Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The Inn Assault
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My head, smashed against the plate, throbs with a splitting pain.
This brute, whose head alone is bigger than Siwoo's, boasts monstrous strength just as he appears.
No matter how hard he tries to lift it, he can't budge even an inch.
"Urgh... heh..."
"Grrgh..."
"Fucking bastard thinks he can mouth off."
Fedor's mocking words rain down from above his head.
For now, he ignores them.
The important thing is figuring out why and how this situation happened.
That's where solving all problems begins.
First, why did this occur?
The most concrete clues are as follows.
Clue one: Fedor sneered at Siwoo, calling him a male concubine.
As essential existences for the witches' convenience, most citizens' survival and property rights are protected under Gehenna's city laws.
Since only slaves suffer harm from witches at worst, the citizens' sentiments toward them amount to awe, fear, or respect at most.
Just like serfs in feudal times treating nobles or royalty.
But Fedor's tone dripped with loathing not just for Siwoo, but for witches themselves.
Clue two: He's a Naga ship's friendly sailor and smuggler.
Unlike citizens trapped in Gehenna their whole lives, the smuggler Fedor travels between the modern world and Gehenna.
Between a bird that knows nothing of the skies and lives in a cage, and one that knows the freedom outside—which would resent humans more?
No need to say which.
The root of his grudge against witches likely isn't much different from a slave's.
But a more crucial question remains.
How could this situation even happen?
As mentioned earlier, Fedor called Siwoo a male concubine with contempt.
But there's a clear difference between mere contempt and acting on it with violence.
Striking a witch's favored male concubine on a whim would bring repercussions straight back on him.
The core clue here is his statement.
Clue one: "Sorry about that? You won't be seeing that witch bitch again anyway."
That statement exactly.
"Hey, whine like you did before."
-Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Guhk! Guhk! Guhk!"
Fedor grabs Siwoo's hair by the back of his head and slams his forehead into the table repeatedly.
With a racket, food splatters and dishes clatter over.
The skin on his crushed forehead tears, dyeing his vision red.
At this rate, he'll die.
Even if this man doesn't intend to kill him, his body won't hold out.
Realizing that, Siwoo's hand moves like a streak of light.
This isn't a situation where he can use the magic he's diligently practiced.
Siwoo has no mana essence right now.
Instead, he grabs a fork from the table and drives it with all his might into Fedor's thigh, where he stands beside him.
It was an instinctive survival response.
"Graaah!"
The sharp fork pierces through the thick denim fabric.
Piercing the soft flesh and muscle beneath required no great effort.
The effect was splendid.
The sudden pain makes Fedor release his grip on Siwoo's hair.
Shaking off the dizzying vertigo, Siwoo stumbles back, putting distance between them.
"Look at this cheeky little shit."
Fedor yanks out the fork trembling in his thigh in one go.
Siwoo thought he'd stabbed with all his strength, but the wound itself seems shallower than expected.
Siwoo grabs a knife slicing meat from another table.
They serve whole thick steaks here, not the flimsy cutlery from family restaurants.
Used right, it could kill a man.
Fedor, knowing that, doesn't charge right in.
"What, gonna gut me with that?"
Having bought a moment to think, he needs to gather more info with the best means available.
Siwoo takes a deep breath.
And shouts with the loudest voice he's ever mustered in his life.
"Ameliaaaaaaa!!!!!!"
The roar is so massive that even Fedor winces.
And three seconds later.
The tavern's first floor fills with laughter.
"Puhahaha!"
"Look at that punk calling for his master."
"What a sight, kekeke."
Siwoo ignores them.
He slowly backs away, widening the gap from Fedor and the other sailors.
He needs a little time for a clearer read on the situation.
"Hey, get over here, you fuck. I'll gouge your eyes with a fork too."
"........."
Ten seconds, fifteen, twenty, thirty.
No response from upstairs.
Amelia doesn't appear.
That seals it.
"You guys are really insane."
The reason Siwoo will never see Amelia again.
These sailors are conspiring against her together.
And they've already half-succeeded, or fully.
If they just eliminate the loose ends properly, they can handle a witch's pet slave however they like.
He doesn't know the motive.
Or the method.
Even after reasoning this far, it feels like deduction lacking any sense of reality.
Amelia is a witch.
A rank-22 Merrygold baroness at that.
A great witch who could toy with modern cutting-edge strategic weapons effortlessly.
Not someone a handful like these could take on.
Yet there's no response to Siwoo's shout.
Meaning they've succeeded in subduing her.
Most likely method:
The wine Larissa brought.
"Enough, Fedor. What're you doing picking on a kid?"
As Fedor creeps toward Siwoo, the one who bolsters his deduction appears.
The Blue Snake Contact Point's owner and Naga ship crew member.
Larissa strolls in.
"Butt out. This fucker put a hole in my thigh."
"Go prep for departure. No time for your dumb games."
"Larissa, you've been defending this brat all night..."
-Click.
Fedor's face stiffens.
Something's jammed between his butt cheeks.
"Hey, you're joking, right?"
What Larissa draws from her bosom is a Tokarev straight out of a spy flick.
She's aiming it right between Fedor's cheeks, at his balls.
"Wanna play marbles with me here? Or shut up and prep? You know Tokarevs got no safety. Pull the trigger like this and bang!"
"Hey hey! Fuck, fine! Goddamn slut always simping for pretty boys."
"Think about my position rolling with hairy apes like you. How long's it been since I saw a fresh young guy? And you know we can't kill him."
"Who said kill? Just giving him a good scare to behave."
"Talking back?"
"No! No! Put that away!"
Fedor tosses the fork aside with a pale face and herds the remaining sailors.
"Hey! You lot, move it!"
Soon, only Larissa and Siwoo remain on the shop's first floor.
Larissa's pistol now swings toward Siwoo's chest as she watches him.
He always wondered why in movies people freeze when a tiny gun barrel points at them.
This pressure. Just that little hole aimed here chokes the breath right out.
"Shin Siwoo, was it?"
"No thanks for the save."
"A little lip service wouldn't hurt. I just did some for you."
"Turns out you're a scarier big sis than I thought."
Larissa just grins at Siwoo's resentful words.
"I still need your help. Don't you wanna know why this happened?"
"What happened to Lady Amelia?"
"Curious? Go check her room. Stand in front of me. Don't look back, ever. Oh, and drop that cute knife first."
He sets the knife down.
Siwoo's no ex-special forces or retired spy.
No thought of countering a pistol with a crude knife.
Border Town folk carry handguns for self-defense, huh.
A stray thought flits by, blame the adrenaline surge.
Larissa slowly arcs him toward the inn stairs with the gun still trained, maintaining distance.
"Wonder how much you've pieced together. Wanna share? Saves me the explaining."
He answers while climbing.
"Everyone in on this: you and the other uncalled sailors. Lady Amelia's unconscious now. Via poison or sedative in the wine."
"That's it?"
"......The ringleader's probably a witch from outside Gehenna."
Larissa exclaims dramatically upon hearing that far.
"Impressive! Like Sherlock Holmes! Didn't think you'd spot the witch angle."
Thinking about it, not hard to deduce.
Everyone shared that booze, Siwoo and Larissa included.
Only Amelia affected.
Likely a poison reacting to mana in the body.
For Amelia to fall for it unnoticed, only high-rank magic fits.
Plus, no idiot starts this racket against a witch without countermeasures or backing.
"An 'exile'?"
"Spot on."
Larissa claps in response.
Not all witches stay in Gehenna.
Surprisingly, ones like Amelia or the twins make up maybe half.
The other half live in the modern world, split into two types exactly.
One: witches who prefer the modern world over Gehenna, or stay for personal reasons or business.
The other: witches who broke taboos, lost citizenship, can't enter Gehenna—exiles.
Reasons vary, but some committed acts like:
Ruining another witch's apprentice.
Pushing reckless experiments causing excessive casualties.
Or.
"They're after her stigma."
Raiders who kill other witches to steal stigmas and climb ranks.
"Bingo! Thought you were just a pretty face, but sharp too. Smart. Third door on the right, open it."
Siwoo turns the handle and enters the room.
Amelia's there.
Fallen face-down on the floor in the pose of collapsing onto the bed.
Forgetting Larissa's gun behind him, he rushes to check her state.
"Stop! Touch her and I shoot."
Larissa's sharp voice halts him.
"At least let me check her condition!"
"Without touching."
Siwoo glares at Larissa once, then holds a finger under Amelia's nose.
She'd been such a pain before, but seeing her down like this stirs worry.
"Snooore..."
She's breathing, at least.
But shaking won't rouse her.
Her breaths are faint and drawn out, like a coma.
"Almost shot you bolting like that. Don't wanna kill you. Be careful from now on."
Siwoo calmly reassesses.
Truthfully, no reason not to shoot him here.
Cleaner to silence the sole witness than risk pursuit after leaving Border Town.
"Why not shoot?"
"Even that's a complaint?"
Larissa shrugs at his unrelenting stare, like it's ridiculous, then continues.
"Shared misery. You're kidnapped, stripped of freedom too, right? It's all up to you. Me, Fedor, and some sailors contracted with an outside-Gehehenna witch."
"She offered to set us up in the modern world if we nabbed her a decent witch."
Larissa lowers her pistol.
Of course, keeping distance to shoot if Siwoo lunges.
"Waited long for a chance, and luck struck tonight. A witch noble shows up alone with just one slave while we rented the place."
No wonder their moves were so coordinated.
Amelia's a butterfly wandered into a gaping carnivorous plant.
"Life here's not bad anyway. I'm well-off, can get most anything I want in Border Town."
Siwoo asks.
"Then why risk this?"
Kidnapping a witch carries massive risk.
Fail or get caught midway, all involved die for sure.
Larissa answers.
A strangely forlorn reply.
"Even with a thousand pounds of gold in Gehenna... you can't buy freedom."