Retaking the Manor
As I vowed revenge on Hana for teasing me and headed up to the surface, Ronald was interrogating a few of the guards.
"So around evening, the man who dragged two prisoners out presented a warrant stamped with my seal?"
"Yes, Captain."
Upon learning that the one who had smuggled Count Hamel away had produced a warrant bearing his own seal, Ronald fell silent for a moment before speaking again.
"...You kept the warrant, I assume?"
"Yes. I attached it to the duty log."
"Bring it here."
"Yes, Captain."
Following Ronald's order, the guard ducked into the small sentry post and returned with a thick ledger.
"Here it is, Captain. If you look at today's entry... huh?"
The guard who had flipped open the ledger to show today's log blinked at the blank sheet of paper attached inside.
"Was this the warrant?"
"I-it was. I-I'm certain... right here... I-I swear, it was definitely the Captain's warrant..."
Watching the guard tremble in panic at the discovery that the warrant he himself had filed was now blank paper, Ronald let out a weary sigh.
"Ah... illusion magic... So it really is that Raven Shaw..."
Muttering the words without strength, Ronald turned to the frozen guard.
"Never mind. Anyone would have been fooled by the illusion magic of someone who has reached the ranks of the great. More importantly—do you know who brought this warrant, or where he went?"
"I-I'm sorry. I heard the name Hans, but who he was or where he went after that, I really don't..."
"Hans... Hans, is it... Never heard of him... But if he came carrying a warrant laced with illusion magic, then in the end that man must also have been..."
While Ronald was turning over the name of the man who was now a corpse, another guard came running from a distance.
"Captain."
Ronald addressed the saluting guard.
"...What is it?"
The guard respectfully held out a single sheet of paper.
"An order issued by the Count himself."
After reading the warrant the guard presented, Ronald nodded.
"Understood. Tell the Count I will see it done."
"Yes, sir. Then I'll be on my way."
With a final salute, the guard turned and sprinted back the way he had come.
Watching the receding figure, Ronald turned to me.
"One last question. That oracle you spoke of—can you swear upon the Goddess's name that there is not a single lie in it?"
I could pawn off a goddess's name far more easily than my own, so I sold Kylie's without the slightest hesitation.
"Of course. I swear it upon Lady Kylie's name."
Hearing my oath, Ronald's expression hardened. He summoned the guards.
"From this moment, you will seal off Hamel. Until I issue further orders, thoroughly block anyone trying to leave or enter. Anyone who defies the order and forces their way through... you may cut them down."
"Yes, Captain!"
The guards answered in a roar and scattered at once.
Huh? Excuse me? They're supposed to come with us to the Count's manor. What are you doing sending them all somewhere else?
My plan to take the Count's manor safely with the help of a large force had just collapsed. I stared at Ronald in dismay.
"Weren't they coming with us?"
"In front of Raven Shaw, who uses illusion magic so refined even I can't properly see through it, guards with almost no resistance to magic would only get in the way. There's a high chance they'd be tricked into attacking each other—or us. Better if we go alone."
If that was the case, we should have finished everything back at the manor. The security wasn't this tight then.
As I stood there looking like an idiot, Ronald clapped me on the shoulder.
"Don't worry. There's still a safe way for us to face Raven."
And then the cuffs went on our wrists.
Huh?
Wow. It actually worked.
Just as Ronald had said, we walked into the manor without the slightest friction and stood before Raven. I marveled inwardly as I surveyed the forces around us.
Mercenary A. Mercenary B. Thief B. Mage C. Mercenary B, Mercenary C. Tamer B—Ron—.
It was an ambush, sure, but Hans the Mercenary B went down in one hit. With a fist, no less. Add S-rank swordsmanship on top of that and even without the ambush he could one-shot anything up to A, right? Everything below that is... And we've got Ronald, plus Selena providing magical support...
I gauged the capabilities of everyone except Mage A Raven and calculated our odds, then spoke to Hana behind me.
"Now!"
The instant the word left my mouth, Hana snapped the cuffs as if she had been waiting for it and shot forward like an arrow, swinging her blade.
"What the—?!"
Thief B, who had been drooling over Hana's figure still clad in dolphin shorts and a white T-shirt, startled and stumbled backward—but he could not dodge the horizontal slash.
"Ghk—!"
Clutching the red line that had appeared across his throat, Thief B crumpled to the floor. Before he even finished falling, Hana yanked the dagger from his belt and hurled it at Mage C, who was already preparing a spell, then lunged at Mercenary A, who was drawing a massive greatsword.
"Gah?!"
Mage C, unable even to react to the dagger, took it through the throat and collapsed with a dying gurgle. The moment Mercenary B charged at Hana as she crossed blades with Mercenary A, Ronald bellowed in fury.
"How dare you! In the Count's presence!"
Startled by the roar, Mercenary B froze mid-step—and Hana's sword punched through his neck. Raven, who had been glaring at Hana as she butchered his men, saw Ronald looking enraged and relaxed slightly.
"Sir Ronald! Subdue them at once—?!"
But Raven never finished the sentence. The same Ronald who had been storming toward me while shouting suddenly shattered my and Selena's cuffs in an instant and charged straight at him.
"Raven Shaw! For the crime of throwing Hamel's order into chaos, I arrest you!"
"You fucking—! Things were finally getting easy, and then this dogshit bastard—!"
Spitting curses at me, Raven dodged the flying fist and shouted to his remaining men.
"Stop them! You bastards! Buy me time to finish my spell!"
Mercenary B swung a pair of axes in both hands, intercepting Ronald.
Ronald slipped past the whirling axes, swept the man's legs out from under him, and drove a fist into the face of the off-balance Mercenary B as he toppled.
—Thud!
"Guek?!"
Having subdued Mercenary B, Ronald strode past Mercenary C—who stood trembling with sword and shield—and charged at Raven.
In that instant, the shield of the terrified Mercenary C swung into Ronald's path.
"Boy. Step aside. He is not a man worth protecting at such cost."
Ronald looked with pity at the shield that still shook even as it blocked him.
But the shield did not move.
"Haa... I'll try not to hurt you too badly."
With a long sigh, Ronald swung a fist that glowed faintly, as if wrapped in something, straight at the shield.
It's over.
I had been glancing at Hana, who had just severed Mercenary A's arm, stolen his sword, and was swinging it around experimentally. The moment that fist met the shield, I thought, this place would be cleaned up.
But as if mocking my expectation, Ronald's fist slid harmlessly along the angled face of the shield and glanced away.
"?!"
I stared wide-eyed, unable to believe that Mercenary C had deflected a punch that Mercenary B had failed to stop.
Ronald himself looked more than a little shaken, glancing back and forth between his fist and the shield.
Then he threw the next punch.
This one glowed brighter, packed with more force, and slammed into the shield.
Once again Ronald's fist slid down the slanted surface and slipped away.
And in that moment, Raven's magic was complete.
"So long, you bastards! I'll hang Count Hamel's head on the front gate tomorrow!"
Raven shouted from within a sudden cluster of light. The panicked Mercenary C spun around and cried out.
"B-Boss?!?!"
But the completed spell did not stop. The light scattered—and with it, Raven vanished.
"B-Boss?! I-if you leave me like this, what am I supposed to—?!"
"Ah..."
—Thud...
Mercenary C screamed for Raven like a man possessed, while Ron—whose combat ability had been rock-bottom from the start—let out a dumb sound and simply sat down on the floor.
"Did we lose him? Then Count Hamel is also..."
I had been thinking it was all over—that we only needed to find Count Hamel's location, put everything back in its place, and collect the "fuckhouse" Aiden had demanded. Now I muttered in hollow disbelief. Selena suddenly shouted.
"Everyone get down!"
I had no idea why, but I knew Selena would never spout nonsense for no reason. I dropped flat at once, and Hana followed right after me.
Even Ronald, still struggling to accept that his fists had been blocked twice in a row, grabbed the screaming Mercenary C by the head, shoved him down, and threw himself flat—just as dozens of strands of lightning erupted from Selena's hands and raced outward in every direction.
"Whoa..."
I was still marveling at the sideways-spreading lightning—something almost never seen in reality—when a desperate scream tore through the air.
"Gyaaaaaah!!!"
Huh?
Hearing a voice I thought I recognized shred itself, I tilted my head and looked around. The lightning that had been racing outward had vanished without a trace.
—Thud.
And near the exit I found Raven, collapsed and blackened with scorch marks.
"How...? That wasn't teleportation?"
"The residual waves from a true teleportation are incomparably larger than what we just felt, Master."
"Then..."
"It wasn't teleportation. Yet he suddenly disappeared? I figured he was trying to slip away using the illusion magic called Assimilation, so I cast something that would blanket the entire area."
Ohhh!
"Well done! Sir Ronald, arrest him!"
"Ah! Right!"
Still reeling from having every punch blocked by a terrified young mercenary, and then from the dozens of lightning strands that had just painted the air in front of him, Ronald answered my shout and charged toward Raven.
"You really did perfectly. If that bastard had gotten away, I don't even want to imagine how much of a pain it would have been. Ugh. Just thinking about it makes me sick."
I stroked her soft golden hair and praised her again, not wanting to picture what that playboy crown prince would do if Count Hamel came to harm and we failed to secure the fuckhouse. Selena asked carefully,
"Did I really do well?"
"Of course, of course. I almost want to give you a reward."
No. I should give her one. With my S-rank potency. Mmm. Or maybe squeeze some money out of this and get her a robe with insane defense...
I nodded and was already imagining the reward when Selena spoke up timidly.
"Th-then... c-can we... not do anal?"
Uh... I don't think that's going to work...