“Sa... Sa...” Baltzarond spluttered, eyes wide in shock. “Savage?! Is this an attempt to sow disorder, knowing that I am Count Baltzarond Flenneroth, renowned hunter of the Five Holy Nobles?! Speak carefully, for your answer will decide your fate!”
“With all due respect, Sir Baltzarond, these outsiders are from the shallows—and from a newly formed world on the first level, at that. They wouldn’t know of the Five Holy Nobles,” one of his subordinates said.
“Huh?!” Baltzarond ground his teeth in frustration. “Curse you... Country bumpkins...”
“You’re a funny one, Baltzarond,” I said. He shot me a sharp glare as all his subordinates drew their swords, ready to fight. “Now, there’s no need to rush to your death. You may be terribly impolite, but if your purpose was to retrieve the Sword of Three Races, then you at least have just reason. We can put it behind us if we talk about it.”
Baltzarond narrowed his eyes further. “Quite the condescending attitude for a thief.”
“But you’re wrong about that. The origins of Evansmana are unknown. As far as we know, it has always been in our world. If it had been stolen before, then we weren’t involved in it.”
Baltzarond appeared to be listening.
“Give us the name of the culprit. If there’s enough proof, we’ll catch them and hand them over to you,” I said.
“Oh? So you’re saying you’ll prove your innocence! Surely you know what will happen if you lie to me?” he asked.
“Do as you please.”
He chuckled. “Very well! Show him the evidence!”
His subordinates stirred noisily.
“What’s wrong? Hurry it up!”
One soldier ran up to him. “Um, Sir Baltzarond. This mission was a decree from the Holy King, so...”
He whispered something in Baltzarond’s ear which caused him to yelp. “There’s no evidence?! Fools, every last one of you! We treated them like thieves with no proof! I explicitly told you all to confirm the culprit before our departure!”
“Th-That’s not it! There is proof, but we weren’t informed of it! His Holy Majesty’s words are the greatest proof of all.”
“What?! His Holy Majesty’s words?! Mere words cannot serve as evidence!”
“Th-That’s going too far, sir!”
“How is it going too far?! Judging an innocent without evidence sullies the reputation of the Five Holy Nobles!”
“But to doubt a decree from his Holy Majesty...”
Baltzarond’s subordinates immediately recoiled at the sudden outpouring of his menacing aura. It seemed like they were stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“Enough!” Baltzarond snapped. He stepped before me. “My apologies. It seems I’ve framed an innocent for a crime they didn’t commit. The mistakes of my subordinates are my responsibility. I shall return the sword to you.”
He held out the Sword of Three Races.
“Sir Baltzarond! You can’t do that!”
“Who knows what punishment we’ll face!”
“Silence!”
His subordinates stopped speaking.
“Pinning the blame on an innocent just to protect yourself?” Baltzarond said. “Quiet and refrain from tarnishing the name of the hunters any further than you already have!”
It turned out Baltzarond was an unexpectedly reasonable man. Well, he was still careless for not checking beforehand.
“The Sword of Three Races has its own will,” he said, turning back to us. “If Evansmana went to your world by itself, we can only obey its desire. If we find evidence of thievery at a later date, we will return to retrieve it again. This is what it means to respect a fellow person.”
I looked over at Lay, who stepped forwards and accepted the Sword of Three Races.
“Allow me to introduce myself again. I am Baltzarond Flenneroth.”
“Anos Voldigoad.”
“I apologize for my actions. If there’s anything I can do to make up for it, just say the word,” he said.
“Hmm. I have several questions for you.” I drew a magic circle and pulled out the red claw the one-armed man had thrown at mom. “Do you know what this is?”
Baltzarond’s Magic Eyes widened.
“Sir Baltzarond!” his subordinates yelled. “Get back!”
At the same time, Baltzarond distanced himself from me, suddenly wary.
“This man— This man is...!”
His men released their magic from every pore of their bodies. Their Eyes were widened to the limit, watching us with an intensity unlike anything else until now.
No, it was animosity, not intensity. Their eyes had the still coldness of hunters before a savage beast.
“Stop making a fuss. I know,” Baltzarond said to his subordinates.
“Is this item that big of a deal?” I asked.
“Anos Voldigoad, was it? What you have there is an item that we, the residents of the Holy Sword World Hyphoria, cannot overlook.”
Baltzarond stared at me coldly. It was as if his relaxed expression from earlier had been an aberration; what he was now was another hunter before his prey.
“Where did you obtain it?” he asked.
“It was dropped by a bandit who invaded our world just a little while ago.”
The moment I said that, two of his subordinates charged at me.
“Stop rushing to conclusions,” I said, scolding. “I’m still speaking.”
Their swords swung down mercilessly, paying no attention to my words. Shin and Lay both used their demon swords to block them.
“It’s impossible for anyone from the shallows to repel the Lions of Ruin!” one soldier yelled.
“Sir Baltzarond, this guy has to be in cahoots with Atzenon! If we cannot capture him, we must destroy him,” shouted the other.
While those two had been attacking, the other soldiers had raised their bows and nocked their arrows, pointing every one at me.
“It must be tiring to have to manage such hot-blooded subordinates. It’s the same as before, no? You have no proof.”
“With no proof, there’s no crime. From one person to another, that is the minimum respect we should hold for each other,” Baltzarond said with a bitter face. “But beasts are another matter. Not only did you have Evansmana, but you also have an Atzenon claw. And now, as a noble hunter, I must hunt you down.”
“Oh?”
That was a quick change of heart.
“I cannot allow you to take Evansmana and return to your world. However, as an apology for the false accusation made earlier, I will grant you one final mercy,” Baltzarond said boldly and confidently, as though buoyed by justice. “If you are as innocent as you say, put down all your weapons and agree to become our captives. If you do so, in the name of Count Baltzarond, I will exert all efforts to prove your innocence.”
“And if I refuse?” I said.
“You will not live to see another day,” he stated bluntly.
Regardless of my answer, his subordinates were prepared to kill. The moment we let our guards down, those arrows would rain down on us without hesitation.
Unlike the swords they wielded, their bows had incredible magic—as if the swords were to be used against their fellow man, while these bows were exclusively for use against beasts. And if so, then Baltzarond seemed to be on the softer end of these so-called noble hunters.
“Hm. I see now. You think it’s impossible for something like Atzenon’s claw to be stolen from that girl, Costoria. Thus, you assume that she and I are allies.” I drew a magic circle in front of me. “In other words, in order for me to prove my innocence, I just have to prove I’m stronger than her, correct?”
“Atzenon’s Lions of Ruins are monsters that can easily destroy even nations from the depths!” Baltzarond refuted. “You cannot prove such a thing. Surrender now, for your own good.”
“Bwa ha ha. Such dramatics for something supposedly at the level of a backwater slum. Real monsters should be perfectly capable of destroying worlds.”
A jet-black sun appeared from the magic circle.
“Jio Graze.”
The jet-black sun shot towards Baltzarond. But it was strange—the flames were noticeably weaker than usual.
“Elrosse.”
The moment the cross of light Baltzarond released touched Jio Graze, the black sun froze over. Elrosse didn’t stop there either—it passed through Jio Graze and continued flying towards me. I leaped to the side to evade it.
Or so I thought, but the light brushed against my right leg as it approached, freezing it up to the knee. Was my body heavier than normal? No, that wasn’t it.