Chapter 177: |
Chapter 177
The winter sword surrounded by ice struck her forehead!
Wow!
The impact was so strong that the ice shattered and flew away.
The Catwoman fell to the ground with her mouth wide open.
[The achievement ‘The Dwarf Who Defeated the Giant’ has been upgraded to 4+!]
[When fighting an opponent stronger than you, you can unleash a mysterious power that is ‘slightly’ stronger than before!]
“Krrrr… … .”
However, as expected of a powerful member of the True Blood Tribe, she did not lose consciousness and glared at Raymond while lying on the ground.
‘What, she didn’t pass out? Even after I hit her so hard? Does the true-blooded Cat Tribe have skulls made of stone?’
Fortunately, she only managed to avoid fainting, but she was completely unable to control her body.
The Catwoman tried to get up from her seat, but her strength gave out and she fell down.
‘We must take her prisoner!’
Raymond, who suddenly came to his senses, aimed his sword at her neck.
“…!”
“Stop! If you move, I’ll cut your head off!”
‘Ugh. I’m a healer and I’m taking a hostage!’
Raymond’s heart pounded.
His fighting instinct disappeared and his cowardly instinct rose up like crazy.
Raymond forced himself to suppress his fear and shouted.
Thanks to the ‘Heart of Steel’ effect, he was able to overcome his fear and shout out loud.
“Everyone stop! Otherwise, this woman will die!”
The fighting stopped.
“Lady Sonia!”
“This guy!”
The Cats glared at Raymond, gnashing their teeth.
‘My lord! How dare you risk yourself for us!’
Elmud shed tears of sorrow.
He tearfully reproached himself for being so incompetent that Raymond had to do such a dangerous thing.
‘I will never let something like this happen again! I will become a knight who will never defile even one fingertip of my lord!’
Elmud experiences explosive growth after desperate training following the events of that day, but that is something that will happen later.
Sonia, the captured Cat noblewoman, glared at Raymond with an eerie look.
“Just kill me! My clan will take revenge!”
Raymond’s heart sank even more at the sight of his opponent’s fierce demeanor.
‘Ugh. This kind of thing doesn’t suit my personality. I’m a healer.’
Raymond swallowed hard.
He wanted to quickly sort out this nerve-wracking situation.
“I won’t kill you.”
“What does that mean?”
Sonia exuded life.
“What are you planning? How dare you… !”
“No, that’s not it. We have no intention of antagonizing you. We don’t want to fight any more.”
“Don’t make me laugh!”
When this happened, even the pacifist(?) Raymond got annoyed.
‘Oh, why don’t you listen to me? Bam! I’ll just hit you in the face!’
Finally, a message occurred to him.
[There is no understanding at all! It can be confirmed that the other person is close-minded!]
[The opponent’s ‘truth power’ is ‘medium’!]
[‘Special Technique for Truth: Strong Response’ is activated according to the opponent’s truth pattern!]
A strong response!
It was exactly the coping method needed at the time.
Raymond’s speech changed with the help of the skill.
“It’s unpleasant that you suddenly started to act hostile towards us and then kept acting like this. And I was thinking of helping you.”
“What?”
“I am a healer. I know how to heal your clan.”
“Ehat?”
Raymond raised his other hand, which was not holding the sword.
And then, as if on cue, he spread his heals.
Phew!
It was a light that was much brighter than before.
The brightness is almost C+ level!
‘As my mana stat increases, the level of my heal also increases.’
Anyway, the level of the heal wasn’t particularly important.
His intention in spreading his heals was to draw attention.
“… … .”
The Cat People stopped in their tracks in the clear and sacred light.
Heals are a blessing from heaven.
Perhaps because of this, it had the effect of calming the minds of those who saw it. It felt like the hostility of the Cat Tribe had somewhat diminished.
“Am you really a healer?”
“Then is it true that you can cure the illness that befell our clan?”
The Cat People were making a fuss.
Sonia gritted her teeth and asked on behalf of the representative.
“What do you mean, you can cure our clan?”
“That is exactly what I mean. I know how to heal the tragedy that has befallen you. But since you are blindly hostile to us, I can’t help you. I have no choice but to give up trying to help you and just turn back.”
“…!”
Raymond spoke in a stiff tone.
“Even though I am a healer, I do not want to help you while being treated like this. I will take you hostage and go down the mountain, and you will be left to take care of the patients.”
The Catwoman, Sonia, bit her lip.
“How can I believe what you say?”
“Go down the mountains immediately and go to the human territory. Ask for my name, Raymond, and you will be able to confirm this immediately.”
Sonia kept her mouth shut.
She realized that Raymond was telling the truth.
“If you still don’t want to believe it, then don’t. We have nothing to regret.”
Raymond shook his head.
“We just have to go down and never come up these mountains again. You will regret losing your people and refusing my help, but it will be too late.”
“Ha, but what about your eyes? Are they definitely the same as the eyes of the guy who was talking nonsense back then?”
“Do you know of anyone who has eyes of this color?”
Raymond made a dumbfounded face.
Sonia asked in confusion. “As far as we know, the emerald eyes are said to be the eyes of only special people among humans.”
“Not at all.”
A special person among humans.
She seemed to be talking about the holy eye of the Peninsula royal family.
Because their castle was a famous symbol across the continent.
“There are many others who have emerald eyes. Even my childhood neighbor, Mr. Max, had the same color eyes.”
Just because he has emerald eyes doesn’t mean he is from that castle!
It was a farce caused by the Cat People’s ignorance of the human world.
‘How many ordinary people have emerald eyes?’
In that respect, it was absurd to assume that the culprit was a member of the Peninsula royal family just because of his emerald eyes.
‘Of course, they don’t know anything yet.’
The important thing is that someone tampered with the magic stone mine.
And the culprit has emerald eyes.
‘This needs to be investigated thoroughly.’
A terrible disaster has occurred.
If this was not an accidental incident but someone’s intentional work, it should never have been overlooked.
‘To do that, we need the cooperation of the Cat People. They are the only ones who witnessed the culprit.’
Then Sonia said.
“Then, do you really know how to cure the clan?”
“Yes.”
“Then, then please give us that method…!”
“For free?”
“……what?”
Raymond pursed his lips.
‘You suddenly attacked me and now you want me to come up with a cure? Isn’t that too unscrupulous?’
Of course, he intended to cure the Cat People.
But he can’t treat them for free, even if it’s just because he feel bad about it.
“Uh, at what price?”
“First, apologize. You threatened my life without any basis.”
“…”
The Catwoman’s face turned red.
But it was clearly their fault.
She stuttered and lowered her head.
“Uh, I’m sorry.”
“You don’t seem very sincere. And I’m not your subordinate.”
The Catwoman’s face turned redder as if it was going to burst.
However, they acknowledged their mistake and apologized more politely.
“I’m sorry…No, I, I’m so sorry. It’s entirely our fault. The death of our clan members paralyzed our senses and we acted recklessly.”
After receiving the apology, Raymond pondered what kind of compensation he should receive.
When he actually tried to tear it off, there was nothing worth receiving. The Cat People probably didn’t have any money.
‘Oh, there is one.’
Raymond recalled the bravery displayed by the Cat People.
‘If they join our side, it will be a great force in the territory.’
Raymond looked at the Cat people. Each and every one of them was a fierce warrior.
‘There are 50 people gathered now. If you include those in the village, there will be 100 people.’
That is, it is the power of almost 100 knights!
It would be a great relief if they were on his side.
‘Because it is also necessary to increase his power in the monster world.’
“I want to be your friend, so I can treat patients.”
“A friend?”
The Cat People’s eyes widened.
“Yes, to be exact, it would be more like an alliance. Friends who will prevent such hostilities in the future and help each other. By the way, I am the one who will become the lord of the Rafald region. I will be of help to you as well.”
The Cat people, including Sonia, blinked.
‘I thought he would demand an extremely unreasonable price as a human being?’
Far from being a problem, it was actually a good request for them!
Because it is a welcome thing to establish friendly relations with humans and prevent unintended conflicts.
“Okay. I accept that request.”
“Please swear in the name of the great Amyo.”
“Okay, I will do that.”
Raymond cheered as Sonia nodded without any doubt.
‘Okay. I got it!’
There was a catch to Raymond’s suggestion just now.
The idea was to help each other in times of crisis.
‘What danger could possibly happen to the Cat People who live hidden deep in the mountains? If anyone were to require help, it would be me.’
In other words, it is a condition that is unilaterally advantageous to him!
Of course, there was little chance of a crisis occurring in Raymond’s Rafald region.
Because Raymond also has good relations with the Kingdom of Droughton.
‘But it is necessary to have strong power. An alliance with the Cat People will be of great help.’
Above all, it will have a great show-off effect externally.
Our Rafald region is also allied with the Cat People! Something like that.
It is well known that the Suin tribe has strong fighting power, so the enemy cannot help but be conscious of the Cat people.
But Raymond looked puzzled.
The Cat people had impressed expressions on their faces at his suggestion.
‘What? Why are they reacting like that?’
There was a reason why the Cat People did that.
“He wants to be friends with us…”
“To think there is such a person.”
The people they knew were of two types.
Either they antagonize them or try to use them.
But the person in front of them, Raymond, was different.
He asked them to be ‘friends’ with him.
It was their first time seeing a person like that.
‘He is not just trying to use us, the Cat People. If we become friends, we’ll be safe too.’
The reason the Suin tribe lived hiding deep in the mountains was not because they liked deep mountains.
It was to avoid conflict with humans.
If we make friends and allies with the human who will become a lord in the future, the Cat People will be able to worry less about such things.
‘Also, we will be able to exchange necessary items. How can he be so kind to us, who are his enemies? What on earth is that human?’
Sonia looked at Raymond’s dignified and handsome face. When she looked again, it was a truly kind face. It seemed to shine alone in the dark forest.