Chapter 42

Chapter 42

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Chapter 42

"Finn. Should we start with the fingers? Or perhaps the toes?"

"I prefer toes."

"Fine. Let's crush the toes first."

"W-wait."

One of the enemies tried to crawl backwards, bowing his head. But Finn's foot moved faster.

"I'll talk. I'll talk... Wait! Aaaaagh!"

Thud. Finn stepped on the enemy's leg and a crumbling sound echoed.

"I'll... I'll talk...!"

"Hold on, wait...!"

The enemies gasped for air in unison, but Kishiar simply laughed and didn't stop the Eldore siblings.

Then, inside the room, the thumping sound of earth-shattering and faint screams reverberated.

"Ugh... ugh...!"

"So, ready to talk now?"

Kishiar casually asked again, looking at the enemies covered in burns, their faces wet with tears and snot.

"You attempted to assassinate a member of the imperial family. Your lives are already forfeit. Isn't it better to die cleanly than to be dragged off to the Pearl Tower for experimentation?"

"It might be more effective to say you'll spare the first one who talks."

Finn Eldore, back in his original form, suggested another method, tilting his head. Yuder also thought his method was much better.

"Really? Well then...."

"We, we wrote an... oath...."

Before Kishiar could finish, one of the fallen enemies murmured.

"We agreed... not to talk... so I can't..."

"An oath?"

A peculiar look crossed Kishiar's red eyes.

What they were talking about was probably similar to the magic oath that the Cavalry had used to promise not to disclose any information about the Red Stone retrieval mission.

Oaths were expensive and were rarely used except when those with considerable power were assigning important missions. Furthermore, they were not readily sold to just anyone.

This meant that the person who hired them had significant power. Kishiar, his eyes narrowed, turned towards Yuder.

"Yuder, keep this for a moment." Expplôre uptodate stories at no/vel//bin(.)com

He handed a box containing the Red Stone to Yuder and approached the fallen ones.

"Now, you should be able to talk. Answer me, who sent you?"

"W-we, we don't exactly, um, know ourselves."

The intruder answered, gasping in pain.

"We are all mercenaries from different places. Our client never revealed their identity and only contacted us through intermediaries and letters..."

"Mercenaries?"

The Eldore siblings muttered to each other, glancing at each other's faces. Only then did Yuder stop his thoughts on Kishiar and lift his head.

'Not professional assassins, then... I see. They were all mercenaries.'

"You must have heard something from your client beforehand. What did you know when you came here? What were you planning to do after stealing the Red Stone? Or was the Red Stone just an excuse, and the client wanted me killed?"

"No, no."

At Kishiar's question, the intruder cried out with a contorted face.

"We're lowlifes, but we know we won't die a decent death if we do such a thing. Assassinating an imperial family member, we wouldn't accept such a request."

"How amusing. Assassinating an imperial family member is scary, but stealing the Red Stone is fine?"

When Hinn added her comments as if for the intruders to hear, regret and anger flashed across the bloodied faces of the intruders.

"...The client said there would only be one person, Duke Peletta, staying here. If we timed it right, we could have handled it easily. We didn't think anyone else would be here."

Fearful eyes discreetly turned towards Yuder. Even without moving a finger, Yuder, as reflected in the intruders' eyes, was as good as a grim reaper.

But Yuder was not looking at him. If those words were true, this was no ordinary problem.

'The information was completely leaked.'

Yuder took a fleeting glance at Kishiar's expressionless face. When was it decided that he would come here to retrieve the Red Stone? Whoever planned this daring act must have accessed that information very early. There was no doubt about it.

Furthermore, the fact that the location where Kishiar was staying was reported in real-time meant that the instigator was much closer than expected.

"Seems like they knew this place very well. Was that all the information they gave you?"

At Kishiar's question, the intruders hurriedly responded, each adding a little more information.

"No, at first they just told us to go to the Orr Empire and wait until the messenger arrived."

"We waited at the edge of the mountain range for a few days, and then we received a letter yesterday to move here...!"

"We were told to observe the mansion and if it seemed like the Red Stone had been retrieved, to invade and steal it. We really thought we only had to steal the stone. After retrieving it, we were to return to our original hiding place and wait until the client contacted us...!"

"A letter that arrived yesterday..."

Kishiar murmured meaningfully, narrowing his eyes. Surely, he must have realized what Yuder was thinking.

Even the Cavalry members who came to retrieve the Red Stone in person had only just found out that only the Awakeners could approach the Red Stone.

Therefore, the likelihood that the one who sent the intruders knew this fact in advance and gathered only the Awakeners was very low. Yet the fact that they sent only the Awakeners meant they deemed it necessary to have people with powerful abilities.

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