He stepped out of the secret chamber.
Macar immediately grabbed a missionary to give him some instructions, telling him to pass a message to Mima and the others.
Then, without looking back, he walked toward the village entrance. He knew they had to make this trip quick.
Fula, the strongest person in the village, had vanished without a trace...
And now even he, the Paladin Captain, had to leave.
The forces defending the village would be incredibly weak. A few powerful variant monsters could easily massacre the entire village.
Without him leading them, they had to rely solely on the remaining knight guards and cleric attendants.
The Professional-grade threats they could handle would be extremely limited; even three Professional-grade combatants would be enough to wipe everyone in the village out.
“Miss Gelin... can you keep up with me? Do you need me to carry you?” Macar asked Ogre.
This was a solution he had already prepared.
Although he didn't understand why Cleric Fula insisted on having Gelin tag along, as a lower-ranking church attendant, he could only obey orders.
Moreover, it was an urgent order.
“I am the disciple of a Discipline Grand Knight, after all,” Ogre said as he walked, which served as an indirect answer.
“So you really...” Macar stopped mid-sentence and said no more.
In truth, he had already noticed some 'abnormalities' in Ogre when they were practicing swordsmanship earlier.
However, blinded by Ogre's appearance and his own preconceptions, he had ignored those signs.
“There's nothing to be surprised about,” Ogre's voice drifted out from beneath the mask.
Ever since Fula had placed the restriction on him, Ogre hadn't cared as much about maintaining his disguise.
After all, he would have to leave in a few days at most anyway.
He just hadn't expected it to happen so suddenly.
“Maybe I should have realized it sooner... Aunt Mima was right. The more beautiful a woman is, the more she lies.”
Macar did not mean to blame Ogre. This was mainly because Ogre truly hadn't caused him any harm.
He had even taken the initiative to play matchmaker between him and Eve.
Furthermore, during the past two days when Ogre had stayed at their house, he could clearly feel that Aunt Mima and Maqi had both become much more cheerful.
“At least my Silver Badge is real. Besides, in daily life, isn't everyone just acting a part?” Ogre said, quickening his pace.
In any case, he wasn't actually a woman...
What Ogre was currently pondering was the meaning of the words Fula had left behind—why they had to be wary of blue-eyed creatures.
'Blue eyes... is he telling me to be wary of creatures bound by forced contracts?'
As far as Ogre knew, aside from individuals born with blue eyes, usually only mana beasts whose minds were forcibly controlled by mages injecting mana into them would exhibit blue eyes.
Blue eyes were the color of overflowing mana.
But... hadn't this kind of manipulation technique been phased out more than a decade ago? Forcible control of this manner consumed immense amounts of mana.
Thus, mages had long since transitioned to using modern magic circle contracts, only resorting to such temporary puppetry spells on rare occasions when they were unprepared.
“You're not wrong.”
Macar still couldn't connect this version of Gelin with the fragile, cute, and clumsy girl from before.
Her logic was simply too clear.
This was a feeling Macar had only ever sensed from the leaders of certain adventuring bands.
“Mr. Karl?! Where are you two off to in such a rush?”
As Macar and Ogre conversed, they reached the village entrance, only to bump right into an old acquaintance.
“Kakafiel!” Macar halted, his gaze falling upon the horned horse beneath him.
He had been worrying about their lack of transport, and now a mount had practically delivered itself.
“Could we borrow your horned horse?” Macar asked immediately, his tone leaving no room for refusal.
“Of course.”
Kakafiel had already completed his cargo transport, so his attitude was naturally much less stubborn than before.
He also guessed that Macar likely had an urgent matter to attend to.
Thus, happy to do him a favor, he immediately leaped off the horse.
“The situation is critical, so please accept my thanks! Gelin, mount up!”
Macar mounted the horse without hesitation and reached out his hand to Ogre.
“I'm glad I could help... Wait, is this Miss Gelin from before?” Kakafiel looked at Ogre, who was preparing to mount the horse.
This girl, who had always concealed her true face, gave him a sense of mystery similar to Goler—so she had left a deep impression on him.
After all, even now, Ogre was still wearing a mask.
“Wait, Macar,” Ogre called out after mounting the horse, stopping Macar. He then immediately turned to Kakafiel and asked, “When you came back, did you encounter anything along the road near Roke Town?”
Ogre's question successfully made Macar freeze and calm down.
Macar realized that the girl behind him seemed to have a sharper mind than he did...
He had completely forgotten to ask about this just now; upon meeting Kakafiel, he had only been thinking about how to leave as quickly as possible.
“Huh? Oh, I took a different path on my way back. Though, right before I reached the village, I did run into some bandits...” Kakafiel replied, scratching his head.
“Bandits?” Ogre repeated instinctively.
Encountering bandits so close to the village?
Weren't those guys usually only active along the main roads?
Still, it wasn't a major issue...
“Yeah, that's about it. Everything went quite smoothly, otherwise you wouldn't be seeing me here, right?” Kakafiel chuckled.
The only reason everything had gone so smoothly was thanks to Goler. He hadn't expected the knight he had recruited on a whim to be so fierce.
“Alright, I understand. Farewell, Mr. Kakafiel,” Ogre said, turning his head to signal Macar that they could set off.
The horned horse pulling the carriage indeed hadn't been very fast.
But now that the horned horse was freed from the burden of the cargo, its speed should be decent.
More importantly, this would save them a lot of energy along the way.
“Farewell,” Kakafiel smiled.
But then, he suddenly realized something was amiss...
“Wait, didn't I remember that Miss Gelin had something wrong with her throat? Then who was that person who just greeted me?”
...
“It seems the situation isn't too severe,” Macar sighed softly in relief.
The disaster hadn't spread yet... which meant Cleric Fula might truly just be trapped.
“Mm,” Ogre replied.
He still felt that the situation was very grave... If Fula had gone alone, that would be one thing.
But what if... what if he had notified the headquarters and called for assistance?
Even if only a single helper had arrived, that would still make two Senior Professionals—and Senior Professionals from the Church of Dawn at that.
This was no small lineup even within the Professionals Association.
Two Silver-grade adventurers could already resolve the vast majority of commissions.
One had to realize that within a typical knightly family, usually only a Viscount could be knighted as a Silver-grade Knight.
A Baron didn't even stand a chance.
And within a noble knightly family, usually only one person could inherit the title of Viscount.
“Still, we cannot be careless,” Macar said.
Ogre: “Mm.”
The sound of the galloping horned horse caught the attention of a knight outside the village.
This knight was leaning against a shedding tree, staring off into the distance as if lost in thought.
He only took notice when the horned horse ridden by Ogre and Macar burst forth from the village entrance.
“That is... Kakafiel's horse.” The knight's eyes followed the movement of the horned horse until it vanished completely from sight.
“Another masked fellow hiding his head and tail?” The knight had also noticed Ogre on the horned horse.
Aside from Kakafiel's horned horse, the mask was also one of the reasons that caught his eye.
He had never forgotten that he had an enemy who wore a striped mask...
Unfortunately, according to the information he had gathered, that guy had already fled and vanished without a trace after killing the son of some noble.
Fortunately, he had obtained that guy's name.
“Ogre... that's his name, right? Even the name sounds like the grunt of an ogre...” the knight muttered to himself.
...
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