Paradigm Parasite

Chapter 102: "Warning"

I returned to the inn and entered the room I rented....

"Wow."

For some reason, Heidi was naked on top of the bed, and the girl next to her was touching her back with her hand.

"Oh, it's you. You startled me..."

Heidi looked relieved and put the dagger she had been holding on the floor before she knew it.

Whatever, Heidi. I don't care what you say, Heidi, but you might want to cover up your front.

And by the way, what's with the kid?

The girl is glaring at me.

Hey, hey, hey. Why are you staring at me like that when we first met?

"I don't know who you are, but can't you see? Get out of here!"

And why did she yell at me?

Why did she yell at me that much?

I look at Heidi and realize. I just shrugged my shoulders.

"My bad. I'm having dinner at the bar next door, so give me a shout when you're done."

Without hearing a reply, I turned on my heel and left the room.

I left the inn and ordered a proper meal at the tavern next door.

As I poked at the array of dishes, I thought about what I had just seen.

What was that kid?

Did that Heidi fella bring trouble again?

Ah, it's me who's mainly bringing trouble.

Ha-ha-ha...ha.

I felt sad.

Let's just hear what's going on.

It's hard to imagine Heidi's personality to have kidnapped her.

And when I saw her earlier, her body was injured.

Perhaps the child was treating her.

After several plates had been served, Heidi came into the restaurant with the child.

After the two of them had taken their place at the table and ordered their food, Heidi opened her mouth.

"Um... sorry about earlier."

"So... so? What's with the kid?"

"Yeah. Well, it's just..."

That's pretty brusque.

Heidi was silent for a moment, then looked me straight in the eye as if she had made up her mind.

"There's a little situation with this kid, and I'm going to help her."

"Is that as an adventurer?"

"No, I'm not. I'm going to personally help this girl."

The usual sickness.

The kid was involved in some kind of trouble and got involved in it.

So you happen to be there, you hear what's going on, and you decide to help out.

"Like I said before..."

"I know."

Heidi says this while looking straight at me.

Her eyes are powerful, unlike during the day.

The child is anxious, holding on to the edge of Heidi's clothes.

It seems that, for once, the meddling worked in the right direction.

Besides...now that you've said it out loud, I'll expect you to stick to it.

"I see. Then I have nothing to say. Do as you please."

For me, too, this situation is convenient for me.

I'm not going to get involved in this, so there's no need for me to ask you what's going on.

Just as the conversation was winding down, the food we had ordered arrived.

As each of us put our hands on our food, the conversation turned into a chat.

In the end, no details were given by Heidi, so I don't know the details, but from the way she spoke and acted, the kid was probably involved in some kind of trouble - rough stuff, if I had to guess.

Heidi and the others looked as if they were going to leave the inn immediately, so I decided to do the opposite and leave.

There's also the matter of the chuuni and Darzain.

I guess I'd better move a little to find out what's going on.

Heidi was flustered when she heard I was leaving the room, but after I forcefully told her to use the room, I left.

I was happy to that point, but....

"What am I going to do now?"

I honestly had no plan because it came out of nowhere.

Well, if you hang out in an unpopular place, they will come by and ...... no, that's it.

I'm going to do some light work at the guild.

The guild is open 24/7.

It's always open, so it's a convenient place for this kind of thing.

I decided where to go, so I headed to the guild while using magic to search for enemies.

As one would expect from the royal capital, the streets are busy, though not as much as in the daytime.

Thanks to this, it is troublesome to spot a suspicious person who seems to be following me.

In fact, I catch a suspicious reaction here and there.

There are two guys who seem to be watching my movements in the shadows nearby...?

I'll just lead them to an unpopular place for now, and if they're still following me, I'll take them out.

It's a bit of a detour, but it won't be a problem.

I enter a narrow alley.

I walk for a while. Hmm, they are still following me.

I stop at a suitable place. A short distance away, the presence also stops moving.

"Why don't you come out now?"

I called out to it as a test.

Two people came out from the shadows.

Both were women.

One has...short hair and looks lively, the other has slightly longer hair and looks cool.

What's with this fellow .........? I feel like I've been saying this a lot lately.

She's not wearing Darzain's distinctive black robe, but...who is she?

"What can I do for you?"

The two looked at each other and the more active one stepped forward a little.

"Hi, hello. We're, um, sort of prostitutes. And we were wondering if you could be our customer..."

Cool next to me nodded her head in silent agreement.

Again. What's going on here?

"Ah...you guys are those? Are you guys with that girl from earlier or something?"

When I say so, the more active one drops her shoulders as if in contemplation.

"To be honest, yes. You are from somewhere else, aren't you? People tend to fight over such people around here, and we don't want to let you slip away. And then, you easily rejected our friend. That's a problem for us, isn't it?"

The woman's gaze is mingled with something viscous as she says this.

What a disgusting stare that reminds me of a predator.

"Oh. How does that bother you?"

"We have our own interests at heart, and we want you to be our client, no matter what!"

We can't end up being humiliated, can we?

The woman peeled off her clothes a little as she said this.

Her thighs and cleavage were glimpsed.

"How about this? How about two at the same time for the price of one? Well, next time it will be the regular price."

I see. So it's all about salesmanship.

That woman is quite aggressive despite appearances.

Does it mean that she decided that she wasn't to my taste and sent a woman of a different type to me?

But still, it's a tough business in Royal Capital if you have to go this far.

I would add the caveat that if what you just said was true.

Well, I sympathize, but it's none of my business.

"I told that woman earlier. I'm sorry, but I'm not interested. Find someone else."

Either way, she was a woman who was smelling something fishy.

I had no idea what she would do to me if I followed her around.

"Well...do you have to?"

"I have to."

"Do something about it! See, isn't that intriguing? Flickers."

"......"

"Hey, hey, Lorena! You do it!"

"Glimmer."

"......"

"Uh, ......, do you think we're not good enough for you?"

"Sometimes."

"Brother. Are you someone who only needs men?"

Oh, come on. That's a terrible way to be treated like a fag.

"I'm not saying that, but I don't think I'm going to go with you guys."

"Oh, if you don't have any money, we can put it on the tab..."

You're persistent.

The look on my face made them realize the futility of the situation, and their shoulders slumped.

"I'll give up for today, but next time you'll be our customer!"

For some reason, the two women pointed at me and left.

Well, I don't know what's going on, but the trouble is over for now, so I'm heading to the guild.

"Buha. That's impossible! It's absolutely impossible!"

I - Elisa - exhaled as hard as I could once I was far enough away from the target.

"Were you glad you backed out?"

Lorena next to me asked me that, but I shook my head and denied it.

"It wasn't good, but any more of that and I probably would have looked suspicious."

I've had my fair share of experience with this kind of thing, but I've never seen such a lack of interest in a woman before.

It is not to say that he has no interest in them at all, but he has very little interest in us.

When we showed him our skin, he looked at us for a moment.

But it was just a glance.

No wonder Helga couldn't drop him.

I don't see any desire in his gaze to begin with.

Most men, to a lesser or greater degree, will give us a droll glance here and there, but that man's gaze was, how should I put it, like the gaze of a man looking at the goods on display in a weapon shop or tool shop....

There was no emotion in it at all.

There was only a probing look in his eyes.

I guess, if I had persisted, I would have been suspected without a doubt.

I could sense something in him that made me believe so.

"Yes, that's right. Then what are you going to do? If it's so difficult to seduce him, should we attack him after all?"

"I was thinking that too, but Helga said that he and Helga target had killed six people, so I don't think it's a good idea to push too hard."

We have an insurance backup behind us, but their job is to report to us in case we die. They have not been accounted for from the beginning.

I and Lorena are not very good in combat. We are not weak, but we are not strong either.

And it would be foolish to launch an attack before we knew exactly what our opponent was capable of.

If we were to do it, we would have to find out if there is a chance of winning.

If so, the place to start is .......

"I think I'll call it a day. For now, let's just take it as a blessing that we know it's going to be difficult to entrap him."

"I understand."

Lorena nodded her head and we decided to leave.

As we walked I was trying to figure out how to drop that guy named Roe, but I couldn't think of ...... any way to do it.

For now, I guess I'll start by lowering his caution.