“A-ah—! B-blood... from my mouth!”

Reginald shrieked like a madman.

But it did not last long.

“My teeth! How dare you—u-ghh!”

Bale, straddling him from above, mercilessly drove his fist into the other side of his jaw.

“S-stop...!”

Nearly choking on blood, Reginald flailed helplessly, but there was no focus left in Bale’s eyes.

“What? Sending a child into the mine in your place?”

“U-ghh!”

“The narrower and lower the shaft, the easier it is for children to work, isn’t it?”

“What are you doing! Pull him off the lord at once!”

The knights, finally snapping out of it, rushed forward in a group.

But Bale shook them off and grabbed Reginald by the collar again.

“...Men like you should die. You should vanish from this world. Filthy bastard.”

His eyes burned like a predator stalking its prey.

“Get the lord away, quickly!”

The knights lunged at Bale once more.

The moment he hesitated, even for an instant, several of them hauled Reginald to his feet.

He was already ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ unconscious, blood streaming from his mouth.

“What are you standing around for! Disarm him first!”

At one knight’s order, those restraining Bale began pulling the weapons from his belt and throwing them to the ground.

Strangely, Bale did not resist. He only stared straight ahead.

At the limp, unconscious Reginald. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

While everyone stood frozen, as if turned to stone—

“Take him to the castle dungeon!”

At the commander’s command, burly soldiers dragged Bale toward the lord’s castle.

Soon they disappeared around the corner.

When the square felt as though it had been washed clean—silent and empty—Basto finally parted lips that had been pressed tight in shock the entire time.

“This... what the hell....”

Raul paced restlessly across the inn room.

By the opposite door, Enzo crouched on the floor, and beside him Tie had assumed the same posture, sighing heavily as though the ground beneath her were collapsing.

Raul approached Basto, who stood by the window.

“Sir Basto. What should we do?”

Even though it had already happened, it was impossible to believe.

“They took Bale and brought him to the lord’s castle.”

Bale.

Bale, whose skill Raul had once dreamed of learning even a single technique from, had been captured by knights from some small village.

“Maybe he wasn’t feeling well? Or they struck a vital point without anyone noticing....”

“Nothing like that happened.”

Basto had seen it himself—Bale knocking out Lord Reginald and allowing the knights to take him.

“Then why....”

At that moment, Nordix rose from his seat.

“That’s not the main issue. This isn’t the time to sit idly by.”

His face was tense.

“What if they start interrogating Bale? The moment they verify his identity, they’ll find out he’s a member of Agavert.”

“......”

“If they file a complaint with the imperial chancellery, we could all be expelled from the capital. Then every plan we’ve laid will collapse. Shouldn’t we act first?”

Instead of answering, Basto let out a heavy sigh.

In truth, this was exactly what he had feared.

Mercenaries were strictly forbidden from attacking nobles unless there was a reasonable and proven cause.

It was an unwritten rule that had existed since the birth of the mercenary profession—an old condition imposed by the empire to soothe cowardly and suspicious aristocrats.

“...Bale shouldn’t have allowed himself to be taken by the knights.”

Nordix clicked his tongue.

Since ancient times, most nobles had disliked mercenaries.

They accepted their help in assaulting Magic Stones.

But they loathed seeing them gain money and influence as a reward.

In the past, that resentment had been even stronger.

Once, nobles of the central capital had even issued a public statement demanding that mercenaries be banned from entering the capital to assault Magic Stones.

In essence, that was why, these days, Magic Stones within the capital were usually handled by the Holy Knights.

“What if my brother and I contact Mother?” Enzo interjected.

“If House Weybril speaks in Sir Bale’s defense, wouldn’t the situation change? Even if Reginald files a complaint with the imperial chancellery, he’s just a minor rural lord, and our house....”

“If we intended to do that, we shouldn’t have spilled his blood.”

Nordix replied darkly.

Enzo’s words were correct.

Reginald was merely the lord of the remote mountain settlement of Kaldenbine Ridge.

But he was still a noble of the capital and had the right to submit an official request to the imperial chancellery.

“Reginald is undoubtedly cruel. His atrocities against the people of his lands cannot be described in words.”

“......”

“But once an investigation begins, all of that will be erased. What happened will be reduced to one thing: a mercenary used physical violence without cause against a noble of the capital. And that is what the emperor hates most.”

“......”

“When a commoner. Or worse, someone from the lowest ranks dares to challenge those above.”

Enzo’s face darkened.

As a noble, he understood that all too well.

Violence from a mercenary or commoner toward a noble was considered a grave crime.

His vision dimmed.

If he thought about it, at least two of Reginald’s healthy teeth had been knocked out.

Judging by how he looked after losing consciousness, his nose or cheekbone was likely broken.

Enzo muttered in a despairing voice:

“He should have just run....”

Then things would have been far simpler.

If they had all left the village together, it might have resolved the matter to some extent.

“Why did he let them take him? He could have broken free....”

“He went to kill.”

At that moment, an icy voice drifted in through the crack of the half-open door.

Everyone froze as the door creaked fully open.

Standing outside was the same ominous old man from the inn—Mikhail—with the same grim expression as the day they first met.

“And you, who call yourselves his comrades, didn’t see it? In his eyes was the look of a hunter walking straight into a beast’s den.”

Enzo stared warily at Mikhail.

Without asking permission, the old man stepped into the room and continued:

“He allowed himself to be taken on purpose. He decided to turn the lord’s castle into Reginald’s grave. Or perhaps he simply wanted to sever his head somewhere quiet.”

“......That....”

But when he thought about it, it did seem possible.

Bale had not resisted when the knights dragged him away.

And until the very end, he had not taken his blazing gaze off the unconscious Reginald.

Considering Bale’s usual temperament...

As Enzo swallowed, Mikhail continued:

“However, there is one thing your comrade overlooked.”

The old man’s faded eyes slowly turned.

“Reginald’s wife is a highly skilled mage.”

At the mention of a mage—someone like herself—Tie’s eyes widened.

“As long as that woman protects him, your comrade will not be able to slit Reginald’s throat. If it were so simple, one of us would have punished him long ago. In short, your comrade may die.”

“......”

“I have seen many hunters who recklessly began the chase of a predator, only to be reduced to bones in the end.”

Silence filled the room.

But soon Tie rose unsteadily and whispered:

“Bale oppa will die...?”

The child’s eyes were brimming with fear.

“Those knights... will kill Bale oppa...?”

Basto pressed a hand to his forehead.

Enzo and Raul could not find the words to explain and simply looked at Tie.

She glanced around at the members of the squad in confusion.

“Then let’s go save him! Hurry! Quickly!”

But Basto gently took both of Tie’s hands.

“Tie. It’s not that simple. I want to bring Bale back immediately too, but....”

The thought of the mage—Lord Reginald’s wife—stood in his way.

And the castle, whose interior layout they did not know.

And where exactly Bale was being held.

There were too many unknown variables.

“Let’s wait until sunset first. We don’t even know where Bale is being kept....”

“I do.”

At that moment, someone else entered the room.

The moment they saw her face, everyone froze.

It was—Adeline.