The Third Companion: The Moment of Choice Arrives (2)
Sicilia Saten swept her gaze across the banquet hall with a languid stare, thinking to herself. How boring.
The people reacted like trained chimpanzee dolls, clapping at every cue. To think she shared the same species as them. Saten found the fact deeply unpleasant.
Insects live according to their nature. Why do these insects, though they are human, behave like bugs?
They adorned themselves with useless, glittering trinkets. Yet their rotten hearts never changed. No matter how much they dressed themselves up, their essence remained the same—stupid insects.
“To think I must brighten the occasion for such trash, Knight Commander. What a nuisance.”
“...They are our precious source of funds, Saten. Watch your tongue. This is a public place.”
A low grinding sound escaped her teeth. Her father, Lennon, fixed her with a gaze brimming with hatred. It was the look of a man suppressing every ounce of fury so as not to be seen as a father. Within the family, Saten received such treatment, yet her talent alone was acknowledged, allowing her to live with some semblance of dignity.
Anger is better than indifference.
She had once drifted through the household like a ghost under complete apathy. Compared to that, the current situation wasn’t so bad. No matter how much they hated her, Saten felt nothing.
As long as they fed her three meals a day, she had no complaints.
Lennon spoke to her with that same loathing stare.
“Saten. You will be introduced soon. Mind your words. And display your talent before them. Show them you possess a gift so extraordinary it could shatter tradition.”
“Yes, I understand.”
Saten nodded with an expressionless face. Showing her talent was simple enough, and she felt a faint curiosity about how the crowd would react. Yet something far more interesting than mere curiosity had caught her eye.
What is that insect doing? He’s wearing a mask and using invisibility magic.
No. That man wasn’t an insect. The word human suited him better. Unlike the others who constantly checked their surroundings, he moved with complete autonomy even in the middle of the crowd.
Saten watched the man approaching her through the darkened hall. Though he used transparency magic, her deep understanding of magic allowed her to see through it instantly.
A masked man. What is he? The fact that he’s heading straight for me in that getup… He’s probably trying to kidnap me.
Hmm.
A man who actually managed to pique her interest. Saten fixed her eyes on the figure weaving through the guests toward her. As she studied the masked man, a thought occurred to her.
If I were to disappear from this place, how would the family react?
Would they rage? Grieve? Or perhaps rejoice? That was rather curious. Given how their treatment of her had changed from the past, she wondered what they would do without her.
Curiosity. With that single emotion burning in her chest, Saten kept her gaze locked on the approaching man. He seemed momentarily startled that she was looking at him, but soon continued forward in silence.
And so, the masked man—Lee Junwoo—stopped right before her.
Saten offered him a seductive smile and whispered.
“You. Kidnap me.”
With those emotionless, pitch-black eyes, Saten spoke to Lee Junwoo. It was a choice only someone who had gone completely mad could make.
What the hell is this woman thinking?
Asking me to kidnap her? She’s lost her mind.
I slipped out of the banquet hall still wearing the mask, carrying the hero party’s mage Saten in my arms like a princess. Inside, they seemed to have finally realized what was happening; the place had erupted into frantic movement.
“...We need to move quickly.”
“Indeed. Please hurry, Mr. Kidnapper. At this rate, we might actually get caught?”
Saten smiled brightly.
Smiling like that at her own kidnapper. Does she not feel fear…?
Her smile showed no trace of the fear of death. Though her lips curved upward, the expression carried a strange hollowness.
More importantly…
“Why did you ask me to kidnap you?”
“No particular reason. I was simply curious about their reaction. It holds no greater value than that.”
“How arrogant.”
“People do say the talented are arrogant. Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Kidnapper. By the way, I sense presences at the entrance. Can you get us out?”
“...”
It seemed they had stationed guards at the entrance in case of emergencies. They must have detected something inside, because they were standing at full alert, focused and tense. Their skill level appeared to be that of proper knights on the lower end.
“If a pursuit team is dispatched, even you, Mr. Kidnapper, might find it difficult. What will you do?”
“I’ll hide my presence the same way I did when I approached you.”
“Ah, that Silence magic? I saw through it, you know. The formula was flexible and the magic circle simply drawn, but it left quite an impression. Are you a mage, Mr. Kidnapper?”
“...You could say that.”
I had learned magic from her and studied quite a bit on my own. While I wasn’t at the level of a top-tier mage, I could at least be considered skilled.
I activated the Silence magic and approached the main gate guarded by the knights.
...These knights don’t seem to have any magical awareness.
The magic that rendered the body transparent. A knight who had reached a certain level could sense the presence of magic, but these guards clearly hadn’t. Thanks to that, we slipped out of the banquet hall without issue. It was almost too easy.
Is kidnapping supposed to be this simple?
There had been no one inside with magical awareness either. The only person who saw through my magic was Saten, currently in my arms…
...Wait a moment.
That person had definitely been in the banquet hall…?
She was someone who had reached a level where she could see through my magic. As if to prove my suspicion correct, the moment we passed the knights and headed down the path back home, a silver-haired knight stood blocking our way.
It was my former comrade, Irina.
Damn it.
“You there. The man in the mask. Halt.”
“...”
“Kidnapping someone in front of everyone? You’ve got quite the nerve. Especially with me, Irina, Knight Commander of the Sylvester Order, watching.”
From a distance, Irina glared at me with sharp eyes. They were the honed eyes of a knight who had survived countless battles.
“If you have a mouth, why don’t you speak?”
“...”
“You answer with silence. Very well, I understand. In that case, I will be taking the girl. For the crime of attempting to kidnap a noble’s daughter, you shall pay with your life.”
No. If I speak, she’ll recognize me immediately.
Irina could identify my voice in an instant. That was why I couldn’t say a single word.
Saten whispered to me.
“Speak, Mr. Kidnapper. Otherwise that knight will kill you.”
“...I can’t speak.”
“Hmm. Then how about this? You have taken me hostage, so threaten the knight by saying you’ll kill me.”
“...”
Isn’t she being a bit too cooperative?
This woman was giving kidnapping advice to her own kidnapper. When I hesitated, she seemed annoyed and took matters into her own hands.
She stabbed herself.
“Kyaa, kyaaak…!! T-this man… he’s trying to kill me…!!”
“Wait! K-kidnapper…! Stop right there! To stab a young lady with a dagger…! Y-you coward…!!”
Perhaps because Irina was too far away, she couldn’t see the truth—that Saten had taken the dagger from my belt and stabbed her own shoulder. Blood dripped steadily from the wound, yet she showed no sign of pain. Instead, she was smiling.
It was all an act.
She had created a convenient situation for the kidnapping and was using me to do it.
“What are you doing? I went through all this trouble to create an opportunity… Shouldn’t you make use of it…?”
“...Damn it.”
With no other choice, I pointed the dagger at Irina. I expressed with my entire body the message ‘Come any closer and I’ll stab her!’ while slowly backing away. Seeing this, Irina raised both hands above her head and nodded.
“A-alright. I won’t approach. Just… please spare the young lady’s life. Though she belongs to a rival knight order, she is still a citizen of the empire. I ask that you at least protect her life.”
The upright knight Irina. She stared at me with a tense expression.
Good thing I wore the mask.
In that state, I kept the dagger at Saten’s throat and continued backing away from Irina.
“...I may be letting you go this time, but if our paths cross again in the empire, I will arrest you without fail, masked man.”
“...”
I hope we never meet again.
Irina’s figure grew smaller and smaller. Once I turned the corner and her presence completely vanished, I finally shouted at Saten.
“Are you insane? Doing something like that with a clear head—”
“Other people say I’m not in my right mind, but I believe I am perfectly sane.”
“...Maybe I should just take you back.”
She might have a bad influence on Runa and Hare. Did my words offend her? Saten suddenly frowned and reached toward my face. There was no impact, but the mask that had been covering my face disappeared.
Holding the mask in her hand, Saten said,
“So this is what the kidnapper looks like. Unexpectedly neat and handsome.”
“...Give me back the mask.”
“Here you are.”
Saten obediently returned it. Then why did she take it in the first place…? As if to answer that question, she revealed her true intention while tightening her grip on my throat. Her face was coldly expressionless.
“I remembered.”
“...What?”
“Your face. I could draw it, or show my memory to others. Therefore…”
If you don’t want to be wanted by the entire nation, you must either kill me or kidnap me.
Saten, who seemed to feel no fear of death, was instead cornering her own kidnapper with a two-choice dilemma.
“The world really has turned upside down…”
It was an utterly bold and insane act.