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I remained on the roof while erasing my presence, waiting for an opportunity to rescue Michelle’s parents.

There were three men in total. Judging from how they conducted themselves, I should have easily won even if I challenged them head-on.

However, the injured uncle and restrained auntie were hostages now, so doing something reckless might put their lives in danger.

If I was going to do it, I had to choose the timing to take care of them in one fell swoop, while also guaranteeing the safety of the hostages.

“Still, do we really have to keep these two alive?”
“Hah? They are the hostages to catch that Michelle brat, so of course we do.”
“Come on. Couldn’t we just catch the brat instead?”
“Well she wasn’t there, so there you have it. Besides, don’t underestimate her just cuz she’s a brat. She’s a monster that could shoot enemies outside from the spire top.”

Listening to that, one of them took a spit. Then he approached auntie and kicked her in frustration.

“Gyah!?”

That caused her to scream and sent her flying away.

That change in position made it hard to do a surprise attack now.

“Damn it, making us put extra work!”
“Stop it. If you kill her, that brat’s arrows would be pointed at us next.”
“So we’re using her parents as a shield huh. We sure have fallen low.”
“It is how it is. We won’t be able to make a name for ourselves with our abilities. The fact that the second company claimed the Goblin raid achievements is also because we lack strength.”
“If I had the chance, even I could’ve done the same!”

This time, he went and kicked the uncle.

Given how injured he already was, he failed to put up any defense and took on the kick, spitting out blood. He seemed to be already unconscious, however, as he didn’t raise any voice.

There, I started considering the situation.

If I broke inside the way things stood, I would only be putting them to danger. That said, uncle’s condition seemed quite bad too.

I could wait until Cortina or Maxwell arrived, but his condition might worsen until then.

“…I suppose it’s better that I deal with them to heal them as fast as possible, huh?”

But in that case, I had to hide my identity if I intended to capture them alive. If they saw me display extraordinary fighting strength as Nicole, it could lead to complications.

“It would be fine if I turn into Reid, but the clothes…”

I had the academy clothes on me now. If I turned into Reid in this condition, I would just come off as a pervert. Well, in the worst case, I would just have to deal with it.

“I’m not sure if auntie is still conscious either. But still…”

I once again looked down. The man had kicked her once again and made her faint.

Normally, I would curse them for doing something so inhuman, but this time, you could say it helped me too. After all, they had just made the witnesses faint for me.

“I guess this is why there were petty underlings.”

Now that there were no more witnesses, there was no need to hold back.

Trying to keep the noises as low as possible, I undressed and folded my clothes. Then I took my leftover scroll and changed to Reid.

The pain as if my body was melting tormented me, but I gritted my teeth and endured screaming. I had experienced this pain many times already, so I was quite used to it. Still, it was difficult to endure it completely.

As I was clutching my fist, I ended up scratching the wooden board of the room, and the sounds reached inside.

“What was that?”
“What’s wrong?”
“I heard something from the rooftop…”
“It’s probably just a rat, don’t ya think? We are in a forest, you know.”
“Check it just in case. Maybe the girl chased after us.”
“Please, some brat can’t possibly be so skilled in pursuit, can she?”

While saying that, the man walked to the door with lazy steps.

You could say this was a good opportunity for me. While holding my head that was still tingling with pain, I moved to the roof edge. Just as I summoned my gauntlets to me, the door below opened.

I then jumped off, attacking the man from above.

“Nn? Geph!”

As I slammed my elbow on his head, he could only muster a weird yelp and collapsed on the spot.

These guys had some mastermind, so I couldn’t kill them until they spit it out.

Seeing me suddenly show up, the two other guys stood shocked without understanding what happened.

“Wh-… Who the **** is this pervert!”
“I’M NOT ONE!”

I ended up yelling back, but their reaction was natural. If a naked man in gauntlets jumped from the roof, just about anyone would shrink back. Even I.

Still, I couldn’t care less about their state now. I closed in on the flinching men and drove a knee into one’s gut. He was certainly taken aback, but my speed was quite something too.

Physical strengthening using the threads as well as Enchant magic. And above all, the body that could handle them both.

As all of those overlapped, I managed to move so fast inside the hut that they couldn’t even follow me with eyes.

And as expected, a bunch who would get involved in such a fraud had no competency to deal with it.

Thus, one of them took my knee head-on and flew back without putting up any defense. And before he hit the wall, I drove in a hand chop on the other man’s neck.

“Wha-, he dissa-”

My chop landed right after he said that, making him faint.

In the hut where there was no one conscious left, I alone stood buck naked.

“…Let’s get dressed.”

Saying that, I promptly started to strip the man off their clothes.