The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 322 – Preventative Measures

Femm was a bit confused, but continued ahead. Then stopped.

『He’s around here.』

『Thanks.』

This was in a place that looked like the poorest part of the slums.

It was the same eighth ward where Cruz had bought the potatoes. Kind of took me back.

And there were a lot of trashed houses in this area.

『So, he’s in these houses…』

『I think so…but…』

『I know, the smells get all mixed up, right?』

『Yeah.』

『No helping that.』

I leaned over and patted Femm on the head.

『Even so, you’ve done great getting us this far.』

『I’m not an ordinary wolf, after all!』

I looked back and saw Femm’s tail was wagging.

Just then, two mud-covered kids came up to us,

「Hey, kid, which of these houses is Bill’s?」

「Who are you, old man?」

「Mama, told us never to talk to strangers!」

But one of the kids looked at me, still wondering.

The other one was scared, and was pulling the collar of the other kid.

I was on a wolf, with a wolf mask.

Of course I looked like a stranger.

「No, I’m just one of Bill’s buddies.」

「Really?」

「Yeah. I have something to tell him.」

「I see.」

Seems that they finally trusted me.

「It’s just, if I can’t deliver it to his house, he’s going to have trouble.」

「Really?」

「Yeah, and I’ll be in trouble too.」

So after hearing that, the kids quickly pointed out the house.

「Thanks, you’ve been a big help.」

I used magic to unlock Bill’s house and go in.

Then I took some meat in my bag, squeezed out some blood, and in big letters, wrote, “The Wolf Watches ALWAYS.”

「This might not be enough to scare him, though.」

『I think it’s enough.』

「No…not yet. Oh yeah.」

I searched in my bag for something appropriate to leave.

「This is it.」

It was the head of a magic bear I finished off before.

I put it right on his bed, and covered it with a blanket.

「Let’s put some blood on it too.」

So I put some blood around the head’s neck and then covered it again.

「That should do it.」

Then we left Bill’s house. The kids were waiting.

The kids asked us again,

「Thanks for your help. Here’s some candy for you.」

「Really?」

「Sure.」

So then I asked the kids,

「Are you friends with Bill?」

「NOT AT ALL!」

「He’s always trying to scare us, he hits us! We hate him!」

Then they remembered that I had told them I was a friend of Bill,

「Ah!」

They were about to scramble when I told them,

「Honestly, I hate Bill too.」

「Really?」

「Yeah! But it’s a secret, okay?」

「Sure! A secret!」

「If someone asks you if someone came to Bill’s house, you tell them that it was a couple of WOLVES!」

「Sure!」

Before I left, I said,

「And if Bill says he has a message for me, tell him he can meet me at the hunter shack…he knows where.」

「Sure! But does he know your name?」

「If you say wolf, he’ll know. There aren’t a lot people that look like me.」

「You’re right about that!」

And so I returned to the Negly hideout.

There was a lot of noise outside.

Seems they had found the message I had scrawled in the casing.

「What the?!」

「What does it mean?」

All the other thugs were looking at it, but I could see even from afar that Bill and Dag looked pale.

They knew what it meant.

Femm wagged its tail.

『Looks like they’re scared.』

『Not enough though.』

『Really?』

『Yeah, we don’t know what they’ll do in reaction.』

We had to make sure that they didn’t threaten Tolf.

We had to be very careful.

I could hear one guy say,

「Well, forget about this, let’s do what we came to do.」

「Yeah, okay.」

So then Bill and about five thugs got together and started walking away,

『I don’t know what they’re up to, but they’re going to hurt someone.』

『Yeah.』

It would be the worst for them to raid Tolf’s place without me being there.

I had to do something.

As I trailed them, it seemed they were going to Tolf’s.

Probably to pick a fight with someone.

『Keep following them.』

As we followed, we got closer to Tolf’s Trading.

We passed over a river, and I formed a water ball from it with my magic.

『What are you going to do?』

『This.』

I arched the ball over the heads of the five thugs, put sound suppression magic on it, and dropped it on their heads.

They started to drown in the water ball, and I could see them flailing inside of it.

They tried to run and escape the ball, but I bound their legs with magical chains.

The thugs quickly lost consciousness, and I dissolved the waterball. The area around spread with water.

「Guys!」

Bill had walked about 10 paces ahead, and then turned and noticed his thugs on the ground.

「What the?」

Bill and the fellow he was walking with ran up to the fallen thugs and shook them all awake.

「What happened to you!?」

「I drowned.」

「What?!」

All of them had now woken up.

All of them were saying they suddenly drown in a ball of water.

「There’s no way someone’s gonna drown ON LAND!」

「But, it was a magic ball of water … and…」

「What the HELL are you TALKING about?!」

「We don’t know either!」

They were all shaking and pale. Their lips were purple.

It was still winter, after all. The river in the capital was near freezing, and they were covered in it.

They must have lost a lot of heat.

「I guess you guys don’t look fit to scare ANYONE looking like this.」

「Yeah…」

So all of them returned to the Negly hideout quickly.