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Let me retrace our steps a bit. I need to explain how we arrived at this situation.

I came with Olivia to the forest, using picking herbs as an excuse for a picnic. We didn’t go deep into the forest, but it was still a distance away from Ingralowe. Olivia was walking happily ahead of me, and we were about to have lunch when some men appeared suddenly and restrained her, holding a knife to her cheek.

“Young Lady!”
“Stay still now, unless you want to see this girl’s pretty face ruined.”

He stops me just as I’m reaching for Black Hawk. Around twenty more men jump out from the forest, pointing spears and swords at me from behind. I see some holding staves too, probably magicians.

“Don’t try anything funny either, missy. Or your maid there might not come out unscathed.”

Olivia reluctantly lowers her arms, gritting her teeth seeing all the weapons pointed at me.

They seem to be a group of bandits. Dammit, I shouldn’t have let Olivia take the lead like that. It’s always so frustrating to notice how careless I am. If I was alone I’d just fight them and escape somehow, but they have Olivia hostage so my options are limited.

“I’ll give you all my money if you want! Just don’t do anything to the Young Lady!”

I feel like I’ll need to give them what they want instead of trying to find a way to escape. But surrendering my belongings did not work, creepy grins spreading amongst the men instead.

“Well too bad, but we’re not looking for gold here. Right, Lacks?”

A man with only one arm steps out from the shade of trees, his clothes also looked tattered and unkempt like the others. Lacks looks at us, his eyes seething with hatred.

“Yeah, I’m looking for vengeance.”

Vengeance? What’s he talking about? I’ve never seen this man in my life. But Olivia is trembling, about to collapse just from seeing him.

“You don’t seem to remember, huh. But I know you, you killed my friends, and even took my arm from me.”

His friends? What? So far I’ve only killed… ah, no way.

“You’re… from back then…”
“Oh, did that jostle your memory? Yes, I’m the slave trader you just left to die back then.”

He’s one of those men that kidnapped Olivia when she was picking flowers, and Ophelia left him restrained with magic in the forest!

“So you actually survived.”
“Yeah, thank f̲u̲c̲k̲i̲n̲g god. That was a nightmare and a half though, I even had to watch a monster eating my arm. But the hole you left in my stomach was worse, every day I’ve been hearing the same words from it, avenge me, avenge me… And that’s what I’m here to do.”

Slave traders are criminals, but the fact that he had tried taking Olivia made him the worst scum of the earth! You’ll soon be reunited with your friends in hell! I really want to scream that at them, but that’s impossible while they have Olivia hostage.

“Pfft ahahah, I like that face. Yes, that’s just what I’ve been wanting to see all this time.”

I could hear my teeth gritting against each other, my cheeks tense. Argh, I want to turn them into a paste finer than mincemeat so badly right now.

“But first, you’ll have to throw away that magic device you have.”

He says while pointing at Black Hawk, strapped on my hip. I’m sure he knows how dangerous my gun is, I had shot his stomach and legs before. I click my tongue in annoyance and throw Black Hawk to a spot with no men.

“Someone go pick it up right now.”

Following Lacks’ orders, one of the men walks there while keeping his sword pointed at me. I had hoped to retrieve the gun when I got a chance, but I guess that won’t be happening.

“This is the magic device you told us about, boss? I feel like it’s too small to be that power-”

The man says that as he picks up Black Hawk and peers into the barrel, and somehow brushes against the trigger. A bullet shoots out and grazes his cheek.

“…What are you plotting over there!”
“Get him!”
“Wait, no! It was an accident!”

The shock of the gunshot made the man drop Black Hawk and stare in a daze for a few seconds.

“Well… okay, anyway. You’ve seen how powerful it is, so don’t be careless now.”

Lacks seemed to have flashbacks to the time when I shot him, so his voice was a bit shaky.

Another man went there, slowly catching Black Hawk with the tip of a spear and flunging it away to the distance. Retrieving it has gotten much harder now. If I really need a weapon I still have White Viper in my magic storage, but I don’t like the idea of shooting many rounds aimlessly while they have Olivia hostage.

“Anyway, now it’s time to have some fun. Strip.”
“Huh?”

What did he just say?

“Don’t just huh me. Do I have to remind you of your position? I want revenge, and we have a hostage. I don’t like you, but your body is perfect. That means there’s only one way out of this.”

Ahh, I see. So he’s using Olivia to force me into a shameful position. He’s really the worst person there is. Though I can’t say I wouldn’t resort to taking hostages too.

“Natalia! Don’t listen to him!”
“Shut up brat!”

Olivia raises her voice, which enrages the man holding her and soon enough a red line runs down her cheek.

“Stop! I’ll do it, so don’t touch the Young Lady! I’m okay, don’t worry.”
“Natalia…”

I try to calm Olivia and very very slowly start to undo the latches on my gauntlet.

“…fle…me St……ge”