Since the interrogators were the only ones who spoke and acted harshly, it might seem like the building that Zich and Lyla were imprisoned in were only full of people hostile to them. However, there were also people that the magical tower had planted in case the Jaewick family tried to harm them. Through these people, Zich relayed his situation to the magical tower.
It hadn’t been long since they last saw each other, but Walwiss seemed to have grown old in that short amount of time. Even his glittering eyes faded a bit.
“I heard that you are willing to help us look for Elena.”
“Yes, sir,” Zich said solemnly. “Since Elena is my friend’s disciple, I’ve become quite attached to her. So, I couldn’t sit still when I heard the news that she was missing. My friend feels the same way.”
Next to Zich, Lyla said with a stiff face, “Even though I had taught her for a short amount of time, she is still my disciple. Since she is a very talented and honest student, I quickly grew closer to her. How could I do nothing when I hear that such a child is missing?”
“…I see.”
“I’m sure you know our skills to some degree now. We also have our experiences as travelers. We won’t be a hindrance at least,” Zich said confidently.
“...Do you know the position you both are in?”
“Is it because of the Jaewicks?”
“Yes, they won’t just stand by.”
“I hope you will listen to me without misunderstanding.” Zich met Walwiss’ eyes, “How high is the possibility that they are the ones who caused this incident?”
“…Are you suggesting that the kidnappers are part of the Jaewick family?” Walwiss’ lowered his tone.
Suspecting a top family in the magical tower was no light matter.
“Be careful of your words. If Wayne Jaewick heard what you just said, I don’t know what he will do to you.”
“Wayne Jaewick…oh, he is the head of the Jaewicks, right? He is also the father of the loser I knocked down.”
“I told you to be careful with your words. We are in the magical tower right now. I might have some leniency over you both as outsiders, but I won’t tolerate any rude language!”
“My apologies, sir.” As Walwiss spoke more forcefully, Zich apologized openly. “But sir, don’t they have a previous record? Their heir laughed and despised Elena to the point that he provoked her. And when he lost his duel against Lyla, he ambushed us. I think that’s enough evidence to suspect that they might have faulted Elena as the cause of their humiliating situation and formed a grudge against her.”
“Hm…” Even Walwiss didn’t refute Zich’s words this time.
“By your reaction, I’m sure you also feel quite uneasy, sir.”
“I admit that. It hasn’t been long since the incident with you all happened. However, I can’t just place my doubts on them. I don’t have any evidence, and it’s difficult to point them out as the clear and obvious culprits.”
“But you can pressure the Jaewicks.”
Walwiss stared at Zich. “Ah, that’s what you came here for.”
“Even if the young master of the Jaewick family endured torture under me and became almost crippled from the experience, he is clearly alive. And he is the one who started this incident. Yet right now, we don’t even know what situation Ms. Elena is in.”
Walwiss groaned uncomfortably, but Zich didn’t mind it and continued, “The reason why you were able to imprison us was because the recent incident was understandably a cause for the Jaewicks to lose their minds. Outsiders would have probably not wanted to intervene. I’m sure the fact that we were wanderers was also a factor. Sorry to put it bluntly, but an incident that calls for the Dwayne family to lose their minds over it has occurred. Even if a wolf loses its senses and goes around biting everything in its way, it will restrain itself if it sees a tiger doing the same thing.”
Zich stared into Walwiss eyes as if he was trying to see through his heart.
“Do you still have your sense of reason intact?”
“…It’s on the brink of a breaking point.” Walwiss spoke like he would snap the neck of the culprit if they were in front of him.
“Then, I suppose we won’t have any difficulties.”
“But I am the master of the magical tower. I can’t act upon my personal feelings.”
Zich searched Walwiss up and down. Zich wondered if Walwiss was being serious, or if he was secretly hiding something. However, Zich could only read feelings of worry about Elena and his sense of duty as the master of the magical tower on Walwiss’ face.
“It’s not as if the incident with us didn’t start off with personal feelings. But if the master of the magical tower says so, it’s not like we have no other way. I heard that Elena’s father has considerably favorable feelings towards us. And he is one of those who have lost their minds over this case right now.”
“Are you saying that I should use my son as a shield?”
“Well, at least he has fewer reasons to remain neutral.” Zich knew that Orland had defended them. Since rumors had already spread across the public, it wasn’t difficult for him to get this information. “How about it?” Zich asked.
“…What guarantee do I have that you all won’t try to run away?”
“I can only ask you to believe in us.”
Walwiss fell into contemplation for a bit. In the end, as if he had reached a decision, he nodded. “I’ll try my best.”
“You won’t regret it sir,” Zich said in a very trustworthy voice.
* * *
“Freedom!” Zich stretched his arms out and felt the outside air he hadn’t felt for a while. Although Lyla didn’t say it out loud, she also seemed to be in a good mood.
“What are you going to do now?”
“I will have to call Hans and Snoc and find out the exact situation.”
Zich hadn’t given his servants only one command. He thought of a couple events that could happen in the future and told them what to do in each scenario.
“Seeing the current situation, someone tried to kidnap Elena, and it seems like my guys intervened like I ordered them to.”
“Are you sure that those two are protecting Elena right now?” Lyla was worried that Elena could be captured in a terrible place.
“You heard the head of the magical tower. There are traces of a kidnapping in front of this mansion, and there is a group of corpses wearing robes outside the castle. Moreover, there are people who witnessed light shining over the castle walls. That must have been Estellade’s light.”
“That would be a relief then.”
“Believe in those guys. I’m sure they dealt with the situation well.” Zich always held a great amount of faith in his servants. Then, he chuckled. “I bet the reason why the kidnappers tried to capture Elena was to worsen the relationship between the Dwayne and Jaewick family even more. I’m sure they didn’t expect another mysterious group to kidnap her instead.”
If anyone who knew Zich saw his face right now, blood would have drained from their faces. Lyla also took a step back from Zich.
“The mastermind of this plan is probably really frustrated right now. They probably got the result they wanted, but Elena is not in their grasp. Moreover, all the kidnappers they sent were killed. Ah, I don’t know who it is, but I really want to see that bastard’s face right now.”
If it was possible, Zich would really pay a thousand gold coins to see the person’s face. Zich continued to let out a creepy, dark laugh. Lyla moved one step further away from Zich. She shook her head side to side and let out a sigh.
* * *
Zich and Lyla went back to their lodging. Even though they were captured, their rooms were left untouched. It was because Hans had continued to pay for their lodging while they were away. Even though a substantial amount of money had been used, it didn’t make much of an impact on Zich and his companions’ financial situation.
“Welcome back!” Hans deeply bowed to the two of them.
“Yep.” Zich gave a simple reply and put out his hand. Hans quickly took out Windur and Zich’s belongings and put them in front of Zich.
Zich held Windur and lightly swung it around. Even though it hadn’t been long, he missed the feel of its weight.
Then Zich asked, “Did this guy cause any trouble?”
Zich didn’t know if Windur also picked and chose its owner like Estellade, but he knew that it had a consciousness and its own will to a certain extent. Moreover, it was a sword that ignored Zich unless it judged that a transformation was necessary. Hans was able to hold Windur, but there was also a high chance that Windur caused problems for Hans.
“No, sir. I don’t know if it’s because I barely touched it, but nothing that you might be concerned about occurred. When I touched it for a bit while moving or cleaning it, nothing happened.”
“Really?” Did it not choose its owner like Estellade? However, there was also a possibility that Windur thought this situation as a ‘necessary’ situation and stayed calm.
‘I should investigate more next time.’ Zich tied Windur to his back. When he felt Windur on his back, Zich felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
Lyla also received her belongings from Hans. She touched her staff for a bit, and it also must have been awkward for her to not have an item that she had always been carrying around. Zich pulled out a chair and sat in front of Hans.
“Report to me about the current situation.”
“Well, first, we were successful in kidnapping Ms. Dwayne.”
Lyla’s expression brightened up. “Did she get hurt?”
“Ms. Dwayne received some scratches on her arms from being tied up, but other than that, she’s very healthy. And she received those injuries because of the guys who kidnapped her first.”
Hans saw Lyla’s face become intimidating when he said Elena got hurt, so he quickly added his second sentence.
Zich asked, “Who were they?”
Hans had already expected this question, so he replied without hesitation, “Sir, it’s those robed figures.”
“As expected.” Zich had expected this since he heard that the corpses found outside the city were wearing robes.
“Sir, as you ordered, while I was watching over the Dwayne mansion during the night, the robed figures came and kidnapped Ms. Dwayne. I secretly followed them from behind and defeated all of them outside the city with Snoc.”
“You’re sure that they were the robed figures?”
“Their movements were very similar to all the robed figures we met before. Moreover, one of the robed figures also turned into a monster and attacked us.”
The monster transformation was clear proof that they were the same robed figures Zich and his companions had encountered many times before. It was one of the techniques(?) that the robed figures’ leaders often used.
“Did anyone escape?”
“Sir, we at least finished off everyone who tried to kidnap Ms. Dwayne.”
Zich smirked. “You’ve really gotten much stronger. In the past, you used to have so much trouble over just one robed figure.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Sir Zich,” Hans let out a small smile and replied. It was a remarkable development, considering that he used to be a servant who was forced to follow Zich and wasn’t too keen about being dragged around.
Zich was also satisfied by Hans’ progress. However, he didn’t show his satisfaction and gestured with his chin for Hans to continue reporting.
“Sir, I also thought about torturing them to get information out of them, but I thought it would be useless against the robed figures.”
“Yeah, you made the right decision. Those guys are not type to let out information with torture.”
“We also moved Ms. Dwayne to the location we prepared beforehand. She won’t be easily found.”
“Did she obediently follow you guys?”
“We had a bit of a difficult time because she resisted fiercely.”
“That’s expected.”
Even though Elena’s self-esteem was very low from all the circumstances surrounding her, she ordinally had a fiery personality. Zich remembered her as a person with a blazing personality like the fire magic she specialized in.
“Sir, she’s with Snoc right now.”
“Man, he’s going to suffer quite a bit.” Zich clicked his tongue as he thought about Snoc.
* * *
At the same time, a heated battle was taking place.
“Just calm down first, Elena!”
“Calm down? Do you think I can calm down in this situation!”
Elena and Snoc confronted each other with a table in between them. Snoc tried to calm her down with both of his hands up.
However, as soon as Snoc took half a step towards her, Elena loudly shouted, “Don’t come closer! I’m really going to stab him!”
The silver fork she was holding in her hand glistened. The hostage, unable to move from Elena’s tight arm grip, saw the fork gleam and let out a loud, horrified scream.
Koooooooo!