The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 246

As the gold dragon soared through the sky, Narni, which had been quiet, suddenly turned into chaos.

Fortunately, at least it wasn’t the ominous black dragon or the violent red dragon.

Villagers came rushing out of their homes to catch a glimpse of the flying gold dragon, some even kneeling down in prayer.

[Hehehe, everyone recognizes my greatness.]

Gemma, seeing the worshipping crowd, puffed up her chest with pride.

“Don’t get too cocky.”

[Understood….]

I decided to be a bit more stern, worried she might have another strange thought.

“Hey. Let’s come down.”

After continuing our flight, we eventually landed in a forest.

According to the intel I gathered, it should definitely be here.

This was the forest marked as having dire wolves and thieves.

After landing in the forest, Gemma transformed back into her human form.

“Can I go wild here?!”

“Yeah.”

“Hehe, I’ll show everyone what’s what!”

It seemed Gemma was still pumped from being worshipped during our flight, waving her arms around excitedly.

“Do we have a way to find them?”

In the serene forest, we only occasionally heard the sounds of animals or rustling but didn’t see any of the monsters or thieves we came to find.

Although it looked all calm and quiet, there were surely monsters hiding somewhere.

“It’s not that difficult.”

When both monsters and humans are hiding, it’s essential to find the humans first.

If we deal with the monsters first, the humans will just hide better.

“Just wait a bit. They’ll be hiding in a spot that’s not too visible.”

“… Are we just supposed to wait?”

“Yep. They’ll sneak out on their own.”

Since I scattered some bait, the ‘humans’ would eventually show up.

A little while later, we began to hear footsteps nearby.

They’d taken the bait.

“Are you sure a gold dragon flew here?”

“Definitely, Leader! We didn’t see it inside, but we all saw it! Right, guys?”

“Yeah, that’s right!”

“It was shining really bright!”

“If the dragon landed here… won’t we get killed if we run into it?”

“When you see a dragon, just get the hell outta here!!”

About ten men, looking like bandits, were walking our way.

They looked just like rogues.

“Wow… they’re really coming?”

“The scales of the gold dragon are worth more than the same weight in gold. They must’ve come to scavenge.”

Our strategy of flying low was paying off.

Hiding under the shade of a suitably sized rock, we listened to the men as they looked around.

“Seems like everyone’s out. Should we go?”

Everyone nodded.

With an expert or two, and a master, along with a gold dragon that can use magic, we had more than enough power to handle these thieves.

Just as we were about to charge out, a new presence emerged from the opposite direction.

“The Great Scorpion Gang! Your evil deeds end here!”

The booming voice of another man halted our movements instantly.

“Do you know him?”

“Nope… Who’s that?”

Peeking out slightly, I saw a typical adventurer equipped in a leather tunic and cloak, brandishing a spear as he approached the thieves.

“What a miracle to find something after days of searching… the gold dragon was my symbol of luck!”

He looked as dirty as the bandits, having likely been camping for quite some time.

“You claim to be a symbol of luck?”

“I might be a bit lucky, yes. Hmm, you know a thing or two, human.”

The situation was getting interesting, so I decided to watch.

“Ha… did you come looking for a piece of the gold dragon’s scales?! Sorry, but I won’t be handing over even a tiny bit!”

“Who said I’m here for that?! Stand still and be my meal for this spear, Bryunak!!”

The adventurer charged forward with his spear raised high.

He spoke oddly, but his posture was impressive, with an aura flickering at the tip of his spear.

Though faint, having an aura means he’s skilled enough to be at the expert level or beyond in our guild.

At the very least, he must be wearing a silver plate.

“Wait, is he a bounty hunter?! Everyone, draw your weapons!”

“““Yes, Boss!!”””

The thieves all drew their weapons and charged at the adventurer.

There didn’t seem to be any who could use an aura among the thieves, but there were ten of them.

While the adventurer might be highly skilled, being outnumbered could spell danger if he couldn’t manage to avoid attacks.

“What should we do?”

It was River’s voice just before the two collided.

“Should we just watch? We won’t get the bounty anyway.”

“Huh? Does that mean we can’t play?”

“It doesn’t mean that at all.”

“If it looks like he’s in trouble, we should step in.”

Everyone decided to observe for now.

This man had been fighting these thieves for days, so it was only fair to let him have the opening move.

It was rare to see someone wield a spear properly, so I was also curious about how he’d fight.

And just as the adventurer and the thieves were about to clash…

“Rooar!!!”

“Oh no! A dire wolf!!”

“Help!!!”

The roaring of beasts and the screams of men filled the air.

A pack of giant brown wolves, dire wolves, flooded in, turning the intriguing scuffle into chaos.

“Hey… hey hey hey! You damn mutts!!! Just when the fun was starting, what are you doing!!!”

In disbelief, I quickly pulled out my squirette and dashed in.

As soon as we jumped in, the situation was quickly taken care of.

“Whoa!!! Thank you, knights!! You saved my life!!!”

Eight corpses of the enormous dire wolves lay piled on the ground.

The thief leader bowed repeatedly in gratitude.

The dire wolves charged like the wind, but before I could even react, I had already taken down six of them.

These thieves seemed like pretty nasty fellows, and I’d planned to slaughter them all, but seeing them groveling like this felt odd.

“I… I could’ve handled that alone, you know…!”

The spear-wielding adventurer looked a right mess, but his expression was heroic.

To fend off the dire wolves, he had raised his spear only to have it break, so I wondered if we should call him a mace user instead.

His left arm was scratched by claws, and blood dripped down, yet he insisted he was fine.

I pressed down on the wound.

“Of course you could.”

“Owwwwww!”

The spear-wielding adventurer let out a cry.

“Things are a bit different from my plan, but hey everyone, listen up. I’m a knight dispatched from Titan. I’ve come here for monster extermination and to maintain peace.”

“Whoa?!”

When the thieves heard ‘peacekeeping,’ they turned pale.

But they couldn’t do much more than that.

Having just seen how casually I took down dire wolves, what could they even do?

If they had a death wish, they might attack, but they might just run away instead.

“Has anyone seen anything suspicious besides dire wolves around here?”

“Um… what do you mean by suspicious?”

“Anything like ominous objects, black smoke, or places marked with red or black sigils, or large cloaked figures that obscured their faces. Anything like that will do.”

The things I mentioned were all evidence of the Demon Church.

Since the thieves lived in this forest, I was curious if they might have seen something.

“… Is that what I think it is?”

“Uh… if we mention this, won’t we be dead meat?”

The thieves started whispering among themselves, trying to speak as quietly as possible, but I could still hear them.

It seemed they knew something.

“… I do know one thing.”

But it was not one of the thieves but the spear-wielding adventurer… or should I say the mace user who spoke first.

“I’m Aran. An adventurer from the Narni branch of the Adventurer’s Guild. Thanks for saving me back there.”

Just moments ago, he was boasting about how he could handle everything alone, but the moment I mentioned I was from Titan, his attitude changed.

What a predictable fellow.

As I stole a glance, I could see the glint of bronze on his plate armor.

“We… we have something to share too! It’s definitely different from what he knows!”

“We still have our use!! Please don’t kill us!!”

As adventurer Aran offered to share the location of the clue, the thieves turned pale and insisted they also had information to share, causing a commotion.

They seemed to realize that if they didn’t say anything soon, they might lose their heads.

In reality, what hung over their necks was that folks like me could just snuff them out if we didn’t see them as useful.