The moment they entered a smaller market near the edge of Daedalus Street—
Something shattered ahead.
Several baskets of medicinal herbs lay overturned across the road.
Dry leaves and small medicine bottles were scattered over the ground.
An elderly woman knelt among them, gathering her belongings with trembling hands.
Four male adventurers stood around her.
One deliberately stepped on a wooden basket until it cracked.
“I told you to pay for my armor!”
The elderly woman looked up.
“But, sir…
you were the one who walked into my cart.”
“You calling me a liar?”
The man pointed toward a small green stain on his leather vambrace.
“Do you know what this armor cost?
Your filthy herbs damaged it!”
“That would come off with water!” a young shopkeeper shouted from nearby.
“You’re just extorting her!”
Another adventurer turned and shoved the young man hard enough to send him crashing into a stall.
The surrounding market backed away.
No one dared approach.
The fang-shaped emblem on the men’s cloaks belonged to a small Familia notorious for debt collection and forcing businesses to purchase their “protection.”
Most of its members were only Level One.
But several sub-leaders had reached Level Two.
For ordinary civilians—
Even that difference was enough to make resistance equivalent to suicide.
Ryu changed instantly.
The uncertainty of the reluctant tour guide vanished.
What remained—
Was an adventurer of the Astraea Familia.
“Stay behind me.”
She spoke to Lelouch and Syr.
Then moved forward.
But the frightened crowd flowed backward and blocked her path.
A merchant cart was pushed across the street, forcing Ryu to alter direction and costing her precious time.
At the center of the disturbance, the elderly woman reached toward a medicine bottle that had rolled near one adventurer’s feet.
The man kicked it.
The bottle shattered.
“I’m done listening to excuses.”
He pointed downward.
“Twenty thousand Valis.”
“If you don’t pay, this entire stall becomes compensation.”
“I…
I don’t have that much…”
“Then the cart and everything on it belong to us.”
The young shopkeeper forced himself upright and caught the man’s arm.
“Stop!”
Steel slid from a sheath.
The adventurer drew his sword halfway.
Sunlight flashed across the blade.
The distance between him and the boy was less than one arm’s length.
Ryu was still almost fifteen meters away.
Too many people stood between them.
Lelouch evaluated the situation.
The draw speed.
The man’s grip.
His direction of attention.
The route Ryu would have to cross.
If no one interfered—
The young shopkeeper would be cut before she arrived.
Lelouch stepped out immediately.
“Lelouch!” Ryu called.
He did not stop.
“A cheap piece of armor gets stained by a few herbs…”
His cold voice cut across the market.
“…and it takes four adventurers to terrorize an old woman over it?”
All four men turned.
Exactly as Lelouch intended.
The swordsman’s attention abandoned the young shopkeeper.
“If your Familia is so poor that its members need to extort cleaning costs from elderly merchants…”
Lelouch’s eyes narrowed.
“…then I am unsure whether your finances or your dignity are in the worse condition.”
The surrounding crowd stirred.
The adventurers’ faces reddened.
“You little bastard…”
“Look at his clothes.
Some noble brat who doesn’t understand how Orario works.”
Another man grinned.
“Make him kneel and apologize.”
A thin adventurer approached Lelouch.
His movement was stronger than an ordinary person’s.
But he lacked the grounded stability Lelouch had seen from those who had advanced to higher Levels.
Level One.
Three steps.
Two.
Lelouch allowed their eyes to meet.
Heat pierced his left eye.
A crimson, wing-shaped sigil ignited within his violet iris.
“Go to sleep.”
The command was quiet.
But it passed through the man’s eyes and buried itself directly into his mind.
For a moment—
The Geass mark reflected in the adventurer’s pupils.
His expression went blank.
His sword slipped from his fingers.
Then his entire body collapsed onto the street.
Fast asleep.
The market fell completely silent.
No one understood what had happened.
Syr, already helping the elderly woman to her feet, stopped for an instant.
Her gray eyes fixed upon the red sigil within Lelouch’s eye.
She could not see his soul.
But—
She could see what that power did to the souls of others.
Absolute obedience.
Domination that left no room for refusal.
Beautiful.
Terrifying.
“Mind-control Magic!” another adventurer shouted.
The group’s leader—
A man with a scar across his chin— shoved one of his companions aside and approached.
“You used Magic on one of mine?!”
His footing was heavier.
Equipment better maintained.
The pressure created by his body clearly differed from the man who had fallen asleep.
At least Level Two.
Perhaps someone who had spent a considerable amount of time at that Level.
Lelouch knew Geass would be less effective.
But Ryu was still six meters away.
Another adventurer was circling toward his left.
He needed more time.
Lelouch met the leader’s eyes.
The crimson sigil shone again.
“Kneel.”
His voice sharpened.
“Drop your weapon.”
The command struck the man’s mind.
His body jerked.
One knee slammed against the ground.
His hand loosened around the sword hilt.
But the Geass mark inside his eyes trembled.
It did not seize him as completely as the first target.
Every muscle in his body tensed.
The adventurer bit down hard enough to draw blood from his lip.
“No…”
His knee slowly rose.
“I…
refuse…”
The command continued pressing against his mind.
But it could not completely dominate him.
A higher Level.
Active resistance.
A more complex order than simply sleeping.
Together—
They weakened Geass drastically.
Pain stabbed into Lelouch’s skull.
Trying to force a stronger target was consuming Mind faster than expected.
A small line of blood appeared at the corner of his left eye.
“You damn demon!”
The adventurer approaching from the side had learned from the others.
He refused to meet Lelouch’s gaze.
Head lowered—
He charged with an iron club.
Without eye contact—
Geass could not command him.
Lelouch read the shoulders.
The feet.
He knew the club would swing from the right.
He knew how he should evade.
His body—
Was still too slow.
The iron weapon cut through the air toward his skull.
Before it reached him—
A hand seized the back of Lelouch’s coat and violently pulled him out of the attack line.
The club passed less than a handspan from his face.
At the same instant—
A green shadow crossed beside him.
Ryu had arrived.
Her sheathed sword struck the club-wielder’s wrist.
Crack!
The sound of displaced bone was sharp.
Ryu pivoted.
Her heel struck the back of his knee.
As he collapsed, the edge of her hand crashed into his neck.
He went unconscious.
The Level Two leader had just forced himself upright against the Geass command.
His sword came free.
Ryu disappeared.
The next instant—
She stood directly in front of him.
Her palm struck his chest.
The Level Two adventurer was launched backward.
He smashed through a stack of crates and collapsed among splintered wood.
The final man looked at his three fallen companions.
Then ran.
Ryu picked up a pebble.
Flicked it.
The stone struck his ankle with perfect precision.
He crashed face-first into the street.
Before he could rise, Ryu pinned one arm behind his back.
“Do not move.”
Her voice was cold enough to remove all remaining resistance.
The entire fight ended before the surrounding civilians had even managed to retreat ten steps.
Lelouch remained where he stood.
One hand rose to the corner of his left eye.
A little blood stained his fingertips.
The world tilted briefly.
He remained conscious.
Syr had already moved the elderly woman and young shopkeeper away from danger.
She checked their injuries with practiced efficiency and wrapped a clean cloth around the young man’s scraped elbow.
Only after confirming that neither was seriously hurt did she look back at Lelouch.
Ryu tied the one conscious criminal with rope borrowed from a merchant.
Then she returned.
Her expression did not show relief.
It was colder than when she had been fighting.
“Sit down.”
“I can still stand.”
“Lelouch.”
That tone convinced him that further resistance would be inefficient.
He sat on a nearby crate.
Ryu knelt in front of him.
She used a clean cloth to wipe the blood from the corner of his eye, then carefully checked his head for any sign that the club had connected.
“Dizzy?”
“Slightly.
Probably from forcing Geass against a higher-Level target.”
“Can you move every limb?”
“Yes.”
“Double vision?”
“No.”
Ryu finally exhaled when she confirmed the club had not struck him.
Then—
She began scolding him.
“You were told to stay behind me.”
“I never promised to.
You issued an instruction.”
“Do not play with wording.”
“I’m correcting the factual record.”
“If I had been a little slower, that club would have struck your skull.”
“I’m aware.”
“You didn’t know their Levels.”
Ryu tightened her grip on the bloodied cloth.
“You didn’t know whether they possessed Skills that resisted Magic.”
“You revealed your ability in front of an entire market.”
“Your Magic partially failed against that man.”
“If the other one had used a sword instead of a club—”
Her voice tightened.
“Or if I had been delayed by one more second—”
“You could have died.”
Lelouch listened without interrupting.
Every criticism was correct.
Revealing Geass in public created an information risk.
Using a complicated order against a higher-Level target had consumed a dangerous amount of Mind without guaranteeing success.
And he had slightly overestimated his body’s ability to evade the club.
“I acknowledge several mistakes.”
The simple admission made Ryu pause.
“But if I had done nothing, that boy might have been cut before you reached him.”
Lelouch’s voice remained calm.
“I needed to redirect their attention and buy you time.”
“You should not use yourself as bait.”
“At that moment, I was the only person capable of redirecting them quickly enough.”
“That doesn’t make it safe.”
“No.”
Lelouch looked at her.
“It made sure an innocent person wasn’t cut.”
Ryu bit her lip.
She understood the logic.
That was what made her angrier.
He had not acted purely from recklessness.
He had seen the danger.
Calculated the cost.
Then still placed himself in the center of it.
“Next time, call me first.”
“That could cost additional time.”
“Then trust that I can handle it!”
The words came out louder than Ryu intended.
Lelouch looked mildly surprised.
“I do.”
Ryu froze.
“What?”
“I trust that you can handle it.”
His voice was calm.
Completely serious.
“That is precisely why I stepped forward.”
Ryu did not understand for a moment.
Lelouch continued.
“I calculated the distance and your speed.”
“Even with the crowd obstructing you, you would require no more than two seconds to reach me.”
His violet eyes met hers.
“If I redirected their attention and stopped at least one of them, that would be enough.”
“But you didn’t know what I would choose to do.”
“I did.”
There was no Geass in his eyes.
No Magic.
Only trust—
Given deliberately.
“I knew you would not let that attack reach me.”
Ryu’s heart missed a beat.
“Because I knew you were there…”
Lelouch spoke as though stating a simple conclusion.
“…I could step forward without hesitation.”
Ryu had been entrusted with lives before.
Astraea trusted her.
Alice and Kaguya fought beside her.
Civilians had placed their hopes in her sword more times than she could count.
But no one had ever said something like that so simply—
As if putting one’s life in her hands were a fact that required no doubt.
Heat rushed toward her face.
The tips of the elf’s ears turned red almost immediately.
Ryu opened her mouth.
No answer came.
She could not tell him he should not trust people so easily.
Lelouch had not trusted her without reason.
She could not say she might not have reached him.
That would mean denying her own ability.
And admitting that his words made her happy—
Was completely impossible.
So instead—
Ryu folded the bloodied cloth.
Then folded it again.
For absolutely no reason.
“Don’t…”
She kept her eyes down.
“…say things like that so easily.”
“I didn’t say it easily.”
That made her ears even redder.
“I chose to trust you because it was you.”
Ryu’s hands stopped.
A few steps away—
Syr watched them.
Her gentle smile remained.
But her gray eyes narrowed by the smallest degree.
Something unfamiliar formed quietly inside the goddess.
Not anger.
Not yet jealousy.
Only—
A slight displeasure at seeing a door that remained closed to her voluntarily open a gap for someone else.
Syr hid it beneath her smile and approached.
“Ryu must be so happy she can’t speak.”
The elf looked up instantly.
“I am not—”
“Your ears are completely red.”
Ryu immediately pulled up her hood.
“It’s hot.”
Lelouch looked toward the cloudy sky.
“The temperature is lower than this morning.”
“Be quiet.”
“I’m merely stating a fact.”
Syr laughed softly.
Ryu turned away and refused to look at either of them.
Members of the Ganesha Familia responsible for city security arrived soon afterward, accompanied by Guild officials.
After taking witness statements, they learned that the four adventurers had been reported for extortion multiple times.
Previous witnesses had withdrawn their statements after receiving threats.
Nearly the entire market had seen what happened.
And Ryu belonged to the Astraea Familia, which now possessed formal public-security coordination authority.
The arrests therefore proceeded without resistance.
The first man remained completely asleep.
Two Guild officers tried repeatedly to wake him.
Nothing worked.
One eventually looked toward Lelouch with considerable caution.
“How long will he remain asleep?”
“I don’t have enough data to answer.”
Lelouch looked toward the unconscious man.
“This was the first time I used that command on a real target.”
The Guild officer went slightly pale.
“He will wake up, right?”
“The command was to sleep, not die.”
Lelouch spoke matter-of-factly.
“His biological functions appear normal.
He should wake when the Magic’s effect expires.”
“Should?”
“If you require a guaranteed answer, I would need controlled follow-up testing.”
One of the restrained adventurers immediately shouted from the ground.
“Don’t use me for testing!”
The Guild officer looked down at him.
“If you don’t want to become a test subject, stop causing trouble.”
“That is not a legally recognized punishment,” Lelouch said.
“I was only trying to scare him quiet.”
“Then it was effective.”
Once the criminals were taken away, the elderly woman approached the three with a small pouch of herbs.
“Thank you so much.”
Her hands trembled.
“If you hadn’t helped, they would have taken everything.
And that boy could have been seriously hurt.”
She extended the pouch toward Lelouch.
“These herbs help with pain.”
“I don’t have much left, but please take them.”
“You’ve already lost merchandise.”
Lelouch shook his head.
“There is no need to give us anything.”
“If you refuse…”
The woman smiled awkwardly.
“…I’ll feel as though I owe you a debt.”
Lelouch looked at her wrinkled hands.
At the small cuts earned from years of work.
Continuing to refuse might injure her dignity more than preserve her property.
He accepted the pouch.
“Then I will accept it.
Thank you.”
The elderly woman smiled.
“You’re a fortunate young man.”
She looked toward Ryu.
“Having such a strong elf girl always protecting you.”
Ryu, who had finally lowered her hood, froze.
“We’re members of the same Familia.”
“Close enough to entrust your life to one another?”
The woman smiled knowingly.
“You must be very close indeed.”
Ryu’s ears immediately turned red again.
Syr lifted one hand cheerfully.
“I helped you get away too.”
“Of course.
Thank you as well, dear.”
The elderly woman produced three apples that had escaped being crushed.
One for each of them.
“Here.
Share these.”
She smiled.
“For the young couple and their friend.”
“Wait—”
Ryu tried to correct her.
The woman had already returned to gathering her things.
Syr looked down at the apple in her hand.
“So I’ve been classified as the friend.”
“She simply misunderstood our relationship because she lacks the relevant information,” Lelouch replied.
Syr tilted her head.
“Then what is the correct relationship?”
“You are both guides.”
“And I’m the person being guided.”
Syr sighed.
“You truly excel at destroying an atmosphere.”
“I answered the question.”
Ryu turned away—
Hiding the small smile that had appeared.
After helping the merchants reorganize their goods, the three took a short rest on a bench near the market.
Lelouch separated part of the medicinal herbs and had Ryu inspect them.
She confirmed their quality.
“They’ll work well for muscle pain.”
Ryu handed them back.
“Perfect for you.”
“I hope Alice doesn’t interpret that as permission to intensify training.”
“Do not tell her what they do.”
Lelouch looked toward her.
“Are you proposing concealing information from the captain?”
“For this particular issue, I consider it self-defense.”
Lelouch nodded gravely.
“I’m beginning to suspect you understand strategy better than you admit.”
“I learned from living with Alice.”
Across from them, Syr slowly turned the apple in her hands.
“Mr.
Lelouch?”
“Yes?”
“Earlier…”
Her eyes settled on him.
“…you said you trusted Ryu.”
Ryu’s hands stopped immediately.
“Syr.
That conversation is finished.”
“I’m only curious.”
Syr met Lelouch’s eyes.
“Do you trust me?”
The question sounded gentle.
But it carried more weight than teasing should have possessed.
Lelouch did not answer quickly.
He considered last night.
Her unexplained interest.
Her comment about goddesses being closer than expected.
And the coincidence that had brought her onto their route today.
“Not yet.”
The blunt answer made Ryu look up.
Syr’s smile stopped for only a fraction of a second.
“You really don’t protect people’s feelings when you answer, do you?”
“Trust given merely to spare someone’s feelings has no value.”
“Then what would I have to do for you to trust me the way you trust Ryu?”
“Time.”
Lelouch answered without looking away.
“And give me reasons to believe you.”
He gestured slightly toward Ryu.
“Ryu protected civilians in front of me.”
“She objected to allowing me to test Geass on a Familia member even with consent.”
“She watches my condition during training.”
“And today, she gave up her time to show me the city.”
Lelouch’s tone remained analytical.
“Those actions form consistent evidence.”
Ryu lowered her head again.
Her ears—
Only recently returned to their normal color— slowly reddened once more.
“You helped the elderly woman and the injured boy today.”
Lelouch looked back toward Syr.
“That is one strong piece of evidence in your favor.”
“But I still don’t understand your motives.”
“Or why you’re interested in me.”
Syr listened to the end.
Instead of becoming offended—
Her smile slowly returned.
This time, it was not the flawless smile of a beloved tavern waitress.
There was challenge within it.
And delight.
“Then I’ll give you more reasons.”
“I wasn’t inviting you to defeat my evaluation process.”
“But whether I try is my decision.”
That sentence brought Loki’s warning back to Lelouch.
Someone who refuses to belong to anyone is exactly what Freya wants most.
He studied Syr for several seconds.
The young woman took a small bite of her apple with completely innocent manners.
There was no evidence.
Only instinct—
Insisting that her interest should not be treated casually.
“As you wish.”
Lelouch’s voice remained cool.
“As long as you respect my boundaries.”
“I’ll remember.”
Ryu looked between them.
She did not understand why a conversation about trust had begun to resemble the opening declaration of some kind of competition.
Nor did she understand why—
At this particular moment—
She disliked Syr’s smile more than usual.
….
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….
I also have many more novels in my collection that you might be interested in I upload ten novels a day, with 3 to 4 chapters per title depending on the length.
If you’re following a particular series, please wait your turn a little If there’s a particular novel you’re enjoying on Patron, please give it a ‘like’ so I know to focus on it