Chapter 65

I arrived in Sillemol.

It was a rough journey.

My wounds wouldn't heal and Amethus and the Special Operations Unit kept chasing me.

I slept outdoors almost every night, but I couldn't even eat a proper meal.

Nevertheless, I had somehow arrived in Sillemol, where the free market was located.

“Name.”

“Pasionus Peleus.”

“Age?”

“Sixteen.”

I used the fake identity I had been using all along.

As before, it aroused no suspicion.

“You may enter.”

“Thank you.”

The checkpoint guard looked me up and down.

I was in rags from having lived outdoors for a while.

My clothes were a mess, and I smelled terrible.

However, he did not stop me.

“Sillemol.”

One of the few autonomous cities in the Cordis Empire.

Countless people and goods passed through it.

If they were to stop every single person who passed, the checkpoint would simply not function.

“Thanks to its position at the top of Hobel Bay, it's very prosperous and splendid, and……”

I glanced sideways.

I was passing through the path that led from the checkpoint to the main street.

There were a few unsavory looking groups by the roadside, and when my eyes met theirs, a few men jumped up.

“…There are a lot of bad guys here too.”

“Kid.”

As soon as the words were spoken, I was surrounded.

A few sturdy men concealed my small stature from the eyes of others.

Cunning bastards.

It wasn't their first time doing this.

A man with a pockmarked face placed his hand firmly on my shoulder.

“Is this your first time in Sillemol?”

The pockmarked man gave a faint smile.

He was so benevolent that he seemed like a neighbor I had known for years.

“I know a good restaurant, want to come with me?”

“What if I don't?”

“You should want to, though, shouldn't you?”

The man strongly pressed down on my shoulder.

I frowned and feigned anxiety.

Because an eleven-year-old child would naturally do so.

“Now. Pretend you're with us, pretend you're with us……”

“That would be for the best.”

The men chuckled softly.

One of them pressed something wrapped in cloth against my back.

I could tell just from the feel.

It was a blade.

To draw a knife on a child, they were clearly no ordinary thugs.

‘How quickly they're getting entangled. I'm almost grateful.’

I completely changed my expression.

Since they genuinely intended to exploit me, shouldn't I play along with all my sincerity?

“Why, why, why are you doing thissss……”

“Well, just come along, I said.”

“Hieee……”

I inwardly expressed my admiration.

‘Good acting.’

Even though I thought it was flawless.

My gaze darted around, my hands trembled, my voice was thin.

No matter how one looked at it, I was a child trembling in fear.

It would be so much easier if that Amethus bastard would also be fooled by this much acting.

“He's cute, though.”

“Hey, he won't get hurt. Just come.”

“He won't get hurt? I think a little differently.”

The men each said something and snickered.

They surrounded me and headed for a secluded alley.

A few street vendors, noticing the situation, frowned, but no one stepped forward.

It was because they were not confident they could handle the hooliganism of those men.

“Alright, alright. Follow us quietly.”

Entering the alley, the pockmarked man whispered once more.

His breath was sticky and very unpleasant.

“You mustn't scream, by any chance, okay?”

***

“Kyaaaak!”

The pockmarked man screamed.

He screamed at the top of his lungs.

“-Kyaa! Kyaaah, kyaaaah-aahk!”

“Hey, don't scream.”

I gently admonished him, but the pockmarked man would not stop screaming.

In truth, anyone would do so if they were caught by the ankle by an invisible hand and hung upside down.

Even more so if their head was very far from the ground.

“Kyaaaah-aah-aah-aah--.”

“Would you like to be quiet, or shall I make you quiet?”

“--Ap!”

The pockmarked man hastily covered his mouth.

He was still hanging upside down in the air, but he had no choice.

It was because he had seen a few fist-sized stones shatter at my gesture.

“……”

“……”

The group stared blankly at the hanging pockmarked man.

Some invisible force was doing it.

They realized.

That they had picked the wrong person.

While they were staring blankly, I was suddenly right in front of them.

“What are you thinking?”

At my question, the men murmured.

They didn't know who should answer, and no one wanted to answer.

I pointed to one of them.

“You there, the mister with the impressive sideburns. What are you thinking?”

“…Uh, huh? Me?”

The man with thick sideburns cautiously asked back.

He was the one who had pressed the knife against my back earlier.

He looked at the pockmarked man hanging upside down in the air and opened his mouth.

“…I was thinking we picked the wrong person, something like that.”

“You're smart. Since you're smart, can I ask one more thing?”

“Y-yes. Why not.”

“That thing in your hand.”

I pointed.

“Can I see what you've wrapped so tightly in cloth? You were stabbing my back with it earlier.”

“N-n-no, it's n-n-nothing special……”

“Show me.”

“It's nothing special, I said……”

“Show me.”

“……”

The man's face turned ashen.

From within the tightly wrapped cloth, a dagger with a sharp, blue blade emerged.

It was the item he had pressed against my back.

When I gave a faint smile, the man's face only grew gloomier.

“It's a knife.”

“…Why do you insist it's a knife? What you see might not be everything, you know.”

“If it's not a knife, then it would be alright for me to stab you with this, wouldn't it?”

“Some things are exactly as they appear. This is a dagger. If you stab a person with it, blood will flow.”

The sideburns man hastily changed the subject.

He chattered on, saying he bought it at the local blacksmith, that he traded three old farm tools for it, that he could introduce him to a skilled blacksmith, trying his best to divert my attention.

His tongue was quite smooth.

“So you were holding a dagger against a child. What should I do with this wrist?”

“W-wouldn't it be alright to just pity me……?”

“Wrong answer!”

“Kyaaaak!”

Crack, a sound was heard.

It was because the ‘Fantasy Finger’ had broken the sideburns man's wrist.

However, since it was a clean break, he would recover without any sequelae in a month or two.

I, Shion Pollinglight, was a merciful man.

The sideburns man grabbed his broken wrist and sat down, shedding tears like a chicken's.

He looked very pathetic.

“……”

“……”

The remaining men just rolled their eyes around.

The pockmarked man and the sideburns man were quite strong among them, but one was hanging in the air and the other was sitting down, sobbing uncontrollably.

Naturally, they were afraid, and naturally, they couldn't even think of replying.

They just kept glancing at the alley entrance.

‘This kid, what is he! It seems we really picked the wrong person to mess with……’

‘That Damel bastard. Why isn't he coming……’

‘We're all going to die. Hurry up and come……!’

They were experts in street extortion, and they knew how to distinguish suitable targets for blackmail.

However, since this was the autonomous city of Sillemol, where all sorts of people gathered, despite their excellent discernment, they often messed with the wrong person.

Therefore, they always had one comrade stationed outside the alley to prepare for any eventuality.

So that he could run and call for other comrades immediately.

“Who are you waiting for?”

“……!!!”

“It seems one person is missing.”

Cold sweat poured down his back at the sly question.

Before he even had time to wipe his sweat, a murmuring sound was heard.

“What is this? What a sight!”

Looking at the group of men entering the alley, they desperately waved their hands and shouted.

“Hey! Damel! Over here, over here!”

“Why don't you hurry up and come, you bastards!”

The men swarmed in.

There seemed to be at least twenty of them.

Some even wore swords that were quite long, not daggers.

They were long enough to be barely within the permissible length for swords carried by ordinary citizens as stipulated by imperial law.

“Why is this one crying, and that one in the air……”

“This kid, he's a magician!”

“…He seems to be.”

As soon as the word 'magician' came out, one of the men began to move his lips.

He seemed to be preparing a spell.

If they had two magicians among their comrades, they must be no ordinary gang of thugs.

“Heh, hehehe, kid. You shouldn't have been so boastful.”

“How presumptuous.”

The men who had been terrified gained confidence and twisted their lips.

“Do you know whose gang we are……”

“Whose gang?”

I asked bluntly.

The man who had been asked was rather bewildered.

He was surrounded by twenty fierce-looking men, but he showed no sign of fear.

“Whose gang are you?”

“K-k-kifkos's gang……”

“Kifkos? Kifkos's gang……!?”

The regressed prince's eyes widened.

The large man cheered.

“Y-yes, you've heard of us! I knew you would! Our boss is the famous Kifkos of the Sillemol Free Market!”

“My goodness… Kifkos's gang……”

A mutter escaped.

“…To think I'd find them in one go!”

I shook my head in disbelief.

“Ah, for once, I'm lucky! I was wondering how many times I'd have to repeat this routine!”

……?

The men tilted their heads.

It was because it sounded as if my intention was to meet Kifkos's gang from the beginning.

And it was actually true.

The reason I had docilely followed the local thugs was only one, to meet Kifkos of Sillemol.

“…Geez, you're really something from earlier!”

“This kid, I'll show him what for!”

Being fed up with street extortion was almost the same as not having much patience.

The men chose to charge, following their impulsiveness, instead of trying to chew on my words and understand them.

Believing in iron rods, very long swords, and clumsy magic.

“……”

The sideburned man squeezed his eyes shut.

It was because his comrades' lines were too much like mere extras.

He clutched his broken wrist and tried his best to ignore his comrades' clumsy antics and shouts.

“Yaaahhh---aaah---!”

“O-ow, o-ow!”

“Kyaaaak!”

A brief commotion, followed by a long silence.

Out of twenty men, twelve were foaming at the mouth.

Another twelve men had their eyes rolled back.

At this point, calculate the number of men who were both foaming at the mouth and had their eyes rolled back.

(However, all men either foamed at the mouth or had their eyes rolled back.)

“…The answer, four.”

“What are you talking about?”

I approached the sideburns man.

He did not run away.

He was certain that if he did, his other wrist would not be intact.

“Mister Sideburns, I want to meet Kifkos. What should I do?”

He looked around at the men who were either foaming at the mouth, had their eyes rolled back, or both.

“Still, he's their boss, so he won't easily guide me. As I thought, everyone but one……”

“H-hey.”

“Why? Are you asking me to spare you instead of someone else?”

“N-n-no, that's not it, no, that's also true, but……”

The sideburns man raised his face, looking distraught.

“…C-can't I just guide you?”

I smiled brightly.

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