Chapter 4: Escape

“...Oh, Arneau, is that you? Sorry,” he said, grinning, as I knelt beside him and cleaned the mud off of his face with a rag.

My childhood friend was tied up on the floor of a small, dark room. He came looking for me and got involved in this. The man he’d knocked out had paid him back in spades. I had the intuition to tell my colleagues that a man this handsome would be worth a lot of money if we were to sell him, so thankfully, they stopped short of disfiguring his valuable face.

“...This is why I told you to stay away from me.” After finally managing to get his life together, Sora was in this situation because he couldn’t help but follow me.

“I’m the one to blame. It’s not your fault. And by the way, what are you doing?” he asked, confused, as I cut the ropes around his wrists and ankles.

“Everyone’s busy preparing to switch bases. You shouldn’t have trouble escaping right now.”

He gave me a troubled look. “...Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to, but I can’t,” he declared, just as I’d expected.

“You can also probably find that girl and help her escape too. Everyone’s going to be too busy to notice.” Obviously he wanted to save his teammate, that nosy Katarina girl.

Neither of them were on the list of people we were supposed to kidnap anyway. The other guys just figured they’d sell them too because we couldn’t let them go home after they’d witnessed one of the children being recaptured. And given how everyone was so preoccupied about switching to a new base, it wouldn’t really be an issue. I thought that mentioning all of this would be enough for Sora to escape without any regrets. But...

“Oh, of course I have to save her as well. But I still haven’t paid back my debt to you,” he told me. Now that was unexpected.

“Huh? Can’t you tell what situation you’re in?”

“I know, but if I run away now, I probably won’t ever be able to see you again. Can’t have that.”

“I don’t even remember any debt you have with me. Get going already!”

“...No can do. It’s very important to me. And anyway, you like children. This job doesn’t fit you. Run away with us,” he invited, taking me by surprise.

I was so shocked I remained silent for a while. Not because he was talking nonsense...but because he was right. Actually, because I’d just realized he was right.

I hate kids. It’s a nuisance to have them cry while I’m at work, and that’s the only reason why I’m being kind to them. This is what I thought.

But now I remembered about the younger boys and girls I looked after back when we lived in the slums. It hurts to see children cry. Even while working a terrible job like this, I still felt protective toward children and small animals. And Sora’s words had finally made me realize it. Do I hate children? No... Maybe I’ve always liked them.

I could feel those hidden emotions resurfacing...but I couldn’t admit it, and made my point clear to him.

“You say that like it’s easy, but I’m knee-deep in this. I can’t run away anymore. If I tried, they’d just hunt me down. And I’m not like you... I’ve been in this world for too long. Its dirt has rubbed off on me.”

It all started back in the slums. I’d rummage through trash or steal from people just to be able to eat. Eventually, like most other orphans there, I ended up taking on dirty jobs for a living. You couldn’t just walk away from this world when you were tired of it. I started with stealing, went on to scamming rich people, and before I knew it, I was involved in child trafficking. I was way past the point of no return. Sora lived in a world different from mine, too far for me to reach him anymore. I knew that I was going to keep living like this until, one day, I’d die alone.

“...So just stay away from me from now on,” I told him.

He didn’t reply. I thought I’d finally convinced him to leave.

“...Even if people come after you, I can ask my boss to take care of that.” He awkwardly scratched the back of his head, whispering, “This is so out of character for me, but...” and then went on to say, “What I’m going to tell you is secondhand. It was that nosy girl you know about who first told it to me. But, right now, we’re both here, aren’t we? Our worlds aren’t different. We live in the same world.”

After delivering that cheesy line, he stretched his hand toward me. That’s right. Sora... He was always this kind of guy.

Back in the day, most of the children around us were always complaining about how bad they had it and insulting those who had it better at every opportunity. But not Sora. He didn’t let others influence him, and he wasn’t envious of anyone. I’d always liked that in him.

I used to think that, if we were together, maybe we could find a better life for ourselves...but he disappeared. He was caught and sold off. That happened a lot back there, but it still made my chest hurt. And even after leaving the slums and traveling from one place to the next, I never forgot about him.

When I found him in this town, living a proper, good life, I was so happy. I wouldn’t be able to escape this world. But if Sora had managed to, that was enough. I believed that. I tried to distance myself because of it.

And yet... I wanted to reach out and grab the hand he had stretched toward me. My own hand was soiled, and I couldn’t muster the courage to touch his. He probably sensed my hesitation and stepped closer to me, forcefully taking my hand.

“Let’s go,” he said, and I found myself nodding.

“Excuse me. I happened to hear your conversation,” a voice near the door spoke.

I looked there and it came from one of the new recruits. He wasn’t memorable in any way and I barely had any interactions with him. If he’d heard us, we had to do something about him. I started thinking of how to take care of him. He seemed to be alone, so we could just beat him up, knock him out, and leave him here.

Probably understanding my intentions, he put his hands up. “I’m not planning to report you to the higher-ups or anything. Actually, I’ll help you escape.”

Not that I was one to talk, but I knew better than to trust words from the mouth of someone doing this job. Thus, I didn’t feel any safer even after he’d told me that.

“To be honest, I want to burn down this whole operation. But I need your help,” he explained with a grin that showed his pointy teeth.

He pulled back the hair that was partially covering his face, and I saw that his eyes were golden. I knew that face. This man...

“...The Golden-eyed Wolf.”

That name was famous across most battlefields in this and the neighboring countries. He was known as a fierce beast of a mercenary with golden eyes. I’d seen him myself, just once, in a town near which a war was ongoing. I couldn’t forget how intense, how powerful he looked then. How could I not have realized who he was after working alongside him?

“Oh, you know of me?” he asked, amused.

The forgettable air he used to have around himself was gone for good. I didn’t know that the Golden-eyed Wolf was able to hide his aura so well. He really was as impressive as they said, if not more.

“...But what are you doing here?” I asked him. Why would a famous mercenary be in this peaceful country, moonlighting as a common thug no less?

“I have my reasons to want to crush this den of snakes,” he claimed with a shrug.

If someone as strong as he had a grudge of some kind with the organization, it meant that this whole affair was even worse than I’d recognized at first. It also meant that this time, I was really risking my life. This realization, however, felt distant from me, as if the Arneau risking his life was a different person.

“Unfortunately,” the man continued, “I haven’t been able to find out who’s at the top of the ladder. Don’t you know anything about that, Arneau?”

I knew that if I were only interested in my own safety I’d better shut up. But I also thought that, with the help of this man, I could save Sora, Katarina, and all the kidnapped children.

“I only know the local boss. I think that there’s someone still higher, a powerful noble or something, but we’re not important enough to know.”

“I see. Then tell me about that local boss, please. I’ll get the information I need from him. Just leave it all to me,” he promised, grinning again. Looking at this man and his dependable attitude made me feel safe.

★★★★★

“Wake up. Hey. Wake up!”

“Hm? Is it morning already?”

I heard someone call out to me, and as I woke up from my comfortable sleep, I saw a man I didn’t recognize standing in front of me.

“No, it’s still night,” he said, furrowing his brow, before muttering to himself, “How can she sleep peacefully like this? Does she have no fear or something?”

Huh? What’s he talking about? And who is he anyway?

I looked around me and realized that I was neither in my room nor in the Claes carriage. I was in a small, dirty room full of children who looked scared.

Ah-ha! I remember now. I chased after Sora and I ended up being kidnapped and imprisoned here!

“Right, right,” I whispered to myself, satisfied.

“What is she going on about? I can’t keep up with her,” groused the man. Then, with a suspicious look in his eye, he demanded, “Now that you’re awake, let’s hurry up and go.”

“Go? Where?” I asked.

“This place was found out and now we have to move under the cover of darkness. Don’t give me more trouble than I’ve already got,” he complained.

Did this mean that Regina and Maria had found this place? If so, they’d come to save me eventually. I’d better stay here. But resisting this man sounds dangerous, and Cezar told me to behave.

Seeing my hesitation, the man’s tone grew harsher. “Listen now, stop wasting time. No point in staying here. I was told not to mess you up too much, since they want to sell you, but I have permission to beat you up a little bit, you know?”

He then grabbed my arm, and I was so surprised that I lost my balance and fell forward. I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact, but there was none. I felt someone supporting my weight.

“Huh?” I opened my eyes and I saw the blue hair I knew so well.

“Are you all right?” Sora asked me, directing his blue eyes straight into mine.

“Yes. Thank you, Sora.”

I took a better look at him and saw that his clothes were dirty and his face covered in wounds.

“Are you all right?” I asked him, worried. Somebody had definitely beaten him up.

“Yeah, don’t worry.”

“But...” I started to say, but I was interrupted by another familiar face calling out to us from the door.

“We don’t have long. If they all noticed, we’d have a really bad time. Hurry up.”

“Cezar!”

“Sorry for the wait, Katarina. It’s night already. Ladies should be back home, sleeping.” He grinned his usual grin.

He’d probably found the information he was looking for and had come to save me along with Sora. I also noticed that the man who had grabbed my arm was now lying flat on the floor. Sora had probably knocked him out. In any case, we had no time to lose. We had to run away. They told me that the building was still full of thugs and that escaping together with the kidnapped children was going to be difficult.

“We’ve moved faster than I expected, so I called for help, but the reinforcements aren’t here yet. The thugs here aren’t much to worry about individually, but could be a problem if they outnumbered us. Katarina, I heard that you can use magic. Can you defend yourself?” Cezar asked me, and I told him that the only spell I could use was Dirt Bump, which, on a good day, could maybe make someone trip over and fall.

“What are you talking about?” Sora rolled his eyes. “You have an awesome familiar with you.”

“You’re right!” I have Pochi with me!

“How can you even forget about that?” he asked, disappointed.

“To me he’s more like a cute pet.”

“Cute pet? Are we talking about the same huge deadly wolf here?”

He had a point, but most of the time Pochi was a tiny little puppy who liked to play fetch in the garden. Of course he actually was a Dark Familiar. I knew that could be dangerous. Since he couldn’t come out to play unless I was in the mansion, even if I didn’t forget about him, I often forgot that he lived in my shadow.

“I see you two are busy talking, but we really have no time. If you have anything useful up your sleeve, take it out.”

“Yes,” I answered, and then looked at my shadow. “Pochi, come out!” I called, and my puppy appeared with a cute bark.

Cezar, who’d never seen him, looked surprised.

“Wow. Magic’s really amazing.”

Even in Sorcié, I was probably the only one who had a familiar living inside their shadow, but since this probably wasn’t the time to explain that, I just smiled instead.

“Okay. Let’s go now.”

Cezar, who already knew the building, was in front, and Sora and I followed him, bringing the children with us.

I looked at Sora, who was the last one at the back, and asked him whether he knew Cezar already.

“I just know that he’s a famous mercenary and that he’s here to destroy this organization. You two know each other, right? How?” he wondered.

It seemed that he didn’t know that Cezar was actually a prince of Ethenell and he wondered why we were acquainted. As for me, I knew that Cezar used to be a mercenary, but I didn’t know that he was a famous one.

“Hm, it’s kind of a long story, so I’ll tell you once we’re back home,” I dodged the question.

I could have just mentioned to him that we met in the castle’s garden while both pretending to be servants, and then when I went after Maria to save her, I realized that he’s actually someone important. After that, I learned that he’s in fact a prince. But telling Sora all that would probably have raised even more questions, so I decided I’d just explain the whole thing more calmly later.

“Sure. I can imagine that you accidentally lured him toward you like you always do.”

“Me? Lure? I’ve never done something like that!” I replied.

Or was he talking about fishing? I hadn’t fished in a very long time, though, so I wasn’t sure.

“I mean when you manage to get friendly with anyone in such a short time. It also happened with Arneau, right?”

“Oh, that’s what you meant.”

Even in my past life, it took me no time to become friendly with people. It must have been because, thanks to my good luck, I was always surrounded by kind people. Arneau, too, despite being a bit cold, was kind underneath. Huh... Now that I think of it...

“Sora, what happened to Arneau? He was caught too, right?”

When I found Sora, Arneau was with him. I also remember him entering the building with the two of us, so I thought that he’d been caught too, but now I couldn’t see him.

Sora looked a bit surprised, but then, after a moment, he smiled.

“He’s gone to stop the thugs. He’ll meet us once we’re out. Don’t worry.”

“Is that really safe?” I asked.

These thugs were kidnappers. Wouldn’t it be dangerous for a single person to try and stop them? I suggested that maybe we should go and help him, but Sora shook his head.

“It’s his way to set things right... At least that’s what he said. And he can hold his own in a fight. Let’s just trust him and wait.”

I didn’t understand what exactly Arneau had to set right, but Sora looked like he wouldn’t budge. I just nodded and went along with it. Right about when we were done talking, we ran into a man who was probably working with the kidnappers.

“Hey, you... What are you—” he sputtered, but before he was done, Cezar had already knocked him out. This was the kind of speed one expected from a famous mercenary.

Unfortunately, another man walked up on us moments later.

“H-Hey! Someone’s running away with the kids!” he shouted, calling for reinforcements.

Cezar clicked his tongue in annoyance, and then warned the children to stay behind him. They were scared, but they listened to him and didn’t move. Sora was also on guard. As for me, I couldn’t really do anything if we had to fight, but I made a fighting pose just in case.

One after the other, thugs started coming out of the neighboring rooms. There were a lot of them. If this was an RPG, I’d try to run away without fighting...but in reality we had no choice. We were surrounded. Even if we wanted to run away, we would need to knock a few of them out to do so.

“Are you trying to steal our merchandise?!”

“Don’t you think we’ll let you off easily!”

The men shouted all kinds of threats as they started attacking us.

Cezar dodged all of their blows and swiftly moved behind them, counterattacking. Realizing that Cezar was out of their league, they moved toward Sora, only to be met with another excellent fighter. I wasn’t fighting, but Pochi had become bigger (just a little, since we were inside a building) and was biting and scratching anyone who tried getting close to me.

Knocking out some and intimidating others, we managed to clear a path between the mobsters, proceeding toward the exit while taking care of any thug who still tried to fight us. We eventually managed to leave the building thanks to the combined efforts of two young men and a dog.

“...Just how many of these people are there?” I muttered exhaustedly.

Even outside, there were still gangsters surrounding us, shouting while they attacked us. They reminded me of cockroaches. When you saw one of them, you could be sure that there were a hundred of them hiding nearby.

Cezar, Sora, and Pochi were doing their best, but the difference in numbers was starting to become too serious even for them.

One of the thugs slipped in between our three fighters and tried to grab one of the children.

No! I quickly moved in front of the child to protect him.

But since I wasn’t as strong as Cezar or Sora, and my magic wasn’t that impressive either, I just got caught instead.

“You’d better stop moving if you care about her!” the man shouted while closing his hand around my neck.

Cezar and Sora stopped fighting, looking nervously at the man, and Pochi, while he was still baring his fangs, knew he couldn’t do anything in this situation.

“Good. Now go back inside,” the man crowed, suddenly feeling like he had the upper hand.

It’s all my fault...again... Sora being caught was my fault to begin with. Just how much trouble am I going to be for my friends? I have to do something! I have to get free! I mustered up my courage and, with all the strength that I had, I bit the arm of the man who was holding me.

“Wh-What the hell are you doing?!” he screamed, loosening his grip a bit, but I didn’t get away in time and he caught me once again, gripping my neck even more tightly now that he was mad at me.

“Ugh!” the sound escaped my throat. I might have made things even worse.

“Katarina!” Cezar and Sora both shouted at once, while Pochi growled. And then, I saw a light. A soft light engulfing all of us like a mist.

At first, I thought that the thugs were somehow doing this to subdue us, but they seemed just as confused as me.

“What...is going on?” one of them gasped.

Even the one holding onto my neck loosened his grip in confusion, and I managed to fill my lungs with fresh air.

I was worried about the weird haze surrounding us, but my priority was thinking of how to get away from my captor... But then, he just let go of me.

And then, he addressed me.

“Oh, miss. I’m sorry for what I just did.”

Huh?! What?!

Unable to process what had just happened, I started looking around, and sure enough all of the other thugs were saying similar things.

“I was behaving like some thug...”

“I’m so, so sorry.”

“I should have known better than to use violence!”

Everyone was apologizing, and some of them were even bowing down on the floor. Just... What is going on here? Only moments ago, all these apologizing men were making scary faces and fighting against us. I couldn’t understand.

I tried looking at Cezar and Sora, but the two of them were also gaping at each other in confusion.

What is happening? And what should we do? I asked myself, when I heard a familiar voice nervously calling out to me.

“Lady Katarina!” The voice was followed by its beautiful owner, running toward me with her golden hair fluttering up and down. “Lady Katarina!” Maria cried once again as she hugged me tightly.

★★★★★

This happened some time earlier. I, Maria Campbell, was in my room at the Harbor Restaurant, intently studying the Light Covenant. I do not know just how much time I have spent doing so.

I was trying to find a spell which could be useful in helping Lady Katarina and the others, but, alas, due to the lexicon at my disposal here not being as comprehensive as the one at the Magical Ministry, I was having a hard time reading. The spells I could read did not seem very useful at all, and the more I read, the more I was taken by anxiety.

It was then that I heard a noise outside of my room. I left, hoping to be greeted by news on the situation, but I only found Miss Regina, Miss Larna, and some men I did not know talking to each other with preoccupied looks on their faces.

“What has happened?” I asked.

“No matter how much we ask around, nobody has seen either Katarina or Sora, to the extent that I’m getting suspicious. It’s almost as if whoever did see them had had their memories erased.”

“Do you mean...?!” My eyes widened, and Miss Larna nodded.

“I think that Dark Magic is involved. Just as we suspected before coming here,” she said gravely.

Again, we were up against Dark Magic. A forbidden magic which one could only obtain by taking someone’s life, in exchange for the power to control people’s memories and intentions.

We had dealt with it several times, but especially so after we had started working at the Magical Ministry. Lady Katarina, by sheer coincidence, had even happened to stumble upon a Dark Familiar, making her connection with Dark Magic even stronger.

And now...that strange aura which I had felt. The evil aura approaching Lady Katarina. As I was not sure of its meaning, I never spoke of it with her...but it was likely that a Dark Magic user was after my friend. And I knew it, did I not...? Please, Lady Katarina—please be safe!

“But they can’t have tampered with everyone’s memories. They must have missed someone...” Miss Larna said just as the door opened and a man barged inside.

“We found someone who witnessed those two!” he shouted, bringing us the news we had been waiting so long for.

“Well done! And where’s the witness?” Miss Larna asked.

“I can bring him in in no time...but...” he trailed off, looking worried.

“But what?” she responded, her face darkening.

I was starting to feel nervous as well.

“But this witness, you see, he’s kind of a tough nut. He’s seen those two, but we don’t know if he’ll talk about it,” he explained, making Miss Larna’s eyebrows rise.

“That might take some time then.”

After a while, the agent brought in the witness about whom he was talking. At a glance, he looked like a crude, impolite person, and in this instance the contents of the book perfectly matched the cover.

“I’d like to know where the young man and young woman you’ve seen have gone,” Miss Larna began, and the man grinned.

“I can tell you. For a price,” he smirked. He was going to withhold his information unless he was paid for it.

“How much?” Miss Larna asked, dubious but eager.

“How much can you pay?” he countered, and Miss Larna told him a figure that drew another grin out of him.

“Sounds good. Pay in advance,” he demanded, and Miss Larna obliged and then spread a map in front of him.

“Kind of in this area,” he said, circling a very wide portion of the map with his finger.

“That doesn’t help. Can’t you be more specific?” Miss Larna, who was now visibly starting to get angered, asked.

“Maybe I can. But it’ll cost you extra,” he chortled, then shrugged.

“This guy...” Miss Larna murmured to herself, clicking her tongue, “He’s going to ask us for more and more money. We aren’t getting anywhere.”

I agreed that getting the information we needed out of this man was going to be a very long process.

“Can’t we beat it out of him?” Miss Regina casually asked, but Miss Larna shook her head.

“With this kind of guy, that’s not guaranteed to work.”

“You’re right. But we’re fighting against time here... What can we do?”

I could not agree with their suggested methods, but it was true that we were in a hurry. I could not stand thinking that Lady Katarina was in danger while we were losing time. If only there was a way... Oh, of course! Maybe I could use that spell I just read about in the Light Covenant!

“There is a spell I recently learned which perhaps could make him talk,” I informed my restaurant superior and Ministry superior.

“Can’t hurt to try. Go ahead,” Miss Larna promptly agreed.

“Here...” I said, pointing my palms toward the man.

“Huh? You wanna beat it out of me? I’ll let you know that won’t—”

The man was surrounded by a brilliant haze.

“Wh-What’s this?” he yelped, surprised. And then...

“...What was I doing? I know that you’re in trouble, and I was just trying to get money out of you at a time like this... Sorry. I’ll tell you everything. Here, that girl and that boy went through this road...” His attitude changed at once and he started apologetically giving us all the information he had.

Miss Larna and Miss Regina were terribly surprised, but they quickly took note of what the witness had reported and then ordered some of the other people in the room to go there and investigate.

“By the way, Maria, what in the world was that magic?” Miss Larna, looking extremely suspicious, questioned me after the witness had not only apologized, but even returned the money we had given him.

“It is a spell that makes wrongdoers repent. This was the first time I used it, so I am relieved that it worked.” It was one of the spells detailed in the Light Covenant.

“That’s incredible. If you used this left and right, there’d be no sinners left in the world,” she marveled.

“Unfortunately...the effects are temporary,” I continued, and with perfect timing, the witness started screaming.

“My money! Give it back to me!”

The spell was broken.

“Seems like it,” Miss Larna commented with a complicated look on her face.

We went to the area the man told us about, and we found it to be populated by thugs and foreigners. Furthermore, the road leading to the exact spot he’d indicated was full of scary-looking men.

Miss Larna and Miss Regina (forcibly) asked some of those men for information, and we found out that they had been ordered to capture the girl and young man who were trying to escape from a certain building nearby with children. The young man had blue hair and eyes, and the girl had brown hair and blue eyes. There was no doubt that they were talking about Sora and Lady Katarina.

But even now that we knew where she was, we could not go past all the men surrounding the building. My companions were taking them on one at a time, but, if Lady Katarina was in danger, this approach was too slow.

I have to help somehow... Of course! Maybe I could use the spell from before and make all of these men let us through! I must do it...for Lady Katarina! I thought, concentrating as hard as I could. A bright haze, much larger than the one from before, surrounded the place, and the men who were fighting so fiercely until moments ago were now calm. I quickly ran past them. Beyond them was the person I was looking for.

“Lady Katarina!” I cried as I took her between my arms.

Feeling her so close to me filled my heart with solace.

★★★★★

“M-Maria! What are you doing here? And what was that haze just now? Did you do it?” When Maria hugged me, I instinctively hugged her back. Seeing her here made me think that maybe she was behind that weird phenomenon.

“Miss Larna and Miss Regina found out about this place, and we all rushed here. The haze was one of the spells I found in the Light Covenant,” she answered.

I knew that she was still deciphering it, but from what she’d told me, I thought that all she’d found so far were basic spells that she already knew about.

“I was reading it as fast as I could, hoping to find something I could use to save you. Luckily, I found this,” she went on explaining.

“Maria! You’re incredible!” Learning a spell like that, especially now while she didn’t have access to the Ministry’s lexicon, was really impressive.

“I had to do it,” she declared, blushing.

“What kind of spell is it, anyway?” I asked, looking at the men who were still apologizing to us.

“It’s a spell that makes wrongdoers repent for their wicked actions.”

“Wow! That’s amazing!”

“But...”

“But?”

“...Its effects only last for a little while,” she frowned.

As if on cue, we immediately saw one of the men running toward us, screaming “What the hell was I doing?!” It seemed that the effect of her spell had expired. We’re going to be surrounded again! I panicked, but Larna, Regina, and the others were already knocking them out quicker than they could regain their senses. Cezar’s reinforcements finally arrived too, and they started fighting according to his instructions. Shortly after, all of the thugs were tied down and the children were safe from danger.

“It’s over now. It’s going to be fine,” I comforted the children. I was impressed by how well all my friends were collaborating.

Larna, done giving orders, approached me. “Are you guys all right?” she asked.

“I’m fine, but Sora looks wounded,” I reported, glancing in his direction.

“Don’t worry, we have people who can treat you,” she said, looking at him, “so go and have them tend to your wounds.”

Sora, however, shook his head. “It’s nothing major. But an acquaintance of mine is still inside the building, so let me come along if you go inside,” he requested, pointing at the people who, having dealt with the thugs, were ready to enter the hideout.

I knew that he was talking about Arneau. Larna thought about it for a moment, then gave him her approval. “Be careful,” she added.

“I would like to go along too!” I piped up.

Larna nodded at me, but Sora furrowed his brow. “You’d better wait outside.”

“I’m also worried about Arneau! I have Pochi with me and I promise I’ll be careful!” I added.

Sora finally gave me a completely unenthusiastic “Fine.”

In the end, the party that entered the building consisted of the Ministry people, Cezar and his men, Maria, who’d said she wanted to help, Sora, and me. The first time I came inside there I was being forcefully dragged, and then when I left, I was running away from thugs. Because of all that, this was the first time I got a really good look at the place. It was dirty but large, with lots of rooms.

“It kind of looks like a noble’s mansion...” I muttered to myself.

One of Cezar’s men, overhearing me, replied. “It’s exactly that. It used to be a noble family’s vacation home. It turns out they were using it for unsavory things though.”

“Unsavory things?” I asked.

“Nothing that a young woman like you should know,” he responded with a laugh. This man’s attitude reminded me of Cezar’s, maybe because he was one of his subordinates.

While discussing things like that, we kept checking the building’s rooms. Pretty much all of them were empty, since most of the people inside had come after us when we were escaping. However, when we reached one of them, we heard someone inside. We carefully opened the door, and inside there were several men lying unconscious on the floor. And right in the middle of them, looking as if he was about to fall down himself, was Arneau.

“Arneau!” Sora shouted, running toward his friend. I followed him.

Once we drew closer, we saw that Arneau was so badly wounded that it was a wonder he was still standing.

“Did you take on all of these guys by yourself?” Sora asked, rushing to support Arneau’s weakened body.

“...Sorry. That’s as much as I could do,” Arneau replied with a husky voice.

“...You try-hard,” Sora said, furrowing his brow.

“We must heal you as soon as possible,” I told him, worried about all of his wounds.

But he just insisted, “...No. I deserved this.”

“But you fought to help us. You definitely didn’t deserve this. We owe you. Let’s get you treated! I’ll call someone who can see to that!”

“It’s all my fault you people were involved in this...” he stated.

“Excuse me! Is there anyone here who can treat wounds?” I shouted.

“Shall I use magic to cure him?” Maria, who had Light Magic at her disposal, answered my call.

“Oh, right, you’re able to do that, aren’t you? Please.” First I forget Pochi, then I forget Maria can use healing magic? Get it together, Katarina!

“Of course,” she smiled.

“I said that I...” Arneau tried to stop her.

“Come on, Arneau, we’ll get you patched up,” I said, and he squinted his eyes.

“Are you all right? Does it hurt too much?” I continued.

“That’s not it. It’s just that it’s all my fault if you ended up here. You should be angry with me, not grateful...”

“Maria, go on,” I requested, helping Sora rest Arneau on the floor.

“Give up, Arneau. She can’t even hear you,” Sora chuckled.

“But I...”

“Just shut up and do as you’re told.”

“I will start now,” Maria declared, and light started coming out of her hands. No matter how many times I saw it, Light Magic was always a sight to behold.

Thanks to Maria’s efforts, Arneau was healed to the point where he could be brought to a hospital and receive more thorough care later.

I overheard Cezar and Larna discussing something complicated, but at least this whole ordeal was finally over. We’d found and rescued the baron’s daughter who had been kidnapped.