Ch.99Chapter 99. Only I Can Do the Kidnapping (3)

“Sit down.”

Thud-

Elaine felt goosebumps all over her body at the man’s low voice and obeyed.

As Elaine sat on the wooden chair, the man reached his hand toward her.

Instinctively, Elaine closed her eyes and raised her hands to cover her face in self-defense.

However, contrary to her expectations, nothing special happened.

“Do not leave this place.”

“…”

Unable to answer, Elaine carefully lowered her arms and looked up.

Thanks to the deeply pulled-down robe, the man’s face wasn’t visible at all.

‘My voice… won’t come out.’

Though she had a mountain of things she wanted to say to the man who had kidnapped her, her voice wouldn’t come out.

Elaine tried hard to speak, but it was useless.

This kind of magic was a first for her.

She was familiar with binding magic that prevented body movement, but she never imagined there could be magic that could seal one’s mouth too.

Whoosh-

While Elaine sat on the chair, unable to speak or move, the man disappeared.

Suddenly, just as he had brought her here.

‘Haaaa.’

Elaine felt the tension in her body naturally release as the man who gave her chills vanished before her eyes.

Once the robed man disappeared, she could finally move her body freely.

Just until a moment ago, she felt compelled to do whatever the man said.

Elaine quickly got up from the chair and tried opening the door in front of her.

As she expected, the door wouldn’t open.

She didn’t know where she was, but there were no windows in the room at all.

Elaine calmly looked around to see if there was anything she could use as a weapon.

In addition to dropping her sword earlier, the scabbard she had worn at her waist had also been taken by the man.

There was nothing in the room that could be used as a substitute for a sword.

Clench-

Elaine bit her lip and tightly clenched her fist.

She thought she had already felt enough helplessness without her sword during the festival incident.

Bang-

Elaine first thrust her shoulder against the visible door.

There was a loud noise as her shoulder hit the door, but the door didn’t budge at all.

“Phew.”

Elaine flexed her arm muscles and rammed her body against it again.

Bang-

For now, this seemed like the most likely escape method available.

‘…I’m really useless.’

Elaine thought as she felt the heavy pain in her shoulder.

Just like during the festival incident, and now this time too.

Far from being helpful to anyone, she felt like she was just a burden.

During the festival, at least she wasn’t a burden to anyone, but this time she definitely was.

To be kidnapped by an enemy while on a study trip abroad.

And without being able to put up any resistance.

Elaine momentarily suppressed the surge of emotion and moved her body again.

Bang-

Again, the door didn’t budge at all.

**

It would have been nice to discover something, but unfortunately, it was a failure.

Emily’s artifact did react, but that was all.

We already knew that the opponent was from the Nameless Organization and used Black Magic.

I thought there might be tracking capabilities or something to analyze, but Emily’s artifact didn’t have such functions.

“What did they say?”

“The O’Neil Kingdom already knew everything.”

“As expected, right?”

“Then shouldn’t we hurry in and rescue Elaine!”

Emily reacted intensely to Professor Amillion’s words.

When I returned with Cynthia and Emily without any results, the meeting with the O’Neil Kingdom had just ended.

We happened to meet in front of the dormitory and were now gathered in Professor Amillion’s room to hear about the meeting.

“Yes. We need to go as soon as possible.”

“So where is it?”

“…They didn’t say until the end. I think we’ll have to follow them to find out.”

“Ugh.”

This was quite a significant variable.

I had somewhat expected that we might not find traces or evidence at the place where Elaine was kidnapped.

So I wasn’t too shocked when we didn’t discover anything.

‘Why aren’t they sharing the destination in advance?’

“Of course, students can’t come along.”

“Hmm.”

“…”

“It seems this matter should be left to the O’Neil Kingdom’s army.”

Professor Amillion looked around at all of us as she spoke.

‘What should I do now?’

My original plan was like this:

Although I couldn’t attend, Professor Amillion, who participated in the meeting, would find out where the guy was hiding.

Then, before the O’Neil Kingdom’s army departed, I would arrive first, take care of the guy, and rescue Elaine.

It was a very simple and easy task consisting of just two steps, but the first button was already fastened wrong.

“I’ve arranged to go with the O’Neil Kingdom’s army. So don’t worry too much.”

In this situation, I won’t know the location until the kingdom’s army arrives at the guy’s hideout.

Even if I secretly follow the kingdom’s army to find out the location, I won’t have much time before they storm in.

‘Wearing the Black Shadow Corps uniform here is too dangerous.’

This was the problem.

Naturally, I had no intention of fighting the guy with my face and identity exposed.

Then I would need to wear the uniform and mask, but I was in the O’Neil Kingdom, of all places.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it’s the country with the greatest anger toward the Black Shadow Corps on the continent.

If I were to encounter the O’Neil Kingdom’s army while wearing the uniform, I couldn’t predict what would happen.

Perhaps the kingdom’s army would prioritize capturing me rather than the guy who kidnapped Elaine.

“Haaaa.”

It was truly a situation that made me sigh.

But I couldn’t rescue Elaine as an academy student with my face fully exposed either.

“We’re departing soon.”

“…Huh?”

I was startled by Professor Amillion’s next words.

I knew we needed to depart as quickly as possible to rescue Elaine as soon as we could.

But I didn’t expect it to be this fast.

It didn’t seem like much time had passed since the meeting with Commander Ordin ended.

“Everyone knows time is of the essence in this matter. They say we’ll depart within the next few hours.”

“Hmm.”

“Ah…”

Unlike me, sighs of relief came from Cynthia and Emily.

It’s very good that the O’Neil Kingdom is moving as quickly as possible.

But it was too rushed.

Above all, I hadn’t yet decided what to do.

I couldn’t openly follow the kingdom’s army and fight as a student, nor could I show up wearing Black Shadow Corps clothes.

Both options had constraints.

In other words, it was a moment that required a choice.

And I didn’t have much time to think about it.

Since we were departing within the next few hours, I needed to make my own preparations if I wanted to follow them secretly.

‘In that case…’

The decision was made, surprisingly quickly.

**

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

Ordin steeled his resolve as he heard the determined responses of his knights.

This was bound to happen eventually.

It had been quite some time since they discovered the location of the one who had slaughtered the Silver Eagles along with the kingdom’s army.

The reason they hadn’t stormed the hideout until now was because Ordin lacked determination.

Uncertain of victory, Ordin had postponed the operation repeatedly.

But now he could delay no longer.

It wasn’t just the O’Neil Kingdom involved, but also the Crescen Empire, specifically the daughter of the Sinclair Family, one of the six great families of Crescen.

If anything happened to Elaine Sinclair, there was a real possibility it could develop into a national issue.

Clop- Clop-

As Ordin pulled the reins to signal his horse, it began to move forward.

As Ordin, at the vanguard, advanced, the knights following him also started to depart one by one.

In the dark night, fortunately, the moon was much brighter than usual.

The brighter it was, the better they could see the death fog approaching.

‘We just need to respond calmly.’

Ordin was recalling the magic that had rendered the Silver Eagles helpless.

After some research, they had devised countermeasures, but they weren’t verified.

It was just a hypothesis that might work in theory.

Ordin was anxious but decided to trust the kingdom’s magicians.

Moreover, whether it was good luck or bad, there was also a magician from the Crescen Empire.

Relatively speaking, the O’Neil Kingdom was weaker in magical aspects compared to the Crescen Empire.

The number of magicians was far fewer than in the Crescen Empire, and objectively, the quality of magicians was also inferior.

Therefore, Ordin had trust in the Crescen magician, especially Professor Amillion who taught at the academy.

“Professor Amillion, was it?”

“Yes.”

Ordin spoke to Professor Amillion who was riding a horse behind him.

“Have you ever encountered poison magic in actual combat?”

“Yes. Magicians from Flora Kingdom in the western continent often use it, and while it’s rare, it’s not so hard to find.”

Ordin felt both hope and interest rise at Amillion’s answer.

“How would you respond to it, Professor?”

“Well, it depends on the type of poison.”

“It’s a fog-like spreading poison, and if someone with no resistance to magic inhales it, they die instantly.”

“…That’s frightening. Still, if it’s in gas form, the most orthodox countermeasure is to blow it away with wind. If that doesn’t work…”

“If it doesn’t?”

Ordin asked Amillion with a hint of expectation.

Using wind was a method Ordin had already thought of.

“If it’s in gas form, you could convert it to liquid to make it easier to avoid, or even contain it completely.”

“Oh.”

Ordin felt reassured seeing Amillion immediately provide answers that had taken the kingdom days to come up with.

“Or…”

Ordin listened attentively to Professor Amillion’s words as he quickly rode his horse toward their destination.