On their way to the second annex, Ryo and Abel ran into one of Ryo’s acquaintances.
“Hello, Abraham.”
“Ryo, what a nice surprise.”
Abraham Louis ran a weapons shop in Lune. They’d met in Whitnash when Eto bought a crossbow. Later, Abraham had closed his shop and opened a new one in Lune. Ryo had encountered him again at Master Doran’s weapons shop, which Sera frequented. There, Ryo had finally learned his name.
Ryo looked at Abel. “This is Abraham Louis. He makes incredible rapid-fire crossbows, and he’s also a talented clockmaker.”
In Ryo’s head, Abraham Louis was a genius clockmaker, since he shared a name with the most famous clockmaker in Earth’s history, Abraham-Louis Breguet.
Abel and Abraham Louis exchanged greetings.
“Oh, weren’t you promoted to A-rank not too long ago?” Abraham asked, surprised.
“Yes, that’s right. Even though he might not look like it, he’s actually a great swordsman,” Ryo said.
Abel scowled. “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, Abraham—Master Doran mentioned you were working in the margrave’s development workshop.”
“Indeed, I have, for a few weeks now.”
“I come here almost every day to train, but this is the first time I’ve run into you.”
“’Cuz you’re usually at the knights’ barracks,” Abel said with a shake of his head.
“Oh?” Abraham sounded curious.
“He spars with the knights’ instructor,” Abel clarified.
“Their instructor? Ah, I see. So, you’re the adventurer training with Madam Sera! I’ve heard rumors about your amazing bouts.”
Ryo blushed. “They’re nothing special.”
Evidently, word of their sparring matches had spread across so much of the margrave’s estate that even Abraham Louis, who spent most of his time holed up in the workshop, knew...
Abel and Ryo parted ways with Abraham and started toward the second annex again. Before long, they ran into another familiar face. This time, however, both men recognized the fellow...
“GuilMas?”
They’d seen Guild Master Hugh just an hour before, in fact.
“Did ya lads miss me that much? Heh. Ryo, you here to spar with Sera? No, wait—ya do that at the knights’ trainin’ grounds, which is still a ways from here.”
“You’re right, sir, no mock battle today. We’re just on our way to see the prisoners...” Ryo hesitated, unsure what to say, and glanced at Abel for help.
“We wanted to see the mind-break chair in action.” Abel didn’t mince his words.
“Abel, you shouldn’t be so blunt about things like that. Invent a good cover, like you wanted to help out or bring food to the guards...”
Abel shook his head in exasperation. “Yeah, that’s called ‘lying.’”
“Gah! You’re right!” Ryo’s eyes widened as he realized his faux pas.
Hugh sighed softly. “So you wanna see the mind-break chair for yourselves, eh... I s’pose I can understand your fascination. After all, it ain’t somethin’ ordinary, decent folk ever see in their lives.”
“Oh, really? Well, Ryo, looks like you might end up in that prison after all.”
“I am an ordinary, decent person, thank you very much. So no, I won’t. If anything, it’ll be you who ends up there—since you’re anything but ordinary or decent!”
“Hey, remind me how that saying goes? The one about glass houses and stones?”
“The nerve! Well, I have another one about pots and kettles you should hear!”
“You laddies ain’t got nothin’ to worry about—’cause neither o’ you are ordinary or decent,” Hugh interjected.
“Wow...”
They were both left speechless.
✦ ✦ ✦
Chatting amicably together, the three resumed their trek to the second annex.
Then Hugh revealed a shocking fact...
“The chair ain’t in the dungeon.”
“What?”
“It doesn’t get much use, ’cept in cases like this, so they usually keep it in the second annex’s gigantic warehouse. Not to mention, modern alchemists can’t actually build more of ’em, which makes damp dungeons a bad idea for storage.”
“Makes sense,” Abel said with a nod.
But Ryo looked frustrated.
“Why the long face, Ryo?”
“Because I think you’re wrong, Hugh... Kenneth could do it!” Ryo insisted.
“Huh? What do ya want me to do about that?” Hugh asked, finding Ryo’s intensity overwhelming.
“If he had the time, Kenneth would succeed. He’s just too busy. The people around him keep bringing him work...”
“Including you, Ryo. You’re the one who asked him to analyze the box,” Abel muttered.
“W-We didn’t have any choice.” Ryo flinched but quickly recovered. “The country’s fate depended on it!”
When they arrived at the large warehouse near the second annex, they weren’t surprised to find Lune’s knights guarding the doors.
“I’m here to see the knight commander,” Hugh said.
A knight saluted. “We’ve been waiting for you, Master McGlass.”
“Abel, Hugh is giving off a powerful aura.”
“I mean, he is a powerful man, being the guild master and all.”
“I want to try it too.”
“Huh?” As usual, Abel didn’t understand what Ryo meant.
“No one invited me, but I am here nonetheless,” Ryo announced.
The knight blinked at him. “Oh, well, um... I suppose that’s fine...”
“I did it, Abel! One look at me, and he let me right in, just like that. Does this make me a bigwig too? I always thought it was cool whenever Sera did it, but I managed it too!”
Abel shook his head. “Man, did you seriously confuse that poor guy just to look cool? I still don’t understand how that brain of yours works.”
“Aren’t you coming in, Abel? I’m sure you can get in if you follow me.”
“Oh, yeah? Is that how it works?” Abel glanced at the knight.
“At your leisure,” the knight said, letting him pass.
As its name suggested, the Second Annex Great Storehouse was enormous. It stretched almost two hundred meters, making it roughly the size of a dome stadium on Earth. Despite the vast space, there were only a few pieces of cargo stored in one corner, leaving most of it empty. But the thing that really caught Ryo’s and Abel’s eyes was—
“They’re all lined up on the floor...”
“A weird sight, huh?”
—the eighteen prisoners, wearing stun shackles, neatly lined on the floor at equal intervals.
At the very back, another man sat on a chair with an unusually large backrest fitted with all sorts of alchemical contraptions. A lone alchemist stood behind the chair, manipulating the controls. Knights were positioned around the chair and along the warehouse walls.
Hugh walked toward one of them.
“About damn time you showed up, Hugh,” Neville Black, commander of Lune’s knights, called out.
“Shove it, Neville,” Hugh replied. “So this is the mind-break chair, eh? It’s massive.”
“That backrest has all kinds of things built into it. I don’t know the details myself, though.”
“’N’ the fellow behind it—”
“Is Baron Hayward’s subordinate. Raden, I believe?”
“Ah, right, from the Royal Center for Alchemy...”
Ryo and Abel glanced at one another as they listened.
“It looks like the chair is already being used.”
“Yup, I can hear something.”
When they focused, they could hear a low whirring.
“The general’s the one sitting in the chair, right?”
“Yeah, Rancius.”
“I expected some sort of extension to rise out of the chair, pierce his eyeball or ear or something, and invade his brain, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. His eyes are closed... His head is fixed to the chair, but he doesn’t seem to be in pain.”
“It’s not a torture device,” Abel said with a shrug.
Ryo had pictured a grisly scene: a prisoner strapped to the chair, screaming in agony while information was extracted from their head. Honestly, he wasn’t a fan of torture, so he was relieved that his expectation was off the mark.
“If anything, he looks almost...peaceful.”
“For once, we agree, Ryo. Who knows, maybe it even feels good?”
Strangely, General Rancius’s expression became more tranquil as time went on.
“Abel, after this is over...”
“No way in hell!”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say!”
“Yes, I do. You were gonna tell me to test it out myself, right? So let me repeat myself: No. Way. In. Hell!”
“A swordsman should be the first to charge in...”
“Piss off!” Abel scowled, stubbornly refusing. “If you wanna know so bad, you do it.”
“Absolutely not. I’m a magician.”
“And how is that relevant?!”
“A magician is supposed to be in a safe, secure position in the rear, giving orders and supervising,” Ryo explained, his voice taking on a lofty tone.
Abel simply sighed in exasperation and shook his head.
And so, they passed the time peacefully (?) at the margrave’s estate...
Until the clang of bells suddenly rang out throughout the city of Lune, shattering the serenity.