Right after an intense flash of light flared up and faded away at the entrance of Liberta’s North Gate.
O’Brien and Sophia, the executives of the Black Shadow Mercenary Corps, regained their sight after being briefly blinded and quickly scanned their surroundings.
“That light just now…”
“It felt different from ordinary magic. It wasn’t the kind of light created by fire or lightning magic. What the hell was that?”
“Could it be… an Imperial Paladin?”
At Sophia’s words, O’Brien sharply turned his head.
“A Paladin?!”
“I’ve only read about them in records, but they say the flow of mana in a Paladin’s light is vastly different from ordinary magic or swordsmanship. There’s no other explanation for that light we just saw. We’ve only heard that their holy swords don’t necessarily glow, but we’ve never heard that Paladins can’t control light itself.”
“Well, I did hear that the Imperial Paladins are desperate for visible achievements right now. Did they decide this place is the perfect stage for their performance? Teaming up with some Kingdom noble brat? A rookie Paladin and a naive aristocratic lady—how delightfully reckless of them.”
The two executives stared beyond the North Gate, observing the enemy’s movements.
The noble brat who had been so loud just moments ago—Lenis—and the presumed Paladin who had rushed out and caused that explosion of light, along with his two companions, were nowhere to be seen.
“Looks like that noble kid and the Paladin’s group ran away.”
“Did they notice us?”
“Most likely. No matter how many nasty rumors circulate about them, a Paladin should at least have the basic skills to sense us, even if we’re disguised.”
“What should we do about the others?”
At Sophia’s question, O’Brien gathered magic in both hands.
With Lenis suddenly gone, the soldiers he had brought were left confused and in disarray, unsure of what to do.
O’Brien took slow steps toward the agitated soldiers and spoke.
“Leave a few alive to relay the message. Kill the rest—to set an example for daring to intrude on our base.”
“Are you sure about this? The Kingdom might be incompetent enough to have left us alone until now, but they won’t sit quietly after something like this.”
“I don’t care. Besides, did you forget what the boss told us about that special request from our benefactor?”
Sophia grinned at O’Brien’s words and drew the swords from her hands.
“They wanted as much bloodshed as possible, no matter whose it was… right? But do you really think this little number will be enough?”
“As long as it serves as a fuse, that’s all that matters.”
“Yeah, you have a point. Still, it’s a shame we couldn’t send that cocky noble girl’s head as a gift.”
Licking her lips, Sophia dashed toward the soldiers alongside O’Brien and the other Black Shadow mercenaries.
After escaping from the scene, Ravi took the lead, carrying Lenis over her shoulder and keeping her mouth tightly covered.
I followed behind with Elfin.
“Mmmph! Mmm!”
Lenis, struggling in protest, squirmed and groaned, but Ravi’s strength was overwhelming.
All she could do was wriggle helplessly as she was carried away.
With masks and hoods pulled down low, neither I nor the others had revealed our identities.
Lenis had no way of knowing who had taken her.
“Mmmph! Mmmph!!”
Fearing that the Black Shadow Mercenaries might be chasing us, we ran without stopping for hours.
Only when we reached the middle of an unnamed mountain, our stamina at its limit, did we finally come to a halt.
“Hah… hah…”
“Huff… huff…”
“Phew… let’s… rest here for now.”
At last, Ravi lowered Lenis to the ground and let go of the hand covering her mouth.
Still unaware of our identities, Lenis immediately put some distance between us, raising one hand as flames flickered to life in her palm.
“Y-You bastards! Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Kidnapping me, the esteemed daughter of the Valentine Count family?! You’re insane if you think you’ll get away with this! Are you planning to demand ransom? This is why filthy city scum—”
“Haa… haah… Lenis, calm down. It’s us.”
Ravi removed her hood, revealing her pink rabbit ears, which perked back into place.
The moment her uncovered face came into view, Lenis’ eyes went wide with shock.
“H-Huh… Cough… What the hell is this mess…”
Elfin also removed her hood, and Lenis’ gaze immediately shifted toward her.
“R-Ravi…? Elfin…?”
Seeing her closest friends from the academy standing before her, Lenis froze in place for several seconds.
Then, as the realization dawned on her, the tension on her face finally melted away.
“Ravi! Elfin! What are you both doing here?! I never imagined that you were the ones who brought me here! How did you even end up in a place like Liberta?! No, more importantly, why did you suddenly kidnap me? Is this some kind of joke?”
“Well…”
“Sorry, Lenis. We didn’t have time to explain back there. And honestly, even we don’t know all the details. Why don’t you ask him instead?”
Elfin pointed her thumb toward me, who still hadn’t removed my hood and mask.
Lenis beamed and eagerly stepped toward me.
“There’s only one man who would be traveling with you two! I never expected to meet you like this! It’s really great to see you, Bra… Ek.”
As I pulled back my hood, Lenis stopped dead in her tracks, seeing brown hair instead of the black hair she had expected.
And the moment she recognized my face, she reacted just like Ravi and Elfin had earlier.
“Nice to see you, young lady. My name isn’t Braek, it’s Alvis. It hasn’t been that long, has it?”
Lenis looked horrified, glancing between me and the other two.
“Ravi! Elfin! Why is this guy here? Why are you traveling with him? Ravi, I know you’re too nice to say no, but Elfin, you owe him—”
“Lenis… please don’t remind me of that.”
Elfin, who had once been completely stripped in front of everyone thanks to the previous Alvis, spoke with a miserable expression.
Lenis immediately realized her mistake and hastily apologized.
“A-Ah… S-Sorry. Ahem, anyway! One moment, there was a blinding light, and the next thing I knew, you guys had abducted me and were running! What the hell is going on?”
“That’s what I’d like to ask you.”
Now that I had caught my breath, I stepped toward Lenis.
“What do you mean?”
“What were you thinking, bringing just that tiny force to Liberta? Even if you were just sightseeing, that was already reckless, but then you went and provoked all the criminals there with your ridiculous speech? Are you out of your mind?”
Being scolded by her kidnapper, especially by someone she had treated like garbage back at the academy, left Lenis completely dumbfounded.
She stood there blankly for a few seconds before she finally processed what was happening—and then exploded in anger.
“Who do you think you are to yell at me?! Alvis, you have the nerve to lecture me?!”
“I’m scolding you because you deserve it! What the hell were you doing there? You, a noble from the Kingdom, should know exactly what kind of place Liberta is! What were you even hoping to gain from poking around there?”
“Shut up! I don’t have to explain myself to you!”
“If it weren’t for us, your head would already be rolling on the ground! Do you think Liberta is just full of pathetic nobodies? That place is crawling with exiled scholars conducting forbidden research, mercenaries who murdered their employers, and all kinds of filth! You’re from the Kingdom, so you must have heard of ‘O’Brien the Head Collector’!”
Lenis instantly paled at the mention of that name.
“T-That insane psychopath—why are you bringing him up?”
“Where do you think that missing serial killer mage ended up? Liberta! Along with ‘Bloody Rose’ Sophia and ‘Jack O’Lantern’ Edmund! When you were standing there running your mouth, O’Brien and Sophia were watching you!”
O’Brien the Head Collector and Bloody Rose Sophia—names that sent chills down the spines of people across the continent.
Lenis, realizing that two of the most notorious murderers in history had been right there, observing her, turned deathly pale, like a corpse.
“They were preparing to kill you. That’s why we had to drag you out of there!”
“T-That’s a lie…”
Unfortunately for her, both Ravi and Elfin backed me up.
“Lenis, it’s not completely a lie. I couldn’t pinpoint who exactly, but I sensed several people with immense mana in that crowd. And the smell of blood was so thick it made my skin crawl. There were people there who had practically bathed in human blood.”
“I also heard voices. Some were discussing what to do with you. Some just wanted to kill you outright. I don’t know if they would’ve actually done it, but… there were definitely people planning to murder you.”
Neither of them had any reason to take my side, and more importantly, neither was the type to bluff just to scare someone.
With both of them confirming the story, Lenis’ pupils trembled.
“W-Wait, then what about the troops I brought…?”
“If O’Brien and Sophia were there, then the moment their vision cleared, all your soldiers would’ve been slaughtered. Thanks to your idiotic stunt.”
“N-No…”
Lenis’ legs gave out, and she collapsed onto the dirt, trembling.
I didn’t give her time to wallow in regret.
I crouched in front of her and pressed harder.
This spoiled brat didn’t need comfort—she needed discipline.
“You marched into Liberta with some ridiculous nonsense about ‘cleansing the city’ and got your entire escort killed. So tell me—what the hell were you thinking? Talk.”