I was running to the location of where I left the girl and the injured assassin whose eye I shot.
"What the…?"
I was baffled when I saw what the girl was doing. She was beating the assassin senselessly with a rock.
"Die, you low life! How dare you lift your dirty eyes before me?!"
Her screams were loud, and her eyes were wet red from anger. Nostalgia, I remember beating my enemy on my first arrival in this world. I was in a similar rage, and all I could see was my enemy's life that I had to take.
However, our circumstances were different. The girl was angry because they talked dirty about her, tried to kidnap her or kill her. In comparison, that knight killed my predecessor's parents right before him.
If a judgement had to be made, I had far more reasons to wash my hands with blood than this girl. She was just a spoiled noble with nothing but empty pride.
"Stop it!" I yelled and knocked the rock off her hands, "Why are you trying to kill him now that he cannot move?"
"What do you mean why?! He tried to kill me! As a noble of proud…!" She paused and bit her lips, "Never mind, who are you? Are you someone, my father, send for me?"
Look at her. She asked like she was in any position to command like a noble. I was a little annoyed since I was still in the body of 12 years old boy, but if I retaliated like a child in return, there would be no difference between the real me and my predecessor whose body I had taken.
I shook my head and held her hand.
"There is no time to argue here. We need to run!" I yelled, and before she could respond, I started dragging the girl.
I couldn't just let her hands be tainted with blood whether she was a noble or commoner. Dammit, why do I have to act like a righteous person?!
Anyway, I had to get the hell away. Who knows how many assassins were dispatched for this girl? My priority was to get the hell away from here and find the old goblin lair for the Treasure.
I didn't want to, but we both had to spend the night in the woods. Thankfully, I had my camping equipment with me. I was hoping that her pursuers won't find us.
We were also very far away from the city, so the chances of encountering monsters were high.
"W-wait…" She cried again, but I didn't respond for a while.
I didn't have time to hear her whining, but I turned around after she stopped moving.
She was panting and had a pale look. Her eyes were barely open, and she looked like she would pass out at any moment.
"You… huff* I can't move anymore…." She spoke in between her breathings.
I realized that I had far better stamina than her. I could run like a kilometre or two without shedding a single sweat, but she was a nobleman's child.
I sighed.
'Guess I have no choice.'
I hung the bow on my bag pack and tied the strips of my bag pack around my abdomen tightly so that I couldn't stumble because of the shaking weight of the bag.
I stretched my muscles one last time before lifting the girl in my arms.
"W-what are you doing?! Let me go, you dirtbag!" She complained and started moving.
Even though she felt very soft and smelt like a fresh rose, I was done with patience.
"Listen here, little girl. I am deep in my shit, so if you complain one more time, I will drop you here, right now! So, if you cherish your noble life, hold tight and stop whining!"
"Eeek!" She squealed from my sudden outburst before softly nodding her head and wrapping her arms around my neck. "Y-you don't have to… yell…."
Seeing tears in her eyes, I felt like a bad guy here. I didn't know how long I would be able to keep my inner maturity intact.
"Sorry…" I apologized and started to move.
Unbeknown to me, the girl in my arms smiled for the first time after getting chased down and closed her eyes, sinking in my embrace.
She didn't know it, but she took the most excellent nap of her life.
---
Cole was one of the assassins sent to kill that noble girl.
According to the description of the mission, she was a noble lady who would be unable to exercise her magic powers for a while.
As such, they had a chance to kill her quietly. But everything was ruined because of one unknown factor that these three assassins couldn't handle.
"Sh*t, if I could just use my skills…." Cole cursed his luck.
Since the noble girl can't use her magic power, they also had to hide theirs so that the search party from her household couldn't use anything to detect the living humans with high magic powers.
"Aaa, my eyes!! Who the hell was that kid? Just wait, brat, I will chop you and that girl into tiny pieces!" Cole groaned and tried to rub his eyes with eyes.
Although his leg's muscle was also severed, the pain in his eyes was far worse than any pain he had ever felt. What the hell did he use in that little bomb or cracker that the pain couldn't even tire down? He also couldn't see correctly.
He also had to hurry and kill the girl. He would die if he were to return empty-handed.
"Where the hell is my bag?!" The assassin muttered as he tried to find the pouch tied around his waist where most of his needs were stored, but he couldn't find any.
"Sh*t, it must be that brat! Dammit!" He cursed as he realized why that brat let him go even though he could have ended Cole's life.
The boy was more sadistic than he thought. However, he still had a 'Storage Parchment' with him, to his luck.
'Storage Parchment' is a single piece of paper embedded with magic that could store a single item for some time depending on the quality of Parchment and the item to be stored.
He tore the paper and a green potion popped into his hands.
"Just wait, you two, I will…."
His words stopped midway when he saw a vast shadow right before him. Turning around his head, he was stunned to his core. He couldn't see clearly due to the blind effect of the cracker but what was standing in front of him was far from human.
It was a colossal creature, around 2.3 meters big, but all he could see were shark-like sharp teeth and a smile rejoicing on the feast that was the person named Cole.
"Aaa mmmm!!!" Before he could scream, a hand grabbed his neck and quickly lifted him in the air.
"Mmm MMMMM!" He tried his best to struggle and free himself before he felt sharp jaws landing around his head and cracking his skull.
The healing potion left his hand before breaking on the surface. Soon followed by red blood, the green liquid was absorbed in the white snow.
What was left was the headless body of a person and arm-sized footprints embedded on the snowy surface.
---
"Man, luck isn't just on my side…."
I was frowning like a puppy in a corner.
Let alone finding 'The Predictor', I didn't even find a single pebble worth a coin.
After escaping from assassins, I visited the old goblin lair, but nature had turned the place upside down. And since dusk was just was at the corner, I had no choice but to abandon my mission of finding the Treasure.
Luckily, I found a small space right under a hill, more comprehensive enough to provide a roof for the night.
"Hey you, commoner. Did you kill the remaining assassin?!"
If the loss of my golden finger wasn't enough, I had to bear this spoiled brat.
Since the space was small, she sat beside me but kept her distance, saying that I stunk like a pig.
"Listen here, little girl. I had no liability to save you. Since you know how commoners think about nobles of Flareottems, you know better."
"But they will come after us if we leave them alive!"
"I will say that again; I had no reasons to kill people for anyone. Besides, coming out alive was our priority."
"Humph. What do you know? As a proud noble, I have faced these events several times. Now I have to keep worrying about them, thanks to you!"
I had enough. I glared at the girl and spoke, "What do I know?! My parents were burned alive right in front of me, and I fu*king let the killer of my parents live. I didn't kill him because I was a coward to take revenge. I didn't kill him because I was afraid of what comes after bloodshed!
You can run your mouth all you want but don't talk like you had it hard while I was living in a garden of flowers. You hear me, little girl?!"
"…" She stopped talking, but I realized I was too close to her. For the first time, I saw her beautiful brown eyes. They were attractive.
I sat again and sighed while poking a red orb in front of me. It was a magical item that could heat up if you kept poking it for a couple of hours.
We couldn't light a bonfire due to fear of attracting those assassins or even monsters from the vicinity. Surface monsters like wolves or goblins don't attack humans on a whim. If humans have the means to protect themselves, they would rather avoid engaging them in a fight.
I also had skunk piss that keeps unwanted visitors to stay away.
"But stop calling me little girl. I have a name…."
"And your name is?" I raised my brow.
"Oh…" She flinched for a second before she started looking elsewhere. After thinking for a few seconds, she clapped with 'Oh, I get it,' before speaking again, "My name is Ann. Ann Nikolaevna. I am 12 years old."
So she is not a villainess… right?