A low building stood near the end of the tavern district.
Inside its office, a gaunt man sat on a sofa with his head tilted back.
The room was dark, but the light coming through the window made most things visible. What stood out most was the sharp contours of the man’s face.
His eyes and cheeks were already sunken from how thin he was.
With his brow twisted into a deep scowl on top of that, he was quite a sight.
Even at a glance, the man staring at the ceiling appeared deeply troubled.
‘Damn this kingdom. It doesn’t have a shred of power.’
He had always known that, but this incident had driven the fact home.
Not long ago, he had attended a royal council meeting and asked them to request capable reinforcements from the allied nations.
He needed skilled people to take down the organization whose trail he had uncovered.
His investigation had revealed that the organization was large enough to threaten the kingdom.
‘They seem to have someone backing them too.’
That made it difficult to act rashly.
Even he, who was considered one of the most capable people in the Doiten Kingdom, had no choice but to be cautious.
Of course, as the leader of an organization himself, he had many members under him.
Even this tavern district was managed by his organization and operated by its members.
But all of them were more or less on the same level.
None of them would be of much help.
‘I’d be happy if they sent even one decent bastard, but apparently we’re getting no support. Tch.’
The allied nations had responded with a curt refusal.
Their excuse was that their own countries were in turmoil, leaving them with no one to spare.
Considering how powerless the Doiten Kingdom itself was, perhaps it was only natural for them to receive that kind of reply.
‘Whenever they need something, they pick us clean. But when it’s our turn, they wipe their mouths and walk away.’
His anger flared, and he ground his teeth.
With no clear solution, he had even considered gathering anyone he could find.
He could pull together mercenaries and low-level black mages, then overwhelm the enemy with sheer numbers.
But….
‘If we launch some half-assed attack and fail….’
He and his organization would bear the full cost.
They had already suffered tremendous losses, and investigating those losses had led him to discover the existence of an organization with powerful backing….
If he acted recklessly, they might suffer even greater damage.
They would become the organization’s explicit target.
‘For now, it doesn’t seem like they’ve decided to come after us in earnest….’
The man swore under his breath.
This situation, where he could neither act nor abandon the matter, was unbearably frustrating.
How long was he supposed to stand by and watch?
Five taverns had already been attacked.
As many as forty of his members had suffered serious injuries.
‘Vile bastards.’
Suspicious people had begun appearing in the tavern district some time ago.
They picked fights with anyone they pleased and caused trouble without provocation.
Violence was the least of what they did whenever someone refused to comply with their demands, and whenever they saw a woman, they rushed at her like dogs.
Of course, he had not simply stood back and watched them from the beginning.
He had stepped in and restrained them several times himself.
But every time he did, they returned in a mob the next day and caused even worse trouble.
‘As if they had someone they could rely on….’
They acted without the slightest concern for the consequences.
That was why he had begun investigating who stood behind them.
There was no one within the Doiten Kingdom who would dare touch his tavern district.
He had assumed that some outside influence must be involved.
And his prediction had been correct.
A large organization he had never seen before had established itself within the kingdom.
‘Its size makes no sense if it grew gradually….’
It was far too large.
The entire organization had probably entered the Doiten Kingdom together from the start.
The recent rise in incidents and accidents was undoubtedly connected to it as well.
At this rate, a major upheaval would soon strike the Doiten Kingdom, which had maintained peace for so long.
His own position as effectively the kingdom’s most powerful man would also be threatened.
‘I have to do something. Something….’
As he muttered inwardly and dragged his dry hands down his face in frustration, he heard someone running urgently from the end of the corridor.
The footsteps told him what had probably happened, and a sigh escaped his lips.
KNOCK. KNOCK.
BANG!
“Boss Hook! There’s been another incident in the middle of the district… I think you need to come!”
“……Lead the way.”
Hook followed the man to the center of the tavern district.
One tavern in particular had drawn a large crowd.
When he reached it, he saw a woman sprawled on the floor, covered in blood.
Beside her stood the man who had caused the disturbance and another woman wrapped from head to toe in bandages.
“…Ina? Who called a girl who should be lying down and recovering?”
“She stopped by for a moment because she left something here, and then this happened….”
Deep furrows formed between Hook’s brows.
The bandaged woman called Ina was one of the members who had been attacked recently.
She had been badly injured in several places, and even with rest, it would take her a long time to recover.
Yet she had gotten dragged into this mess.
Hook was about to intervene when the man moved to attack Ina.
“Aaargh! What the hell is this bastard?!”
Someone in a navy robe suddenly sprang forward, grabbed the man’s wrist, and twisted it.
But the robed figure was strangely small.
He looked almost like a child.
Compared to the man causing the disturbance, the difference in size was enormous.
Even so, the man whose wrist had been twisted could only grimace in pain.
For some reason, he could not pull his wrist free.
“L-Let go off me! How the hell is a brat this strong…?!”
Judging from the way the man spoke, the figure in the navy robe truly was a child.
Hook forgot that he had been about to move and watched the situation unfold.
Then an icy voice sent chills down his spine.
“Does this little thing hurt?”
“W-What?”
The troublemaker’s face flushed red, then turned pale.
He began glancing around at the people watching.
He had knocked down several large men with a single blow before.
Yet now, a mere child had caught him and rendered him unable to move.
His pride could not tolerate it.
With a shout, he cast black magic using the hand opposite the one being held and twisted.
“You insolent little bastard!”
They were standing so close that there was no time to dodge.
The black flame the man fired was about to strike the navy-robed figure in the nape.
But a black curtain spread before his neck even faster.
BOOM—!
FSSSSS—
The black flame struck the curtain and evaporated on the spot.
Hook’s entire body jolted at the absurd speed.
‘He definitely raised that shield after the attack was fired. How could it be that fast…?!’
If there had been some distance between them, raising a shield after the attack was fired would still have left enough time to defend.
But at such close range, the defender would inevitably lose in speed.
That was why one normally cast a shield in advance when fighting at close quarters….
‘So there was a reason he charged in without even preparing one.’
The navy-robed figure did not so much as flinch after blocking the attack.
His posture remained perfectly straight, as though nothing had happened.
The sight left everyone watching in a daze.
Only the facial muscles of the man whose wrist was trapped continued to twitch.
The tavern, noisy only moments before, fell silent.
The sounds from the street alone filled the air.
“Anything else?”
The navy-robed figure asked the man whose wrist he held with genuine curiosity.
This time, his voice sounded unmistakably childlike.
The people watching felt goosebumps rise along their arms.
The innocent voice did not suit such a menacing question.
And they all thought the same thing.
The cold voice from before would have been several times better.
***
Inside the tavern after the situation had been settled,
Terlo stood still and watched the bandaged woman.
‘The more I think about it, the stranger it is.’
Before the situation was resolved, Terlo had first assessed what was happening when he entered the tavern.
He had wondered whether the man had some reason for causing a disturbance.
But as expected, there had been no reason at all behind his violence.
Terlo was about to step in after realizing that absurd and shocking fact when a throwing star flew ahead of him.
SWISH—
It appeared to have been created by condensing dark mana.
The throwing star struck the back of the hand gripping the woman’s hair with perfect accuracy.
THUNK!
“Ghk.”
The man hurled the woman he had been holding to the floor.
Then he pulled the throwing star from the back of his hand and looked around.
His gaze eventually stopped on the bandaged woman.
“Ah, I knew it. You’re the bitch who was throwing those stars. You’re still not dead?”
“As if bastards like you could kill me.”
“Heh-heh. You nearly died, but your mouth is still lively. How was your little taste of the road to the afterlife? Feel like acting sweet now?”
The man gave her a cowardly grin as he spoke.
The bandaged woman’s face immediately twisted.
“Would you do that for a bastard who looked like you?”
The man snorted and clenched his fist.
He tilted his neck, assuming a posture that made it look as though he might swing at any moment.
Terlo chanted a spell.
<Connect.>
Then he moved quickly and seized the man’s wrist.
At the same time, he used the black form he had connected to and forced the man’s wrist to twist.
“Aaargh! What the hell is this bastard?!”
Everyone watching thought Terlo had twisted the man’s wrist through physical strength.
Even the man himself believed it.
But in truth, even if Terlo released him, the man would continue twisting his own wrist.
That was the nature of Connect.
‘I can’t reveal my ability, so I’ll have to keep holding him.’
Terlo had deliberately chosen to use Connect.
There were too many people around for him to unleash attacks recklessly.
If he did, the bystanders would inevitably be harmed as well.
That was why he had chosen the least violent method possible….
“L-Let go off me! How the hell is a brat this strong…?!”
Amusingly, the man with the twisted wrist was in pain.
He had beaten someone until she was covered in blood, yet a single twisted wrist was enough to make him suffer.
Terlo found the sight pathetic and asked,
“Does this little thing hurt?”
The man’s reaction was equally pathetic.
As Terlo let out a cold laugh, something suddenly caught his eye.
‘Huh? The back of his hand….’
Unlike before, the back of the man’s hand had become darkly discolored.
It looked like a reaction to poison.
‘That wound definitely came from….’
It was the injury left when he pulled out the throwing star embedded in his hand.
But there could not have been poison on the throwing star.
It had been made by condensing dark mana.
In other words, the bandaged woman was a black mage.
Black mages could not create poison.
Poison was a unique ability available only to mages born with the poison attribute.
‘Then how in the world….’
The more Terlo stared at the back of the man’s hand, the stranger it seemed.
As he was marveling at it,
“You insolent little bastard!”
‘…!’
The man before him cast black magic.
A black flame had already reached right in front of him.
Terlo’s body froze.
‘I was careless.’
He had let his mind wander in the middle of a fight.
Thinking that he would undoubtedly be struck at this rate, Terlo chanted a spell too late.
But then,
BOOM—!
FSSSSS—
He felt a dull impact as something collided, followed by the sound of the flame fading away.
‘…I blocked it?’
He had been certain the attack would hit him.
Terlo blinked at the speed, which had surpassed even his own expectations.
He was too stunned to believe it.
Then he found himself wanting to test his speed.
That was why he asked the man before him whether he had anything else, as though provoking him….
But Doristen quickly stopped him.
Not long afterward, a gaunt man intervened.
Once the situation had more or less settled,
“Terlo. Wait quietly over here.”
Doristen spoke in a whisper and stepped away.
‘Where did he go after saying that?’
That was why Terlo was watching the bandaged woman as she moved busily around.
He was wondering how she had used poison.
Despite the people around her trying to stop her, she was helping clean up the tavern.
She looked severely injured, but her movements did not appear hindered.
As she looked around for anything else to do, her eyes met Terlo’s.
She immediately strode toward him.
‘Why is she coming over?’
Terlo wondered for only a moment before deciding this was convenient.
He had been curious anyway, so he thought he might as well ask her.
But then,
“What are you? Why did you help earlier, and why are you staring at me so unpleasantly now?”
“…….”
Her sudden interrogation left Terlo speechless.
She was demanding that he answer quickly when,
“Ina. You’ve already started talking.”
The gaunt man who had resolved the situation earlier approached Doristen.
The woman called Ina instantly changed her expression and answered.
No one could possibly have imagined that she had been snapping at Terlo only moments ago.
Terlo could not help admiring the transformation.
The gaunt man looked at Ina and continued.
“Introduce yourself properly. This is the head of the Krauber Family, Baron Doristen Krauber, and his heir, Young Master Terlo Krauber.”
The muscles in Ina’s face twitched.
But she quickly restored her original expression and bowed.
“It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ina, and I serve under Boss Hook.”
She offered the greeting brazenly, as though nothing had happened.
Terlo found himself impressed once again.
‘She’s quite the lunatic in her own right.’