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The floor gave way and I fell down, but I wasn’t panicking or anything. In the first place, even if this Lyell’s body didn’t have his Gifts, it still boasted of peerless endurance. It wasn’t hard to figure out that I wouldn’t suffer much damage even if I crashed into the floor like this.

Normally I would have shot my thead to avoid the danger, but this time I chose to fix my posture and land as is. Since Cloud woke up, I couldn’t let him see something as unnatural as Lyell being here.

As the heavy impact resonated through my abdomen, I bent my knee to absorb the impact. As I supported my staggering body by putting a hand on the ground—debris came crashing down on me.

“Ngaaaaaaaahhhhh?!”

I ended up getting rolled up in the collapse with no means of escape, ending up under the rubble. I couldn’t move only for a moment, but the underlings on the first floor used that timing to surround me.

All of them had bloodshot eyes already, making it apparent that they took the drug in question. A few of them were already starting to deviate from a human shape so it was clear that they overdosed. Their wide clothes were in tatters too, proof of their fierce fight against Den.

I tried to push the rubble aside and stand up to intercept them. But a moment before I did, the underlings flew straight up.

On the other side stood Den, his butler clothes also in tatters.

“Lord Lyell… no, is that you Lady Nicole?”
“Yeah, good job realizing it.”
“Well, it would be strange if Lord Lyell was here.”
“You have a point. What’s the situation on your end?”
“It is as you can see.”

Being told so, I looked around. The place was so wrecked it could hardly be called a warehouse anymore. The partition walls were smashed along with every single wooden box, the liquid inside spilling all over.

With this, that new drug wouldn’t make it into the market. Even as he talked to me, the underlings kept rushing at him.

He blocked the attack with one arm that he had raised overhead, and at the same time, cracks formed on the floor. It was apparent just how much force their attacks had behind them.

However, Den who could nonchalantly stop them was also something. Not just that, he easily swung his arm and drove a backhand blow into the side of the underling’s face that just attacked him.

He flew into the air like a leaf, flying away in a spiral motion.

He received enough damage to insta-kill an average human, yet he was still squirming on the ground. Not only was their sense of pain cut off, even their life force seemed to have been strengthened quite a bit.

That much would be wonderful and all, but there was a limit to how strong a human could be. The reason they could exhibit that much power here meant that it would give equally strong side effects.

Next moment, three of them attacked Den together, but he punched two of them away. The remaining one punched his chest, making him retreat a step. That said, the underling that attacked him ended up taking more damage. His elbow broke and the fingers also bent in different directions.

Even so, the underling’s expression showed no pain. He continued attacking as if possessed by something.

“Den, has it been like this from the start?”
“Yes. I was having some trouble. It would be a pity to kill them, after all.”

As Den said, they did seem to have powers on the level of an Ogre, but Den had evolved to the point it was trivial to him. Still, he seemed to hold reservations on killing the underlings and the staff that were simply used.

“I see. Then leave it to me.”

I extended all ten of my threads and tied up the underlings one after another.

They naturally resisted with all they had, but my threads showed their strength in response. In other words, I wasn’t binding them now with Nicole or Reid’s strength, but Lyell’s. Even with the power of an Ogre, they couldn’t compete with my strength.

A few seconds after I extended my threads, all the underlings on the first floor had their arms and legs tied behind their backs like shrimps.

“Why did you go for this pose…?”

Den asked me, feeling somewhat sympathetic for the underlings for ending up in this somewhat unshapely state.

“I mean, they would keep attacking even if their limbs get shredded right? So I tied them up in a way they would have trouble putting in power.”

I twisted their arms like chicken wings behind their back, while also bending their legs all the way to their waist.

The threads on their legs were wrapped around their backs, so if they tried to stretch their legs, it would just bend their backs instead and make them unable to endure that posture.

The only fault was that it looked extremely weird.

“Well, we can’t just leave them like this, so we have to call guards.”
“Understood, then I will go call them.”
“In that state?”

Den’s butler clothes were reduced to a pitiful state after that battle. He was a pretty boy, so everyone who saw that state would start imagining something immoral. The receptionist of the inn would probably be at the top of that list.

“Can’t be helped. I will go call them, so keep watch over them until then.”
“Um, would it be alright?”
“It will. I look like Lyell now. Moreover, you should hide so they don’t capture you too, you know? Oh yeah, make sure to let Michelle and Cloud upstairs drink the antidote.”
“Understood.”
“As for the situation… Right, the three watchmen above have switched to our side. It would be great if you can prearrange a story with them and make up an excuse about me.”
“Prearrange?”
“I said I was Nicole before them. And they also saw my transformation. I will have Maxwell handle them, so just make sure they don’t say anything unnecessary until then.”
“I see. Why not just silence them?”

His idea was the most effective one. If we silenced them here, Nicole’s transformation and the rest of the situation wouldn’t come to light. But as I promised them, it would be too cold-hearted to back out now.

“Due to the circumstances, I promised to put a word in for them, so I’d feel bad if we did that now.”
“As expected of you, Lady Nicole, you look cruel but are actually kind.”
“Is that supposed to be sarcasm?”
“I would never.”

I threw the antidote bottle at Den while giving him instructions. When I reported this, the guards would probably rush there. If they saw a young boy in tattered clothes, they would naturally start suspecting something. Both Den and I had fishy backgrounds, so I didn’t want us getting involved with guards as much as possible.

While I was off to report it, Den would have Michelle and others drink the medicine, warn the three watchmen to stay quiet, and hide so the guards wouldn’t find him.

Doesn’t it look like Den has way more things to do compared to me?

At any rate, unless I report this, curious onlookers would just barge in. If we don’t get the guards to secure the perimeter, some people might accidentally inhale the drug.

Fortunately, my transformation would last for twenty four hours. There was enough time to go explain the situation and get the guards.

It would be a pain if the passersby saw me on the way, so I grabbed a random cloth and wrapped it around my face before rushing out of the warehouse.

When I arrived at the station, the guards first thought I was a suspicious person since I was hiding my face, but once they saw my face their attitudes did a 180 degree turn. I explained the situation roughly and had them send soldiers there.

They seemed to want to ask me a bunch of things, but that’s where Lyell’s authority came in handy. The guards couldn’t exactly interrogate Lyell, so they headed to deal with the warehouse with a reluctant expression.