199

The first thing I had to do was gather information to understand the situation.

Precisely because it was a time like this, I had to avoid panicking and stay calm, so I made full use of my telescopic ability and observed carefully.

As always, Boobs Lady’s boobs were magnificent.

No, that was wrong—well, not entirely wrong, but that wasn’t the point.

(There’s no obvious dirt…)

Looking at her feet, there was no dirt on them, as if she had been wearing shoes until just moments ago.

After noticing that, I checked Rena as well.

Closer to Number Three than Number Two—she didn’t seem to have grown since that day.

That wasn’t the point.

When I focused on her feet, they were also clean.

In other words, until they were brought here, I should assume they had either been wearing shoes or had been carried by something.

If it was the latter, then it was undoubtedly the golems lined up over there, but considering that neither of them had any obvious injuries or dirt on them, it was hard to imagine those stone lumps had carried the two naked women.

Actually, if they were not military-use but general-purpose golems, that level of dexterity would not be unnecessary, but in that case, their combat ability would conversely be estimated lower than expected, so that was fine in its own way.

(Most likely, the two who were captured were stripped here. Then why were they captured?)

The first candidate that came to mind without even thinking was me.

In a country where “kill monsters” was common sense, it was only natural that someone who even traded with me would draw attention, and all the more so if that someone was an authoritative mage.

Boobs Lady had been targeted, and Rena had gotten caught up in it while protecting her.

That was probably it, I concluded, ending my deduction of the cause.

If that was the case, then it also made sense that everyone here was a mage.

Some of them were wearing clothes so luxurious that it was obvious at a glance, so they were probably in leader-like positions.

The problem was their objective.

To begin with, if this was for punishment, it was strange for them to be in a place like this.

That narrowed down the possibilities.

(A lynching, huh…)

Was the meaning behind raising a signal fire to call me here meant as proof of that reason?

And the golems were there to subjugate me when I came along.

What a perfect deduction.

This was at a level where even self-praise should be allowed.

In any case, if I showed myself, there was now also the possibility that they would carry out the execution immediately, so what should I do?

While running through various simulations, I realized, after thinking about it carefully, that I was not actually that close to those women.

If anything, our relationship was businesslike.

On top of that, we had already properly said our farewells, so I had no reason to save them.

I had no reason, but… while thinking about the disadvantages that would arise if I abandoned them, what crossed my mind was how my family would react, and that was where things went wrong.

My mother would lecture me, my elder sister would punch me, and my younger sister would look at me the same way she had before.

Now that I had thought of it, I couldn’t leave them alone.

I scratched my head roughly and let out a breath.

Finally, as a bonus, my father came to mind, giving a firm thumbs-up and saying, “There’s a beauty there, so isn’t that reason enough?”

I decided to give up and accept that being weak to beauties was hereditary.

“Now then, if I’m going to do this, how should I go about it…?”

A standard assault in Stealth Mode would have the highest success rate—or so I wanted to say, but there was a river in front of me.

In that case, circling around and launching a surprise attack from behind would be the correct answer.

Just to be safe, I checked the enemy’s numbers one more time at the end.

When I moved locations to make sure I had a proper grasp of at least the enemy count, all the mages looked this way at once.

I did not remember making a blunder that would let them find me, but another possible explanation immediately came to mind.

(Damn it! Magic like an alarm really does exist!)

I had completely forgotten that something like that had also been hidden around the elven village.

Apparently, the correct answer had been to watch out for traps I could not discover with my magical power detection, but as expected, there was nothing a beginner at an apprentice level could do about that.

“I still have a long way to go with magic-related things,” I grumbled, and while heading toward the river, I noticed that I had something magic-related around my own neck as well.

During Stealth Mode, I would need to hide the amulet in my hand, I thought, feeling relieved that I had not stupidly approached without noticing it.

Thudding heavily, I cut straight through the forest and emerged at the river, facing the golems lined up in a row.

Their number was indeed ten.

However, I confirmed that the golems at both the left and right ends were slowly loading and readying ballistae.

It seemed these things could not move all that nimbly.

I laughed inwardly and confidently stepped one foot into the river.

“Pleased to meet you, Argos. I hear you can understand the Canaan language.”

A man who looked every bit like a noble stepped forward ahead of the golems lined up in a row and spoke as their representative.

Since I had been greeted, I could not very well refuse to answer.

“Indeed. Now then, if you called me here, you must have some business with me, yes?”

I glanced at the suspended Boobs Lady, but the moment our eyes met, she looked away.

“Ah, so this really is my fault,” I thought, inwardly slumping my shoulders.

“Yes, though it is not so much business. It is merely that even when judging criminals, procedures are necessary.”

The noble walked briskly without looking at me.

Ahead of him was the naked Boobs Lady hanging there, and in his hand was a dagger held in a reverse grip.

He swung it down carelessly, and a scream rose, but only one—Rena’s.

The woman herself clenched her teeth and endured without letting out even a groan, while fresh blood flowed from the dagger embedded deep in her thigh.

“Was she not the same kind of mage as you?”

“The same? Can you not even distinguish us from criminals?”

“In the end, you are just a monster,” the noble snorted.

For now, I still did not move… or rather, I could not move.

(If my objective is realized, they might be used as hostages. Huh? In that case, wouldn’t it have been better to ignore the opponent and rampage? No, that would create a safety problem.)

Since solving things by force was still a matter for later, I felt uneasy about having to use my head, but in the worst case, I just had to overturn everything with power.

Rena was shouting something, but unfortunately, I did not understand the Seizeria language, so it pained me, but I had to ignore her.

I felt impatience rising, but my emotion-suppression function quietly pressed down on my heart.

It really was a convenient function.

“I doubt something like a monster would understand, but… blue and noble blood flows through us. The word ‘mage’ refers only to those who inherit that blood. Do not lump us together with a counterfeit criminal like this.”

He spat the words out, pulled the dagger from Diera’s thigh, and flicked away the blood dripping from it with an expression of disgust.

Though her refined face was twisted in pain, she glared at him, but the nobleman ignored this.

“Can you see it? This is tainted blood. The blood of a great being, the progenitor of magic, was stolen by this great criminal. She should have simply kept working quietly as an exterminator… I struggle to understand why people like this were allowed to live. But that ends today. With these mass-produced Type Eights, we can prove that criminals are unnecessary.”

It was a roundabout declaration of war saying that he would “subjugate me.”

It was a little different from what I had expected, but the broad outline had not changed.

There must have been guys who said things like this even back when I was human, I thought, inwardly letting out a huge sigh.

In that case, this was how I would respond.

It was a move taught directly to me by a friend from my student days, extremely effective against people whose pride alone had swollen out of proportion.

“I see. So you are what is known as a lord?”

The nobleman stopped, unable to understand the sudden change of topic.

Now then, it was my turn.

“The law’s judgment. The execution of punishments. Books say these are the duties of a lord… but judging from your reaction, it seems you are not one. If so, is this a lawless land… no, in this case, does the word ‘noble’ mean ‘outlaw’? Also, is it true that your blood is blue? I do not recall such symptoms existing among diseases. If there is no issue, please tell me the results of a physician’s examination.”

I asked in a way that made it seem as if I was “asking out of intellectual curiosity,” provoking him.

I also added the pretense that I had not listened to him at all, and if he realized I saw him as nothing more than an object of observation, the synergistic effect would double the provocation.

My friend’s teaching was that if someone began a speech you had not asked for, you should not listen and instead provoke them by unilaterally asking questions.

Apparently, people like this grew angry at words that denied them or at being ignored… but how effective would it be?

However, there was no reaction, so I tilted my head and peered at Noble-kun in a way that was probably irritating.

Then I heard laughter.

“—. —”

The voice belonged to Boobs Lady.

I did not know what she said, but I knew almost for certain that she was jumping on my provocation and adding to it.

I had vaguely sensed that she had a strong competitive streak, but I could not exactly say, “Could you please think about your current position for a moment?” so I stayed silent.

Then, facing Boobs Lady as her face twisted in pain, the nobleman drew a wand and released a fireball.

Astonishingly, Boobs Lady kicked it upward with her unharmed foot and extinguished it.

(I saw it!)

No, I had indeed seen that too, but what I was talking about was the bean-sized glowing stone held between her toes.

Apparently, she had hidden something used to cast magic.

While still hanging there, Boobs Lady looked down at the nobleman and snorted.

Perhaps that was the final straw, because the next action the openly enraged man took was to shout, “Kill him!”—the signal to begin battle.

At the same time as that shout, I lowered my posture and moved forward, while ballista bolts passed directly over my head.

I pushed straight through the river all at once and approached the nearest nobleman.

It seemed that stepping forward had backfired on him, but one of the golems successfully cut in.

Let me see the performance of the kingdom’s new weapon!

From the look of it, the golem was a sluggish power type, so I had thought this would become a contest of strength, and since I had not done that in a long time, part of me had actually been a little excited… but its backswing was slow.

Just as I felt disappointed, the incoming fist was strangely fast.

I reflexively let out a surprised “Whoa” in my mouth, but I had no intention of taking an attack with this much weight head-on, so I dodged by slipping past it.

Naturally, the nobleman was ahead of me.

“Pardon the interruption during your chant,” I thought, delivering my fist, but the sensation of hitting him was the same soft, cotton-like poof as with the old elf man.

As I finished swinging my arm through, golems rushed toward me, but their movements aside from attacks were nothing impressive.

Or so I thought, but then the mages began obstructing my movements with several spells.

“Ah, so that’s the kind of formation this is,” I thought, remembering the old mage who had stubbornly endured against me, and I stopped a golem’s blow that I could not dodge in time with my arm.

The weight and impact were just as expected, and my bracing feet slid backward.

Next, the golem positioned directly beside me, the one suspending Boobs Lady, swung its arm back.

While dodging that blow by leaning my upper body back, I scooped her up and tossed her into the air.

A small scream rose, and Boobs Lady landed neatly in my palm.

“Question. Is ‘blue blood’ some kind of disease? Is there a risk of infection? Does a treatment exist?”

Immediately after, I rapidly fired those questions in the Canaan language at Boobs Lady, who was now on my palm.

She gave me a look that said, “What the hell are you saying in this situation?” but when I followed up in a small voice in the Furon language, saying, “I’m saving the other one. Cooperate,” her expression changed.

Now then, let’s form an improvised tag team—just as I decided that, the price of taking my time stabbed into my face.

I will absolutely never forgive you bastards.