“Gah! I-I’m alive….”
“…….”
In the end, Terlo teleported far behind with Basley.
After all, had Basley not pointed at him and shouted for the entire neighborhood to hear that he was a member of More?
Every gaze in the shopping street had immediately followed them.
With Ina and members of Hook’s organization nearby, Terlo could not allow the commotion to continue.
If they happened to run into Ina, the situation would become troublesome.
‘I managed to hide us somehow.’
But moving around has now become even more difficult.
Was it not bad enough that he had to avoid Hook’s group? Now he also had to evade the shopping district’s guards.
All the effort he had made to avoid being exposed had become meaningless.
Basley had helpfully exposed them himself.
Grinding his teeth, Terlo asked,
“Do you not understand what it means to wait quietly?”
“W-Well, I called you, but you left anyway, Master…. Then some bastard in the shop suddenly recognized me….”
“Then you should’ve run away from the start. And what was with the timing of you running toward me?”
“No, I wanted to do that too, but you told me to wait…!”
Terlo stared at him as if asking whether he had not failed to wait in the end.
Basley stamped his foot against the ground several times with a miserable expression.
He had only followed the instructions he had been given, so it was understandable that he felt wronged.
Still, a person needed some flexibility.
Watching Terlo’s expression, Basley lowered his shoulders and apologized.
“I-I’m sorry. He did seem suspicious, but honestly, I didn’t expect him to suddenly charge at me like a madman—no, like he meant to kill me….”
“So the ones chasing you were members of the gangs that joined forces with More?”
“Yes! I was just about to tell you that. How did you know?”
“You don’t need to know. You said you were sent as support, so why did they suspect you?”
Basley rolled his eyes at Terlo’s question before answering.
“What did he say again…? Something about it not being time for reinforcements yet. That was the bullshit he was spouting.”
“Nothing else?”
“No. That was all. Then I came out and was waiting for you when this happened…. Ah! While they were chasing me, they said I’d been blacklisted after being expelled from More. I got kidnapped by some bastard I didn’t even know and barely survived, yet they say I was expelled. Ridiculous.”
Basley scoffed, then quickly realized what he had said and bent at the waist at a perfect right angle.
“I’m sorry! I-I absolutely wasn’t trying to insult you, Master. I was just angry at the organization’s attitude….”
‘At least they don’t seem to know that More has been taken down yet.’
That was fortunate amid the misfortune.
This incident would cause them to learn the truth sooner, but it would still take some time.
For now, the guards’ priority was capturing Basley and Terlo.
‘And Ina’s side will be focused on capturing the gangs.’
The welcome news was that many of the guards in this area belonged to those gangs.
No matter whether the gang members were chasing More’s members, Ina’s side would ignore everything else and focus only on the gangs.
They had helped destroy More only recently. Why would they think any members remained?
They would have no choice but to dismiss the idea as absurd.
And so Ina’s side would chase the gangs, while the gangs chased Terlo and Basley.
It was the beginning of a chase in which everyone pursued someone else.
‘Thankfully, Ina’s side will buy us some time.’
He needed to learn something during that time.
He had yet to discover anything about Ben.
That meant his immediate priority was reaching the alchemist’s shop.
If they delayed any longer, remaining inside the shopping district might become impossible.
‘Fortunately, it isn’t far.’
Because they were already near the center of the shopping district, there was little distance left to the alchemist’s shop.
The problem was that guards were still periodically running through the area.
They had moved far behind, yet the guards continued racing around in search of them.
Judging from that, word must have reached this area as well.
During a brief opening, Terlo leaned out and looked toward where they had originally been.
‘It’s chaotic, just as I thought.’
Even from this distance, he could feel the heat of the pursuit.
The customers in the street were moving around frantically because of it.
There was no telling when that entire crowd would shift in this direction.
They needed to move as quietly as possible here as well.
Terlo spoke to Basley, who was still bowing.
“Follow me quietly.”
“…Pardon? Yes! Ah, quietly.”
And so they began moving in silence while avoiding the guards.
Since the guards could emerge from anywhere at any moment, Terlo chose to move on foot rather than teleport.
They pressed themselves against walls to avoid notice, hid behind structures, and crawled along the ground in front of shops.
Perhaps Basley understood that this trouble was his fault, because he followed without complaint.
Before long, they were near their destination.
‘What? Are those customers?’
People Terlo had not seen before stood in the street.
But their atmosphere was nothing like that of ordinary customers.
They were speaking to one another, yet they remained planted in place without moving.
Terlo had also noticed that the closer they came to this area, the fewer guards they encountered.
‘Come to think of it, there haven’t been any customers either.’
It was something he had failed to notice while moving so frantically.
Now that he thought about it, there had not been a single customer since the place where he teleported with Basley.
Even if they had moved some distance away, had it not been directly beside the area where the chase was taking place?
And this place was directly beside that one.
How could the atmosphere be so different, as though they were on separate floors?
Basley whispered beside him.
“Master. Those five standing over there are the bosses of the gangs that chased me earlier. It looks like they’re guarding this place because they knew we’d come.”
“Really? You know them?”
“Yes, of course. And there aren’t even any bastards running around looking for us anymore. It seems this district is handled by the bosses….”
“Then go out and draw their attention.”
Basley stared at Terlo with wide eyes, as though he could not understand what he had heard.
“What are you looking at? Draw their attention. I need to go over there.”
“Y-You’re not coming with me? Why are you suddenly saying you’ll go alone…? They might not look like much, but they’re the bosses, so they’re damn strong! I’m no match for them. And they’re vicious bastards….”
“Exactly. That’s why you need to lure at least a few away. If we go together, those five will follow us at minimum, and even more will join them.”
“No, even so…!”
As Basley refused to accept reality, Terlo took several sheets of parchment from his subspace.
They contained short-range teleportation and basic attack magic.
They were items called magic scrolls.
They were also among the least useful things Terlo had obtained while interfering with More.
Worse, they had been made by mages….
But while that displeased him, it caused no problem when using them.
They had been created so that anyone could use them in the first place.
“Here.”
Terlo handed the magic scrolls to Basley.
Basley had been muttering that he should never have trusted a bastard who intended to save only himself, but he flinched.
“…What are these?”
“Can’t you tell? They’re magic scrolls.”
“I know that, but why…? Don’t tell me you’re giving them to me.”
“Yes. If I leave you as you are, you’ll be caught within seconds. You need something if you’re going to draw their attention.”
“Master….”
Basley accepted them with an emotional look.
But Terlo had not given them to him for his sake.
Terlo needed someone to buy time so he could meet the alchemist.
Basley happened to be perfect for the role.
Had he not personally said that he knew the bosses?
The moment he showed himself, he would serve perfectly as bait.
Terlo had even provided him with a way to escape….
‘Whether he escapes alive is his problem.’
Still, he could not allow Basley to be captured alive.
If that happened, there was a high chance they would trace him back to Terlo.
Terlo warned him,
“You’d better not get caught. You know what happens if you do, don’t you?”
“You’ll kill me? What a wonderful life….”
“You understand perfectly. What are you doing? We don’t have time.”
“I’m going. If I wait any longer, you’ll start counting again.”
Basley rose without further complaint.
It was surprisingly decisive compared to how he had acted until now.
The way he went willingly made it seem as though he had resolved himself to do something.
‘Is he planning to run away?’
If so, this was the perfect opportunity for Basley.
The shopping district was already in chaos.
He had also received magic scrolls useful for escaping, so he only needed to hide with determination.
But Terlo did not care even if that happened.
The role he had originally envisioned for Basley ended here.
Basley stepped into view and shouted,
“Hey, you bastards! You call yourselves bosses, yet you’re slacking off. Is standing around talking that much fun?”
“What the hell is that?”
“I’ve seen that face somewhere.”
“We got the message earlier. He’s the expelled bastard who escaped.”
“That’s right. Catch him! Ah, wait. You stay and request reinforcements.”
Four of the five men called the gang bosses began chasing Basley.
The one left behind merely spat as he watched them go.
“Ptooey! Ordering me around! Listening to him, you’d think he was the leader. Will I die if this side gets breached? He’s the one who will. He’s running off to claim the credit, yet he tells me to request reinforcements? Reinforcements, my ass.”
He left his position while grumbling.
Since the leaders of separate gangs had gathered, such dissatisfaction was understandable in a way.
But….
‘He’ll die if this side is breached? Is there something else here?’
Basley had clearly said that the alchemist’s shop was the only thing in that direction.
Finding it strange, Terlo cautiously moved toward the passage they had been guarding.
Then he peeked inside.
What he saw made no sense.
‘…What is this?’
Are they doing construction?
A long alley extended to a dead end.
A shop stood at the far end on the left, while a road branched off to the side on the right.
But except for the shop building, people were positioned everywhere.
They were stationed along the walls, on the ground, beside structures, and among the grass.
Yet no particular equipment was visible in their hands or around them.
‘It doesn’t look like construction.’
Then what were they doing?
Terlo examined them more closely.
Each person was doing something unrelated at their assigned position.
Several stared blankly at one spot, several moved their hands, and several leaned against something with their eyes closed.
Like the bosses who had been standing outside, they appeared to be guarding their positions.
But Terlo could not understand why so many people had been placed at such narrow intervals.
‘With so many people guarding this place, why did he say he’d die if the passage was breached?’
Terlo could not understand what the man who left had meant.
If all those people attacked at once, they could easily capture an intruder.
And that applied to Terlo as well.
Even so, he had no intention of giving up.
The fact that they had stationed so many people here meant there truly was something inside the alchemist’s shop.
‘Hmm. How do I get inside without being noticed?’
If the situation left him no choice, he would fight.
But otherwise, it would be best to resolve this as quietly as possible.
One wrong move could make escaping the shopping district itself difficult.
‘Is this why they planted people in every shop?’
It was a reasonable suspicion.
How could he escape if the guards from every shop emerged and surrounded him?
Especially here, near the center, it would be even more impossible.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to Terlo.
‘Could it be?’
Had Ben done all of this because of this area—the center of the entire shopping district?
With a structure like this, anything that happened in the center would remain within the palm of his hand.
‘And the same goes for causing something here.’
Terlo felt as though he had finally opened a channel through the pit of mysteries.
Then he turned toward the shop that might widen that opening.
‘I need to get inside quickly.’