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Egan was walking towards the eastern gate at a fast pace. He could not stand out. If his horn under the hood was seen by people now when there were riots, he would not be able to avoid conflict.

He held on to his hood that was pulled over his eyes with his left hand while holding luggage with travel tools with his right. Perhaps because both his hands were occupied, he failed to avoid the hand of a man that suddenly appeared.

The arm that appeared from the side grasped his neck with such strength that it felt like he was held by a vise. Then he was lifted and slammed to the wall.

“Gahh?!”

Even as he was slammed against it, Egan confirmed the opponent’s face. And then, his body stiffened from despair. The one before him was the Holy Sword Hero, Lyell.

“L-Lyell…”

Not just that, there was also Maria with a penetrating, cold smile behind him. Lyell mercilessly grabbed his hood and tore it off. Seeing the exposed small horn, he murmured in a low voice.

“Looks like we got it right.”
“We haven’t confirmed it yet. Hey, do you know the name Kufar?”
“W-Why are you here…?”
“Since you are asking that, it seems there’s no mistake.”

He spoke without thinking at Lyell’s sudden appearance. They were reflexive words, making his position quite clear.

“N-No, I was just surprised to see Six Heroes in a place like this.”
“A place like this? We certainly rarely come here, but this is Maria’s hometown. It’s not like it never happens.”
“Yes. I came to report it when Fina was born too.”

When Fina was born, she came to show her face here. It was also to at least make a small report to the Pope who was also her friend. Maria’s relationship with Ashella was not bad. Their friendship had continued even after she left Berith.

For that reason, the Pope still blamed her for not coming when Nicole was born.

“T-That’s… Right, I was just nervous that I would be in danger after the riots so…”
“And yet you prepared for a journey so quickly, eh? It seems you even prepared preserved foods.”

What took most space during travel preparations was food and water. One could not skimp on those alone.

Berith did not have customs of preserving food. Adventurers heading inside the Labyrinth did prepare them to a degree, but they would not be walking with an amount to carry on a long journey.

All kinds of goods flowed into this central city of the continent as well as the core of a religion. Just by being here, you could obtain most of what you wanted, so generally, it was merchants or Adventurers who made preparations for journeys.

“Besides, it hasn’t been that long since the riots began. You acted far too soon.”

Half-demons were shunned in this city. So much that quarrels happened even during entering and exiting it. As such, half-demons living here did not often consider going outside.

If they tried to pass the gates, there was a chance that the guards would confiscate all their belongings. If they got expelled with nothing on them, they would hardly be able to survive.

“S̲h̲i̲t̲!”

Egan realized from Lyell’s attitude that he did not plan to let him escape even if this turned out to be a mistake. He planned to question every single half-demon trying to pass through the gate.

But half-demons that were hiding their faces and hurrying off independently fully prepared for the journey were most likely extremely few. Needless to say, it was only at the eastern gate.

While the safety was maintained in the Berith surroundings, that did not mean it was a region where monsters never appeared. Leaving the city on your own was extremely risky.

Even so, it was but an absurd excuse. The current Lyell boiled in anger to crush an excuse like that. And Egan also understood that he had no intention of letting him escape.

Sensing that, he tried to put up a struggle to escape, but his head was held firmly in place, and he failed to slip through.

“Don’t struggle in vain… Look, if you just spit out Kufar’s whereabouts, I’ll let you die easily.”

His smile was so sinister it did not fit his image as the Hero. Seeing his blood-chilling smile, Egan realized that escaping through strength was impossible, and reached to his waist area.

A two-layered water pouch was hanging there filled with the poison that Kufar handed over. He then threw it at Lyell’s face and escaped from the restriction.

“Kh…”

Lyell seemed to be affected by the poison and released his hand, staggering for a moment. But Maria’s Antidote spell flew at him and instantly erased the poison. Still, that instant was enough for Egan to escape from his restraints.

Thus he ran instantly, without even looking back. However, Lyell was not a seasoned warrior for show. He immediately fixed his posture and chased him, brandishing his sword.

There was a wide difference between the explosiveness of their outputs. He instantly closed the distance, and cut his feet with a sideways slash, making him tumble on the ground.

“A-AHHHHHHHHH?! M-My legs! MY LEGS ARE GONNNEE AGHHHH?”!

As he fell down, the pain assaulted him a moment later, making him try to hold his knees in desperation. However, his legs were cut cleanly above the knees, so his hands failed to grasp anything and only became bloody.

“Oh my. Dear, we can’t have him die. This is a fatal injury if we leave it be, you know?”

She then healed the injury in an instant. However, she did not use a spell to regenerate his legs, so his legs remained lost.

“Sorry but I will be leaving it at that, as I don’t want you to escape. Dear, please do the same to his arms so he can’t do any more tricks.”
“Got it.”

Maria said something unthinkable with a dark smile, and Lyell responded expressionlessly. The moment Egan realized what that meant and started to despair, both his arms were similarly cut.

“Ah…haha…hahahaha…HYHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

He no longer had a way to escape. Nay, not even a way to survive. What awaited him was the pain worse than death, and the empty husk that would be left of him after they would extract the information.

Once he reached that conclusion, he let go of his sanity.

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