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––Luvias’ viewpoint

“Let’s do it!”

One of them exclaimed, and the other nodded back. I felt miasma, identical to that of demons, coming from their bodies.

“What did you-?”
“Surprised?! This is our trump card!”

The black knight exclaimed, assuming his victory from my shock. I had seen a similar skill before. Back in Leble, when I fought their hero Barbaros, he had appeared exactly the same when he suddenly became stronger. Though that time his body had changed dramatically as well. This time, I felt the same eerie aura, but their bodies remained the same. Was it really the same skill?

“It’s too late to regret it!”
“Die!”

Their movements became swifter and stronger than before, their swords closing in on me from both sides. They did catch me by surprise, but they were still far weaker than me. I dodged one of the blades by the breadth of a hair, and counterattacked by swinging through his two arms.

“Gah?!”

Before he could finish his scream, I kicked his body away. The other black knight seemed to flinch, but his sword was already on its way here. I dodged that attack as well, and once again cut through his wrists.

“Gh-ghyaa!”
“M-My arms! My arms!”

They fell to their knees, shocked by the sudden pain. I glanced at their arms rolling on the ground, then looked up at Juliana. Even though a violent fight had just unfolded in front of her, she was the same as earlier, her mind did not seem to be here as she continued shrieking. I took a closer look at her and noticed her clothes were tattered and dirtied everywhere, she was truly in a sorry state, unbefitting of a governor’s daughter. That just filled me with rage again.

I looked at the two black knights writhing in pain, and kicked one of them in the stomach. He seemed unable to breathe after that, flapping his mouth gasping for air like a fish, before passing out. I grabbed the other one by the hair and lifted him up, staring into his eyes with bloodlust.

“I’ll repeat my question. Why is she like that? What did you do to her?”
“M-my arm..! It hurts..!”
“If you reply honestly I’ll heal you. But if you don’t, I’ll let you bleed to death. Now speak, what made her become like that?”

He tried resisting, even with the pain from his lost hands, but faced with the tremendous difference in strength between us, he gave up. He had used his trump card, but was unable to do anything and faced defeat. He knew that I could take his life on a whim if I wanted, so lost his spirit to fight.

“I-I-I’ll talk, okay! I’ll tell you everything, so heal my arms!”
“I’ll do that after you’re done talking.”

He pleaded amongst tears, but when I refused he was lost for words. But then he seemed to think of something, and slowly began to explain what had happened.

After the attack, Stied tried to enlist Grom into his group, seeing how influential and well-received he was. He presented him with gold, women, and all sorts of favors. Any greedy noble would have jumped on the offer instantly, but Grom refused it all. Apparently he also kept delaying meetings to buy time for Magna to be found, but all he did was incur in Stied’s rage. Stied’s men trapped him in the castle, and took his wife Mirelle and daughter Juliana as hostages, trying to force Grom to become their ally. Grom continued refusing, so Stied’s men lost their patience and in their fury decided to conduct an ‘experiment’ on his wife and daughter.

“I was told it was a different drug to the one we use, one that just affects the mind and brainwashes them! But when we tried them out this happened! Mirelle lost consciousness and hasn’t woken up again, and this brat has gone insane and keeps screaming like this! It can’t get any more annoying!”

I instantly punched his face when he said that. He no longer had the strength to resist, so he took the entire hit and was sent spinning against a wall. I stared coldly at him as I took deep breaths to calm my anger.

They wrecked her mind and then called her annoying for it?! Not to mention that she was still a child? Did they even have a conscience? I felt queasy realizing how incompatible our ways of thinking were. Once I managed to calm myself a bit, I went to talk with the other man.

“So, how do I get her back to normal?”
“I don’t know! They just gave us the drugs, we don’t even know where they came from! I swear!”
“Then tell me who gave them to you. You should know that much, yeah?”
“Our superiors gave them to us, though viscount Bordewan was with them!”

Viscount Bordewan? From what I remembered, he was the lord of a small territory next to Grom’s. I had seen him once during a banquet, though all I remember from him was that he acted with excessive flattery, and seemed really sly and cunning. That was just the type of person I could see becoming Stied’s ally. I had obtained the minimum information I needed, and there was little reason for me to remain here, so I cut the steel bars open and knocked Juliana unconscious.

“W-Wait! You’re forgetting to heal us..!”
“Hm? Ah, right, I did say that.”

When I held my hand over him, his face relaxed, feeling relieved. But a moment later it contorted in fear. The reason for that, rather than healing magic, my hand was releasing fire magic.

“Gyahh! Fire! That’s fire!”
“I don’t feel a need to keep you two alive. Try to repent of your sins as you die.”

Their entire bodies were engulfed in fire, their rattling limbs burning off and becoming shorter as they screamed loudly. Once the cries reached their peak volume, they became weaker again, until I could not hear them anymore.

I looked down at Juliana, sleeping in my arms, and frowned seeing her hurt body. Had she hurt herself in her madness? Her body was covered in bruises and scratches, and I could see patches of dried skin everywhere. She was missing some teeth too, and a couple of her nails were peeled off. I did not know whether she had been abused by her captors, or her broken mind had made her harm herself, but they were all severe injuries.

“Heal.”

A soft and warm glow enveloped her body. At the same time, it slowly began to recover, regaining the shape of a cute and lovely girl.

(I can heal her body…but not her mind. I can’t help her with my magic.)

I did not know what kind of drug they used on her, but it would not help me much either. Knowing whether its effects could be reversed was more important. It was better if I took her to my Master…or maybe a temple. I still did not know how to contact my Master, so maybe the temple was a better option. Though…

“Either way, I should leave that for after I’ve rescued Grom and Mirelle.”

If I took Juliana with me now, she would make a lot of noise once she woke up, but I also did not have enough time to get her out.

(Try to bear with this, I’m sorry I don’t have another option.)

I unfastened the leather strap I used to hold my dagger, and used it to tie Juliana to my body. It was a bit awkward, but at least I would not drop her if she began moving violently. But it also put her in the range of my sword’s usual movements, so I would need to be very careful when fighting.

“Mirelle is next. I didn’t see her in the cells underground, which means…she has to be there.”

There were only the underground prison cells in the castle, but there were a handful of other places where they could keep a hostage. There was the castle’s spire, usually used as a watch tower, but I could see them keeping Mirelle there. Though if she was not there, I would need to search the entire castle. I reaffirmed my grip on Juliana, and went back up the stairs.