Glorious Return(4)

When you spend a long time rolling through the labyrinth together, you can reach a level of communication where just exchanging glances with your allies is enough.

Just like now.

‘I don’t know what’s going on, but let’s just grab them first.’

As soon as my allies received my glance, they nodded and drew their weapons.

And at the same moment—

“So you have no intention of answering peacefully.”

Coincidentally, the enemy leader made the same judgment as me and charged at us.

“Subdue them first!”

There were fourteen enemies in total, including their leader. Since that number wasn’t a multiple of six, I couldn’t split our forces evenly.

But this isn’t the labyrinth. It’s the middle of the city.

[The character has activated [Gigantification].]

[The character’s physique enlarges. Your threat level and physical stats increase in proportion to your size]

Since I didn’t know how strong they were, I started by enlarging my body first. But as I grew larger, they seemed to notice something.

The charging enemies suddenly stopped in confusion.

“B-Bjorn Jandel…?”

“…It’s the giant!”

“Why is he here when he was reported missing…?”

Wow, thanks for recognizing me, I guess.

“R-Run!”

“We have to call for reinforcements—!”

You think I’ll let you go now?

***

It didn’t take long to take down the group of Noark bastards we ran into at the ruined dimensional square.

Well, their number did drop from fourteen to twelve during the process.

Ah, of course, it wasn’t because we let them escape.

They just died while trying to run.

‘More skilled than I expected.’

They scattered like cockroaches, as if they were used to coordinated escapes.

Two of the faster ones nearly got away while I was trying to capture them alive.

“Well done, Erwin. Would’ve been annoying if they got away.”

“…Don’t mention it.”

With the fight over, I approached one of them who was kneeling on the ground.

‘Twelve.’

A much more manageable number than before.

“Emily, strip the equipment from the dead ones too.”

Since I didn’t know how much time I would have, I decided to loot and interrogate them simultaneously.

This guy seemed like the best to talk to.

“…Ugh!”

I grabbed the leader’s head. He’d been silent and hanging his head ever since we caught him. I forced his head up.

“Hey, Eyeballs.”

At my words, Aynar tilted her head.

“Huh? Bjorn, you know this guy?”

“No?”

“Huh? Then how do you know his name?”

“…What are you talking about? I just called him Eyeballs because I don’t like his eyes.”

Come on, who names their kid Eyeballs?

Sometimes I wonder if Aynar even knows how the world works.

“Haha… I thought…”

Aynar scratched the back of her head awkwardly, and I ignored her as usual.

“Anyway… hey, Eyeballs.”

I called him again, but Eyeballs remained silent,  so I just moved on without waiting for an answer.

“We just got back to the city after a long time. Why the hell are you guys here?”

Again, no answer. So I immediately brought down my hammer.

Not on the leader—

CRACK!

—but on the hand of one of his subordinates.

“AAAHHH!!!”

Subordinate A screamed in agony.

I then went down the line, crushing one hand from each of them.

Once again, I asked the leader the same question.

Still no answer.

But…

“…!”

The way the subordinates clenched their eyes shut told me they’d figured out the rules of this interrogation.

“Hold them steady again, Auyen.”

“Yes…!”

As I began smashing their hands again, one of the subordinates cried out desperately.

“M-Me! I’ll tell you!”

“…Hmm?”

“I can answer your question!”

“Oh, really?”

Since this was the reaction I was aiming for, I wasn’t surprised. The leader, however, hadn’t expected his subordinate to betray him.

“You goddamn bastard…!”

Eyeballs, who had been silent the whole time, glared furiously at Subordinate G.

But true to Noark’s macho society, Subordinate G wasn’t one to back down.

“The fuck else was I supposed to do? You can just keep your mouth shut and be done with it, but we’re the ones getting wrecked here!”

“And you think that bastard’ll let you live just because you talk?”

“Probably not. But it’s better to die less painfully, right? What’s the point in staying loyal when you’re gonna die anyway?”

“If they find out you betrayed us, your family back in the village—!”

“Ugh! Ptooey! You fucking idiot. You didn’t even know I’m a fucking orphan, did you?”

“……”

Yeah, G wins this one.

His argument was sharp, cold, and logical. Eye balls had no comeback to his subordinate’s words.

Of course, he tried to curse belatedly—

“You goddamn son of a—”

“Quiet.”

“Ghk—!”

I didn’t have time to watch them argue.

“Alright, talk. Why are you guys here?”

After silencing Eyeballs, subordinate G began explaining what had happened while we were away.

To summarize:

About two months ago, the remnants of Noark had secretly come back to their old home in the underground city after leaving the castle walls. They were preparing to invade Raphdonia.

“Invasion…?”

“…They’ve lost their minds.”

My allies were shocked as they listened to the story, and Amelia shook her head in disbelief. However, I wasn’t particularly surprised.

I’d already heard about it from the clown at the round table.

‘Didn’t think they’d act so fast, though.’

Perhaps because she was there when the clown brought it up, Versil seemed much calmer than my other allies.

“So? What’s the situation now? Did you guys win? Is that why district seven looks like this?”

“No… We didn’t win. It’s just a temporary stalemate.”

“…Explain.”

“Two days ago, we came up through the sewers and launched a surprise attack on the city, and within a day, we successfully occupied them.”

“Two days ago…?”

I listened to his explanation further and found out that today was exactly one day after the labyrinth had closed.

“So you guys deliberately attacked while the explorers were inside the labyrinth. Most of the royal forces were likely there too.”

“Yes, that’s right…”

And my first thought after hearing all this?

Why is my luck always so terrible?

Out of all times, they had to attack just as we returned?

“Keep talking.”

“Ah, yes…”

Subordinate G continued explaining the situation.

They had targeted the gap between the labyrinth’s opening on Day 1 and the explorers’ return on Day 2.

Thanks to that, they easily overwhelmed the district’s security forces and occupied the city.

And then…

“Yesterday, we ambushed the explorers returning to the city at the dimensional plaza, subdued them all at once, and are now using them as hostages to hold off the royal forces.”

Finally, the current situation.

“From the royal family’s perspective, these hostages’ lives are more valuable than ordinary citizens’, so they can’t just charge in recklessly.”

“Then why were you guys here?”

“We were on patrol. The royal family might send infiltrators, and we also needed to root out any hidden stragglers. Then, one of our mages sensed something in the plaza area, so…”

“Are there more patrols?”

“Not in this immediate area, but…”

His trailing tone suggested that he was hesitating to say more.

Time to play my trump card.

“It’s fine, go ahead. If it helps, I’m willing to spare your life. No, I swear on my honor as a warrior that I will let you go.”

The warrior’s oath, a trick I’d been using since the early days with great success.

G made a conflicted expression but soon spilled the truth.

“We have scheduled reports. If we don’t check in, another patrol will be sent here—”

Even Eyeballs couldn’t hold back and yelled, “You bastard…!!”

This must have been their last line of defense.

So annoying.

“Can you do the report?”

“Yes. I’ve done it a few times. He kept dumping it on me.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I can. I’ve done it a few times before. He often dumped it on me because it was a hassle.”

Then this one’s no longer useful.

CRACK!

I smashed his boss’s head right in front of him, but Subordinate G only flinched before quickly regaining his composure.

“There should be a message stone among the things you took. Give it to me, I’ll take care of it.”

“This must be it.”

Amelia found it and handed it over.

“Go on. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Yes…”

G used the message stone to send a status update. Because he had done it before, it went smoothly.

Now, back to the conversation.

“Anyway, you said ‘some districts.’ Which ones exactly?”

“Why, why are you reacting like that…? Did I make a mistake or something…?”

“…Ha.”

“Wh-what’s wrong…? Did I say something wrong…?”

My luck really is cursed.

Of all the districts they could’ve invaded, why did it have to be our District 7?

I let out a deep sigh but calmed myself and continued.

“Whatever. Tell me, what happened to the sanctuaries?”

District 13 had the Beast People’s sanctuary, and District 7 had ours, the Barbarians’.

As the tribe chief of the barbarians, worrying about the sanctuary was only natural.

“The sanctuaries are currently cut off from the city.”

“Cut off?”

“I’m just a low ranking soldier, so I’m not sure.  But I heard they used magic circles created by the royal family long ago. There are rumors they were made to control the other races… but I’m not sure how true that is.”

Realizing I was the chief of the barbarians, G quickly added,

“Still, since the sanctuary was completely cut off from the city, it should have suffered relatively less damage than here.”

Relatively.

That word told me there had still been some damage.But what could I do?

I’d just have to be grateful for the relativity

“What about District 13…? The Beast People’s side?”

Misha chimed in, clearly worried about her homeland, but it was difficult to get a detailed answer.

“That’s a different district, so I don’t know much… But I’d guess their situation isn’t too different.”

“I see…”

Even if she’d hated her family, Misha bit her lip in concern.

“Jandel, we’ve got most of the info we need. Shouldn’t we move somewhere else first?”

“Move?”

“Just in case. If we get surrounded here, even we’ll have a hard time.”

Following her advice, we decided to leave. Even though the report had gone through, someone might still spot us.

“Then clean up the rest except for this guy. Make sure no traces are left.”

“What about him?”

Amelia glanced at G.

And then—

“We’ll take him with us alive.”

At my words, Subordinate G shot upright.

“I-I knew it! I trusted you, Baron! You’d keep your oath!”

“Yeah, right.”

Amelia scoffed.

She knew I didn’t give a damn about promises like that.

‘Still, with Aynar around, I can’t just break it easily.

Though the biggest reason was that Subordinate G still had more to tell.

Sizzle—!

After using Versil’s magic and Amelia’s exploration tools to erase all traces of the bodies, we moved while hiding our presence as much as possible.

With all of District 7 occupied by Noark, we needed to find a hiding spot to lay low for a while…

“What about the house we used to live in? It shouldn’t be too far from here…”

Following Erwin’s suggestion, we headed for the mansion for which we’d once taken out a loan. The tall fences and the basement made it a pretty good spot for us in several ways.

Of course, in a city turned battlefield, there was no way that house would still be intact.

“Ah, no… My house of memories…! I was planning to save up and buy it back later…!”

Keeping out of sight from other patrols, we reached the building and saw that the second floor had collapsed, seemingly from flame magic. The surrounding area was badly scorched, too.

“Not bad, actually. The exterior’s a mess, but the first floor is fine. This kind of ruined look might even help us stay hidden. The walls are a bit crumbled, and the way the posts are angled will prevent them from seeing inside.”

Amelia approved of the building, and we cautiously stepped inside.

“Auyen. We need to talk among ourselves for a bit. Lock that guy up in the basement.”

“Understood.”

Following orders, Auyen took Subordinate G down to the basement.

“You won’t get any sunlight, but you’ll be fed well.”

“…?”

“Probably.”

For some reason, he looked oddly excited.

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