Chapter 66 – Suppression

Sheila tapped Caduceus meaningfully with her tail. They had quickly established signals for safety and danger: a tap meant safe, a stroke meant emergency. Judging from the nuance, she probably intended to extract various pieces of information before I made my move.

Sheila offered no resistance, allowing herself to be quietly tied to a chair by Jasper’s companions. Once they moved away, she had Caduceus cut the ropes. By having him hold the severed parts to maintain the appearance of being bound, the disguise was complete.

“Planning to steal the credit?” Sheila asked.

Jasper responded with a meaningful laugh. Perhaps aware of his overwhelming advantage, he spoke proudly to the bound Sheila. “Well, can’t help that knight taking the glory. But I’m getting a hefty sum too, and once this job’s done, I’ll get promoted. Just need to trap one clueless brat—easy money.”

…So the plan to let Fernando take credit remained unchanged.

“Hey, Jasper-san. What about the women we caught?”

“Wait till we arrange Subjugation Magic. If we let them escape, it’s all over. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure you guys get your share of fun too.”

“Sounds great! Can’t wait!” The men laughed.

“…Scum,” Chester spat.

Jasper snorted dismissively. Subjugation Magic arrangements, huh.

“Sheila, why were Mercedes and Chester captured?” Sheila frowned at the men’s vulgar conversation but ignored them, turning to the knights beside her.

“Seems the superior I reported to was under Greg’s influence,” Mercedes replied.

“As for me… I happened to see Mercedes being carried out unconscious when I showed up at the Royal Castle. When I questioned them, Lord Greg struck me from behind.”

So Mercedes had been drugged. Greg had likely planned this from the beginning, or perhaps the script was something like: Mercedes goes missing, Fernando goes to rescue her. They probably expected Mercedes’s team to be wiped out in the Labyrinth while “discovering” the door.

As for Chester… since he unintentionally witnessed the scene, they must have judged him unpersuadable and decided to eliminate him entirely.

…I roughly understood the background now.

There was no reason for leniency. They had crossed a line, and mercy was off the table. I signaled Caduceus to inform Sheila I was moving in. She nodded.

Well then. Let’s begin.

Controlling Levitation, I dove down. Using Wind Magic to erase surrounding sounds, I relied on the momentum of my descent to strike the lookout with Ouroboros.

Only a heavy impact returned as feedback; the lookout collapsed silently to the ground.

Activating Life Detection, I advanced into the wooden house while scanning for enemies.

No one was on the first floor. Checking the floorboards, I detected several life signs in the basement. Cross-referencing with Caduceus’s vision to pinpoint their positions, I first deployed a Magic Circle at my feet.

“Electro Lance.”

Lightning Strike pierced through the floorboards, scorching one of the men below.

Without a moment’s pause, I activated the next spell. Riding on a rock created by Rock Press, I smashed through the ceiling, crushing the man directly beneath into the floor, and descended into the basement along with the rock.

“Wha—”

Using Wind Magic to stir up dust, I surveyed the now-clear room. The men were speechless.

“Y-you brat…!”

The men stood frozen in shock, but one reached for the sword at his waist—only to have a block of ice slam into his face the next instant.

“C-can’t you see we have hosta—!?”

“Silence.”

I fired a stone bullet into his open mouth. Teeth shattered at the roots, and the sound of his jawbone breaking echoed. Gushing blood from his mouth, he writhed on the floor, emitting screams that weren’t quite screams.

They didn’t seem to grasp the situation—but I had their positions, distances, and angles all calculated. Having deployed the necessary Magic Circles and set them to activation standby before stepping in, I could strike with magic the instant they moved.

“Eeek!?”

One turned his back and tried to flee toward the entrance.

Right. I expected someone near the entrance to run after I took down a few. I activated magic aimed at the man’s back.

“Tramplethorn.”

Fifth-tier Wood Magic, Tramplethorn. Thorny vines extended from the Magic Array, binding the man’s body and tightening relentlessly. As he screamed in agony, ensnared by thorns, he was swiftly encased in a sphere of brambles, blocking the basement entrance.

That left four, including Jasper.

“I-I was just tricked by Jasper!” shouted the man who had earlier asked Jasper about the prisoners’ treatment and laughed gleefully.

The next instant, a Lightning Strike erupted from a pre-deployed Magic Circle on standby, piercing him. The struck man collapsed, white smoke rising from his body. Three remained.

“H-hey, you—” came a fawning, syrupy voice.

Immediately, an ice spear shot forth, impaling his shoulder and pinning him to the wall. Two left.

Amidst groans of pain from various directions, the remaining men fell silent, frozen stiff.

“Sorry,” I said, making our stance clear for the future. “This is how we deal with those who take hostages.”

Declaring this, I hurled a rock at the remaining man’s chest, slamming him into the wall. Only Jasper was left.

I had restrained the magic’s power to a level that might—just might—keep him barely alive. At best, he could spread word of today’s events and my position.

One talkative mouth—Jasper, who knew the deepest details—was enough. This method would surely loosen his tongue.

“Now then,” I said, turning my gaze to Jasper, who stood rigid near Sheila. He flinched, trembling.

“Think carefully before you speak. Where’s Fernando? Dusk Forest?”

“…Y-yeah. We tortured a soldier there for info. He resisted at first, but when we threatened to hurt Mercedes, he talked.”

…A soldier from Mercedes’s Exploration team, then.

Mercedes escaping unharmed was likely due to Jasper’s plans and the soldier protecting her. Mercedes closed her eyes painfully.

“Fernando—he took my new comrades to the Labyrinth. They’re recent acquaintances, unreliable for this job.”

I see. Come to think of it, the new adventurer group I saw with Jasper before… it seems they weren’t all here.

Hard to say how much those others know at this point, but Jasper gathered his long-time associates, enticing them with promises of easy gains.

But really… such reckless fools.

From Greg’s position, he’d surely plan to silence these accomplices who knew the details later.

Probably, the talk of arranging Subjugation Magic was part of that. Since Subjugation Magic can be解除, he wouldn’t keep witnesses alive forever.

Dangle bait before them, then kill both perpetrators and hostages to destroy evidence. Later, bring personal effects into the Labyrinth, claim they died deep inside with no bodies recovered—case closed.

A two-for-one: he makes a comeback while eliminating pesky me.

“Did Greg give you these orders? And Fernando knows about this, right?”

“…Yeah,” Jasper nodded with a bitter expression.

“Damn it! What… ‘clueless brat’ my ass! You’re a monster!” screamed the man impaled by the ice spear, cursing Jasper through his agony.

The instant my gaze shifted toward him, Jasper keenly noticed and reached for Sheila. But—it was futile.

“G-gyaaaaaaaah!?”

After a moment of blank surprise, Jasper screamed.

It was like thrusting a hand forcefully into a bed of needles. Caduceus, having transformed into countless needle-like shapes, intercepted his outstretched hand.

His hand was pinned mid-air, then, sharpening into a single spear, it pierced his knee before returning to Sheila’s defense.

Immediately, the ropes binding the hostages all came loose. Caduceus had secretly extended his limbs to cut them, maintaining the appearance of being bound.

From the very start. No matter what they did, it was checkmate.

All that remained… was to hand these men over to the Castle and capture Fernando, who would likely return from Dusk Forest. That should wrap things up.