Chapter 24
A mother and her child were starring in shock. She looked around the main room of the Sleeping Giant inn and behind her. She saw that there was quite the commotion outside, probably caused by the not so quiet events that took place in the tavern.
“Looks like we drew quite the attention here.” The innkeeper’s baritone voice brought her back from her distressed thoughts.
The white-haired teen that was, she assumed, the responsible for the corpses lying on the floor frowned a little, his gaze fixing the crowd outside the building. “I hope it will at least spare us the trouble to go look for the guards.” This comment extorted a chuckle to Ellie. Kyle then started packing the corpses on a neat pile in a corner of the room and, by the time he was finished, a patrol squad was entering the inn.
Seeing the bloodshed, the officer displayed his best shocked complexion and asked. “What the hell happened here?!” He first eyed the seemingly shocked woman that was still hiding her son’s eyes. “Do you know something?”
She shook her head before stuttering a vague answer. “N-no, I-I just came back from the market, and… and everything was like this.”
“Miss, I suggest that you exit the building and wait outside, or do whatever you want in town. We will handle the case from now on.” Looking at the woman in distress, the protective instincts of the officer roose up and reminded him the reason why he was here.
His order uttered in an unwavering tone snapped his ten subordinates back into reality. They were now exchanging comments on the rather new situation. The shocked witness promptly exited the room, dragging her child behind.
Then the officer took a deep breath and started the formalities. Heading toward the innkeeper, he shaked the later’s hand. “Darius, captain of the 25th royal guards’ patrol. Please state what happened here in order to help us assess the situation.”
Ellie, taking great care not exercising too much strength in his grasp answered. “Ellie, innkeeper of the Sleeping Giant. I’ve got a little altercation with customers trying to take advantage of my business last week, and a mage accompanied by a dozen buddies came today to abduct us or do whatever they wanted in order to threaten our business.” He frowned, remembering the moments where he was rendered powerless, unable to help his family. “They pinned my daughter and I down and paralyzed my wife. Luckily, Kyle-dono, a customer of the inn, came back from whatever he was doing and saw us in this… state. Perhaps it was the last straw on a rather bad afternoon but he kinda lost his shit and utterly destroyed our assailants. Then, using some kind of chantless incantation, he repaired the furnitures destroyed by the fight. The whole thing took no more than a pair of minutes.” He took a pause, catching his breath and concluded, a gleam of admiration in his eyes. “In the end, all is well for us, thanks to Kyle-dono.” The person in question was sitting idly at the counter, playing with some copper coins, staring in the nothingness.
“Then, hum, can I speak to him?”
“Sure but be aware that he isn’t really talkative. He either asks questions or answers with the bare minimum of words.”
“I… see.” Captain Darius hesitantly headed toward the center of the attention.
The captain Darius took a deep breath. “Excuse me Mister, I would like to ask you some questions.”
Kyle threw him a jaded gaze. The incident from earlier allowed him to cool off and he was back in his right mind. “I will answer if possible, ‘mister’ law enforcer.”
The captain took a second, wondering why his interlocutor insisted on the ‘mister’ before realizing what it was for. “Kyle-san, can you tell me your version of the story?”
The person concerned chuckled before answering. “I had a rather bad afternoon for reasons I don’t want to display. While on my way back, I heard Lila’s -the daughter of Ellie- scream and hurried my way toward the inn. When I entered it, I saw the owner and his family in a bad spot. Some thug-looking asshole provoked me. I wouldn’t have minded in normal circumstances but like I said earlier, I was in a bad mood.” He took a breath before resuming his explanation. “Looking at the tough spot in which were the people that I consider friendly, I judged that they were a nuisance and eliminated them.”
“...Did they say something in particular? What was their strength?” The captain was a bit uneasy. He was disturbed by the way his interlocutor spoke about human death.
“As you can see captain Darius, I disposed off of them quickly. As far as I know, they are weaker than the adventurer that assessed me. What was his name again? Galor? Yes it is.” Kyle ended his speech as if he was speaking to someone else.
Darius smiled awkwardly. ‘This guy pays way more attention to his surroundings than what he lets appear’.
As if he snapped back from an inner conversation, Kyle resumed his explanation. “As for your other question, I did ask the mage about who they were. Looks like they are affiliated with the Blood Flag or whatever cringey name this gang has.”
Darius wondered. “That is a problem, they are a pain in the ass. We can’t enter their quartier even though they are in the capital.”
“Why?”
“The place they are at, it’s so intricately complex that it can be compared with a labyrinth. And the gang’s troops know way better than our knights and soldiers.” He paused an instant. “We just know that their settlement is in the center of the base.”
Kyle’s eyes lit up with a bit of interest. “Have you tried to break the walls and go straight to the center?”
“We don’t have the manpower to do something this reckless!” He was surprised at the proposition. Ellie and his family looked at them before minding their business, going back to comforting themselves. Lila, the daughter, was particularly touched.
“... What if I can break the walls?”
“Why would you want to help us like this? You are an adventurer. Their antagonism with the city guards is well known.”
Kyle took out of his mantle a black crystal-like stone. “I found this on the mage when I was piling up the bodies.”
Darius widened his eyes in surprise. “A mana stone? But this color… It’s one that’s formed with human mana.”
“Yes, I would like to find the leader. I kind of want to learn them about them.”
“Why?”
“Personal matters.”
The answer was clear, he wouldn’t go any further on this subject. The captain sighed before answering. “Fine, I will ask my superiors. Expect an answer before the end of the week. Having two dozen of their men massacred should have dealt a good blow to the Blood Flag. We need to act quickly.”
Kyle nodded before going back to minding his business.
Shortly after this, the soldiers left the house, not without checking on the victims and taking the cold corpses with them.
Kyle stood up. “I’m going to my room, please notice me when the dinner is served.” He then climbed the stairs up without waiting for an answer.
