Chapter 48 - Let's Hand It Over

Thanks to moving somewhat hurriedly, we succeeded in escaping the auction house, but the moment we came up to the volunteer facility on the first floor, we failed to escape the building due to massive mana enveloping the surroundings.

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the massive mana surrounding the building.

It must be that guy.

Considering that the mana surrounding the building felt the same as what I felt in the North's laboratory, and that guy was the owner of the black heart, the one blocking us was most likely the same guy we met in the laboratory.

Realizing the situation had become quite troublesome, I tried to break through the barrier using a point explosion, but it was impossible to penetrate as the power was still insufficient.

Then the only option left is to ask Siren.

Reaching that conclusion, I quickly said to Siren, "Siren, do you think you can break through this magic barrier?"

At that question, Siren stared blankly at the barrier and then slowly nodded.

"I think I can... but it will take some time."

"How long?"

"5 minutes?"

Siren's overwhelming magical talent, beyond human understanding, gave rise to hope.

But this was literally just hope, the problem wasn't solved yet, so I took a deep breath and narrowed my eyes.

We'll just have to hold out as long as possible.

Thinking we had no choice but to move forward trusting in Daisy, who had grown stronger after eating the artificial sun, I called Daisy.

"Daisy."

"Mmyeong!?"

Daisy seemed to be gradually absorbing the artificial sun she had eaten earlier, as she was emitting intense waves while brightly illuminating her body like before.

As I told Daisy to lend me her power and grabbed the hammer, Daisy patted her bulging belly and filled me with the sun's power, as if telling me to just trust her.

...Amazing.

I could feel my physical abilities had increased incomparably to before.

Thinking that at this level, even if I couldn't defeat that guy, I might be able to hold out, I was gripping the hammer tightly when suddenly, black flames flickered in the air, and a man wearing a robe walked out of the flames with an expression distorted by anger.

"You lowly trash."

Perhaps because he had lost the artificial sun, the relaxed and arrogant demeanor he had shown before had completely disappeared.

I could feel him glaring at me with an expression full of nothing but anger.

As I was sneering at him as calmly as possible, he took out a staff with dozens of eyeballs attached to it from the air and said to me, "Where is the artificial sun?"

At those words, I lifted Daisy, who was burping "mmyak" on my shoulder, and said, "In the stomach?"

At my words, he frowned even more strongly than before and said to me, "...Stomach?"

It seemed he couldn't even imagine that Daisy had eaten the artificial sun.

So I smiled and told him the truth again.

"Daisy ate the artificial sun. So it's in her stomach."

Because it was such an unbelievable thing, he tried to deny it with a sneer when he heard my words, but…

"There's no way that's possi..."

He seemed to realize that the power of the artificial sun was emanating from inside Daisy's body, as he stopped mid-sentence and froze.

I was laughing loudly because the expression the black mage was making was quite funny, he seemed unable to bear it any longer and gathered mana together, saying to me, "I'll make you regret being alive."

"Try it if you can."

Deciding to struggle as much as possible to keep attention away from Siren, I gathered Daisy's power in one place.

Then I poured flames that melt everything onto him, trying to push him back, but he lightly brushed off the approaching flames and said to me, "How pathetic."

It was roughly what I had expected, but the difference in power was too extreme.

Of course, considering that last time I could do nothing but stand still, it was a huge improvement.

But this was because Daisy had become stronger and could withstand it, not because I had become stronger, so complicated emotions washed over me.

As I was thinking this, the black mage pointed his staff towards me.

He started creating a large dark sphere by gathering mana filled with killing intent.

A huge sphere that could fill the entire building interior.

It was certain death if touched by that, so I tried to block the sphere using a point explosion, but

It was realistically impossible to block an attack created by a strong opponent with combat power similar to Loraine's, so I failed to break it.

...Now what do I do?

The fact that even the most powerful attack had no effect meant that simply pouring out other attacks couldn't reverse the situation, so I was conflicted when suddenly, space itself distorted and the black sphere split in half and vanished.

It was literally what happened.

The surroundings twisted and things that shouldn't mix got mixed together, and then the sphere disappeared with an intense shockwave.

As I was blinking at this unbelievable result, a somewhat familiar voice was heard from the side.

"...Young Master."

Loraine's voice.

The moment I heard that voice, I smiled, realizing that our most reliable ally had returned.

"Loraine!"

"How is it? Are you glad I'm back?"

Loraine smiled playfully and then reported the results to me.

"I haven't completely reached Sword Master yet... but I've at least stepped into it, so I hurried back."

At her response as if saying, "I did well, didn't I?" I nodded.

Loraine looked at me with a satisfied expression and then slowly turned her gaze to look at the black mage and said, "So what shall we do? Kill him? Or leave him alive?"

A question that didn't consider losing at all.

The moment I heard that question, I remembered what I needed to do, so I calmly opened my mouth.

"There's something I want to confirm, so keep him alive."

"Yes."

With those words, Loraine drew her sword and cut through space itself.

"Urgh, uurgh!"

***

Thanks to Loraine, we were able to capture the black mage without much difficulty.

I looked down at him struggling while tied to a chair, and when I hit his head a few times with the hammer to tell him to be quiet, he went limp and shut his mouth tightly, just like Dale had done.

As I was thinking it was fortunate that the persuasion to be quiet had worked, Liana beside me made a bitter expression and said to me, "...Isn't it wrong to hit the head with a hammer?"

"Is it?"

"Yes... If the head gets damaged, it would be difficult to extract information, so wouldn't it be better to pull out fingernails or toenails instead?"

Isn't that too cruel?

As I was thinking that might be a bit difficult for me because I was weak-hearted, the black mage regained consciousness and started to rave again.

"Urgh, uurgh!"

Hearing those sounds, I hit his head again to quiet him down, then said to Liana, "Hmm, then shall we try pulling them out?"

"...Now?"

I nodded and was looking for something like pliers when Liana held out torture tools she had brought from somewhere and said, "But usually, don't you ask for information while they're awake and pull them out? If you pull them out while they're unconscious, it seems like you're just torturing for no reason."

"It doesn't matter."

"...?"

Although I said it jokingly, even if we actually tortured him orthodoxly to extract information, we wouldn't know if what he said was true or false, and above all, he didn't seem likely to open his mouth.

So I judged it would be better to make his condition the worst and then use Siren's ability to grasp the information.

So first, after inflicting pain.

Deciding to extract information step by step, I whispered the plan quietly to Liana.

Liana seemed to like my plan and nodded, saying she would give it a try.

***

After about a week of continuous physical persuasion, two main pieces of information came out.

First, the reason for creating the artificial sun was to fulfill the wishes of the black mages.

Second, the North, black mages, and the church side were planning to use “Elisia” as a scapegoat to cover up everything.

"If, if we do that, we can also cover up the problems that will come later. The leadership judged it would be beneficial."

Perhaps because he had been hit too much, the black mage kept stuttering as he explained the reason to me.

Hearing those words, I pondered for a moment and then calmly opened my mouth, "So you lied to Elisia about providing the artificial sun and lured her in, right?"

"...Yes."

"And you were planning to have the church capture her once she made the contract?"

He nodded and affirmed my words.

As I was pondering for a moment seeing his reaction, he made a somewhat interesting proposal to me.

"If, if you let me go, I'll hand over Elisia."

"Hand her over?"

Seeing my interest, he spoke to me urgently, "...I'll use the artificial sun as a hostage to lure Elisia here."

"And what's good about that?"

"E-Elisia is in a position of being chased by the church, so there's a high chance she'll come secretly without anyone knowing. So there would be no problem if we kidnap or kill Elisia when she arrives at the promised place."

I smiled for a while looking at him who was asking to be released, then I hit his crown once with the hammer and said, “Let's do that.”