The Strongest Villain Sets Out: Reincarnated into a Merit-Based Clan, I Become the World's Strongest Swordsman - Chapter 87: Rabbit Ears

“Ah, welcome back, Luka.”

After the black-clad men escaped, Cornelia and I continued searching the area for a while before returning to where Lucia and the others were waiting.

“I’m back.”

“Any harvest?”

“Sort of. There was someone I wanted to capture and interrogate, but he got away splendidly.”

“Huh? He escaped from Luka? Even with Cornelia there?”

“As you can see.”

I dramatically raised both hands in a surrender pose.

Though it was a surprise attack using magical tools, they were quite skilled. The type of enemies who’d make you pay if you got cocky and underestimated them. I was sure we’d meet again once the coup began. I’d look forward to that time.

“Hmm… to escape from both Luka and Cornelia is amazing. This coup might not be straightforward.”

Lucia grinned happily, and I returned her look with a fearless expression.

“That’s exactly what I want.”

The stronger the enemy, the better. If they were too strong, it wouldn’t even be a fight, but those guys could be even stronger.

“Really, Luka looks so happy at times like this. I’m envious.”

“You should enjoy it too, Lucia. You’ll gain combat experience like never before.”

While in the imperial capital, it was difficult to accumulate person-to-person combat. Especially real fights to the death.

However, when the coup occurred in the Zora Federation, things would be different. The opponents were clearly criminals who’d committed treason. Killing them freely wouldn’t inconvenience anyone or get us blamed. Perfect for killing as much as we wanted.

We couldn’t just go around killing people indiscriminately in the imperial capital. We had to gain plenty of experience from the coup.

“Yes, yes. Of course I’ll do my best too. So I won’t be left behind by you.”

“I’m also looking forward to firing magic at criminals. I think it’ll be good experimentation.”

“Right.”

Sheila’s morale was unusually high too.

She, like me, had been seeking combat opportunities.

Among us, she had the most gentle and calm personality, but her passion for magic was genuine. She couldn’t conduct proper verification forever just targeting practice dummies. She understood that well.

“Then let’s go. I’ve finished my business for now. We’ll casually sightsee and return to the inn.”

“Yay! Sightseeing, sightseeing~”

Cornelia was the first to rejoice at my suggestion. She’d wanted to sightsee.

“Is there any delicious food? I want to eat meat sometimes.”

“I’d like to look for fruit.”

Lucia requested meat. Sheila requested fruit.

I could tell with Cornelia without asking. Meat anyway—or rather, everything. She’d reach for everything that caught her eye and follow her interests. That was the woman named Cornelia Zehabaruto.

As I expected, Cornelia joined the two making requests.

“I just want to look around at everything. That’s fine, right, Luka?”

“We have time. Do whatever you want.”

Even if I stopped her, she’d go on her own anyway. Better to keep the lead if that was the case.

Cornelia would immediately try to cut people if I took my eyes off her. Like a wild beast.

I sighed internally as we all moved together.

I handled the three’s requests one after another.

…Huh? Me? I went to a bookstore with Sheila. It was very enjoyable.

Incidentally, in this case, even though she was the same type of mage, Lucia wasn’t very interested in bookstores. While interested in books themselves, she liked using magic rather than the learning process. Therefore, she didn’t read academic papers at all.

And Cornelia was… the same type as Lucia but worse. She didn’t even enter the bookstore.

“Boo, so boring…”

She said while leisurely looking up at the sky.

After enjoying sightseeing for a while, we headed back to the inn.

The Zora Federation possessed extremely vast territory. Compared to the empire it was lacking, but among neighboring countries excluding the empire, it boasted nearly double the territory.

The reason was its nature as a demi-human alliance.

Once, each race had claimed territory and lived separately, but a certain person had united them to create one country. Therefore, all the gathered races’ lands became national territory. Of course it was vast.

Normally, vast territory made countries easier targets for external enemies, but the demi-humans had endured oppression from other countries with their exceptional power. Using military force, they’d repelled enemy soldiers who’d marched on them countless times.

Hearing that made me even more excited. For the coming battles.

I gazed at the inn gradually coming into view. Partway there, someone suddenly cut across in front of me from the side.

I instinctively pulled back to dodge, but otherwise we would have collided. The other party was also surprised, and a cute female voice leaked out with “Kyah!”

The suspicious person in a cloak fell backward beside me.

Her hood was slightly pushed back, revealing her face. I recognized that face.

“Hmm? You are…”

If my memory was correct, she was a tragic beastwoman who’d die in the coup. She had distinctive white rabbit ears on her head.