It was still morning when we arrived at the Public Safety Regiment’s barracks behind the castle. Advance word of our visit must have been given to the guard out front who, upon my addressing him, informed us that we were expected and led Oltea, Frieze, and me up to a room on the third floor.
“Right in here,” he said, ushering us into what looked to be an office. There was a large window behind the desk that looked out onto the area around the castle and gave the room a grandeur which made an immediate, powerful impression. It was an ideal space for Oltea, but she wasn’t looking at the palace as I would have expected. Instead, she and Frieze were looking uneasily at the person we had come to meet: a middle-aged man who, though seated, struck an imposing figure.
“Appreciate the escort, soldier. You’re dismissed,” the man said.
“Yes, sir!” the guard said, then departed at once.
Once it was just the four of us, the man looked us over closely as if making an appraisal. When his intimidating gaze met Oltea’s and Frieze’s eyes, they froze up, becoming quiet and meek. Seeing them shrink into themselves, the man let out an amused chuckle at their expense.
“No need to quake in your boots,” he said gruffly. “You’re not on the chopping block. Actually, I wanted to extend my thanks to you three.”
“Well, I wasn’t scared anyways!” Frieze said unconvincingly.
“Th-That isn’t a face that says ‘gratitude,’” Oltea said.
“Well, it’s the only one I’ve got. I was born with this scowl. It even makes my grandkids cry,” he sighed, gesturing for us to take a seat. His expression grew somehow even more serious as we settled into the sofa. “I’m Captain Favel, chief officer of the Public Safety Regiment. I’ve been hearing all about your handiwork. Seems your merry band has been keeping the peace in my men’s stead... I really can’t thank you enough.”
“We appreciate that, but I’m not sure gratitude is merited,” I said. “Verrick and his crew tried to kill us. All we did was defend ourselves.”
“That may be, but I’m told that if you three hadn’t been there, we’d now be counting corpses.”
“You say ‘you three,’ but it was really just Kaito,” Oltea said.
“We’re just two more people he managed to save. If not for Kaito, we’d both be dead right about now. We’ll be thanking him forever!” said Frieze.
“You shouldn’t be thanking me. If anything, I should apologize for wrapping you two up in my mess. If I weren’t around, you wouldn’t have to be scared of anything like that happening again,” I said.
“You don’t need to apologize to us! Verrick is the only one at fault,” Oltea said.
“Yeah, exactly! Besides, I’m not ‘scared’ of anything like that happening again,” Frieze said. I already knew how they both felt, but hearing them put it into words made me feel better.
Still, if people were going to keep trying to kill me, then it was probably better to keep my distance from Oltea and Frieze. It was likely that Verrick would be set free. Since rank A adventurers were permitted to do anything short of murder without consequence, there was nothing to stop him from continuing to make attempts on my life until he succeeded.
Really, what did Verrick hold so bitterly against me anyhow? The timing was strange as well: if he was nursing grudge against me, why wouldn’t he have attacked at our first encounter? I had been completely unprepared and vulnerable. If he had made use of his kamaitachi then and there, I’d have been an easy kill. The fact that he had passed up the opportunity led me to think that he’d had no intention of killing me at that time. I couldn’t think of anything I might have said during our brief meeting to offend him either. His urge to kill me must have developed some time after our meeting.
I could only think of two reasons why that might have happened, the first being a request to end my life from one or all of the four women in his company who had failed to seduce me. The second was—
“Shot in the dark here, but are there any bugs in this country with a bite that can send people into a frenzy?” I asked.
“Hmm? What do you mean?” asked Favel.
“They may have already healed, but...Verrick and the four women who attacked us all had wounds on their hands. Small prick marks like the ones a needle would leave.”
“I’ve lived in the Royal Capital for a long time, but I’ve never heard of any bug like that.”
“I see...” That tracked. An insect like that would have rendered the city extremely unsafe, but in the two months since my arrival, I hadn’t heard talk of any incidents like the one that had befallen us. Furthermore, even if such a pest existed, there was no reason that everyone affected would be targeting me in particular.
It had to be the other explanation: after Verrick returned to town, the four women who’d propositioned me had told him of my rejection and he’d decided to come kill me.
“Do you know what Verrick’s relationship to those women is?” I asked.
“Not in detail. I can say for sure that they share no relation, though. Verrick is a single man,” Favel said.
They weren’t family and yet he’d still accepted their request to kill me? It was hard enough to believe he’d do something like that for beloved grandchildren. If they weren’t family, it was even more confusing. It just didn’t seem likely that Verrick, who had already dedicated his twilight years to the battle against the Demon King, would, after all this time, take a hit job for money.
No matter how much I turned things over in my head, I just couldn’t make it click. I would have to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth.
“Where is Verrick now?”
“They’re all in the dungeon. I’d like to pick their brains too, but all five of them are out cold,” Favel said. Stun Beam’s effect had yet to fade, then. I wondered how long until they would wake up given that the power was only supposed to temporarily incapacitate its target...
“Can we see them?” I asked. They had wanted me dead so badly. Perhaps if I approached them they’d feel another twinge of murderous impulse and wake up instinctively. If not, I could probably rouse them with my beam. No matter how drowsy they still were, one shot from a new variant, which I’d call something like “Morning Beam,” would set them right.
“Sure, I don’t see why not. I’ll show you the way,” Favel said. We left the office behind and proceeded, at Favel’s direction, to the dungeon down below. As we descended the stairs, a troop came running up the opposite way.
“Ah, Captain! Impeccable timing. I was just on my way to inform you that all five detainees regained consciousness just a short time ago.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, sir. I should add that something about them seems off, though.”
We continued down the steps until we arrived at the dungeon. A cold atmosphere, layered with the sounds of distant cries, pervaded the halls. Somewhere, a woman sobbed, her lament provoking an angry yell from another cell.
“Please, someone let me out of here!”
“This is tyranny!”
“Ugh... Please... Let me go home, please...”
“Aaaghhh! Father!”
Crammed into one cell, the four women were crying out. Verrick sat in the neighboring enclosure with a bewildered look on his face.
“Did something happen here?” Favel asked the guard on duty.