— Hey, what's going on here!
A rough voice rang out from behind.
Kane, flinching, stopped and looked at the source of the voice. He had lost his temper and made noise, which he had wanted to avoid. At last, he noticed a man emerging from the darkness.
The man's eyes widened at the sight: a corpse and a boy, all covered in blood, looking at him with a murderous gaze.
— Aa…
Before he could scream, Kane threw the sword, piercing his head. And now there was a third corpse in this deserted alley.
— Nobody. – Kane hissed.
Walking up and pulling out the sword, casting one last glance at the bearded man, he thought that he was lucky it had not been an adventurer.
He decided to speed up as much as possible. He needed to kill at least one more today. Even if he did not spend much time on them, the distances made themselves felt.
But he had thought this through too. Because he had studied them quite well and knew that the next target would be the closest to their so-called base. So they always returned there, so that his disappearance would not be noticed immediately and they would not decide to check.
He just could not predict whether it would be one person or several. He had no exact answer. And the smallest chance that could happen — they would simply ignore him, but that would only be for a time.
They would have to check later anyway, and, of course, they would go to the nearest one.
With every second, he came closer and closer. And he did not have to wait long before he arrived at the destination. Then Kane began quickly scanning the area and listening to any sound, ignoring the noise of the busy street.
But he heard and saw nothing. Having searched every corner of the alley, Kane realized:
«I'm late?»
The realization of this evoked in Kane neither anger nor disappointment — absolutely nothing. He had the thought of going to the closest target at the moment, but he immediately abandoned this idea.
It was already getting light, and he was all covered in blood, and the fact that they had made too much noise, because of which he had to kill one extra person, made it clear that the bodies had already been found.
He needed to get home before the sun fully rose and quickly get rid of the evidence.
So he did not wait any longer, and an hour later, he was already home, walking through the alleys completely naked. He decided that it was better to be seen naked, and even if rumors spread about him, it was no big deal — it was better than being accused of murder, he thought, going down to his house.
Having taken a shower, he threw out all the broken furniture and burned it.
— Ha-ha, now I am fully ready for her arrival.
Looking around his now somewhat empty house, he suddenly said:
— Well, how do you like it?
But in response, he heard only silence.
— Trash.
– Ha-ha-ha.
---
Whoosh.
«How did this happen?!» — he thought, dodging the blow of an unknown adventurer. Kane could not understand who it was. His face was fully hidden by armor.
Bang.
But Kane had no time to think; he had to dodge again, seeing what had happened to the place where he had just stood. He understood: however hard he tried, he would not win.
Kane had understood from the very beginning that the opponent before him was stronger, so he decided to use the rat's tactic. But when there was a perfect moment to attack, Kane could not even move his arm before he flew into the dungeon wall in an instant. That was when he understood that they were playing with him and could take his life at any second.
And the main thing Kane did not understand was — why? He did not understand why the stranger had attacked him. To rob him? That was unlikely. Or did he hold a grudge? But then another question arose — what grudge?
«Or maybe I was just unlucky,» — Kane did not rule out this possibility.
Clang.
Blocking the sword, Kane felt as if he had struck an unbreakable wall.
«Too terrifying a difference.»
But this only amused Kane. Every second of this battle excited him.
An unbreakable wall — that was the best opponent to give his all against. Gathering all his strength into a fist, he rushed towards this feeling.
Clang.
Bang.
Clang.
Clang.
Blow.
— Ha-ha.
Of course, however much Kane liked this feeling, at the same time he also felt irritation that his opponent did not take him seriously at all. But the feeling of joy was too strong, so he did not focus much attention on it, and simply had fun.
Clang.
— A-ha-ha.
Having parried his attack by some miracle, he wanted to immediately retreat, because it was a trap.
Bang.
But he did not manage, as a lightning-fast blow sent Kane into a knockout. He did not even have time to react, did not even have time to see the attack.
Opening his eyes, Kane immediately began seizing control over the body, which, of course, he successfully did. Jumping up, he did not understand where he was, but the noise of the crowd and the starry sky said he was not in the dungeon.
Following the noise of the crowd, he understood that he was in a park, in the bushes. Which evoked mixed feelings in him. But he knew one thing: he had been beaten and dumped in the park. And why this was done, he did not understand, but he would not mind repeating it.
«If one must die, then only in such a battle.»
While he walked through the park, lit by lanterns, he was deep in thought. But even so, he saw the looks passersby were giving him. Looks full of disgust. But Kane did not dwell on it, until he noticed that he was completely naked.
«He, the bastard, even undressed me?!» — he shouted in his head.
He did not care that such looks were thrown at him; he did not care what rumors would spread about him. He did not think about it. Only one thing worried him: that he would have to buy equipment again. Again spending the money he had saved to spend on prostitutes.
Kane was a little saddened, but not too much, because on returning home, this feeling evaporated, as if it had never been there.
A few days later, Ais still had not returned, which played into my hands. All this time, I was tracking the remaining ones and killed two. And then they fully went into hiding, hoping that I would not find them. The bastards turned out to be right; I never found them.
— Perverted crow, what will you order?
…
I stared at Syr, who was holding back a smirk, looking back at me. I stared at her, trying with all my might to show that I did not want to smash her face against this table. But I held back and turned my attention back to the menu.
«What should I eat today?» — I thought, going over all the possible dishes I knew.
— Noodles.
— Noodles? Nothing else?
— Alright. Wait a little, perverted crow, ha-ha, — she said, laughing as she left.
At first, I paid no attention to it, but when some children started pointing fingers at me and saying something like "pervert," I became interested in what was wrong.
And after several hours of investigation, I learned that rumors were going around about me, that I was a pervert who walked around the streets naked. It was some kind of useless and empty waste of time. But thanks to this, I heard other rumors that were going around Orario, and they were also connected with me.
These rumors were about a maniac who had appeared in Orario. So these rumors going around about me were not so useless. I was already quite popular in Orario, and these rumors quickly spread through Orario, so there was a high chance that no one would trace it back to me in this investigation, if, of course, there was one.
Only now I would have to be more careful. If they suddenly appeared again, I would not think long before catching and killing them. But I just had to hide the traces, or simply wait until Orario calmed down and everyone forgot about it.
«Of course, I'll choose to wait.»