Chapter 294

Leah, confined in a luxurious room, was gradually understanding where she was and why she was there.

Through the explanations provided by a woman in a white robe who introduced herself as Cyan, things were becoming clearer.

“…So, does that mean they’re after my brother—Tatsuro-san and the others more than me?”

“That’s what I’ve heard. But since you’re said to be an exceptional blacksmith, they should treat you well.”

According to Cyan, Leah was more of an incidental target, and it became clear that the lord was unaware of her All-Seeing Eye. Apparently, they truly saw Leah only as a talented young blacksmith with a promising future.

“So, I’m just bait to lure my friends here, aren’t I?”

“To put it bluntly, yes. But as long as you behave, we absolutely won’t harm you. In fact, we’ll provide anything you need.”

“Then, let me use my Item Box.”

“…I’m not sure what you mean.”

Caught off guard for a moment by Leah’s direct gaze, Cyan feigned ignorance and refused to elaborate. Leah hadn’t expected them to comply anyway, so she didn’t dwell on it.

As she calmed down and grasped the situation, she suddenly realized her throat was parched.

“Um, could I have some tea or something?”

“Of course. We have a wide variety of tea leaves. Which would you like? Even if we don’t have it, we can fetch it immediately.”

A cat beastman, dressed in a maid outfit and introducing herself as Marisa, stepped forward eagerly, as if it were her duty. Given the situation, Leah, recently influenced by Tatsuro’s frugal habits, decided to request an expensive tea she’d secretly been curious about—a sweet tea popular among wealthy noblewomen.

“Um… how about some Duchikure—”

“Of course, we have it, Schleiermacher-sama. I’ll prepare it at once, so please relax.”

“Alright… Do you have any snacks? I haven’t eaten in hours, and I’m starving.”

“I’ll have something prepared immediately.”

It seemed Duchikure, a tea favored by women, was readily available, but snacks weren’t as prepared. Marisa walked briskly to the door and instructed a guard outside to arrange for some food. Without leaving the room, she began setting up a tea set.

The snacks must have been partially prepped, as a cart with trays and plates was slipped through a slightly opened door before the tea was ready. While the tea leaves steeped, Marisa arranged the snacks on the table and poured the perfectly brewed tea into a cup, placing it beside the food.

Leah got off the bed, approached the table, and examined the food and tea with her All-Seeing Eye.

(No poison, drugs, or any curse-like effects. It really seems like they have no intention of harming me.)

With that thought, she savored a bite of food—square bread topped with various ingredients—while the sweet tea soothed her nerves.

“This is delicious. Both the food and the tea.”

“I’ve mastered brewing techniques for each type of tea leaf, and the food is prepared by professionals.”

“I see… Still, the lord here sure is forceful.”

Unaccustomed to being treated like a princess, Leah sipped her tea and grumbled. Cyan, who had been silently observing, spoke up.

“That’s how it was for me too. My husband was kidnapped, and I had no choice but to come here.”

“And you’re okay working for them? If it were me, I’d rescue my hostage and escape immediately.”

“The pay is good. My husband doesn’t earn much, and with raising kids costing so much, adventuring is fun but the income is unstable and the work is demanding. I was just thinking I wanted a stable job.”

“Huh. Isn’t this job demanding too?”

“We’re basically here to show off the lord’s collection of talented people. Dangerous tasks are left to the soldiers. Unless it’s absolutely necessary, like now, we’re free to relax within the territory. I get plenty of time with my kids, and it’s great. Over half the year is like a vacation, and the pay is better than when I was an adventurer.”

“Wow.”

Leah thought it sounded too good to be true, but for someone not particular about their freedom and looking for a place to settle, it was like paradise.

Her thoughts drifted to Tatsuro and the others. She was sure they’d come to rescue her, but a nagging doubt crept in—would they just leave after saving her? The more she thought about it, the more a phrase echoed in her mind: This is bad, isn’t it?

And the “bad” wasn’t about her—it was about this castle.

“Um… just to be sure, is the lord here a decent person? They wouldn’t, like, provoke people unnecessarily… right?”

“Well, I wouldn’t call them decent. When I was brought here, they looked down on me even though we had no master-servant relationship.”

“Hawawawawa…”

“Oh, how cute! What’s wrong all of a sudden?”

In her panic, incomprehensible sounds escaped Leah’s mouth. To Cyan and Marisa, it looked like a little girl flailing adorably, and they watched her with warm smiles. But Leah was far from calm.

Though she hadn’t known Tatsuro and the others for even a year, they had lived together in a dungeon for months, entrusting their lives to one another. She felt she knew them well enough.

From those memories, she knew they despised anyone who harmed their loved ones—it was their ultimate trigger. And Leah, even without bias, could confidently say she was like a little sister to Tatsuro and Ai, and a friend to Cardina and the others.

In other words, she was part of their inner circle.

Still, Tatsuro and the others weren’t monsters. If the lord apologized sincerely and they saw Leah unharmed, they might cool off. But from what she’d heard, expecting such a response from this lord seemed unlikely.

“This is bad! You have to let me go, or something terrible will happen!”

“Something terrible? Like what?”

“If you make them angry, it’s dangerous! They could wipe out a castle like this in no time!”

“Haha, that sounds serious! Guess we’d better do some evacuation drills.”

“I’m not joking!”

Leah’s cute appearance made it hard for them to take her seriously, and they brushed it off as a joke. Trying to calm her, Marisa joined the conversation.

“We’ve heard they’re exceptional, but we have plenty of talented people here too. There’s no way the castle would be wiped out.”

“Talented, huh…”

If ordinary people were mice, Marisa’s “talented” people were like cats. But Tatsuro and the others were lions—exceptional even among lions, with six of them.

What could a bunch of cats do against such beings?

(Even one of them could probably destroy a whole town… and there are six of them coming at once… Why did they have to target Aniki and the others?)

Realizing further protests were futile, Leah looked skyward, muttering, “I give up!” and asked Marisa for a tea refill.

Unaware they were being thought of as monsters by their honorary little sister, Tatsuro and the others headed to the skies immediately after reaching the town. Jeanne carried the Flight Palanquin, using Wind Magic to speed toward Lyusiten at full throttle.

Any airborne monsters were swiftly dealt with by Cardina in her True Form, who darted through the sky, clearing a path until the walls of Lyusiten came into view.

“Slow down there and gain some altitude.”

“Neigh!”

Inside the Flight Palanquin, Tatsuro, strapped in with a seatbelt, checked their position on the Map Function and gave instructions through a speaking tube. As the speed decreased, he unbuckled and hurried to the front room.

“Cardina, find the lord’s castle. With your current abilities, you should be able to spot it even if it’s hidden like the one in Lyadas.”

“Peewee-peewee!”

Eagerly accepting the task, Cardina ascended even higher than Jeanne, who was climbing, to scout the castle’s location.

The castle was indeed cloaked with special Concealment magic, but Cardina easily pinpointed it. Guided by her, Jeanne stopped far above the castle.

“Here’s the plan. Ai and I will go talk to the lord first.”

“Can’t we come along?” Athena asked.

“Hmm, Cardina, Jeanne, Athena—you’ll act depending on how things unfold. Our priority is ensuring Leah’s safety. While Ai and I engage the lord in ‘talks,’ Nana, I want you to come with us partway, then infiltrate the castle and rescue Leah.”

“That sounds fun!”

Nana’s eyes gleamed with excitement, while Athena looked on enviously.

“If they return Leah quietly and apologize sincerely, we’ll avoid a fight.”

“Yeah, but that letter didn’t exactly scream ‘sincere,’” Ai said.

“True. So, if negotiations break down, once Nana secures Leah, Cardina, Jeanne, and Athena will storm the castle from the air.”

“Peewee!”

“Neigh!”

“Let’s do this!”

“We’ll use the Item Box to signal. Nana, once you secure Leah, send something to me immediately.”

“Got it!”

After ironing out details, Tatsuro summarized.

“Let’s recap. Cardina and I will locate Leah without alerting them. Ai and I will go to the lord to draw attention. Meanwhile, Nana, you’ll enter the castle with us, then split off to reach Leah’s location discreetly and secure her. If we resolve this peacefully before or after securing her, we’ll leave it to the Adventurer’s Guild and go home. But if negotiations fail after securing her, we’ll make sure they never want to mess with us again—half-measures might breed resentment. Any questions?”

No one spoke up, so they proceeded to search for Leah using a mix of Dispel Magic, Earth Magic, and Curse Magic.

From high above, they sent a thin, log-shaped probe, using Earth Magic to pass through walls, Curse Magic to evade detection, and Dispel Magic to locate Leah’s signature.

After a thorough search, they found her on the third floor, fourth room from the right corner.

“Found her.”

“Nice!”

With her location confirmed, they gathered basic info on guards and stopped probing, as deeper scans risked detection.

“Third floor, fourth room from the right. One guard at the door, two unknown signatures inside. Can you handle it?”

“No problem.”

“Be careful, though.”

“I know, no underestimating the enemy!”

“Right. Even if they seem weaker, we don’t know their skills. Let’s move.”

Having pinpointed Leah, Tatsuro cast Curse Magic and Mixed Tree and Darkness Magic on Nana to obscure her presence, a technique refined from lessons in Aarenfrit. Unless facing an expert, she’d be undetectable.

With Nana cloaked, Tatsuro held Ai and had Tsukuyomi, using Secom-kun’s body, sprout three pairs of wings.

Grasping a staff, he channeled Dragon Force to Amaterasu to generate wind, speeding through the twilight sky toward the town gate, with Nana in True Form following.

At high altitude, their Endeniente title effects kicked in, letting them adapt instantly. Nana, naturally suited, had no issues.

They landed near the gate, where Tatsuro stored the wings in a water sphere, and Nana shifted to Child Form, as her True Form’s dragon aura was too conspicuous for stealth.

Flying via magic was rare and mana-intensive without special items, so their arrival drew attention from those waiting in line.

Guess we’ll have to use high-rank adventurer privileges this time.

Sorry to everyone waiting in line!

Feeling guilty for cutting ahead, they apologized mentally and rushed to the guard post at the gate. A guard gestured for them to stop.

“You can’t just cut in. Everyone’s waiting their turn.”

“Sorry, it’s an emergency. Here—”

“Oh, my apologies! High-rank adventurers, I presume? And the other one?”

Nana’s concealment worked perfectly; the guard didn’t even glance her way, focusing only on Ai, who confidently showed her Guild Card.

“Here!”

“Confirmed. Sorry for delaying you. There’s a passage for us over here—use it if you’re in a hurry.”

“Thanks. Let’s go, Ai.”

“Yep.”

The guard quickly granted permission, and they passed through a small passage into Lyusiten.

Like Lyadas, it used moving pathways, and the town’s aesthetic was similar, just more ornate. Skipping sightseeing, they took a less crowded path, then switched to flying toward the castle.

“There it is.”

“Looks like it.”

As in Lyadas, the castle revealed itself at a certain distance. Not wanting to seem hostile, they didn’t fly in but landed boldly at the main gate.

“Time to meet this Don Lyusiten Morrow.”

“Not thrilled about it, though.”

Guessing he was someone they’d rather avoid, they steeled themselves for Leah’s sake and approached the wary gatekeepers.