Leave a comment

Tens of seconds later Mylenne’s cries calmed down, and she suddenly raised her face.

「Wait, then the girl I saw sleeping next to me…」

When Mira and the others reached the underground shelter Mylenne had been sleeping already, so she was oblivious to Angelique’s arrival. All Mylenne had seen after waking up was a young child sleeping in the bed next to hers.

When Angelique and Anne had been taken, the child was only three years old. She was eight now. Mylenne noticed the ages matched up, so she came to that realization.

「Yes, that’s Anne.」
「She’s grown so muchh!」

Angelique replied with a smile, while Mylenne cried loudly again, which was received with gentleness again. Hebi returned from the bedroom, wearing a simple attire, and after looking at the two for a bit she sat down with a slight smile.

Mira and Sasori looked at each other with an understanding smile, glad they had decided to rescue Angelique and Anne. Mylenne’s loud cries felt somewhat pleasant after everything that happened.

Once Mylenne calmed down, they all sat down at the table and they began eating. There was plenty of food considering it was breakfast, and everyone there was rather hungry as well, so they all left their plates clean.

While they ate Angelique told Mylenne how she and her daughter had been kept in Melville’s facility until they were rescued. When she heard that, Mylenne quickly thanked Mira and Sasori, and then looked past them to the corridor with the bedrooms. 「Is the Master still asleep then?」 she asked.

Someone would notice that Angelique and Anne had been taken from the warehouse sooner or later, and when that happened Chimera Clauzen and Melville would certainly do something to Johann, considering he no longer had a reason to help them. Knowing that, Mira’s group had returned to the mansion as soon as Angelique and Anne were safe.

But Johann was no longer in the mansion by then, and the documents tying the corporation to Chimera Clauzen were gone as well. Mira explained they had found some traces of blood though, so it was very likely Johann had been attacked.

「No way… is he safe then..?」
「Johann’s knowledge and skills are very valuable to them, so they can’t risk losing that, I don’t know how they’ll treat them later though…」

As soon as Mira finished explaining that,

「Mom!」

A voice that seemed on the verge of tears called to Angelique. Anne had just woken up, and seeing that her surroundings had changed and she did not recognize anything, she was obviously feeling distressed.

「We’ll call you if we need you for anything, go check up on Anne meanwhile.」
「I’m sorry, and thanks again.」

Obeying Sasori’s instructions, Angelique quickly stood up and bowed quickly before running to the bedroom. Mylenne watched her go away, and then looked at the remaining people around the table. They were Mira, Sasori, and Hebi. To her, the strongest impression she had of them was that two of them had mercilessly kidnapped her, while the third one used unthinkable methods of interrogation.

Realizing she had been left alone, an indescribable fear and stress began coursing through her body, and unable to resist it she sprung on her feet ready to flee that place.

「I’ll go check on Anne too then-」
「Sit down. There’s still things we wish to ask you.」
「Okay…」

Her excuse to leave was instantly shot down, and Mylenne sulked to herself as she sat down again.

With everyone finishing their breakfast, they stood up from the dining table and went to a group of couches in the living room, surrounding a table made of metal. There they began their meeting in earnest.

They had to discuss what their next objectives would be, and they quickly agreed that rescuing Johann was a top priority. At least it was reassuring to know he was a necessary person to manufacture black mist stones, so there was no real danger to his life.

But as long as Johann continued that work, the longer Chimera Clauzen would have a constant influx of weapons, and the more spirits would be harmed. That meant that Johann’s rescue would also cripple Chimera Clauzen’s power greatly, making any future skirmishes with the Fifty Bells easier to win.

Johann held that much influence over both sides of the conflict. Still, there was even more value to Johann than just that, he was also the father of a family. Everyone there also wanted to make them reunite as soon as possible.

They knew he was still alive, but they had no clues as to where he had been taken. Considering how much of a valuable asset he was, it could not be a place that could be found so easily.

In the worst case, he might even be in Chimera Clauzen’s main base. But before that, there was still one big question that remained unanswered. Exactly how did they find out Johann had turned on them?

「So tell us, Mylenne. Do you know anything about the armor on the second floor of the mansion?」

Once they had briefed her on everything that happened, Mira asked Myelenne. They had always been under Complete Suppression when entering and leaving the mansion, so they had to be impossible to detect. When talking to Johann he had also been introduced into the spell, so it was impossible for someone to overhear them as well.

Still, Johann had been captured. That gave Mira reason to believe there was something inside the mansion surveying him.

The most suspicious part was the armor that vanished together with Johann and the guards. Considering how much empty space is inside a suit of armor, it was easy to think it could have been stuffed with spying Magic Wares.

「The armor on the second floor? Umm, about that…」

Mylenne sounded surprised they asked that, and she began fidgeting and acting almost embarrassed before she spoke about the armor.

From what she told them, the armor was something she built herself. Her father was a master armor blacksmith, and she wanted to experiment how close she could get to her father’s skills with alchemy. The result was that armor, her own masterpiece that was in no way inferior to her father’s work. She told all that with a soft proud smile.

She had only prioritized weight and strength when making the armor, so it had no special attributes, but Mylenne was proud of the fact that it could easily be worn by anyone even though it was full body armor.

Johann praised her for the first time when she showed it to him, and a few days later she found the armor on that corridor on the second floor. Seeing that, Mylenne thought her master had finally acknowledged her skills and considered her as equal, but nothing really changed in how he treated her, and her studies were as strict as before.

The armor had been built just like any regular suit of armor, so it was empty inside. But she admitted to never looking inside it again after completing it.

「That’s really mysterious…」
「Yeah.」

They were able to determine the origin of the armor, but nothing more. Once Mylenne was done with her story, which she told like it was a very fond memory, Mira and Sasori sighed.

After that Mylenne asked why they were so interested in the armor, full of expectation, but Mira just smiled and said that it stood out in the mansion. A while later, 「A spellcaster would never understand,」 Mylene muttered to herself with a distant look in her eyes.