When you stir an anthill, of course the ants will swarm out.
From the outside the factory had seemed so quiet, but once shaken, a considerable number of people burst out.
“What the hell. Since when did your mana increase like that?”
Casey’s real focus was on the magic Ludger had just displayed.
He had blasted the factory door off with pure mana in a single strike.
It might have looked like a shabby old door, but anyone could tell it was reinforced on the inside.
Yet Ludger had smashed through it as though such things meant nothing.
“I’ve made some progress.”
“What, did you stumble across some legendary elixir and drink it?”
“I did eat something similar. Ever heard of the fruit of the World Tree?”
“You’ve got a funny sense of humor. Where in the world would such a thing exist?”
Exactly. I hadn’t known it existed either.
Ludger swallowed the rest of his words and fixed a cold gaze on the enemies.
Outwardly they looked no different from nearby factory workers, but their sturdy builds and the vicious gleam in their eyes told otherwise.
“Do you see him?”
“No.”
“There are too many to interrogate one by one.”
“See over there? The guy with the hat, just behind the others.”
“I see him.”
“He’s the highest-ranked one among them.”
“What makes you think so?”
“There’s cigar ash on his clothes. In a crowd of rough laborers, the one smoking expensive cigars is obvious.”
“A reasonable deduction.”
Ludger stepped forward.
It was as if to say he would handle this.
Casey remained still.
Since Ludger had taken charge, interfering would only get in the way.
‘Besides, now that their hideout’s been hit, the others will be moving.’
The enemy wouldn’t expect their base to remain undiscovered forever.
Naturally, they would have prepared countermeasures for this moment, layers of safeguards.
They were operating in the capital of a mid-sized nation, after all—they’d have that much capability.
‘Found it.’
Casey’s sharp senses picked up an alien trace.
Something had glinted from the rooftop of a building overlooking the factory.
Not a sniper—likely just a telescope to monitor this side.
While Casey moved quietly toward the target, Ludger had already engaged in combat.
Ludger pointed his staff and fired a mana projectile.
Some who tried to dodge were caught in the blast and sent rolling across the ground.
Their reactions were fast, but the explosion’s power was too much to avoid completely.
Still, none were fully incapacitated.
Ludger’s eyes narrowed slightly.
‘Their response is faster than expected.’
Even when ambushed, they moved in perfect coordination. Even though their opponent was a mage, they showed no panic, only calm reaction.
Which meant they had anticipated such a situation.
“This is indeed the right place.”
From afar, something like a metal canister flew toward him.
It landed near Ludger and hissed, spewing a thick white smoke.
In an instant, dense fumes filled the area.
Not ordinary smoke.
The prickling on his skin told him it was tear gas.
‘A clever tactic. Guns won’t work against a mage, and charging recklessly would make them easy prey.’
So they detonated tear gas to obscure vision and disrupt spellcasting.
Hooomph.
Through the haze of gas, men in gas masks rushed at Ludger.
Three of them.
Each attacked from a different angle, blades aimed at his vital points.
And the blades weren’t ordinary knightly swords.
They were butcher’s knives, meant to hack flesh into chunks.
Nothing less than human slaughterers.
“Bunch of butchers who ought to be working in a slaughterhouse... what are you plotting, gathering here like this?”
Ludger stamped his foot lightly.
A fierce surge of mana swept out, blowing the gas away with a gust of wind.
The three attackers faltered but didn’t stop.
Ludger raised his staff, deflecting the strike of the one coming from the front.
As the man stumbled forward, Ludger twisted his momentum and hurled him into the one coming from behind.
The two collided and rolled across the floor, while the slash aimed at Ludger’s side was met with a sharp knee strike, sending the blade spinning upward.
Behind the gas mask, the attacker’s eyes widened in shock.
To see a mage engage in close combat—kicking up the flat of a swinging blade with his knee—was unbelievable.
Ludger swung his staff, smashing it into the man’s face.
At the same time, he conjured mana bullets and swiftly finished off the two tangled on the ground.
From the gathered crowd, one man was quietly retreating.
The same one Casey had pointed out earlier—the one who smoked cigars.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
Ludger chased after the fleeing man at once.
Large men tried to block his path, but it was useless.
One spell per opponent.
His rapid-fire magic, coded in advance, shot off at millisecond intervals.
All who charged were subdued.
‘Having to hold back my strength is annoying.’
He hadn’t killed anyone.
This was, after all, a foreign country, and officially he was a Seorn Academy professor.
Slaughtering them indiscriminately would create trouble.
That didn’t mean subduing them was difficult.
It was merely a nuisance.
“You... you insane monster!”
The fleeing man dashed deeper into the factory and pulled a /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ lever of unknown purpose.
With a clanking sound, gears inside the factory engaged.
Traps set in the ceiling activated.
A heavy shadow fell over Ludger’s head.
Kuuuuung!
Massive chunks of steel crashed down, crushing him.
The man, who had lured Ludger while pretending to flee, wore a triumphant grin.
“Hahaha! That’s what happens when you just trot after me, you idiot!”
He was certain the trap had landed squarely.
The man beneath it would no longer even resemble a human form.
“Damn it. To think he’d chase me this far. They told me to clean up properly, and now he’s on our tail?”
The man pulled a cigar from his belt and struck a match.
“The sniper failed too. This is why dealing with black mages always brings rotten luck.”
“That’s quite an amusing story.”
Just as he was about to take a puff, a voice he shouldn’t have heard reached his ears.
Startled, the man glanced around.
His gaze finally dropped to the floor—
To his own shadow.
Someone rose out of it.
The impossible sight made the cigar slip from his lips and fall to the floor.
“H-how...?”
He had definitely seen the trap crush him.
But the words caught in his throat.
Ludger, rising from the shadow, fixed him with a cold gaze.
“No one escapes the shadow.”
The man’s hand darted to his belt—
But Ludger’s staff struck his brow first.
* * *
Not long after Ludger swept the scene, the police stormed in.
With them came Marias Selmore. She waved the police back and faced Ludger alone.
“Did you find it?”
“I’ve captured one here.”
Ludger gave a slight nod toward the unconscious man.
The man was bound not with rope but tightly wrapped in wire cable, his head still drooping low.
“Judging by the response, he’s the sniper himself. And he mentioned dealings with black mages.”
“Then it must be true. They were hired by someone.”
“They’re no ordinary bold fools. To actually attempt the assassination of someone from House Selmore, of all people.”
“Maybe they were desperate—or perhaps someone greater stands behind them.”
Someone greater.
Ludger silently agreed with that possibility.
They had said there were connections with black mages.
But even black mages couldn’t rashly touch House Selmore.
Even if they hadn’t directly targeted Marias herself, would they really be insane enough to provoke a mage holding one of the Color Titles?
For such a move to be made, it meant they were confident that even if Marias was enraged, they could still fight on equal footing.
‘A black mage group of that caliber.’
At minimum, 5th-Circle, possibly 6th-Circle black mages.
‘And not only the Black Dawn Society exists.’
The Black Dawn Society exercised broad influence across many nations of the continent.
But in regional territories, there were plenty of organizations with more direct authority than them.
“Amazing. I never thought you’d find them this quickly.”
“I had a lot of help from your sister.”
There was no need to reveal more here, so Ludger attributed it to Casey.
Marias chuckled softly, perhaps taking it as humility.
Yet, as always, her half-lidded eyes made it hard to read her true feelings.
“You’re not only capable but also humble. My sister has really found a man too good for her.”
“Thank you for the compliment, even if you don’t mean it.”
“Oh my. But it isn’t flattery. What a shame. Compared to my sister, what do you think of me?”
“That’s a very generous offer, but I already have Casey.”
“How disappointing.”
Disappointing indeed.
Ludger thought again that he could not let his guard down with Marias’s subtle probing.
No matter how beautiful, how could one trust a woman whose true mind could never be read?
In fact, it was better in such moments to show firmness.
“More importantly, what do you intend to do with this man?”
“Oh? Are you curious?”
Marias tilted her head slightly, touching her cheek with a finger.
Ludger shook his head.
“It’s better I don’t know.”
This man would never stand in a formal courtroom.
He would never see the inside of a holding cell, nor a prison.
Instead...
He would be dragged to a place very quiet and secret.
A place far beyond anyone’s gaze.
Where neither law, nor justice, nor mercy existed—only violence.
Most likely he would spill out every memory of his life up until the brink of death.
“Thank you. Thanks to you we caught him much sooner. Otherwise, it would have taken days.”
“I only did what I had to. It’s my honor if I could be of help.”
“Still, since I received your help, it would damage my reputation if I left it at that. If word spread, others would whisper behind my back, saying House Selmore is ungrateful. I don’t want that, so if there’s anything you want, you may ask it.”
“Are there no limits?”
Ludger asked immediately, as if waiting for that answer.
At his provocative question, Marias’s smile deepened.
As though to say—oh? let’s see.
“Usually when I make such offers, people are either shocked or become wary.”
“Perhaps I’ve grown bolder after spending time with your sister.”
“My. I’d hoped she wouldn’t influence you that way. Well then, my answer to your question is ‘yes.’ There are no limits. Ask for anything.”
It was indeed an offer of immense breadth.
But Ludger knew.
Those words themselves were a kind of trap.
What one asked for revealed much.
Ask for something excessive, and it marked a fool who would one day be destroyed by his own overreaching.
Ambition without knowing one’s limits.
Ask for something too small, and it revealed a simpleton too dim to seize an opportunity.
Though she said there were no limits, this was the most difficult test of all.
The reward must be precisely equivalent to the merit of this deed.
‘Just the right balance. Matching exactly what she gained from this incident.’
Ludger gave a faint laugh.
“There is but one condition I ask for this time.”
This time?
That odd phrasing pricked her attention, but only briefly.
Ludger spoke his desire.
“When I return to the mansion, please prepare a separate room for Casey.”
“......”
Marias’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The tiniest change in expression.
Outwardly she gave nothing away, but her mind whirred rapidly.
‘Wow. What an interesting man.’
She was impressed.
The request itself defined what sort of man Ludger Cherish was.
Was he an arrogant fool blinded by ambition?
A small-minded commoner unable to grasp opportunity?
Or a sycophant who knew how to cling to power?
Usually, it was always one of those three.
But Ludger was none of them.
If anything, he stood outside such categories.
Yes—someone like herself.
‘It might look light on the surface, but dismissing it would mean insulting Casey. Yet if I call it excessive, then I undermine my own dignity as head of the house.’
The reasoning was flawless.
He had not sought selfish gain, but asked for the sake of his fiancée.
‘Amusing, isn’t it?’
Ludger, who had been the one on trial,
Had flipped the weight of judgment onto her with a single question.
It was checkmate.
Marias smiled broadly and nodded without hesitation.
“As much as you wish.”
“Thank you for indulging my stubbornness.”
“Stubbornness? Not at all. Truthfully, even without such a request, I had already planned to prepare a room for her.”
“Oh dear. Then I must have acted unnecessarily.”
Fufufu.
Hahaha.
Ludger and Marias both laughed together.
“I’m back.”
At that moment, Casey arrived, dragging along the captured lookout.
Seeing Marias and Ludger together, she shivered.
“...Ugh. The two of you are really creepy, seriously.”