漫画大王

Chapter 126

“So you think you’re the one to decide if you let me go or no—”

“Fuck him up!”

“What...?”

Something had gone wrong.

Before I could even turn around, I sensed two figures swinging clubs at me.

‘Damn it. He wasn’t alone?’

They were too close for me to react in time.

Thwack!

***

When I regained consciousness, it felt as if my head was about to split open. That’s when I realized I was tied up. I was firmly bound to a chair with ropes.

‘Damn it. Maybe I should have just let them rob me... Wait, no. If I’m more than capable of subduing a robber, why would I let them rob me?’

I was sure that the thug had been alone, but it seemed my attention to detail had not been as sharp as I’d thought.

When exactly was it that I was caught from behind? Was it the sound of the rain that had prevented me from sensing any other presence?

It seemed like I was being held captive somewhere inside a building. Faint light streamed in through the closed wooden window, and the interior was too dim for me to make anything out.

“You’re awake.”

From the darkness across from me came the voice of a man, who was sitting on a chair.

Judging by the sound of his voice alone, he didn’t seem to be the thug I’d encountered in the alley just before. He sounded as if he was in his late twenties or early thirties, but I couldn’t be sure.

“...”

“Swinging your fists around thinking you’re tough only leads to situations like this.”

He was right.

I had swung my fist to prevent me from being robbed, only to end up being knocked out and dragged to an unknown place.

I had to admit, I’d been careless.

‘I’m strong enough to break the ropes.’

“Hnngh!”

Creak! Creak!

But the ropes binding me did not budge at all.

“... You’re wasting your energy.”

I was completely tied up, and escape was impossible.

Should I warn them that messing with me won’t end well for them? That would be true, but stupid thugs often reacted to such words with anger, letting their fists fly without thinking first. It was entirely possible that I was dealing with such mindless individuals.

I knew from experience that not everyone was reasonable or willing to communicate.

Some people acted impulsively out of emotion, leading with their fists, just as I had done.

‘Damn it.’

The biggest problem was that all my belongings had been stolen. They hadn’t taken Sarkegar’s ring, since it had an invisibility spell cast on it, but they had stolen the Flame of Fire. It had been disguised as an old, rusty pendant, so they wouldn’t recognize its value, but with it, I could have used fire to escape somehow.

‘Should I try to get it back somehow? No, that would just raise suspicion.’

He seemed to be examining my belongings, which had been laid out on the table. In the faint light coming through the window slit, he examined my student ID.

“First year of the Temple’s Royal Class... Reinhart...” He read the words slowly and then muttered to himself, “Reinhart, huh? The kid that the Rotary Club sent to the Temple.”

“... How did you...?”

“Are you surprised that I know that?” He began to laugh in the darkness. “It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Thieves’ Guild is aware of the Rotary Club’s affairs, kiddo.”

‘What?’

Had I not encountered a mere street gang, but the Thieves’ Guild?

The Rotary Club and the Thieves’ Guild had a symbiotic relationship.

I hoped that I would be released without much issue.

However, he began to speak strangely.

“I don’t like it. Why not just continue to do things the same way? Why does it seem like you guys are trying to change things? Going out of your way to send some kid to the Temple and trying to expand the business. It seems like you’re trying to confront us outright now.”

The Rotary Club and the Thieves’ Guild had a symbiotic relationship.

However, without the financial support of the Thieves’ Guild, the Rotary Club could not sustain itself. In reality, therefore, there was a hierarchy to that structure.

Loyar was trying to escape from this hierarchy by engaging in various activities, and now that the Rotary Club had become somewhat self-sufficient, they were trying to break free from the Thieves’ Guild’s control.

A conflict between the Rotary Club and the Thieves’ Guild was slowly emerging.

‘Damn it.’

I had imagined the worst-case scenario would be that they would demand a ransom for me or something similar. But it seemed that wasn’t the case.

“Without the Hound of Irine, the club would easily dissolve. I’ve heard that bitch is a tough nut to crack, tough enough that we’ve had a hard time dealing with her until now. So this is a good situation for us.”

Encountering the Thieves’ Guild wasn’t a stroke of good fortune; it seemed like the worst-case scenario.

Shrouded in darkness, the man looked at me and smiled.

“You’ll serve as bait to lure the hound out for us.”

These bastards were planning to kill Loyar and dismantle the Rotary Club.

I was screwed.

How was I going to escape?

Using supernatural powers was out of the question. The bindings were too tight.

If only I had the Flame of Fire with me. I could have used its fire somehow. However, that too was impossible now.

‘At this rate, wouldn’t an infuriated Loyar or Eleris come and wipe them out? Even if they didn’t, Sarkegar would definitely do something like that if he knew about this situation. Hmm...’

Thinking about my allies gave me some peace of mind.

Since the Thieves\' Guild’s goal was not my life but Loyar’s, my life was no longer in danger.

Moreover, if I was right, if I couldn’t return to the Temple, the Temple would mobilize its resources and come looking for me. Perhaps even Charlotte or Vertus would get involved.

Well, maybe not Vertus. But Charlotte would definitely try to find me.

The man laughed gleefully. “Master would be pleased to know about this.”

This guy didn’t realize that he was practically slitting his own throat.

‘Right.’

It seemed like a really tough situation, but it actually wasn’t.

If things went as I’d anticipated, being kidnapped might not be the worst thing, but could turn out to be a stroke of genius. Falling into the Thieves’ Guild’s hands might not be a streak of rotten luck, but a ray of good fortune.

“Don’t be too scared, kid.”

I smirked at the man’s words, which floated to me from the darkness.

‘Yes, you too. Don’t be too scared later on. Because you’re making a big mistake right now.’

***

Saturday passed, and Sunday came along.

Swish!

The heavy rain was still pouring. In the lobby of the first-year Class A dormitory, Harriet de Saint-Ouen was quietly looking out the window.

“Harriet, what are you doing?” Adelia, a fellow magic major and Harriet’s friend, asked.

“Huh? Oh...”

“Let’s go to the lab.”

“Hmm? Oh. You go ahead. I’ll be there in a bit...”

“Okay, sure.”

Adelia walked briskly towards the dormitory’s magic research lab, while Harriet narrowed her eyes and continued to gaze out the window.

‘Why hasn’t he returned?’ she thought to herself.

Reinhart had not returned the day before.

Of course, quite a few students had left for the weekend. Vertus and Charlotte often had to leave to carry out their royal duties, and Riana de Granz liked to spend her weekends at her family’s grand mansion in the imperial city.

However, Reinhart usually stayed in the Temple, even on weekends. It wasn’t that he never went out, but where else would he go besides that homeless encampment under the bridge?

The way he had rushed out into the downpour the day before, it was likely that he’d gone to check on the homeless camp. But it was unlikely for him to have spent the whole day there.

That was why Harriet stayed in the lobby, waiting for Reinhart to return, pushing all her magic research assignments aside.

‘What? Am I worried about that guy or something?’

Harriet frowned at the unnecessary thought. Just as she decided to push it aside and head towards the magic research lab...

“Oh.”

She stopped in her tracks upon seeing A-2, Ellen, stepping out of her room.

Lately, Harriet had clearly felt the relationship between Reinhart and Ellen grow chilly. Even if they didn’t talk much, they always used to hang out and eat together. Recently, though, they hadn’t been seen together at all.

To Harriet, it seemed like Ellen was unilaterally ignoring Reinhart, who had a complicated expression on his face that defied explanation.

Harriet thought that Reinhart, with his nasty temper, had to have done something wrong again.

Yet every time she felt strangely reassured by the fact that the two of them were now apart, Harriet became annoyed at herself.

“Hey.”

Harriet called out to Ellen, who stopped and looked at her quietly.

“Hi,” replied Ellen.

Each time she saw those dark blue eyes, Harriet felt a shiver down her spine. For no particular reason, Harriet felt slightly intimidated by Ellen. She seemed a little frightening.

“Do you... have some issue with Reinhart?”

Rather than denying any issue, Ellen replied with a question of her own.

“... Why do you ask?”

“Oh, nothing. It’s just that that homeless scumbag always looks miserable nowadays. He also rushed out yesterday and hasn’t come back... so.”

“... He hasn’t come back?”

“Didn’t you notice? He wasn’t at breakfast.”

“Oh... I just thought he skipped it.”

It seemed like this was the first time Ellen heard that Reinhart had left the Temple.

“I don’t know what happened. He rushed out yesterday and hasn’t come back.”

“... He’s probably staying at someone’s place or something,” suggested Ellen casually.

“Does that beggar even know anyone with a house?”

“... He might.”

Harriet couldn’t conceive of Reinhart staying at someone’s house. While Reinhart might know some other people, Harriet didn’t think he knew anyone who actually had a home to offer. Harriet naturally continued to look down on Reinhart, oblivious to her own harsh opinion toward low-status individuals.

Deep down, though, Ellen didn’t believe in the fact that Reinhart had been born a beggar.

Without revealing what had happened between her and Reinhart, Ellen walked away on her own.

Suddenly, Ellen turned and headed toward the training grounds.

She didn’t particularly have anywhere to go, so it didn’t really matter where she went.

Creak.

Ellen opened the door to the training grounds. Only Cliffman was inside, swinging a practice sword alone. Upon seeing Ellen, Cliffman stopped swinging his sword and stared straight at her.

Just like Reinhart, Ellen had never really had a conversation with Cliffman.

“I haven’t seen Reinhart if that’s what you’re wondering,” Cliffman said as if he could read Ellen’s mind.

“... I didn’t say anything,” Ellen replied after a slight hesitation, and Cliffman seemed a bit startled.

“Oh, um, yeah. Right.”

Ellen closed the door to the training grounds behind her, pretending as if it wasn’t exactly what she was thinking.

This time, Ellen headed to the dining hall.

As expected, it was empty.

“...”

Reinhart hadn’t returned since leaving the night before.

Ellen stood idly in the dining hall for a while before eventually returning to her room.

‘He must be out on a weekend outing or something,’ she thought to herself.

Rumble!

It wasn’t clear where someone would go on a weekend shrouded in thunderstorms, but what other reason could there be?

And why should it matter? She’d been thinking about distancing herself from him anyway.

It was laughable to even be curious about what was going on with him.

Ellen decided to stop pondering over it.

***

It was Monday.

“I’ve heard that Number 11 hasn’t yet returned,” Mr. Effenhauser said as he looked at the empty seat in the classroom. “I thought he would be returning after the weekend, but I see he’s absent entirely.”

The other students tilted their heads in confusion as they looked at Reinhart’s empty seat. While he was regarded as the troublemaker, he wasn’t the type to skip classes. Besides, the perception of him being problematic had been more prevalent at the start of the semester. Since then, his grades were excellent, and he had shown commendable performance in the group mission.

Reinhart was a classic case of someone who had given a terrible first impression, and the damage it had done to his image still lingered on a little.

“He did not submit a request to stay out, and he only reported this as a brief outing. Not showing up until Monday means... something must have gone wrong..”

Harriet was visibly pale.

“Did anyone talk to Number 11 before he left?” Mr.Effenhauser asked.

“M-Me!” said Harriet de Saint-Ouen as she raised her hand urgently, her face pale as a sheet.

A-11, Reinhart, was missing.

Harriet told Mr. Effenhauser that Reinhart had heard that the Irine River would overflow, and had rushed off in a hurry.

Initially, no one believed that he was actually missing. Since he was considered a bit of a madman, they assumed that he just didn’t want to attend classes at the Temple anymore, and decided to skip. Everyone believed that was something Reinhart would do.

However, contrary to the students’ beliefs, the teachers, facing a situation where a student—especially one from the Royal Class—might be missing, began to act quickly.

Not only were the Temple guards mobilized to begin a search, but the imperial city guards as well.

The assumption that he would be found quickly or that it was just a minor act of rebellion changed when Reinhart did not show up by Wednesday.

Everyone realized that the situation had taken a strange turn.

Rumors circulated that, given Reinhart’s temperament, he might have provoked someone dangerous and got himself into serious trouble. That was the typical response.

The guards were not the only ones who had been mobilized.

“His name is Reinhart, and he looks like this.”

Inside a grand mansion in the imperial city, Vertus handed someone a photo of Reinhart.

“Find him. He’s probably somewhere... I think he’s likely to be in the Wenster district, near Bronze Gate.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Of course, don’t just limit your search to that aread.”

“Yes.”

That person departed, following Vertus’s orders.

Vertus sipped his tea as he gazed quietly out the window at the pouring rain, a smile spreading across his face.

“Making me move in this kind of weather. Such a nuisance.”

Swishh...

The rain continued to pour endlessly outside the window.

On the same day, at a different place...

“His name is Reinhart, and this is a picture of him,” Charlotte said.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

The person took the photo that Charlotte handed them, looked at it, then tucked it away.

“He might have been worried about the organization’s base being flooded, and encountered some trouble along the way. Focus the search around the Wenster district.”

“Yes.”

“The fact that the Temple hasn’t found him indicates that the tracking spell attached to his student ID isn’t working. Reinhart definitely took his student ID with him. This means that the kidnappers or suspects know how the Temple’s student IDs function. They aren’t ordinary people, but seem to be part of an organization. It would be best to focus your search on organizations rather than individuals.”

“Yes, Your Highness. We’ll bear that in mind.”

“Please find him as quickly as possible. He is a dear friend to me.”

That person departed quickly after receiving the instructions.

Charlotte sat slumped on a single-seat sofa, seeming unable to hide her gloom.

“It would be great if it was just him causing trouble as usual,” she muttered with a sigh.

It was her hope that Reinhart had not been kidnapped, but was simply off causing his usual mischief.

It wasn’t just the Temple or the imperial city guards that had mobilized.

Even the prince and princess had begun searching for the missing Reinhart.