Chapter 156 : I’ll at Least Hear You Out

The moment the familiar voice was heard, her eyes shot open.

‘Lord Muno!?’

Rauel tried to sit up without realizing it, but then, remembering the restraints she was in, she came to her senses.

Fortunately, no one noticed her reaction, and soon, Freddie Aslan’s displeased voice was heard.

“……Country bumpkin, what’s this? Huh, you too, brother? What is this, Baron? You made me wait all that time, but my brother gets in right away?”

“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know how this…….”

While Baron Oli was flustered, Instructor Alex’s calm voice chimed in.

“He brought the Duke’s official seal. Young Master Zayd is the family’s official messenger, following His Excellency’s will.”

“You heard him, little brother?”

“Brother!!”

“Don’t shout. It’s loud.”

“No, that’s a lie. Father is in the capital right now. How can he have the seal!”

“He can. It’s right here. See for yourself.”

“The mana pattern matches exactly. It is genuine.”

“Impossible! How on earth, you clearly left the family at almost the same time as me…….”

“Now. Step aside, little brother? Your big brother needs to take care of business first.”

“Ha……. Damn it all! Just you wait! I’ll confirm with Father through the communication sphere right now!”

Bang.

Right after Freddie left, the other voice that had been confronting him continued.

“Baron, steward. You two should leave as well, shouldn’t you? I will interrogate the ‘defector’ with my companion.”

“……Understood, Young Master.”

Creeeeeeak.

Thump.

As the sound of the prison door closing was heard, Rauel kept her eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, but her nerves were on high alert.

“This should do it, right?”

“Good. It’s annoying that you were hiding it, but I’ll acknowledge it.”

At Muno’s words, which seemed quite satisfied with the situation, she relaxed her tension a little.

“……It seems you’ve only lost a little strength. That’s a relief, Rauel.”

The moment the gentle voice was heard right in front of her nose, she couldn’t help but reflexively open her eyes.

Naturally, the owner of the voice was confirmed.

“Mu……!”

She was about to shout in joy but reflexively trailed off her words.

Silver half-plate armor that a mercenary would wear, and blond hair. Furthermore, she had confirmed the unfamiliar face next to him.

‘Zayd Aslan!’

As she panicked internally, Muno, with a bitter smile, cleared things up.

“Ryut. Call me that for now, Rauel.”

“……Yes, Lord Ryut. But how did you get here?”

“There’s a lot to say, but let’s talk after we get out of here first.”

At Muno’s gesture, Rauel moved as if possessed.

Crack.

It seemed as if she momentarily compressed her arms and legs, and then, following her waist, she reduced the volume of her entire body and slipped out of the restraints as if flowing out.

Crunch.

After restoring (?) her body, Rauel smiled awkwardly as she looked at the slightly strange appearance of Muno standing before her.

Then, a voice filled with killing intent was heard along with the sound of grinding teeth.

“Damn it, so it was a trap after all.”

The owner of the unfamiliar voice, Zayd Aslan, who looked terribly similar to Lenok Aslan, was briefly visible, but Rauel ignored him completely and looked only at Muno.

“How did you know?”

It was a question of how he knew to come find her.

“I just thought there was no way you’d let yourself get caught so thoughtlessly in a healthy body.”

An answer regarding her abilities came back.

That wasn’t what she had asked, but Zayd Aslan was too much of a nuisance to continue the conversation.

“Should I get rid of that?”

As she frowned and pointed at Zayd, his snake-like eyes narrowed even further.

“How dare you! An assassin raised by the family, to me……!”

At that moment, a small wire tinged with a faint blue light flashed and grazed his neck.

Puk.

A single wire embedded itself directly into the prison wall.

Zayd, with his eyes wide open, turned his gaze in the direction it came from.

“Next time, it’s your throat.”

Upon encountering Rauel’s cold smile, he clenched his teeth.

The moment he realized that a single strand of wire that came out of Rauel’s mouth could become a weapon to kill him.

He naturally changed the subject.

“Damn it. Don’t forget our deal.”

……Huh? A deal?

The moment Rauel was bewildered, Zayd’s gaze was on Muno.

Rauel let out a hollow laugh at his attitude of not wanting to speak directly with a mere assassin even in this situation, and Muno received his words with a smirk.

“Right. Your life is guaranteed, and you hand over the information. That was the deal.”

“No, that’s not it. If this is the situation, then that information is obviously fake too! In that case, the conditions must change!”

Has he lost his mind?

‘How dare he, to whom…….’

As Rauel grew angry, Muno spoke as if to represent her feelings.

“So, you’re saying you want to die here?”

Zayd’s eyebrows twitched at the chillingly conveyed killing intent, but the man’s spirit wasn’t broken even in this situation.

“Hmph. If you kill me, you’re finished too. You think the two of you can get out of here alive?”

“That’s what you think.”

“Of course. Who would dare to stop us here?”

Rauel immediately agreed with Muno’s words.

“You crazy bastards……”

She scoffed at Zayd’s glare, unfazed.

The ace of Dagger who used to bow endlessly to the rulers of the ducal family was no more.

‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

Muno’s words were not overconfidence at all.

If Muno Drasen, the Black Knight, was fully equipped with his armor, which could be called his strongest weapon, and she supported him from behind, how could assassins possibly stop them?

If there was anything to be cautious about, it would be the poison techniques used by ‘Dagger’, but even that would not be able to inflict even a speck of damage on the Black Knight, who even possessed a self-detoxification ability.

But even so, her inner thoughts were becoming a little complicated.

‘At this rate, the Ghost’s Bow will get further away…….’

She was so thankful and happy that the person she had wanted to see so much had come to save her, but at this rate, it was no different from making him go through all this trouble for nothing.

As her face naturally darkened, Muno, who had been glancing at her, let out a deep sigh and spoke.

“Smashing everything to pieces suits my temper, but……. Well, if you just change the conditions, it’s not like we can’t compromise.”

At those words, Zayd, who had been stepping back with his hand on the hilt of his sword at his waist, stopped in his tracks.

“Conditions?”

“I’m saying I’m willing to actually hand over the information you need.”

“What do you mean, you…….”

“Isn’t the cornered Aslan looking for information to make up for that ‘mistake’ and recover its position?”

“What……?”

“I’m saying I’ll give it to you. But, you’ll have to meet Rauel’s condition.”

Rauel, who received Muno’s gaze, was flustered.

She couldn’t guess what kind of information he was going to give Aslan.

But given the atmosphere, she had to continue the conversation.

“……The Ghost’s Bow. Depending on the value of Lord Ryut’s information, I want you to either give it to me or create a situation where I can obtain it.”

At those words, Zayd let out a hollow laugh as if he was dumbfounded.

“So you’re saying you caused this whole mess just to get one artifact……. Haha. This is crazy. To think the great Aslan would suffer such humiliation because of the greed of a single assassin…….”

“Shut up. Will you accept or not?”

“How can I trust you bastards?”

Zayd tried to protect his pride to the end, but the answer that came back gave him no leeway.

“Then don’t trust us and die.”

At that, Zayd, who had been glaring at Muno with a hardened face, finally ground his teeth and spoke.

“……You’d better keep your promise. The Ghost’s Bow is in the family’s possession anyway.”

“I told you. If I had my way, I’d rather kill you and smash this place up on my way out.”

Muno’s words were sincere.

Considering his experience of being attacked in Ironheart and the things Rauel said when she defected, he had a rough idea.

This place was like the headquarters of a gang that turns people into tools for killing people.

The presences of metal stirring outside were almost as repulsive as a magician’s demonic energy.

Did he read the sincerity in that gaze?

Zayd added words he didn’t necessarily have to say.

“Crazy bastards……”

“You want to die?”

“……No, fine. I accept. However, if you don’t want to pay the price for making a fool of Aslan, that information had better be accurate.”

“Hmph.”

Muno received Zayd’s last shred of pride with a snort.

***

After retrieving Rauel’s confiscated equipment, there was a little trouble on the way out of Raun.

As Rauel let out a sigh of relief after getting back her metal gloves, which had a slight ‘blueish tint’, and frowned at her torn veil.

“Lord Zayd, I heard you entered with three knights……?”

The Baron’s reasonable question, having been belatedly briefed on the incident at the castle gate.

“I sent them on an errand.”

“Then why the horses……?”

“We will ride them. By the way, am I in a position to report what I do to a Baron!?”

Zayd, who brushed off numerous logical loopholes with a roar.

But the Baron couldn’t say anything back.

On top of that.

“My goodness. You’re quite talented, brother. You went all the way to Ruken to receive a messenger after leaving the territory? Geez, you must not have slept, what were you doing? Well, I lost this time.”

Even Freddie, with his numerous troops behind him, turned back obediently with a look of complete disbelief.

Although that was a little unsettling, no one blocked their path until they left Raun.

However, they did attract some attention in the process.

Thud thud thud thud thud.

Four horses, three people.

But only two people were riding horses, while one person was running while pulling the remaining horses, creating a ridiculous scene.

“Why is that person……?”

“Does he not know how to ride a horse?”

“No, before that, isn’t he faster than a horse?

The dumbfounded gazes of the Raun guards also followed them until the group disappeared.

That evening.

Crackle crackle.

In front of a clearing in the forest where a campfire was blazing.

“Shouldn’t you tell me by now…… Muno Drasen?”

At Zayd’s abrupt words, Muno’s hand, which was tending the fire, paused.

But soon.

“Well, look at you?”

A hollow laugh was visible on Muno’s face as he turned to look at him as if amused.

“……When did you know?”

“When we were leaving Raun, from the moment I finally thought I wasn’t going to die. My head finally started working.”

“How?”

“That half, no, mong…,”

Zayd, who kept choosing his words while looking at Muno’s darkening expression, spat out the correct word as if chewing on it.

“……Mixed. blood. assassin bitch. Who else would try to save her by taking such a gamble, other than her master? Moreover, with that level of martial prowess at that age, there’s only one answer. They said your tastes were strange, but really…….”

The moment Muno’s expression became even more grim at the needlessly added remark.

Zayd hurriedly changed the subject.

“I’m saying the martial prowess you showed was that impressive. Well, the blond hair and plain armor concealed the Black Knight’s image, so I was a little confused. To come all the way to the vicinity of Aslan alone, you’ve got some serious guts.”

At those words, Rauel, who was skinning a few rabbits they had caught, immediately grabbed her dagger.

“Lord Muno, should we just take care of him?”

“Calm down, Rauel. You’re getting unnecessarily worked up right now.”

She didn’t even flinch when she was called a half-breed or a mongrel, so why was her gaze changing over such a trivial comment?

“Pardon?”

“I was originally an enemy of Aslan. Is there anything that can get worse?”

“Still, if this man tries any tricks…….”

“Then we kill him and run away. Do you think Aslan has the luxury to chase us right now?”

“Th-that’s probably not…… right.”

The bait she had cast was enough to make the heirs of the family rush out at the same time.

Rauel must have guessed that Aslan’s situation was that bad.

“Besides, His Majesty the King is currently hyping me up far more than I deserve. Aslan is in a position where they have to avoid me even if I openly pick a fight.”

“Ah……”

As Rauel focused on skinning the rabbit again as if she understood, Zayd interjected, grinding his teeth.

“Pick a fight? You’re already picking a proper fight, Muno Drasen!”

“Well, whatever.”

Muno merely shrugged at the man’s roar.

“So, are you not going to make the deal?”

That nonchalant tone made Zayd calm down.

“To talk about a deal even in this situation. Is that half-piece artifact so important? Or……”

Half-piece?

“……Is that bitch that important to you?”

At Zayd’s words, Rauel, who was skinning the rabbit, paused for no reason, but Muno just received it with a smirk.

“That’s none of your business. So, are you calling it off?”

At those words, Zayd ground his teeth and took a step back.

“……I have high expectations for the information the great Black Knight will provide. I’ll at least hear you out.”

“That is……”

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