Chapter 620: Ruined Plans

Successfully slipping out of the sewers without being noticed in the process, the group of adventurers made their way to the pawnshop that would serve as their temporary base while they waited for the situation inside the city to calm down enough for them to quietly slip out and leave the northern frontier without having a group of adventurers chase them down in the process.

But... As they were about to enter the pawnshop, the one at the front covered in swage water and waste froze on the spot. "What is it? Did something happen?" Causing the one behind him to speak up as he moved around the other party to see what had frozen him on the spot. Only to end up in a similar state a second later. Drawing the attention of the rest, who followed in their footsteps- only to freeze on the spot like they had.

The reason behind this being visible from a glance, as the pawn shop that should have served as their hiding spot over the next few weeks had gone up in flame not long ago, with a large number of people and adventurers already gathered around the burning building trying their best to put out the flames amidst the soft snow falling from above.

"This... Looks like the pawnshop won’t be able to serve as a hiding place..."

"""..."""

And with words of the leader followed by the silent agreement from the rest, the group could only silently slip back into the sewers before they were noticed by any of the adventurers working hard trying to use water magic to put out the raging flames that had already consumed most of the pawnshop.

"Hm? That smell..." Unknown to them, just as they slipped back into the sewers, one of the adventurers about to join the rest of the adventurers busy trying to put out the fire, picked up on the foul smell coming from behind. Turning around just in time to catch the group of battered adventurers covered from head to toe in filth as they slipped back into the sewers.

"That! It’s them!" And unfortunately for the group, this adventurer just so happened to be one of the adventurers that had chased them down not that long ago before ultimately losing sight of them as they approached the city.

Never in his wildest imagination did he imagine he would end up encountering them in this kind of situation. Even less so in such a bad state.

However, the filth covered state of the group at least made him realize how the group had managed to seemingly disappear from sight once they got closer to the city, as it was now clear they had snuck inside the city through one of the outside connections that was normally difficult to enter.

Of course, outside of just being difficult to enter, the current state of the group had also shown another reason why that method of sneaking inside the city was advised.

Not that any of the difficulties they had faced entering the city mattered to this adventurer, as he wasted no time upon confirming it was really them before rushing off to inform the large number of other adventurers currently searching for them throughout the city with no success.

Knowing he had no way to deal with the group on his own and get his hands on the crystal bunny, settling for the second-best option of selling this exclusive information he had just managed to get his hands on was the best possible thing he could do.

In a best-case scenario, he might even be able to earn a few hundred gold from this information alone!

Whoosh~

And in the face of this lucrative opportunity, the adventurer who had originally been about to use his water magic to help the busy group putting out the flames that had already consumed most of the pawnshop, wasted no time in taking his leave. Rushing straight towards the Adventurers Guild Branch at the center of the city where most of the adventurers searching for the group were gathered working together to try and find the group of crystal bunny thieves that had seemingly disappeared into thin air...

Rumble~!

And only a few minutes later, scurrying around the sewers trying to come up with another place to hide away and wait for things to calm down, the group of adventurers that everyone firmly believed had run off with the crystal bunny, heard a loud rumbling sound coming from above before hearing the sound of movement all around them.

"There! They are over here! Hehe! That information was worth the price!"

"Haha! Think you lot can escape so easily! Don’t you dare run off with that crystal bunny without sharing it with the rest of us!"

"Catch them! Don’t let them run away again!"

Not even giving the group time to react before a small squad of twenty adventurers turned the corner in front of them and happily began shouting before rushing towards them, filled with excitement despite having suffered from the filthy environment they had been forced to move through.

"HOW IN THE WORLD DID THEY FIND US SO FAST!?"

Something that caused the leader of the group to yell out in shock as he hadn’t expected these adventurers chasing them to enter the sewers so fast.

After all, while the sewers were indeed a good place to hide and undoubtedly a place that would inevitably be searched through by the adventurers chasing after them, he hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

In his opinion, they should still have had a few hours left before the adventurers above came down to search through the sewers, as those adventurers should have wanted to avoid entering the sewers because of how filthy it was.

But now, completely against expectations, the adventurers who should have been hesitant to enter the sewers had rushed straight into this filthy place after only a short time had passed. Subverting his original expectations and forcing him and the rest to throw away any potential escape plan that had them hiding while waiting for the situation to calm down out of the window in the process.