Ch.61Chapter 61 – The Fisherman of Men (2)

After noticing the presence of watchers, I had some theories about why they were targeting us.

First, they could be after Eve.

Despite her appearance, she was wealthy from running a merchant guild in the capital.

Perhaps they had obtained information about her traveling outside and attacked hoping to steal her money.

Second, they might be targeting the women in our group.

Not to brag, but the women in our party were quite attractive.

At a glance, I appeared to be the only armed person, so they might have thought it would be easy if they eliminated just me.

Therefore, they could be attempting a kidnapping for human trafficking.

Third, they could be after me specifically.

Call it paranoia if you want. But considering the incident with the Emiris Order, I suspected they might have hired these men to eliminate me.

Since they surely wouldn’t have come just for grapes and wine, I thought it had to be one of those three possibilities, but…

“You lot definitely said the target was Sera.”

I clearly heard it while hiding in the grape cart.

Conversations that could only happen if Sera was the target.

This meant all three of my assumptions were wrong.

Moreover, it seemed they wanted to capture Sera intact.

They attacked during Sera’s watch.

Sera and Christina were prepared as bait, and I thought it was coincidence that they attacked during Sera’s watch, but that wasn’t the case.

These attackers deliberately chose a situation where they could ensure Sera’s safety.

Attacking at night was optimal, but the timing when Sera would be near light to avoid being hit by blind arrows was precisely when she was on watch.

As they themselves revealed in their conversation, they were definitely targeting Sera with a calculated plan.

“That’s…”

“Just answer the questions I ask.”

How dare he speak out of turn.

I slapped his cheek to remind him of his position.

“You don’t have the right to remain silent. Speak up.”

Despite my forceful tone, the man still seemed unwilling to answer.

Beating him more might make him talk, but I didn’t want to waste energy.

What should I do?

“Sera.”

“Yes?”

“Give me what I told you to carry around. The strong one.”

Sera stared at me blankly, so I repeated myself.

“The strong one, please.”

“Ah.”

After a moment, Sera took out a vial from her belongings.

The dark contents looked particularly dangerous.

“It’s quite potent.”

“Thanks.”

After receiving the vial from Sera, I turned to the man.

“What’s that, a truth serum?”

“Well, something similar.”

I forcibly opened his mouth and made him swallow the liquid.

I immediately covered his nose so he couldn’t spit it out.

Eventually, he swallowed it, and when I released his nose, he began gasping for air.

“Ugh… blech…”

“Strong, isn’t it?”

I said with a smile, though it was hidden behind my helmet.

“What is this?”

“Poison, of course.”

The man’s expression froze.

“How long will he last, Sera?”

“About an hour?”

“You heard her.”

I tapped the man’s face.

“These missions usually mean death if you fail anyway. I’ll make it painless for you.”

“Ah, that might be difficult.”

Sera looked at me with concerned eyes.

“What’s it normally used for?”

“That’s a drug used to euthanize large monsters.”

“Euthanize? But it’s painful?”

When I asked, Eve answered, wearing a bright smile for some reason.

“Some nobles have a hobby of watching monsters die painfully. That’s the drug they use.”

“Wow, that’s terrifying.”

I looked back at him.

“So there you have it. Reflect well on your life in the time you have left.”

“Don’t you need information?”

“You’re not willing to give it anyway.”

I could see he was flustered, as if this wasn’t going as he expected.

But what could I do?

“I don’t want to waste energy, so I’m just going to bury you and leave.”

The man’s face turned pale.

‘He’s not a well-trained assassin after all.’

Perhaps he thought he might survive, so he was holding out.

Maybe he had convinced himself I wouldn’t kill him until I extracted information.

*Clap*

Sera suddenly clapped her hands as if remembering something.

“Oh right, I actually prepared an antidote in case of mistakes.”

She took out a vial with transparent liquid.

“An antidote.”

“But it’s useless unless taken within the next three minutes.”

“You heard her.”

I looked at the man while speaking.

“Didn’t you say it’s very painful? Will he scream loudly?”

“Yes. Since it’s made for nobles to enjoy monsters’ death throes. If he screams loudly, monsters might gather, so we should move right away.”

I nodded at Sera’s words.

What a ridiculous hobby.

“I don’t want to see someone being eaten alive by monsters. Shall we move, Miss Christina?”

Eve spoke to Christina, who had been fidgeting anxiously.

Soon Christina turned to us and spoke.

“Um, this…”

“Chris, it can’t be helped. Let’s just pack up.”

The women reluctantly began packing up.

The man’s eyes trembled severely.

“Money, they paid me a fortune!”

He finally bit.

“Who did?”

“The Order, the Emiris Order!”

The man shouted.

“How much did they pay you to kidnap someone?”

“They gave me gold coins, more than 30 of them! In exchange, I had to capture her alive and bring all her belongings…”

“How did you know Sera was the target?”

“They told me her name!”

The man gasped.

“They said she was a woman with the surname Medimaker, and they’d send information as soon as they had it, so I should capture her immediately!”

“Send it?”

“They used a scroll to send it from the capital!”

After saying this, the man quickly shouted:

“But they said if I got caught or revealed the mission details, they’d definitely kill me! They said the payment included hush money, so I should remember that clearly!”

“Is that all?”

“That’s all I know, so, the antidote, give me the antidote!”

He was acting like he’d never talk just moments ago.

Well, life is more precious than money.

For someone who jumped into this job just for money, he kept his mouth shut for quite a while.

“You should have talked sooner.”

Ignoring his desperate cries, I looked at Sera, who tossed me the vial, which I caught with one hand and fed to him.

The man soon began panting.

“Am I… am I going to live? Hey, am I really going to live?”

“You’ll live if you took it properly.”

Sera said with a smile.

By now, our belongings were loaded onto the cart.

“Night travel is dangerous, but let’s depart.”

“Let’s do that.”

I got up and turned to the group.

The man urgently shouted.

“Wait, aren’t you going to untie me?!”

“Why would I?”

I only said I’d give him the antidote, not that I’d untie him.

Seeing the man’s face turn red, I turned to Sera.

“Do you have a shovel?”

“I do, but why?”

“I think he’ll be noisy, so I’m considering burying his head.”

Sera immediately handed me a shovel.

The man instantly fell silent.

“We’ll be going now, so survive on your own.”

“If you make noise, monsters might attack you, you know?”

Even as we departed, the man remained quiet.

A little while later, Christina carefully spoke up.

“Um…”

“He almost died, so I can’t let him off.”

I preemptively shut Christina down.

Soon, Christina clasped her hands and began praying quietly.

“Lady Evgenia…”

Was she praying for the man we left behind?

That’s completely unnecessary.

After Christina finished her prayer, I looked at Sera.

“So what did you actually give me?”

“It was kraken ink with lots of herbs steeped in it. It won’t kill you if you drink it.”

“And the second one?”

“That was just water.”

Christina turned to look at Sera and me.

Seeing her wide-eyed expression made me feel amused.

Ignoring Christina, who seemed to have a lot to say, I looked at Eve.

“Was that euthanasia story true?”

“Of course not. What kind of noble would have such a bizarre hobby?”

This time Christina looked at Eve and me.

After hesitating, unable to organize her thoughts, she finally spoke again.

“You tricked him?”

“Yes.”

Honestly, it was my first time trying something like this, but it worked surprisingly well.

Well, not completely my first time—I had tricked guards when escaping the laboratory before.

“And I believed it too…!”

Christina, the only one in our group who had been fooled, covered her face.

How innocent.

+

The journey afterward wasn’t as peaceful as when we came.

We remained vigilant against another attack and pushed ourselves to reach the vicinity of the capital.

It was something of a forced march, but everyone had enough stamina to move without much trouble.

‘Except for Christina.’

Only she had run out of energy, which is why she was now loaded onto the cart like luggage.

Seeing Sera walking beside her and chatting, she didn’t seem to be in any trouble.

“I wonder if it was right to let him live.”

“He was going to die anyway, so I consider it appropriate mercy.”

Eve spoke coldly.

I agreed with her assessment.

“If he has no sense, he might go report to the Order.”

“This isn’t a mission he can freely talk about, so his only option would be to go to his client.”

“And he’d be eliminated immediately if he mentioned his failure.”

From the moment the word “hush money” was mentioned, and from when he accepted and carried out the mission, the man’s fate was sealed.

Unless there was a long-standing relationship of trust, there’s no reason to pay hush money to people who can be bought with money.

Nothing ensures silence better than eliminating someone after they complete their job.

The gold-blinded man forgot he was already a dead man.

Whether he succeeded or failed in his mission, the man was a dead man walking.

Anyway.

“If they knew Sera was here and sent someone, they must have some surveillance method or an informant.”

“That’s the problem.”

We need to figure out how they discovered Sera’s location.

“Perhaps that lady?”

“I’d be sad if you suspected my friend.”

“Not her. Maybe one of her guards. Or the guards at the gate.”

Those two professions check the names of people coming and going.

They even knew Sera’s surname.

People who can easily verify names are the first suspects.

“There are too many watching eyes in the capital, which is why they stayed quiet there, but the fact that they attacked as soon as she left is concerning.”

“Our staff regularly visited Seraphina’s workshop, so considering safety, I should assign a few more people.”

Eve smiled reassuringly at my concern.

“Will that be okay?”

“It’s an employer’s duty to consider their employee’s safety. Though it might be a burden for the employee.”

I saw Sera, who was chatting lightly with Christina up ahead, shiver slightly.

“But I’m curious about something else.”

“What’s that?”

“Naturally, why Seraphina was targeted.”

Eve looked at me seriously.

“What value does she have that would make the Emiris Order target her?”

“Nothing comes to mind right now.”

I had already asked Sera separately.

And Sera answered that she knew nothing.

When the person herself says she doesn’t know, there’s no point in discussing it further.

“The capital is in sight now.”

Eve said with a smile.

“Will you be alright?”

“Yes. By now, my family should have all returned home.”

Eve smiled, saying they weren’t people who could afford to stay in the capital for days.

“They have shop work to catch up on, and various things… oh, right.”

Eve smiled and rummaged through the cart.

Soon she took out a bottle of wine.

“Since we all made it safely, let’s have a drink each.”

“Here?”

“Why not?”

Eve smiled as she poured wine into wooden cups.

Soon Eve distributed four cups.

“Just one cup each, so you don’t get drunk.”

“I’ll enjoy it.”

“Um, I’ve never had anything like this before…”

At those words, Eve smiled and said:

“It’s quite high quality, so one cup won’t make you very drunk.”

“But I’ve never had any before.”

“Then think of it as learning something new today. Here.”

Eve held out the cup.

Soon, the four cups clinked in the air, and I opened my helmet slightly to drink the wine.

“Oh.”

It had a rich grape aroma, slightly bitter yet sweet.

Indeed, it seemed to be a very good wine as she had said.

I savored the flavor as I looked at Eve…

“Ah.”

Eve was smiling brightly.

“Our promise to have a drink together has been fulfilled.”

I must be crazy.

I had thought I would never touch alcohol.

“I’ve been trick—”

Eve’s brightly smiling face was the last thing I saw before losing consciousness.

+

After loading Kei onto the cart like luggage, Sera looked at Eve.

“Is this really okay?”

“He’s been tense since before the attack and afterward too. We need to force him to rest.”

“I didn’t expect him to get drunk and pass out after just one cup.”

As Sera spoke with a smile, Eve smiled too.

“It was quite a sight, wasn’t it?”

“Indeed.”

‘So that’s why he absolutely avoids drinking.’

Thinking she had discovered an unexpected side of Kei, Sera inwardly promised to tease him about what she saw today.

Eve spoke up:

“Christina also passed out immediately, saying it was her first time.”

“For a first-timer, she either found it too difficult or it didn’t agree with her at all.”

Christina, also claiming it was her first drink, was quietly loaded onto the cart like luggage, sleeping beside Kei.

“By the way, Seraphina.”

“Yes.”

“Do you actually know the reason?”

Sera glanced back for a moment.

After looking at the two who seemed deeply asleep, Sera spoke again.

“I have some suspicions.”

“Then why say you don’t know?”

“Well.”

Sera looked at Kei for a moment.

“I didn’t want to worry him unnecessarily.”

“I see.”

Indeed, even at the festival, he noticed the watchers first but didn’t mention it so everyone could enjoy themselves.

They hadn’t been able to rest properly there, and she didn’t want to worry him again.

“It’s just a guess anyway. It might not be the reason.”

Eve looked ahead for a moment, then spoke.

“Could you share that guess with me?”

“That’s…”

“I’ll keep it secret.”

Eve and Sera looked at each other.

After a moment, Sera began to speak.

“It’s…”

“It’s just a guess, really.”

“I see.”

After a moment, Eve spoke again.

“Such an absurd thing…”

However, if it were true.

Eve could understand why the Emiris Order would target her.

But she couldn’t guess why they would be searching for an object that had disappeared long ago.