From within the forest, what looked to be ten people walked out. No, could you even call them people? Aside from the man leading them, they were all wrapped head to toe in bandages, limping along like walking corpses.
“Wh-who are you?”
A teacher stepped forward first. It was clear at a glance that this was not a group with proper intentions, but the man who appeared to be their leader looked like an ordinary knight. Red hair and a flawless face.
It was that man from yesterday.
“I am called Pars, Your Highnesses,” he introduced himself, then bowed his head with a sly smirk.
It was a greeting in which one could find no fault. Except for the undisguisable mockery laced within it. This was not a situation to be taken lightly.
The teachers exchanged glances, then moved the bewildered children behind them as they stepped forward.
“The knights should have been on guard.”
“Ah, that? Shall I show you?”
When Pars snapped his fingers, a mummy from the rear crawled forward and spat something out.
“Gweeeck…”
Thump, thump.
Several severed fingers rolled out. Judging by their thickness, they undoubtedly belonged to adult men.
“…You’ve lost your mind.”
The two teachers, now fully in a battle stance, stomped their feet.
Crrrack…
Stone hands shot up from the ground as if craving freedom, pushing off the earth to rise. And then, several golems, each easily over two meters tall, stood up.
“Do you even know who you are dealing with?”
When the other teacher flicked his hand, the air opened up and a liquid like molten gold flowed out. The gold, as if alive, coated the golems to become armor, and the remainder transformed into shining spears. Three stars floated in their eyes.
Even if they were teachers for the children’s class, they were in a position to teach nobles. They didn’t seem to be ordinary mages. Pars rubbed his chin and replied as if troubled.
“Two 3-Star mages? That is quite frightening. You’re from Dim Sky, I see.”
“We are nothing. What you are dealing with are the parents of these children. Confess right now who hired you and disarm yourselves. Otherwise, you’ll find that death is a better…”
“That’s easy, I’ll tell you. One.”
Pars cut him off and raised his index finger.
“?”
“Red Lotus. That’s the organization that gave me my orders.”
“This is no time for jokes.”
“It’s true. Well, I figured you wouldn’t believe me. They said it’s not just the name they took, but the same place… I’m still not so sure myself.”
Shrugging, Pars raised his middle finger.
“Two, do you think I would’ve pulled this shit if I was afraid of nobles? They can’t catch me anyway.”
“Three. You might be mistaken because I look fine, but I’m already in a state where death would be a relief.”
As if it were nothing, he grabbed the skin of his face and tore it off.
Riiip!
“Aaaah!!”
“Wha-what is that?!”
The children, who were beginning to understand the situation, were horrified by the sight of his face. A melting face from which all sorts of pus oozed. Skin without a single healthy patch.
It was the face one might expect of a leper cursed with immortality. But Pars simply laughed off their reaction with amusement.
“Not that I want to die, but enduring this state is also bearable.”
“…The heart-realm, so this is its final stage!”
“Hey, that’s too harsh. Its final stage… For your information, I’m a young man with a long life ahead of me. Oh, and four.”
Raising his little finger, Pars spoke cheerfully.
“I don’t know if there will be a next time for you greenhouse mages, but when you’re on a battlefield, don’t listen to what the enemy says. They’re always just buying time.”
“Wha-” The words had barely left his mouth.
Something began to be densely picked up by his Tide Sense. The number was staggering. Twenty, thirty, fifty, eighty…
Only when the number far exceeded a hundred did a portion of them emerge, surrounding the children. It was a horde of mummies, completely sealing off any escape route. Only then did Pars let out a sigh of relief and scratch his head.
“Damn, how many knights did they really station here? I was so surprised, I thought I was screwed. Anyway, thanks for waiting. I’ll take care of the aftermath, so just hand over the kids. We don’t need you since you’re past 3-Star and hard to make Fall.”
“You filthy devil…! I have no intention of ever handing the children over to you!”
“Come on. Let’s make this easy. Honestly, you should know by now. Resisting here only makes the difference between two more corpses or not, you know? After I leave, just make a few wounds and say you did your best, but the enemy was too strong…! It’s better for both of us…”
Whoosh… Bang!
Before he could finish, a flame shot into the sky by one of the teachers exploded in black. It was unmistakably a signal for help. Someone must have seen it.
Seeing it, Pars spat on the ground in annoyance.
“Ah, now there’s a time limit. Hey, just grab as many as you can and let’s bounce.”
Snap.
The moment he snapped his fingers— “Kyaa, kyaaaah!!!
Teacher!!! Help me!!”
“Don’t touch me! Do, do you know who I am??”
The mummies rushed in and began snatching up the children. Children who resisted strongly were struck on the neck and knocked unconscious. At this sight, the teachers’ eyes blazed as they charged in, but— “Children!!”
“Oops, you teachers will have to play with me for a bit.”
“Kuh…!”
The mummies began to cling to the golems as well. The difference in the level of magic was clear. The swinging spears and fists sent mummies flying several at a time.
However, they were simply outnumbered. Even for two 3-Star mages, there was nothing they could do when dozens of those monsters swarmed them.
“I’ll take them! Teacher Yulli, please save the children!”
“Understood!”
One of them resolved to fight to the death, taking on the mummies alone, but.
“I told you, let’s play.”
“What is this…!”
A bizarre thing happened. The blood dripping from Pars’s hand flowed as if alive, grabbed Yulli’s ankle, and grinned stickily.
“I know I’m not one to talk… but don’t you think this world is just so terrible?”
It was a truly terrible smile.
“Ge-get off…! Kyaaah!”
In the midst of the chaos, Elysia was also snatched up by a mummy. The mummies that succeeded in kidnapping the children swiftly fled into the forest without any hesitation. Their speed was faster than most horses.
It was hard to believe they were human. What should I do? I crossed my arms.
To think the job would be a mass kidnapping during a job experience event for noble kids, breaking through all the guarding knights. I never imagined it. Of course I couldn't. This act right now was the worst possible method of suicide one could choose.
If the nobles, weeping tears of blood, joined forces, no matter where or how fast they fled, they would be caught and made to drink boiling molten iron until they begged for death. I had no idea why they were doing such a thing. Did they want to die quickly just because they were a little sick?
Whatever the purpose, what happened, happened. The situation was a matter of seconds, and I had to make a choice quickly.
“…Do I have to?”
Perhaps not choosing anything and staying put was the best option. The mummies hadn’t noticed me. If I stayed like this, there was a high chance I could get through this without any trouble.
However.
“He-help me!! Daddy!!”
“No…! Please, help us!”
I let out a deep sigh as I watched the children my age crying out and resisting. …Come to think of it, if I just let them get kidnapped, literally nothing would happen. It’s a loss. For what reason did I pay the carriage fare and the entrance fee twice?
And if things end like this, during the investigation, they might find out about the noble child who arrived a little early. It didn’t seem like Elysia would get out safely either, so, well… Right, there are reasons like these.
Persuading myself, I emerged from the hole. It was time to step up.
I said it coolly, but that doesn’t mean I can beat the mummies. It looks easy because those two 3-Star mages are just sweeping through them, but seeing as they were biting off knights’ fingers, they’re opponents I can’t even face. I don’t really want to use it, but there’s one method that’s most effective.
“Geuk?”
“Hello.”
I stood before a mummy that was running to kidnap children. Once our eyes met, I spread my arms wide. Here, here’s a kid in noble clothes.
Go on and kidnap me. But the mummy just looked at me for a moment and tried to leave. …What the hell is this thing?
“Where do you think you’re going, you bastard.”
“Gieeek!!”
Swoosh!
After I smacked its head with wind magic, it finally turned back to me, let out a scream, and grabbed me. Then, with a precise movement of its hand, it chopped me on the back of the neck.
I had already seen it coming, so I had placed a few twigs on my neck and was able to avoid being knocked unconscious. At the same time, I knew.
‘These mummies are stupid.’
They were like machines that could only perform the actions they were ordered to. I could use this. Pretending to be unconscious, I hung limp and carefully memorized where the mummies were heading.
For about thirty minutes without rest, we crossed several mountains that a horse would be unable to run through, and upon arriving somewhere, the mummy fastened an iron shackle around my neck. And it entered a small well.
“…?”
Are they trying to drown me? I’ll end up that way on my own without their help. I was preparing to be dropped into water, but I was wrong.
There was no water in the well. Instead, on the wall near the bottom, there was a space just big enough for one person to crawl through. After crawling through the narrow, smelly passage for a few minutes…
A prison made of decaying stone, with a single lantern that looked like it would go out any second hanging from the ceiling. The mummy threw me in there and blocked the hole we came through.
Thud!
“Ugh. Ow…”
It threw me a bit hard, so I hit the opposite wall with a loud thud. As I was rubbing my head, I heard a loud noise from the corner.
“Light, light up! Explode, burn…”
“It’s no use… my magic won’t work!”
Huddled in the corner, I looked toward the center of the cell— The children who had been caught first were gathered together, shouting. Magic won’t work? I went to a corner so the other children wouldn’t see and tried to use wind magic.
“Blow.”
Truly, nothing came out. Is it because of this shackle on my neck? It must be some kind of artifact.
I tried circulating my Tide Sense as a test. Fortunately, this worked just fine. The currents spread out in an instant, showing me the entire structure of the surroundings.
As I scanned it, I saw it was a fairly proper underground prison. It was damaged in many places, so it didn’t seem like they built it themselves, but rather were using an existing one.
“Grr… damn it! Do you know who I am?? Open this door right now! I’m going to tell my dad everything!”
“We’re all going to die…”
Let’s see, what to do. First, I should try to do something about these bars. They’re fixed firmly, but they couldn’t withstand the test of time, and dust falls every time they’re shaken.
If I rub it just right…
“Elysia! You, you’re the one who summoned them!”
“That’s ridiculous, why would I summon something like this!”
“You had us kidnapped because you didn’t want anyone to find out you can’t use magic!”
“Stop talking nonsense! Then why was I kidnapped too?”
“So you wouldn’t be suspected…”
Oh, it’s working. I sent my currents into the joints of the bars and rubbed them hard, and I could feel the stone loosening and being worn away. It’s the same as picking a lock.
The difference is that I’m using the power of water. The important part is to flow water into the small cracks in the stone and widen them. It might not be like water dripping through stone, but if I do it slowly, it should work.
“Still don’t get it? We’re all dead…”
“Wh-what does that mean?”
“They kidnapped all of us. If it was just one person, you could think it’s for ransom, but this many… it means they have no intention of letting us live! It’s just terrorism!”
“Then why didn’t they kill us right away?”
“They’re going to show our moms and dads. Them slowly killing us… They’ll starve us and send our fingers every day…”
“Don’t say such scary things! We can get out of a room like this!”
“How? Without magic, we’re just kids!”
Clank— The bottom part of the bars came loose. The top part is still there, but it would take too long to get that out too. When I pulled it, a small gap, big enough to get out, was created.
This should be enough.
“Elysia, let us out right now!”
“How am I supposed to do that! I was captured too! Are you crazy??”
“Grr… I can’t die here!”
Clap— I stepped outside, clapped my hands, and drew the attention of the still-bickering children.
“Everyone.”
“…?”
The gazes of all the nobles gathered on me. Hyuins, who was grabbing Elysia by the collar, and Elysia too. Right now, I’m wearing noble’s clothes, so I must look like nothing but a noble to them.
Hyuins’s eyes went wide as if he’d seen burning water, and he grabbed the bars.
“You, what are you? How did you escape?”
“It was nothing. It’s really easy. I’ll let you out too if you promise me one thing.”
“…What?”
I made a request to the children who had fallen instantly silent and were now watching my lips.
“Just shut your mouths for five minutes. Please.”
“?”
Seriously, I was on the verge of a breakdown.