Chapter 336 - 336: Captive Girl Adventurer Irina

Twenty minutes after slipping onto the side path.

The forest smell grew thicker, and a cave that opened its mouth in the shadow of a slope came into view.

There were traces of trying to hide it by human hands.

But it was sloppy.

A hastily made bundle of branches, a beast path packed down, soot from fire.

"…Here."

Rigel who got down from the driver's seat lightly stroked the horse's muzzle, then fixed his gaze before the cave.

Left and right of the entrance, two shadows in the rock shade.

Lookouts, probably.

"Master, I…"

"You don't have to do anything. Stay quiet for now."

Faster than he finished speaking Rigel's fingertips moved.

Two stones flew without sound.

Forehead, throat.

The two collapsed without even time to raise their voices, and it ended with only fallen leaves sounding small.

Miena's throat twitched.

"J-just now…"

"We're going in."

Rigel stepped into the cave without hesitation.

The inside was cold, damp, and the farther in the heavier the air.

Traces of torches remained dotted, and the smell of blood mixed thinly.

Beyond two corners, human shadows were clumped beyond a simple grate.

Ten people.

Three young girls, the rest middle-aged men.

The men were bound with rope, marks of being beaten scattered on their faces.

On the girls' necks black collars. Marks pulsed and shone faintly.

The girls were frozen more with frustration than fear.

Their eyes not focusing was probably not so much terror as not being able to swallow defeat.

In contrast the men's faces were dead from pain and anxiety about the future.

"…I came to help."

The men jerked their shoulders.

Frightened eyes turned this way all at once, then searched the darkness behind.

They suspected a trap.

"W-who are you…"

"Don't tell me… a knight?"

"No, a recovery-specialist adventurer…?"

The middle-aged men said it quietly.

For the time being they seemed to have energy to respond.

Rigel squatted before the grate.

Then he looked at the girls' collars. The light of the marks.

"Adventurers?"

"…That's right. We're a three-person party. We came on a request to subjugate bandits but… we were ambushed."

One of the girls answered while still biting her lip.

Her voice trembled, frustration seeped.

The other two lowered their gazes and it was all they could do to bite back sobs.

"What. Are you doubting our ability? The name of 'Fierce Sword' Irina isn't for show."

The girl, Irina, her sentence ending bounced.

More desperate defense of if she stabbed first she would not be stabbed than provocation.

Under those words her fingers were seen trembling slightly.

Just having the energy to respond might be called splendid.

She was probably the leader type even among the three.

"Doubting your ability? No, I didn't say that, but…"

"We haven't lost. They just used dirty methods."

Boldness was armor.

But Irina's fingertips were trembling.

In live combat of bandit subjugation there was no "dirty" or crap. He almost said that and swallowed it.

There was no particular meaning in arguing her down here.

"What about you lot over there?"

Rigel shifted his gaze to the men.

In the depths of the gloom the men drew back slightly.

Help, or the next perpetrator.

They lacked material to decide which.

"I-I'm a traveling merchant… going village to village with cloth and salt…"

"I'm a village hunter…"

"A woodcutter. Attacked in the forest… I thought I'd be killed, but they said 'disposal later' and put me here…"

"I see."

Compared to the women the bandits could "enjoy themselves," the men's value was low.

But it was not nonexistent either.

If a traveling merchant had saved money he could be used as a hostage.

For those with physical strength like hunters or woodcutters there was also the method of threatening them with violence and making them odd-job men.

Irina snorted.

No, more than a laugh it was a gesture of exhaling strongly to settle her heart.

Inside her, anger had become fuel and was pushing fear aside.

"So what are you? A colleague putting on hero airs? Your response is too late."

Insolent for someone captured. Rigel thought.

But he deliberately did not poke that.

Even if he broke her high nose without reason, what would be finished was only a "characterless lifeless tuna woman."

Rigel was not seeking such mass-produced pussy.

"Call me putting on hero airs or whatever. For now I killed all the bandits."

"…Ha?"

Irina's mouth half-opened.

The bold face stopped dead.

When understanding did not catch up people first lost freedom from the face muscles.

Even the way of drawing breath got lost.

"The bandits are all dead outside. They won't come back anymore."

Rigel restated on purpose as if chewing the same words again.

Slower than a moment ago.

As if soaking it into the air inside the cage.

The sound of the men swallowing their breath overlapped.

"Really…?"

Irina too doubted immediately.

By doubting she tried to protect her own heart.

If she believed, if it were a lie. She would not be able to endure it.

"There's no way we'd be fooled. They wouldn't that easily—"

"It was easy so I got bored. If you want proof check near the entrance later. The two lookouts are dead."

In the voice returning matter-of-factly there was no color of lie.

No exaggeration or boast either.

A dry ring of only placing fact as fact.

Irina's pupils swayed a very little.

Rigel put his fingers on the grate and twisted it roughly.

The metal fittings screamed and snapped readily.

Only that sound was unnaturally large.

""…!!""

The ten people all flinched at once.

They could flee.

But their legs had not remembered how to flee.

That kind of reaction.

"Show me your injuries."

The voice directed from Rigel at the men was an order.

It did not take the form of kindness.

But there was also no room to oppose.

"…Eh?"

"Hurry up. I went to the trouble of helping you. It'll be a problem if you die."

The way of speaking was cold.

But his recovery magic was accurate.

He scattered the swelling of bruises, closed lacerations, and returned bone displacement.

The men were first frightened.

Being touched by an opponent who held such power was scary.

Next they were stunned.

Pain vanished as if a lie.

And last it changed to joy.

"I-I can move…! My arm…!"

"The pain vanished… what is this…!"

Every time voices bounced the air of the cage grew a little lighter.

There were those who tried to stand, and they laughed even though their feet wobbled.

Even if tears seeped the hands wiping them did not tremble.

They were alive.

That simple fact was this dazzling.

But the girl adventurers Irina and the others could not honestly rejoice even seeing that.

What bound them was not external wounds.

It was the collar.

The weight at their necks refused the real feeling of being saved.

"For now this is good."

Rigel cut the men's ropes and removed the restraints.

They became able to stand.

They rolled their shoulders, gripped their fingers, and took deep breaths as if confirming.

Their faces grew lively like different people.

On the other hand the girls could not move while still pressing their necks.

Two hung their heads together with a tragic feeling and bit their lips.

Only Irina turned anger openly.

"…So we're being left alone."

The voice was hard.

She threw it breaking the form of seeking help on purpose.

That way she would not be hurt.

If she did not believe that she could not keep her heart.

Rigel dropped his gaze to Irina's collar.

Not at complexion or tears, he looked at the metal's shape.

The carved pattern.

Dull luster.

And a leftover scent of mana that seemed to cling there.

"A collar of subordination."

"That's right. If you can't remove this it's the same in the end. We're adventurers who took a request… even if we return to town we're 'with collars.'"

"…If the contractor died isn't it already fine?"

Miena timidly cut in.

Irina immediately bit.

The speed of the reflex showed how long she had kept thinking about this collar.

"Don't talk like you know, complete amateur. Even without a contractor the 'collar itself' remains. If someone with even a little mana aptitude feels like it they can toy with the remnants of commands."

Irina's voice was sharp like a blade.

She had knowledge.

Exactly because she was an adventurer she knew the quality of danger.

"Hmph…"

Rigel stretched a finger toward the mark and stopped without touching.

As if approaching a heat source he was measuring unseen resistance.

If he touched poorly he did not know what would react.

It was movement that understood that.

"I can't remove it now. Removing it needs procedure."

"In other words you can't."

"Wrong. Only that I 'can't now.' I'll definitely release it."

Rigel did not avert his eyes.