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I announced the result as if nothing, but it actually was not that easy.

The Juggernaut properly guarded against our attacks with its shields while using the lower pair of arms to attack us. It had a very solid fighting style.

His fight that focused on defense reminded me of that kidnapper from before. Add its Undead nature on top of that, and you’d get the worst opponent for me.

I couldn’t strangle it to death, and slashes barely affected it. It was a type of opponent that I’d try to avoid if I could, were I alone. But this time, I wasn’t, and this wasn’t that spacious lumberyard but a labyrinth passage.

I made full use of my mobility strengthened by threads, using walls and even the ceiling as a foothold to disturb the enemy. When I attracted its attention enough, Maxwell barraged it with Energy Bolts from the shooting system and ended the battle.

Looking back, it was a reasonable outcome. But breaking through its defenses was harder than I thought and it took a little longer. But that “little” could become fatal considering my stamina consumption.

“It seems it is over.”
“Haa… Haa…”
“What is wrong? Your magic disease is already healed, is it not?”
“It is healed but my stamina itself hasn’t made a recovery yet. Besides, this body has weak stamina, to begin with.”
“That’s quite troubling. If you don’t train your body properly, you will suffer during childbirth.”
“Don’t say such disgusting crap!”

Aste’s wild advice made me get goosebumps. But certainly, since this body was that of a woman, there was a situation that could invite such an outcome.

That said, I would utterly reject that situation. I mean, my menstruation hasn’t even started, to begin with.

“Anyway, you should be satisfied with this, right, Maxwell? Let’s go back already and get the materials.”
“So you say, but I don’t even know where your hideout is.”
“For better or worse, my base was in Maleva. You know that, right?”
“Now that you mention it.”
“The reason I knew Aste was due to that too. Aste also put his eyes on that mountain because people don’t visit it. It’s even called the Sanctuary of the God of Destruction, so in a way, it’s something like the headquarters of the heretics.”
“That is quite disappointing.”

Aste looked a bit displeased about it. Dude, you aren’t even her relative. Actually, since he lives there, maybe he’s a distant descendant of her like me.

“Well, the point is that humans don’t visit it. Since I was also a local, there’s no way I wouldn’t have my eyes on it, right?”
“In other words, your hideout is also on that mountain?”
“That’s right.”

That said, my hideout was closer to the base of that mountain. We had to return from Aste’s house, which was in the middle of it, to the base. I would normally need 10 minutes for the job, but at this late hour and with my legs, it could even take me until morning now.

“Oh, the guy that was always rustling around near the base… That was you?”
“Huh?”

Aste interrupted my thoughts with one comment. He actually noticed me?

“This place is my home area. Or rather, the kingdom has legally given me this land. If someone started sneaking around and brought things into a deserted house, it was natural for me to get curious about it, right?”
“S-So that’s how it was…?”

I was surprised about the fact that he was the landlord, but the fact that he was able to grasp my movements from such a distance shocked me even more. This guy was really a big mystery.

“Anyway, I know that place too. I can take you there with my Portal Gate.”
“That would be nice. And while you are at it, can you help me carry the materials?”
“…You sure like pushing me around. Well, fine, I don’t mind that much.”

Aste invoked his magic. It was different magic compared to the one he used to take us here. It was similarly shaped to the one Maxwell used all the time. Of course, Maxwell didn’t overlook that.

“It seems that you are using a different spell compared to before, why is that?”
“Well, the other one I used was for jumping to corresponding magic circles. I haven’t made one in this guy’s base.”
“Ah, I see.”

Don’t make such a thing in my secret base… Is what I wanted to say, but I was the idiot for having my base discovered. If anyone aside from Aste discovered it, they could’ve taken everything I had there.

Next time, let’s look for a harder-to-find place.

Maxwell jumped right into the magic circle. He was already familiar with it so he didn’t show a particular interest. Following after him, my surroundings momentarily changed to the forest scenery.

It was the same old scenery where I had built my hideout.

“Ahh… This brings back memories.”
“Is this the correct place? I heard there was a ghost town here.”
“It is. Look, you can see the roof over there, right?”

The place I pointed at had a strange building with only its roof visible from the ground.

“There was apparently a village here about 500 years ago which got swallowed by the avalanche of earth and rocks after the eruption. The majority of the houses got buried underground, but a rare few remained with visible rooftops. I used one of them as a hideout.”
“Oho?”

Maxwell started walking towards it while brushing his long beard. After a few steps, he stopped and turned around.

“Are you not going to stop me?”
“Why should I? We came here because we had business there.”
“No, I mean, there must be traps and such set up inside.”
“If I set traps in this kind of ruins, it would instead be a dead giveaway that there’s something of importance hidden here.”
“…Hmm. Is that so?”

I passed by Maxwell and approached the rooftop. As the first floor was completely submerged underground, the only way to get inside was through the attic. After a while, Aste also joined us, so I invited both of them inside my hideout.

Author’s note: Actually, this might be the home of the Half-Dragon Eir.