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I immediately dashed to the left and turned the corner, only to find another empty alley.

I swiftly turned back and headed right, where I encountered three people walking towards me from the opposite direction.

Two men and one woman.

I glared at them one by one, and they quickly moved aside, startled.

“Wh-What’s wrong?!”

“Go ahead, please.”

I scrutinized them for a while, but they didn’t seem suspicious. They were just locals.

‘Hmm.’

I scratched the back of my head.

…Was I really mistaken?

I turned around and started walking back towards the alley I came from.

“Thud. Thud. Thud. My footsteps.”

As I vocalized my footsteps, I heard someone muttering “crazy guy” behind me, along with a piercing gaze. At this point, I was certain.

I wasn’t mistaken.

This wasn’t the same feeling. The gaze that had been fixed on the back of my head at the tavern definitely felt familiar. It was sticky and unpleasant, a feeling I had experienced somewhere before.

I pretended to return to the tavern and swiftly slipped into a gap between the buildings. I was convinced that the culprit would return.

Woof woof—

As soon as I crouched down in the gap, a dog emerged from behind and ran into the alley. It was a yellow dog, a stray wandering the streets.

“Damn. That scared me.”

I remained crouched, channeling the spirit of a dog waiting for its owner, and looked up at the sky.

The moonlight bathed the darkening evening streets. I focused my mind and listened to the surrounding sounds.

Moments later, I heard voices and footsteps approaching.

Step. Step. Step.

Two heavy footsteps and one light footstep.

The young people I had seen in the alley earlier.

Just as I was about to feel disappointed….

I caught another faint sound.

‘Three people, but four footsteps.’

My instincts told me it was him.

I held my breath and waited for the footsteps to come closer. When they were right in front of me, I jumped out.

“Peekaboo. Who are you?!”

“Gaaaaaaaah!”

“Waah!”

“Woof woof!”

The three young people collapsed as if they were about to faint, and the dog barked behind them.

It was the dog’s footsteps.

I couldn’t bring myself to believe that a dog was the culprit, so I looked up at the sky, but suddenly I felt a sticky gaze on the back of my head.

As I looked towards the end of the alley, a figure flashed past and disappeared with a whooshing sound.

‘Wind Step.’

It was him. This time, I wouldn’t let him escape.

I immediately kicked off the ground and dashed to the end of the alley.

As I turned around, I saw the back of the fleeing figure. He was wearing a cloak-like garment over his head, making it impossible to identify him.

“Hey! You there, take off the cloak on your head.”

As I closed in, the guy swerved left and vanished.

“Stop before I rip off your hair along with it. You’re not bald, are you?”

‘Wind Push.’

I taunted him with words while chasing him with my feet.

I almost caught up using my brilliant two-pronged strategy of flashy footwork and verbal abuse, but then he swerved right and disappeared again.

He was as quick as a rat.

Alley after alley. And then more alleys.

It wasn’t easy to chase him because the alleys were so complex and it was getting dark.

Only the moonlight faintly illuminated the spaces between the alleys.

Meanwhile, the locals were walking around, and I kept losing sight of him.

Tadadadat—

But a chase always comes to an end.

The guy ran into a narrow alley with no exit.

“Let’s see your face.”

I quickly closed the distance, grabbed him by the back of the neck, and as I was about to exit the alley…

Suddenly, the whole world flashed orange, and a crowd surged in, pushing me.

I lost my grip on the rat.

“Get out of the way! Move!”

“Damn it. I’m never coming back here. I almost died drinking.”

“Let’s go. Stupid Bayern bastards. They should hide what needs to be hidden. They said it was safe, but they’re the first to die.”

Pigs in fancy clothes were moving somewhere in a hurry.

“… … .”

When I came to my senses, the rat was gone.

I looked around and found myself on the main street of the eastern part of Khaoto.

* * *

Main street at the eastern end of Khaoto.

The lights from the red lanterns of the entertainment district swallowed the moonlight, brightly illuminating the street.

I stood there for a moment, gathering my thoughts…

Then I started walking sideways, carefully scanning every inch of the street from the general store at the end.

The view of the eastern street was wide open, so if the rat had kept running, I would have seen him.

He must be hiding somewhere nearby.

‘Who is he?’

I couldn’t think of anyone in the western district who would recognize me.

I looked inside the general store, passed a couple of closed shops…

Then a workshop, a closed herbal medicine shop, an inn…

“… … ?”

I stopped and turned around, staring at a particular spot. Something that had been on the tip of my tongue finally came to mind.

* * *

I knocked on the door of the herbal medicine shop.

Knock knock—

“Is anyone in there?”

“… … .”

“I’m going to break it down.”

The door burst open, and a bald man came out.

He was in his underwear and rubbing his eyes, so he must have just fallen asleep.

“…Master Ruin? What brings you here?”

Sigh.

I was truly impressed by his impeccable acting skills. Wanting to see more of his performance, I decided to play along.

“Long time no see. Did you close up shop early today?”

“Indeed. It’s been a while since that day.”

“Is your back feeling better?”

“Ahem.”

As soon as I saw the bald man’s dumbfounded expression, I changed my approach.

“Our quack doctor has gotten quite brazen. We were just playing a fun game of hide-and-seek, weren’t we? If the seeker gets caught, you have to admit it.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I pushed past the bald man and entered. The pungent scent of herbs, reagents, and potions filled my nostrils.

I perched myself on the table in the center and pointed at the bald man.

“I see. That’s why my threats didn’t work. You’re bald.”

“Master, please stop this nonsense.”

I locked eyes with the bald man and said,

“Denial won’t help you. The answer is clear, so just admit it. Of course, you’ll have to explain. Did you have unfinished business with me? Why did you run? You were pretty quick.”

As I continued my rapid-fire questioning, I suddenly realized something strange.

“…Wait a minute. How could you be so fast?”

I distinctly remembered this quack healer getting hit by my Wind Blow and fracturing his back.

“Master.”

As I turned my head, I saw the herbs placed on the edge of the wall.

Sage leaves, Lapras stems, purified water, a red potion so clear it was almost transparent…

…Look at this guy?

I turned back to the quack and smiled.

“Now I see. Our quack doctor wasn’t a quack after all.”

“… … .”

“That red potion is top-notch.”

The quack was speechless, unable to comprehend how I accurately identified the potion’s ingredients and quality.

“I can tolerate a quack acting like a quack, but I can’t tolerate someone who isn’t a quack pretending to be one.”

I conjured a Wind Sphere in my hand and aimed it at the quack’s head.

I aimed it at the three strands of hair he had left. I planned to blow away his last shred of pride first.

The Wind Sphere left my hand and flew towards the bald man…

Swoosh—

‘He dodged it?’

The bald man simply tilted his head to avoid the Wind Sphere, and it harmlessly struck the closet behind him, leaving a dent.

“Haha.”

The quack’s sudden change in tone and expression sent chills down my spine.

“Your laugh is creepy, fake quack. And why did your tone change like that?”

“How amusing. You’ve changed so much in just a few months?”

“Answer my questions first. What’s your true identity? And stop laughing. It’s giving me the creeps.”

“Such a disrespectful brat. How can I not laugh?”

“I see.”

He seemed pleased to have protected his three remaining hairs, and I had to give him credit for that.

“Fake quack. If you want to keep your pride intact, answer me first.”

“Haha.”

“I’m telling you again. Stop laughing.”

“You were the one who laughed first.”

He had a point, so I nodded. Laughter is contagious. But that didn’t change the fact that I found the fake quack’s face repulsive.

I figured I needed to break his pride first before he’d be willing to have a proper conversation.

I immediately opened all my circles and drew in the surrounding mana.

“Wind that crushes space, Wind Press.”

[4th Circle Wind Attribute Magic, Wind Press.]

A spell optimized for flattening people like pancakes.

Wheeeing—

The wind above my head surged and compressed.

The compressed wind, the size of a face, shot down vertically towards the bald man’s crown with a whooshing sound.

This time, I was determined to blow away his last shred of pride.

Saaaa—

“What the…?”

My expectations were once again thwarted. The powerful wind pressure vanished without a trace just before it reached the bald man.

‘…Did he block it?’

No.

He didn’t block it.

There was no fluctuation of mana. It was as if the magic had never been cast in the first place, the aftereffects disappearing without a trace.

‘How did he do that?’

I finally took a closer look at the bald man.

His dull complexion, the age spots on his face.

In contrast, the three strands of white hair he had left.

At first, I didn’t think much of it, but now an ominous aura seemed to emanate from them.

“Fake quack. What are you? I don’t understand.”

“Haha, you’re the one I don’t understand. What have you done to your body?”

Question met question.

I wasn’t the only one surprised. The bald man was also staring at me with a bewildered expression.

Thinking I might just destroy the building if things went south, I said,

“Did someone hire you? Who ordered you to do this?”

“Don’t be absurd. Who would dare give me orders?”

“Then what are you? You creepy bald guy. Why did you pretend to be a clueless quack? Why did you deliberately delay my treatment? Why did you follow me? It was a very unpleasant, dog-like stare.”

The bald man laughed as if I had said something ridiculous.

“You have no manners. It was pure curiosity.”

“And you expect me to believe that?”

“It’s a form of entertainment. Let your guard down.”

“Now I see you’re an airheaded bald guy. Would you let your guard down if you were me?”

“Haha. You crazy fool. You’re missing something. If I had intended to harm you, it would have been over long ago. Why would I bother going through all this trouble?”

I nodded involuntarily. I already knew that, which is why I wasn’t attacking and was trying to figure out his intentions.

I didn’t understand. If he had bad intentions, he could have finished me off the day I came back from facing the Corpse Eye, or even before I was reincarnated into this body.

“What are you?”

Sensing the mana fluctuations swirling around me, the bald man said,

“If I leave you alone, you’ll cause chaos. Follow me. Let’s talk.”

He seemed like a crazy bald man, so my guard was lowered a bit.

I followed him without much thought, and we came to an attic. He moved the rug on the floor, revealing a tightly locked iron door.

Creak—

He lifted the iron door, revealing a staircase leading underground. It was pitch black inside.

———-