“Wah, it’s such a mess—can we even find ‘Furnace Hook’s’ body in all this?”
Liyami looked at the battlefield on the grass where she had fought Gawasa before and felt a headache coming on. She hadn’t paid much attention earlier, but now seeing corpses of goblins and orc slaves strewn everywhere, along with the tunnels Colin had created, the idea of finding an intact body seemed almost impossible.
Hmm? What’s with that big crater? Was it here before?
Staring at the huge pit suddenly appearing in the middle of the grass, Liyami was puzzled. She distinctly remembered it wasn’t there earlier. She turned to Colin to ask.
“What happened to this crater? Did you do this?”
Colin glanced casually, then answered in an indifferent tone, “Oh, that? The high-ranking demon exploded itself earlier, so it made a pretty big hole. But it should be fine. I didn’t see the ‘Furnace Hook’ you mentioned during the blast—he was probably somewhere else.”
Upon hearing this, Liyami twitched her mouth, starting to doubt whether she could ever catch up to Colin in strength.
“What’s wrong? Not going to look for him? Or are you tired? Leave it all to me then.”
Hearing Colin’s question, Liyami quickly snapped out of her wandering thoughts. Whether or not she could match Colin’s strength, she didn’t want to always rely on him. Besides, this was just about finding a body—how hard could it be?
After a while, Liyami stood before a small pile of corpses she had gathered and doubted her own life choices. She had found so many severed limbs and shattered bodies, but not a single trace of ‘Furnace Hook’s’ corpse.
Could it be? ‘Furnace Hook’ isn’t dead?
Recalling the previous battle, Liyami had never seen ‘Furnace Hook’ actually die. Could he still be alive? Had he escaped?
At the thought, panic began creeping in.
No way! This was supposed to be my first assassination mission during rehabilitation, and it’s already failed? If other assassins in the secret society hear about this, I’ll be laughed at forever!
Just imagining such a scenario sent chills down Liyami’s spine. She absolutely could not let this happen! She was about to call Colin over for help when she saw him walking toward her from another direction.
“Liyami! Come check this out. Isn’t this the ‘Furnace Hook’ you’re looking for?”
At Colin’s call, Liyami hurried over to confirm.
Hidden in a patch of grass lay a corpse with a patch over its left eye, covered in wounds as if beaten to death by a group. It was unclear whether he had crawled here himself or been carried.
Liyami took a closer look and realized this was indeed ‘Furnace Hook.’ She sighed in relief. She had almost thought the assassination mission had failed.
“This is him. Looks like he’s dead. My mission is complete. Let’s go.”
After a thorough check, Liyami confirmed there was no mistake—it was ‘Furnace Hook’s’ body.
She prepared to return to the manor with Colin, but just as she stood up, she smacked her forehead and crouched back down.
“Oh, almost forgot this. Hehe, time for my favorite part: looting 😋.”
Liyami smiled brightly as she reached toward ‘Furnace Hook’s’ eyepatch and started searching under it, but after a while, her expression stiffened. No matter how she felt around, she couldn’t find the item that had been hidden beneath the patch.
“How can this be?! Where’s my loot??! 😭”
Liyami pulled off ‘Furnace Hook’s’ eyepatch, revealing only an empty eye socket—nothing else.
Seeing this, Liyami froze.
How could there be nothing? Then how did he use those magic spells? Could it have been a one-time magic item?
As Liyami racked her brain, Colin noticed something nearby and called her over.
“Look here. Fresh footprints. Someone’s been here recently—probably the one who took what you wanted.”
Looking at the prints on the ground, Liyami’s anger flared. Who?! Who stole my loot?! I worked so hard for this, and in the end, someone else benefited!
“Hmm… The footprints only go this far, and there are no tracks leading away. Combined with the faint magical aura still dissipating in the air, they probably used teleportation magic—likely with some anti-tracking properties. No point in chasing; we won’t catch them.”
Colin dismissed Liyami’s desire to give chase. Though disappointed, she had no choice but to accept it.
After all, her mission was complete and she even leveled up. That mysterious magic item from ‘Furnace Hook’ was just a bonus. If it was gone, so be it—she didn’t care!
Seeing Liyami sulking, Colin suggested helplessly, “How about we go get some barbecue after this? My treat. What do you say?”
At Colin’s offer, Liyami immediately brightened up, tossing the missing magic item out of her mind. She wasn’t about to miss the chance to squeeze some money out of Colin.
“Sure! Speaking of which, that demon you attracted—one meal of barbecue won’t cut it! At least two, no, three meals! Three’s a must!”
Seeing Liyami’s gluttonous nature on full display, Colin could only nod resignedly in agreement.
And so, with the mission complete and spirits high, Liyami and Colin—carrying Lora on his back—returned to the manor.
Once Lora was settled, Liyami dragged Colin off to the barbecue stall they had planned to visit (although Shefvni had said she’d come too, she was unreachable, so it was just the two of them).
At the barbecue stall, before Colin could even taste the food, he was shocked by Liyami’s ravenous appetite. He began to worry whether the spare change in his pocket would even be enough if she kept eating like this.
If it wasn’t enough… he certainly didn’t want tomorrow’s newspaper headline to read: “Shock! The Strongest Paladin Caught Dining and Dashing at a Small-Time Barbecue Stall with a Gluttonous Companion! Owner Driven to Bankruptcy! Is This a Breakdown of Morality or Human Nature? An Exclusive Interview with the Culprit Colin!”
Just thinking about that possibility made Colin shiver. He started wondering if it was too late to deny knowing this glutton.
—
A few hours earlier, when Colin brought Lora to find Liyami, ‘Furnace Hook’ looked at the familiar figure before him with renewed hope.
He hadn’t expected that his previous ignorance, having been easily deceived because of his limited experience and believing the man who appointed him as his guard captain was some hidden powerhouse, would be shattered now that the man appeared just when he needed help the most!
Standing next to ‘Furnace Hook’ was none other than Rant, who had mysteriously disappeared earlier!