A man walked through the streets of the royal capital with drunken steps. Two shadows pursued him. Just as he entered a back alley, they turned and spoke to him.
「You! Do you know who I am!?」
「Well, who could it be?」
「Aerdfgtgyflp!!」
The drunk man shouted in anger, pulling out a hidden weapon and taking a stance.
「Aha! Futile, futile! Resistance is meaningless before that person!」
As the shadow said this, the man in front of them fell into another shadow that had been approaching from behind.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
「Hmm…… Where am I?」
The man, whose limbs were bound, woke up.
「Hello, Cizar. It has been about half a year, hasn’t it?」
Shia appeared in front of the man, grinning.
「What!? You are Stisia! You should have left the royal capital today!!」
「Huh? I said it has been a while, didn’t I?」
The man (Cizar) turned pale at Shia’s words.
「Well, I knew you were watching me.」
「W-what do you mean, gyaaaaah!!」
Shia stabbed a knife into the panicked man.
「Oops…… He will die if this continues…… Sorry, Master.」
「No, that is a trivial matter.」
Eyes glowed eerily from within the robe, capturing the man. As I held my hand over the wound, it healed rapidly.
「Hah, hah, ——Phew, phew!」
「Now, Cizar, shall you answer my questions?」
「Haha, do you think I will talk so easily, gyaaaaah!!」
「Really, you have no sense of crisis…… Look, if I do not heal you, you will die.」
The man, stabbed in the abdomen, collapsed, and gold coins spilled from his pocket.
「Arara…… These are newly minted gold coins. If they are this clean, anyone can tell who the culprit is……」
Tears welled up in the man’s eyes. He probably thought his life was over since he had been exposed. He began to struggle in pain and despair.
「Yes, yes. I still have things I want to ask. Well, if you talk, I will at least spare your life.」
「Understood, I will tell you everything! I apologize for selling you out! So please save me!!」
「Heh…… So, you are aware that you sold me out……」
「Ah, yes! I will give you all the information from the client!」
「Hmm…… Then speak.」
Shia said coldly.
「T-treatment first?」
「If you do not talk, I will not heal you. Come on, quickly.」
「O-okay, what do you want to know?」
「About the recent disappearance incidents in the royal capital.」
Shia grinned and showed his face in front of the man.
「Higuu! Understood! The client is the King. Our job is to drug people to sleep and transport them to the royal palace!」
「Is it alright to say such things so easily? Will the King not kill you?」
「That is better than being killed by you!」
The man shouted. Since he was losing too much blood, I decided to secretly heal him.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
「Heave-ho. Shia, is it alright here?」
「It is fine here, Master. Sorry for troubling you.」
We threw the unconscious Cizar into his room and went outside.
「Man, I am not used to torture, so that was a relief.」
After that, a brutal round of interrogation followed…the kind that was [strictly NSFW!] and definitely too graphic for Croco to watch. By the end of it, we managed to drag out most of the information.
As it turns out, the disappearances and the plot to assassinate the Saintess are deeply connected.
「Hmm. Still, we could not find the whereabouts of the Holy Sword……」
「That is true. But since the current King is not of legitimate bloodline, he seems desperate.」
「Good grief. The current Amilia is about as strong as Shia……」
「Indeed. If I fought her head-on, I would lose in terms of power. But Amilia-sama is a different type……」
「No one can surpass her in poison or assassination……」
「Ahaha. If Croco properly learns assassination, she might become unbeatable too……」
「Hiding in the shadows makes one incredibly strong……」
「If the blade passes through, any monster or human can be killed easily. It is terrifying……」
As we were talking like this, a shadow fell over us.
――Clang, clatter clatter.
「!!」
I knocked away the flying knife with a blade made of blood magic.
「Really…… How unsophisticated……」
「Indeed～」
Using wide-area detection, I saw that three of the five attackers were heading toward us, while two were fleeing.
「Die, monster!!」
「How cruel, calling me a monster……」
I caught the knife with my bare hands, kicked it away, and crashed into the wall, taking a wooden box with me.
「Ugh…… Damn it!」
Another one was crucified by blood magic, and the last one was captured by Shia using a casting net made of wire I had created.
「Damn it, it won’t come off!」
「That is impossible～ It is a steel net handmade by Master. It will not cut, and the more you move, the more it entangles you.」
「Well, let us send the other two back to their master…… First, you. If you tell us the information, I will at least spare your life…… What do you say?」
「I have nothing to say to the likes of you!」
The two captives bit down on something inside their mouths, showing expressions of agony.
「Yes, ——Heal. Did you think you could die by poison?」
When I detoxified them, the attackers tried to bite their tongues next.
「You can bite it off if you want, but I can heal it infinitely, you know?」
「None of your business!」
Ignoring my warning, he bit off his tongue.
「Sigh…… ——Heal」
After that, the attackers attempted suicide several times, but I healed them every single time.
「Damn it…… We have lost……」
「Well, I do not care about winning or losing. I just want you to spill the information.」
When I said this, the attackers hung their heads in resignation.
Leave a Reply