Chapter 16
THE SUMMONS WAITING AROUND the mansion surged in all at once. Together, they had enough military might to fell a small country.
Mira destroyed the basement door’s lock and came upstairs to find not a battle but a rout of fleeing soldiers.
There was a large lobby and a grand staircase on the mansion’s very stereotypical first floor. Wise Popot, Undine, Eizenfald, and Wasranvel were there too.
Some human traffickers were among them; ten of the evildoers lay on the floor. Others had tried to fight back but been mercilessly trampled. Yet others had tried to escape, jumping out doors and windows. Their screams were audible soon after.
The Korpokkur sisters kept watch outside, ready to catch any escapees. Uneko and Etenoa’s flora cages were nigh impossible to escape.
“Overrun with ease. Figures.” Just stopping by town, she’d wound up using overwhelming force against a group of villains. She knew it was excessive, but her minions were eager to fight.
Mira gazed up at the criminals running frantically down the stairs before her friends took them down mercilessly. She didn’t even have the opportunity to get in a punch or two.
Eizenfald raced over to her. “Mother!” he cried, dragging two men behind him, as if excited to show off his accomplishment. It was an incongruous sight, given his innocent, pretty-boy smile.
“Well done, son. I’m surprised you controlled yourself so well.” At first, Mira felt a little uneasy about the men’s motionless bodies, but her worries weren’t borne out.
“Yep! I avoided finishing them off, just like you said!” Eizenfald replied proudly, then let the men go. Both fell to the ground, but they were clearly alive.
“Yes, yes. Well done. I’m proud of you.”
When Mira praised him, Eizenfald beamed with joy. “Now let’s go, Mother,” he added. He apparently planned to tag along with her, hoping to show his stuff right in front of her. His excitement was evident at a glance.
“Fine, fine. Let’s go.” Practically pushed upstairs by her son, Mira climbed to the second floor.
On the way, Eizenfald promptly downed any criminals who tried to run down past them. Each time that happened, he whipped around, hoping for more praise. Mira’s compliments made him happier and happier.
***
When they reached the second floor, the Valkyries were running the place.
Alfina rushed over immediately upon Mira’s arrival, swift as the wind. “Master, there seems to be a room for their leader at the far end of the third floor,” she reported.
Coincidentally, she was dragging a man behind her, just as Eizenfald had. Her captive wore suspiciously fancy clothes, but despite his apparently high status, he looked terrified.
“Now, tell us more about your leader. Fess up, or else…” Alfina pointed her sword at his neck. It seemed she’d begun interrogating him after a quick defeat.
“U-u-umm… O-oh, I know! He carries a spear. He handles it like nobody else… And this one special spear he uses has a tip that pops out!” The man confessed quickly despite his fear. It seemed he wasn’t terribly loyal.
“Master, I’m told that he uses a spear,” Alfina reported firmly.
“Yep, got it. Well done, Alfina. I’ll leave this floor in your capable hands.” Mira had heard the man just fine. She voiced her approval, then walked toward the staircase to the third floor.
“I won’t disappoint you, Master!” Alfina’s energetic voice echoed.
After that, there was a dull thud. Perhaps the Valkyrie saw no value in keeping the man conscious after the interrogation; she’d knocked him right out.
Mira continued to the third floor, heading toward the door at the end of the hallway. Along the way, she encountered a few men who seemed to be guards, but Eizenfald made quick work of them.
When they arrived and opened the door, a fully armored man stood before them. In his hand was a very fancy-looking spear. It seemed certain he was the ringleader.
“Hm? Here I thought bounty hunters had found us… You’re one of the basement girls, aren’t you? And this guy with you… Some knight come to save his princess, huh?” Shooting glances at both Mira and Eizenfald, the ringleader added, “Man. We sure dragged in trouble this time.”
One person present completely failed to read the room. “Knight? Well, no,” replied Eizenfald. “I’m her son.”
“Huh…? The hell does that mean?” The ringleader no doubt thought that the knight and his comrades had come to save an abducted girl, so to him, Eizenfald’s words came entirely out of left field.
The thought of explaining annoyed Mira, and she saw no need to do so. Instead, she chuckled and stepped forward. “Don’t bother questioning it. It has nothing to do with you.”
The ringleader of a child-trafficking ring was in front of her, and she was ready.
As Mira calmly approached him, he noticed the bangle on her arm. “Okay…I get it. Not quite what I expected. So this was a setup!” The bracelet was just like the User’s Bangles worn by veteran adventurers. That told him what was going on; he realized Mira’s so-called abduction had all been planned on her part. “Bold of you two to come alone, though. You must be confident about your strength—but don’t underestimate me.”
He thought veteran adventurers had come in and destroyed almost his entire organization. Yet he sounded too composed as he wielded his spear, and his determination was quite unlike that of the others they’d faced so far.
Merely readying his weapon, he emanated stubbornness and intimidation. His stable stance showed that he wasn’t the average powerful foe, and his face held confidence cultivated by experience and hard work.
Despite wielding a spear, he overflowed with mana. Mira gathered that he was a dark knight who favored the spear. The fact that he had such complete control over an impressive amount of mana indicated strength rivaling the strongest A-rank adventurers.
“Oh ho. Finally, someone worthy.” Mira prepared for a satisfying experiment—a fiercer battle than she’d expected. Her hopes were dashed, however.
“Mother! Mother! Let me fight him!” interjected Eizenfald, who’d trained hard so that he could battle even in human form. “I’d love for you to see the results of my training!” he pleaded, eyes practically sparkling.
Regardless of the situation, he never really grasped the gravity of things. Mira chuckled.
“Nraaagh!” With a room-shaking roar, the ringleader thrust his spear fiercely.
He’d aimed for Eizenfald, seeing the moment as an opening for a surprise assault. His attack was lightning fast, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. Even an A-rank monster of great speed couldn’t have escaped it.
“Don’t interrupt, please!” Eizenfald insisted. Although focused on persuading Mira, he batted the spear tip away with ease the moment it was about to reach him.
A scene almost too gruesome to describe immediately unfolded. The instant Eizenfald’s hand touched the spear, the ringleader’s body crumpled and went flying.
Worse, the sound of his spear breaking was accompanied by the crash of armor shattering, followed shortly after by a boom as his body smashed a hole in the mansion wall. It all happened in an instant, but the ringleader found himself launched out of the mansion.
“Well…I suppose that’s settled.” Mira grinned wryly. Despite the ringleader’s posturing when they arrived, his exit was less than ceremonious.
“Oh no!” Far from showing off his training, Eizenfald had robbed himself of the opportunity to try anything further. He was mortified.
Meanwhile, Mira looked back and forth between him and the hole in the wall. She realized something important. “Maybe we ought to prioritize teaching you the art of restraint.”
If Eizenfald had had the chance to show off his training, that poor man might’ve ended up a blood smear on the floor. Mira shuddered at the thought.
Then, she received word from the Korpokkur sisters outside. They’d evidently captured a half-naked man in tatters. He’d tried to escape by breaking through a wall but made a poor landing, and he was in their custody.
It seemed the ringleader was alive. It was lucky for him that Eizenfald had merely brushed him aside. With a sigh of relief, the mother and her gleeful son returned downstairs.
***
After a quick tour of the mansion, Mira looked at the people bound by the doorway. “Hrmm,” she murmured. “Seems things are well in hand.”
Based on what she’d heard from a few others, twenty of the nearly hundred people here were former Creek Company employees. The other eighty had worked at other companies and organizations, but apparently, every one of them had once belonged to an enterprise destroyed by Fuzzy Dice.
They were more remnants. And these people in similar circumstances, with similar human trafficking know-how, had evidently gathered and formed another trafficking ring.
While Mira learned all this, Kagura, Tyriel, and First Pupil finally arrived. Meeting up, they exchanged a few quick words.
“Oh,” said Kagura. “Looks like you’re already done here.”
“That’s our Ringmeowstress for nya!” First Pupil cheered Mira on.
“Of course,” replied Mira. “Why, I could’ve done this before breakfast.”
After that, they headed to the basement. When they opened the door, they saw several of the men felled by Guardian Ash. No doubt those men had been trying to escape elsewhere with the children. Fortunately, Guardian Ash stood in their way—just deserts for their greed.
The children were unharmed, still sleeping soundly in bed, as they had been when Mira discovered them before. Kagura and Tyriel raced over to confirm their safety.
“Yeah. I think they’re okay.”
“I see no injuries.”
A more thorough check revealed no marks on the children that would affect them in the future. The duo’s tension finally faded, and they smiled in relief.
“Okay. We’ll start with these kids.”
“Indeed.”
They needed to find out a number of things from the kidnappers—for instance, what other dealings they’d been up to—but the kids came first. They took the sleeping children out of the basement, focused for the moment on easing their parents’ worries. Between Eizenfald’s good looks and how easily he carried the four children, he resembled a real hero.
When they reached the mansion’s lobby, they noticed a commotion had developed at the entrance. Quite a few people had gathered, but they weren’t foes. When Kagura told them that all was well, security personnel came through the door. There were over thirty of them, each well armed. Kagura had brought them, given the circumstances.
“Everyone, thank you for your support today,” the security captain said, watching as Alfina and the others brought the rescued children upstairs and piled criminals by the door. These crimes seemed to offend the captain personally, and seeing the kids moved him to tears.
“Thanking us is hardly necessary. We did this for the children’s sake.” Mira puffed her chest out proudly, insisting that she’d only done what was natural.
“We did it because wanted to,” Kagura agreed.
“Please let us look after the children,” the security captain requested. “We’ll return them to their families.”
“Of course. Thank you.” The security guards knew the victims’ parents and their whereabouts, so having them take care of the kids would be fastest.
“Oh, Katie! Thank goodness! Thank goodness you’re safe!” One member of the security team broke down in tears as they took a girl from Eizenfald’s arms. It seemed that victim was their daughter.
“Yes… Thank goodness indeed,” the security captain said, crying openly as well. He was overcome with emotion, almost concerningly so.
The first security team member hugged the girl lovingly, then bowed to Mira’s entourage. “Thank you so much. If I can do anything for you, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Um…well, we just want the kids to be with their families as soon as possible,” Mira responded. “That’s what matters.”
“We’ll see it done, I swear!” the guard replied, clearly fired up. With that, they left with ten cohorts in tow. It seemed perfectly fine to leave the kids in their hands.
Meanwhile, the other security guards set to work rounding up the remaining criminals to be taken away. They loaded one after another into a carriage outside. Naturally, they weren’t as gentle as they were with the children; they might as well have been stuffing in sardines.
While they worked, three people lined up in front of Mira’s group.
“Allow us to thank you again for your help today,” one said, then introduced himself as the head of Ligret’s security forces. “I’m Hayden, chief of this city’s security office.”
The other two followed suit. The man was the branch chief of the Warriors’ Guild, while the woman was the Mages’ Guild chief.
“I’m Mira. A simple adventurer.” After introducing herself, Mira glanced at the two branch chiefs, then looked to Kagura. “I see you called guild personnel as well.” That seemed worth pointing out; earlier, Kagura had only mentioned security forces.
“Yep. The security chief suggested it, and I figured it’d make things smoother, so I had the guilds join us.” According to Kagura, this incident’s impacts would extend beyond the authority of the security office alone. They’d have to seek aid from adventurers, and involving branch chiefs would speed up such adventurers’ initial responses.
“Hrmm… I see,” Mira claimed, but she didn’t understand at all.
“You look like you actually don’t,” Kagura chuckled at her friend, then explained more simply.
What consequences would this raid have? That was impossible to predict, but they knew other children had gone missing from places outside this city. How involved in those cases were the kidnappers they’d caught today? What could they explain? How much more of this case could they solve? Those questions had yet to be answered. If this situation spanned multiple nations, the local security force here would struggle to exert influence in those locations. That was where the adventurers would come in.
“Oh…now I get it.” In short, Mira realized, this job suited mercenaries better than official forces. As she finally understood, one security guard reported that they’d finished loading the criminals.
The chief confirmed that their leader had been placed in a separate cage, then said, “Let’s get moving, then.” It seemed he’d personally interrogate the leader in his office.
While the security chief, guild branch chiefs, and Kagura boarded the carriage, Mira thanked her summons for their efforts and dismissed them. She kept Eizenfald there, however. Despite all that had transpired, a promise was a promise; she would spend the whole day with him.
When the pair tried to board the carriage, the Mages’ Guild branch chief spoke up. “Oh—this is a problem. This carriage only seats six…”
The vehicle had booth-style seating. The security chief, two branch chiefs, Kagura, and Tyriel were all sitting inside already, which left only one seat open.
“Hrmm… In that case, I’ll just have to get Pegasus’s help. Eizenfald, you—”
Before Mira could tell Eizenfald to sit in the carriage, Eizenfald protested, “I wanna sit with you, Mother!”
“Ugh… Very well.”
As Mira weighed the prospect of riding Pegasus together, Kagura offered a solution. “Here’s an idea…”
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