“Could someone have attacked? Oshalo!”
Oshalo entered the New Continent Company building with a grim expression, wielding an iron mace.
Inside the building, there were traces of carnage from the start.
Having rested on Oshalo’s back, my body had somewhat recovered. When I patted Oshalo’s shoulder, he let me down.
I quickly followed the two of them up.
As we climbed the stairs to the second floor, Oshalo was striking the head of a native.
Thwack!
With a sound like hitting dough, the sturdy native man crumpled sideways.
“Oshalo? Are you alright?”
Oshalo didn’t answer and just licked his lower lip.
Just what did you do to innocent Oshalo for two and a half months, Count Furst?
“Well done, Oshalo. For now, drag the corpse down to the lower floor. Ran, don’t come up. You’ll only draw attention unnecessarily.”
Oshalo picked up the body as Count Furst instructed, and I went back down to the first floor.
Then I turned back and asked the Count:
“Why did the natives suddenly attack the company?”
The Count looked around the stairway, then said:
“I’m not sure exactly. They may have joined hands with Franche. Damn it.”
Seeing Count Furst, who rarely showed emotion, express irritation, he seemed truly angry.
Well, how could he have known this would happen when he thought he’d be able to finally rest?
He moved stealthily, examining the second floor here and there, then returned to where we were.
“The building has been completely taken over. Even if they had fewer soldiers, their firepower should have been overwhelming. I don’t understand.”
He soon looked at me and said:
“Ran. Can you help me? psychokinesis would be a great help.”
“If it’s about the weight of a person, I can pick up and throw about ten to knock them unconscious.”
“What about that fire magic? Just holding a fireball would deter them from recklessly attacking.”
“I can’t do it without a spark. But I dropped it in the sea earlier. Ah, right.”
I looked down at Keren’s robe I was holding in my left hand.
Keren is a fire mage.
There’s probably a spark inside the robe.
But if I carelessly put my hand in, my hand might turn to ashes from any fire magic that might be set.
I took out my magic book. And I looked for water magic.
“Let’s try it. It should work. I ate a lot of water herbs after all.”
I held my staff and read the spell of water magic. Then a viscous, transparent liquid flowed from the tip of the staff, creating a thin membrane on my left hand.
After taking a deep breath, I put my left hand into Keren’s robe.
As expected, there was fire magic.
“Ugh!”
It burns.
It feels like it’s burning up.
It feels like all the skin on my left hand is being stripped off and even the bone is melting.
Tremendous pain washed over me, making my mind hazy.
“Urgh. T-That’s it!”
Whoosh!
Flames shot up from my left hand, illuminating the entire room as bright as day.
I desperately tried to control that spark, focusing my mind.
The pain actually helped me concentrate.
As if acknowledging my efforts, the flames gradually subsided and took the form of a sphere. However, with even a slight lapse in concentration, the flames would flare up in all directions.
This is on a completely different level from the spark Kalasta gave me.
“Ran. Your hand…”
Oshalo turned his head away as if he couldn’t bear to look.
Count Furst looked at my left hand with calm eyes and said:
“Are you alright?”
My left hand had turned black like a charred piece of firewood.
Since it was wrapped in water, only the outer skin was like that, and the inside was fine. But it hurt all the same.
Enduring the pain, I forced myself to speak.
“Let’s escape for now.”
Count Furst swallowed dryly.
For him to show concern so openly. My expression must really be terrible.
We soon headed for the corridor.
In the corridor, about five natives were glaring at us, holding hand axes in both hands.
Sure enough, their gazes were all fixed on the flames.
“This fire is way above my level, so I can’t control it properly. If you don’t get out of the way and turn to ashes, don’t blame me.”
This isn’t a lie.
If I hadn’t practiced psychokinesis by making ripples on water surfaces, this spark would have exploded long ago.
Avana Master’s words to study psychokinesis with various things became even more deeply engraved in my mind.
The five natives looked at each other, then one of them spoke as a representative:
“Are you Count Furst? It’s impossible to escape from this building. We’ve already occupied all the exits.”
The Count looked at them with cold eyes.
“Do you think I’d surrender just because of that? Before you kill me, I’ll burn down the entire building.”
The entire building?
He didn’t say anything like that earlier!
I hid my inner thoughts and narrowed my eyes even more as I looked at the natives.
The one who seemed to be the representative glanced at my flames again and said:
“The chief wants to see you. She says she has something to say.”
“Where is she?”
“In the reception hall.”
“You mean the office. Alright. I should at least hear what nonsense Legless Monkey was thinking to do such a stupid thing. Ran. And Oshalo.”
“Yes, Count.”
“Follow behind me, but you can kill anyone who approaches within 1 meter.”
After saying that, he started walking forward.
Having heard that clearly, the natives looked at each other and stepped back. But they didn’t retreat any further from a certain distance.
If we try to run away, they’ll surround us again right away.
Oshalo and I quickly followed behind the Count.
We soon arrived at the reception hall.
There were over twenty natives standing in a circle.
In the center, the chief I had seen before, Legless Monkey, was half-lying on a sofa in a relaxed posture.
In front of her was Governor Crom, his face a bloody mess, kneeling with Legless Monkey’s long legs resting on both his shoulders.
What a sight.
Legless Monkey’s arrogant gaze, as she rested her chin on her hand looking down at us, was burning like Keren’s flames.
One of the natives walked over to Legless Monkey and whispered in her ear.
She slightly raised one corner of her mouth.
“I heard from Governor Crom that you went out to face the Franche warships with the pirates? It seems that was a lie.”
Legless Monkey slowly lifted her legs.
Then she mercilessly stomped down on Governor Krom’s shoulder with one heel.
“Argh! I-It’s true. We really set sail for the sea.”
Blood gushed from the nose of the trembling Governor Crom.
A bright red mark was stained on Governor Crom’s clothes, which were already mottled with dark red stains.
Count Furst glared at him for a moment, then calmly walked over and sat down on the sofa next to Legless Monkey.
“Chief Legless Monkey. For what reason have you occupied the New Continent Trading Company?”
Legless Monkey didn’t answer. Her eyes were fixed on me.
More precisely, on the fireball in my left hand.
“That fire. It seems way above your level? What are you going to do about that blackened hand?”
I nodded.
“That’s why I don’t know when I might lose control. The moment that happens, a room this size would just become a sea of fire.”
This isn’t a lie.
If I hadn’t practiced psychokinesis by making ripples on water surfaces, this spark would have exploded long ago.
Legless Monkey cracked her neck to both sides once. Crack. Crack. With each sound, Governor Crom’s body trembled.
She turned only her eyeballs to look at Count Furst.
“Count. Is what Governor Crom said true? Did you go out to sea?”
“If I hadn’t personally boarded the pirate ship, how would the pirates have had the confidence to attack the Franche warships? I did set sail.”
Legless Monkey stared at the Count for a while, then soon laughed leisurely.
“Well. The soldiers were so confused they were shooting at each other. If you had been here, we probably wouldn’t have taken over so easily.”
The Count sighed and changed the subject.
“Chief. What is the reason for this foolish act? We are your only trading partner left in Marshal Harbor.”
Legless Monkey lifted her legs again and stomped on Governor Crom’s head.
“Guhak.”
This time he spat out a large amount of blood from his mouth. Having bitten his tongue hard, Governor Crom shed tears from the pain.
Seeing the blood trickling from the corners of his mouth, he might die from excessive bleeding if not careful.
Legless Monkey, not caring about this, spoke.
“It seems you’re looking down on us a bit.”
“Looking down? What do you mean?”
Legless Monkey’s eyes became infinitely deep.
An icy coldness was glimpsed in those fiercely burning flames.
She soon spoke abruptly.
“As expected, I knew you wouldn’t know. There’s no way you would have done such a foolish thing.”
“Tell me now. What happened?”
Legless Monkey closed her eyes.
“Some soldiers from the Yura continent came into our territory and kidnapped five children who had just started running around.”
“……”
“So I came to talk to you about it. But you attacked first? So we fought, and it was easier than expected. We just ended up occupying the place.”
Just came to talk, but when provoked, ended up occupying the place.
Indeed, the number of people she brought was significantly less than what I saw in the Manya Plains.
Her magic probably played a big role.
Count Furst’s eyes half-closed.
He glared at Governor Crom with sharp eyes.
“Governor Crom.”
Just calling his name was enough for Governor Crom to speak while blood trickled down.
“Count. Count. Listen to me. You know Duke Balkan well, don’t you? The one who sponsors our company with huge sums? You know how easily our affairs are settled because he holds our stocks.”
“……”
“It, it was his request. He said he was curious about the natives of the New Continent. He, his eldest daughter just came of age, and he said he wanted to give her a gift.”
This time Legless Monkey raised her upper body and struck Governor Crom’s head with her fist.
Because of this, Governor Crom choked and spat out a lump.
It was his severed tongue.
He could only tremble, unable to even scream.
Count Furst closed his eyes and raised both hands to rub his face dry.
After rubbing his face three or four times like that, he soon lowered his hands and said in a low voice:
“The children? Did you find them?”
Legless Monkey answered.
“They’ve already set sail, they say.”
The Count said to her.
“I’ll find them for you. Just as they were when they left. Without a single hair harmed.”
Legless Monkey glared at him, then folded her legs. Then she spun half a turn and stood up from the chair.
“Alright. I’ll trust you. Will two months be enough?”
“Give me three months.”
“Okay. Three months.”
With that, Legless Monkey left the reception hall, and the natives followed after her.
After she left, Governor Krom collapsed to the side. The Count paid no attention to this and muttered:
“Starting a war because of five kids? Hmm. This doesn’t look good.”
Count Furst stood up from his seat and grabbed Governor Crom’s hair.
“Urgh. Co-Count Furst! Count Furst!”
Count Furst threw him towards the chair and said:
“Let’s hear why on earth you did such a thing. Governor Crom.”
Governor Crom looked at him with wide eyes and said:
“Du-Duke Bal, Balkan! Duke Balkan! It was what Duke Balkan wanted!”
“Duke Balkan or whatever, how do you expect to maintain the company without suppliers?”
“Th-That…”
“I’ve long known you had a lust for power, but I didn’t know you’d go so far as to do such a stupid thing to curry favor with Duke Balkan. You’ve caused tremendous damage to the company, so I can’t just let it slide.”
Count Furst turned around.
“Oshalo.”
Oshalo slowly approached him.
“Yes, Count.”
“We need to see his face, so strike the back of his head.”
Governor Crom cried out in desperation.
“Count Furst! Count Furst!”
Is he really going to kill him?
Oshalo swung the iron mace without hesitation, and Governor Krom’s back of the head was crushed.
Thwack.
“The chief probably hasn’t gone far yet. Take this corpse and give it to her as a gift.”
“Then Count, the escort…”
“It’s fine. Take it right now. After that, come to the company’s main gate.”
Oshalo hesitated for a moment, then soon nodded and quickly went out carrying the now dead Governor Crom on his shoulder.
The Count sat on the sofa, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, and slowly wiped his face where flesh and blood had splattered.
“Ran.”
“Yes.”
“I think we need to go see Avana. Can you guide me? And that fireball is no longer needed.”
I nodded.
“Right now?”
“Right now.”
“Alright. Oh, and I can’t extinguish this fireball with my power. Since it’s night anyway, let’s just think of it as carrying a slightly large torch.”
Count Furst stared at me blankly for a moment, then soon smiled faintly.
But just then, the flames in my left hand suddenly flared up.
And a human face appeared within it.
