「……Now then.」


  Muttering to himself, Rei looked around the garden in Bolton’s mansion.

  The area around Rei and Cordo as well as Set and Minas had been messed up due to their fights. Still, it should be said that it was fortunate no one had died.

  (Aside from me and Set……should I say that it’s lucky that none of the thugs or low ranked adventurers who were gathered near the gate came here out of curiosity.)

  Rei thought that to himself. But in actual fact, most of the people who had gathered near the gate had already scattered all over the city as soon as they could to avoid getting further caught up in this uproar. Right now, only a few of them remained.

  Even though there were very few people left, they should have heard the sounds of violent battle. But, they just stood quietly near the gate instead of curiously coming over to the other side of the gate. However, it could be said that the judgement of those who remained was correct. Anyhow, Bolton’s mansion was in the upper class district where adventurers were hired to patrol around at night. In addition, a large number of thugs and adventurers had gathered there and sounds of battle had echoed into the surrounding. Because of that, patrols would eventually come around to inspect. If they did, they wouldn’t just let the thugs and low ranked adventurers act as they wanted in the upper class district.

  As a result, in short, almost all those who fled from the mansion were caught by the adventurers in the area,interrogated about the situation and detained for the night. As for the ones who had committed a variety of crimes, they were arrested.

  「Set, sorry, but please watch these two. If they regain consciousness, just knock them out again.」


  「Guru~」


  Putting the unconscious Cordo and Minas in one place and asking Set to guard them, Rei climbed a tree in the garden, holding the 2m long Death Scythe in one hand, and went back into the reception room through the wall that had been destroyed when he had first left.

  As Rei entered the reception room again, he saw Bolton unable to move with Murt holding his halberd against him. Rei didn’t know where the rope had come from but Postguerra had his hands and feet tied tightly and was also unable to move. Near Postguerra, some green gem like things rolled around.

  「I’ve cleaned up my side……but what is going on?」


  「……We were cautious as you told us and were guarding both of them, but the moment it became disadvantageous for him, Postguerra took out those gems there. So I knocked him out and tied him up.」


  「I see. So he had those items on hand after all.」


  Rei picked up the green gems rolling around at his feet and looked at them for a few seconds before tossing them to Galahat.

  (Well, it’s rather unfortunate……since everyone here has seen the gems, I can’t just take them away.)

  「We will probably be teleported if we use these gems. I don’t know if they will transfer us to a fixed location of if they will transfer us to the place we want to. Either way, this is one way to confirm the level of the Bestir Empire’s alchemy, so it would be better to pass this to Margrave Rowlocks along with Postguerra and the two in the garden. ……Can we contact him?」


  「For now, I’ve sent a servant to the Margrave’s residence.」


  「……Who was the servant? Will they believe him on that side?」


  「They probably won’t believe it at first, but it’s still a message from someone working for the president of Azoth Firm. At the very least, several knights should come. If they see this, even if they don’t want to, they would still had to believe it.」


  Galahat spoke in some distress. To Galahat, rather than have his brother killed by Rei……he had caused this uproar. However, after entering the mansion, it had developed unexpectedly into underlings of the Bestir Empire being involved. After beating the bush to chase out the snake, it seemed like a dragon had come out instead.

  「In the worst case, Azoth Firm might be destroyed. ……If we’re lucky, we might be allowed to survive, but it would be fully under the management of Margrave Rowlocks……no, it would be under his control. Although that might be better for the people of the company than looking for other work.」


  「Galahat-san……」


  Murt said Galahat’s name anxiously as he held his halberd against Bolton. Murt tried to continue but someone else spoke up faster than him. It was Bolton, who still had a halberd held against him.

  「D-Don’t mess around with me! You want to destroy Azoth Firm, which has controlled all the weapons business in Gilm!? You want it to be put under the control of that greenhorn, Daska!? I will never permit such a thing!」


  「……」


  Galahat gave a sad look towards Bolton, who was disgracefully shouting.

  「In the first place, none of this would have happened if you didn’t conspire to drag me down from my position of president. You, repaying all the kindness I gave you with ingratitude. Ha, after all, your a child of a lowly concubine. You can’t even return the favours you owe.」


  「……Shut up.」


  As he spoke, Bolton became more and more agitated. Bolton’s voice of abuse towards Galahat gradually grew louder.

  「You know, because of Azoth Firm, even though the city of Gilm is on the frontier, we can provide adequate weapons to adventurers. Tomorrow, when an adventurer dies due to lack of weapons, it will be all your fault.……」


  「I’m telling you to shut up, you damned asshole!」


  Along with Murt’s shout, Murt raised his halberd and swung the halberd head towards Bolton’s face……


  Kin~!

  There was a sharp metallic sound as the halberd head was just about to bury itself into Bolton’s head.

  「Stop it, Murt.」


  It was Galahat who had pulled out his sword.

  「Why, Galahat-san! Such waste, he has no value. He’s a waste of food and water! This guy, to treat Galahat-san like this until now……」


  「Murt. I told you to stop. He’s still my older brother……」


  Saying that, he glanced towards Bolton, who had finally gone silent and was holding his breath, as he had just been on the verge of losing his life by a blow from a halberd. Galahat spoke to Rei, who had been watching the series of events silently.

  「Rei, if I remember correctly, you promised that you would take everything from my older brother except his life. As you can see, my older brother has now lost everything. After this, he will be arrested by Margrave Rowlocks and made to talk about all his past evil deeds. He will never see the light of day after this. ……No, there is a possibility he might even be executed after he has spoken everything.」


  「……So, leave him be, is it?」


  「Of course……」


  「Ha, hahahahaha, ahahahahaha, kahahahahahaha!」


  When Galahat tried to reply to Rei, a loud burst of laughter echoed into the reception room.

  The laugh that you could sense some insanity in it came from Postguerra, who had been tied up with rope and should have been unconscious.

  「Ha, ha, ha……haa, I’m laughing, I’m laughing. No, I didn’t think I could laugh this much, you guys, maybe you have the makings of street performers? As soon as I woke up I hear of such laughable developments.」


  「……I’m sorry, but can you tell me what was so laughable?」


  While saying that, Brazos asked Posguerra. Next to him, Freon watched in displeasure. If Postguerra said he was joking, Brazos would immediately break one or two of his bones.

  「About that. Indeed the memories that you had when you were small are still effective until now. ……Galahat, did you say? You, you’re one of the biggest clowns I’ve ever seen.」


  「……A clown?」


  When he were small, the memories he had, Galahat. Arranging those words in his head, Rei made a sharp look towards Bolton. Yes, there was only one thing he thought of from that chain of words. Why did Galahat not leave Azoth Firm even after being mistreated by Bolton? Rei had heard the reason himself.

  Probably making a similar association to Rei, the faces of both Brazos and Freon tightened.

  Only Murt didn’t seem to be listening to Postguerra’s words as he was desperately calming his anger against Bolton.

  「Shut up! What are you saying in this last moment!」


  He probably realising that Postguerra was trying to say something fatal to him. Bolton shouted at him, but Postguerra, who was tied down and could hardly move anything other than his mouth, spoke with a smile.

  「Galahat, remember all the way back. Back to when you first started to feel a sense of gratitude towards that puppet over there. Your mother was sick and that puppet handed over some medicine to help it. Isn’t that right?」


  Puppet, Posguerra spook while referring to Bolton as such.

  「……Ah.」


  「That disease. Green spots formed on the body and they would feel an intense itch right? There would be something like pus in the scratched spots and from there a green liquid with an intense odour would flow out. Instead of itching, there would intense pain instead then.」


  『……』


  At Postguerra’s explanation, Rei, Freon and Brazos frowned their eyes as they thought about the description of the terrible disease.

  「So, Bolton, who hated you, brought medicine. When you used that medicine, she would recover to a certain extent but she eventually died without fully recovering. ……Thinking about it carefully, didn’t that mean that it forced her to live in suffering for a long period of time instead of curing her disease?」


  「Shut up, shut up, shut up! What are you going on about like this!」


  Bolton shouted angrily, but it was already too late. On the other hand, even Murt had calmed himself and was now listening to Postguerra’s story.

  「You felt gratitude to that puppet who brought the medicine and devoted yourself to him up until today. ……Hey, Galahat. Do you want to know something? Do you think that puppet over there really gave the medicine out of kindness? And, why do you think I know so much about the disease so far?」


  Postguerra gave a smile that could only be expressed as that of a shark.

  「In other words, it might be fairly interesting to examine the contents of that bottle.」


  Next, he turned his eyes to the small bottle that Bolton had taken great care of. Judging that it could be evidence, when Bolton was arrested, Galahat had picked it up……


  「……Older brother.」


  「……」


  「Hey, older brother. What he said……is that true?」


  「……」


  At Galahat’s question, Bolton replied with silence.

  Normally, Bolton would claim that it was a lie, but seeing that Galahat held the small bottle, which was be definitive proof, he decided that it was useless to say anything.

  Seeing Bolton like that, Galahat realised the truth. Galahat didn’t say anything and just stayed quiet.

  (This was the worst case……I didn’t think I was right on the mark.)

  Rei gave a sigh in his mind.

  Why did Galahat want to help his older brother to that extent. When Rei had heard the reason, he had considered it. But he had quickly denied it. Although he had thought that Bolton wouldn’t go that far, if he had done that to keep Galahat under his control, his handling of Galahat was quite sloppy.

  While looking at Galahat, Rei firstly walked towards Bolton.

  「Hey, what is that? You, what are you coming over for?」


  He saw Rei look at him like a stone on the roadside or a useless piece of junk. Bolton tried to move away, but the next moment……


  「Gah~!」


  His foot that was about to stand up was swept away by Murt’s halberd and Bolton’s face hit the floor.

  Bolton didn’t suffer any injuries as he still trained himself as he grew older. If he were an ordinary elderly man, he would have definitely been injured. Bolton collapsed to the floor with enough momentum for Rei to think of that.

  「W-What are you doing!」


  Getting up, he scowled at Rei. However, Rei just looked back at him while Murt looked at Bolton as if he wasn’t a human.

  「You shut up for a bit.」


  Murt held down Bolton, who had fallen on the floor, by placing part of the halberd over his neck so he couldn’t move.

  Rei slowly approached Bolton.

  「Cutting off your limbs, crushing your eyes, cutting off your nose, slicing off your ears……I really considered that. But since I’ll be handing you over to Margrave Rowlocks, I can’t do that.」


  At Rei’s words, which were spoken rather gently, Bolton had an expression of relief. However, that expression of relief collapsed the next moment.

  「You traded with an alchemist of the Bestir Empire. What kind of means will Margrave Rowlocks reach for to extract information from you……there’s no need to think about it right? At that time, if you have no limbs, eyes, or anything else, how is the torturer supposed to do his job?」


  From heaven to hell. Bolton just experienced that and had an expression of despair as he heard Rei’s words.

  Certainly, Margrave Daska Rowlocks was a military man who disliked underhanded tricks. However, if someone was connected to a foreign country which had the intention of attacking them and considering that the possibility of a lead was high, he wouldn’t be that tolerant. No, as a military man, torture and interrogation would be a simple thing to him.

  「It seems you understand. Even so……there’s this. Take this with you.」


  Muttering, Rei began to say and incantation with his magic power.

  『Flame, you are eternal hellfire. You are a flame that bring eternal pain and suffering. As time flows, let your host scream in pain and despair. Until your work is done in eternity.』


  As Rei cast his magic, a flame appeared at the tip of the handle of the Death Scythe before being compressed down to a size of about 1cm with Rei’s magic power.

  It looked exactly like that kind of flame. It was like one of the other magics used by Rei, the『Seed of Contract』. They were like two peas in a pod. However, this magic was different. Instead of giving fire resistance in exchange for restrictions, this was a magic to torture someone with fire. Every time a new day started, the magic would bring a pain of being burned by fire until the flame itself acknowledged that the crime committed had been paid off. It was also a magic that would forcibly calm the mind if the person went crazy, just to inflict more pain……


  『Flame of Condemnation.』


  A flame to condemn his crimes sank into Bolton’s body through the handle of the Death Scythe.