The air was sliced with a whoosh as the scythe swung around. The impact sent slash-type reverberations around the room. It was clear what was happening; everything about a meter and thirty centimeters high was being sliced through in a straight, horizontal line.
The pillars, the clock on the wall, the chairs, the paintings—everything got cut. At the same time—
“Wha—?!”
“Agh!”
“Bwah!”
Blood and innards spewed everywhere as the scythe signaled death for the men. Bodies thunked to the floor, one after the other.
†
About ten corpses littered the ground of the main hall. No signs of reinforcements on the way.
At last, the only ones remaining were the captured women and us.
“Grade... Grade 4?” Ms. Mimi looked halfway vacant.
Mr. Hannibal’s sweat-drenched face was astonished. In this world, Grade 2 was considered amazing, so nothing could be done about their reactions.
He managed to compose himself first. “Um... Ms. Mimi? We’ve accomplished what we came here for, so how about we search the rest of the mansion for the remaining slaves?”
She hadn’t yet recovered from the shock, seemingly off in la-la land.
“Ms. Mimi!” Mr. Hannibal clapped right next to her ears, like a sumo wrestler would to his opponent. The sound was so loud, I was pretty sure it would wake someone up from light Sleep Magic. Probably the best thing he could’ve done in this case.
“Ah...” She rebooted. “Right. To be frank, our only concern is the princess’s safety.”
“We can’t just leave the rest of them like this. I don’t sense any strong guards in the area either.”
“All right. I’m not particularly up to it, but let’s release as many of the other slaves as we can. But we must evacuate as soon as there’s any danger.”
Mr. Hannibal nodded, satisfied. He seemed to hate illegal activities in general, so it figured that he wouldn’t back down from this.
“And Master Hannibal? Do you know where the others are being kept? I can’t give you much time.”
“We’ll have to check several rooms, but it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes. We have the floor plan, after all.”
I had a few questions after listening to their exchange. This facility was meant to house high-quality products, so wouldn’t it have special hidden rooms for products that were especially rare? I knew how the place was generally laid out thanks to the magic I’d cast beforehand, but there was no guarantee I’d be able to pinpoint any hidden rooms. If we were going to save the rest of the slaves, I’d have preferred to do so without leaving anyone behind.
“Um...” I volunteered.
“Yes, Iijima?”
“Wouldn’t it be faster for us to ask the guys in this mansion directly?”
“We could have, but you defeated all of them.”
“There’s one that might be able to talk if we heal him up.”
“Heal him? But...all of their hearts have stopped. I’m a decent adventurer myself, so I know my way around these things.”
I myself wasn’t able to sense whether someone’s heart had stopped or not, so I thought he was pretty incredible for that.
I walked toward one of the fallen men who—as far as I could tell—was the strongest among them. If I recalled correctly, he didn’t fall quite as quickly after getting hit by one of Alice’s bullets. He’d been twitching up until a bit ago, so he apparently hadn’t died immediately either.
“What are you doing, Iijima?” Mr. Hannibal asked.
“I’m not too confident about this, but I’ll give it a try.”
I could’ve used Revival Magic, but there were a lot of drawbacks to doing so for the user. It would’ve been stupid of me to do it for an enemy. What I was about to do was based on what Gabriel had once told me: if the opponent did not die instantly, then there was a high chance that they could be revived using Recovery Magic, as it would take care of the physical damage done. It wasn’t quite that simple, though, since complications would arise from brain regression due to having no oxygen and their astral body being separated, among other things. Think of it like giving a person a cardiac massage. Revival by such a method was only temporary and had a lot in common with what I was about to do. That was the easiest way to understand it.
At any rate, using Recovery Magic to get information out of this guy was my best option. I reached my hand out toward him.
“Grade 4: Heal of the Powers.”
The signature silver light symbolizing holy deities shone, mixing with the emerald light associated with healing. The sight was beautiful and otherworldly. Made it even more ironic to be applied to a bad guy.
“So you really can use Grade 4?!” Ms. Mimi had come back to her senses enough to scream. I nodded, hoping that would be enough of an answer, but she kept going. “Lady Alice also seems to possess incredible strength... Just who are you all?!”
Ugh, I don’t wanna explain. Am too lazy.
Up to this point, Mr. Hannibal had done nothing but help me out, and did so here yet again. “Ms. Mimi, Iijima... I mean, Mr. Iijima doesn’t seem intent on answering. It would be best for us to not ask.”
“But Master Hannibal! Can we really just let this remain a mystery after being shown so much?!”
“For a G—” He cleared his throat. “I mean, a person of his liking to cooperate with us is more than enough. That in itself is already an unbelievable blessing. It would be best not to pry.”
He was about to call me a God, meaning he’s already figured out who I am. I’m really grateful he’s here. I would’ve been exhausted getting attacked by Ms. Mimi’s questions.
I looked down at the man who’d begun blinking and clearly didn’t understand the situation. Seemed the Recovery Magic had worked and brought air back to his lungs.
“Wh-Wh-What? Who are you people...?”
After ensuring that he was properly revived, I said, “Grade 4: Brain Jack.”
An immediate brainwashing spell. Asking him questions without doing this might only bring us lies, or he could get away and call for help.