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Chapter 131

The onlookers stood with their mouths agape as they took in the two unbelievable occurrences that had happened at once.

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Loyar, even with a sword lodged in her right hand, grabbed onto the blade and kicked Ellen in the abdomen, snatching away the sword.

Ssss...

However, the sword that had been stolen from Ellen’s grip simply vanished from Loyar’s hand, as if it had never existed, and reappeared with its hilt in Ellen’s right fist once again while she lay on the ground.

Loyar’s eyes widened at the sight. This was not a sword created through some summoning magic.

‘Soulbinding?’ Loyar thought.

Such a thing could only happen when a sword was bound to the owner’s soul. And there were only a few of them in the world.

“Ugh...”

Ellen tried to stagger to her feet, drenched in rain, but glaring at Loyar with a determined look in her eyes. She, if no one else, knew that Loyar had truly intended to kill her, for reasons unknown to her.

The others were unaware that Loyar had really intended to kill Ellen. However, Ellen knew that she was already gravely injured, and if her opponent charged at her once more like she’d just done, she was certain she would die.

‘Why is she trying to kill... me?’ Ellen thought.

Ellen couldn’t make sense of the situation.

Loyar observed Ellen quietly. An unidentified girl carrying a soulbound sword... While she couldn’t identify the sword itself, it clearly possessed extraordinary power.

How had such a rare sword ended up in the hands of such a creature? Her heart commanded her to kill her, but the more she thought about it, the more conflicted Loyar became. Was Reinhart really unaware of the true identity of this person? Or did he know? If so, why hadn’t he mentioned anything about such a monster? Could it be that her existence was a part of Reinhart’s grand scheme for the reconstruction of the Demon Realm?

Though Loyar didn’t know specifically who this girl was, she was certain she was a significant figure, possibly even greater than she had initially believed. And this person was racing through the rain, seeking out Reinhart. While it seemed they were fated to be enemies, Loyar was inclined to believe that Reinhart hadn’t befriended her mindlessly. Unlike Sarkegar or Eleris, Loyar wasn’t one for intricate thinking.

‘It’s a good thing I failed,’ Loyar thought.

She should have refrained from intervening in affairs not assigned to her.

The realization that she’d nearly disrupted Reinhart’s grand plan made Loyar’s head spin. Whoever this person was, she shouldn’t have crossed her.

“I reckon you now understand the difference between us,” Loyar said fiercely, looking down at Ellen, who was curled up on the ground.

Though she had lost the intent to hurt Ellen further, Loyar also had no thoughts of bringing her along in her search for Reinhart.

She was dangerous, but not immediately useful.

“Go back. You’re only getting in the way,” Loyar said.

“How could you possibly think that you could be of help to me if you’re this weak?” her eyes seemed to say.

“...”

Ellen, with her head bowed, could only clench her teeth.

***

“Are you alright...?”

“... Yeah.”

In the end, Loyar had subdued Ellen, then instructed her to stop worrying about Reinhart and go back to the Temple. She would ensure his safe return. Ellen walked blankly in the rain, having thrown her umbrella aside, while Harriet followed her carefully, holding an umbrella over her.

Ellen walked with her head down, and Harriet couldn’t see her face.

However, Ellen, who was swimming in an overwhelming sense of defeat for the first time, wore a rigid expression.

‘I even summoned Lament...’

She had summoned Lament due to the sense of life-threatening danger, yet the divine sword had only managed to pierce her opponent’s palm slightly.

Loyar was no ordinary person. An ordinary person would not be able to block a strike from a divine sword with their bare hands. In fact, it should have been impossible for one to even block a strike from a regular sword.

And yet, her opponent had blocked the divine sword. The silver-haired woman, who had genuinely attempted to kill her, had changed her mind upon seeing Ellen’s sword and left her alone. Ellen did not understand why she had been targeted, nor did she know why her life had been spared in the end.

“Th-There are so many of them, and it seems like they know something, so... they should be able to find Reinhart,” Harriet said.

Harriet exaggerated her gestures, trying to keep a positive outlook while Ellen remained silent. She was dying to know what the sword Ellen had summoned was all about, but at the moment, Ellen seemed to be in a terrible state.

What on earth was going on?

How could someone from a group of street beggars block a blow from a divine sword?

Who was Reinhart, and who was this silver-haired woman, after all?

Ellen had never thought of herself as the strongest in the world, but she had also never imagined she would be defeated so miserably by someone else.

The thought that she could be of help had been pure arrogance. When confronted with the demand that she leave because she was a hindrance, Ellen could not muster any protest, not after such a crushing defeat.

The realization that she would only be a nuisance if she followed the silver-haired woman was enough for Ellen to step back.

The identity of the silver-haired woman remained a mystery.

And Ellen’s ignorance about Reinhart only grew.

‘I... in the end, I know nothing.’ Ellen thought.

Ellen had wanted to understand what she did not know, and in doing so, she had hurt Reinhart. She had wanted to make amends, to save him somehow.

She wanted to do something, anything.

But even that was beyond her capability.

A sense of powerlessness...

For the second time in her life, Ellen walked in a daze, engulfed in total helplessness.

***

“Do not speak of what you’ve just seen to anyone. Pretend it never happened.”

After Ellen and Harriet had left, Loyar strictly ordered everyone present to keep quiet about the recent fight.

To her, Ellen was a strange girl carrying a soulbound sword.

“But that girl, her skills were no joke. Are all the people in the Temple like this?”

Loyar frowned at the club member’s comment. “Quiet. Don’t even speak about this among yourselves. I don’t know who that person is, but she’s no ordinary figure. Carelessly spreading this story might provoke the Temple—or even the empire—to act against us.”

More precisely, Loyar judged that Reinhart had to have his own reasons for not bringing this person up before.

Loyar’s word was absolute within the club, so everyone nodded in understanding.

Dybun, the Rotary Club’s second-in-command, stepped forward.

“Sister, how will we handle Reinhart’s situation...?”

The atmosphere had grown tense after news of Reinhart’s kidnapping, even before the most recent fight.

“I’ll take care of it. You guys get ready to get to work once the rain stops. Though it doesn’t seem like it will stop anytime soon.”

According to her judgment, Reinhart was still safe for now, but there was no time to lose.

“Are you sure you’ll be alright on your own?” Dybun asked, concerned about Loyar going alone.

Of course, Loyar scoffed at the question. “I just sent away a kid who managed to cut my palm. Do you think I’d take you guys with me?”

While Ellen had perceived their confrontation as a dismal defeat for her, Loyar considered her an unfathomable monster.

Naturally, the club members wouldn’t stand a chance against Ellen.

“I’m leaving now.”

Loyar, donning her robe, began to run through the rain.

***

In the end, Ellen and Harriet did not manage to find Reinhart on their own, but they played a crucial role in the search for him.

Just informing Loyar, who had been unaware of Reinhart’s abduction, was enough.

“His Highness has been kidnapped...?” Eleris asked.

“Yes.”

Loyar, who typically would not make contact under normal circumstances, had headed straight to the commercial district in the Aligar District to meet with Eleris.

While Ellen and Harriet were still lacking in terms of their capabilities, Loyar honestly wouldn’t have minded taking them along if Eleris hadn’t been around.

If she were to bring them along to rescue Reinhart, it would not be possible to include Eleris as well. Naturally, at this point in time, Eleris was much more capable than Ellen and Harriet. It was hard to find something a grand mage like her could not do.

Upon hearing Reinhart had been kidnapped, Eleris’s lips quivered slightly.

“How did that happen?”

“The club’s financial operations have expanded, and there were some civil complaints, so we thought about establishing a formal base. Given this downpour, we knew the makeshift homes we had would all be washed away, so we decided that it would be a good time to evacuate and move to a new location.”

Loyar crossed her arms, appearing uneasy. Her leg was shaking.

“But it seems His Highness was concerned about us and came looking for us,” she continued. “He thought we would be in the Wenster Market area, so he wandered over there and... it seems he ran into trouble with some individuals. I think he was abducted. Damn it, the timing couldn’t have been worse. Even if I wanted to inform him about our situation, we didn’t have a way to contact the Temple from where we were.”

“Who would do such a thing?” Eleris asked, her expression a mix of confusion and anger. The abduction was only an assumption, but it was sensible to plan for the worst.

“It seems like the work of the Thieves’ Guild.”

“Why would the Thieves’ Guild do that...?”

Eleris was unaware of the internal affairs within the organization since Loyar typically didn’t share information unless necessary.

“It seems they want to take us down. That’s part of why we avoid the Wenster Market area. It’s their turf. They probably couldn’t touch me directly, so they were biding their time. But when they realized His Highness, whom they believe to be our club’s heir, had wandered into their area, they must have seized the opportunity to capture him. That gives them tremendous bargaining power.”

Though her understanding of the situation was a bit murky, Loyar’s deduction was closely aligned with the truth. Reinhart had wandered into the Wenster Market without realizing that it was a tiger’s den.

If the club and the Thieves’ Guild had been on amicable terms, it wouldn’t have been an issue. However, Reinhart hadn’t realized that the relationship had soured.

Eleris stood up as if she had heard enough, a silent fury smoldering within her gaze. “Where’s the Thieves’ Guild headquarters?”

Her eyes, boiling with wrath, made it seem as if she was ready to smash everything there. Loyar patted Eleris’s shoulder gently, attempting to calm her down.

“Calm down for a moment.”

“... We need to move quickly if His Highness is in danger.”

“Something’s off.”

“Off? What do you mean?”

Loyar found several aspects of the situation suspicious.

“The Temple’s security forces and the city guards are currently turning Wenster Market inside out. That means they know that His Highness was last seen there before his disappearance. Naturally, the Thieves’ Guild would be a prime suspect.”

While Loyar knew Wenster Market was under the Thieves’ Guild’s influence, the city guards and the Temple’s security forces could come to the same conclusion if they investigated just a little. Unbeknownst to Loyar, both the prince’s and princess’s factions were also attempting to find Reinhart.

“They’re not fools. They know the Thieves’ Guild is a major suspect. But why can’t they find him?”

“Are you suggesting the Thieves’ Guild might not be the culprit?”

“Um... It’s possible. Or maybe those conducting the search of the area are so focused on the market itself that they did not consider any other places.”

If it was immediately clear that the Thieves’ Guild was the prime suspect, why hadn’t Reinhart been found yet? Could it mean the Thieves’ Guild wasn’t the perpetrator after all?

Loyar found this aspect of it suspicious.

“Well, none of that matters. We’ll find them and make them spit out the truth ourselves,” Eleris said coldly.

Eleris spread out a map of the empire on the table, her eyes filled with deadly intent.

“Mark out the Thieves’ Guild headquarters,” Eleris said.

She seemed ready to teleport there at that very moment and demolish everything in sight.

Thanks to the information Ellen and Harriet had provided to Loyar, the process of finding Reinhart was advancing swiftly.