Having found an unexpectedly good magic item store, Rei left in a good mood……before stopping after several steps.

It wasn’t like he had forgotten anything or recalled something. He had just noticed several murderous presences around him.

「Tch.」

He could help but click his tongue.

He had taken his time finding a magic item store that had something good and, although he hadn’t bought anything immediately as it didn’t suit him, he had still hit it off with the old man who owned the store.

……The fact that Rei got along so well with an old man who was known for being eccentric was probably a good indication that Rei himself was quite eccentric as well. But, being who he was, Rei wasn’t bothered by it at all.

In any case, being so suddenly interrupted, he couldn’t help but be annoyed.

(In terms of skill……they’re not that good. Compared to Moonlight Archers, they’re quite inferior……? At the very least, they are inexperienced in terms of hiding their presence.)

Were they attacking with quantity rather than quality? Thinking like that, Rei let out a bored sigh, a complete change from his annoyance just earlier.

If it had been someone with at least some level of skill, it might have helped him improve his own skills. However, no matter how he looked at it, the person targeting him were technically unskilled.

In many ways, it had dampened his good mood.

(That said, I can’t just let them be and head back to the inn.)

Being technically unskilled meant that there was a higher risk of causing a big commotion if they messed up.

In such a situation, if he were to return to the Eternal Sky Pavilion, where many people who could be considered distinguished guests were staying……it would not be a good to cause a big commotion inside in various ways.

(In that case, I guess I should clean them up before returning to the inn. I don’t know much about this area though.)

There were many places Rei was familiar with in the Imperial Capital.

The only place he knew of which would be safe to cause a certain level of commotion would have been where he he had fought the assassins from Moonlight Archers. However, he could predict that guard would definitely be watching that area now.

「Well, it can’t be helped. Let’s just walk around the back alleys.」

It if was somewhere out of the public eyes, there shouldn’t be any problems. With that in mind, Rei left the magic item shop as he headed for the back alleys.

Fortunately, after walking for about 10 minutes, he noticed that the number of people started to decrease.

At the same time, the murderous intent of the people targeting him also increased.

「……Well, I guess it’s time for you all to come out. I don’t think things will get any easier if you just keeping following me around forever.」

Rei’s words echoed out into a back alley that led to a dead end.

Since it was a dead end, there was no way for Rei to escape. But, on the other hand, it meant that he didn’t need to worry about surprise attacks from behind.

(Now then, I wonder what kind of people will appear……)

As Rei thought about that……he had some slight hopes and expectations.

They were quite bad at hiding their presence, but maybe it was because they were confident in their own combat skill. That was what he thought as he spoke those words, but the people that eventually appeared were boys and girls no older than 10……they were children.

「What kind of joke is this?」

Rei felt a strong sense of betrayal, because of his high hopes. He turned his attention to the three children, who appeared with eyes fixated on him.

At the same time, he sensed someone creeping up from behind and swung the Death Scythe as he took it out from the Misty Ring.

With a metallic sound, the short sword was cut in half at the blade as it swung down, falling to the ground.

Rei let out an exasperated sigh as he looked at the 10 year old child that had attacked him with a short sword as he jumped down from the wall.

「Did they think these kids could be my opponent? Also, are they underestimating me? Drawing my attention and attacking from my back wasn’t a bad choice. But……if you’re going to do that, you should at least used someone who could hide their presence.」

「……」

Even though they heard Rei’s words, the children showed no change in their expressions as they held their weapons.

Four more children jumped down from the walls of the dead end behind Rei. One of them was the kid who’s short sword had been cut apart by Rei. Then, as if to cut off Rei’s escape route, five more children appeared in addition to the three from earlier.

They all held daggers and bows, with a few having rapiers swords.

There were 13 in total. All of them were children around the age of 10.

(Now then, if there’s a trick here, is it the work of Moonlight Archers? Or is it Requiem’s Toll? There’s a possibility it’s another organisation as well…… Either way, using children is quite the unpleasant move. Did they think I wouldn’t take children seriously?)

As Rei thought to himself, he took a big swing the Death Scythe as he spoke up.

「I will tell you, I won’t show mercy, even to children. If that’s fine with you, then attack me. Fortunately, even though this is a dead end, there’s enough space for me to go wild.」

As long as he had space to use the Death Scythe, he couldn’t see himself losing here.

Then, the only thing left to really do was to deal with the 13 children in front and behind him.

It was true that in the worst case scenario, he might not be able to avoid killing them all, but he still wanted to avoid killing children if he could.

(In that case, should I knock them all unconscious and hand them over to the guards? There will probably be some interrogation, but it’s better than being killed by me.

Even though he was aware of how harsh the interrogation might be, Rei judged that it would still be better than killing them with his own hands……as he swung the Death Scythe.

A dagger that was thrown at him was flung into the sky with a cracking sound. As if that were a signal, the children attacked Rei all at once.

With their small stature and skillful use of their speed, an ordinary person would have been taking out without being able to fight back.

However, in this case, their target was just too bad a match up.

「Yah-!」

Contrary to the childish voice, the dagger was aimed for Rei’s thigh.

Having determined that it was impossible for them to deliver a one hit kill with their own strength, they decided to stab Rei in the thigh first to stop him from moving while applying a paralytic poison to inhibit Rei’s actions.

Unfortunately, the moment the child swung their dagger, they were sent flying, losing consciousness.

Their body had been hit by a thrust from the butt of the Death Scythe.

Continuing his series of movements, Rei spun the shaft of the Death Scythe just above the ground.

Among the children attacking Rei, about five of them were hit in the legs, collapsing on the spot.

Of course, the children weren’t dead or unconscious, so they tried to stand up……but being hit so hard in the shins had led some to start crying. Even the children who were trying hard not to show their emotions were unable to bear the pain and stand up.

「That’s 6 down. Half to go.」

Rei muttered to himself as he swung the Death Scythe again.

A child who had climbed up a nearby building jumped down with a dagger, intending to stab Rei’s head, but was hit in the belly on his way down.

As Rei watched the child writhe in agony, vomiting the contents of his stomach, he quickly struck out with the Death Scythe.

The arrow flying towards Rei’s head was sliced apart as it fell to the ground.

「Bows are troublesome. Let’s deal with those first!」

Rei dashed forward as he headed for the child with a bow at a further distance.

A child with a rapier stood in his way, but the blade was easily cut apart by the Death Scythe. The child immediately lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground after being struck by the shaft of the Death Scythe.

The child holding the bow froze at the sight of Rei’s movements, but quickly came back to his senses as he threw his bow at Rei.

They seemed to realise there was no point holding onto the bow once Rei got close, so might as well throw it out if it was going to get in the way……

In fact, Rei was somewhat surprised by their quick wit.

That said, the bow had no blades and the child was also physically weak. With one strike of the Death Scythe, the bow was cut in half.

If things continued as they were, he would likely be knocked out like the child with the rapier. Perhaps realising the child tried to protect his body as Rei swept their legs from under them before striking them in the chest to knock them out as they moved their hands away from their body to cushion their fall.

Next, a total of four children attacked Rei, two with daggers and two with rapiers.

The reason why the children were using rapiers was likely because of their light weight.

Because they were children, they chose to use a light weapon such as a rapier, which they could wield even with their limited strength.

However……

「Weight alone is a huge weapon!」

As the daggers and rapiers were thrust towards him, all four blades were cut to pieces with one strike of the Death Scythe.

『Wha-!?』

The result had truly been unexpected. All four children were stunned at the same time……only for a moment, but too large of an opening to show in the presence of Rei.

After swinging the Death Scythe, he flicked his wrist to point the butt towards the children rather than the blade as Rei swung the Death Scythe again.

The four children who had half surrounded Rei were literally sent flying by the attack.

No matter how easy Rei might have gone, the hit was still far to heavy for the children to take.

They were knocked back several meters before hitting a wall and collapsing on top of each other.

「Gah, damn it……you monster……」

「Hm? Still conscious? You’re stronger than I thought?」

One of the children that had been sent flying didn’t seem to have lost consciousness as they turned a hateful gaze towards Rei.

Rei met their gaze directly as he murmured in admiration.

Even so, they still lost consciousness after saying those words. As a result, all 13 children that had attacked Rei were incapacitated.

「They were pretty strong for children. Or, maybe it’s because they were children……?」

Looking at the unconscious children, he wondered what to do next.

Naturally, he had no intention of leaving them here as they were. However, even if he were to take them to the guard post as he had originally planned, he wouldn’t be able to carry all 13 due to their size and weight.

「However, if I just leave them here and call the guards, their seniors will probably pick them up during that time. ……In that case, should I take a few of them as proof? Would that be any good? It would be proof that they attacked me……」

As he thought of that, he wondered if he would be mistaken as a child kidnapper. Suddenly, an idea occurred to him.

Rei wanted to ignore the thought, but he couldn’t help but think that if Set was here……

If Set were here, he would have been able to carry all the children with him in addition to keeping watch.

「Hmm, maybe I should have brought Set along after all?」

While regretting that he hadn’t brought his partner along, Rei decided to check if all the children were still unconscious.

It would be troublesome if they had already woken back up and were looking for an opportunity to run away.

However, considering the trouble it would be to call the guards, it might have been better to let them all regain consciousness and just let them leave. Rei considered that.

(Well, I can’t really do that.)

If he let them go, he would be letting go of the people targeting and attacking him. In fact, they might even attack him again in revenge. At the very least, there was a high chance of a repeat attack if he let them go.

(If I think about that, I guess it really would be easier just to kill them here……)

He was reluctant to do that. As Rei muttered to himself, he looked up into the sky as if hoping for something.

There was hardly a cloud in the blue sky, despite it being autumn. For some reason, the sight of the seemingly midsummer weather made him smile.

It was as if the sun were laughing at him for being unsure what to do with such a small matter.

「That’s right. I’ll just go to the guards for now, if these guys are still here when I’m back, then I’ll just hand them over.」

In the end, he went back to his first choice and was just about to head to the nearest guard station when he suddenly felt a presence approaching with great momentum.

The auras the new party had were clearly different form the others around him and they were heading straight for the dead end where Rei was.

「Have their seniors shown up?」

As Rei considered that, he readied his Death Scythe and waited……eventually, two figures appeared within his line of sight.

Rei thought the pair looked familiar for a few seconds……and then realised it was the store owner and staff member who had sold the skewers he had eaten a while back.

「Aren’t you two from that stall……」

Rei’s involuntarily murmur echoed out into the back alley where he, Mulla, and Sistoi were.

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