"Don't move."
The whisper came from Rei. He held the blade of the Death Scythe against the throat of the black-clad man standing over Min. Simultaneously, he trained a second dagger—newly retrieved from his Misty Ring—on the spy who had collapsed near Rhodos. That man was currently searching for an opening even as he lay on the floor, but Rei was ready to throw the blade at the slightest movement.
It was a calculated precaution. Should the man attempt to seize Rhodos as a hostage, Rei could neutralize him instantly.
Their plan had been to use the family to turn Elk into a pawn and finally assassinate Rei, the adventurer who had been a constant thorn in their side. Among the spies who had infiltrated the Kingdom of Mireana, those not assigned to critical missions were desperate to recover from their previous blunders. This last-ditch plan had been their gamble for redemption. And now, it was falling apart.
"That great scythe... You bastard! You're Rei! It’s all your fault! If you didn't exist, we wouldn't have been subjected to such humiliation! You... curse you!"
Even with the Death Scythe’s blade pressed against his windpipe, the man glared at Rei with eyes murky with hatred. Rei replied by drawing the blade just enough to nick the man's skin.
Feeling the blood trickle down his neck, the spy stopped struggling, though he continued to stare with a gaze so venomous it felt as if he were trying to kill Rei with spite alone.
Brushing off the man’s glare, Rei turned his attention to the two captives.
"Mgh!?"
"Ngh..."
Rhodos, pinned to the floor, let out a muffled cry of surprise at the sight of Rei, while Min let out a small groan of realization.
Hearing them, Rei threw the dagger he was holding, embedding it into the floorboards. He then retrieved a fresh one from the Misty Ring.
"Min, Rhodos. Sorry, but I have my hands full. Use that dagger to cut yourselves loose."
"..."
Rhodos reacted first. He crawled toward the embedded blade and began sawing through the ropes binding him. Once the initial tension was gone, he worked quickly. He unraveled the layers of rope, pulled the gag from his mouth, and moved immediately to free Min.
"Rei... why are you here? What about Dad?"
"Relax. Elk’s life isn't in danger. I might have roughed him up a bit, but his injuries are nothing a potion or recovery magic won't fix in an instant."
"I knew it... you really fought Elk," Min murmured with a bitter sigh. Rei gave a curt nod.
"Anyway, let’s secure these guys and get some infor—!?"
Rei’s words were cut short. Reacting to a sharp whistle cutting through the night air, he pulled the Death Scythe away from the spy’s neck and swung it in a wide arc.
A series of metallic clangs echoed through the room. Several projectiles were deflected, clattering onto the floor. The man Rei had been threatening was unharmed, but Rei alone couldn't possibly intercept every single projectile from a volley of over twenty. Min and Rhodos, stripped of their gear, were defenseless.
"Gah!"
The man who had been guarding Rhodos collapsed, clutching his throat and brow. Black-dyed daggers were embedded in his skull and neck. He let out a choked gasp before falling still, the heavy scent of blood filling the room.
"Tch!"
Rei clicked his tongue. He wouldn't let his only remaining source of information be silenced. He slammed the butt end of the Death Scythe into the surviving spy’s solar plexus, knocking the wind out of him and sending him tumbling toward Min and Rhodos.
Min caught the unconscious man, immediately understanding the situation. They had to keep him alive to extract information about the group that had abducted them.
"Keep an eye on him!"
Calling out to the mother and son, Rei kept his Death Scythe leveled as he moved toward the breach in the wall.
He looked at the daggers. They were jet-black, painted to blend into the shadows. Rei recognized them. They were identical to the ones used by the Bestia Empire spies he had fought back in the City of Gilm.
Given that the Shadows used such weapons to remain inconspicuous, it wasn't surprising they followed a similar design. However, there was only one enemy Rei knew of who held such a grudge and possessed the resources to deploy four elite spies capable of manipulating a man like Elk.
(It’s definitely the Bestia Empire.)
While he lacked absolute proof, he trusted his intuition and vaulted through the hole in the wall.
"...?"
He frowned. There were no further attacks.
Given his demonstrated strength, he had assumed the enemy would try to keep their distance and wear him down. The silence made his instincts scream that something was wrong.
"Dammit."
He clicked his tongue as he looked at the figure slumped on the floor just past the wall.
"Realized the gap in strength and silenced himself, did he? I suppose I should call it decisive, or maybe just fanatical loyalty."
Rei reached out with the butt end of the Death Scythe to flip the face-down body over, but he paused.
The scene of a spy taking his own life to protect secrets was a common trope in the movies, manga, and novels he had seen back in Japan. And in those stories, such scenes often came with a final trap.
"Magic Shield."
He activated the Death Scythe’s skill, manifesting the One-time Shield of Absolute Defense. A shield of light instantly shimmered into existence around him.
"Good."
He nodded at the glowing barrier before using the scythe’s handle to roll the body over.
"No explosion, then."
He let out a sigh of relief when nothing detonated. He searched the corpse for useful items, but he found little more than concealed weapons—black-painted daggers and needles over 30cm long. There were no documents, no clues, and no Teleportation Stones.
"They’re thorough about not leaving evidence, I'll give them that."
Clicking his tongue, he pocketed the concealed weapons in his Misty Ring as a meager consolation prize.
(Usually, these would be coated in poison... though maybe I’m overthinking it. Daggers and needles aren't strictly for offensive use, after all. If I looked closer, he might have had a vial on him. Since there are no visible wounds, he must have swallowed something to kill himself...)
"Hey! Who the hell do you think you are!?"
Rhodos’s voice suddenly boomed from the other room.
"Shut up! Just hand over that black-clad guy! Move it!"
"This man is a key witness. I can't just hand him over to the likes of you," Min countered, her voice calm despite the intruder's aggression.
"Sigh..."
Rei sighed, already guessing what was happening. He left the dead spy behind and stepped back into the room where he had performed his dramatic entry.
One spy was unconscious from his blow, another lay dead from the black daggers, and Min and Rhodos stood their ground in front of them. Opposing them were eight men.
"I had a feeling."
"Huh? Who's this brat? Where'd you crawl out from? Don't care, just get lost. We're busy here."
Judging Rei by his height, a man in his 20s with a sword waved him off like a bothersome insect.
For a brief moment, Rhodos and Min looked at the men with expressions of pure pity, though the intruders were far too arrogant to understand why.
"Ogre Heart, was it? For an E-Rank party to be picking a fight with an A-Rank Party member... you really don't know your place, do you?"
"...Hah?"
The men blinked, their gazes shifting to Rei as if they were trying to process a joke that wasn't funny. Rei stared back, his face hidden beneath his hood.
Finally, the absurdity seemed to reach a breaking point. One of the men burst out laughing.
"Pfft! Hahaha! Hey, kid! You should join the circus! A brat like you and some woman are A-Rank? If that's the case, we're an S-Rank Party!"
"Fuu... Tell me, weren't you idiots sent here by the Guild Master?"
"Hah? No way. Why would we take orders from a pencil-pusher like him?"
"I see."
With that one sentence, Rei realized these men didn't have a shred of respect for the Guild's leadership.
To these thugs, Tirage—a man who had risen to Guild Master because of his administrative genius—was simply a weakling because he didn't solve his problems with a club.
"Might makes right, then?"
At Rei's murmur, the members of the Ogre Heart smirked.
"Exactly. You're pretty sharp for a kid. So you know what comes next, right? Tuck your tail and vanish. We'll overlook your big mouth just this once because we're feeling generous. Now get lost."
"Heh... heh heh."
Rei couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.
The men didn't like that. They were the strong ones here, and yet this kid—who looked like a mage's apprentice at best—was laughing at them. Veins throbbed on their foreheads as they glared.
Their assessment was entirely correct. Rei was indeed mocking them. He was laughing at the sheer gall of a group that had accepted a Guild contract only to try and hijack the situation for their own benefit.
"Hey! You! Don't think we'll stay nice just because you're a brat!"
The man standing closest to Rei stepped forward, screaming in his face.
The first to react wasn't Rei, but Rhodos.
"Uh, hey. Just a heads up, the guy you're picking a fight with is—"
"Shut up! You're just scrap that got taken hostage by these weaklings! Stay quiet!"
Twitch.
Being called "scrap" by an E-Rank when he was a C-Rank himself finally made a vein pop on Rhodos’s temple.
The only thing keeping him from blowing his top was the lingering guilt of having caused so much trouble for his parents.
Ignoring Rhodos’s struggle, Rei continued with a mocking smirk.
"If you're so talented, why are you wasting your time in Abuelo? Why not go to the City of Gilm? That's where the truly skilled adventurers gather, isn't it?"
"Hah! This is why brats are a pain. Gilm is supposed to be the big leagues, but it's just a playground for idiots who don't know when to play it safe. Real 'skill' means being smart, like us."
"Hmph. So you're just a bunch of cowards who don't have the guts to survive in Gilm. Ogre Heart? That name is far too noble for you. You should learn your place. You lot are, at best..."
Rei paused, searching for a name that suited them.
A memory surfaced—the group from Falcon's Claws that had accosted him in Gilm. He had dubbed them Goblin Drool. So, for this bunch... he found the perfect fit.
"Something like 'Goblin's Gallstone' would be more appropriate."
"...You little bastard. You’ve gone too far. Don't bother begging for mercy! We're gonna show you exactly what happens when you mock your betters!"
The man at the front turned red with rage at the insulting name and took a menacing step forward. The others followed suit, fanning out to surround Rei and cut off his escape.
"Man, they really are stupid," Rhodos muttered.
"Well, looking at Rei's height, I can't say I'm surprised. More importantly, now that Rei is here, I'm worried about Elk."
"He'll be fine, Mom. There's no way Dad would go down that easily. Rei said he only gave him minor injuries."
"It's because Rei was the one who said it that I'm worried."
Rhodos and Min watched from the sidelines as the Ogre Heart members closed in. Their concern remained with their husband and father, who had been manipulated into attacking Rei.
While they were held captive, they had listened to the spies' endless vitriol against Rei. They understood better than anyone the depth of the grudge the Bestia Empire's intelligence agents held against the boy.
Elk’s status as an A-Rank Adventurer had been the cornerstone of their plan. In the wars of this world, quality frequently overwhelmed quantity. An A-Rank was a force of nature capable of shifting the tides of a battlefield single-handedly.
The drums of war between Mireana and Bestia were beating louder every day. The spies had intended to use this incident to force Rei and Elk into a mutual kill—or, failing that, finish off a weakened Elk using his family as leverage. It was a comprehensive strategy to remove Mireana’s top tier of defenders before the first shot was fired.
But the spies had underestimated Rei. They hadn't truly believed he could overcome Elk, and thus their entire conspiracy had crumbled.
"...Ah, looks like he's finished," Rhodos muttered.
He had only been lost in thought for a few seconds, but when he looked back, every single member of the Ogre Heart was facedown on the floor.