Before the woman had gone far, Jiuye began taking off his protective suit and changing out of his tattered clothes.

The two men were still fast asleep, and he had no intention of waking them. He left the two silver coins he had on him as rent for using their place, to make up for the two gold coins he'd gotten.

Without hesitating any longer, the young man followed in the direction the woman had gone.

Jiuye kept some distance between himself and the woman. To avoid being spotted, he moved carefully and didn't dare get too close. As he followed her, he couldn't help thinking about the situation.

“A Level 42 monster showing up in a place like this... Even with the weapon I enhanced for her, her odds of winning aren't great. After all, she looked pretty beat up when she went to the inn yesterday. Seems like she got caught in a tough fight. And with that poison, this monster's no ordinary beast. At this level, it probably already has a mind of its own. I should follow her and take a look. If I can help settle this sooner, all the better.”

The young man stayed behind the woman. She kept walking without seeming to notice him at all. They left through another city gate, one after the other, and headed into the mountains.

Gran City was in a rather remote area. It had some connections with other cities, but they were few and far between, and communications were poor. The wilderness here showed no sign of ever having been developed. You could practically call it a primeval forest.

As the two of them slowly went deeper in, the conditions grew harsher. The air was noticeably more humid, and the gaps between the trees narrowed until many stretches became difficult to navigate.

As a Spirit Master from the Spirit-Sealing Shrine, the woman had no trouble with the basics. She'd come here to find that monster, and searching for it in such a damp, secluded place clearly meant it was suited to living in this kind of environment.

They were already a long way from town, and Jiuye was getting bored following her. The woman still hadn't found her target, and he was getting pretty anxious too.

“At this rate, we might as well be looking for a needle in the ocean,” the young man thought.

But the moment he said it, he lost his footing. His foot slipped on a damp tree root.

“Huh? Oh, fuck!”

As he slipped and his body tipped to the side, the young man blurted out the words without thinking.

“Who’s there?!”

The woman’s stern voice came from up ahead. Then a red beam swept through the dense trees, cutting them clean in half. It moved incredibly fast, reaching Jiuye almost instantly. Fortunately, he was already falling sideways, and the attack just missed him.

“Hey! Could you at least make sure who you’re attacking first?” Jiuye shouted at the woman up ahead, a sheen of cold sweat on his forehead.

The woman’s attack had cleared away all the obstacles ahead, leaving the two of them with a clear view of each other.

“It’s you!” The woman looked surprised.

Jiuye felt conflicted. He was a professional at following people, yet he’d blown it just because he slipped. It was downright humiliating.

He sprang to his feet and struck what he thought was a handsome pose. In reality, it was pretty lame.

“That’s right, it’s me. I’m the handsome, dashing, suave, famous far and wide, known to absolutely everyone…”

“You lecher!!!”

…