玉蒲团之云雨山庄

"Who are you?" Lyan asked towards the darkness. The situation around him is quite unexpected.

Currently, a knife is being aimed at a zero distance on his neck. In a normal circumstance, a single wrong move could determine his fate. It`s not surprising for a person to immediately surrender and beg for his life if they are in Lyan`s position.

But currently, rather than an expression of fear towards death, Lyan is having an expression that seems as if he is impressed instead.

At the time he is about to break through the rain to search for a tavern to clear his mind, a single member of the crows infiltrated his inn room and attacked him before questioning him.

After subduing the crows\' member rather easily, Lyan got the idea of using his body with his incubus magic instead rather than going outside by himself.

And as he planned, he met the prince and the duke who are the people that are targeting him, and he managed to succeed in fooling the both powerful figures of the Astellia kingdom, but he never expect that his own body would get attacked inside his inn room.

(Ah... I forgot to summon the shadow servants and Hobu to protect my defenseless body as well, didn\'t I...?) (Lyan)

The room is rather dark, it\'s rather difficult to see clearly the sight of the person that is threatening his life, But suddenly-

*Rumble!*

Suddenly the sound of rumbling thunder sounded, lighting the room through the window for a short moment, But that short moment is enough for Lyan to have a clear look at the culprit before him.

It is such a small figure. She has a small build and looks just like a child. But Lyan does not underestimate her as he could sense that she has a rather high agility that must not be underestimated.

But the most particular part of the girl that stole Lyan\'s attention is her slightly pointy ears which is clearly not a trait belonging to a human.

(Halfling? No, if I\'m not mistaken, halflings should have more pointy ears than this. Is she a half-breed?) (Lyan)

Lyan remembers clearly the illustrations drawn about the other races that he read at the library he visited before. Judging from how the book illustrated a halfling with much more big pointy ears that are not as pointy as an elf, but definitely not so human-like as the one before him.

At the moment he saw the clear sight of the small figure before him, he also caught the glimpse of the condition of his room that entered his view. Unlike normal thieves that made a mess of a room as they look for the things they want to steal, the little thief before him is rather neat.

He saw that the things he put are all in their place. There are signs of the things being moved as she must be in a hurry when she is searching thoroughly of the room, and judging from her actions, she must be surprised when Lyan unexpectedly wakes up, and is still thinking of a way to flee from the place.

"Don"t think of anythin\' stupid, show me all of your money and you"ll live," The figure said.

She attempted to make her voice sounds serious and threatening, but to Lyan, her voice sounded cuter because of her desperate attempt. Of course, he did not say that out loud.

"I will, I will. So who are you, young miss? It\'s unlikely for the prince to send someone to assassinate me because of the earlier exchange... So does that scary duke send you? If he does, I might need to be extra wary of him, though..." Lyan\'s tone of questioning remains calm, or rather, relaxed. It`s like he\'s having a small talk with a person he met in a tavern or something.

"Duke? Prince? Don\'t try to confuse me!" The small voice scowled and the knife pressed into his neck got more force, making some blood start to drip.

But, Lyan\'s expressions remain the same.

"Hm... You don\'t look like you\'re lying... So you\'re not the duke\'s men... And not the crown prince\'s men either..." Lyan narrowed his eyes and frowned as he realized that there are no important strings attached to the little girl before him.

As he concluded that the two important figures are not behind the little girl, his focus went to the particular thing on her neck.

A collar.

In a single glance, Lyan could notice that it is a magic slave collar that is used for slaves. They are imbued with modified curse magic that is used for a long time in order to ensure the masters of the slaves from getting attacked and rebelled by their slaves.

(It\'s unlikely for a slave to be working as a thief... She doesn\'t seem to have any particular motive in breaking into my place other than stealing as well... So she is some kind of a dirty underground organization\'s slave, I guess...?) (Lyan)

Slaves are commonly owned by the wealthy people, merchants, and nobles. It\'s rare, but there are also people that possess slaves for some jobs and uses. Other than those are vile people that use slaves to do crimes in their stead.

Underground organizations, undercover bandits, and dirty merchants usually use those kinds of slaves to do some kinds of dirty work such as assassination, ambush, burglar, and other crimes. They usually get their slaves illegally either by raiding a village and enslaving them, or getting them through debts.

In the case of underground organizations, it\'s possible for them to have lots of slaves from raids and debts.

(Looks like there is some kind of a quota of money that she must deliver to her master in a day, huh? And whether it\'s a piece of good luck or bad luck for her, I ordered a high-quality inn room with a decent price, so it\'s not surprising for her to think that she would be able to fetch some great loots from my room...) (Lyan)

"I see... So you did not found anything yet, huh?" (Lyan)

"Huh?" The girl flinched. Judging from her reaction, it means that Lyan\'s guess is quite accurate.

Judging from her agility which also came from her racial talent, it should be possible for her to immediately flee from the window at the moment Lyan just woke up and still did not realize about her presence.

(The reason she did not flee yet is that she hadn\'t found a single coin or valuable thing yet. Well, it\'s not surprising since I store all of them inside the grimoire\'s space since it\'s more convenient to summon the coins rather than taking them one by one from the bag...) (Lyan)

"What a bad luck. You should have looted the other rooms instead of mine..." Lyan uttered in pity.

"Shut it! I\'m asking you to show me where all your money is!! Do you not care about your life!?" The girl shouted, but she did not apply more force on her knife. A small smile appeared on Lyan\'s face as he notice it.

The reason is clear.

She can\'t kill him since she wouldn\'t be able to know where his money is if he died.

"What are you smiling for!? You think I won\'t kill you for real!?" The girl emits her bloodlust.

It\'s a plausible bloodlust that does not match her appearance that is very similar to a little girl at all. Her bloodlust felt rough and cold like an assassin, but even though the amount is unexpected, the pressure is not even enough to make Lyan blink.

"Now, now. There is no need to be so hasty, isn\'t it? Like I\'ve said, little girl. You should have looted the other rooms instead. That way, even if I notice your presence, I won\'t poke my nose in. Since you decided to loot my room, not just that you won\'t get a single coin from here, I have no choice but to figth back as well," Lyan uttered calmly as if he does not care about the knife aiming towards his throat.

"Hmph! What a bad bluff. You think I\'ll get scared and-"

"Try looking at what\'s on top of my head, you\'ll be surprised," Lyan cut her words.

"Eh?" The girl shifted her gaze while continuing to observe Lyan\'s movement, and she widened her eyes when she saw the creature on top of Lyan\'s head.

"A-An acid ant...? Why is it here..." The girl asked in confusion. It\'s clear from her hesitation and fear. She must have known the acid ant\'s ability to shoot dangerous acid.

"Hou... So you know about the rare acid ant. You\'re quite knowledgable for a little girl. But I think you should try looking around you now," (Lyan)

After hearing Lyan\'s words, the girl\'s body tensed up. Just by sensing the presence around her alone she already knows what her situation is.

"I\'m... Surrounded...?"

___________________________________________________________________________

Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,797,710,950 Elnes / 3797 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire\'s Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1), Fey Mammoth (Lv. 1), Arcane Retriever (Lv. 1)

Grimoire\'s Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army