* * *
Bang!
“Do you know how much that thing is worth, and you let it escape!”
A man, unable to contain his anger, slammed his baton.
Crash!
With a loud noise, an empty cage shattered into pieces.
At this, the young creatures trapped in another cage in the basement cringed in fear, making sharp, frightened noises.
“Shut up if you don’t want to die!”
Bang!
The man with the baton kicked the cage. The young creatures inside huddled together and hid in a corner.
The man exploding in anger was named Viscount Caiman.
Viscount Caiman was the top leader of the Red Chariot Guild.
“…I apologize, Viscount. I have nothing to say in my defense.”
The man kneeling and bowing his head in front of him was named Baron Hilben.
Hilben worked under Viscount Caiman, and the vast basement they were standing in was a warehouse for storing the ‘goods’ of the Red Chariot.
The Red Chariot was a rapidly growing organization, with its primary source of income being illegal auctions and gambling.
Having swung his baton until he was out of breath, Viscount Caiman took a moment to compose himself.
“Hilben, how do you plan to compensate for this loss?”
“I will…somehow…”
“Even if we sell dozens of those, it won’t be enough! You get that?”
Caiman pointed his sharp baton at the young creatures.
Creatures like the rabbit-beings trapped in the cage were relatively docile and showed little wariness of humans, so it was easy to capture the young ones. In other words, they were not profitable.
Various races lived and thrived in the vast eastern forest.
Despite the strict prohibition of slave trade under imperial law, there were always idle rich people who would break the law, their desires inflamed even more by being told they couldn’t do it.
The Red Chariot capitalized on this niche market. They satisfied the vulgar desires of the rich and made a lot of money.
They violated the sacred forests where humans were forbidden to enter, captured the beings living there, and sold them at a high price.
When it comes to other races, the rarer and more difficult to acquire, the higher the price they fetched.
In the auction market, the most popular were undoubtedly the mermaids and werewolves.
But that popularity was like a mirage. Since the slave auction was banned, these two races had never once appeared on the market.
The mermaid island, where human ships couldn’t reach due to high waves, was one thing.
But the failure to capture the werewolves, who boldly claimed a vast forest in the middle of the East, was due to their much stronger power compared to humans.
Werewolves, or Lycanthropes as they were also known, were wolves.
It was nearly a miracle that Viscount Caiman almost got his hands on such a werewolf.
“Just make sure he never returns.”
The forest tribe, who had been acting elusive, sought Caiman themselves. They sold their own kin.
What would have been impossible if not for this betrayal.
Although they looked down upon humans as vulgar and acted superior, they were really no different.
After months of hard work digging traps, preparing an incredibly strong drug, and finally ensnaring the target with chains enchanted with various spells, they were barely able to capture it.
The excitement of finally seeing the massive wolf they had captured after all this hard work was indescribable.
The mature individual of the massive race, hailed as the strongest on the surface, was breathtakingly beautiful.
That was what Viscount Caiman could never accept.
“And how could you let that escape?!”
Caiman erupted in fury.
They had dosed it with enough drug to bring it to the brink of death.
The effect of the drug not only made it impossible to wake up, but the costly chain they had prepared was a special product commissioned from the most famous magician in the city.
It was enchanted with dozens of spells, and to think it broke free and ran away. It was an entirely unacceptable event.
“…It’s all because of that cheeky bitch.”
Hilben, who had been hanging his head, said bitterly.
“A bitch?”
Viscount Caiman, who had been resting on the bars, asked curiously. Baron Hilben spat out his words with difficulty.
“On the train… there was a woman using some tricky magic.”
Tricky magic?
As Viscount Caiman was about to laugh off the absurdity, he stopped.
He saw Hilben’s chin trembling clearly.
“What are you talking about? Explain in more detail.”
“Th, that is…”
Hilben stuttered out the story of what happened on the train.
Specifically, it was about the strange magic a strange woman on the train had cast.
“Wait. Your story doesn’t make sense. You said earlier that the woman cast some strange illusion magic?”
“Yes, that’s right! When she suddenly appeared, she used some kind of black magic and a terrible monster appeared! And then she released the wolf…”
The explanation was so far-fetched that he even thought: ‘Is this bastard trying to fool me?’
After listening to the end of his incoherent gibberish with superhuman patience, Caiman called the rest of his men, who were also on the train with Hilben.
Enduring with superhuman patience through the rambling story, Caiman, along with Hilben, called several other subordinates who had been on that train.
“So to sum it up, this woman summoned a butterfly monster?”
“Yes! That’s it. And then that butterfly monster..”
Tsk, tsk.
Caiman, who had been listening quietly, thought Hilben was whining.
The top-notch product, a grey wolf, that he’d obtained with great difficulty. Without a doubt, he was exaggerating the capabilities of the opponent who attacked him, fearing the blame for letting the prize slip.
However, Hilben noticed his words were doubted and appealed as if he was wronged.
“I’m telling the truth! Please check it out!”
If he hadn’t called in another subordinate to confirm that there really was a woman who could perform such strange illusions, he would have undoubtedly suspected Hilben was making it all up to deceive him.
The story was that outrageous.
But the other men called upon also rattled on about similar nonsense.
“Look! I was right, wasn’t I?”
Hilben quickly became triumphant, and Caiman became a bit more serious.
“If your words are true, then that woman is a spirit user.”
“Is she a spirit summoner?”
“Yes. Probably not a real one though.”
Real spirit summoners went extinct a long time ago.
Nowadays, those who are called spirit summoners artificially increase their magical affinity to summon beings from other worlds using a shortcut. Most of them met miserable ends.
Viscount Caiman spent his entire life travelling through the world and had encountered spirit summoners once or twice, although only occasionally.
Noble aristocrats might be shocked by child’s play, but he was different.
Although rare, the situation Hilben described was not entirely incomprehensible.
“But it’s strange. Which crazy spirit summoner would summon a butterfly?”
Among those who command creatures from other dimensions, there is no spirit summoner who chooses butterflies.
Of course.
It’s a tough task to open the gate of dimensions to summon creatures from other worlds, so it’s common sense to summon powerful creatures with terrifying forms, isn’t it?
It’s no exaggeration to say that the rank of a spirit summoner is usually determined by how big and powerful beings from other worlds they can summon.
The next issue would be how long they can keep the contracted creature, or spirit, here.
Although the claim of using illusion magic bothered him a bit, Caiman thought that Hilben and his subordinates were scared because they saw a spirit summoner summoning a creature for the first time and decided to overlook it.
Caiman thought about it for a while, but decided not to take this issue seriously.
Even if the woman really was a spirit summoner, there was little to worry about.
“Hmph. Even if she was.”
If she was that competent, it would be natural for rumors to spread.
However, he had never heard of a spirit summoner woman who commanded butterfly creatures.
“That, it’s not something to laugh about. It’s really dangerous…”
“That’s enough! Shut up now!”
Viscount Caiman yelled in annoyance.
Baron Hilben was a quite useful subordinate. So he had entrusted him with the hard-earned wolf.
But he couldn’t believe that Hilben’s group, who he had carefully selected and sent, was almost annihilated by a mere spirit summoner woman.
It didn’t seem like he was lying, but Caiman didn’t want to waste more time. Especially on a woman who commands strange creatures that are even dubious to exist.
“Listen well! I don’t know which crazy spirit summoner is summoning such a creature, but all you need to do is find her and kill her!”
A woman who summons butterfly creatures.
It’s easy to identify. Besides, if she took a train, there would be a record.
Caiman was confident. He was an ambitious man who led his own guild in the East, and if the woman was in the East, it was only a matter of time before he found her.
“I can’t leave the woman who dared to touch my belongings alone.”
“Bu-but Viscount…”
At the mention of finding the woman, Hilben trembled with fear, but Caiman got annoyed.
“Enough! That’s not important right now!”
He was eager to connect himself to the central politics in any way, as he had a golden opportunity right in front of him.
Besides, recently, the great noble who brought bribes seemed to be looking down on him.
“You know the old man of Aquitaine, right? He called me.”
“Yes? Are you talking about Lord Aquitas? Congratulations.”
Baron Hilben, who was observant, asked.
“But why does the Lord call you, Viscount?”
Count Caiman replied with a grumpy attitude.
“He’s introducing me to a distinguished guest from the north.”
* * *
Eastern region, Aquitaine
Aquitaine Castle was the largest and oldest castle in the East, comparable to a Duke’s castle in the North.
The difference was that the Aquitaine lord’s family had long lost its prestige as a ruler, much like the faded green flag fluttering on the castle walls.
Three men stood on the tower of the colorful castle, looking at the scenery.
Lennox tossed the ivory craft he had been fiddling with in his hand lightly.
And caught it again.
The Hundred Eyes of Argos.
The artifact that had been constantly pointing in the direction Juliet had left lost its function this morning.
As if it lost direction like a compass, it flickered and shone in all directions, and then calmed down as if it had run out of energy.
In this state, it was no different from an ordinary piece of stone.
“Is it broken?”
Jude tilted his head.
“Artifacts don’t break or anything, Sir Jude.”
Hadin answered instead, with a tone of slight contempt.
Jude was about to say something with a slightly aggrieved expression, but at the same time, Lennox threw the artifact towards him, so he couldn’t.
“Eek.”
Jude, who caught it skillfully in mid-air, was briefly proud of his reflexes.
Lennox laughed a little at his simplicity and said.
“About Juliet.”
“Yes? Lady Monad?”
He briefly focused his gaze on the densely lined green trees outside the castle.
“She seems to have obtained the destruction magic faster than expected.”
Lennox was a little curious.
Artifacts aren’t as simple as picking them up on the street. They are different from magic stones that can be bought as much as you want with money.
What kind of method did Juliet use?
“Ah. So it’s useless now.”
Jude grumbled in displeasure and put the artifact in his pocket.
Well. Everything the priests do is like that. This thing was inefficient and the rental fee was expensive.
Anyway, it’s a treasure of the temple, so they have to return it.
“Hmm.”
When he heard footsteps and turned around, there was a servant dressed in Eastern style.
“The lord is waiting for you.”