What did he mean by freeing Til’s son?
‘Did those guys kidnap Til’s son to tie him down too?’ If that was the case, Nick could understand why there was an internal conflict between Til and the leader of the robed figures and why the leader was now making such a strange offer to Til.
‘If it’s those guys, it’s possible,’ Nick thought. After all, those guys immediately extended their hands to Til after he failed to kidnap Walter and Ellie. Nick thought he was now able to grasp how their relationship operated. Yet, the leader’s following words crumbled all of Nick’s interpretations.
“I have a good guess on where Nick placed your son. You have no more reason to be blackmailed by him.”
“What nonsense are you saying!” Nick burst out what he barely managed to hold in the last time the leader spoke. He couldn’t help it this time as he shouted, “You guys are the one who used Til to kidnap my daughter and blackmailed me!” If that wasn’t the case, Nick would have no reason to bring a whole bunch of subordinates that he had no trust in and cause a commotion like this in the middle of the night. Thus, Nick yelled, “Did you guys think I still hadn’t noticed Til’s connection with you guys!”
‘What the hell is he saying?’ The leader of the robed figures scowled and thought the same as Nick. ‘What is he trying to do?’ he wondered. The leader would’ve understood if Nick had something that would drive Til farther apart from the robed figures so he wouldn’t join them; yet, Nick talked as if the robed figures had joined hands with Til from the beginning.
‘Why is that guy saying that after seeing Til attack us?’ Nick’s completely baseless declarations baffled the leader.
“Join us, Til!” Nick shouted. “You got betrayed by them too, right? As expected of those guys. I will do my best to help save your son! You can also help me save my daughter!” Nick stretched out his hand to Til and continued, “I know you can’t believe those guys because they betrayed you anyways. Then, it’s better to join hands with someone you have at least been with for a long time!”
‘Betrayal?’ The leader was even more baffled. They didn’t have much of a relationship with Til in the first place since they had handed most of this plan’s execution over to Nick. But why was Nick talking about betrayal when they hadn’t agreed on anything with Til in the first place? The leader couldn’t see behind Nick’s intentions at all. Everything Nick said made them fall into deeper confusion.
‘Stop.’ The leader recalled what Nick said.
‘I thought he was saying nonsense to mock us, but…’ The leader began to think that Nick maybe had a different understanding and information of the events that had unfolded.
“Nick.”
“What!” Nick replied in a hostile tone. However, the leader didn’t concern himself with that since he had a more important issue to settle.
“Why didn’t you tell the city about Til’s whereabouts?” the leader asked even though Til was right there listening to them.
“What nonsense are you saying now of all times! Do you think I don’t know all the things you guys have been….!”
“Tell me now!” the leader roared. The leader’s yelling did not scare Nick, but because he felt that the situation was flowing strangely, he answered for now.
“You guys took Ellie and used her to blackmail me!”
“Ellie? Your daughter? Didn’t you take your child and Til’s child and place them somewhere?”
“Why are you pretending to be clueless now! Since I failed to capture the kids, you guys joined hands with Til and kidnapped them instead!”
“We never did such a thing!”
“Don’t lie! I saw it with my own eyes! I saw Til meeting one of you guys! How dare you try to lie!”
However, even as they argued like this, both sides began to feel that something was clearly wrong. After all, there was no reason for either of them to lie so elaborately when they had already reached the point of trying to kill each other.
“You saw us meet Til?”
“Yeah.”
“Who was it? Why did you think that person was us?”
“Of course, it was a guy with a robe…” Nick closed his mouth. Now that he thought about it, he just naturally thought that the guy talking to Til was one of the robed figures because he wore a robe, but there was no evidence proving this. Enraged, the leader soon grasped the situation and yelled, “You fucking idiot!”
“Wait! That guy was already aware of our relationship! If he didn’t, I wouldn’t have thought of him as one of you guys!” Nick retorted. Of course, his excuse fell on deaf ears.
“Plus, it’s true that Ellie was kidnapped! Til showed me Ellie’s clothes as evidence!”
The leader turned his head swiftly and looked at Til who was watching them with cold eyes.
‘That guy kidnapped the children?’ From what he knew, Til wasn’t someone who would do such a thing at all. He was about to ask Nick for more details when a burst of low laughter interrupted him.
“…Pft!”
“Pffffffft! Pft! Kfufufufufu!”
It was the sound of someone struggling to contain their laughter. It wasn’t a pleasant sound to hear, especially when they were in such a mess. Everyone’s eyes turned in the direction of the laughter. Like a flood rushing through a broken dam, Zich laughed loudly while clutching his stomach. He laughed so hard that one might wonder if his lungs would give out.
Nick, the mercenaries, and the robed figures all stared at Zich in astonishment. Yet, Zich’s laughter showed no signs of stopping.
“What are you laughing about?” the leader asked without hiding his annoyance.
“Ah, sorry, my bad. I tried my best to suppress it until the end, but it’s too funny watching you two.” Even while he was talking, his words kept getting cut off because he couldn’t contain his laughter.
“Hey, Mr. Nick.”
“What is it?” Since Nick believed that Zich had saved Ellie, he had a favorable impression of Zich, but he was quite taken aback by Zich’s loud laughter. He might have instinctively realized that his favorable impression of Zich might be fundamentally flawed.
“The person you met before. Perhaps, did he look like this?”
Nick’s eyes almost bulged out of his sockets when he saw the item that Zich took out—it was a robe. From a glance, it wasn’t noticeably different from the robes that the robed figures often wore. Zich laughed and put the robe over his whole body; then, he made his voice rough and low. “Or more like this.”
“You…! You…!” Nick’s fingers shook as he pointed at Zich.
It was only then did the leader realize the current situation. “Were you the bastard who tricked Nick!”
“As you can see.” Zich pulled off the robe and put it in his magic box again. “Ah, for your information, I’m also the one who kidnapped Walter and Ellie. Or to be more exact, I stopped the children from being kidnapped under your orders, Nick. I took them away and had they stay at a place where I wanted them to be.”
“You were the one who kidnapped Ellie? Then why did Til blackmail me?”
“I was the one who ordered Til to do that.”
People looked at Til, but he just stayed in the darkness without saying a single word.
“I’ve been aware that you are the culprit behind the monster ambushes in Pialu for a while, but I didn’t feel satisfied with ending the matter with just your capture. I also knew that you were collaborating with these vile robed bastards, but as expected of cockroach-like bastards, I couldn’t see even a trace of their hair.”
Zich’s tone, attitude, and voice were all mocking them for playing right into their hands. Nick, the leader, and all the robed figures and mercenaries’ faces began to scrunch up. However, Zich was calm; instead, he seemed to have gained energy from their anger and hatred as his voice increased one level higher. “So I thought long and hard about how I could drag those cockroaches out from their shadows. That’s why I tricked you so that you won’t be able to do anything, and those cockroaches will crawl out to check up on you.” As he talked, Zich referenced the robed figures as cockroach-like bastards to just cockroaches. He seemed to find great enjoyment every time he called them cockroaches. Of course, as Zich’s mood improved, the robed figures’ moods worsened.
“Of course, just this won’t be fun enough, so I added a bit more seasoning to make it more enjoyable. I thought that since I was getting help pulling out those cockroaches from the shadows, I should also get your help in getting rid of them. As you know, cockroaches are filthy.” Then, Zich wiped his hand on his shoulder to show how dirty they were. It was a comical gesture, but no one found it mildly funny.
“Anyway, I really received a lot of help from you, Mr. Nick. I can’t thank you enough. You dragged out the cockroaches, helped me get rid of them, and…” Zich’s smile was so wide that it almost reached his ears. “You even gave me great joy by perfectly acting as a dumb puppet under my hands. I really don’t know how I can ever repay you.”
Nick loudly shouted and rushed towards Zich. “You bastaaaaaaarddd!”
Clash! Two swords collided. Nick infused a large amount of mana into his sword and let out a murderous aura. However, it could not pass through Windur.
“Oh my, why are you getting so angry? I’m merely expressing my sincere gratitude towards you.”
“Dieeeee!”
Bam! The mana in Nick’s sword exploded; he furiously swung his sword like a mad man and shook the surrounding air. However, Zich was able to deflect his attacks with the most minimal movement. Even while he was so furious that he thought he was going nuts, Nick realized that it’d be too difficult for him to defeat Zich by himself.
Nick shouted, “What are you doing! Kill this guy!” However, the mercenaries faltered and hesitated to make a move. “If you don’t kill this guy, it’ll also be the end for you guys! Do you really think this guy will let you live?”
“Of course. How could I just leave those traitors who betrayed their captain and strayed to the wrong path alone.” Zich’s word instigated the mercenaries to begin moving. The mercenaries clenched their teeth and rushed towards Zich.
Then, Nick shouted to the robed figures this time, “You guys help too! Our misunderstanding has been resolved! This guy has been playing with us the whole time!”
The leader replied with annoyance, “It’s not us but you.” Then, he turned towards his subordinates. “We’re leaving.” There was no reason for them to participate in this commotion. Moreover, Zich was prey that Glen specifically marked as his. Even though it’ll be difficult for them to kill him, they must also not kill him.
“You bastards!”
The leader heard Nick spitting insults at them, but he paid no heed. Since so much of their plan had been discovered, their plan this time had ended up in total failure. It would only be a loss if they dragged on this plan any longer. However, they couldn’t easily escape either.
“Who said we’ll let you go?” Til had been standing still the whole time, but he now began moving. His giant stature blocked and pressured the robed figures.