“You better take this matter seriously, got it?”
Shaking off the distracting thoughts, Nolan turned and patted the shoulder of Loki Curry, the second son of Baron Curry, who stood beside him.
“Don’t worry, Brother Nolan! I started preparing for this a month ago!”
Loki replied with a grin, his eyes brimming with eagerness.
“And! Most importantly…”
Nolan pulled the boy close, whispering in his ear.
“This matter is only known to me, you, and Blue Raven. If you dare tell anyone else in the next three days, I’ll skin you alive!”
“Hey, relax, Brother Nolan~ My lips are sealed! Even under torture, I wouldn’t say a word!”
Loki thumped his chest, making a bold promise.
“Hm…Alright, go prepare. Vaughnson and I have other things to handle.”
Nolan nodded slowly, releasing his grip on Loki’s shoulder.
“Got it~”
Loki nodded.
Though he didn’t know Vaughnson Blue Raven all that well, he trusted Nolan completely.
After all, ever since he was a kid, Nolan had often played with him.
Compared to his older brother, who was always trying to keep him down, Nolan felt more like a true brother.
So when Nolan approached him for help, Loki agreed without hesitation.
And he had indeed played a leading role.
After all, Baron Curry had a pretty good reputation among lesser nobles and commoners.
Sigh…
Watching Loki’s retreating figure, Nolan let out a slow breath.
“I don’t know if this will go according to plan,” he muttered, seemingly to himself, or perhaps to Blue Raven beside him.
“The intelligence should be accurate, but…a lot of people might die this time.”
Standing next to him, Vaughnson’s face no longer bore the warm smile from earlier.
In its place was a cold, almost icy indifference.
“Is there a better way? We’re not deceiving them—we gave them a choice!”
Nolan’s lips tightened slightly, his blue eyes, so similar to Elea’s mother’s, watching the members of the “Blue Raven Mercenary Group” gradually disperse.
“Even without this, in their current state, their chances of surviving a war…are nearly zero. But if they can make it through this…”
Nolan didn’t finish his sentence.
He seemed to know deep down that his motives weren’t entirely noble.
In the end, they were just using these people for their own gain.
With light steps, Loki walked out of the Mercenary Guild.
“Young Master!”
The moment he stepped outside, two burly men who had been loitering at the street corner approached him.
“Alright, let’s go. Business is done…back to the manor.”
Baron Curry’s territory wasn’t too close to Crystal City, but they had a sizable manor in the suburbs here, where Loki and his siblings often stayed.
“Yes, Young Master.”
The two men nodded and headed toward the stables behind the Mercenary Guild where the carriage was parked.
Loki leaned against a large tree, pondering how to plan his next steps—how to inform his father about the impending war without going through his older brother.
Hmph…
Loki didn’t care about his father’s praise, but the thought of his brother’s smug, guarded attitude made him feel sick.
Some things, even if he smashed them to pieces or discarded them, he’d never let that guy have.
With these thoughts, Loki suddenly frowned and glanced around.
His two servants had gone to fetch the carriage…why hadn’t they returned yet?
The area around the Mercenary Guild was bustling with people coming and going, everyone seemingly in a hurry, no different from before.
“What are those two doing?”
Loki glanced at the sun above, feeling his face getting oily from the heat.
Growing impatient, he decided not to wait and started walking toward the guild’s backyard.
This was the stable area, where, aside from the guild’s stablehands, hardly anyone came due to the unpleasant smell.
So, in just two hundred meters, Loki went from the crowded, market-like atmosphere to the nearly deserted backyard.
“Hey! You two—” the boy called out as he walked forward.
Step…
But the moment he turned a corner, he felt his foot land on something soft!
Looking down, he saw one of the servants who had gone to fetch the carriage lying on the ground, unconscious or worse!
“What?!”
Loki’s heart skipped a beat, realizing he might have walked into a trap!
But…this realization came too late.
Whoosh!!
“Mmff!!”
The next second, a black sack was thrown over his head.
Before he could struggle further, something hard and large pressed against his waist.
What the—?
“Arghhh—!” (trembling voice)
The next moment, an intense electric shock coursed through the baron’s second son, causing his body to convulse before he collapsed like a limp scallion.
Thud!
“Phew~ Capture successful!”
The “kidnapper,” Miss Elea, let out a satisfied breath, looking proudly at her handiwork lying on the ground.
“Th-Th-Th…Miss Rick?!”
Jenny was at a loss for words.
She couldn’t fathom why the other party would ambush Young Master Loki.
Wasn’t she afraid of Baron Curry?
And just now…was that a magical item?
No, no, no…now’s not the time to think about that.
Had she…unwittingly boarded a pirate ship?!
At this thought, Jenny felt like crying but had no tears.
Her entire being was filled with regret—why had she been so foolish as to follow this person to a place like this and do something like this?
“Yumina, Vail, carry this guy away!”
Before Jenny could even start crying, Elea began directing the two maids standing nearby to get to work.
And those two maids seemed far from normal.
Not only were they unfazed by their master’s actions, but they even wore smiles on their faces.
Especially the one called Vail, who looked quite young—she was even secretly munching on something…
Hey, hey, hey!
This isn’t right!
Clink…
At that moment, a money pouch slipped from Loki’s pocket, falling to the ground with a crisp sound.
“Oh~ Miss Jenny, could you pick that up?”
Yumina said instinctively.
Eh?
Me?
Me?
Jenny looked at the money pouch on the ground, then at Loki, his head covered with a sack, being dragged onto the carriage like cargo by the two maids.
I’m being forced into this…
I…
I’m being coerced!
Her body stiffened as she bent down, trembling, to pick up the money pouch and hesitantly handed it toward Elea.
“Hm? Oh, keep it for yourself.”
Elea waved her hand dismissively, then stepped forward and reached into Vail’s pocket, snatching a handful of roasted beans.
“Wahhh!! You jerk!”
“What? Got a problem with that?”
“Ugh…I…Hmph!!”