"I’m sorry!"
The gang member immediately threw himself face-down on the floor.
Her nephew was supposedly the student council president of Kizen, so what need was there to debate whether it was true or false?
’If there’s even a hint of danger, I need to pull out.’
There was an absolute, unwritten rule among the gangs residing in Langerstine. No matter what happens, never touch Kizen. This was an absolute principle, and any gang that violated it was wiped from the face of the earth without a single exception. That was why only the gangs that adhered to this rule managed to survive in Langerstine through natural selection.
Anna blinked, wondering what was suddenly going on.
"E-Excuse me!" the gang member stammered. "To tell you the truth, I’m not a Langerstine guide, but..."
A heavy, deafening boom echoed out, cutting off his words. Birds perched all around the plaza frantically took flight.
"Right, it’s wise to get lost if you can’t handle it."
A middle-aged man with thinning hair approached them. He wore armor made of bone, draped a black cloak over it, and leaned on a cane with one hand. With a soft rustle of clothing, armed people wearing smiling masks revealed themselves from various spots in the alleyway. The gang member immediately realized who they were.
"You guys."
They were the gang that had been running the most rampant in Langerstine recently. It was the Scoviller Family, who had been operating in other regions before coming down to Langerstine three months ago.
"Did you not just hear me?" the gang member pleaded. "This lady’s nephew is..."
"The student council president of Kizen? It’d be amusing if that were true. But no." The man approaching with the cane curled his lips into a wicked smile. "I certainly hope it’s true."
Meanwhile, Simon’s group continued their inquiries. Finding traces of Anna wasn’t as difficult as they had thought. Perhaps she had been walking around in an eye-catching outfit, because they were able to find people who had seen her all over the place.
"Well, she was a rare beauty, so I remember her," one person noted. "She was with a guide."
"A guide?" Simon urgently looked back.
He saw Lorraine with her eyes closed, shaking her head.
"If that guide was from Kizen, a report would have definitely come in," she said.
It seemed Anna had followed someone impersonating a guide. If you showed even the slightest hint of being an outsider or looked naive, such scammers were bound to latch onto you.
"Simon, Simon," Serne called out in a sing-song voice, skipping over to him. "I think I found your aunt."
"Really?"
They decided to hear the detailed explanation on the move. The three of them quickly dashed down the alleyway. A strange man suddenly popped out next to them as they ran, keeping pace beside them.
"Now, tell us," Serne ordered.
"Yes," he answered in a bewitched voice.
One of Serne’s feathers was stuck in the nape of his neck, and he was wearing a bizarre smiling mask on his face.
"The boss kidnapped a noblewoman. I didn’t see her face, but he said he’d soon send a ransom demand to Kizen..."
Simon’s face turned pale, and Lorraine flared up in anger.
"To still not have come to your senses after suffering like that! Which gang are you from?"
"The Scoviller gang."
Lorraine tapped her chin, falling into thought. "I’ve never heard of them. This is troublesome."
"What’s wrong, Lorraine?" Simon asked.
"If they recently entered Langerstine, there’s a high chance they haven’t properly clashed with Kizen yet."
In other words, it meant there was a high chance they were completely reckless. If it were a typical Langerstine gang, they would grovel at the mere mention of Kizen’s name.
"Guys like this are actually more dangerous," Lorraine warned. "You never know what they might do."
"Huhu." Riding atop an artificial swan made of feathers, Serne seductively covered her mouth. "Kizen is past its prime, too. No, isn’t your mindset the real problem in the first place, thinking that just dropping Kizen’s name will solve everything?"
"Do you really have to get on my nerves during an emergency like this?" Lorraine snapped.
Regardless, the situation was urgent, so the two didn’t argue any further and followed behind Simon.
Brainwashed by Serne’s ability, the gang member guided them to his hideout. They had been running down a well-paved, clean main street, but at some point, the atmosphere of the streets abruptly changed. A musty stench filled the air, and garbage was strewn everywhere. Sensing their presence, rats scurried into narrow crevices.
It was the central area of the slums, the most rundown and dangerous part of Langerstine.
"This way," the mind-controlled gang member said, stopping in front of an alley.
Serne smiled and gave a light wave of her hand. "Good work, mister. Now bunny-hop your way to the guard station and turn yourself in."
"Yes."
After the gang member disappeared with a ridiculous gait, Simon focused his hearing. He couldn’t see the inside of the alley, but he could feel presences all around. He heard footsteps and voices.
"These guys calling themselves the Scoviller gang have occupied a strategic point even within the slums," Lorraine whispered, lowering her voice. "It’s no easy feat for a newly arrived gang to take over a core area like this. I bet they have one or two highly skilled retired necromancers in their ranks."
If necromancers were involved, the situation was even worse. Simon clenched and unclenched his fists, then looked back at Lorraine.
"What if we demand they return my aunt, promising to forgive them if they do it now?"
"It won’t work. If they were willing to return her that easily, they wouldn’t have attempted the kidnapping in the first place."
"Then it’s simple." Simon took a step forward. "Let’s go in."
"Hold on a second, Simon." Serne blocked his path with a bright smile. "Your wounds from Senior Balak’s poison haven’t fully healed yet. You should rest here, Simon."
"For once, we agree." Lorraine drew a dagger from a pocket on her thigh. "Serne and I will handle things here..."
"No, my aunt was captured, and I can’t just sit back and do nothing." Simon took long, purposeful strides forward. "I’ll go in through the front. You two flank them from the left and right."
Serne’s eyes curved into half-moons as she let out a soft chuckle. "You’re as stubborn as ever. Then I’ll take the right."
She disappeared. Lorraine looked at Simon with concern before closing her eyes.
"Be careful, Simon."
"Yeah."
Lorraine also vanished from the spot, and Simon quickly walked into the alley where he felt the presences. Inside the alley was a spacious plaza. He saw an old gate blocking off the area. In front of it was a man with a mask tucked under his arm, chugging from a liquor bottle in broad daylight.
"Huh?" He spotted Simon and glared. "Who the hell are y—"
The man choked as Simon grabbed his face and slammed it into the wall. Two red lines trailed down the surface of the brick. With a creak, he stepped past the old gate and went inside. The wide-open slum plaza came into view.
It was spacious but completely unmaintained, with overgrown weeds and garbage scattered haphazardly. The fountain had dried up long ago, its basin filled with trash and old coins. The gang members were giggling and chatting amongst themselves. Every single one of them was either wearing or holding a smiling mask.
"Well, who’s this kid?" A tanned man spotted Simon and approached, the sound of a dagger being smoothly drawn from his belt ringing out. "That’s a school uniform, ain’t it? Didn’t your mommy teach you that you’ll get stabbed wandering around a place like this?"
"Wait, a school uniform?" A gang member who had been sitting on a wooden crate enjoying a gamble turned his head at those words. "I’m pretty sure the person we kidnapped this time was from Kizen..."
Simon’s leg blurred in a black arc. With a sickening crack, the gang member who had spoken first was launched like a cannonball, crashing into the gambling group. The table flipped over, and people tumbled to the ground.
"W-What’s going on?"
"You little bastard!"
A gang member rushed in from the side and thrust a dagger at Simon. Simon caught the blade between his index and middle fingers, then kicked the man’s leg, forcing him to his knees. Simultaneously, without even looking back, he struck with his elbow and knocked down another.
"He’s alone! Rush him all at once!"
Trusting in their numbers, the gang members in the plaza swarmed him. In response, Simon calmly raised his hand.
"Come on out, everyone."
Subspace opened, and Skeleton Archers dashed out, letting loose a volley of arrows. Six gang members were instantly struck and collapsed, while the archers disassembled into Bone Armor and took control of other gang members’ bodies. As Simon gestured left and right, the gang members wearing the Bone Armor began slashing their allies with swords and shooting them with arrows.
"Intruder! We’ve got an intruder!"
"Everyone get in here!"
The moment the gang members in the downstairs tavern gripped their weapons and tried to swarm out, a crimson flash sliced a straight line across the tavern’s roof with a sharp zing. The entire ceiling collapsed, burying the gang members who were trying to escape under the rubble.
"To think you’d touch her, knowing full well she’s a guest of Kizen."
Lorraine appeared from the roof on the opposite side, her black hair fluttering in the wind.
"Why don’t you value your lives?"
Behind Lorraine, giant pterosaurs enhanced by her ability let out a piercing screech. As they stomped on the roof, leaped down, and swung their winged arms, the gang members were swept away like autumn leaves in the wind.
"Oh, my."
Serne revealed herself on the other side. Floating in the air, she was elegantly holding a teacup and enjoying teatime. The feathers spread around her spun in circles as if protecting her. Following her hand gestures, the feathers turned into black lightning that electrocuted the gang members, and into ice that trapped them in glaciers.
It was an overwhelming application of jet-black elemental magic. She looked like a transcendent being delivering divine punishment from the heavens.
"What are these things?!"
Just as the gang members were hesitating and rolling their eyes in panic, a voice laced with intimidation rang out.
"Stop."
The movements of everyone in the plaza ground to a halt. A man walked forward, gripping a cane and fully armed in flawless Bone Armor. Simon immediately realized who it was.
’That guy is Scoviller. And a necromancer, at that.’
He held a blade shimmering with curses against the throat of a noblewoman. And the identity of that noblewoman, no matter how you looked at it, was Anna. As she walked forward in Scoviller’s grasp, Anna spotted Simon, smiled innocently, and waved her hand.
"Simon! I’m over here!"
"Don’t try anything funny." With the sharp ring of steel, Scoviller narrowed his eyes and pressed the blade even closer to Anna’s neck. "If you value this woman’s life, dismiss your summons and drop your weapons."
Lorraine bit her lip and dropped her dagger to the ground. Serne, who had been floating in the sky, obediently descended from the roof as well.
"Heh heh heh." Scoviller curled his lips up into a smirk. "The Kizen student council president, plus two noble students as a bonus. I’ll be able to make a hefty sum from the ransom."
Simon scratched his head before forming a faint smile. "We’ll take care of the cleanup, so could you step away now?"
Anna smiled brightly. "Oh my, is that alright?"
As for Scoviller, he couldn’t believe what happened to him next. With a sickening snap and crunch, the joints in his wrist and arm gave out, and his knees lost their strength.
’What the?’
He saw the woman’s tied hair flutter wildly as the hem of her dress swayed in the wind. Her body spun like a top, leaving behind an afterimage.
"That’s a relief. Since you’re a necromancer, you won’t die, right?"
"What?"
With a deafening crash, Scoviller’s body was violently sent flying. He smashed through a building and kept flying, crashing through wall after wall, only coming to a stop after leveling five buildings. A breathless silence fell over the plaza. Everyone watched the scene with their jaws dropped.
Anna stood with her leg raised high in the air. Her dress was torn, and her stockings were riddled with holes, but the look in her eyes as she scanned the area ahead was deadly serious. It was a monstrous strength created purely through the manipulation of mana. Everyone present was completely overwhelmed.
Soon, Anna brought her legs together, dusted off her clothes, and waved at Simon.
"Simon! I’m right here!"
Lorraine and Simon let out drained, helpless smiles. Serne let out an amused hum as she looked back and forth between Simon and Anna with a meaningful gaze. The clatter and thud of weapons dropping to the ground could be heard everywhere as the gang members lost their will to fight.

Comments

Loading...