Now that Wood had already come into contact with Reinhard—and even fought a battle—it was entirely up to fate whether the final reward selection would offer something useful.
If given the choice, Wood would naturally want the absurdly powerful Blessing of the World's Love.
If that was too much to ask for, then getting the Blessing of the Phoenix wouldn't be a bad option either.
Of course, all of this was just wishful thinking. What he actually received in the end depended entirely on luck.
"Are you stopping here? But you haven't lost yet. Are you really going to let me arrest you just like that?"
Seeing Wood raise his hands in surrender, Reinhard felt a little disappointed. It had been ages since he encountered someone as strong as Wood.
Even though Wood was a notorious killer, Reinhard couldn't deny that Wood was one of the strongest opponents he had ever faced.
"Arrest me? I think you've misunderstood something here. I'm a law-abiding citizen. I stopped a killer from committing murder today, and instead of rewarding me with a Good Citizen Award, you want to arrest me? What kind of logic is that?"
Reinhard's mind short-circuited, and his face showed utter confusion.
"So, when you said to leave it to you and I'd just need to show up later… this is what you meant?"
Now that the fight between Wood and Reinhard had stopped, Subaru finally got a chance to chime in.
After listening to Felt's explanation earlier, Subaru realized that Wood had almost dealt with the Bowel Hunter, but Reinhard's sudden interference caused everything to spiral into this mess.
"So… you're saying that you're not the Bowel Hunter?" Reinhard finally pieced together the situation and asked awkwardly.
"Of course he's not the Bowel Hunter. The Bowel Hunter is a sexy lady in black stockings. The one you saved earlier? She's long gone by now!"
If Subaru had known that Wood was this strong, he wouldn't have bothered seeking Reinhard's help.
Knight among knights, my foot. Reinhard hadn't been any help at all. In fact, his interference let the real killer escape.
Indeed, the Bowel Hunter had fled long ago. She had initially planned to wait on the sidelines and swoop in at the last moment. But as the battle between Wood and Reinhard escalated—with ice plains and craters forming left and right—she quickly decided to retreat.
The reason was simple: she realized both of them were absolute monsters. Even if one of them lost, the other could easily finish her off while injured.
With the misunderstanding cleared up, continuing the fight was no longer an option. Though Reinhard regretfully invited Wood to spar again someday, Wood tactfully ignored the offer.
Felt, caught stealing, was taken away by Reinhard, though Emilia paid the fee that had been promised by the Bowel Hunter for her services.
The reason was that Felt wasn't using the money for herself but to support the orphans in the slums.
Interestingly, it was another cute girl named Rem who paid on Emilia's behalf. Rem had blue, shoulder-length hair with bangs covering one of her eyes. She wore a black-and-white maid outfit and, though she had a baby face, her chest was even more impressive than Emilia's.
Grateful for Wood and Subaru's help in retrieving her insignia, Emilia warmly invited them to her residence.
Subaru, having long dreamt of getting close to Emilia, eagerly accepted the invitation.
Wood, on the other hand, wasn't particularly interested in romancing girls. And upon learning that Reinhard was a member of the so-called Royal Guard, his desire to visit the royal capital grew even stronger.
Wood's refusal left Emilia a bit disappointed. From the earlier battle, she could tell that Wood was a powerful mage, and she had wanted to ask him some questions.
But since Wood had pressing matters, she couldn't insist.
Both Subaru and Rem, however, let out a sigh of relief when Wood declined the invitation.
For Subaru, it was because Wood was simply too impressive. He feared that if Wood stayed around, it would make his own role as the protagonist feel even more insignificant. Winning over Emilia would become exponentially harder.
As for Rem, her reasoning was different. As a member of the Oni clan, she could clearly sense Wood's strength and danger. Bringing such a powerful stranger to the Roswaal Mansion could pose unknown risks to everyone there.
She was just a maid and didn't have much say in the matter. Since Wood had helped Emilia, she couldn't refuse the invitation. Now that Wood had turned it down on his own, it was the best possible outcome.
As for Subaru… well, Rem didn't see him as a threat at all. Despite his thick stench of the Witch's miasma, his combat ability was non-existent. She could easily take on ten Subarus at once without breaking a sweat.
"Don't go getting yourself killed so easily again, or I won't hesitate to seal you away for a hundred years."
These were Wood's parting words to Subaru, who visibly shuddered upon hearing them.
After meeting a beautiful girl and getting invited to her home, Subaru was starting to feel good about this new world.
It would be even better, of course, if he were the only protagonist around.
Wood's final words didn't sound like a joke to Subaru…
But as a modern-day shut-in thrown into a fantasy world where his combat ability was laughable, Subaru knew he couldn't avoid death. Unfortunately, things never seemed to go his way.
After parting ways, Reinhard took Felt back to the capital. He suspected that Felt, with her Blessing of the Wind, wasn't as simple as she seemed.
Subaru followed Emilia back to the Roswaal Mansion.
Wood's original plan was to head for the capital of the Dragon Kingdom as well, but after Reinhard and the others left, he chose a different path.
At a tavern in one of the towns of the Lugnica Kingdom, the recently escaped Bowel Hunter—Elsa—was in a room, tending to her wounds after the deadly encounter.
As she cleaned her injuries, Elsa's hands trembled. This mission had left her shaken in a way she hadn't expected.
In the past, whenever Elsa failed a mission, she would retreat like a snake, biding her time for revenge. But this time was different. Both Wood and Reinhard were terrifying monsters, and Elsa couldn't see any hope for vengeance.
On top of that, Elsa wasn't even sure how she would explain this failure to her "mother." She was certain that some form of punishment awaited her.
"I wonder how it ended. I can only hope that monster who made me fail was killed by Reinhard…"
As a killer, Elsa had spent her career toying with her prey, relishing in the moment she could rip out their intestines and watch them scream in agony.
But now, for the first time, she was the one who had been toyed with.
It was clear to anyone that, based on the power Wood had shown in his fight against Reinhard, he could have defeated her easily. The fact that he hadn't meant he was deliberately humiliating her in that pawn shop.
"You're disappointed, aren't you? Unfortunately, I didn't defeat that cheat of a man, but he didn't kill me either. In fact, after my fight with Reinhard, I've sustained some injuries. Maybe now's your chance to get your revenge? What do you say?"
A strange voice interrupted Elsa's thoughts, startling her.
But her killer instincts kicked in, and Elsa quickly composed herself, grabbing a curved blade from the table and turning to face the direction of the voice.
To her surprise, the figure sitting on her bed was none other than the man who had haunted her like a nightmare—Wood. He was sitting there, casually watching her, his gaze unabashedly fixed on her body.
Having removed her clothes to clean her wounds, Elsa was now standing nearly naked in front of him.
"Have you seen enough? Did you chase me all the way here just to gawk at my body?"
Though Elsa felt uneasy under Wood's bold gaze, she didn't bother covering herself or putting down her weapon to retrieve her clothes.
It would be foolish to prioritize modesty over survival. In a dangerous situation, her weapon gave her the only sense of security, not some discarded clothes.
"You're even more impressive than I thought. I guess professional killers really are on a different level. But tell me, do you really think that weapon of yours would keep you safe if I wanted to kill you?"
After a brief moment of hesitation, Elsa's tense posture relaxed. Slowly, she lowered her curved blade and even turned her back on Wood, calmly and methodically putting her clothes back on.
Indeed, under normal circumstances, lowering her weapon in a situation like this would be incredibly foolish.
But Wood was different. As he had said, facing a monster of his caliber, whether she had a weapon or not didn't really make much of a difference.
Besides, if Wood had intended to kill her, she wouldn't have had a chance to speak in the first place.
And if he did intend to kill her, at least now she could die with some dignity, fully clothed.
As her well-defined figure was gradually covered by her black attire, Wood cursed his earlier decision to posture. Now he'd lost the opportunity to fully appreciate the sight. Keeping things as they were, they could have still had a conversation, couldn't they?
"You've chased me all this way, but you haven't made a move. Surely you didn't come just to see me like this? Are you here to ask who hired me? Or maybe you plan to capture me and claim a reward?"
Now that she was certain Wood didn't plan on killing her, Elsa felt more at ease. Leaning against the wall, she relaxed her posture, displaying her figure with a lazy, nonchalant expression.
Wood had tracked Elsa down by following the magical residue left on her during their previous encounter, where his magic had wounded her.
"No, I'm not here to kill you or interrogate you about who hired you. Frankly, I don't care about that. I'm not really close with Emilia and her group. Go ahead, finish cleaning your wounds if you'd like. Pretend I'm not here. We can talk after you're done."
Despite Wood's seemingly serious declaration, Elsa didn't make any move to continue tending to her wounds. She simply stared at him in silence.
Finally, realizing there was no more opportunity for him to enjoy the sight, Wood got to the point. "Alright, to be honest, I tracked you down because I'm interested in this assassination organization you work for.
"Someone like you isn't working alone, right? There's an organization behind you, isn't there?
"My question is… do I have a chance to become one of you? No, more accurately, do I have a shot at becoming your boss?"
Yes, that was Wood's true purpose for chasing down the Bowel Hunter, Elsa.
Since this world had an underground network, Wood naturally wanted to resume his old line of work.
Back in the Mushoku Tensei world, Wood had suffered from a lack of information. It had led him to being outplayed by Hitogami, not even knowing who his enemy really was.
If he had gathered information beforehand and understood who Hitogami and Orsted were, he wouldn't have ended up in such a mess.
So, Wood had learned his lesson. His goal hadn't changed—he still planned to become a knight in the Dragon Kingdom.
But that didn't mean he couldn't also operate as a leader of the underground, just like in the world of One Piece.
The underworld might be dark and chaotic, but it was also the most real part of any world. It was the best source of information and the best way to grasp the hidden truths and shadows of the world.
Wood's goal was simple: he wanted to take over the assassination organization and return to his old ways.
Money wasn't the main motivation this time. The real prize was the intelligence network that these assassins could offer, feeding him crucial information about this world.
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Don't forget to give Power Stone
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