Legend

Going a bit back in time from when Rei and the others were fighting in the Marschel residence’s underground room.

After parting ways with Rei, Vihera, Byune, and Nakuto at the Church of Holy Light’s hideout in the slums, Elena, Essetus, Set, and Yellow made their ways through Exil’s darkened streets.

Many eyes were gathered on them, but it wasn’t due to Elena’s beauty or Set and Yellow’s loveliness.

No, of course there were some of those gazes, but most were directed towards the six people being pulled along by Essetus, all with hands and feet tied.

「Hey, what the hell is that?」

「Who knows? But since Set and Elena are with them, that means they probably messed up somewhere?」

「……Yeah, I guess so. But it’s quite disturbing to see. There have been people who’s messed around with the wrong people before, but they weren’t tied up and dragged around like this.」

「Now that you mention it, you’re right. ……Then, did they do something really unforgivable? Well, I don’t know how to feel about it. Elena is a beauty you rarely see and Set is adorable. Although he’s still a Griffon.」

Hearing the discussion around them, it was more torturous than actual torture for the six people who were tied up and forced to follow along without being able to escape.

Furthermore, Ogoru had suffered both mental and physical injuries from Rei’s interogation, having several of his ribs broken when Rei stomped on him.

It went without saying that these six were those who worked behind the scenes for the Church of Holy Light. They were the ones that did the dirty work that couldn’t be seen by others and their true faces naturally shouldn’t be exposed.

However, these six were currently tied up with ropes and being paraded through Exil.

Because of this, it was clear that even if they were released somehow, they wouldn’t be able to continue with their line of work.

Realising this, the six had expressions best described as hell on earth as they were pulled along by Essetus.

Being exposed like this, it would be better for them to commit suicide than to leak any information……is what they had thought as well, but Rei and Elena had seen the people creating abnormal species commit suicide before. As a result, they were wary of that and had used cloth stored in the Misty Ring to stuff their mouths before tying another piece of cloth from the outside, making a gag that prevented them from doing anything.

The situation continued and……before long, they arrived at the Silva family.

「Now then, I’ll have to ask for Vosk. Essetus, Set, please keep your eyes on these guys.」

「I understand. Leave it to us.」

Immediately after learning of Elena’s true identity, Essetus was at a loss of how to communicate with her, but after working together for a bit longer, he was finally able to return to his original attitude.

This was probably the result of Esseetus’ rough personality working out for him in a positive manner.

Leaving Essetus, Elena immediately called out to the gatekeeper, who had become quite familiar with him.

「I’m Elena Kerebel. I have information related to the abnormal species as well as other important matters, would it be possible to meet with Vosk-dono?」

「Yes, I’ll check right away……」

「There’s no need for that.」

Just as the gatekeeper was about to head inside. They heard a voice from within the residence grounds.

Elena turned to owner of the voice and a small smile appeared on her face at the sight of a familiar person.

She felt quite happy at the need to forgo additional questions and answers.

It was a man in his late 20s to early 30s with an intelligent look in his eyes.

It was Sanctions, Vosk’s chief butler and right hand man in the Silva family.

Sanctions gave a graceful bow as he spoke.

「Welcome, Elena-sama. What do you have today……oh, over there?」

Sanctions loked behind Elena as he asked.

He recognised Set because he had visited the Silva residence many times and Essetus was now considered an adventurer belonging to the Silva family, so he was naturally familiar with them. However, he didn’t recognise the other 6 people with hands and feet tied in addition to makeshift gags.

The same was true of Yellow, who was sitting on Set’s back, but Sanctions wasn’t too concerned because Yellow was with Set.

「They probably know a lot about the abnormal species and about the kidnapping of Essetus’ party member.」

「……Huh.」

Sanctions turned to the 6 with a sharp gaze at those words.

「It looks like we need to hear the details inside.」

「Oh. Also, I’m sorry, but could you get some people to help. You can’t let Set inside the mansion, right?」

「Yes, right away. ……For now, I’d like one of you to watch them alongside Elena-sama. Take them to the Moon Room.」

Hearing Sanctions’ orders, the two gatekeepers looked at each other before one immediately stepped forward.

「Then I’ll do it.」

「I’ll leave it to you. ……Elena-sama, please follow him. I will call Vosk-sama immediately.」

「I understand. But please be quick as possible. Rei and the others are currently on their way to the Marschel family residence.」

Sanctions’ cheeks twitched the moment the Marschel family was brought up.

However, he didn’t show it outwardly as he gave a graceful bow before leaving.

Seeing him off, one of the gatekeepers called out to Elena.

「Then, I’ll show you to the room.」

「Mm, thanks.」

Hearing those words, it seemed Set understood that his role was over for now. With Yellow on his back, Set headed for the Silva family’s garden in a familiar manner.

Guided by the gatekeeper, Elena and Essetus led the 6 prisoners to a room called the Moon Room.

『……』

Silence filled the Moon Room.

There were 9 people inside, Elena, Essetus, the gatekeeper, and the 6 prisoners.

No one said anything as they just waited for time to pass.

In the midst of all this, Essetus would sometimes turn his gaze over to the captured men, especially Ogoru, before glaring at them with hatred.

From Essetus’ point of view, he wanted to head to the Marschel family residence, where Tivia was being held captive, as soon as possible. But now was not the time……he knew that and had no choice but to wait and believe that Nakuto would rescue Tivia. Still, he couldn’t do anything about his feelings.

In the middle of this awkward atmosphere, Elena suddenly turned to look at the door.

Just as she looked over, followed by Essetus’ gaze, the door opened at the same time.

The person on the other side, who had opened the door without knocking, was Vosk, Essetus’ current boss and the head of the Silva family.

Vosk looked around the room with uncontrollable anger in his eyes.

The aura emanating from his body was enough to make even Essetus, the vanguard of the party Sonic Blades, tense up for a moment.

Vosk’s gaze stopped in front of Ogoru as he spoke in a low voice.

「They are the ones you were talking about?」

「Yes. The Church of Holy Light…… And I’m pretty sure they have been the ones pulling the strings from behind the scenes for a while now. Although they would never admit to it.」

Elena shrugged her shoulders as she spoke. Vosk, who’s eyes twitched at the mention of the Church of Holy Light, glanced behind him through the door before speaking.

「Hey.」

「Yes, I understand. Please leave everything to me.」

Saying that, an unnaturally skinny man appeared.

He didn’t even have the flesh a normal person would have and seemed like he only had skin over his bones.

「Take them away.」

「Yes sir!」

The gatekeeper who had been watching the men nodded before forcibly pulling on the rope connect Ogoru and the other 6.

The skinny man followed after them with a happy smile.

Essetus didn’t seem to know who the man was. He looked alternately at Elena and Vosk with questioning eyes.

However, Elena didn’t say anything and only showed a faint sense of disgust on her face.

「Huh? I had thought the great knight would have something to say about this.」

Vosk’s dark expression disappeared from his face as he looked at Elena with surprise.

Ignoring Vosk, Elena pushed straight to the main topic.

「It turns out Essetus’ party member was taken to the Marschel residence. Currently, Rei, Nakuto, Vihera, and Byune are trying to infiltrate the residence and rescue Tivia.」

「……Huh.」

Vosk murmured out loud.

At those words, Vosk’s face was filled with even greater surprise than before.

「I didn’t think Byune would help us. I hope it doesn’t start raining spears tomorrow.」

「If you want, I can ask Rei to do that?」

Perhaps Vosk knew that Rei was good at throwing spears and he frowned unpleasantly at Elena’s words, that didn’t seem like a joke.

「I know that you, or more precisely, the three families currently rulling Exil are on bad terms with Byune. However, this incident is not for her sake. You’re lending us your strength.」

「That’s enough. ……She really is one considerate of others.」

Vosk’s response was unexpected, even for Elena.

Just as Byune disliked Vosk, she had thought that Vosk also disliked Byune. However, the tone in his voice seemed to show that he cared for Byune.

Elena seemed confused at the different situation from what she had heard from various rumours, but decided she should focus on proceed with her story rather than asking about it.

Even now, Rei and Byune were still searching for Tivia in the Marschel residencce.

「Right then. Now that we know that the Marschel family and the Church of Holy Light are connected, including the matter of abnormal species, the Silva family can’t stay quiet, right? If you let this go, I’ll have no choice but to report all this to my father.」

「……Is that a threat?」

「No, it’s just the facts. Even if Exil is an autonomous city, it doesn’t change that it belongs to the Mireana Kingdom. That being the case, it’s only natural for me, a noble, to report what I feel is a problem, is that not so?」

「……Tch, weren’t you the one who said you weren’t here as the only daughter of Duke Kerebel?」

「All things have their limits. This is a labyrinth city and the benefits are great as long as the dungeon exists, but the dangers are also great. There is a religious organisation kidnapping adventurers and one of the three governing families is connected to them.」

With those words, Elena seemed to be showing her concern for Exil’s situation, and in fact, those were her true feelings.

However, there were definitely also feelings of concern for Rei.

Even Vosk knew about Rei and Elena’s relationship. As long as he collected any information about Elena, daughter of Duke Kerebel, he would have been able to gain a general understanding of the general relationship of the two.

He thought about it for a minute as he looked at Elena, who was looking back at him with a sharp gaze.

Exil’s current situation had many elements that could lead to various unpleasant situations as Elena had said. Besides, if left to their own affairs, he could imagine that the Church of Holy Light would start to move more freely around Exil than ever before.

(There wouldn’t have been a problem if their front was all there was.)

Even if their fees were quite high, followers of the Church of Holy Light, who acted as people for hire, were reasonably skilled. There were quite a few who could even be called veteran adventurers.

Considering that alone, the existence of the Church of Holy Light had given Exil more than enough benefits.

However, since their work behind the scenes had been uncovered, they could no longer be left alone.

(There’s also the advantage of having Duke Kerebel and Rei owe me a favour I guess?)

Vosk decided that dispatching adventurers would be the best option and so nodded slightly before calling out to Sanctions, who was waiting outside the room.

「Sanctions, get me as many people as you can! Everyone who can handle abnormal species! And get some people from the guild to help! We’re pulling out Exil’s pus from the roots tonight!」

Vosk’s ambitious voice echoed through the room and, before long, the Silva family residence sprung to life.