It was noisy inside Sunewick. A large number of troops were stationed inside the city, and citizens watched on with anxious eyes. Many recent events left the citizens of Sunewick under considerable stress, and the city’s troops’ sudden large-scale movement increased their stress even more.
Zich bought fruit from a stand and bit into it. Then, he stared at the troops dispersing across the city. From a distance away, he heard citizens conversing with one another.
“What’s the commotion about? Did a war break out or something?”
“They are revoking all this havoc to find the granddaughter of the master of the magical tower.”
“Granddaughter? I thought they were already looking for her.”
“There was no progress. So, they are probably deploying all the troops they can to search every nook and cranny of this city.”
“They are going to deploy the troops? What about all the soldiers who have been wandering around until now?”
“Like I said, they are literally mobilizing all forces. Even if this city is protected by magic, the city still needs military troops. Even when they were gathering troops before, they had left the basic troops to protect the city.”
“Wait! So, are they even mobilizing the soldiers who were protecting this city?”
“That’s right. Soldiers are already spread out outside, and it seems like they are going to search all over the outside of the city too.”
Zich took his attention off the two people’s conversation and looked at the troops again. The many eyes that looked upon these troops didn’t look pleased.
The unclear reason for mobilizing these forces really was the same as the rumors said. Were they really mobilizing troops while knowing the anger they would incur from their citizens? At least in the meeting at the magical tower, they made their decision for the exact reason. Although many disagreed with him, Walwiss forcefully pushed his decision forward. The people at the meeting said that Walwiss’ patience must have reached the limit while a few of them murmured that Walwiss had finally gone mad. However, Zich didn’t think the same way.
Flick!
After finishing his fruit so that only the seeds were left, Zich threw it away carefully. He swiped his mouth, wiped the fruit juice left on his lips, and made a mysterious smile. An even greater commotion was awaiting this city.
* * *
Two days later, Zich attended the meeting at the magical tower. It felt like a familiar way to work now. The soldiers flocking the city continued to stroll around the streets.
Clack!
Like usual, he opened the door and went inside. There were many people gathered inside already—it seemed like everyone had arrived besides Zich. However, it wasn’t like Zich arrived late. He usually was the type of person to come in the middle of the meeting.
“Everyone came early,” Zich greeted everyone with ease and sat in his designated seat.
“Although there’s some time left before the start of the meeting, let’s start early since everyone is already here,” Walwiss suggested, and everyone nodded one by one. It was a bit of a strange event. There were days when everyone came early, but they never started the meeting early then. Zich also agreed to Walwiss without any complaints.
“The purpose of this meeting is to find my granddaughter, Elena Dwayne,” Walwiss spoke out of the blue. There was no one among the meeting’s participants who didn’t know the purpose of this meeting. However, no one raised any questions.
“However, it’s no longer necessary for us to have these meetings,” Walwiss said as he stared piercingly at Zich. Everyone did the same, and their eyes all shot towards Zich.
The atmosphere was strange, and Zich looked around his surroundings. He sensed their antagonistic stares and even bloodlust from a few of them.
Zich smiled. He had kept his etiquette to some degree before, but now, his behavior was far from polite. He leaned his back against the back of his chair and crossed his legs. Anyone could see that he was acting rudely.
“It seems I have been found out.” As if he didn’t care about the hostile gazes aiming at him, Zich spoke nonchalantly. “Yes, you are right. I’m the one who kidnapped Elena.”
Silence filled the room. People stared at Zich, stunned; they had been contacted before to come early to the meeting and heard that Zich was the culprit. They were all enraged that Elena’s kidnapper attended their meetings and played with them. With Walwiss’ words, they planned to bring this arrogant criminal to justice. When they did, they expected Zich to deny their claims shamelessly, struggle, and try to escape— not spit out his sins even without much interrogation and so calmly like this. It seemed like Walwiss was also displeased with Zich’s response.
“Kidnap? What did you just say?” There was no more politeness in Walwiss’ speech.
“Didn’t you already know everything beforehand? Isn’t that why you prepared this stage for me?”
Zich glanced towards the door.
Slam!
The door roughly opened, and soldiers poured in with their shining spears and sparkling hard armor. They surrounded Zich and lifted their spears. They pushed their sharp spears close to his neck, but Zich didn’t even budge.
“It’s easier for me if you admit to everything.” Walwiss got up with his cold eyes staring at Zich, “Tell me everything you know if you want to lessen your pain even a little bit. I am going to drag out all your companions too. So, if you are thinking of getting some help from somewhere, stop dreaming.”
“Don’t worry. I won’t worry about something like that.”
“…Why are you so calm? Do you think you can run away in a situation like this!” Walwiss gritted his teeth while Zich kept the same attitude. There was no way for Zich to run away. Around him, there were Sunewick’s greatest mages, including Walwiss himself; in addition, Sunewick’s elite troops surrounded him.
In regards to ability and numbers, Zich definitely couldn’t fight them off by himself. However, Zich’s attitude was very irritating.
Walwiss glanced at the soldiers; it was a signal to drag Zich away. The swords directed towards Zich inched even closer. If they moved a bit more, Zich’s body would be pierced. While a couple of soldiers surrounded Zich like this, other soldiers approached him with chains. The chains were made with metals that were as rare as mithril, so they were much tougher than normal chains.
Zich asked, “Sir, let me just ask one thing.” His voice was still calm.
“What?”
“The group that was trying to kidnap Elena—have you looked into the robed figures?”
“…I haven’t looked into them yet. After I lock you up in a damn cell, I’ll think about it next.”
“Sir, those guys tried to kidnap Elena. I’m sure of this, because I intercepted and stole Elena from them while they were trying to kidnap her.”
“I have no reason to believe your words, and even if you are right, I don’t have any plans to listen to you right now.”
“I’m not asking you to believe in me. I’m just talking about our real enemy.”
“Real enemy?”
“Yes, our real enemy.”
A few of the people surrounding Zich and Walwiss began to look perplexed. However, Walwiss’ expression didn’t change. “If you have something to say, then tell me later. Soon, you’ll have to tell me things you want to tell me and you don’t want as well.”
When Walwiss raised his hand, the soldiers put chains around Zich. The surrounding mages also raised their staffs; Walwiss did the same. In order to prepare for a situation where Zich did some kind of trick with an artifact, Walwiss had already gathered mana into his staff.
“I’m warning you again, but don’t do anything funny! This is not the only place surrounded by soldiers.”
“Sir, I’m aware. The soldiers are here, in the lodging where Lyla is, and probably in the cabin outside the city where Hans and Snoc are. In order to hide this fact, didn’t you noisily move the troops everywhere even while ignoring the complaints of the citizens in Sunewick?”
Although Walwiss had been stone-faced so far, he changed his expression for the first time. “…You are quick-witted.”
“Yeah, I’m quite known for my wit. If I didn’t have my wits, I wouldn’t be able to properly do a job like kidnapping.”
“Even if you caught on to my plans, it’s too late.”
“No, sir, it’s not too late yet.” Zich made a big smile.
No matter how much he thought about it, Walwiss didn’t think there was a way for Zich to escape. However, Walwiss felt anxious about Zich’s smile. “Quick, tie him up!”
The soldiers tying up Zich quickened their hand movements. However, it was all futile.
Ziing!
Mana began moving. Walwiss was sure that Zich had used an artifact.
Walwiss shouted, “Stop him!”
Walwiss had already told the mages how to respond if Zich used an artifact. Since they were all experienced and highly skilled mages, they were quick to move. Even if Zich used invisibility magic like before or used an attack magic with his artifacts, the mages all knew how to respond accordingly. However, the magic that Zich used was not so simple.
“Let’s see each other later.” As soon as Zich finished saying this, his body disappeared. The chains fell to the ground.
“What the, is it invisibility magic?!”
“Stop him! First, surround him with your bodies!” The soldiers quickly overlapped their bodies so that no gaps appeared between one soldier to the next.
“Damn it, how was he able to untie the chains around him!”
“We have to first focus on preventing him from escaping! Just think about the reason later on! Even if he used invisibility magic, he can’t perfectly disappear from our sight! Find areas that are distorted!”
“No matter how high quality the invisibility artifact is, there are bound to be limitations. The mages shouted to each other and employed many different ways to find Zich. However, all the top mages’ faces, including Walwiss’, were completely stiff.
“…It’s useless.” Wayne stopped the people who were busily moving around.
“Sir, what do you mean that it’s useless?”
“He’s already gone.”
“What?” How was Zich able to escape this impenetrable siege?
However, the esteemed Jaewick family head had spoken to them; they couldn’t just ignore his words.
The captain of the soldiers said, “Sir, even if he somehow managed to escape, he’s probably still nearby! I’ll order the soldiers to immediately search for him!”
However, Wayne replied with a slightly tense voice, “I said it’s useless! He’s probably not near this place anyways!”
“Sir, what do you mea…!”
Wayne didn’t bother giving an explanation to the captain and moved towards Walwiss. “Sir, I think we underestimated his ability too much.”
“…No, that’s not it. Who would have thought that he possessed such an item?” If their guess was correct, Zich possessed an item that even Walwiss would not dare to have. It was an item that an emperor of a large empire might possibly possess.
The commander asked, “Sir, what kind of situation is this!”
Walwiss quietly replied, “It seems like he used a teleportation artifact.”
“…What?”
“What!”
“No way!”
While the captain was confused, all the mages let out cries of shock. An artifact that could do teleportation magic was so rare that it stunned all the magicians in the room. A magician at Walwiss’ level could do teleportation magic, but putting teleportation into an artifact was a completely different matter.
“Then he’s probably not around here.” Unlike the mages who were frozen in shock, the captain faithfully continued to do his job. “If there are no other clues, I will send the troops to where his companions are.”
“I’ll also go with you.” When Walwiss began moving, the other mages also followed him.
* * *
Tap!
Zich landed on his feet in Lyla’s room. Lyla had already finished getting ready, and she was looking out the window. When Zich came into the window, she turned her head towards him.
Zich said, “Let’s go.”