Chapter 56: The End of Tridric

“Hailga……!”

Thinking the situation was resolved, Reysir called out the name of his childhood friend and tried to run toward her.

But as you could tell from the nuance of that sentence alone, he couldn’t actually do so.

“Wait! Don’t come any closer.”

A mercenary who had subdued Tridric tossed the dagger he’d taken from him to Reysir’s feet and said those words.

Reflexively, Reysir froze and opened his mouth with a cautious expression.

“Weren’t you cooperating with us to reduce your prison sentence?”

“That’s true, but that alone isn’t profitable enough.”

No wonder Tridric had remained still until he really tried to stab Hailga.

Clearly, he was hoping for something.

I parted my lips to ask the mercenary what he wanted, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

Suddenly, Tridric screamed in rage, threatening to drown out my voice.

“Pr-profit…! How dare a mere mercenary… insult a noble like me…!!”

“You talk too much for a scammer and a criminal. Shut up for once.”

If Tridric had been the type to obediently shut up just because a mercenary told him to, he wouldn’t have dared say things like ‘mercenary scum’ or ‘noble’ while restrained.

Yet, he truly did shut up.

No, he had no choice.

‘Anyone would be silenced if a blade was shoved into their mouth!’

Indeed, the mercenary hadn’t just told him to shut up—he drew a hidden dagger from his sleeve and forced it into Tridric’s mouth.

I won’t describe how Tridric’s face changed.

Everyone can imagine it well enough.

“You’d better behave. No matter how much of a criminal he is, Tridric is still a noble ‘for now.’ If he gets seriously injured or dies, no one will see you mercenaries as victims.”

“But if he foolishly wags his tongue and ends up cutting or slashing it on the blade inside his mouth, bleeding out, wouldn’t that be considered self-harm or suicide?”

“That’s quite the loose end of a sentence.”

“Yo.”

The mercenary, not content with making an absurd argument in a flippant tone, added a playful ‘yo’ after I pointed out his informal speech.

A disposable extra with needless personality.

I involuntarily studied the mercenary’s appearance carefully, wondering if he might be one of the main characters from the original story.

But there was no matching figure.

‘Still, if there was a likely candidate…’

There was one character who served as an information mule for the protagonist’s guild and died—a successor in the Information Guild with the Ether ability of disguise.

He could change his facial features, build, voice, and even eye color at will by manipulating his Ether color.

‘But no, that’s unlikely. It would be strange for a main character to appear in a scheme orchestrated by someone like Tridric. Besides, a successor in the Information Guild wouldn’t accept such a trivial job!’

I dismissed the suspicion that had crossed my mind.

“Yes. Even if this place is a world created by an author, isn’t it all the more strange if every character except the main ones lacks personality?”

Come to think of it, even the senior apprentices at the research institute had quite distinct personalities.

“It seems you expect me to help you either get acquitted or pay your bail… but I can’t give you any help. If I did, people might suspect that I hired you to bring down Tridric and planned this whole thing.”

“It’s good that you understand what I want without me saying it, but the conclusion is very disappointing.”

“Whether you’re disappointed or not is none of my concern.”

“Oh, come on. The employer’s a con artist, so you probably won’t get paid, you’ve wasted time, and now you might even end up in jail? Don’t you feel any pity for us?”

It was not worth answering.

Because these mercenaries had not been forced or threatened—they’d accepted Tridric’s request willingly.

There was no reason for me to pity anyone who responded to a kidnapping job.

“Why don’t you secretly give us some charity for the scam victim? Don’t you have any expensive items on you? Like jewelry with gems? Or you could even give the toy that Resca is holding?”

“Meow!!!”

The mercenary glanced at the Yeouiju, clearly valuable, and demanded it with a look.

Yor bristled his mane and let out an aggressive roar.

Of course, the Yeouiju would never be given up.

Nor would I hand over any precious metal.

“You probably didn’t receive the full payment but must’ve gotten an advance, right? Besides, I’m also a victim of identity theft. Why should I compensate for the damage caused by the perpetrator?”

“If you’re the youngest son of the Ducal family, you must have money to burn. Don’t be so stingy.”

“Having money doesn’t mean you can waste it carelessly.”

That’s all. That’s all.

“Oh…!”

Though it meant he couldn’t get a single coin from me, the mercenary reacted with amazement.

‘Does he really just want monetary compensation?’

‘Is he probing with a ‘would be nice but if not, whatever’ attitude?’

“Karrung…”

Yor didn’t like that someone was casually talking about the Yeouiju.

That’s understandable—Yeouiju is an extremely important item to a dragon.

I calmed the little dragon by smoothing down the mane in the direction of its flow and firmly declared to the mercenary.

“Let me be clear once again—I won’t hand over a single thing of mine.”

“Hey, Youngest Lord. If you think I’m joking just because I’m speaking casually…”

“Then I’ll ask my father to pressure Tridric’s family into expelling him so he can be imprisoned alongside you commoners.”

“Joking, of course. But I’d appreciate it if you gave me a toy!”

The mercenary lowered his voice seriously for a moment, then, after hearing my words, returned to a playful tone.

A moment’s pause.

For those wondering, ‘Wasn’t the possessed body treated like less than a son by Hard?’ here’s a brief explanation.

Stripping Tridric of his noble status doesn’t require any pressure on his family.

‘He tried to frame a duke’s son as a kidnapper and even tried to kill him. If his family accepts him, the whole family will be ruined. So the moment Tridric’s father hears about this, he’ll disown his son immediately.’

Putting Tridric in the same prison as the mercenaries isn’t a difficult matter either.

Hard would also resent Tridric, so if I wrote him a letter requesting it, he would probably agree.

Even if he refused, it wouldn’t matter.

I only said I’d try, not that he had to comply.

“Wow! By the way, our Youngest Lord is actually pretty scary, huh? Look, even the would-be commoner here turned pale with fear.”

“That’s probably because of the dagger you shoved into your mouth. Now that the negotiation’s over, stop wasting time with nonsense and take that criminal to the city watch to report him.”

“We can’t go alone. We’re just mercenaries, and he’s still a noble. Do you think the city watch would believe us?”

That was true.

For a proper report, one of the kidnapping victims—either Hailga, Tridric, or both—would need to accompany us.

By the way, I’m not going.

I’m annoyed I missed martial arts class today already, and I don’t want to waste more time because of what Tridric did.

“Then you stay with your mercenary comrades in the corner.”

“Yes, yes~.”

The mercenary responded playfully, removed the dagger from Tridric’s mouth, and before Tridric could say anything, struck the back of his head, knocking him out.

He then dragged him to a corner of the warehouse and beckoned his comrades over.

‘If you could knock him out that easily, then why shove a dagger in his mouth in the first place?’

I wondered but didn’t want to ask.

It was obvious he was trying to create a hostile atmosphere to get something out of me.

“Hailga, Hailga. Wake up. Are you okay?”

I picked up the dagger that had been stuck in the floor near her feet and approached her, cutting the ropes binding her.

After that, I carelessly tossed the dagger aside and gently shook her awake.

Fortunately, she opened her eyes right away, but her dazed expression left me unsure if she was really alright.

“It was just a strong sedative. That scammer said the target would come in the evening or late at night. After a good rest, the fatigue will be gone, so don’t worry.”

She just stared silently, but the mercenary explained the reason for Hailga’s strange state on his own.

He probably wouldn’t lie about something that would be revealed soon anyway.

Reysir seemed to think the same. He looked relieved even when Hailga’s eyes closed again and she fell back asleep.

***

After taking a moment to take in the sight of the two of them, I turned around.

“Um… umm… I-is it o-over now…?”

I wish that were true, but unfortunately, I still had unresolved problems.

This person who looked away the moment our eyes met and timidly opened his mouth was exactly that problem.

“Liolikin. I won’t tolerate another incident like today.”

“Y-yes… I-I don’t want that either…”

“Do you not understand what I’m saying?”

“Y-yes…?”

“You’ve been following me around since last semester, acting as Tridric’s subordinate.”

“Ah.. yes. Y-yeah.”

Even after I mentioned Tridric’s name, Liolikin blinked with a blank expression as if he had no idea what I was talking about.

I sighed deeply at his cluelessness and swept my long hair back.

“This incident made me question keeping you around.”

“I-I didn’t do anything…! And I don’t intend to in the future…”

“Evidence?”

“W-well, um….”

“At least Tridric’s goal was clear. But you… still don’t get it.”

“Don’t get it? What do you mean…?”

Liolikin looked flustered and uneasy, glancing at me with a bewildered expression.

I couldn’t tell if he was genuinely too stupid to understand or just pretending not to.

“Let me be blunt. What do you hope to gain by following me? If you want something, say it now.”