47 – I Won’t Hand it Over

Thanks to moving with some haste, I managed to escape the auction house, but not without trouble.

The moment I reached the service area on the first floor, an immense mana surged around me, preventing me from escaping the building.

I clicked my tongue, gazing at the massive mana that enveloped the building.

‘It must be him.’

Considering the mana surrounding the building felt the same as what I sensed at the northern laboratory, and that the owner of the black heart was him,

The one blocking our path was likely the one we encountered at the laboratory. The odds were overwhelmingly in favor of it.

I realized the situation had become significantly troublesome and tried to break through the barrier using Point-Blank Burst, but its power was insufficient. I could not get through.

‘Then the only option left is to ask Siren for help.’

Reaching that conclusion, I quickly spoke to Siren.

“Siren, do you think you could break through this magical barrier?”

In response to the question, Siren stared intently at the barrier before slowly nodding.

“I think it’s possible… but it will take some time.”

“How long?”

“Five minutes?”

Siren’s overwhelming magical talent, incomprehensible by human standards, gave rise to a glimmer of hope.

But it was, quite literally, just a hope. The problem was not yet resolved, and I took a deep breath, narrowing my eyes.

‘All I can do is hold out for as long as possible.’

Believing I had no choice but to trust in Daisy, strengthened by the artificial sun, I called out to Daisy.

“Daisy.”

“Mmyang!?”

Daisy, seemingly absorbing the artificial sun she’d eaten earlier, was radiating a bright light from her body, emitting intense waves, just like last time.

I asked Daisy to lend me her strength, and grasped my hammer tightly.

Daisy patted her round belly, as if to say she had me covered, and poured the sun’s energy into me.

‘…Incredible.’

I could feel my physical abilities had improved beyond all comparison to before.

At this rate, even if I couldn’t beat that guy, wouldn’t I be able to hold out? Thinking this, I gripped my hammer tightly.

Suddenly, black flames flickered in the air, and a robed man emerged from the inferno, his face twisted with rage.

“You lowly piece of trash.”

Perhaps because the artificial sun was gone, the relaxed, arrogant demeanor he’d shown last time had vanished without a trace.

I could only sense the fury burning in his gaze as he glared at me.

I responded with a nonchalant smirk, and he pulled a staff covered with dozens of eyeballs from the air, saying to me,

“Where is the artificial sun?”

At his words, I lifted Daisy from my shoulder, who was burping with a small “Mmyayak,” and replied,

“Inside her belly, maybe?”

Hearing me, he frowned even more fiercely and asked,

“…Belly?”

He couldn’t even begin to imagine that Daisy had eaten the artificial sun, it seemed.

So, I chuckled and told him the truth again.

“Daisy ate the artificial sun. So, it’s inside her belly.”

Since it was such an absurd thing to say, he tried to dismiss it with a sneer,

“There’s no way that could…”

But then he seemed to realize that the artificial sun’s energy was radiating from within Daisy, and he stopped mid-sentence, freezing in place.

The black magician’s expression was so comical that I burst out laughing.

It seemed he couldn’t endure it any longer, and he gathered mana, telling me,

“I’ll make you regret being alive.”

“Try if you can.”

Desperate to keep Ciren out of sight, I gathered all of Daisy’s power into one place.

Then, I unleashed a torrent of all-consuming flames at him, trying to push him back.

But he effortlessly deflected the oncoming fire, saying to me,

“How utterly absurd.”

Though I’d roughly anticipated this, the disparity in power is excessive.

Of course, considering last time I could only stand there, accomplishing nothing, it’s a monumental improvement.

But it’s only because Daisy has grown stronger that I could endure, not because *I* became stronger, hence the complex emotions washing over me.

Lost in thought, the dark mage brandished his staff towards me.

Gathering mana imbued with murderous intent, he began crafting a colossal sphere of darkness.

A massive orb, large enough to fill the building’s interior.

Instant death was guaranteed upon contact, so I attempted to intercept the sphere using an Origin Blast.

However, nullifying an attack created by a powerhouse comparable to Lorraine was realistically impossible; I failed to break through.

‘…So, what now?’

That even my most potent attack had no effect signified that,

merely unleashing other assaults wouldn’t turn the tide of the situation, leaving me in a quandary.

Abruptly, space itself distorted, cleaving the black sphere in two before it vanished completely.

In the truest sense of the word.

Everything around warped and things that shouldn’t have mixed, did, and with a violent shockwave, the sphere ceased to exist.

Blinking in disbelief at the preposterous outcome, a somewhat familiar voice reached my ears from the side.

“…Little Master.”

Lorraine’s voice.

Hearing that voice, I understood that my most reliable ally had returned, and a smile crept onto my face.

“Lorraine!”

“How are you? Are you happy I’m back?”

Lorraine flashed a playful grin and reported the results to me.

“I haven’t completely reached Sword Master yet… but I’ve at least taken the first step, so I hurried back.”

Reacting as if to say “Didn’t I do well?”, I gave her a nod.

A look of satisfaction spread across Lorraine’s face as she looked at me, before slowly turning her gaze towards the dark mage and speaking.

“So, what should we do? Kill him? Or keep him alive?”

A question devoid of any hint of uncertainty about victory.

Hearing that question, what I needed to do came to mind, and I calmly spoke.

“I have something I want to confirm, so keep him alive.”

“Yes.”

With that utterance, Lorraine drew her sword, cleaving through the very air.

*

“Mmph! Ugh-mmph!”

Thanks to Lorraine, capturing the dark sorcerer wasn’t too difficult.

I gazed down at him, writhing in the chair where he was bound, and, seeking to quiet him, brought the hammer down upon his head a few times.

He slumped, just as Dale had done, his lips pressed firmly shut.

I was relieved that my entreaty for silence had been heeded, when Liana, standing beside me, spoke with a dubious expression.

“…Should you really be hitting him in the head with a hammer?”

“Shouldn’t I?”

“Well…if his head is broken, it’ll be difficult to extract information, wouldn’t it? Perhaps pulling out fingernails or toenails would be better?”

Wasn’t that too cruel?

I considered that my delicate heart might find such a task difficult when the dark sorcerer regained consciousness and began to thrash again.

“Ugh-mmph, mmph-mmph!”

Hearing those sounds, I once more brought the hammer down upon his head to silence him, then turned to Liana.

“Hmm, well then, shall we try pulling something out?”

“…Now?”

I nodded, looking around for something like pliers.

Liana then produced a torturer’s tool from somewhere and presented it to me.

“But wouldn’t you usually ask for information while they’re awake? Extracting information from someone unconscious would just be meaningless torture, wouldn’t it?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“…?”

Though I spoke jokingly, the truth was that even if we extracted information through conventional torture,

There was no guarantee what he said would be true, and furthermore, he didn’t appear inclined to speak at all.

Thus, I’d decided it would be better to push him to the brink and then use Siren’s ability to discern the information.

‘So, first, inflict pain.’

I resolved to extract the information gradually and whispered my plan to Liana.

Liana, pleased with my plan, nodded and said she would give it a try.

*

The information gleaned after about a week of continued physical persuasion consisted of two main points.

The first reason for crafting an artificial sun was to fulfill the desires of the dark mages.

The second was information that the North, the dark mages, and the Order were planning to use ‘Elysia’ as a scapegoat to bury everything.

“By, by doing that, we can bury any future problems too. The heads…they decided it was advantageous.”

Perhaps from being hit too much, the dark mage stammered as he explained the reason to me.

Listening to him, I paused to consider before calmly speaking.

“So you lied to Elysia, telling her you’d give her an artificial sun, just to lure her in, huh?”

“…Yes.”

“And once she made the contract, the Order was going to snatch her?”

He nodded, confirming my words.

Seeing his reaction, I hesitated only a moment before he offered me a rather intriguing proposal.

“If, if you free me…I’ll hand over Elysia.”

“Hand her over?”

Seeing my interest, he spoke to me in a hurried tone.

“…Use the artificial sun as bait to lure Elysia here.”

“And what good is that to me?”

“We, Elysia is being hunted by the Order, so she’s likely to come secretly, without anyone knowing. So, there’d be no problem kidnapping or killing Elysia once she arrives at the meeting place.”

Staring at him as he asked me to release him, I laughed for a long moment.

Then, I hit him on the crown of his head with my hammer and told him we’d do just that.