‘This would take quite a while.’

Klautz had to make sure that no one found them suspicious. All the while covering Evelyn. Evelyn herself had a knack for all of this. It was portrayed by her own unusual battle style. 

So things went on smoothly enough.

A black cloak covered the doll she was supposed to teleport out with.. 

Every time she appeared the black cloth covered her entire body as she worked behind Klautz’s shadow. Her hands moved swiftly as she began moving the produce.

Evelyn’s ability only allowed her to take stuff with her in her inventory.

Alas, had the inventory been larger she could have taken all of it in one go. But wasn’t that the very reason they were able to steal the stuff in the first place? How would the treasure have been kept out in the open otherwise?

***

“Good good! Keep moving!” Liqui instructed his group.

In all of this farce he was the most laid back. His teammates were playing for their lives so they couldn’t let down their guard. But the same wasn’t true for him. The deadtaur possed no threat to him. He could willy dilly around freely.

As such, not being distracted by the beast, he was the first one to find something unusual. His eyes traveled to Klautz who was moping close to their store of horns.

But unlike what one might expect he had failed to identify him with accuracy. His brows twtched instead of his popping up in surprise. It was certainly quite an unusual reaction.

“Tch,” he clicked his tongue. “These trashy weaklings dared to slack off at my command?”

Liqui’s command was clear. Everyone was to hunt the beasts. Had not Klautz been playing to win he would have probably issued a similar command to the Yukiho group as well. But that was only valid before the rumors began to spread around.

Liqui was enraged as it was because of the low produce and the less than competent newbies.

And someone was there who had challenged his command by slacking off. How could he let it go so easily?

Liqui stormed towards Klautz wielding his sword.

“How dare you slack off here? Do you think we are fools here that are working?” 

Temper rose to its peak as smoke seemed to come out of his head. 

But it wasn’t all but talk that he did. There was a threat to Klautz life.

Liqui’s blade had reached Klautz’s neck. 

Alas, even though he had dared to bare his weapons against Klautz. Klautz could not do anything in the watch of the mercenaries. Not to mention that he was a sneaking intruder in the first place. It was obvious that he needed to hide his identity and not swayed away by emotions.

“Sir Liqui, I am injured. I would be joining them after a minute of rest,” Klautz replied in a meek and sheepish tone.

His steps seemed to be haggard as he took a step back pulling himself away from his sharp blade.

Unlike the Yukiho group where there were newbies assigned with the task of taking care of the injured, here there were none… for every last one of them was on the frontlines. Thus when one is injured all one could do was fall back. By logical understanding it was correct but…

But it seemed that Liqui wasn’t satisfied by any of those excuses.

“So what? Does that give you the leeway to slack off here? If you are useless enough to not even be able to fight then at least be a meat shield for the others!”

The pile of sacs had never diminished in volume even though they now had surely become heavier.

So it was kind of hard to figure out what was happening unless one catches the shady figure around them replacing the sacs with others of similar appearance but filled with stones.

It was a pity. Liqui was too focused on Klautz. Not to mention that the mercenaries too were occupied with Liqui instead for they were their prime target to protect. The other newbies while on the other hand were preoccupied with the beast protecting their sorry asses from getting killed.

In such a chaos, no one had the leeway to figure out Evelyn’s presence. Had Klautz not been present at the site to manage all of this Evelyn would have probably been caught red handed. Klautz did a good job of engaging Liqui to himself.

Klautz checked on Evelyn from the corner of his eyes that was hard to notice for Liqui. She nodded in response to his questioning stare.

*Poof*

With a poof she disappeared into thin air leaving behind a black cloak and wolf plushie.

That was the signal.

‘It’s done. Time to move out.’

Klautz turned to Liqui as his face bloomed into a smile. 

The previous haggard and defeated act was nowhere to be found…

Liqui squinted his eyes.

Liqui himself was caught off guard at this sudden change of emotion from Klautz’s previous haggard and tired appearance. Wasn’t he just a meat shield? A defeated soldier?

“Sir Liqui! You don’t know how much you have inspired me today. Your words have motivated me to strive hard for my goals till I die. I would work, work and work to the point that it kills me. Work is indeed the best thing that as a human I should focus on. I will work to get the maximum returns!”

Klautz came up with something far more contrasting and gibberish to catch Liqui off guard. Till then he was but meekly listening with tired eyes as if he didn’t want to work anymore. But his face had brightened up all of a sudden.

“Sir, I am going back to work following your footsteps. I hope that you keep inspiring people around you.”

***

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