Chapter 79: Whereabouts

“…You think I’d tell you that?”

Luca sneered coldly in response to Karelin’s question.

“My, you don’t have time to be acting so relaxed.”

Seeing his sneer, Karelin shrugged as if signaling to the robed figure.

The robed figure slowly approached Luca. Then, raised a fist high.

THWACK!

The fist landed on Luca’s face.

“Ghk…!”

Blood spurted from his mouth, staining the floor.

“Kh, kkhaha…!”

Luca lifted his head again, panting but still laughing defiantly.

“No matter what you do, I won’t talk…”

“Oh yeah? Then let’s see how long you can hold out.”

Karelin signaled with her eyes. The robed figure mercilessly pounded Luca’s face with fists. CRASH! The chair finally gave way, toppling over, and Luca’s body rolled across the floor.

The robed figure crouched down to check — Luca had already lost consciousness.

“…”

When the figure shot a questioning look about waking him, Karelin thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“Hmm… He probably won’t talk even if we keep torturing him. I’ll go find the woman who ran off first. There’s no news from Paolo. Stay here and keep watching him for now.”

The robed figure nodded.

* * *

Claire, who had been pursued by the white-robed figure since last night, hadn’t rested a single moment until sunrise.

The white-robed figure.

He easily saw through Claire’s stealth, and effortlessly broke down her resistance.

In the end, all that was left was to run. After somehow shaking off the pursuit, the sun began to rise, and as people started appearing one by one, the robed figure’s chase stopped.

“Hah… hah…”

Claire hid behind a tree, gasping for heavy breath. Not only was she exhausted, but the wounds she’d sustained during the chase throbbed with pain.

“Ngh…”

She lowered her head to check — blood was seeping from the wound. Claire recalled the moment she’d been injured during the fight.

‘What was that? That swordsmanship…’

Claire had once been a Hunter herself, and a fairly renowned one at that. So at first, she’d tried to fight back alongside Luca… but she’d been completely helpless. The robed figure used a sword, and Claire, also a swordswoman, tried to counter with her blade, but she was no match at all.

There were two robed figures in total, and even fighting together with Luca, handling even one of them was a struggle.

—Claire, run! I’ll draw their attention!

—Mr. Luca?!

In the end, Luca gave up fighting and stepped forward to draw their gaze, and Claire escaped through that opening. But the pursuit continued, and she got wounded in the process.

‘What do I do?’

Running like this won’t save Mr. Luca. But at the same time, she couldn’t think of any way to fight back against them.

What even were they, anyway? During her time in the organization, Claire had memorized the faces of most High-Rank Hunters due to her missions. But she’d never heard of the woman who called herself a passing mage, or the two robed figures.

‘And I can’t ask the organization for help.’

Maybe if it were Luca, who was still with the organization, but for her, who’d left to help Verdi, asking anyone for help right now was impossible.

‘…….’

That left only one person she could naturally think of.

Yoschuko Verdiol. Now, Yoschua Verdi.

Among the people Claire could ask for help right now, the only one who could stand against them was… her.

Given their strength, even one of the Five Great Guilds coming wouldn’t guarantee victory. And she wasn’t personally close enough to the main members of the Five Great Guilds to call them easily, being just an individual.

But there was something Claire had overlooked.

‘Come to think of it, I don’t even know where she went…’

Claire pressed her throbbing head. She didn’t know where Verdi had gone, and they hadn’t exchanged contact info through an Artifact, so even if she wanted to ask for help, she couldn’t.

‘Wait, those Hunters who were with Ms. Verdi…’

At that moment, a Hunter’s face suddenly came to mind. The Hunter Luca had asked to investigate before. Was his name Marcel? His contact info was saved in Claire’s Artifact. She’d kept it out of a hunch, never thinking it would come in handy here.

‘Their goal is likely Ms. Verdi.’

Given that they asked straight out where the mage was, that was highly likely. Claire figured the only person they’d refer to as a mage was Verdiol.

‘…I didn’t want to drag anyone else into this.’

But right now, she had no choice. Claire wanted to save Luca. And if… if Luca died like this at their hands, Verdi would definitely be sad. She’d blame herself for not being called.

‘No helping it. For now…’

Claire got to her feet. Then she manipulated her Artifact.

Luckily, the records from that investigation were still saved. If she manipulated the Artifact now, she could summon Marcel.

‘And it doesn’t have to be Ms. Verdi specifically.’

There was one more person she could ask for help.

Lucius Wilhelm.

Deneb, the younger sister of Wilhelm, the guild master of Royal Knights, was with them.

If his younger sister was in danger, there was a chance he’d step in. She didn’t want to drag outsiders into this, but right now, this was the only way.

—…Who is this?

The connection went through quickly. She’d never spoken to him directly, but she’d overheard his voice a few times, and it rang in her ears now.

“…Are you Mr. Marcel?”

—…How do you know my name? Who are you? How did you get my Artifact…

A suspicious voice came through the Artifact. But Claire didn’t have time to explain at length.

“Mr. Luca is in danger right now. Is Ms. Verdi there with you?”

—Mr. Luca… Miss Verdi is currently out…

“Do you know where she went? Please, this is urgent, I’m begging you!”

Just as Claire asked in a desperate voice.

A shadow fell over her head.

“…!”

A white robe.

He drew the sword at his waist and swung it at her.

* * *

“But how are we supposed to find Mr. Ludwig on our own?”

“No, what do you mean you don’t know? He’s your guild member, isn’t he?”

Even if Moonlight was a Hunter you couldn’t mess with easily, he was still part of Crescent, right? Even if he wasn’t the guild master, if you, the proxy, don’t know, then what?

“That’s true, but… that guy’s got such a willful, free spirit.”

“…So you’ve met him before?”

“A long time ago.”

“…I saw him during Dark Moon too.”

I muttered it low enough that Hames wouldn’t hear. From the way he talked, he must’ve been referring to the Dark Moon period when Moonlight was active.

“Can’t be helped. For now, let’s head to Crescent’s Guild House and look for information on Mr. Ludwig and the Master.”

Glare said that and stood up. Seeing Hames get up too, it seemed the two of them planned to head to the Guild House right away.

‘This… it’s gonna take longer than I thought.’

I should contact Marcel.

Anyway, Karelin wouldn’t know the location of that lodging, so that shouldn’t be a problem… I’d tell him to lie low at the lodging for today.

So I tried to summon Marcel through the Artifact.

‘Why isn’t he picking up?’

Marcel wasn’t answering the call. What the hell? That guy usually picks up right away, so it was nagging at me.

“Miss Verdi? Aren’t you coming?”

“Hold on, I need to tell my party I’ll be late.”

Still, if I didn’t at least send word, they’d definitely worry.

If I didn’t say anything, they wouldn’t be able to stand it and would come bursting out. Even though those two knew they weren’t in a position to worry about anyone else, there was no way they wouldn’t come looking for me.

‘Come on, pick up…!’

I was glaring at the Artifact with all my might.

—Ah, Ms. Verdi!

“Marcel!”

He finally answered. With someone watching, and my patience at its limit, my voice rose without me meaning it to.

“Why didn’t you pick up?!”

—Ah, sorry. I had my own circumstances over here.

“Circumstances?”

A chill ran through me. Had they found out where I was staying already?

—No, someone who said she knew you kept asking me to call…

“Who?”

—She said her name was Claire.

…Claire?

That woman was the one working as a servant at Mr. Luca’s lodging, wasn’t she?

From my guess, she was definitely a former Hunter, and a pretty skilled one at that, from what I remembered.

‘No, wait.’

Mr. Luca’s lodging got attacked. So there’s a high probability Claire was caught up in it too.

“What happened?”

I asked, feeling urgent. If it was Claire, maybe she knew something?

—Well… you know that man named Mr. Luca who was at the lodging you went to with Ms. Verdi?

“Yes.”

—They say he’s been captured now…

“…Where is he? I’ll go right now.”

I shot a glance at Hames and Glare as I answered Marcel. Unfortunately, it looked like I’d have to leave tracking down Moonlight and the Crescent guild master to those two.

—Well, you see. Contact was suddenly cut off.

“Contact was cut off?”

—Yes. Along with some unidentified noise all of a sudden…

‘Damn, did they already get him?’

More than that, though.

Mr. Luca got captured?

I’d vaguely suspected it from the moment he went missing… but hearing it actually happened, it still didn’t quite sink in.

‘Fuck…’

Because of me, Mr. Luca got dragged into this.

I should’ve cut ties with him long ago…

“What’s goin’ on?”

“…Sorry, but I think I’ll have to leave the Moonlight matter to those two. Something urgent came up.”

“Urgent?”

“…It seems something happened to my associates.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

Hearing Glare’s question, I stared at her for a moment.

‘Can I… trust her?’

Glare had already provided enough information. And she’d even explained why she followed Karelin. Now that Hames was here too, I had no choice but to trust them.

“It’s fine. I’ll handle it myself. You two, please look into what we talked about earlier. I can trust you, right?”

“Hahaha, of course.”

Hames answered confidently. As always, he didn’t exactly look reliable… but I had no choice but to trust him now.

“I’m counting on you.”

Saying that, I got up from my seat, left the café, and called Marcel again.

“Mr. Marcel, could you give me the Artifact contact info for someone named Claire?”

—Yes, understood.

Not long after I asked, a message came from Marcel.

I immediately called the number written on the Artifact.

*Click.*

…Surprisingly, they picked up fast?

“Hello?”

—…Yoschuko Verdiol.

The voice that came through made me frown instinctively.

It wasn’t Claire who answered. It was a man’s voice, a mid-low tone with a crackle of static.

“…Who are you?”

—If you want to save those two… come here.