Attempted Kidnapping

“Hi, Otto. It’s been a while.”

The one who spoke to me while I was searching for the carriage that had come in with a forged permit was none other than Myne, the beloved daughter of our captain. Lutz and Tuuli were with her, along with an unfamiliar child and a young man who looked to be just around adulthood.

Relieved, I gave Myne a brief explanation of the situation. I had been shocked by the way the captain had knocked out the commander at the East Gate and rushed out, but if Myne was safe, he would likely calm down.

As I explained all this, the young man accompanying her suddenly scowled.

“You contacted the Knight’s Order, didn’t you?!”

Even though he demanded an answer with such a stern expression, I had been in another room doing paperwork. I had no idea whether the Knights Order had been contacted. I placed a hand on my chin and thought it over.

”…Who knows? Maybe the commander did. The captain ran off straight away, so maybe they don’t know yet.

“You should have reported this immediately, fool!”

The young man pulled out a wand from who knows where and fired a red light into the sky.

“Huh? Wait, you’re a noble?”

I stared up at the light, eyes widening in shock. That was the signal used by the knights stationed at the North Gate, something used only by nobles.

There were magic tools even commoners could use at the gates, but nothing that could launch a signal like that with just a single wand.

…Why is a noble with Myne in the lower city!?!

I knew that the Devouring was caused by mana, and that she had been taken into the temple as a blue-robed apprentice shrine maiden because of it. But no one told me she was wandering around the lower city with a noble.

…Did the captain and Benno know about this too!?!? Wait, what did I just say to this noble!?

Just as I was thrown into confusion by the sudden appearance of a noble and recalling my own words, I heard Myne’s startled voice—“Wha? Tuu—” —followed by a “Eek?!”

When I turned around, both Myne and Tuuli had bags thrown over their heads and were being carried away by unknown men.

It had only been a brief moment while I stared, stunned, at the red light. But that was all it took. The men slipped into the alley with the girls—and judging by how swiftly they acted, they must’ve been watching us closely, waiting for that exact opening.

…So this is what the captain had been on guard for!

After learning that the East Gate’s commander had failed to relay the warning and allowed a noble’s carriage through, the captain had immediately rushed to the temple, shouting, “Is Myne safe!?”

At the time, I hadn’t really understood the connection between a noble from another duchy infiltrating the city and the captain rushing to the temple—but now it was clear. Someone who had passed along critical information to the captain must have also warned him that danger was closing in on Myne.

“Myne! Tuuli!”

“Give them back!”

As the blood drained from my face, I took off after the kidnappers, running alongside the noble, Lutz and the others.

We were faster than the kidnappers burdened with children. I ran at full speed, nearly leaving the kid and Lutz behind.

At the end of the alley, I spotted the captain.

“Captain! Myne’s in that bag!”

“LET GO OF MY DAUGHTER!”

The captain lunged at the man, and the bag containing Myne was thrown aside. I left rescuing her to the kids. The real problem was how to save Tuuli from the man trying to escape while holding a knife to her.

The noble seemed to be Myne’s bodyguard. He stood between her and the kidnappers, keeping watch, but showed no intention of helping retrieve Tuuli.

…Looks like it’s just the captain and me.

We faced each other, inching forward, both gauging the distance between us.

I could see Tuuli’s small form trembling, eyes wide and brimming with tears, frozen in fear as she stared at the knife. But the real problem was figuring out how to rescue her.

…Judging by how the noble was acting, it was clear these men were only after Myne.

Tuuli was likely just caught up in all of this—meaning, there was no telling how she might be hurt.

And with a knife pointed at his beloved daughter, there was no telling how the captain might snap.

Tension thickened, and sweat trickled down my back.

“Myne?!”

“Sister Myne?!”

The children’s panicked voices made me turn without thinking—and standing there was a version of Myne I had never seen before.

As Myne slowly stood up, her eyes shimmered with a complex iridescence, and a faint yellow mist seemed to rise from her body.

…Whoa, whoa, whoa. What is this…?

I knew that the Devouring fever was actually mana, and that mana was some kind of mysterious power nobles used. But this was my first time seeing that power in action.

“Hey,” she said, her voice calm but laced with something ominous, “What do you think you’re doing to my Tuuli?”

Myne hadn’t done anything. She was just staring at the kidnapper. And yet, that alone was enough to change his expression—bit by bit.

The man’s face, once red with anger and adrenaline, gradually turned pale with fear… then sickly, almost purplish, like the blood had been drained from him. All he could do was writhe slightly, as though his body no longer obeyed him.

It seemed he couldn’t even run.

“Get your dirty hands off of Tuuli and get out of my sight” she said coldly. “Or else she won’t be the one dying here—you will.”

Her voice was terribly calm. That made it even more chilling. She looked at the man now foaming at the mouth and trembling… with not a hint of emotion on her face.

…This is really Myne, right?

She wasn’t directing anything at me, but I could still feel it—an invisible force pressing down on everything around her. Whatever power she was using to crush that man, it was growing stronger, completely unfazed by how close he looked to death.

“Gah!”

Just as I jolted in surprise at the sight of a blade flying from somewhere and striking the man’s arm, the captain had already leapt at him, short sword in hand. As screams and a spray of blood filled the air, the man was slammed aside, and Tuuli tumbled free, knocked away by the force of the blow. I was about to rush over to secure her safety, leaving the man to the captain, when Myne’s shriek rang out.

“Dad! Look out!”

“Gunther! Get back!”

The noble suddenly summoned a shield and shoved the captain aside. There was no time to be surprised about where that shield had come from. The man who had kidnapped Myne fired a light from his ring, which was immediately deflected by the noble’s shield.

“Gunther, this guy has mana. I’ll take care of him! You all get back to the temple and alert Lord Ferdinand!”

“Understood! Otto, get Myne!”

The captain responded affirmatively to the noble’s order and rushed over to Tuuli. I dropped the spear I was holding and ran to Myne. I knew this wasn’t the time to ask questions, so I kept quiet—but my head was full of them.

…Are we all going back to the temple? Wouldn’t one person be enough to deliver the message? And who’s this Lord Ferdinand, anyway?

The captain, carrying Tuuli who had collapsed and couldn’t move, took off running toward the main street. I followed right behind, holding Myne in my arms—she was far too slow otherwise. I could hear the footsteps of Lutz and the others chasing after us, but there was no time to slow down for the kids.

…Seriously, what the hell is going on here?

Everything was happening too fast for me to follow. I was probably the only adult involved who had no grasp of the situation.

As I ran down the main street, I glanced at Myne, who was quietly resting in my arms. Her face looked like she was either worried about what was about to happen, frozen in fear, or trying to endure pain. At the same time, I noticed blood flowing from her knee, running down her shin.

“Myne, you’re bleeding…”

My words slipped out before I could stop them—it just looked too painful. Myne blinked and stared at the blood on her leg as if suddenly realizing it.

…Ah, crap…

She had probably been fine as long as she didn’t notice the injury, but now that she’d become aware of it, the pain might start to hit her. As I silently cursed myself for saying something unnecessary, Myne, still staring at her knee, opened her mouth.

”…Otto, this is a bad situation where, um, we need help really bad, right?”

“What else does it look like?!”

Her unbelievably calm voice made me snap back instinctively. Thanks to the East Gate’s commander forgetting to pass along a message, a noble from another duchy had gotten in. Myne, who had a noble escort, was attacked, and now we were leaving the noble to deal with a mana using kidnapper while we rushed to report to the temple. If this didn’t count as a bad situation where we needed help, I didn’t know what would.

There was a chance the entire East Gate guard unit could be punished. Ideally, the blame would fall only on the commander, but since a noble was involved, there was no telling how far the punishment would spread.

“I just wanted to make sure nobody would get mad if I called for help.”

Myne pulled out a necklace with a black stone from under her clothes, wiped some of the blood from her knee with her finger, and pressed it against the stone. In the next moment, the black stone glowed gold for just an instant. After that, a strange golden light flickered inside it like a flame. It was clearly a magic tool—something no commoner should possess.

“What’s that thing?”

Not knowing what was about to happen, I asked, and Myne answered with a look that suggested she didn’t really understand it herself.

“A charm. Apparently it’ll help me when I’m in danger.”

I didn’t know who had given it to her, but from the way she seemed to completely trust what they said, I involuntarily held my breath. As she slid the necklace with the black stone back under her clothes, I quietly looked away.

…Help might come, but… you know.

If a promise was made, then help would probably come. But the kind of help a noble who gave her that magic tool would offer might not be what Myne, a commoner, would wish for.

Still, not knowing which noble she made that promise with, there was nothing I could say. I shut my mouth, and before I realized it, we were standing in front of the Gilberta Company.

“Tuuli and Lutz, you go inside with Otto and stay at his place.”

Seeing the captain say that and set Tuuli down, I lowered Myne as well. The captain immediately picked her up again, and when Lutz insisted he wanted to come too, he was flatly rejected with, “We don’t need people who can’t fight.”

Naturally.

We didn’t need anyone slowing us down, and the fewer commoners who got involved with the nobles in the temple, the better.

To be honest, I felt relieved that we weren’t all heading to the temple.

“Otto, I’m entrusting Tuuli to you. I’m taking Myne to the temple.”

“Captain, Myne—be careful out there, okay?”

I clenched my fist and bent my elbow, silently wishing them success. The chief did the same, bumping his fist against mine before pointing high into the air.

“It’ll be fine; the Knight’s Order is out.”

Above his raised hand, we could see the knight’s order’s beasts soaring through the sky from the North Gate. Most likely, word had already reached them from the noble who had been protecting Myne.

“Let’s go, Myne.”

I watched the captain run off toward the temple with Myne in his arms, a gnawing sense of dread creeping up that just wouldn’t go away.

“I… I really think I should—”

“Hold it. Wait.”

As Lutz started to step forward, I grabbed his shoulder firmly. It wasn’t just me—both of them were clearly feeling the same ominous premonition.

Seeing Lutz and Tuuli looking up at me with such anxious expressions, I forced a grin, trying my best to look like everything was normal.

…After all, as the captain always says, “It’s a soldier’s job to ease the worries of the townsfolk.”

“Alright, let’s head inside. Tuuli had a hard time, and Lutz, you must be tired from all that running, right? Let’s have something warm to drink and take it easy. They only went to make a report, so the captain and the others will be back soon.”

I lightly patted their shoulders and spoke in as cheerful a voice as I could. When I saw some of the tension fade from their faces, I felt a bit relieved. At the same time, I started thinking about how to contact Corinna, Benno, and the other soldiers at the east gate. The time until the captain and the others returned from the temple was bound to feel unbearably long.

…Please, come back safely…