Contracts Are Important, But the Law Is Far and Fists Are Near

“In the end, we lost those two.”

“Yes… I’m sorry, Mother.”

Having returned to the temple from the noisy streets of the Kingdom of Puhara, I furrowed my brow at Mu’s words.

We lost Idea and Pensia.

Although I had surprised and knocked them down from the dragon, it seems they didn’t fall to the Sky Island but escaped in mid-air.

If possible, I wanted to capture all the demon executives, but in reality, we only caught Morgan and Isolde. In other words, they still have two demon executives on their side.

To be honest, they weren’t that big of a threat, so I didn’t think it was a major problem, but this meant I had to revise the plan I had originally made.

The plan I had laid out for the future was based on the premise of capturing all the demon executives.

Because of this, I instinctively grabbed my furrowing brow with my hand, but when I opened my eyes and saw Mu, I couldn’t help but smile.

Tap tap tap───

Mu was trembling all over like an aspen tree. Although she wasn’t a living being but a homunculus, her fearful reactions to my every action made her seem just like a person.

Perhaps blaming herself entirely for failing the order, Mu was trembling and scared to a pitiful degree.

However, the reason we couldn’t kidnap all the demon executives this time was clearly due to the variable of the Demon King appearing.

The reason was the appearance of the Demon King, and it was absolutely not Mu’s fault, so I gently grasped the shoulder of the trembling Mu.

“Don’t worry, Mu. I have no intention of blaming you for this at all, so stand tall.”

“M-Mother…!”

Was my words so moving? Mu burst into tears of gratitude at my single sentence.

I smiled again at the endlessly flowing tears, wondering if she was creating them with magic, and said to her.

“Now, that’s enough crying. First, let’s focus on bringing the two we’ve captured to our side. You’ve locked them up in the laboratory, right?”

“Sniff, ung! Yes, Mother. Both of them are locked up in the laboratory with magic and demonic energy sealing devices attached.”

Mu nodded and answered my question. Perhaps because she cried in Meiyel’s form, her red and swollen eyelids looked incredibly cute as they quivered.

By the way, I was still in Aria’s form.

Originally, I had planned to switch to another avatar to eliminate the pain since the anesthesia magic had worn off, but when we returned to the temple, the Pope saw me and poured divine-level healing magic on me, instantly healing my wounds, so there was no need for that.

As expected of the Pope, impressive.

“Ahem! Then I suppose we should go now.”

Putting aside my stray thoughts for a moment, I snapped out of my wandering mind and spoke.

According to Mu’s answer just now, the two were securely bound and in the underground laboratory of the temple where Mu was created.

And to bring them to our side, I took the lead and walked into the inner part of the temple with Mu.

“Well then, let’s go, Mu.”

“Understood.”

Our destination was the underground laboratory of the temple.

Hoping that the two would be awake by now, I hummed a little tune.

A tune hoping they would cooperate quietly.

Drip… Drip…

In the basement that gave off an eerie feeling, two women slowly opened their eyes, regaining consciousness from their fainted state.

“Mmm…”

“Uurgh…”

Groans naturally escaped from the mouths of the two women, who had been tied up for who knows how long.

The identities of the two bound women were none other than Morgan and Isolde.

They were the demon executives who had lost consciousness after being defeated in their battles with Aria and Meiyel respectively, with their last memories being of the Sky Island.

Therefore, in this moment when they couldn’t properly grasp the situation, the first to open her mouth was Morgan, who was generally more talkative even in normal times.

“Looks like you lost too, Isolde? Seeing as you’re here like this.”

“…Hmph. We’re in the same situation anyway.”

Isolde, who felt no need to hold back, responded irritably to Morgan’s words that prickled her nerves like a tickle.

Although only a single exchange had passed between them, it was enough to bring their hazy minds back to full awareness.

This ordinary conversation that took place without any sense of discomfort meant that this was undoubtedly reality.

They realized that their situation was not some hopeful scenario like a dream or illusion. Therefore, Morgan was the first to look around at the handcuffs and shackles giving her body a sense of weakness, as well as the room’s scenery, and spoke.

“It seems we’ve been taken as some kind of hostages…”

“Indeed. And this workshop is a masterpiece of a considerable magician. Probably… that one’s.”

At Isolde’s muttering of ‘that one’, Morgan glanced at her sideways. Presumably, the ‘that one’ Isolde was referring to was the magician called Meiyel who had subdued Isolde.

Isolde must have been overwhelmingly defeated just like herself. If that wasn’t the case, there’s no way the usually expressionless Isolde would make such an angry face.

‘I wonder how humiliatingly she must have experienced defeat for Isolde to make such an expression?’

If only I could see how Isolde fought again, I’d love to watch it.

But before that, as the word defeat came to mind, Morgan bit her lip slightly as the image of Aria, who had subdued her just like Isolde’s situation, came to mind.

A strong opponent whose sword she couldn’t even reach.

She had no idea how many years of effort it would take to even touch the tip of Aria’s foot.

At least 10 years of living like a madwoman, fighting all day every day, might allow her to barely stand on a similar level.

“Damn it…”

Her mood plummeted rapidly as unnecessary thoughts came to mind. In this desperate situation of being taken hostage, such thoughts would only be poison.

Therefore, Morgan shook her head to shake off her idle thoughts and raised her head.

What she needed to do in the current situation was to perfectly grasp the immediate circumstances.

She knew she had been taken as something like a hostage due to the sealing devices attached to her body with handcuffs and shackles, but she needed to understand the situation more properly than that.

And this seemed to be similar for Isolde as well, as when Morgan turned her head towards her, their gazes met.

“…”

“…”

A moment of silence continued. But before long, without anyone going first, they both nodded simultaneously.

“Why don’t we first figure out where this is and then decide whether to make a plan or not?”

“Fine, I agree.”

With the goal of escaping this place if possible, they first needed to gather information.

Unlike the cursory look they had given earlier, Morgan and Isolde began to examine their surroundings as if dissecting each detail.

A room with all sorts of mysterious and strange magic circles adorning the walls, ceiling, and floor. The powerful magical grimoires occasionally visible on tables indicated that this was a magician’s laboratory.

The owner of this laboratory was probably the magician called Meiyel, as Isolde had said.

The laboratory was quite large, but there was an obvious door occupying one wall that looked like an entrance.

If they had been free to move, they might have suspected it to be a trap, but seeing the sealing devices binding their arms and legs now, Morgan could understand that it wasn’t a trap.

Magic and demonic energy sealing devices nailed to the laboratory wall as if restraining fierce dogs.

They were made so meticulously that not a single drop of demonic energy could be squeezed out. Conversely, it was also impossible to gather magic power dispersed in the air.

Therefore, that entrance must be the real place where the owner of this laboratory comes and goes, not a fake or trap.

The reason they left such an obvious door untouched was probably because they judged that they wouldn’t be able to escape from these sealing devices.

And frustratingly, it was a perfect answer.

Clank clank──!

“If only we could remove this, we might be able to do something…”

The sealing devices didn’t budge no matter how much strength she applied. It seemed like they could easily get out if only these were removed, but the sturdily made sealing devices were unbelievably solid.

Although Morgan was exerting her full strength, only the sound of metal echoed, without even showing signs of cracking.

If they had their demon swords it might be different, but the demon swords were nowhere to be seen, probably stolen by Aria, and it seemed Isolde had her staff taken away as well.

With both of them having all their weapons taken away, they were truly in a situation where they were completely bound and unable to move an inch.

“Haaa…”

Therefore, Morgan let out a deep sigh, but suddenly, as if getting revenge for earlier, Isolde began to grate on Morgan’s nerves with her characteristically cold tone.

“Try using a bit more strength, Morgan. How can you call yourself a warrior with that little muscle power?”

“Hey, Isolde. Why don’t you try making an effort before criticizing others?”

“I’m a magician to begin with. Unlike you muscle-brained warrior demons who only know how to move your bodies, I’m a demon who uses her brain diligently.”

Crack, Morgan barely managed to calm her rising anger.

Although they had a relationship with slight conflicts due to their incompatible personalities even in normal times, being provoked so logically like this left her with no words to retort, and her teeth ground involuntarily.

Even though she had started it first, in this situation… No, perhaps because of this situation, was Isolde provoking her even more?

Morgan had thought about just ignoring it since there was no way to escape anyway, but surprisingly, Morgan was much narrower-minded than she thought.

If it’s a fight, it’s best to accept it. So Morgan was about to open her mouth with a smile, but she had to close her opened mouth again due to footsteps heard from beyond the door.

Thud… Thud…

Pat… Pat…

What could be heard were the footsteps of a tall person and a short person.

Even though the footsteps coming from far away weren’t distinct enough to determine gender, Morgan and Isolde felt like they knew who the owners of those footsteps were.

There were only a few people who would come to this place where they were imprisoned.

And as if affirming their expectations, the ones who walked through the door were women with reddish hair and dark blue hair.

“Ah, Mother. Fortunately, they’re both awake.”

“Hmm, that’s good. If they were still unconscious, I was going to give them an ice water rubdown.”

The two women who entered the laboratory, casually uttering chilling words.

What need is there for further explanation? The identities of the two were, as Morgan and Isolde had expected, Aria and Meiyel.

Aria approached holding the demon swords she had taken from Morgan, while Meiyel held the staff she had taken from Isolde.

‘Are they going to stab us with swords? Or maybe water torture? Perhaps they’ll burn us with fire.’

After all, they were executives with vast information about demons. Therefore, Morgan and Isolde looked at the approaching Aria with fear in their eyes, thinking similar thoughts.

But no matter what torture they faced, they would endure until their last breath to maintain the pride of demons.

Thinking this way, they were preparing for the sentence of torture to follow, but surprisingly, the words that came out of her mouth were of a completely different nature.

“You two, won’t you join our side?”

“…Huh?”

“…What?”

Sounds of confusion burst out simultaneously.