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"You"re Sokel right?"
"W, who are you guys?"
"We"re just running an errand."

There are two burglars who have invaded the viceroy office where Sir Sokel is confined. Both of them have completely covered their faces and worn thick brown mantles. Their hands are holding swords which leak out dubious light.

"From who?"
"From his highness of course."

The burglars finally noticed my presence with that question and hurriedly pointed their swords at me. While one of them proceeded to restrain me, the other one probably continuing on to erase Sir Sokel. I was unsure since I kicked the burglar before me away to the burglar in the interior, stopping him. Maybe I kicked them too strongly, both of the men have sunk into the wall. They would have come out to the room beyond if they had been pushed further.

"Goha, what a heavy kick."
"The rumored Mithril explorer huh."
"Wrong."

You guys actually have some leeway right?

The men look alright even after receiving an attack that should have normally fainted them. I think the coughed salivas have some red color mixed in, but they have enough mettle to stand up and ready their weapons.

Both are level 30 [Human] races, and their Status are [Magic Body Bestowal]. I think that it"s most likely the status of someone who has drank fiend drug.

As a proof, even without chanting spells, purple flashes leaks out from their bodies, and then the area around their bodies are clad in flames.

"I don"t know who you are, but I"ll have you die together with that man."
"We"ll offer you to the death. We are fiends. The ones who will become the protectors of the new world that his highness will build."

Their words have strange accents mixed in. Their grotesque figures were hidden in the mantles which I saw for an instant. Half of their faces have become like tortoise sh.e.l.l, and their eyes are like compound eyes of insects. They look quite grotesque even compared to various demi-humans I"ve seen so far.

They are still humans despite the grotesque though, so let"s proceed without killing them. I have to at least draw that line, or else I feel that I will become a demon lord myself.

Since they are tough enough to stand against a blow from me, I hit them with normal [Short Stun] instead of [Remote Stun]. Let"s go easy at first and go with 20 shots. The Rhinoceros Beetle back then could endure 20 shots, so let"s go with that many.

One of them was. .h.i.t with the magic, broke through the wall behind, and vanished into the next room. The other one seemed to have dodged several short stun orbs with his intuition, but the rest of the orbs caught up to him, and sunk him into the outer wall in a strange posture. The outer wall of this city seems to be quite st.u.r.dy.

Neither lose their consciousness. The drug seems to be quite excellent as a boost medicine. There are probably some people who have drank it at least once in the battlefield.

What should I do.... Ah, right. I didn"t think about it.

Let"s test it on one of them.
It"s a success. After taking my blow, he"s fallen down unconscious.

"Y, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d, what did you do?"
"No way would I expose my secret to the enemy right?"

While evading his attack, I destroy his reinforced state with [Break Magic], and then thoroughly s.n.a.t.c.h his magic power with [Mana Drain]. I also drain the magic power that"s circulating on his weapon. I don"t know how great is the magic circuit granted by the fiend drug, but it shouldn"t work if the magic power that works as its fuel is cut off.

Finally, I hit him, who has his magic power stripped bare, unconscious and it"s the end. The enemy still has st.u.r.diness fits for his level, but his unreasonable toughness from just before has disappeared.

I restrain the men with magic-sealing ivy. This is something that I"ve made from the ivy of Thorn Foot in the workshop earlier, it has the same effect as magic-sealing chain. Unlike the usual, the maker is Kuro this time, not Nanas.h.i.+.

I reported to Arisa with Telephone that I had taken care of viceroy office.

◇

I can hear the footsteps of the viceroy office guards who have finally noticed the uproar, heading here.

『Goha』
『What? There"s an invisible wall here?』
『There"s a magician among the burglar. You guys go from another stairs. You go call magician-dono here.』

Sorry for them, but I"m blocking the pa.s.sage for now.

"Now then, Sir Sokel. Would you answer questions from your life savior?"
"Ah, I"ll tell you. I"ll tell you, so please shelter me in a safe place."
"Alright. I"ll bring you to a safe place if you answer honestly."

I asked Sir Sokel who was desperately clinging to me about the mastermind.

"His highness is a blood relative of s.h.i.+ga royal family. I think he"s a man who has just come of age. I don"t know his true ident.i.ty since he always wore recognition inhibition mask whenever we met."
"How could you make a dangerous drug like fiend drug from the order of such a man."
"It"s because his guardian is Marquis Kelten. He also hid his face, but I immediately knew it was him from his peculiar way of talking. I thought that a chevalier like me would be able to become a baronet if I cooperated with someone who had Marquis Kelten, one of the eight marquis along with his tremendous influence on the army, on his back."

I think that"s a coup d"etat flag though, will the next kingdom conference be alright?

"In truth you"re just disposable huh."
"That"s right, how laughable."

I get information about his highness like the way he speaks, his figure, and various things that weren"t hidden by the recognition inhibition mask from the listless self-deprecating Sir Sokel. It"s really not the third prince huh. According to Toruma Memo, the fourth prince is 18 years old, the fifth prince is 14 years old, since the second child of the king"s younger brother is 15 years old, this one is suspicious. There doesn"t seem to be any unacknowledged illegitimate child of the king, but the previous king and the king"s younger brother seem to have strong l.u.s.t, so there are a lot of candidates that come up.

Now then, I guess I"ll shelter him since he listened and all.
I release the [Mana Wall] that had confined the guards.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Who are you."
"I"ll shelter Sir Sokel for a while. Those men over there are a.s.sa.s.sins sent by the mastermind called his highness. They"re high levels and also users of fiend drug. Don"t let your guard down even if they"re unconscious. They"re as strong as low-rank demon at least. There should be a jail for high level criminals in the labyrinth city right?　Put them there."

I intentionally ignore their words, and tell the burglars" motive and other things unilaterally. I change my tone from how Satou usually is, and speak in slightly high-handed manner.

Since I"m currently in a disguise and all, I introduce myself as [Kuro].

After I"ve finished telling them, I teleport away with Sir Sokel along with the bed he"s sitting on. The destination is in the labyrinth. I took him to the deepest working field of the fiend drug. There are multiple intelligence systems here after all.

"H, here is?"
"The inside of the labyrinth."
"What?　A, are you going to kill me?!"
"I don"t have such intention. Here is a safety zone. There"s no gus.h.i.+ng hole, and monsters and people won"t come here except for some odd plants that are growing here. It"s the most suitable place for a shelter."

I take him to the row house where the abducted people had lived in. There is no rain in the labyrinth, but sometimes natural water drip down from the ceiling, so the roof is necessary.

I put the bed from earlier in a relatively large room. Since he asked if it was s.p.a.ce magic, I noncommittally affirmed it. I take out daily necessities like food and water from Item Box and put it on a table in one corner of the room. I also leave a cheap knife and hatchet, although I think it"s unnecessary. Any one of them are things that was used by the abducted people.

It may look like I"m doing too much, but leaving a n.o.ble who can"t even cook for himself alone inside the labyrinth is cruel enough. However, I want him to taste a bit of the anxiety and pain of the people who have been captured and made to work hard by the lost thieves.
I"ve told him that this is a safety zone, and even though it"s the truth, Sir Sokel still gets frightened from rustling sounds of the gra.s.s and small animals, he"s probably going to sleep while in fear of getting suddenly attacked by monsters.

"Well then, I"ll supply you with food in 10 days time. If you don"t eat them sparingly, no one will come to save you even if you starve, so be careful."

I leave behind Sir Sokel who looks like he"s going to protest, and go back to the mansion of ivy.

◇

When I had returned to the mansion of ivy, fire and smoke from afar came into my view.

『This is Arischan, over?』

I received a Telephone contact from Arisa. Her home-telephone way of speaking has finally disappeared, but this time it"s in transceiver style. Please talk a bit more normal.

"It"s me. I saw the fire. Is that the west guild?"
『Un, some men with the same clothing as the ones who attacked the viceroy office earlier came flying from the sky. They have wings on their back.』
"I understand, I"ll go there immediately. I"m counting on you to keep watching the viceroy office."
『Roger~』

I fly in the labyrinth sky with Sky Drive. From the sky, I see that one section of the guild hall is burning. I tilt my head in puzzlement when I look at the stats of the people attacking the guild. I understand that they"ve used the fiend drug, but their skill compositions are that of an a.s.sa.s.sin, not a magician. It seem they can use magic, but since it"s wind magic, I don"t know the cause of that fire.

The flame stretches out from the ground.

With my skill-strengthened vision, I see the man in dark brown clothing evading the flame while flying in the sky.

Oy, oy, that flame is from the guildmaster"s magic huh. What are you doing burning your own base. Why are there so many pyromaniacs among fire magicians.

I want to prevent the fire from spreading further so I strike down the flying burglar to the ground with [Remote Stun] magic. People would have normally died from the fall, but they"re really some strong bunch. Big s.h.i.+eld Jell and some high level explorers who have come out of the guild hall proceed to arrest the burglar.

You guys act too early.

The burglar forcibly flings away Jell and the others with his super strength from the fiend drug. When he was about to fly away once again, the flame bullets of [Multi Flame] magic that the guildmaster had released hit him. The burglar is roasted together with the ground around him from the countless flame bullets, and rolls on the ground.

As expected of level 50. The power is incredible as long as it hits.

Since she had begun to chant [Inferno], I intervene. Just like the magic earlier, it"s not something that should be used in the middle of the city.

By using Flash Drive from the sky, I land on the back of the burglar who has put out the fire and stood up. The force was a bit too much, I could feel several of his bones breaking. Looks like it"s a bit too much no matter how st.u.r.dy the opponent is. Just like with the guys caught in the viceroy office, I cancel the reinforcing magic, s.n.a.t.c.h his magic power, and bind him with magic-sealing ivy. It"s a simple works that only lasted several seconds.

"Who are you!"
"Rather than that, put this guy into the prison. This happens just when I"ve come to exterminate the lost thieves, looks like strange fellows are rampant here. As expected of Labyrinth City I guess."

I vaguely swept off the guildmaster who had stopped her chanting and asked my ident.i.ty, and then threw the binded burglar nearby their feet. Then I fly to the sky, and take out ocean water from the storage to extinguish the burning guild hall. Once I"ve confirmed that most of the fire have been extinguished, I go back to the mansion of ivy.

Good grief, I can"t laugh at the fact that the guildmaster is the one who created the biggest damage here. I wonder how is she not demoted and fired like that.