Kidnapping
Philia strode down the street alone, fuming with every step.
Just thinking back on the day's events was enough to make her want to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment. Cesset's little prank had twisted the whole atmosphere sideways, and it had ended up looking for all the world like a confession of love.
One thing was certain: she did not like Rai. That infuriating grin of his made her want to put a fist through his face, and every time he pulled some bizarre stunt, her brow furrowed of its own accord.
In her entire life, Philia had never felt a shred of romantic attraction toward anyone. If whatever she felt toward him actually counted as affection, the world would have ended about three times over by now.
And yet she'd gone and given him Gammi as if she were confessing.
After that, her other friends had latched onto her and subjected her to an endless stream of romance talk. She'd tried to explain that it wasn't like that, but the girls wouldn't hear a word of it — they'd already treated the whole thing as established fact. Before long, academy students from other classes who happened to know her had started showing up to ask if she'd lost her mind.
That was right. She wasn't the one who'd gone crazy. Everyone around her had.
It was only a superstition, but people said that on Seria's Day, fairies wandered about scattering powder of love. Clearly the academy students had gotten a faceful of the stuff and were looking at her with those strange eyes.
"Um... miss..."
Her attendant called out to her cautiously as she marched along, still denying reality with every stride.
"Hm? Ah—sorry, Emma. You can go back to the manor first. I'll wander around a bit more and then head home."
Philia had no escort. House Serios was a political family of central nobility, with no connection to the military whatsoever. The house did keep knights and private soldiers, but compared to the martial families they were a drop in the ocean — to the point that Philia herself might well have been the strongest person in House Serios.
Only two attendants had accompanied her to the academy: one managed the manor, and the other attended Philia at school, then worked at the manor alongside the other servant once they returned home.
Of course, even allowing for how few soldiers and knights they kept, the fact that they hadn't even assigned a bodyguard to the family's eldest daughter said a great deal about her standing in the household.
The politically minded House Serios had never been pleased about her attending the academy, and they provided her with only the barest minimum of support.
Emma, who had been struggling to keep up with the well-trained Philia, bowed her head at the suggestion that she go on ahead and set off for home. As an ordinary person, Emma's body simply couldn't match Philia's stamina, so it was a common occurrence for her to return first once they left the academy grounds.
Alone now, Philia let out a small sigh and walked the streets. She didn't have anything particular to do, but she needed time to cool her head.
Cesset, the culprit behind this whole mess, had already fled — she knew full well what would happen if she got caught. It had been a day without lectures, and the moment the academy let out she'd bolted straight home.
Philia had considered marching over to Cesset's house, but she forced her seething temper down and stopped to look at a suit of armor displayed in front of a shop.
Ever since she was little, weapons and armor had made her heart race. Strangely enough, she'd never had any interest in the dolls or dresses other girls her age adored. What drew her eye was the elegant curve of well-crafted plate, the artistry born from hard steel.
And so a heretic had been born into a political family — a girl who aspired to knighthood. Philia had no regrets.
Even with her family opposing her, she loved swinging a sword, and the thrill that surged through her in combat made her tremble. Even now, looking at a finely made suit of armor, her chaotic thoughts began to settle.
She was admiring the display with a contented smile when a sense of urgency from a nearby alley made her turn her head.
The sound of frantic footsteps and ragged breathing reached her ears, and a moment later a woman in a wretched state burst out of the alley.
"P-please, help me!"
"What's going on?"
The woman collapsed, begging the first person she laid eyes on — Philia — for help.
"Strange men are trying to rape my little sister! Please, please help me!"
Clutching her torn clothes, the woman cried out, and Philia immediately followed her into the alley.
The woman raced through the maze of backstreets, and Philia memorized the path they'd taken as she scanned their surroundings. As they pressed deeper into increasingly isolated territory, Philia glanced up at the rooftops for a moment, then spoke to the woman.
"We're there, aren't we."
At the openly hostile tone, the woman turned around without a word.
Philia already had her sword drawn.
"How many people do you think have tried to kidnap me?"
As central nobility deeply entangled in politics, House Serios had no shortage of enemies. The family motto — Always Repay in Kind — hadn't come from nowhere. House Serios had fought an enormous number of enemies to claim the position it held today.
Some of those enemies attacked with steel, and attempts to kidnap Philia as a means of intimidation were frequent.
"I'll tell you this now: even if you kidnap me, my father won't care. And one more thing — most of the ones who've tried died by my hand."
As Philia spoke, armed figures began to slink into view from both sides of the alley.
This sort never frightened her. The truly dangerous ones always came in small numbers, or approached without a whisper of presence.
A barrier sealing off sound and mana spread across the strip of sky visible between the buildings, and Philia addressed the man who looked like the group's leader.
"Who sent you this time? Baron Julio? Count Bareng? If you want to catch me, tell them to spend some real money."
The burly man didn't answer. He jerked his chin at his subordinates. People armed with sharp weapons filled the narrow alley without a gap, slowly closing in on Philia.
These men were weaker than the assassins she'd encountered before. No — not just weaker. They were third-rate mercenary level. And this time, she didn't have anyone she needed to protect. No constraints holding her back.
Philia, who had already calculated her escape route, shook her head as if to say she'd wasted her time, then coated her sword in magic.
With a crackling hiss, the red blade burst into flame, and she swung wildly toward one side of the alley. She was only slashing at empty air, but the fire flowing from the tip of her sword locked into place in space, weaving itself into a net of flame.
Having sealed one passage, Philia immediately spun around to face those behind her.
She deflected the first man's sword, sliced through his leg, and kicked him into the person coming up behind. Without breaking stride she charged forward and cut down three more, and the men trying to seal the alley and push in faltered. The instant they hesitated, she threw a mana stone onto the ground and turned.
FWOOM.
A pillar of fire erupted behind her, sealing the alley shut. Philia sprinted the other way, raked the tip of her sword across the eyes of a blond man who had just barely managed to cut through the net of fire, and stepped back.
"Aaaagh!"
The blinded man flailed his sword wildly, freezing his nearby comrades in place. In that opening, Philia sheathed her sword, drew a dagger from her coat, and threw one to either side.
On one side, a man was struck by the dagger flying like an arrow through his rampaging comrade. On the other, a man was struck by the dagger punching straight through the pillar of fire.
In an instant half of them were down. The panicked ringleader, hearing the screams from beyond the wall of flame, bellowed.
"Get a grip, you bastards! Shields! Who's got a shield?! Push forward!"
But the ringleader's attempt to regroup was wasted — Philia came bursting through the pillar of fire.
Carving through the flames, she swiftly cut down the three in front of her and kicked another one away. Once again a comrade became dead weight; a woman's stance collapsed, and her throat was run through by the sword.
"If you can't hold formation, extra bodies are just obstacles in an alley this narrow."
Watching Philia walk toward him, flicking the blood from her blade, the ringleader hesitated, then grabbed the subordinate next to him, threw the man at her, and ran.
As if she'd expected it, Philia cut the thrown man down without breaking stride and gave chase.
She hurled a dagger at him as he fled in a panic, knocking over piles of garbage in the alley, but luck was against her — the blade was blocked by trash he'd scattered at random. Out of daggers, Philia clicked her tongue, scowling, and enhanced her body with mana as she pursued.
The ringleader's fighting skills were nothing special, but he was excellent at running. He fled through the web of alleyways, and Philia chased close behind, reaching out to scrape her hand against the walls at each corner as she changed direction.
"Stay back!"
"P-please, help me!"
The ringleader grabbed a passing woman, pressed a knife to her throat, and used her as a shield.
Philia stopped, letting her sword hang as she scanned the surroundings and analyzed the situation. The woman's deathly pale face made it clear she wasn't an accomplice, no matter how you looked at it. A little girl lying crumpled nearby, tears welling in her eyes, appeared to be the woman's daughter.
"Waaaaah! Mama!"
"Sophia! Don't come closer! Stay right there! Mama's okay! I'm okay, so..."
"Shut up!"
The ringleader shook the woman he'd seized and pointed the tip of his knife at Philia, shouting.
"Drop the sword!"
Philia looked from the terrified woman to the crying little girl and back, then silently threw her sword to the ground. The ringleader tossed a pair of manacles at her and told her to put them on.
When Philia stood still with the mana-suppressing manacles in her hands, the ringleader pressed the knife deeper into the woman's throat. It was far too deep for a mere threat — the woman's blood ran down the blade.
"Sophia, was it? Can you go get someone to help?"
Philia forced a smile as she spoke to the little girl, and the ringleader shouted.
"Cut the crap! You want everyone dead?!"
"If you kill her, you die too. I'll put the manacles on, so you stay still."
Philia glared a warning at the ringleader, then smiled at the girl again.
"Sophia, you have to help your mama. Can you go get some grown-ups?"
Tears brimming in her eyes, Sophia nodded with a frightened face and ran off somewhere. The ringleader glanced at her retreating back, then shouted at Philia in a panic.
"I'll actually kill her! Stop playing games and put those manacles on!"
"I'll put them on if you let her go."
Instead of answering, the ringleader pressed the knife even deeper. The woman sucked in a huge breath but couldn't make a sound, and more blood flowed from her neck, soaking her clothes.
Deciding further negotiation was impossible, Philia scowled, then — as if holding her rage in check — slammed her fist into the ground twice, picked up the manacles, and locked them around her wrists.
With a series of clicks, she felt her mana vanish. Behind her, the remaining subordinates came running, late to the scene. As the situation reversed, the ringleader swaggered with a grin of delight, and Philia spoke in a calm voice.
"I put the manacles on. Let her go."
Thud.
The ringleader punched Philia. Her head snapped to the side, then turned back as if nothing had happened, and she looked at him.
"Let her go."
"The hell you talking about, you bitch."
The ringleader started beating Philia indiscriminately, until a subordinate rushed in to stop him.
"Boss, you'll kill her. They said we can't kill her."
The ringleader came to his senses at his subordinate's words, spat on the fallen Philia, and told them to take her. Dragged away alongside the woman who'd been held hostage, Philia looked at her with a ruined face and sent her a smile that said it would be all right.
"Rai! It's been forever! Didn't you miss me?"
Michelle spotted Rai — the man she'd spent a heated night with — and ran to throw her arms around him. As a beastkin, she was utterly uninhibited about showing affection, and Cindy frowned at the sight of Michelle rubbing herself against him in broad daylight right in front of the Adventurer Guild.
"You're wagging that tail hard enough to kick up a breeze. Bet it's nice and cool standing next to you."
"Heheh. That's how happy I am."
"Sierra, your grin's about to split your face. Cover it up a little."
At Cindy's words, Sierra covered her mouth with both hands and turned her head.
Through the connection of having explored a dungeon with Rai, Cindy had often worked with Moura's adventurer party and grown close enough to them that she now called Sierra her unnie.
Cindy, who still occasionally learned how to use mana from Zeroa, had gotten to the point where she could use the wall-breaking magic Rai had taught her about twice a day, and her stock had risen enormously as a result.
It was only twice a day, but used well, it could dramatically shorten routes that would otherwise require a long detour, so even high-ranking adventurer parties sought her out.
Craosa, originally an adventurer who had retired to become a Porter, had drawn on his experience to train Cindy so that porters could serve as support even in combat, and her skills and standing were steadily climbing.
All of this was thanks to Rai, of course, but Cindy — who couldn't easily shake the image of him as a lecher — looked at him with cold eyes.
"Did you come because it's Seria's Day and you wanted something sweet?"
"Wasn't particularly thinking about it, but I'll eat it if you offer."
"Then shall we go to bed? I can give you some sweet dew..."
At Michelle's words, Cindy sprayed the drink she'd been sipping and started coughing. It was far too explicit a remark for innocent Cindy to handle.
Sierra handed her a handkerchief from the side, but seeing Sierra's somehow flushed face, Cindy waved her off with an awkward smile.
She couldn't understand how the two of them could share one man. Innocent Cindy, whose face went red just imagining what happened in bed, shook her head vigorously, trying to erase the thought.
"Well, we'll be going first."
At Michelle's words, Sierra stood up as if it were the most natural thing in the world and joined them. Freshly indecent images flashing through her mind, Cindy was left alone with a bright red face.
With the exploration over for the day and nothing left to do, she was considering stopping by a newly opened shop on the way home when her gaze fell on something in the distance.
A young child was crying alone. People were staring at the pitifully sobbing figure, and Cindy quickly approached, crouching down to meet the child's eye level.
"What's wrong? Did you lose your mama?"
"Waaah, Mama, Mama waaah—!"
"It's okay, it's okay. I'll help you find your mama."
Cindy turned her head, looking for a nearby patrol or city guard, when the child said something shocking.
"Mama— Mama got taken by a bad person—"
The words weren't coming out properly through the tears, but that was enough to startle Cindy into looking back at the child.
"A bad person? What happened?"
"A bad person... grabbed Mama... sniff, Mama, some lady told me to go get people... the lady with the red sword said so."
It was a clumsy explanation, but Cindy understood immediately and was about to stand up to find a guard when someone spoke from behind her.
"Where?"
Rai, whom she'd thought had already left, was standing behind her.
Cindy was so startled by his sudden appearance that she fell back on her rear, but he paid her no mind, looking only at the little girl with every trace of a smile gone from his face.