I removed the attackers from my inventory and dropped them onto the floor and removed their cloaks. Could you believe that the cloaks had the option for [Undetectable Stealth]? That was better than mine by far, although they were light and provided practically no defense whatsoever. Still, I was sure I could find a way to fuse them with my cloak to get something good.

They were two humans, two cat girls and one elf. All unconscious and I stripped them of their gear. All of them but the small human possessed nothing interesting. Simple mediocre gear. The blonde human though was carrying a sword called Crooked Dainsleif. I wondered if it had any relation to the one I was thinking about, and its stats were absurd.

[Item Name: Crooked Dainsleif

[Type: Soul [Unawaken] (Non-Consumable)

[Item grade: Low Epic

[Item Description: A poor imitation of the original that was once wielded by the Legendary Hero ****. This weapon is crooked and clearly can't possibly be the actual Legendary Weapon. Still… if one listens close enough, one can hear a heartbeat and a voice.

+300 attack power

-150 speed

-200 dexterity

+5% magic power boost

Attack Resistance

Magical Attack Nullification (1 charge per 5 days) [0/1]

[Value: 20 gold coins]

[Market price: 15 store points]

'Ah… if one's stats weren't abnormal on their own, wasn't this sword practically a nuisance? And what's a soul type of weapon?'

<<Notice: A soul weapon is a weapon that possesses a soul within it>>

'A soul… huh? Still this is some cheap knock off of the original and its creator didn't put in much effort into properly making it. It's freaking unbalanced. I don't know much about making weapons, but I'm sure everything is supposed to be balanced and this guy who is using this weapon, isn't it a pain in the ass, especially with his stats? He was barely C - rank, let own having high enough stats to use something like this. Is he dumb?'

While I was thinking about that, I heard the sound of something falling down from outside. I moved to the window, but I didn't see anything out there. I just found the view of the city. It wasn't something to boast about. Well, I was in the nice part of town, but beyond that was just darkness. No lights, no happy night walks, nothing but lifeless streets.

'I didn't expect this to be how my first time in a city would go.'

At least I had somewhere to rest in case I got tired. I didn't expect that finding Ulva would be easy, but I needed to do a little bit of information gathering. If they had mages on their side, jumping straight in to fight would be suicidal and stupid. Or if there were B or A ranked humans around, I'd be in for a doozy.

I didn't want to leave the humans here by themselves, but then I didn't know exactly what to do. Leaving them with only binds would be dumb since the elf had the skill [Trap Escape Level 8]. She would simply free herself and then the others.

After thinking for a while, I realized that I needed Yokino here to watch over them for me, but I couldn't even contact her and that was infuriating. In the end, I came to the conclusion that I needed help from one of the monsters in the West. So I informed Gorm and he said Nukeme was ready. At first, I wasn't interested, but since I was just going to be leaving him alone with the humans, it didn't matter much.

I opened a teleport gate for him and he came through, full of happiness. I gave him the order and he followed it to the letter, allowing me to rest assured that I could go scouting the area.

---

Day 28

"Hinotori-sama, Hinotori-sama, please wake up!"

I heard Nukeme cry for me. Slowly, I opened my eyes, only to be met by an unfamiliar white ceiling. For a second, I was confused as to where I was, but when I looked around, I realized I was in the room I booked the previous night.

[You are now level 20/30]

[You have acquired the skill [Sharp Talons]]

[Your magic power has grown! A new portion of the dark arts has been unlocked!]

[You have acquired [Shadow Being Summoning]]

[A new branch of magic has been acquired! [Summoning Magic]!]

I slowly sat up and noticed an arrow being pointed at my face. The elf was shockingly close to my body, alongside the two cat girls with their claws also in my face and the other two guys on top of Nukeme, all half naked since I stole their gear and stored them in my item box.

'What kind of wake-up call is this?'

I wondered to myself and scratched my head. I had one nasty headache and I couldn't remember why.

"I-I'm sorry."

The hob-goblin remorsefully said and I looked at him. He was quite pathetic under their knees.

"Move an inch and your minion gets it, and I stab you."

The elf said. She was acting like the leader of the group, although if this was the cliché adventurer party, the blonde guy would be the edgy leader.

I looked at my hands. They felt a bit numb so I tried flexing my fingers. Something just didn't feel right. It felt like I was sick, but I couldn't feel the sickness even though my body was acting weirdly.

'Agent… status report.'

<<Notice: Last night you got attacked by an unknown assailant who shot you with an Arrow laced with a strong Neurotoxin. You made it out alive, but the poison still has lingering effects and your skill [Poison Resistance] evolved into [Great Poison Resistance]>>

'Ah! First of all, I'm acting pretty cool, aren't I? Second… Oh right. I almost died last night. I barely made it out alive, huh? So that's why I feel weird. Well, I guess. I can still use magic, right?'

"Oi! Are you listening to me?!"

The elf screamed in my face. Damned Tsundere.

<<Notice: Although at a weaker level than you normally possess, your weakened state should have better magical power than those present in the room>>

The Agent just made my morning a bit good. The elf on the other hand decided it was a great idea to proceed with trying to stab me. With [Shadow Manipulation] I grabbed her and the others, hanging them, inches above the ground. They kept squirming as I drank a renosue half potion and gave one to Nukeme. My health points were dangerously low from earlier so using this was good and refreshing.

Nukeme went on one knee and was apologizing greatly to me.

"I'm sorry, Hinotori-sama. Because of me, you almost got killed."

'You idiot. I told you to call me Tori here. And I also ordered that you didn't treat me as if I were your boss.'

I let out a sigh and dragged a chair to where I was and sat down on it.

'It's getting exhausting speaking anyway. Nukeme, translate whatever I say for them.'

"As you wish."

He moved next to my seat and looked at them, his back straightened up. That was a bit weird, considering how he normally never did that. He even had a different air about him. I gave him the first sentence.

'Ask them if they are ready to listen.'

"Listen up. My mistress is ready to let you go, if you are willing to speak. Are you willing to speak?"

He asked them and majority of them nodded. It was only the elf who shook her head angrily. Majority ruled so I let them down, except for the elf since I couldn't trust her.

The others glared at me except for the blonde guy. He crossed his legs in his underwear in smiled brightly at me.

"My name's Marcus! Those two therianthropes are Mika and Nika. The big guy over there's Daryl and the rude elf is called Celica."

"You idiot! Don't give out our names just like that."

One of the twin cat girls said. She had short-cut magenta coloured hair with a head band covering her forehead. Her large eyes were now glaring daggers at him

"Don't go too hard on him, Mimi."

The other cat girl said, her ears dropping. She on the other hand had black green hair on a freckled face with large sky blue eyes.

"Hehe… Sorry Mimi, but that person said we should help her, so I think it's all good."

Marcus said nonchalantly.

"Your trust in that person is unnerving."

Daryl said. He was a big guy with dark skin and a rough looking face. He seemed to be in his early thirties with his left ear pierced. He also possessed a sort of mature disposition. He was probably the big brother figure of the entire group.

"No, no. It's all good. That person has gotten us out of many situations befo-"

"Oi! Silence!"

Nukeme ordered them and they looked at us, as if now realizing that they were my captives. I couldn't really use my aura because I was in a building filled with other people and I was still numb from the previous night.

'Ask them who "That person" is.'

Nukeme did so.

"Hmm… to be honest, I'm not sure who that person is. Just that appears out of nowhere, gives us advice and has white hair. She must be your friend since she wears a mask just like yours."

He pointed to my face and I suddenly became conscious of the mask. She was probably someone who just owned a variant version of this mask. It didn't seem like something rare so I just shrugged it off since they didn't know who exactly she was. Although the white hair probably made me flinch.

I doubted I'd get any more information without consuming their souls, so I would just move on to the next question for now. If nothing was satisfactory, I would take their souls.

'Damn… I don't like how this is starting to be a normal for me.'

'Ask them why they were searching for me?'

"Ok, so what do you guys want?"

"It's like we said. We just wanted to help you find your sister."

The Marcus guy said.

"Why?"

"Because that person told us to do so. She said we should help a little girl with blonde hair, wearing a black mask like hers find her sister."

"To what benefit?"

"None!"

One of the cat girls said defensively.

"So why would you guys just help me if you aren't getting anything out of it?"

"Because it's the right thing to do. I mean, for The Hero Party, helping out anyone in need is a norm."

Marcus said boldly and looked up at me with a weird gaze. For a second there, I could have called him heroic, but I simply couldn't see him that way. Simply put, there was no one here who was the hero.

'Is the hero somewhere in the city?'

I asked, curious. I really didn't want to get on the bad side of the main character of this stupid game.

'You're looking at him.'

Marcus said with a wide crazy grin. I looked around and the others expressions didn't change. If anything, they became more assertive of the matter. The elf was still wriggling about in her binds though.

'Does he have the ability to turn invisible or something?'

I tried to go for a joke, but they were all dead eyed and serious.

'Hero Party, huh? You don't possess a Sacred, neither are you blessed by any gods or divinities. Even your oldest member isn't a B rank adventurer. You are too weak to don such a title for yourself.'

"Well, I'm not the hero yet, but I'll become one soon."

I couldn't help myself but laugh at his delusions. This guy was basically a chuunibyou. He wasn't worth anything.

"Fufufufu…"

"What's so funny?"

'Sorry, but I couldn't help myself. You? A hero? Absolutely laughable. In that case, I shall let you know that I am The Demon Lord. You and I are destined to do battle, so shall I kill you here?'

Hahaha! Jokes on this guy. I was a chuunibyou in my former life as well. Calling myself the Crimson Herald of Justice with my Eternal Flames that engulfed everything! Now that I look back to then, I feel like I was quite cringe and weird.

All of them looked at me with a sort of skeptical gaze.

"Yeah, I just can't see you as a demon lord, little lady."

"What are you? Like 8 or something? Don't go joking around about something so serious."

"Shut your filthy mouths, you damned humans! Tori-sama speaks to you and you dare ridicule her? I should cut your tongues out and steal all your money."

'Ah… Nukeme sto-'

"Ah! You see? I told you guys That Person wasn't wrong. We definitely met someone interesting here."

He yelled, getting all the attention.

"Torisama, was it? Future hero here! I'm destined to fight you once I get my title and you don't look like someone who wants a boring fight. Let me live here and when I get strong, we duel it out!"

The guy ended up saying something absurd, but strangely enough, he managed to rile up my inner chuuni.

'Fufufu… I don't dislike this idea. Very well then, Future Hero Marcus, let's go save my sister!'