「……Don’t move.」

Rei said. The Death Scythe’s blade went to the neck of the man in black near Min. In his other hand, a newly dagger was taken out from the Misty Ring, ready to be thrown at any time while it was pointed at the man who had fallen near Rhodes, who was searching for an opportunity against Rei.

If the man tried to take Rhodes hostage, Rei would be able to stop him. That was the only thing he could do right now.

They had taken hostages, made Elk a pawn and tried to assassinate Rei, who had been interfering them. Among the spies who had sneaked into the Mireana Kingdom, those who were able to move freely, except those who had been given important missions, were given an opportunity to fix their own blunders. But this moment, all that collapsed.

「This big scythe……you! It’s all because of you! Without you we wouldn’t have had to feel this miserable, that time……that time!」

The man stared at Rei with hateful muddied eyes as the Death Scythe’s blade was at his throat. As if to teach the man his position, Rei cut into his neck with the Death Scythe.

The man stopped rambling as he felt the blood dripping from his throat. However, he still looked at Rei with hateful eyes that would have killed Rei if looks could kill.

Ignoring the man’s glare, Rei looked towards the two hostages.

「Mugh!?」

「Ngu……」

Rhodes, who had been lying on the ground, raised a voice of surprise when he saw Rei. Min gave a small groan in agreement.

Hearing them, Rei threw a dagger into the floor as he took out a new dagger from the Misty Ring.

「Min, Rhodes. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you two out right now. Use that dagger to get yourself out of the rope.」

「……」

Hearing Rei’s words, Rhodes was the first to move. Crawling to where the dagger was stuck, he cut the ropes that were tying him down. And once the rope was cut, the rest was quick. He untied the rope that was wrapped around his body multiple times, untied the cloth covering his mouth and then untied Min’s ropes.

「……Rei, why are you here? What happened to dad?」

「Don’t worry. Elk is alive. He might be a bit injured, but only to the extent that he can still recover quickly with potions and healing magic.」

「……You had a fight with Elk, didn’t you?」

With a sigh, Min murmured in a bitter voice. Rei nodded.

「Anyhow, we’ll catch these guys and get some inform……-!?」

Get some information. Rei was going to say that, but the next moment, he reacted to a sound of something cutting through the air. He moved the blade of the Death Scythe away from the man’s neck and swung it.

Kinkinkin-, numerous metallic sounds and sounds of things falling to the ground were heard at the same time. The man that Rei had his Death Scythe pointed at was safe. However, Rei alone, as well as Min and Rhodes, who had all their equipment taken away, couldn’t stop the over 20 projectiles that had been thrown.

「Keugh-!」

The man near Rhodes ate a black dagger between his eyes and at his throat, falling to the ground with a choking sound. At the same time, the thick smell of blood spread all around.

「Tch!」

Clicking his tongue and afraid that anymore sources of information would be killed, Rei smacked the surviving man with the butt of the Death Scythe and knocked him over towards Min and Rhodes.

Min caught the man, who had immediately lost consciousness after being hit by the Death Scythe and immediately knew what to do. If they wanted information about the people who had captured them, he couldn’t be killed.

「Take care of him!」

Saying that to Min and Rhodes, Rei went towards the wall that had been destroyed by his earlier attack.

A dagger painted jet black as if it were dipped in darkness. Rei remembered them. They had been used in the fight with the Bestir Empire’s spies, who had once infiltrated Gilm’s streets.

Of course, as a weapon used by those in the shadows, it wasn’t something that would normally be that conspicuous. However, Rei could only think of one group who could dispatch adept spies, four of which could take control of Elk.

(In the end, it’s the work of the Bestir Empire.)

Although there was no evidence, based on what he had heard, he rushed to the other side of the wall.

「……?」

Rei frowned unconsciously at the lack of an attack.

Because he knew about Rei’s strength because he was knocked away and he knew that Rei would deal with him as quickly as possible, Rei instinctively felt that something unexpected must have happened……

「……Tch.」

As he went through the wall, Rei clicked his tongue when he saw a figure lying on the floor.

「Silencing yourself because you know the difference in strength. Should I call you brave or loyal?」

Rei tried to pull the man over, who was lying on his face, with the handle of the Death Scythe……but stopped shortly.

A man, a spy, who killed himself in order to not give away information. This was a familiar scene in movies, manga and novels that he had seen in Japan. And he also half expected what would happen next……

「Magic Shield.」

He used a skill from the Death Scythe, a single use, absolute defense shield. The next moment, a shield of light was created near Rei.

「……Alright.」

Seeing the shield of light, Rei gave a small nod and used the Death Scythe’s handle to pull back the body lying on the ground.

「There’s nothing I guess.」

He gave a sigh of relief when there was no explosion.

Rei checked for any strange items, but most of what the man had were dark swords, painted black, 30cm long needles and so on. There weren’t any other clues like transition stones to be found.

「They’re thorough enough to not leave any evidence.」

Rei clicked his tongue as put the darkened equipment into the Misty Ring as his reward.

(Normally, wouldn’t some poison be applied to their weapons……no, that’s just my own imagination. If I think about it, daggers and needles aren’t just for use against enemies. Or, if I look more closely, there might be some kind of poison. As long as the body shows no visible signs of injury, some sort of poison or something similar was probably used to kill himself……)

「Hey, what the hell are you doing!?」

As Rei was thinking about that, Rhodes’s voice suddenly echoed around.

「Shut up! All you have to do is give us that person in black! Hey, hurry up!」

「This man is involved in this situation. I can’t hand him over to you.」

A threatening shout was followed by Min’s calm reply.

「……Hah.」

Just by hearing her voice, Rei give a small sigh as he understood what was going on. Leaving the spy that had committed suicide by drinking poison, he went back into the room he had just left.

There was the one man, who had been knocked out by Rei’s attack and another who had died to the black daggers. Rhodes and Min were standing in front of them. Finally, there were 8 men.

「It’s as I thought.」

「Hah? Who’s this brat. Where did you come from? Go away for now. We’re busy here.」

Judging by his appearance, Rei looked like a kid. A man in his 20’s and holding a sword gestured with his hand as if driving away insects.

For a moment, Rhodes and Min showed a sense of pity towards the men, but it was completely ignored by them.

「Ogre’s Heart was it? A rank E party trying to fight members of a rank A party. You seem to be ignorant of your current position.」

「……Hah?」

What did you just say? The men’s eyes seemed to say that as they looked at Rei.

Rei looked straight back at them with his hood on.

Eventually, one of them reached the limits of his patience and started to laugh.

「Kukuku. Hey, kid. Are you a clown or something? This little boy and woman are part of a rank A party? In that case, we’re an rank S party.」

「Haa. In the first place, you guys got this job from the Guild Master right?」

「What? No way. Why would be ordered around by such a weak man.」

「……I see.」

With those words, Rei understood that none of the men in front of him held any respect for the Guild Master.

It seemed from their crude speech and behaviour that they didn’t recognise Tirage, who had become the guild master due his potential in running an organisation, as someone above them.

「Power is everything, is it.」

The members of Ogre’s Heart grinned at Rei’s involuntary mutters.

「That’s right. You’re a brat but you know well. Then you know what I mean right? This is a place where you should tuck away your tail and disappear. We’ll forget that you were so cheeky to talented adventurers like us. So go away.」

「……Kuku.」

Rei smiled unexpectedly at the man’s words.

The men probably didn’t like that. They were proud of their own strength and were being mocked by a kid who looked to be a mage……and only an apprentice mage. Seeing Rei’s smile, the men glared at him with blue veins on their foreheads.

Their impressions couldn’t have been more accurate. Rei had been targeting his ridicule towards them and the way they had acted for their own convenience despite the guild’s request.

「Hey, look here! If you think we’ll play nice just because you’re a brat, you’ve made a big mistake.」

The man who was closest to Rei yelled at him threateningly.

The first to respond was not Rei, but Rhodes.

「Uh, hey. I’ll tell you quickly, the person you’re trying to fight is……」

「Shut up! Trash that got taken hostage by such small fry should stay silent!」

Twitch.

Rhodes also had blue veins appear on his forehead after being called trash.

For Rhodes, he was a rank C adventurer that was being called trash by some rank E’s.

However, for once, he didn’t immediately get angry as he was conscious of being the first one to be captured and causing his parents trouble.

Rhodes’s conflicted feelings aside, Rei spoke with a sneer.

「If you’re that capable, why do you go to Gilm instead of working in Abuero? Isn’t that the city where most capable adventurers gather?」

「Hah, this is why brats who don’t have common sense are troublesome. The city of Gilm is said to be a place where amazing adventurers gather, but it’s only a gathering of adventurers who don’t know what danger is. You’re talking about people who are not as smart as we are.」

「……Hmm, in the end it’s just a group of cowards who aren’t capable enough to go to Gilm. Ogre’s Heart? That’s too brave to be your party name. Know yourselves. You lot are, at most……」

Saying that much, Rei started thinking of an appropriate name for the party before him.

At that moment, the party called Claws of the Hawk, who had tried to mess with him in Gilm, passed through Rei’s mind. He had called the Claws of the Hawk, Goblin’s Drool, so a name that suitable for the group in front of him was…… Thinking about it, he came up with what to say.

「Something like Goblin’s Gallstones is more appropriate.」

「……You, trying to make a fool of us, do you know what will happen after this? Even if you apologise, it’s too late you know? I’ll show you our abilities that you’re making fun of!」

Hearing their party name being made fun of, the man who was at the front took a step forward with his face dyed red with anger.

At the same time, the others also started to move to surround Rei.

「Ahhh, you idiots.」

「Well, looking at Rei, it’s no use. Rather, I’m more worried about what happened to Elk since it was Rei who came here.」

「It’s okay mum. Dad won’t be done in that easily. Rei said that he was only hurt to the extent that he could be immediately healed.」

「I’m worried because it’s Rei that said that.」

Rhodes and Min both looked toward Ogre’s Heart, who were surrounding Rei as they inched forwards, as they worried about Elk, who had been used by the spies to target Rei after they had been held hostage.

While they had been captured here, they had heard the spies endlessly spouting abusive language about Rei. That was how they knew how many resentment those who were in charge of intelligence operations from Bestir Empire had against Rei.

One of the decisive reasons for using Elk was because he was also a rank A adventurer. It wasn’t unusual for quality to be used above quantity in wars in this world. And if there was a capable rank A adventurer, they would be able to play a big part by themselves. Rank A adventurers were the kind of people who could overturn tactics if handled poorly.

The war between the Mireana Kingdom and the Bestir Empire was close at hand. Although he was still low ranked, they would be able to take out Rei and maybe Elk by getting them to fight each other. At the same time, with Min and Rhodes hostage, they would be able to use Elk in the war. That was the whole goal of the spies who had participated in this operation.

But even the spies hadn’t thought that Rei could beat Elk, and in the end, their plans collapsed.

「……Ah, looks like he’s done.」

As Rhodes thought to himself, he muttered to himself when he saw all the members of Ogre’s Heart lying on the floor.

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