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When we returned to the room, Finia told us what happened during their shopping.

How they got involved with the drunkards from before, brought into an alley, and were attacked by a monstrous being after one of the men devoured a strange drug.

If I heard it in any other town, I would’ve laughed it off as a joke. But anything could happen in this city.

“Is that the drug the Lamech family is dealing in?”
“I’m not sure about that, but his strength was already beyond that of a human. In pure destructive power, he could even match up to Lord Lyell.”
“Woah.”

Being his comrade, I knew very well how strong Lyell was.

He held the Gift of Combat Tactics which allowed him to instinctively make the best move in any situation, but he didn’t have any Gift that boosted his attack power.

The reason behind his abilities was that he utilized the Gift of Toughness to the extreme, and trained to the point that a normal human would’ve long collapsed.

His forged body, coupled with the heirloom Holy Sword’s power, granted him an unrivaled level of lethality.

If someone matched up to him, that someone would no longer be human. It would be at a level where I’m not sure I’d be able to exceed even with full strengthening.

“But then, Den went booom, and took him down with one move! He was super strong!”
“Huh, Den, really?”

Seeing Finia’s somewhat excited attitude, I felt a little jealous towards Den.

It’s like, she was always focused entirely on me, so I really didn’t like her looking at other men.

“If you’re that strong, would you like to have a match?”
“That would be impossible. I will die so please stop.”
“Why? If what Finia said is true, it should be a decent match, right?”
“My power is something superficial. It is dependent on my basic physical abilities and the strengthening magic and hand-to-hand combat that Lord Hastur taught me. That will not allow me to take you on at all, Lady Nicole.”
“Is that so?”

Den had evolved into a superior species from an Ogre. His physical abilities were by no means inferior to what they used to be, even if his body grew smaller.

Rather, with his excess flesh gone, his body could now output the power with the highest efficiency.

He was like weapons in that regard. At first, they tended to be bulky and full of inefficiency. Then they would be adjusted to a big size that offered power. And finally, they would narrow to a size that offered the highest efficiency.

Monsters were similar to that. When one was an Ogre, they had an unnecessarily big size and power that did not fit their size.

As they evolved into a High Ogre, Ogre General, and so on, their body grew larger and stronger. However, when they reached an Ogre Lord, their body instead grew smaller, which apparently allowed them to output their power with the highest efficiency.

Adding body strengthening magic and hand-to-hand combat to that should’ve made him a good opponent for me.

“Lady Nicole’s power combat skills have been forged and polished for many years. I who only dabbled in it for a few years could not possibly…”
“Really? Well, if you aren’t willing I’m not going to force you.”

Anyway, what Finia said matters more now. We digressed, but I wanted to investigate where that medicine came from.

But they were already dead, and the guards probably already recovered their corpses too.

“If possible, I wanted to investigate the said drug bottle.”
“There were too many eyes on us, so I forgot to retrieve it. My apologies.”
“No, it’s better than drawing too much attention towards you two. Still, I wish those three were simply doing this for revenge.”
“It would be far too convenient for them to obtain that drug at such a timing.”
“The effects of it are also too dangerous. He seemed to have completely lost his reason. If something like that spread in the city, it would lead to an uproar.”

Letina and Finia presented their respective takes.

Certainly, some time had passed since they made a move on us, but it hasn’t been that long ago.

Obtaining a dangerous drug in such a short time felt far too convenient as Letina said.

There’s also its effect too. If a medicine that destroyed someone’s humanity spread around, we couldn’t even guarantee the city’s safety.

I didn’t know what kind of drug it was, but if overdose leads to getting turned into a monster, it will be like keeping monsters inside the city.

“Is there a possibility that only those men were given drugs with such drastic effects?”
“You mean the distributor did it intentionally?”
“Letina and my face were seen back then too. If they were aiming at us, making that move seems likely.”
“Yeah, if you say that, Nicole, it might be the case.”

Letina was convinced, but honestly, even I was only half-convinced in my own statement.

In the first place, Cain still hadn’t taken a clearly antagonistic attitude towards us so far.

I checked his room, but I didn’t make any blunder that would reveal my identity.

Earlier I couldn’t think clearly because I didn’t know Finia and Den’s whereabouts, but thinking back, there was no reason to deliberately target them.

“Could it be that something happened that had him zero in on us?”
“If that’s the case, we have to be extra careful from now on.”
“Yeah. You should be careful too, Finia, Den. We should warn Michelle and Cloud too.”
“Then I shall go and tell them.”

Den stood up at my words.

But I grabbed his hand and made him sit.

“Calm down. As I already said, we have to be careful, so I can’t have you acting alone.”
“But…”
“I who excels in covert operations should be the one to go instead.”

If I used my Stealth Gift, some students would be unable to detect me.

In other words, as long as it wasn’t revealed that I left my room, I could head outside. Not to mention, I had my illusion ring on me too now.

If I just assumed a different appearance, the possibility of being targeted would be negligible.

“But Lady Nicole, going alone would be—”
“I excel at independent actions. You should know that too, Den.”

He was at God Hastur’s side. In other words, he was also near Whitey—the God of Destruction, so he should have heard of my life before reincarnating.

As such, he should be well aware of my ability as Reid.

“Yes, of course. But still.”
“You really are a worrywart. I do get it though. Then let’s all go together later.”
“That would put me at ease.”

It has been quite some time since I moved into the dormitory. The excuse that I needed daily necessities would no longer work to slip out.

But I still had my ways to deal with it.

If I just break one leg of a chair, I could slip out under the pretext of doing repairs on it. And naturally, taking my servant along to carry the luggage wouldn’t be unnatural either.

Like that, we decided to head out to the city once again.