Foooosh!
Seth and Clare breezed through the trees at high speeds, with Seth keeping his sights trained unto the heat signature.
And within moments, they reached the target.
"Oh looky what we have here~" Seth smirked mockingly. "…A bootlegged claymore?"
Now that they are finally seeing the person, they realized they had found their target.
From their attire, it seemed the person was trying to impersonate being a claymore, but they might've forgotten to change their appearance cause the one they have right now was monstrous.
Clare frowned as she pointed her sword at the yoma.
"It seems we have found our target, Seth. You've proven useful, I must thank you," she said calmly.
Seth blinked, then frowned at Clare.
"Wow… so you're saying I wasn't useful before?"
She shook her head. "No… Not at all."
The fake Claymore stared at them, its face twisting at being ignored.
"How…?" it rasped. "How did you find me!?"
Seth shrugged.
"Got tools for that."
The yoma's eyes narrowed.
"…It does not matter."
Its gaze flicked between the two of them.
Then it suddenly lunged towards Seth.
It clearly knew fighting a real Claymore head-on was suicide.
So its plan was simple.
Grab the weaker guy first and maybe use him as a shield.
Too bad it didn't get the chance.
SHING!
The yoma froze mid-lunge.
For a second it didn't even realize what happened.
Then its body slid apart.
A clean cut, smoother than cutting butter with a hot knife.
The two halves flew past Seth and landed behind him.
Clare, the perpetrator, stood a few steps away, sword already lowered like she hadn't even moved.
Seth glanced behind.
"…Damn."
He scratched his head while looking at the corpse.
Clare's still a little too fast for me.
Even with the yoki energy now in his arsenal, being a constant enhancement to his physical body, he still fell short of her speed.
But honestly? I'm glad the gap isn't as huge anymore. A bit more biomass and I'll probably match her.
Seth was about to move towards the yoma when Clare immediately said, "You cannot eat it."
Seth paused and looked at her.
"Why?"
"It belongs to the Organization," she said simply.
Seth slowly raised an eyebrow.
"You're serious?"
"If there were more than one," Clare added calmly, "I would allow it."
She glanced at the body.
"But there was only one. The organization needs something to classify the mission as complete."
Seth nodded. "Fair… I guess."
Clare quickly swiped her claymore, removing the blood stains before sheathing it.
That's when Seth spoke up.
"Do you have any more money on you? I wanna get something to eat and I'm sure you do too."
He stretched out his hand.
Since coming to this world, he hadn't had the chance to properly eat anything and even though he no longer felt the effects of lack of food, mentally, he craves food.
And though claymore can go days without eating, it doesn't mean they shouldn't.
Clare calmly pulled out her little purse and took out three silver cylinders—the currencies of this world.
"Just give me the whole bag. I don't know how much for the things here," He directly took the purse from her hand making her stare directly at him.
He ignored this as he counted the amount of cylinders inside.
He ignored her stare and started counting the cylinders inside his hands.
"One… two… three…"
The little metal rods clinked softly as he handled them.
"Four golds and seven silvers."
Seth slowly looked up at Clare.
"Hmm," he hummed softly. "You're kinda rich."
Clare blinked.
"I expected you to be way poorer than this. Wanna be my sugar mommy?" He offered.
Clare tilted her head slightly in confusion at the unfamiliar term before replying, "The Organization provides an allowance."
Seth waved a hand.
"Yeah yeah, monster-hunting salary. Makes sense."
He stuffed the money back in the purse and kept holding it.
Then he pointed toward her.
"Alright. You go grab some wood for a fire."
Clare stared at him.
"I'll go get something to cook."
And before she could even utter a response—
Fwoosh!
Seth was already gone, sprinting back toward the village.
Clare stood there staring at the place Seth was just a few seconds ago.
"…When did he start giving orders?"
She looked down at her empty palm.
The faint warmth she felt from Seth when their skin made contact still lingering.
Her emotions stirred slightly before she shook her head and began picking up sticks.
***
Inside the village, Seth slowed to a normal walk as he looked around.
A few stalls selling meat, vegetables and sweets were still open despite the late hour.
No wonder the yoma got so many victims…
He stopped at one of the stalls with a bunch of meat hanging on the overhang.
"Good evening, ma'am," Seth called out to the elderly woman with kind eyes who seemed in charge of the stall.
"Can I have this, this, this… and this?" Seth pointed at the ingredients he needed.
The elderly lady looked up.
Then her eyes lit up immediately.
Seth's clothes looked way nicer than what most villagers wore, so to her he looked like someone with money.
"Oh, good choice," she moved with gusto, quickly wrapping some meat and vegetables together.
"That will be two—six silver."
As she handed them to him, Seth was simultaneously opening Clare's purse and the lady caught sight of the blings inside and quickly corrected her price.
Seth's eyes widened as he stared at the lady's smiling face.
"…Six?"
He looked at the things he ordered.
Then at her(her smile a little wider).
"Is meat really this expensive here?"
He felt something was amiss.
The woman nodded seriously.
"It's very scarce lately.
Seth nodded.
"Alright."
He remembered from some certain tv shows about meat being a luxury only for the wealthy while common people rarely ate any, reserving it only for special occasions.
I guess it was true.
He pulled six silver cylinders out of the purse and handed them over.
"Thank you for your patronage."
He grabbed the food bundle and walked off.
The moment he left—
The vendor lady grinned.
"Hehe… what an easy customer."
Meanwhile Seth was already heading back toward the forest.
He glanced down at the purse.
Six silver… Only the four golds remain inside it.
He put it away.
"Huh."
Good thing he took the whole purse.
Clare had originally wanted to give him three silver.
If he only had that, he wouldn't have even had enough.
Seth smirked slightly.
"Guess I made the right call."
He continued minding his own business, eyes trained forward as he walked.
But he couldn't help noticing someone familiar, walking absentmindedly.
"Ain't that the kid from this morning?"
It was the kid he and Clare had found on their way to this village this morning and brought with them.
Seth slowed down to a halt as he watched the kid from a distance.
Yeah… that's definitely him.
The same boy from earlier.
The one they dragged out of the sandstorm and dumped at the inn.
Raki… was it.
He looked a little better.
Still tired, though. His steps were a little sluggish, and his clothes were still messy, but compared to when they found him half-dead in the sand, this was a big improvement.
I guess the food and sleep helped.
Seth adjusted the bag of food in his arm and walked over.
"Sup, kid," he said casually. "Your name's Raki, right?"
The boy stopped and turned toward him.
Raki blinked, clearly confused.
"…Who are you?"
He looked at Seth's expensive looking suit and clean appearance before taking a step back.
Seth was initially confused by this before he realized.
"Ah. Makes sense."
"You were unconscious earlier, so you probably don't remember."
He pointed at himself with his thumb.
"I'm the one who carried you into the village."
Raki stared at him, trying to remember.
"I'm currently travel buddies with Clare," Seth added.
Raki's tired expression instantly lit up.
"Clare!?" he blurted out as he looked around.
The sudden burst of energy almost made him stumble forward as he rushed up into Seth.
"Where is she!? Is she here!?"
Seth leaned back slightly with his empty arm stretched in front of him.
"Woah, woah! Relax!"
He eased back.
"She's outside the village right now."
Raki immediately stepped closer.
"I want to see her!"
Seth sighed but smiled a little.
"Yeah, yeah. I figured you'd say that."
He then pointed toward the forest where he left her.
"Follow me."
"I'll take you to her."
Chapter 10 end.
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Should I create an auxiliary with the physiology and their powers?