The Case of the Washed-Up F-Rank Adventurer Who Maxed Out His Agility by Relying on His Worthless ‘Flee’ Skill and Accidentally Became the Strongest in the World. He Can’t, However, Escape from the Yandere Beauties. - Chapter 47
Chapter 47: Interlude: The Women Chasing Mikami 3
“…Wait, you already know that ‘Sensei’s’ name? Then you don’t need my information after all, do you?”
The shopkeeper sounded a bit deflated.
“No… I only know his name and a few scraps of information. I’ve only spoken to him directly once, and that was a very long time ago. And… I just want to meet this man again. No matter what.”
As the hooded woman spoke, she gazed into empty space, as if tracing distant memories.
In the depths of those eyes hidden beneath the hood, the shopkeeper glimpsed a complex swirl of emotions he couldn’t fully comprehend.
Anger, sadness, or perhaps…
What do you plan to do when you meet him?
He was about to ask, but seeing the woman’s expression, the shopkeeper swallowed his words. There was no need to ask.
He felt he already understood the answer all too well.
This woman intended to challenge Mikami Shuzou to battle.
Whether her motive was long-festering revenge… or something else, something even more twisted… the shopkeeper had no way of knowing.
“So, do you know where this man is?”
The hooded woman turned her gaze back to the shopkeeper and asked.
“Yeah… more or less. Though he was in that town several years ago. Can’t say for sure if he’s still there now, to be honest.”
“That’s fine. Tell me.”
The shopkeeper fell silent for a moment, then let out a resigned sigh and reluctantly began to speak.
He told the woman everything he knew about the name and location of the guild in that frontier town—the place where the Moon Maidens had once been based, and where their “Sensei,” Mikami Shuzou, had belonged.
The hooded woman remained expressionless throughout, but when the story ended, the shopkeeper didn’t miss how her eyes narrowed in satisfaction.
“…So… what exactly do you plan to do when you meet this man?”
Even as he accepted the gold coins, the shopkeeper couldn’t suppress his curiosity and found himself asking.
But… he immediately regretted the question fiercely.
Because the atmosphere surrounding the hooded woman completely transformed.
And the eyes fixed on him from within that hood… even he, a humble tavern owner utterly unaccustomed to combat, could clearly sense the naked bloodlust dwelling within them.
“…It’s nothing major. I’m simply going to… repay an old debt, that’s all…”
The woman spoke in a voice so low it seemed to crawl along the ground, then casually placed three gold coins on the counter as promised and turned to leave without a sound.
That’s when it happened.
As the woman turned away, a pendant hanging from her neck caught the shopkeeper’s eye by chance.
It was a simple, unremarkable pendant on a silver chain.
But the crest engraved upon it… was a very particular and mysterious design that seemed somehow familiar…
The moment he saw that crest, a shudder unlike any he’d ever felt ran down the shopkeeper’s spine.
…N-no way…! That emblem is…!?
“That pendant…! You… don’t tell me…! Are you a ‘State-Appointed Hero’!?”
The shopkeeper found himself shouting.
On this continent, adventurers who called themselves “heroes” were a dime a dozen.
But “State-Appointed Heroes”—those whose power was officially recognized by the kingdom and granted a special title and emblem—could be counted on one hand throughout history.
Moreover, if you limited it to living female State-Appointed Heroes, only one should exist.
Could the hooded woman before him possibly be… that legendary hero Riana, known as the Black Dragon Slayer, the strongest hero on the continent!?
But Hero Riana had vanished suddenly several years ago and had been wandering the continent ever since, her whereabouts unknown.
The hooded swordswoman—no, State-Appointed Hero Riana—didn’t answer the shopkeeper’s astonished question at all.
She simply left the shop without a sound and vanished into the bustling crowds of the royal capital.
The shopkeeper stood frozen behind the counter for a long while, dumbstruck.
He nearly forgot to retrieve the three gold coins left on the counter…
Eventually, coming to his senses, he snatched up the coins with trembling hands and stuffed them deep into his pocket.
“…That ‘Sensei’ the Moon Maidens adored so much… turns out he really is some kind of absolute monster…”
The shopkeeper leaned against the counter and muttered quietly to himself.
Mikami Shuzou—a man obsessively pursued with maddening devotion by beautiful S-rank adventurers, and now hunted by the continent’s strongest hero, recognized by the kingdom itself.
In the shopkeeper’s mind, the image of this man had transcended that of a mere human.
What floated before his mind’s eye was the image of something beyond human comprehension—a terrifying, ominous, enormous shadow.
The shopkeeper’s body trembled.
…Yeah… best not to get involved with people like that…
Still… just what kind of monstrous man was he?
This Mikami Shuzou character…
In the shopkeeper’s heart, endless curiosity swirled together with an even greater fear.
