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n”Shadow connect.”

nHe muttered and a thin hair-like shadow shoot out from underneath his foot and slithered through the cracks, giving him a clear view of everything inside.

n”…good – everything looks to be in order and ready for me to play my part…”

nThe youngster nodded to himself with satisfaction and…

n*WHAM*

nDropped all of his previous cautiousness and straight-up kicked down the door!

nThe insides were pith black with only a few spots of light shining through the cracks in the caved-in roof – but, the darkness magician had no problem with that as they could see through it just as well as during the day.

nWith that in mind, the young man has entered the run-down house with confidence – and even a bit of a pep in his step.

nThe darkness magician walked inside, leaving the partially broken doo ajar, even though he didn’t need to.

n*rustle*

n”…!”

nWhen he was barely two steps in, a pile of rags he passed without a second thought suddenly stood up and jumped at the young man from behind, barely giving him any time to react!

n*STAB*

n”Ugh…!”

nA moment later, a dirty man in even dirtier clothes that the darkness magician mistook for a pile of rags groaned, spewing blood from his mouth as he fell to the floor breathing heavily while holding onto a growing red stain on his stomach.

n”…haa… That was… uncomfortably close…”

nThe darkness magician withdrew his arm with the four-inch obsidian blade sticking out of the top of his wrist.

n”Fool…! Don’t you know that you are facing a real hero?”

nThe young man frowned under his helmet and scoffed loudly before kneeling down by the dying man.

n”Where is your true hideout?”

n”Arrrgh…! L-let go…!”

nThe darkness magician asked in an angry voice and put his hand on top of the wounded man’s hands, pressing them into his bleeding wound.

n”I asked you, where is your true hideout! This is just a decoy!”

n”H-how did you…!?”

nThe young man shook his head and repeated his question, making sure to speak loud enough to be heard even outside the ruin, while the ruffian’s eyes widened and he gasped, gritting his teeth in pain.

n”Your boss might be smart, but he is not smart enough. This dump has far too few kidnapped people to be the real deal! Now speak up, scum! Where is your actual hideout?!”

nThe darkness magician grabbed the dirty man by his long oily hair and lifted him up a little closer to his helmet’s visor, while simultaneously putting the obsidian blade to the man’s throat.

n”And I advise you to be honest about it and don’t try to make me angry. The hole in your stomach can be treated, but the next one will be lethal.”

n”!!!!”

nThe dirty man shivered and gulped down his saliva as his eyes moved around while he desperately tried to figure out the way to get out of this predicament alive.

n”In th-the capital… the severs… West entrance…”

nHe said with a trembling voice, finally deciding to give up as he felt his limbs getting colder and colder because of the bloodloss.

n”Tsk…! Don’t bull** me! That’s right by the royal castle! The likes of you don’t have enough guts to stay so close to the nobility!”

n”UH-HIIIGH…!”

nThe darkness magician growled and the obsidian blade cut through the spotty skin of the man and crimson blood started dripping from the wound, making the ruffian squeal like a pig.

n”N-not the royal capital! Learen! Learen, the capital of the Banemor territory! I-It’s true! I-I swear! It was the boss’s idea! Heve said that no one would even try searching there!”

nFeeling his lifeblood slowly draining made the man cry out in desperation.

n”Hmhmhm~!”

n…and the words he spoke with such passion and conviction while fearing for his life made the darkness magician’s lips twist into a big happy smile.

nIt was perfect – he said it so clearly too!

nThe best part of that was that the ruffian at his mercy truly believed the things he was saying – it could not get better.

nThe young man’s mother’s plan was working out perfectly!

n”…Banemor territory?! Who? Who dares to use the sickness of the young lord Banemor to use his land as a headquarters of such evil ploy…?!”

nThe darkness magician looked to the side dramatically and gasped, playing things out t the extreme.

n”No! That’s not it! That whole sickness is just a trick! He is behind all of that! He hires thugs and whole gangs to kidnap people for his so he can drain them of mana – that’s how he was able to show such strength during the tournament for the hand of the young lady Victureo!”

n”Bull**! Then why did he quit after the semi-final fight that he didn’t even fight in!?”

nThe ruffian cried out and shook his head, making the darkness magician pull back the darkness blade away from his neck just so the dirty man wouldn’t finish himself off before the scene was over.

n”He did that because he can’t keep the mana! Since he steals mana from other nobles, he can’t refill his mana reservoir – that’s what my boss said! He did not fight in the final fight because he used up the mana he stole! That’s why he doesn’t show up and fakes an illness – he keeps ordering us to kidnap more nobles to steal their mana so that no one notices that he is actually weak!”

nThe ruffian cried out as the blood was pouring down from the wound on his neck he aggravated himself.

n”P-please let me go! I’ve told you what you wanted to know!”

n”…”

nThe man pleaded and made the darkness magician nod in satisfaction – now, everything was said and there was no use for the ruffian anymore.

n”That’s right. Thank you for your cooperation…”

n*STAB*

nThe young man nodded and pierced through the man’s throat with the darkness blade like it was nothing.

n”…aah…”

n*thump*

nThe dirty man let out one last sigh before he gurgled his own blood and he fell on his back, staring at the ceiling with lifeless eyes.

n”…”

nThe darkness magician went silent, focusing on the shadow connect that he did not deactivate – there definitely were no other bandits in the ruined house, but there sure were a few tied up and very scared and shocked children of the noble houses locked up in the only somewhat structurally sound oom in the building – all with experimental copies of the mana-sealing bracelets on their necks to keep them nice and obedient.

nAfter confirming that, the darkness magician nodded to himself, and the darkness armor disappeared off of his body, revealing a tall boy with jet-black hair and eyes wearing an Apaekony Academy uniform with a badge of a third-year student.

nThen, without any warning, the color faded from both his hair and pupils, leaving them white.

n”Is anyone here?! I came to save you all!”

n*rustle*

nArisu Karde Lazaram, the last capture target who had the ability to freely use other attributes, called out loudly and heard the commotion from the room where he already knew the abducted children were.

n”My name is Arisu! I really came to help!”

n”S-shenioh Ahishu…! Ere…!”

nOne of them even turned out to be a fellow student who recognized both the name and the voice of the white-haired boy and called out despite the gag blocking their mouth.

n”…perfect~!”

nArisu muttered to himself with a nasty smile before charging to the door…

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