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After running around all over the park, the God of Destruction and I collapsed on the grass. I found it suspicious that she was keeping up despite the fact that my stamina should’ve been higher… But it turned out the b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ was using the Cargo spell. No fair.

We exchanged weak blows while being completely worn out, but the surrounding gazes started to hurt so we decided to break up for now.

I planned to go to Cloud to talk to him, but after getting the truth out of Whitey, there was no longer a need for that.

I wanted to check on Letina too, but she was Marquis’ daughter. And I was the Heroes’ Daughter. If I showed up at their doorstep too often, it could give some people unwanted doubts, so I was visiting her mansion only when necessary.

It may seem cold-hearted, but I was doing it for her sake.

There was no need to visit Cloud anymore, and I couldn’t visit Letina. Having nothing else to do, I decided to return home. And once I entered an alley with scarce traffic, I stopped my feet.

“Who is it? I know you’re following me.”

I have felt someone behind me ever since I left the park. I confirmed through a window glass several times already, so I have already seen their appearance.

They wore dark clothing probably not to stand out.

Having realized that I noticed him, one man walked out from the corner. He didn’t look exactly withered away, but he was still slim and tall. He wore a black coat and had ruffled hair, and also wore bulky gauntlets.

It was a figure of a man I was very familiar with—the me of past life.

“Hey, could you be Nicole?”
“And you are… Not Reid, aren’t you?”
“Why would you think so?”
“At the very least, you know that you’re not him.”

After all, I was standing right here. The one before my eyes was someone pretending to be me. Perhaps he was the suspicious person that Auntie was referring to.

He asked around for information, then took on my form who used to come and go in the house and targeted the residents—In other words, either Cortina or me. Was that his goal?

“How could you tell?”
“Is there any reason to answer to someone who’s disguised?”
“I wish you trusted people more. You were a cheerful and obedient kid according to the rumors.”

He spread his hands and approached me as if to show that he was defenseless.

When he was already two meters in front of me, I quickly reached out to the katana on my wait and slashed at him.

It bore fruit that I was walking armed inside the city after the Goblin invasion, since the city order has been a mess since.

And the man standing before me was someone who didn’t know I was Reid and at the same time knew how I looked, and planned to come into contact with Cortina while hiding his identity. I had no duty to go easy on him.

It was a slash from the sheathed state that was characteristic of katanas. You could use the scabbard as a guideline for the blade, so you could focus all your physical ability on the sword speed.

By flipping the sword tip with the mouth of the sheath, I could slash faster than my limits allowed.

As the guy was approaching me as I slashed, he was completely in my two-meter attack range. It was a perfect surprise attack aimed at his neck.

However, the man bent backward and dodged that attack. While I wasn’t using any strengthening, it was still an attack an average person couldn’t have dodged.

In other words, this man was quite good.

“Wow, don’t slash at me so suddenly. That’s dangerous.”
“Shut up. The fact that you’re taking that form pisses me off.”
“Oh, are you jealous now that your guardian has been stolen from you?”
“You’re just a fake!”

As the man spoke impudently, I put my hand in my pocket and pulled out a piano wire that I carried on me. I attacked right as I pulled it out.

As the thread flew at his neck while he was bent back, this time he dodged it by dropping down. I then thrust my katana over him.

However, it ended up piercing the ground instead of the man. Despite standing in front of him, I didn’t know how he managed to dodge it.

Still, he was right next to me. I knew that much, so I reflexively flew my thread towards his neck and coiled it around.

The thread coiled around his neck and just as I pulled on it—It got untied.

“What!?”

It happened again. He was in front of my eyes, but I didn’t understand how he removed it.

Surprised by the opponent’s mysterious evasion ability, I quickly took my distance. Honestly, this was a disgrace. I failed to deal any damage.

“That surprised me. So you can even use threads?”
“Who are you?”
“Won’t you get it if I say, Reid?”
“Just drop that poor act already.”

I glared at the man with bloodlust. If I left this guy be, Cortina could mistake him for me and fall into some trap.

“Ohh, scary scary. Oh well. My name is Kufar. Let’s get along.”
“I see, I’ll remember it!”
“Yes, so will I. A thread-user… It stimulates my unpleasant memories!”

We yelled at each other with hostility. I planned to go for another exchange and stepped ahead, but he quickly widened the distance once again.

He jumped back and swung his arm, while I also flew my thread at the same time. The thread that I sent as a slash accurately landed on his body, but the reaction was too dull.

It was not a fatal wound. And then, some kind of liquid came flying at me from his hand, but I dodged it by rolling. It splashed on the walls and the ground and raised white smoke, melting the stone.

“—Acid!?”

Just where was he hiding that? No, actually, those gauntlets were perfect for hiding such things. It wouldn’t be strange if it had a built-in function for releasing acid.

I did a roll and stood up, and looked towards the man while vigilant of a follow-up. But by that time, the man had once again disappeared at the street corner.

“Just who was that guy…”

Anyway, it seemed impossible for me to handle this matter alone. And if I left it be, it could endanger Cortina.

Her alertness would be completely gone in front of my appearance.

I couldn’t speak to her about it directly, however. She could even misunderstand that I had a deathmatch with actual Reid.

“In that case… I guess I can only talk to Maxwell about it.”

In the end, I seem to have found a place I had to go above anywhere else.