A bull in the middle of the road stopped the carriage, which was taking Luke to Vasconcelos, from moving forward. Mooooo! The bull, enraged, was desperately trying to hit the coachmen who were trying to scare it off.

The half-wolf didn’t interfere, because he didn’t even realize this situation. Although Luke had already accepted the contract and the payment in advance, he was still reluctant and thoughtful about what would happen from now on.

“You will be the bodyguard for my daughter, who has just turned twenty.” Ayumi clarified that day at the mansion. Although she was surprised by the boy’s graciousness that she didn’t accept an astronomical salary, she held herself steady.

“All right, just that?” For Luke, taking care of a girl was nothing, as long as they weren’t left alone too often.

The Matriarch brought her right hand up to her crossed legs again and said: “No, if that were all, I would have assigned one of my personal bodyguards. You will be part of her group for the expeditions into Dungeons and protect her with your life if necessary.”

“Are you sure about that? The Dungeons in Oukiwa are famous for having many ores and few monsters. I don’t think it’s the best place to make expeditions.”

“The expeditions will not be to the Dungeons of Oukiwa, but those recently discovered in Vasconcelos.”

The half-wolf was certainly surprised that such a flashy selection process, would be for something so inconspicuous. Although Ayumi’s face was very famous in Oukiwa, even Luke had never heard that she had a daughter.

But even if this contract didn’t marry perfectly to the theft of the gene wagon, Luke still knew that he could get valuable information from the Matriarch’s daughter, so he continued as if there were no problems.

More other contractual matters were discussed with the lady after Luke accepted.

However, the half-wolf did not get the warm reception he had hoped to receive from his friends. The only one who agreed to go along with the plan was Matthew, and everyone knew why.

“Yes, Luke is going away from us and will have to face the dangers of the Dungeons, but it will only be for a little while!” Matthew tried to convince everyone to continue with the plan.

Since democracy was everything in the gang of thieves, all he had to do was convince two more people. At the end, when almost everyone was convinced that it would be better to continue with the plan.

Luke was given a choice between living in the Strogueher mansion in Vasconcelos or renting a room at a local inn. Since Vasconcelos was a relatively small town compared to the huge Oukiwa, the half-wolf knew that the inns there would not be that much better than the warehouse where he slept.

So, he opted for the mansion, this way he could send a large portion of the money to his friends and stay informed about the Strogueher family.

And here he was, heading for Vasconcelos. The trip would only take one night if he went by boat, but since Luke had never sailed a boat before, he feared he would get seasick.

By carriage, it would only take twelve hours long, so it wasn’t too much of a problem. It wasn’t as if he was dying of anxiety to enter one of the smelly Dungeons.

Moooo! The bull had almost killed one of the coachmen with its horns. Luckily, the second coachman managed to get the animal’s attention with a slap on the butt.

Luke finally interrupted his reverie, when his ears detected footsteps coming from the woods parallel to the road. If it hadn’t been for his experience, the half-wolf would have died right then and there.

With a millimeter’s movement, Luke easily dodged an arrow that came from the bushes to his right. Zimm! The hum of the force of the arrow breaking through air resistance sounded like music to Luke, who as a child had dreamed of becoming an archer.

Zimm! Another arrow was fired, but from the low noise, this one was not in the direction of the half-wolf. The Bull, who had previously been engaged and seemed unruly, was grazed by the wrong arrow, whose target was probably one of the coachmen.

Luke briefly tried to carefully count the number of heartbeats in the forest, but the bull’s bellowing, the rustling of the trees, and the despair of the coachmen were too loud.

Balthazar, the leader of the Revengers, who were a group of gypsy thieves, had left everything prepared for this late afternoon robbery. The stretch between Oukiwa and Vasconcelos was newly built, so it was the perfect route for a robbery.

Aiming for a high reward with no casualties, Balthazar even bought a bull to serve as a distraction. ‘I can’t take a loss, I can’t take a loss.’ That’s what he thought.

However, the old thief Balthazar, whose bounty on his head was already over five gold coins, felt such a chill down his spine that he was forced to use his ‘Safe Haven’ skill.

Even at the end of the woods, while he was just commanding the assault, thanks to his skill he could feel the enormous murderous intent emanating from that half-beast servant.

Zeld, who had shot two arrows simultaneously, was in shock when he saw the half-beast deflect the first one, and even more when he missed the second target.

The half-beast was close, and the arrow was fast and accurate. It was not to be possible to block it, much less dodge it. Zeld’s knees gave way when he realized that he had missed something he had been training for so long.

And he was sure he would die when he saw a gray shadow leave the carriage and come towards him, in steps so fast that he could barely hear.

Other quick arrows were fired in Luke’s direction, by three other archers standing in the trees.

Luke, once he identified at least four archers, decided to eliminate them first, and then take care of the thieves, who were the fastest and most worrying. However, he changed his mind when he heard someone, who seemed to be desperate, distancing himself at the end of the woods.

With light movements, the half-wolf was running as a quadruped so that it could propel itself ever more strongly.

When Zeld saw the shadow pass beside him, first he felt terror, then he almost pissed himself. In the end, he felt only relief that he was spared, that is, before he saw three of his friends fall from the trees, all dead with small knives in their necks.

Luke killed almost all the archers in a matter of moments. For him. it was somewhat easier than expected, considering that some of them had skills he envied, yet they made the mistake of staying together.

When the half-wolf attacked with his group, the whole plan was well-thought-out and if the execution wasn’t perfect, it wouldn’t be worth the effort.

Ignoring the thieves, Luke ran as fast as he could to the archer, who was getting farther and farther away.

——

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