As the sun set, the weather turned gloomy bit by bit.

By the time the orange light set in the West, the skies were cloudy. Rain looked like it could break at any moment.

“It’s been raining a lot lately~ not to mention, the rain will last all night. Thanks to that, I haven’t been receiving many customers. I’m in trouble.”

“I see. Then, don’t waste your time dilly-dallying.”

“Huh? Grave? Are you going somewhere today?”

Grave and Anna were talking before the entrance.

Grave opened the front door.

“I’ll be back by dinner.”

“Alright. I hope you find them soon.”

“That’s right. Most assaults happen during the rain.”

Grave departed with those words.

He hadn’t decided on a destination.

He went down the main streets, and carefully went around the less crowded roads and dark alleys.

Recently, many cases of women getting assaulted had been reported.

Multiple people would take them by force and commit depravity.

“Hmm… I still don’t know who they are, but they’re unforgivable.”

Adventurers were free.

They weren’t governed by the kingdom. They survived by their own power.

Therefore, there were many twisted people who abused their power, thinking that they were above the law. Those people were both shallow—and clumsy.

Grave was patrolling around the city to weed out such people.

The Sword of the Blue Sky was the largest guild in that city. It was in a position to unite the other guilds.

As the ace of the guild, he was patrolling to suppress unnecessary messes and excessive acts.

Poturi.

A droplet of rain fell on Grave’s forehead.

“Has the rain already begun to fall?”

Grave resumed his patrol despite the ensuing rain.

It was because malicious people, those who’d take advantage of the rain and the darkness, would be on the prowl.

Evidence didn’t remain forever—even more so on rainy days.

Footprints, odors, and other traces would be diluted by the rainwater, and thus, vanish.

The tears shed by someone, somewhere, would also disappear in the same way.

After a while, the rain began to grow in intensity. As such, the patrol didn’t go as well as expected.

The sound of the rain drowned out the noise. Visibility was poor. There was but little light.

“Aah…”

Grave sighed.

For the past few days, he always had to return home after being pelted by the heavy rain.

He hated rain.

The rain never stopped— it was akin to sad, overflowing, tears.

I hope the rain will stop soon…

While thinking so, Grave turned on his heels. The road was already dark.

“Huh? Just now—”

Men with good physique were gathering at the back of an alley.

It was hard to see because of the darkness and rain, but the men were looking down at something.

He couldn’t hear anything.

Still, Grave had a bad feeling about them.

The men were surrounding a girl.

As one of the men seized her arm roughly, the girl tried to resist. A man got angry and slapped the girl.

Pachin!

“It’s them.”

Grave charged towards the men.

“What a troublesome woman.”

“Hey, let’s get it over with.”

“That’s right~ that’s right~”

The men were trying to strip the girl naked.

The girl seemed to have given up on resisting. In fact, the girl seemed to have given up on everything. With a sorrowful face, the girl looked up towards the skies.

The moment he saw her—

—I have to save her.

He had intended to save her from the start.

However, Grave felt a much stronger, more intense, determination.

That was an encounter.

For him,

For her,

…It’d be a fateful encounter.

---

***T/N: OOOooooOOO so it isn’t pure coincidence. Our man Grave has been patrolling the area to catch the baddies…

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