THUD—!
Azan fell and continued rolling down a slope overgrown with weeds and gravel.
He couldn't stop for a while, so he could only grip his double-headed iron rod tightly. Finally, the rod lodged between two raised stones, and he came to a stop.
Azan stood up, a little embarrassed.
He was wearing armor, so he wasn't injured from the fall, though he was a bit dizzy. Straightening his black-bearded helmet, he slowed down and felt much better.
At that moment, he faintly heard a strange clanging sound among the mountains and forests ahead. Then he heard a man's curses. When he looked up, he saw a ruined stone platform rising from the ground before him.
At this moment, beneath these ruined stone platforms stood a group of creatures, as ugly and short as the winged misbegotten. But upon closer inspection, one could distinguish them.
They were shorter, had no wings on their backs, and the weapons they held in their hands were not uniform ironwood knives, but varied—longswords, shields, clubs—like a dwarf army of different types.
What was even stranger was that their eyes were a scarlet color, quite noticeable in the dark night, and at the same time, quite strange and fierce.
At the highest point of the ruined stone platform stood a bald man.
He was thin, clad in leather armor, holding a spear in one hand and a large shield in the other. He was cursing and trying to keep the small monsters from getting close.
From a bit of a distance, Azan couldn't hear what he was shouting and cursing. He was about to get closer when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned his head and saw Nidhogg and Serpico also approaching.
They had been mentally prepared to be sucked into the stone wall and enter this space intersecting with the real world, so they didn't fall. They then followed the slope to find Azan.
"Look," Azan said nothing, pointing at the chaos ahead.
Nidhogg and Serpico came up to Azan and, sure enough, saw a group of small monsters from a distance.
They had surrounded the ruined stone platform, probably intending to capture the bald man at the highest point.
Nidhogg, with his Spectral Sight, quickly understood what these small monsters were.
「Demihuman」
"Demihumans have relatively small bodies and fierce dispositions. They seem to possess wisdom and also have the habit of having scarlet eyes, becoming more agitated and bolder in combat after nightfall."
As for the bald man, to be honest, even without his Spectral Sight, Nidhogg could guess who this man was. But he hadn't expected him to appear here.
Patches—a rather cunning man, most of the time thinking about how to harm others. He was a real headache.
For example, when he was a merchant, he always sold items at higher prices and tricked others into opening treasure chests, which turned out to be teleportation traps that sent others to a grumpy Runebear.
As a scout, he deliberately told others half-truths about news sent to Volcano Manor, resulting in them being embraced and killed by a puppet.
As a traitor, he didn't hesitate to set traps, lure others in, and then push them off a cliff when they were unprepared.
However, if others got angry about all this and found Patches again when they were ready to settle the score, Patches would shamelessly pretend nothing had happened and could continue doing business without blushing. It was laughable and frustrating.
But he had a gentle side. He admired Tanith, the mistress of Volcano Manor, and wore the "Dancer's Castanets," hinting at Tanith's identity.
Of course, Tanith paid no attention to Patches's "Dancer's Castanets."
Overall, Nidhogg had rather mixed feelings about Patches.
"Are we going to save him?"
Azan had watched for a long time and saw that the bald man was surrounded by this group of small monsters. But he didn't make a hasty decision, because now the leader was Nidhogg.
In this fantastical world, Azan and Serpico were also more inclined to trust Nidhogg, who had experience in this.
In Nidhogg's mind, he recalled Patches's shamelessness, the "Dancer's Castanets" he was going to give to Tanith, even if he got hurt, and the items he now held in his hand.
Finally, Nidhogg sighed and said, "Forget it. Save him."
Azan and Serpico were a little strange. They seemed to hear a slight reluctance in Nidhogg's voice. But in any case, Nidhogg had made the decision. The three of them went together.
On the other side, Patches stood on the ruined stone platform, holding his large shield, pushing several demihumans and watching them roll down like balls. He couldn't help but laugh:
"It's not so easy for you to catch this uncle... Eh?! Where did that come from?!"
Suddenly, a demihuman climbed up behind Patches, startling him. But fortunately, he noticed in time and stabbed the demihuman, sending it falling to the ground.
However, Patches was still sweating cold and had a headache.
Originally, Patches lived in Murkwater Cave in Limgrave, which was his base camp. Sometimes he went out as a wandering merchant, cheating and making a living.
Unexpectedly, almost two years ago, when Patches spontaneously came to do business near Stormveil Castle, something suddenly happened here.
The territory around Stormveil Castle was separated from the Junction and intersected with another human world, with one entrance and exit. Everything was turned upside down.
Patches was a person who went with the flow. In the other world, he still did business or traveled back and forth between the real world and Stormveil Castle.
Even his "business" was going better. If he cheated a sum of money in this world, he would hide near Stormveil Castle for a few months. If he cheated money near Stormveil Castle, he would hide in the current world for a few months.
Thus, no matter which side he was found on, not to mention catching him, when the heat died down, he would return to continue his "business."
The news of "Godrick the Grafted" spread when he was talking in a tavern in this world.
This was done to take revenge on Godrick's soldiers. They once planned to capture him and take him back to Stormveil Castle so his arms and legs could also become part of Godrick.
Patches's "business" was going well, but tonight he encountered a group of demihumans who didn't understand language. At night, the demihumans were especially ferocious and planned to catch him.
He didn't dare think about what would happen if the demihumans caught him. He could only hold on, cursing and secretly regretting that he would never have come back here if he had known.
If it weren't for the fact that he was wanted for cheating some lord outside, Patches would never have chosen to return to the vicinity of Stormveil Castle today to avoid attention, only to encounter a group of demihumans—what bad luck...
Just as Patches was thinking this, he suddenly saw three people walking nearby.
Without a word, the three used their weapons—greatswords, iron rods, or longswords—and cut down these demihumans. Blood spurted into the air for a time.
Several demihumans fell to the ground. When the others came to their senses, they screamed and surrounded the three like a tide.
Patches was overjoyed to see this and shouted, pointing in that direction: "Demihumans, stop! They are my brothers and sisters!"
Then he quietly retreated again, laughing softly to himself.
Hey, I don't know where these three unlucky souls came from. They should do—let them draw the attention of the demihumans. I'll seize the moment and slip away!
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