William Bonin primarily used steel magic.
He could not only create weapons made of steel, but also harden parts of his own body until they were as tough as steel.
Because of that, even Magic-Suppressing Silver Bullets of fairly high purity could not penetrate his body. Magic-Suppressing Silver neutralized the formula itself, not the physical substance created by it.
The same applied to swords coated with Magic-Suppressing Silver.
Bonin had been able to overpower Special Unit members until now precisely because of his hardened body.
‘That’s how it should’ve been… so how did this happen?’
THUD.
Bonin’s torso dropped to the floor.
The Easterner who had clearly been far away was suddenly standing right in front of him.
He looked much taller than he had from a distance.
No.
Bonin had become shorter.
His legs had been severed along with his arms.
“Ah. Aaaah….”
Only then did the pain arrive.
He finally understood what had happened.
Bonin, who had boasted an invincible body, had been defeated in an instant without even realizing when he had been cut.
“Aaaaaaagh—!!”
Bonin screamed.
With the mana circuits of a Fifth-Tier Mage, he did not die despite having all four limbs cleanly severed.
There was not even any blood flowing from the severed areas.
Of course, that was not because of Bonin’s own ability.
Han had forcibly cauterized the wounds with his superheated blade.
Han left the screaming Bonin alone for the moment and walked over to Lara and Lea.
The freezer was cold enough to freeze a person stiff.
Yet Han’s sword and Mobility Gear radiated intense heat within it.
Han looked as though he alone were burning.
His expression was eerily calm.
Even Lara, his own team member, found the unfamiliar darkness in Han’s black eyes chilling.
“Your body temperature must’ve dropped quite a bit.”
But that sense of unfamiliarity lasted only a moment.
Han removed his coat and draped it over Lara.
Unlike Lea, who still had her outerwear, Lara’s had been taken away.
“Team Leader!”
“Is everyone all right?”
Fabian and Samuel entered the warehouse after finishing things outside.
Fortunately, Samuel was completely unharmed.
It seemed he had avoided the iron spikes with his excellent eyesight and detection ability.
“That’s….”
“Ugh!”
The two discovered Bonin.
With all four limbs severed, Bonin lay on the floor like a bust.
The sight alone made their faces twist.
Bonin, who had been screaming at the top of his lungs, was now half unconscious.
Foam had gathered around his mouth, and his eyes had rolled halfway back.
Han called the two over and entrusted Lara and Lea to them.
At some point, the chains that had restrained the two women had already been cut apart.
“Take them outside.”
“What about you, Team Leader?”
“I still have something to do.”
Han answered Samuel’s question.
When Han glanced toward Bonin, Fabian understood first and nodded.
What they needed to do now was restore Lara’s and Lea’s body temperatures to normal.
“Understood. Samuel, let’s go.”
“Ah, yes.”
The four withdrew.
Lea looked back at Han’s face during the process, but that was something for later.
The freezer became dark and silent.
Now only Han and Bonin remained conscious inside.
“William Bonin.”
Once everyone else had left, Han lowered the voice he had deliberately kept raised until then.
His hatred for criminals.
That cold emotion seemed to leak out despite being suppressed to the bare minimum.
“You’d better give up on any foolish ideas.”
BANG—!
Han spun around in an instant.
Without hesitation, he drew his revolver and fired.
“Now isn’t the time to aim for my neck. You should be worrying about your own.”
His muzzle had been aimed at a formula secretly forming in one corner.
The Magic-Suppressing Silver Bullet struck the formula’s weak point with perfect accuracy.
The formula collapsed immediately.
“……You noticed.”
“I did. Quite clearly.”
With his hidden trump card exposed, Bonin lowered his head.
He exhaled pale breath like cigarette smoke before asking in a trembling voice,
“Do you… have any intention of letting me live?”
“Letting you live? You were trying to kill me.”
“I apologize for that. I…. I have a lot of information you need. For example… th-that’s right. Ivan Keller. Aren’t you curious where Ivan Keller is right now and what he’s doing?”
“I’m very curious about that.”
“Right…?”
Bonin seemed to glimpse hope and showed his yellow teeth.
He smiled awkwardly, though the trembling in his throat did not stop.
“Let’s make a deal. I’ll tell you.”
“You’ll tell me? Weren’t you Ivan Keller’s accomplice?”
“He abandoned me and ran away first anyway. And… because I was his accomplice, doesn’t that mean I know even more?”
“…….”
Han looked down at Bonin with ice-cold eyes.
His gaze seemed to examine even the tiniest muscles in Bonin’s face.
“You don’t seem to be lying. You genuinely intend to betray him.”
“Why would I lie? He betrayed me first.”
“I see….”
Han continued responding positively.
From Han’s perspective, if Bonin was willing to hand over information voluntarily, there was no reason to stop him.
However—
“…But how am I supposed to trust information willingly offered by someone who betrayed his own accomplice? Especially when that someone is a criminal.”
“What?”
“I’m saying its credibility is low. And I happen to know a ‘slightly unpleasant method’ of increasing that credibility.”
Han turned his blade.
The light from a red luminescent stone reflected off it and into Bonin’s eyes.
Looking at that murderous blade, Bonin had no choice but to understand what Han meant by a “slightly unpleasant method.”
“Wh-What the hell are you talking about?! I told you, he betrayed me first! I don’t even think of that bastard as an accomplice anymore!”
“Who knows? I’ll take my time finding that out.”
Han showed no intention of listening.
His eyes carried unwavering killing intent.
Han Augustus had lost everything to criminals when he was young.
And he had endured for a very long time.
Whenever a criminal’s Crime Grade was too low, all he could ever do was put handcuffs on them.
But the bastard before him was different.
He was a criminal whom the law explicitly permitted to be summarily executed.
Han could carve at least a fraction of the pain these bastards had inflicted on innocent victims into his body.
Han remembered every horrific crime Bonin had committed.
What he needed to have with this bastard was not a peaceful conversation.
Only a thoroughly violent interrogation.
Seeing Han standing there with his sword like an evil spirit, Bonin despaired.
“You… were planning to kill me from the beginning.”
Han kindly answered Bonin’s final question.
“Because there’s no reason to let you live.”
From this point onward, only Han would be asking questions.
WHOOSH—!
And with that, the sword swung.
***
By the time Han finished cleaning up and came outside, Rubin’s team had just arrived.
“You’re late.”
“…Not everyone is as fast on their feet as you are.”
“You were so late that the support team ended up doing the main team’s job. I trust you’ll understand.”
“…….”
Not a single drop of blood or sweat stained Han.
Rubin looked him up and down.
Rubin sighed, muttering that it could not be helped, before noticing the bag in Han’s hand.
“What is that?”
“Ah, it isn’t mine. It belongs to that woman. She seems to have forgotten it, so I brought it for her.”
“Really?”
Rubin immediately recognized that the bag contained Mana Stones.
The woman did not look like a mage, so he found it strange that she was carrying such a large quantity, but he soon lost interest.
Something else caught his attention far more.
“…Did you simply kill William Bonin?”
“I didn’t simply kill him. I got everything I needed first, then killed him.”
“And you can guarantee that? What if there was information you missed?”
“I’ll stake my five years in the Special Unit on it.”
“Five years is a little ambiguous. It is not ten years like mine. …Well, fine. I understand for now. Leave the cleanup to us. I do not like it, but if we do not at least handle that much, my team will have far too little credit in this operation.”
“I’ll leave it to you.”
Han gave a small nod and stepped away.
When he approached his team members, Fabian reported on Lara’s and Lea’s conditions.
“Fortunately, there are no major problems. Their body temperatures have returned to normal, and their wounds received proper first aid. They should be fine once we return and get them treated.”
“What about her mana circuits?”
“That….”
Fabian turned toward Lara, who was sitting on a makeshift chair.
When it came to her mana circuits, Lara herself would know better than Fabian.
Lara answered,
“They’re fine. They ache a little, but this much will heal after a few days of rest.”
“…I see.”
Only then did Han inwardly breathe a sigh of relief.
He could detect no lie from Lara.
She was telling the truth.
Once things had more or less settled, Han returned Lea’s bag to her.
He left Lea in Fabian’s and Samuel’s care.
Lea would be transported to headquarters, undergo a brief interview, and then immediately return to the Bradin estate.
“Thank you for saving me. I was able to survive because of you.”
Before leaving, Lea bowed to Han.
She had experienced far too much in such a short period and was still confused, but she did not forget to thank Lara as well.
“Thank you so much. If you hadn’t been there, I don’t think I could’ve endured it. …This is all I can give you right now, but when I come see you later, I’ll make sure to repay you properly.”
Lea filled Lara’s small hands with chocolate bars.
Then she firmly clasped Lara’s hands in her own.
A faint trace of tension still lingered in Lea’s hands.
For some reason, Lara felt a little embarrassed.
“……It’s not like I did that much.”
“No. You were a tremendous help to me. Really… thank you so, so much.”
“…….”
Soon, they parted ways.
Just as on the way there, Lara rode back with Han.
The light of the setting sun filtered through the tinted windows.
As the tension gradually drained away, exhaustion settled over her.
Perhaps the drastic swings in emotion she had experienced throughout the day had worn her out.
The car was filled with silence.
“Team Leader.”
Lara was the one who broke it.
“Should I quit the Special Unit?”
“What?”
This time, Han failed to hide his expression.
He looked at Lara with open shock.
His reaction was larger than she expected, leaving Lara flustered as well.
“I was just saying it…. You look really surprised.”
“…Ah, I see. Just saying it. Hmm. …Really?”
“To be exact, maybe half-seriously?”
“……Half.”
Han took Lara’s words seriously.
Thinking about it, it would not be strange for Lara to decide to leave the Special Unit.
She was a rookie who had only just joined, yet she had already been kidnapped on a mission.
She also carried a crippling weakness.
It was understandable that she might consider it.
But would it truly be right to simply let Lara leave?
“…….”
Han agonized over the matter as though it were his own problem.
Lara quietly watched him for a while before a faint smile unconsciously appeared on her lips.
“Ah, forget it. Forget it. I take back what I just said. I decided a long time ago that I’d stay with the Special Unit until the day I die. I’ve got my pride as a woman, you know. I can’t just throw away a resolution I’ve already made.”
“…That does not seem like the sort of thing you should say and retract so casually.”
“Ah, sorry. I won’t joke about quitting again, so let me off this once. Honestly, the team would get really gloomy without me, and you don’t want that either, Team Leader. Ah, wait. Samuel dressed as a woman was pretty formidable. Is he my rival…?”
Lara pretended to ponder the matter in a playful tone.
Han read every single clue in her behavior without missing one.
“It seems there’s something you want to say.”
“Th-There is?”
“I’ve heard that listening to your team members’ worries is also part of a team leader’s job. Would you tell me?”
Han put the knowledge he had learned from his books to use.
He even turned slightly toward her and assumed a listening posture.
Lara gave a wry smile before speaking.
“It’s nothing that serious. It’s just……. Ah, this is kind of embarrassing to say.”
Then something slightly unexpected came out.
“Could you help me?”
Lara continued.
“I think I need to overcome my weakness as quickly as possible. Staying the girl who keeps causing trouble for everyone really doesn’t suit me.”