Chapter 65

Keeping a wizard restrained, especially a noble, was no easy task. Bind their entire body in chains, and they could heat the metal until it melted and escape. Lock them in a room with thick walls, and they would simply make a passage through them.

Yet instead of escaping that way, Solif merely leaned against the wall, helpless. Judging by the mana flowing through the chains around him, those were probably the problem.

'Something that can restrain a top-ranking noble must be a treasure practically on par with a Holy Relic...'

Of course, that was hardly surprising, given that the nobles gathered here were most likely House Baraha's elite, sent to capture Solif. What puzzled him more was that they were staying so casually on Deben Island, the pirate Covinus's last stronghold.

Should he flee now, or stay a little longer and learn more? After a moment's deliberation, Turan chose the latter.

Unless he was in immediate danger, more information could only improve his position. And as it happened, there was someone here who could give him precisely the information he needed.

Turan withdrew a short distance from the cell and formed a wind channel, an application of wind magic. Normally, he used it to launch stones swiftly and silently, but with a slight modification, it could serve another purpose: creating a path from his mouth to another person's ear to carry his voice in secret.

["Hey."]

Startled by the unexpected voice, Solif jerked, making his chains clank. The young noble who had been lounging nearby wheeled around in alarm and shouted.

"Shit, what was that? I told you, you're never getting those off! Scaring me for nothing..."

His utter contempt was hardly the attitude one would expect toward the heir of a great house. Once silence returned, Turan spoke again through the wind channel.

["Sit still and don't move your face. I'll make it so you can speak without being heard."]

After confirming that Solif's silhouette had gone rigid and motionless, Turan formed a second wind channel. This one ran from inside his own ear to Solif's mouth.

["Done. I can hear you even if you're quiet, so whisper."]

["Who are you?"]

["The man you drank with on the beach a little while ago."]

["... Oh, right. Turan. That was your name. How are you doing this? A magic tool?"]

Having met him only once a few days earlier, Solif had not immediately recognized Turan's voice. The wind channel distorting it somewhat probably played a part as well. Rather than answer, Turan asked a question of his own.

["The nobles here are Baraha's elite, aren't they?"]

["Yes. They were determined to take me back. I put up a pretty good fight, but they brought so many magic tools for subduing people that I didn't stand a chance. Don't tell me you've come to rescue me... No, I doubt that."]

["I went to Parayan Island and found that someone called Covinus was kidnapping people left and right and using them as slaves. I came to kill him, and this is what I found."]

["... I only learned this today myself, but Covinus is a cover identity used by someone from my—House Baraha. He uses a magic tool that changes his face. Probably the same one my childhood friend used."]

The way he had caught himself before saying "my house" felt telling. In any case, as Turan had suspected, the Covinus Pirates appeared to be an organization House Baraha had created to extend its influence into the South Sea. Men like Vagos, whom he had killed a few hours earlier, were probably local underlings recruited under that false identity.

["I told you to get as far away from your house as you could."]

If Solif had taken Turan's advice seriously and fled west toward Shiraf Marsh, he would not have ended up a prisoner here in mere days. Clearly, he had continued exploring the South Sea afterward.

["Ha ha. Honestly, I didn't think they'd come for me so soon. Or bring this much strength..."]

At most, he had expected his parents or three or four relatives to come and try to persuade him, Solif murmured bitterly.

Now that he understood the situation, Turan considered his next move. He had already provoked them by destroying two of the Covinus Pirates' main bases, but he had only killed local pirates so far. If he stopped here, he could still keep matters from escalating too far.

Rescuing Solif, however, would amount to punching Baraha square in the face. A great house was far too powerful to face alone—or even with two nobles, if he counted the rescued Solif as an ally.

By comparison, slipping away felt far more tempting. He was not close enough to Solif to take such a risk in the first place, and he had yet to mention any information that might provoke the divine being possibly backing Baraha—

'Ha.'

Midway through that train of thought, Turan realized he was frightened and searching for an excuse to retreat. He had come here because the Covinus Pirates kidnapped ordinary people, worked them mercilessly, and abused them. Their actions reminded him of the wicked nobles his mother had told him about, who captured knights and worked them like slaves. In those oppressed people, he saw his younger self, terrified of evil nobles.

Did anything change simply because his enemy was a great house, one of the most powerful armed forces in the world? If anything, people that powerful terrorizing ordinary folk was all the more vile. Rampaging freely when he thought his enemy weak, then tucking his tail like a damned dog upon discovering a stronger foe, was sheer cowardice.

["Solif."]

["What?"]

["Want me to get you out?"]

["I'd love that, obviously, but can you? Between their numbers and their strength, they could wipe out a dozen or more ordinary wizard houses. Some of them even have my magic tools. I know you're good, but it'll be difficult."]

Come to think of it, Solif had carried several apparently powerful magic tools, befitting Baraha's heir. Now, apart from the chains binding him, he was completely unarmed. Then again, why would they let a man they intended to drag home keep such things?

["I have a way. First, those chains. If I remove them, can you fight again?"]

["I might look all right, but I'm hurt pretty badly in quite a few places. I don't think I can fight without treatment."]

["Then I'll heal you. But you have to agree to two things."]

["What are they? Let's hear them."]

["First, apart from us, no noble on this island is leaving alive today."]

No answer came immediately. After a moment, Solif spoke in a slightly trembling voice.

["... You're going to kill them all?"]

["Yes."]

["That's a bit much. They're still members of my house—"]

Having expected that response, Turan quietly began to explain. He told him everything: the memoir left by one of the divine people, a Freyan, that he had discovered on his travels, and the conclusions he had drawn from it.

Solif's voice trembled faintly upon hearing the theory that he would be used as a vessel for a god's soul.

["You didn't just make all that up, did you?"]

["If necessary, I can let you verify some of the evidence later. If I made it up, you can kill me."]

The Solif he had met on the beach probably would not have taken those words very seriously. Back then, he had merely been a young runaway escaping a house that controlled and manipulated him.

Now, however, his house's wizards had descended on him and ruthlessly subdued him as though hunting a monster. He could hardly dismiss it. The theory explained precisely why they had overpowered him without showing the slightest respect for him as their heir.

["All right. I'll believe that for now. But... do we have to kill them all? Couldn't we just take down the one in front of me and escape together?"]

["Plenty of people already know I'm attacking the Covinus Pirates. The moment I free you, it'll be obvious who did it. From then on, neither of us will have any way back with Baraha. If we're going to be enemies anyway, we need to take every opportunity to weaken them as much as possible and strengthen ourselves."]

Inflicting heavy losses here would also hamper House Baraha's pursuit. A great house needed a correspondingly large number of powerful nobles hunting monsters to maintain its territory. If it sent still more nobles away after losing so many strong ones, it would weaken its own foundations.

When Turan finished explaining and fell silent, Solif answered in a despondent voice.

["All right. I understand. What's the second thing?"]

["I want you to travel with me and give me your full support in everything I do. For about twenty years."]

Twenty years was his estimate of how long it would take to become strong enough to escape a great house's head alive, even if he could not match one. Whether he encountered opponents powerful enough to grant him such strength would depend on luck, of course.

Demanding his full support was closer to recruiting a subordinate than a companion—a condition a top-ranking noble like Solif might find humiliating. So Turan added a piece of bait the other man could not possibly resist.

["In return for the second condition, I'll tell you something you'd desperately want to know."]

["What?"]

["I know where the drowned god's corpse is."]

* * *

Once their negotiations and tactical discussion were finished, Turan entered the dungeon again, still concealed. He circled behind the noble, who was still standing guard with the same insolent air, clamped a hand over his mouth, and drove a dagger into his throat.

"Ghk—"

The Baraha noble's eyes flew wide in shock as he tried to resist, but he could not overcome Turan's physical strength, backed by far greater mana and a well-trained body. After stabbing him several more times in the chest and belly, Turan flung the lifeless body forward.

Solif, who had watched silently from inside the cell, spoke in a hollow voice.

"You really killed him..."

"Yes, I really did. Now hold still. I'll get you out."

Turan had already revealed after their negotiations that he could use the Zahar bloodline's power, so that did not surprise Solif. Casually bending the bars aside, Turan entered and examined the chains restraining him.

According to Solif, the magic tool's function was remarkably simple yet powerful. Once wrapped around a living creature, its restraining force grew with the time it remained in place, suppressing the captive's use of mana. It was difficult to use in combat by throwing it around an enemy, but nothing could match it for keeping a defeated foe securely bound.

Turan used wind-based lock-picking magic to open the lock holding the chains together. Solif rolled his arms, loosening his stiff body.

"Ugh. So my mana really doesn't come back right away..."

"Rest a little. I'll heal you."

Before entering, Turan had already absorbed the Healer Bloodline's power stored in the Mimic Holy Relic, so he immediately cast healing magic on Solif. Having used a quarter of it on Vije, he had about three-quarters left. The more powerful a Magic Creature was, the more mana it took to heal the same wound, making a complete cure difficult. Still, since none of the injuries were serious to begin with, he could heal Solif enough that they would not hinder him in battle.

As Turan finished and absorbed the mana from the noble's body, Solif, his physical strength fully restored, muttered incredulously.

"Stealth and healing magic... Are you sure you aren't a reincarnated Freyan yourself?"

"Don't exaggerate. You remember the plan?"

"Of course. You only just told me."

As they left the dungeon together, Turan paid close attention to the presences upstairs. He had been wary of the possibility, but none of them seemed to have noticed what had happened below.

After sending Solif outside, Turan went upstairs and discovered that the entire sleeping quarters occupied by the nobles were shrouded in mana. It was unmistakably the power of the Barrier-user bloodline.

'Of course. With the Enril Desert just to the north, they wouldn't leave themselves unguarded.'

Naturally, Zahar nobles had no reason to suddenly attack anyone outside an enemy house such as Arabion. Still, wanting precautions against people capable of stealth nearby was only human nature. Or perhaps they were simply guarding against their vulnerability while asleep.

Remaining still and concealed, he sent a signal with a single flash of flame outside the window. Before long, Solif began wreaking havoc outside, swinging the same whips of light he had used before.

"I'm! Free!"

His shout boomed with the tremendous volume characteristic of a high-ranking noble. Light and fire erupted in every direction, waking the sleeping fortress in an instant. While the pirates scurried about in confusion, Turan sensed the barrier around the sleeping quarters lift.

"What's happening?"

"He's broken free!"

"How? Enke was guarding him!"

"We need to subdue him again. One of you, go down to the dungeon and check for the chains! The rest, follow me!"

The Baraha nobles' voices were thick with confusion. Naturally so: Solif's escape was something they had considered utterly impossible.

And so, as they hurried down the corridor, they failed to notice the pitch-black powder scattered thickly along its entire length. Not that it would have been easy to spot in a corridor at night without night vision like the Zahar bloodline's.

Using flight magic, Turan dropped away from the window and ignited the Spirit of Fire covering the corridor.