「Listen up, don’t go out into the streets on your own. As we have been warned, there’s trouble brewing in the city. There will definitely be trouble, but you don’t want to get into it alone.」

Elk spoke to everyone inside the inn’s dining area.

Daska, who was listening in beside Elk, nodded in agreement.

「If possible, I would have wanted to pass by the city and camp out on the side of the highway. But, since I’m here as a noble of the Mireana Kingdom, I can’t let rumours spread that I ran away because I was afraid of an attack. Besides……」

Daska paused there as he looked around at everyone gathered in the dining area.

「I trust you all. You all understand? I’m not just saying it. I mean it. I trust you all, who have lived, trained, and walked with me in Gilm. We also have the A rank party, Axe of the Thunder God, and Rei, Crimson, with us. You are all knights and skilled adventurers I trust. Under these circumstances, no one will be able to hurt me even if they tried to attack. In addition, as I’m sure you all sensed on the way to this inn, there were quite a few people with malicious intent around. There will undoubtedly be an attack, so I expect each of you to put up a good fight.」

When Daska finished speaking, the knights went out to their assigned positions.

Luckily, because Daska was staying in this inn, the whole inn had been rented out.

There were previously several guests, but they had all been transferred to another inn at the request of the magistrate.

Among the people moved were nobles of the Bestir Empire, but Margrave Rowlocks probably held a more important position in this situation as a noble from the Mireana Kingdom.

Most of the knights were keeping watch of the inn from various locations.

Meanwhile, Rei was told to stay in his room for the time being.

As the knights left, Rei went over to Elk first before heading to his room.

Daska was no longer in the dining area. He had taken up residence in the highest class room in the inn, guarded by Min, Rhodes, and a knight.

Only Rei, Elk, and the remaining knights, who were waiting for their shift, were left.

As Rei walked over, Elk called out to him.

「Rei, I think you already know, but……」

「Yeah. Apparently, we’re quite famous, even within the Bestir Empire.」

「That’s right. ……Especially when it comes to you. I thought your name had a certain level of recognition, but within the Bestir Empire, it’s even more than I expected, in the infamous way.」

Even as Elk spoke, he noticed that Rei wasn’t nervous at all.

Most people would show some kind of discomposure if they knew they were being targeted, although their main target was Daska, so Elk felt some admiration towards Rei.

But, it seemed only natural for Rei.

「If someone does attack us, I would like them to be captured alive if possible. I want to know what’s going on.」

Rei nodded at Elk’s words and, seeing that, Elk nodded back in satisfaction before leaving the room.

As for Rei, he felt somewhat depressed as he saw Elk leave, wondering if Elk really considered him incapable of capturing someone alive.

(I’m not that bad at it……)

That was what he thought, but considering all the things he had done up until now, it seemed Elk’s request wasn’t that unreasonable, and he gave another sigh.

 

 

「Kill, kill, kill. I will definitely kill him.」

「Well, the only way to take back what you left on the battlefield is to kill the cause. No, if you can take back what you lost, you’ll become even stronger than when you ran away. That’s right, you’ll become stronger. That way, you won’t have to be ashamed of running away from the enemy ever again.」

「Yes, I’m going to kill him. Absolutely……no matter what, I will do it.」

In a building not far from the inn where Rei and the others were staying. More than 10 men kept murmuring to themselves inside the basement.

Their voices echoed through the basement, but everyone seemed to be focused on their own voices and did not seem to hear the others.

The exception was the female voice that would occasionally blend in with the voices of the men.

The sweet, alluring incense burning in the basement gradually dulled the men’s senses.

As the woman roamed the basement, she would pet the men’s heads and whisper words into their ears.

(I managed to make it in time, but the progress was slower than I expected. Maybe it’s because he saw Crimson with his own eyes. ……Well, I guess that event instilled a lot of fear in these kids. A fire whirl, huh.)

She had only heard rumours and hadn’t seen it first hand. Because of that, she couldn’t imagine what the fire whirl had been like to be able to instill such fear into the men.)

(That said, since they were invited into the Bestir Empire, I don’t think he will use such a large scale attack magic inside the city. I won’t need to worry too much about it. In that case, that leaves the Griffon.)

Even as she thought of those things, the woman continued her work with scent of incense and magical words, guiding the men’s minds in the direction she wanted.

They might be disposable pawns, but they still required work. Besides, it would be meaningless if they were quickly defeated, as their goal was to find out the strength of the rest of Daska’s escort, aside from Crimson.

(Yes. Maybe they should be a little stronger.)

Thinking to herself, she whispered more words into the men’s ears.

「Listen. You guys are strong. Prove it to everyone. Even if you lose an arm or leg, it won’t hinder your actions. If you lose your right hand, you can still swing your weapon in your left. If you lose your left hand, you can still kick with your legs and strike your enemies’ throat. By doing this, you can prove your strength to everyone. You ran from the battlefield, but such a stigma was just a mistake.」

The woman’s voice seeped into the minds of the men.

All in order to remove the shackles the human body normally placed on itself to prevent someone from hurting themselves, numbing their sense of pain in order to kill their enemy by any means possible.

That was the path they had to take, that was the way to get rid of their shame from running from the battlefield.

This went on, and on, and on. Light from several small sources, sweet smelling incense, and a voice filled with magical power. In the presence of just those three, the men’s consciousness was remade.

 

 

「Are you done?」

When the woman left the basement, a voice called out to her.

Looking to see who it was, she saw a man in his twenties.

It was one of her companions and the person scheduled to lead the attack.

「Yes, I managed to make it on time. I’ll leave the rest to you.」

The woman said so with a smile.

Her voice was so easy going that it was hard to believe it belonged to someone who had just been destroying, paralyzing, and remaking the minds of some men a moment ago.

Her tone was also different to the one she had when previously talking along the highway, her current tone was one she would only use with those closer to her.

The man seemed to understand that as well as he handed over some fruit juice to the woman.

「Thanks. Are you ready?」

「We’ve gathered a number of people, but in the end, they are nothing more than a large number of small fry.」

The man seemed to have his own thoughts about the poor quality of the forces he had assembled. There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his voice.

「What’s the point focusing on quality here. THis time, we’re just testing their strength, if you’re concerned about quality, save that for the real attack.」

「But……」

「What?」

The man seemed to want to say something back in complaint, but shook his head when he saw the strong gaze directed towards him.

「No, you’re right. Sorry, Mulla.」

「Hmph, Sistoi, you’re too obsessed about it. It’s fine to be obsessed over something, but what’s the point if you get fixated on something weird?」

「Ugh……」

The man and woman, called Sistoi and Mulla, didn’t seem to care about the men they were brainwashing to become disposable pawns.

Despite knowing that the men were just being sent to die.

For those who had worked in the underworld for many years, there was no sense of guilt for such actions.

「Look, you’re free until tonight, aren’t you? Then why don’t you join me for some tea?」

「……Is this not good enough?」

Sistoi looked at the fruit juice in his hands.

Hearing those words, Mulla let out an exasperated sigh as she looked at her wooden cup.

Although it was late summer into early autumn, the days were still warm. The juice might have been cold when it was first poured into the cup, but considering how much time had passed before Mulla had left the basement, the juice was already lukewarm.

「Rather than warm juice, hot tea is still better.」

「……Understood.」

Looking at the juice in his hands and Mulla’s expression, Sistoi drank up the remaining fruit juice in his cup before chasing after Mulla with a regretful expression.

As long as it was drinkable, it could be warm fruit juice, or black tea……even if it was just water, it didn’t matter.

(At least it’s better than sipping muddy water.)

He muttered to himself as he thought back to how he had survived back in the slums with Mulla since they were little.

At that point, he suddenly thought of something.

(Remembering the old days? Me? Why would I do such a meaningless thing……no, this……

For a moment, a cold shiver ran down his spine and he frowned slightly.

It was what was best described as a sixth sense inside of him. Something constantly warning him of danger.

After living and working in the underworld for so long, he couldn’t ignore his sixth sense.

Because he had been helped out by it countless times.

「Hey, Sistoi. What silly thing are you thinking about? Let’s go.」

「Hm? Ah, sorry. I was just thought of something.」

He shook his head in an attempt to shake of his unpleasant premonition, but he still couldn’t get rid of the alarm bells ringing in his mind as he spoke to Mulla.

「Hey, this time, we’re just checking the other side’s strength, right?」

「Hm? Of course. What are you talking about?」

「No, I just have a bad feeling.」

Hearing Sistoi’s words, Mulla frowned slightly.

「Oh, hey, don’t do that. You’re premonitions are usually correct. ……But only for bad things.」

「Even if you tell me that, it’s not like I’m doing that on purpose.」

「……So, how bad is it?」

「We’ve been betrayed by noble and were ambushed by their knights, right? It’s worse than that time.」

「Ugh.」

The sound that came out of Mulla’s mouth was a cute voice……it wasn’t something that someone in their 20’s would normally make.

It’s fine that they managed to complete the request they were given, but the noble had then tried to silence them afterwards.

There had been been many skilled knights and it was a fight where they had been prepared to die many times.

However, they had still managed to get through it safely in the end.

Naturally, as for the noble who betrayed them, they spent several days slowly peeling off his skin, shaving off his flesh, scraping his bones, rubbing salt on his wounds and so on. The noble regretted it to the point of his death.

Mulla recalled that with a melancholy expression.

「Let’s focus on safety tonight.」

「Yeah, that’s best.」

Of course, safety in this case was not the safety of their pawns, but their own safety.

「I hadn’t thought it would be an easy job, since we were going to be dealing with Crimson, but it looks like its going to be harder than we expected.」

「It can’t be helped. No matter how you look at it, it’s hard work, and that’s why the work was sent to us.」

「Yes, yes, I know. ……Well, they won’t be able to find us if we’re far away enough. Anyway, let’s keep our wits around us until nightfall.」

Sistoi nodded in agreement with Mulla’s words as the two of them went of to get some tea.

The only thing that remained was the faint sweet scent drifting out from the basement, and even that dissipated before long.

[Previous Chapter] [Table of Contents] [Next Chapter]