I Own A Brothel In Another World (Ch. 1-196)

Chapter 71 - Kinda Sus

"Halt!" Kyrie raises her hand and pulls our small entourage to a stop.

I lean to the side a little, tilting my body while still on the horse, and try to see what might be the reason behind this interruption. But, besides a dark spot lying far ahead on the road, I don't get much from that. It might be some kind of a monster or just the trunk of a fallen tree.

Alan passes me and joins our leader at the front. "Finally something to do? It was getting boring without even a single rabid dog jumping out of these woods. What's the situation, boss?"

"I'm not exactly sure. As you can see yourself, there's something on the road, but neither of us can tell much more from this distance." Kyrie ponders for a while longer and turns around towards me and the rest of the squad. "Crawford, send Milly to check it out."

"As you wish."

The old magician slides his hand deep into his robes and pulls it out in the form of a fist. After unbending his fingers, a black-red spider is revealed. I might know quite a bit about monsters in this world, but I'm not a spider expert, so I have no idea if this one is any dangerous, but considering its quite big and frightful appearance, it certainly isn't completely harmless.

Crawford brings his familiar close to his mouth and whispers some words to it that are too quiet for me to catch. The spider waves its two front legs at him and jumps onto the horse and then onto the ground, starting to skitter towards the obstacle lying ahead.

It takes three minutes for the little guy or girl to cover the distance between us and its task and Milly quickly climbs onto the magician's shoulder after returning. He looks at the spider and keeps nodding his head while his friend makes a plethora of movements, mostly with its hairy legs. It looks like they don't share a mental connection allowing them to communicate with thoughts or images.

After another minute, Crawford looks up to face the frontlinters. "It seems to be a horse with a rider under its body; both most likely dead. I can't say for how long already, but they haven't started rotting yet from what Milly has said. She circled the surroundings for a moment but didn't spot anyone hiding in the bushes in close proximity. I can't be completely sure if it's not a trap though."

"Hmmm... It's not like we have that much of a choice..." Kyrie ponders. "Let's stay alert and go by the road. If we get attacked, it should be easier to defend in the open than between the trees, considering our team composition. Alan, you ride first. I'll stay with Alastair and others in case there's a volley of arrows waiting for us. After the initial attack, the rest goes as usual. Edgar will switch with me later."

Everyone nods and we shuffle our formation a little. The Berserker takes the front while the rest of us moves in a two-by-two block; Kyrie with me and Edgar with Crawford. Everyone prepares a defensive ability or spell and we continue forward. I'm currently borrowing Sixth Sense passive from Astrea to boost my awareness. My stealing skill is off-cooldown in case I'd need to grab something more offensive or defensive, but I'd rather save it for an emergency.

We cover half of the distance and begin to see the horse better. It's lying sideways on the road with its belly towards us, unmoving obviously. There's either no blood or we can't see it from this side. I'm starting to wonder what could have happened here if it's not just a bait to lure us into a trap.

A minute later, we reach the suspicious spot and slow down a little. It's now clear that there truly is no blood. But, the animal's neck looks to be unnaturally bent upwards, definitely being the cause of its death.

Crawford and I try to examine the crime scene as our group warily passes by it, with the rest of the party actively scanning the surroundings.

"As weird as it might sound, it looks like that horse was strangled. Even the man under it has his limbs broken as if someone or something squeezed him to death. I don't think it's bandits," the mage informs the others of what we can see.