The shadow sent by Celia was waiting behind Necros.
Necros nodded after receiving Celia’s message.
The content written in the letter was simple.
It was an order on how to deal with Lyra and Sienna, comrades and adventurers of Baldwyn.
Lyra, a half-elf, a hybrid of human and elf, was scheduled to become a broodmare for the Goblin Lord.
Even now, in the dungeon managed by Celia as Chief Administrator, humans who had received the seed of goblins were giving birth to various goblins.
However, elves were different.
Whether it was because their races were too different, or because of the inherent characteristics of elves, elves could not be impregnated by the seed of goblins.
But what about half-elves, who were hybrids of elves and humans?
Would it not increase that possibility even slightly?
If a being combining goblins and elves came into existence through that, that being would be able to impregnate elves.
Celia’s plan was perfect.
And as for Sienna, who was the last one remaining, she intended to kill her as she was unnecessary.
Of course, she shouldn’t just be killed.
What Celia demanded was a scenario where Sienna would be subjected to what warlocks in the Free City Alliance did.
Naturally, it wasn’t actually being subjected to warlocks. it was just made to look that way.
“Clap.”
However, it wouldn’t be fun if it were just like that.
Necros thought about something and then devised a plan.
The bony fingers under the blue robe wrote letters in the notebook.
Everything would proceed according to Celia’s will.
No, it would proceed according to the Master’s will.
* * *
Deep underground in the Fortress of Silence. Two women were imprisoned in a small room converted into a prison.
It was Lyra and Sienna.
While Baldwyn had left for the Sail Kingdom, they were held hostage here.
However, they were Gold Badge adventurers.
If they wanted to, they could easily escape such a shoddy prison, but their opponent was not good.
An Arch Lich!
Not just a Lich, but a 5-star Arch Lich was the owner of the dungeon.
Even if Stril, a Platinum Badge adventurer, had been alive, he wouldn’t have been a match for an Arch Lich; how could two Gold Badge adventurers possibly contend with one?
Furthermore, outside the prison, there were many skeletons and zombies.
Though these were at most 1-star entities, things were different with an Arch Lich.
They were like time bombs, ticking away without anyone knowing when they might explode.
Therefore, there was nothing they could do but stay put.
“It’s okay, Sienna.”
Lyra leaned against the wall and gently stroked Sienna’s head as she lay beside her.
Sienna hadn’t spoken properly since receiving a severe shock in the last battle.
Stril’s death had left a deep scar on her.
“Baldwyn will surely come to save us.”
Although Lyra was anxious in her heart, she trusted Baldwyn.
Baldwyn had always been a loyal comrade who thought of his party members first.
It was unthinkable that he would abandon them and leave.
She tried to hold onto hope like that.
Her keen ears, inherited from her half-elf heritage, suddenly caught the sound of footsteps coming from the corridor.
“Someone is coming.”
Sienna weakly pushed herself up. Fear still lingered in her eyes.
The prison door slowly opened. A masked figure in a blue robe stood in the doorway.
“Arch Lich…”
Lyra whispered through clenched teeth.
Necros slowly walked into the prison.
His bony fingers wrote something in the notebook.
– There is good news.
At those words, Lyra’s eyes widened.
“…What do you mean?”
Necros wrote in the notebook again.
– Baldwyn won in the arena. I will keep my promise.
The promise with the Arch Lich.
The Arch Lich had made a promise to release them if Baldwyn became the champion in the arena.
And Baldwyn had become the champion in the arena…
Lyra was moved.
“Baldwyn… is alive?”
Her voice trembled with hope.
Necros nodded. His bony fingers moved again.
– Follow me. We will go to the Sail Kingdom.
But he was releasing them this easily?
Lyra was slightly suspicious of the current situation, but thinking this might be their only chance for escape, she helped Sienna up.
“Get up, Sienna. We… might be able to get out of here.”
Sienna faintly nodded. Her movements were still mechanical, but she at least understood Lyra’s words.
The two women followed Necros through the narrow corridor and along the passages of the fortress.
And finally, they were able to get out of the dungeon.
Outside the dungeon, it was filled with the cool night air.
Lyra took a deep breath of the air of freedom.
Countless stars glittered in the sky, and the moon occasionally revealed itself from between the clouds.
In front of them, a carriage covered in black cloth awaited them.
Necros, who had apparently put on gloves, gestured to the carriage with his hand.
Lyra supported Sienna and got into the carriage.
It was dark inside the carriage, but at least the seats were plush.
As Necros also got into the carriage, the coachman, whose whole body was wrapped in bandages, whipped the horses.
The carriage slowly began to move.
Lyra looked out the window, trying to gauge where they were heading. Thanks to her elven blood, she could see better in the dark than humans.
But before long, she noticed something strange.
“Huh?”
Lyra said, looking at Necros.
“Why are we going south?”
Lyra was a Gold Badge adventurer operating in the Orbis Empire. Naturally, she had a decent grasp of geography.
“To get to the Sail Kingdom, we need to go northwest.”
She was certain they were going in the wrong direction.
However, Necros offered no response. He simply continued to gaze at her with his face hidden beneath the mask.
“Where are you taking us right now?!”
Lyra’s voice became increasingly filled with tension.
Necros remained silent.
Sienna tightly gripped Lyra’s hand. Her hand was as cold as ice.
In their current situation, Sienna felt fear.
The carriage continued southward. As time passed, the road became rougher, and the surrounding trees grew denser. They were clearly entering deep mountains.
“Where are you really taking us!”
Lyra could no longer stand it.
However, confronting the Arch Lich head-on would be foolish. She had to find another way.
‘Should I jump off here?’
Jumping off a moving carriage required considerable courage.
Of course, she, with her elven blood, would be fine, but Sienna, who was disarmed, was different.
Because Sienna was human.
Besides, she couldn’t abandon Sienna and flee alone.
While she was warily observing Necros, the carriage stopped.
Lyra looked out the window.
They seemed to have arrived in a mountain valley. The surroundings were submerged in darkness, but she could spot the light of a few torches.
Finally, the carriage door opened, and Necros signaled them to disembark.
Lyra held Sienna’s hand and carefully got out of the carriage.
Her intuition warned her that this was not a safe place.
As soon as they got out of the carriage, armed knights appeared from all around.
They wore helmets, but Lyra immediately recognized their insignia.
“Margrave Cronil…?”
Yes, those were the knights of Margrave Cronil.
“Are these them?”
One of the knights wearing a helmet asked gruffly.
At his words, Necros nodded.
“It’s been a while since I’ve held a woman. *Hee hee*.”
Another knight chuckled. His gaze was lewd, and Lyra instinctively shivered.
Were they really knights?
Lyra wondered. The knights she knew were beings who valued honor and protected the weak.
But these people here were completely different.
‘There are… too many of them….’
No matter how much of a Gold Badge adventurer she was, she wouldn’t stand a chance against such an overwhelming number of knights.
Moreover, although the knights were armed, she and Sienna were not armed at all.
In short, it was like a child fighting an adult.
Lyra looked at Necros with despair in her eyes.
Her expression conveyed an implicit meaning.
‘Didn’t you say you would take us to Baldwyn?’
However, Necros’s head was already turned towards the knights.
It was as if he was saying, “Now it’s your turn.”
The knights slowly approached the two women. A lewd smile played on their faces.
Lyra instinctively turned to flee, but Sienna was still in a state of shock, so she couldn’t move quickly.
Necros took out his notebook and wrote something. He showed it to the knights.
– Do not touch the half-elf, just cut off her limbs.
Since she was going to carry the Goblin Lord’s child anyway, her limbs were useless.
However, one of the knights voiced his displeasure.
“What? Don’t touch the half-elf, the most superior commodity? Who do you think you are!”
He stepped forward towards Necros in an angry voice.
But then.
Gulp-
Necros’s hand pierced the heart of the knight who had just been complaining.
“Kuaaark…!”
Necros slowly moved his hand and pulled out the knight’s heart.
Then, with the blood on his glove, he wrote again in his notebook.
– Do not touch the half-elf, just cut off her arms and legs.
The red lettering instilled fear and dread in the knights.
They had thought he was just an ordinary merchant trading with their lord, Margrave Cronil.
But he was an incredibly skilled individual.
His brutality was beyond words.
Lyra was also shocked.
‘I, I can’t escape….’
Seeing the skill the Arch Lich had just displayed, she realized that even if she ran, she would be caught quickly.
“W-why are you doing this? Baldwyn made a promise with you!”
Lyra cried out in a desperate voice.
Necros wrote something in his notebook again.
– Baldwyn sold you out.
“L-lies!”
As Lyra said, what Necros wrote was a lie.
Baldwyn did not sell out his comrades.
But Necros knew humans well.
That a human who had lost hope was powerless.
Indeed, Lyra lost the will to escape due to the shock.
“……”
Lyra’s head drooped.
She finally understood everything.
They had no plan to be released from the beginning.
This situation was foreshadowed from the moment they first stepped into the dungeon.
“H-huh…”
Lyra, who had braced herself by clinging to a shallow hope until now.
Her only ray of hope was shattered.
“Baldwyn…!”
Lyra cried out. Her voice was mixed with anger and despair.
Sienna’s lips also began to tremble slightly. The tears flowing from her eyes showed that she had realized something.
Necros wrote the final sentence in his notebook.
– Then goodbye.
And Necros stepped back, making way for the knights.
“Well, it’s time for some fun.”
The knights slowly approached the two women.
Tears flowed from their eyes.
They were tears filled with fear, emptiness, anger, and resolve.
“I will never forgive you…”
Lyra said as a final word.
But the sounds that followed were only screams.
Two kinds of screams tore through the silence of the night and echoed in the mountain valley.
One was a sharp cry stemming from physical agony as flesh was torn and bones were broken.
The other was a deep, despairing wail at the moment human dignity was shattered.
These two agonizing sounds intertwined in the deep darkness and spread through the forest trees.
But there was no one to hear those sounds under the cold moonlight.
* * *
Celia stood by the window, gazing at the night sky.
A smile formed on her lips beneath her mask.
“Everything is proceeding according to plan.”
She muttered.
Her hand slowly removed the mask.
Under the moonlight, her true face was revealed.
Beautiful, but the two horns protruding from her head clearly showed that she was not human.
“Baldwyn… the Knight of Flames.”
Celia smiled. Her smile was so beautiful, yet terribly cold.
“Soon, you will be consumed by rage. That rage will burn the Free City Alliance. And within that flame-”
Celia’s eyes gleamed dangerously.
“The Master’s will shall be fulfilled.”
