The Kidnapper
Rai's eyes fluttered open after hours of deep sleep, his body fully refreshed as he rose from the bed and stepped out of the room.
**"A lazy old man like me gets to sleep soundly while I order others around."**
"Ah, Instructor is awake?"
**"No, it's Instructor, not Mom Instructor..."**
"Oh? You're up? Want something to eat?"
The once-simple house—meant for only Asran—now bustled with people. Academy students learning from him gathered in the background, along with Zeroa’s family, who had been brought here yesterday after the Death Knight threat.
**"An old hag gets to nap peacefully after making the young ones work."**
"Ah, Teacher, are you awake?"
**"No, it's Instructor, not Mom Instructor..."**
"Oh? You're up? Want something to eat?"
Rai grinned lazily. The place was crowded with students who normally wouldn't be here, all gathered because of the incident.
Rai casually extended a bowl toward Asran, then glanced around at the young learners and Zeroa’s family. Clay and Selma had also shown up, and Leila sat quietly sipping tea while keeping her gaze on Rai.
Rai had always been courteous, but seeing Philia sitting politely in Selma’s presence made him think, *I wouldn’t treat her this gently either.*
**"Rai! Your hair's a mess!"**
Kara, Zeroa’s sister, clung to Rai’s back and began brushing his hair.
The house, usually so quiet since Rai lived alone, now felt cramped with everyone together.
Rai settled onto the sofa, letting Kara climb into his lap, then turned to look at Selma.
**"After investigating the alchemist’s workshop again, you just slept like the peace itself."**
**"Did you wait long? I didn’t want to wake you."**
**"It wasn’t that long. I was chatting with Philia, so time flew by. Good for you."**
Selma’s warm eyes made Philia lower her head gratefully.
Rai felt oddly irritated that even their nicknames had become this casual—too different from how she used to treat him.
**"So, what did you find?"**
**"Yeah, your instincts are still spot on. I checked the labs we skipped yesterday. The alchemist was running human experiments."**
No one was surprised by Selma’s calm report—even Rai had already heard the details.
**"Serves the bastard right. Human experiments? He’s no human."**
Asran nodded vigorously and added his own comment.
**"There were livestock bodies, so the guards missed it, but the blood on the floor—human blood, at least four people. The recent traces point to the day the alchemist was killed."**
**"They didn’t have time to dispose of the bodies. Did they run?"**
**"That’s for you to figure out now."**
**"I’m not a detective."**
Rai grumbled as he handed the case back to Selma.
The lab had people inside the day the alchemist was killed. The black knight had killed him and left the bodies. If he’d killed anyone else, he’d have left them untouched too.
**"He took the kid or the kid’s hiding. One of those two."**
**"Probably. Then let the rest to me. I’ve overdone it with this old body. Need a few days’ rest. The stuff you asked for is in that box—use it wisely."**
**"A few days? More like a few months."**
**"I’m not that old."**
Selma chuckled and patted Philia’s shoulder with polite respect before standing.
**"Oh, this is for you. Payment for the job."**
**"Cheap payment, but make sure it’s put to good use."**
Rai tossed her a healing potion. Selma accepted it with gratitude and left.
Rai watched her go, then turned to Leila.
**"You prepared extra people to search for the kid? Or is it just you and me?"**
**"Just you and me."**
**"Surprising. I figured you’d drag the entire guard squad."**
**"Because I had a score to settle. If I told you at the meeting, you’d be too obvious. I’m not that tactless."**
Rai understood the implication and let out a small laugh. He accepted a cup of tea from Zeroa’s mother and sipped.
After casually chatting with the woman, Rai looked at the patient Leila waiting nearby.
**"I don’t think that guy’s truly bad."**
**"Why?"**
**"If that kind of bastard was rampaging in the city, why wasn’t the damage worse?"**
Rai’s question was one Leila had already confirmed.
Even with the barrier, the black knight had caused minimal harm in the city center. When the first wave hit, Rai and Selma got blown away, but the adventurers and guards who clashed with the knight only suffered non-lethal wounds.
Only the alchemist was confirmed dead. The city itself suffered little—some roofs caved in, but most buildings stood. The road crew would be crying, but overall damage was small.
**"I could predict the shockwave because it went straight down the road, but I overdid the barrier and trapped the knight in the city."**
The black knight never intended to destroy the city. Rai had made a stupid move and regretted it, clicking his tongue.
**"Isn’t he a good guy? The human-experiment bastard got himself hunted down."**
Asran jumped in, but Leila slowly turned and glared at him.
Asran shut up immediately, averting his eyes.
**"Even so, Death Knight is dangerous. We have to eliminate the threat."**
**"So I tried talking first. I was going alone at first, but figured you’d scold me later, so I told you. Good, right?"**
Leila’s face twisted at the childish praise, then she nodded.
**"What happened to the person who was in the alchemist’s lab?"**
Philia asked.
**"Unconfirmed. It’s hard to check. If the illegal experiments involved smuggling or poor kidnapped kids from the slums, or if the suspect’s hiding without calling for help, we might never know."**
Rai listened patiently to Leila’s kind explanation. Philia nodded, understanding.
Asran looked lonely in the corner, so Zeroa comforted him.
**"Do we have nothing else to do?"**
**"Appreciate the thought, but you’re academy students. No reason to fight in peacetime. Leave this to the academy and guards."**
**"Saying it that way makes you useless."**
Philia and Leila glared at Rai in unison.
**"Why? It’s true. Students should study, not goof off."**
**"Old man."**
**"Ah, not you. Abigail, you’re on standby for tonight. Counter to the black knight."**
Abigail, who had been muttering “old man,” looked up in surprise when Rai pointed at her.
She stared at him with wide eyes, along with Asran and even Leila, as if they hadn’t expected that.
**"Put her in too. She’s a hard counter to the Death Knight."**
**"...Holy power?"**
Rai nodded.
The others turned to Abigail, who had been keeping quiet.
**"A priest? Aah!"**
Asran accidentally spoke, then got kicked in the shin by Abigail.
Undead are weak to holy power. But they hadn’t brought priests against the black knight because the creature might still have been sane.
If the black knight had a clear head, it would target the fragile, holy-power-wielding priests first.
Leila had excluded priests from the patrol because of Rai, but left them in the clinic.
**"One Ketel Order priest is included in tonight’s standby."**
**"More holy power is better, right? The worry is that they’ll get hurt, so I’m holding them back. This girl won’t get hurt easily."**
Abigail puffed out her chest at Rai’s praise, chin high as she looked at Philia with arrogant eyes.
Philia’s forehead veins stood out, but she bit back her words and ignored it.
**"It’ll make good backup, but one exception means I can’t lecture the other students."**
Philia, being principled, protested. Rai smiled brightly.
**"Abigail, did you hear? I kinda want to find a unicorn tonight. I’ll show you where."**
**"Ha... yeah, unicorns are nice."**
**"Still a virgin... Aah!"**
Asran tried to speak again and got kicked in the shin.
Rai planned to sneak her in by pretending it was accidental.
Leila frowned at Rai but didn’t stop him.
**"You can use my room. Sleep well. The dorms are packing five students per room? Gross."**
The academy had been forced to cram students into the dorms because they couldn’t prepare proper housing.
Some liked spending the night with close friends, but most complained.
Abigail was full of complaints, so she happily accepted Rai’s suggestion.
**"The others, stop thinking useless things. The guy who survived yesterday’s big magic blast? He’s still alive."**
**"You mean the light gauntlet?"**
**"Light gauntlet? I thought it was called Crescent."**
Rai listed the names the students had heard for the magic bullet he fired.
The empire really loved naming magic things.
After the names discussion ended, Rai left with Leila to find Black Horse.
Rai rolled a small, diamond-shaped top on the floor.
The spinning top slowed, then pointed in one direction.
**"This way."**
Rai picked up the top and led the way. Leila followed.
As they walked, Leila grew curious about magic theory.
**"You’re pulling mana from the surroundings by spinning the top?"**
**"Huh? No, I just got bored and started spinning. Why add a useless function? What do you do when you’re in a hurry?"**
Rai had been annoyed at Leila’s probing, so she kicked his butt while he was squatting.
Rai grumbled about “petty revenge,” then stopped spinning and just held the top in his palm.
**"Down the sewer."**
Rai noticed the top pointing down and descended.
Last year Rai had cleaned the sewers, but rats still scampered from somewhere, fleeing at the sight of him and Leila.
Leila kept a hand near her sword, ready to draw at any moment, as she followed Rai through the dark tunnel.
They reached the end.
A small light illuminated a space filled with simple supplies—blankets and food bottles. An young girl and Black Horse were there.
Black Horse had been distracted by the whistle yesterday, but now his clear eyes locked on Rai as if he were fully sane. He trotted excitedly to the girl’s side.
Leila approached carefully, and the girl stared at her with round, curious eyes.
**"Are you a knight, big sis? Your armor’s super white today. It makes you look really pretty."**
The girl smiled brightly at Leila’s white armor.
Leila realized the girl meant “black knight” and knelt, eye-level with the child.
**"You were with... the black knight?"**
**"Um... not a knight, big sis?"**
**"I am a knight, but not the black one. I serve the Bernies Empire."**
**"Wow— the emperor’s knight? Awesome!"**
Even among thousands of knights, Leila was one, but the girl mistook her for the emperor’s personal guard and sparkled.
Leila ruffled the girl’s hair and asked if she had come from the alchemist’s house.
**"I... didn’t do anything wrong! But grandfather said I had to be punished..."**
The mention of the alchemist made the girl tremble violently.
Leila soothed her and asked for the full story.
The girl, from the slums, had been kidnapped and sold to the alchemist. She thought her grandfather was raising her out of pity, but Leila was certain it was human trafficking.
The alchemist had experimented on the girl under the excuse of “punishment.”
Human experiments were illegal. No empire would ever allow them.
The girl had been kept in a dark basement with no light or help, forced to endure the tests.
The black knight had found the horrific scene, killed the alchemist, and saved the child.
Leila gently checked the bandages on the girl’s body, applied by clumsy hands, and stroked her back softly.
**"The knight big sis said I couldn’t stay with her. She said it would hurt me."**
The Death Knight’s uncontrolled mana leaked from her body. Common sense said she shouldn’t be around the child, but Leila still didn’t understand why the black knight cared so much.
It was something only conversation could explain.
Leila picked the girl up and said they were going to the academy.
The girl’s eyes lit up at the word “academy,” but when Leila explained she would have to wait for the knight, she tried to refuse. Leila hugged her and told a small lie: the knight would arrive soon.
Rai didn’t want a child who had suffered left in that environment, so Leila stood with the girl in her arms.
The girl’s name was Sena.
**"Why is that brother fighting the black guy? The black guy’s nice."**
Sena kicked Black Horse’s rear hard for “making her suffer,” then asked.
Leila smiled at the girl and spoke gently.
**"He’s an idiot. And he’s not your brother—he’s uncle."**
Leila ruffled Sena’s hair after correcting the term.
Just as Leila was about to leave after another kick, Rai suddenly remembered something and asked for a pen.
Leila, who always carried a pen and notebook, handed it over. Rai went to the spot where the girl had been and wrote on the blanket.
Sena wouldn’t see it from afar, but Leila’s trained eyes read every letter.
**Sena, I kidnapped you.**
**If you want to be found, come to the academy entrance at dusk.**
**If you don’t, the hostage dies.**
— **Thief Rai**
Rai smiled as he finished the sentence, which had no clear “good guy or bad guy” vibe.
He sighed softly, but the words were effective for summoning the black knight, so Leila left the sewers with him without comment.
***
The bright full moon lit the city skyline.
Rai sat comfortably at the academy entrance, staring at the opposite side.
**"See? Told you he’d be riding a horse."**
The black knight, having confined every horse in the city, trotted toward them with a heavy presence, the ground rumbling.
**"Second round starts now."**
Rai stood slowly and smiled.