Chapter 568: How Much Did They Say They'd Pay?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 568: How Much Did They Say They'd Pay?
When something happens that transcends the strange and borders on the miraculous, there is always a reason behind it.
Did the Saintess have an accomplice?
No.
Then there was only one answer left.
The Saintess—fugitive, runaway, whatever she was—was managing to evade capture all on her own.
But did that even make sense? Wasn't she just a child?
It was said that Saints and Saintesses manifested their powers at a young age. Since the information came from Audin, it was bound to be accurate.
Encrid pictured a child in his mind. For some reason, he imagined a younger version of Anne, whom he had seen recently.
It was hard to picture any of his other companions in the role of a desperate fugitive. Esther, Sinar, Teresa—they all left such fierce, imposing impressions. On the other hand, Anne looked like someone who would easily find herself being chased.
Of course, that was just his imagination.
Regardless, there was a child out there. She probably didn't have red hair, but the idea of her running with her hair fluttering in the wind, easily shaking off pursuers?
That was as absurd as a ghoul barking like a dog.
Yet, it was an undeniable fact that she was successfully evading trackers who were second to none on the continent when it came to hunting people down.
If this wasn't a miracle, what was?
Was she a mage?
Unlikely. They had called her a Saintess.
Then the only conclusion was this: the child possessed such extraordinary talent that she had engineered this entire situation herself.
The chances of this guess being wrong were slim. Otherwise, none of this made any sense.
Alone, huh.
Encrid recalled the three methods a fugitive would typically choose, based on his own experience.
First, it's possible if you have people across the continent willing to hide you.
If you had an organization or acquaintances in every city ready to provide shelter, then yes, you wouldn't be caught easily, even with the hounds at your heels.
Second, you could be exceptionally skilled in the art of disguise.
But there's no way the bastards from the Theocracy would fall for that.
So, were either of those two methods actually viable here? Not a chance. Unless the pursuers were a bunch of brainless idiots who would lose a game of chess to a ghoul, they would obviously use their heads.
And what would they think?
Finding the target's family, friends, lovers, and acquaintances was the absolute baseline of tracking.
What about disguise? Was it really as simple as hiding one's appearance? Could rubbing some mud on your face and applying a bit of dye truly turn you into a different person?
Sure, let's assume she could hide her appearance through some extraordinary skill. But no matter how great that skill was, could she live her entire life in hiding?
What would happen when the moment inevitably came where she had to prove her identity? What if there was a loophole in the backstory she had crafted? What if someone grew suspicious?
Could she just hide and live in some remote mountain village where monsters and demonic beasts never appeared? Where would such a village even exist?
Even if one did, the smaller the population, the harder it was to keep a secret. A tiny community where a domestic dispute next door became common knowledge to the entire village by the next morning was no place for a person to hide.
So, she would likely have to live in a city. But cities verified identities far more strictly than one might think, even if she managed to forge an identification tag.
There are no eternal secrets in this world.
Besides, having to live your entire life constantly doubting everyone around you—could you even call that living?
Above all, anyone who had ever dabbled in bounty hunting never slacked off when it came to pursuing mysterious strangers who suddenly appeared in a city. The Information Guild and the Bounty Hunter Guild didn't exist for nothing.
It was just like in the Border Guard, where the standing army acted as the security force to inspect people by day, and the Gilpin Guild did the same by night. Every city had bastards who made a living doing exactly that. Even now, other guilds were slowly starting to establish themselves in the Border Guard.
So, fugitives usually ended up hiding in city slums. The moment a trail went cold, trackers would start scouring the slums first. Those hunters didn't glare at every beggar they saw the moment they entered a city just because they had nothing better to do.
But what if she went to an inn to secure food and shelter? At that point, she might as well pray to God to be captured.
Therefore, completely hiding oneself in a typical city was impossible. Avoiding human eyes was, by nature, the hardest thing in the world. Of course, it wasn't as if there were absolutely no people who successfully vanished into thin air, but such individuals were incredibly rare.
To be honest, Encrid believed that most of those who tried to hide in the slums ended up meeting God without anyone ever finding out. At the mere clink of a copper coin, at least ten thugs would target your pockets in the dead of night.
That left the third method, which was the only viable and logical alternative.
Minimize visits to cities, and handle all rest and sleep in places without castle walls.
Avoid people entirely. Move while dealing with monsters and demonic beasts. Walk along beast trails, mountains, forests, and fields rather than the trade routes cleared by merchant caravans.
However, even this approach had its problems. No matter how outstanding one's martial prowess was, a human still had to sleep and eat. How would she get food? What about sleep?
Thus, raw martial power alone was not enough to make someone a successful fugitive. Well, it might be somewhat feasible if one possessed the strength of an Associate Knight recognized even within the knight orders. But even with that level of power, escaping the grasp of the Theocracy would remain a distant dream.
So, what was the solution?
You had to be an exceptional ranger. Or an exceptional hunter.
If you had to pick the profession most likely to survive after being dropped randomly anywhere on the continent, rangers and hunters would undoubtedly top the list. They knew how to sleep in trees and how to dress the meat of demonic beasts—though, of course, taste wouldn't be a consideration.
Encrid's train of thought reached its conclusion.
"A natural-born hunter? Does such a thing even exist?"
Encrid asked as he walked. He wasn't rushing. Pursuing from the rear required waiting for the fruit to ripen, so to speak. The pleasant autumn sunshine and the scenery along the path didn't register in his memory; he was too deeply lost in thought.
They were climbing a shallow hill. Sinar shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand and spoke.
"No such thing can exist."
These were the words of Sinar, an elf who had personally trained a ranger unit. Encrid agreed with her. For a hunter, mastering the terrain and understanding the habits of monsters was essential. Without learning, experience, and training, hunting was utterly out of the question.
Which made this situation all the more bizarre.
But this mystery would be solved once they met her. If they asked, they would get some kind of answer. So for now, all they had to do was pursue their target.
Encrid had formulated his own strategy. That was why he had rejected Deutsch Fullman's final offer before coming here.
"If I assign soldiers familiar with the local geography, it will be over in no time. I can spare up to a squad," Deutsch had offered.
"No, I don't think that will be necessary," Encrid had replied.
He had politely declined Deutsch's consideration. Encrid had his own plans, and the information Deutsch had provided after crushing some brotherhood parasitic to the city was more than enough.
Apparently, over twenty parties of bounty hunters, mercenaries, and guides—all boasting some talent in tracking—had mobilized.
Encrid didn't even know exactly where to go in the east. Yet, he had set out anyway. He wasn't moving blindly, leaving everything to luck. During his days as a guide and a bounty hunter, Encrid had both fled and pursued.
If he had to calculate his success rate, how high would it be? Probably less than half. While he could generally find his way, he wasn't proficient in tracking or other survival skills.
If only Rem were here, it might have been a bit easier.
If that gray-haired barbarian who hated nobles were here, he would have put his hunter's skills to good use. He knew how to track and find people. If Dunchabel were here, her sense of smell and instincts would have been a massive help.
Well, Sinar was helpful too, but this wasn't the land where she was born and raised. To be more precise, while Rem or Dunchabel could be hunters anywhere, elves were different. Short-term tracking was possible, but long-term pursuit taking the terrain into account was not.
But was that a problem? No, not at all.
He was different now compared to his days as a bounty hunter. Encrid knew his talent as a guide was thoroughly mediocre. Instead, he now possessed two sturdy legs that wouldn't tire even after scouting the surroundings all night.
Strong Legs.
If he couldn't find anything with a narrow search, he would just search a wider area. Audin and Sinar weren't the type to tire out from scouting around for half a day, either. And looking at the terrain, even if they searched the entire surrounding area and entered the eastern forest, half a day seemed more than enough.
Had he not already tested the limits of his legs back in the Border Guard, running through the Pen-Hanil Mountains to see how far he could go? As Luagarne had said, there was no better tactic than knowing exactly what you were capable of. Encrid had trained relentlessly according to those words, and now he was reaping the benefits.
He divided the visible terrain into several sections and calculated the time it would take to reach them by running. It was a calculation that came naturally to him, having run countless times with his own body.
He wasn't just blindly searching random spots. Hadn't he heard that over twenty experts had been deployed for this task? They were stepping stones, signposts guiding them to their destination.
Above all, since they weren't the ones being pursued, they didn't bother hiding their tracks.
Look at this. Even now, as they lightly jogged forward and reached the eastern forest, didn't they see the crudely torn and scattered corpses of monsters and demonic beasts?
Trees with large, jagged leaves blocked their view, and the faint scent of blood lingered in the air. To one side, they could see a monster that had been smashed against a boulder. Among them, the severed head of a human-faced dog sprawled in front of the boulder bore marks that looked as though it had been relentlessly branded with a hot iron.
"These are the tracks of the Crusaders," Audin said, stopping to look at the monster corpses. He knelt on one knee and examined the dead bodies.
"There's someone with a nasty personality among them," Sinar chimed in.
It was one thing to kill, but to torture them to death was another. It was likely someone with a sadistic streak rather than just a grudge against monsters.
Encrid nodded and gestured to Sinar.
"So you require my assistance. Very well, I shall gladly step forward to ease my fiancé's troubles."
Sinar spoke with a deadpan face, then proceeded to examine the traces of the battle as promised. Her experience would undoubtedly be superior to what Encrid could see on his own.
Encrid wasn't just standing idle either. He examined the tracks, looking at footprints and broken branches. Some of the pursuers seemed to be moving remarkably fast. There were clear signs of them smashing through paths blocked by fresh tree branches.
Good skill.
Judging by the clean cut of the branches, they seemed to be quite capable. It wasn't a messy hack job; they had sliced through in a single strike. Yet, it felt slightly lacking to be the work of the Crusaders. The cut surfaces were somewhat uneven.
Sinar, who had been examining the ground and sniffing the air, raised her head. Seeing this, Encrid asked, "Which way?"
"This way. It won't take long."
Sinar answered immediately. As the two finished speaking and moved, Audin followed close behind. From this point on, even if Deutsch Fullman himself had tagged along, he wouldn't have been able to keep up with their stamina or speed. Thus, it was only natural that they couldn't bring along soldiers familiar with the local terrain. To scout this entire area in half a day, they absolutely had to move at this pace.
Encrid cleared away a few branches with the shortsword Eitri had given him. The grip fit perfectly in his hand, and the blade felt like an extension of his own arm—it was truly a masterpiece. Eitri had said it was just for temporary use, but it was a weapon custom-made for a single individual. A sword that felt so natural the moment he held it.
Now this is a joy to wield.
As he thought this, he focused his hearing and caught the sound of human voices in the distance. When Sinar said it wouldn't take long, she meant they were already within earshot.
She was right. It was still too far to make out the exact words.
"Let's pick up the pace," Encrid said.
With that, he kicked off the ground. Extending his legs lightly and bending his knees, he navigated the uneven terrain, avoiding sharp stones as he surged forward. Though his footsteps didn't kick up plumes of dirt, his body propelled forward with incredible speed.
His dark shadow left afterimages in its wake; from above, he would have looked like a long, gliding snake. Since those ahead of them had already cleared a path, the pursuit was relatively easy.
Audin followed behind him. Despite his massive build, which made the low-hanging branches brushing against his head a nuisance, he ran effortlessly even while half-bent.
Sinar, of course, was in her element. The moment they entered the forest, she bounded across the terrain like a fish in water. If the ground became too troublesome, she would leap onto half-tilted trees and run along them. Her agility was truly worthy of an elf.
None of the three were pushing themselves to their absolute limits, yet they were faster than squirrels. It took only a brief moment for the three giant "squirrels" to reach the source of the noise.
Soon, they spotted two men and a woman clearing a path ahead of them. It was the first party of the pursuit force.
Since Encrid's group hadn't bothered to silence their approach, all three of them whipped around. Seeing Encrid and his companions suddenly appear, they instantly grew tense with wariness.
The moment Encrid saw them, he decided to satisfy a lingering curiosity.
"How much did they say they'd pay?"
Just how much had the Holy Church offered to make all these self-proclaimed tracking experts swarm here in such a short time? It wasn't particularly important, but it was a minor question that had crossed his mind on the way.
He was quite curious about the spending habits of that stingy Holy Order.