificant

However, I’m glad that Kaede is thinking about me. I’ll be stroking her a lot here.

“Maaaasteeer~! Hmph!”

“Good, good.”

She blushed in embarrassment, but her fox ears drooped and her tail wagged.

“Lord~ we are leaving you behind~”

“Kyuh~”

They’re going into the ruins. We have to go too.

But Kaede was standing still and squirming.

“Well, if you could squeeze me… I’d be happier, you know…”

I spread out my hands, and Kaede was very happy.

I hugged her with a lot of warm energy.

“I’m happy to see you happy again.”

The look of happiness on her face made me relax too. My slave seems to be cute today as well.

I walked through the passageway, relying on the light.

“That’s so cool.”

“Is it.”

The two of us walked side by side at the front of the line, followed by the Fake Manyu. Frau and Panta are flying around as they please.

Inside the ruins, the intruding sand had created countless small piles.

Buried in the sand were statues of strong warriors and vases. The walls and floor were made of rock.

Bump.

Part of the floor sinks, and a blade juts out from the wall, aiming for the neck. I grabbed the blade and crushed it.

“He prevents it again.”

“Who the hell is this guy?”

I can hear them whispering behind me, but I ignore them.

Another trap. The ruins are full of intruder deterrent. Maybe I’m not that far off the mark where it was the treasure.

“There’s nothing but sand, statues, and jars!”

“Kyu~!”

Crack. Frau threw a jar against the wall and broke it.

That’s worth something too, you know.

“Right! Lord has ‘Grand Thief’! Maybe there’s a hidden room or something!”

Frau and Panta flew over to me.

“Then…!?”

“Kyu~!”

Frau and Panta’s eyes sparkled.

Grand Thief seems to be responding. The treasure seems to be here.

“Ah.”

Gump.

Kaede pushed a part of the wall, triggering a trap.

“Heee!?”

“I-I’m going to die! Kaa-chan!”

“Ahhhh!!”

“I don’t want to be flattened!!”

A huge iron ball rolls down the hill in front of me with great force.

I caught it with one hand and stopped it.

Auch. I got burned a bit from the frictional heat.

The four of them trembled with their mouths open.

“A… Amazing…”