That Same Night
The table in front of her was reduced to splinters as Queen Veronica looked at the people in front of her with maddened eyes. “You fuckers dare say you lost him!? An otherworlder who has no knowledge of this world, no knowledge of how to use magic, no knowledge of my capital’s layout, AND YOU’RE TELLING ME A PLATOON OF KNIGHTS LOST HIM!? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?”
Any grace she might’ve displayed before was lost as saliva sprayed from her mouth. The knight captain bowed his head in shame and fear as the Queen continued screaming, “Tell me how in the fuck did the mages stationed on the walls, the thugs in the slums-” she looked at the bear-like man Issac confronted in the slums. Under the Queen’s livid gaze, the haughty boss had been reduced to a shivering rabbit, “-and the knight captain lose a man with the capabilities of a toddler who can’t use magic?”
“Y-Your highness, Demon Lord Issac used mana bombs repeatedly,” as he was speaking, he could see Queen Veronica lift up a stack of papers from on top of a broken table. He didn’t stop speaking, “He even used a grappling gun. I’m certain he could use mana, your highness.”
The stack of paper flew at his face. The stack separated after hitting him, and sheets of paper flew everywhere. The Queen started scolding him again, “I fucking know that you chamber pot! Hell, I knew this even before you told me this. But what I don’t fucking know is how he got those items in his hands, clear?” She took a deep breath and looked at everyone in front of her. Issac’s friends were also there, but in front of the Queen’s oppression, they did not have much of a presence.
The Queen once again asked, “Can anyone, ANYONE tell me how he got that mana bombs and a fucking grabbling gun!? Those aren’t something you get without the tail knowing. And speaking of which-” she looked at everyone in front, “-where is the tail I put on Issac?”
Seeing that there was no response, she looked at the two attendants behind her. “Drag Bayes over here, now!”
“Right away, your highness,” one of the attendants bowed and disappeared from everyone’s sight. Whilst waiting for her attendant, Queen Veronica walked over to the thugs’ boss, who was trying to reduce his presence as much as possible. Her slow yet heavy steps weighed down everyone’s nerves.
Standing in front of the thugs’ boss, she looked up and narrowed her eyes at him. Her gaze sent chills up his spine, and the boss immediately knelt. Once she had to look down at him, her gaze softened though that wasn’t saying much. With a piercing gaze, Queen Veronica slowly asked, “Tell me, Karzak. Why, no, how did a level 30 『Heavy Knight』 lose a level 5 jobless man?”
“Your highness, I-I, h-he can use mana. I was caught o-offguard by-” he couldn’t finish the rest of his sentence. The last thing he saw was a flash of white before his skull and brain sprayed the wall. The Queen lowered her leg; red blood stained her white dress pants. The headless Karzak flopped to the ground as blood flowed from his neck and pooled beneath him.
The knight captain winced seeing this while June went to scream, but Janet pressed her hand against the former’s lips. June’s muffled screams leaked out through her hands as the two women looked away. Meanwhile, Ray began to feel queasy, and Ethan stonewalled.
The Queen didn’t even spare Karzak’s corpse a second glance before walking back and sitting down. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes; the blood splotches on her pants grew as the blood seeped into the fabric.
After a few agonizing minutes, everyone in the room could hear Bayes’ confused voice outside in the halls.
“Ma’am, why are you taking me like this?”
“Again, I can walk.”
“Have I done something wrong?”
His tone seemed defeated, as though he had given up talking. The doors swung open the next moment, and everyone saw Bayes being dragged on the floor by his collar. The female attendant threw him in the middle of the room and joined the male attendant standing behind the Queen.
Bayes stayed kneeling on the ground with his head low. He had heard about Issac’s escape but didn’t know what that had to do with him. The Queen kept her eyes shut as she leaned her head on her hand.
The situation turned suffocating as everyone in the room waited for the Queen to say or do something. Ray, who had managed to steady himself after Karzak’s bloody death, looked at the two attendants behind Queen Veronica.
Stolen story; please report.
The man and woman looked nothing at each other. The woman was buff and short, while the man looked sick and lanky. The only things that linked them were their hair, half black and half white, parted cleanly in the middle,, and the same red and blue heterochromia eyes. By manga logic, Ray guessed they were twins, not identical but fraternal.
The Queen finally opened her eyes with a sigh. All of the tension in the room seemed to have disappeared. The Queen commanded, “Look up.”
Bayes flinched and slowly looked at the Queen. He finally knew where all the tension had gone. It had all condensed in the Queen’s eyes and was focused on him. Unable to maintain eye contact, his eyes shifted. The Queen let Bayes go even though he had broken her order. Instead, in a stifled voice, she asked, “Bayes, where did- haah –Issac get mana bombs and a grappling gun?”
“I-I do not know where Sir Issac-” Queen Veronica’s eyes narrowed when he added that prefix to Issac’s name “-got those things. I’ve been with h-him for all the time he had been out in the city. And he never left my s-sight for a single moment.”
The Queen stayed silent. She looked at Bayes with emotionless eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. She instructed, “This time, look at my eyes and repeat what you said. Word for word.”
Bayes tried to look at her eyes once again. Knowing that it was to survive, he struggled even if it was hard to do so. Bayes repeated his previous words, “I d-do not know w-where Sir I-Issac got those t-things. I-I’ve been w-with him for a-all the time h-he had been out of t-the city. And he n-never left m-my sight for a s-single moment.”
The Queen nodded, “I see….” She snapped her fingers, and the male attendant took a step forward. She pointed at Bayes, “Do a search on him.” Without much emotion on his face, the attendant nodded and walked in front of Bayes.
Standing in front of the kneeling Bayes, the male attendant didn’t even give the latter a chance to question before putting his palm on his head. Bayes jolted, and his eyes rolled backward. His body convulsed like he had been electrified. His mouth began frothing, but the male attendant didn’t let go. Ray and his friends closed their eyes, unwilling to see such inhumane acts, while the knight captain looked straight ahead.
Thirty seconds later, he let go of Bayes’s head. The latter limped to the ground and twitched irregularly, his sclera showing, and the froth from his mouth dripped to the flow.
The male attendant looked at the Queen. Queen Veronica raised a brow and asked, “Well?”
The attendant stiffly shook his head. In a monotone voice people would mistake as robotic, he replied, “There is nothing of note, your highness. Though there is a part where he stares into space for a straight thirty minutes.”
“Is that in his room?”
“No. It’s in the Magic District.”
“Then investigate there.”
“As you command.” The male attendant walked out of the door with methodical steps. After he was out of sight, the Queen finally looked at Ray and his friends, who were still shaken by all that had happened.
“Do you want to know…” screaming so much made her head throb. Yet her exhaustion did nothing to hide her fury, “…how Issac escaped before my knights got there?”
The four looked at her with a bit of confusion mixed with fear. Queen Veronica dug around her pocket and took out a coin-like object. She tossed it over to Ray, who grabbed it. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the small black disc in his hands.
“Your highness, this is…?”
“An Interceptor. It’s used to hija- used to spy on people.”
“Spy on people?” as soon as those words slowly poured out of Ray’s mouth, his and his friends’ hearts seemed to be gripped by something invisible.
“And that’s not the important part,” the Queen chuckled mirthlessly and added, “Do you know how you activate it?”
All four of them stared at the Queen with some dread. The weight in their hearts seemed to grow heavier.
“It’s activated by mana.” That simple answer sent waves in their hearts. Ray clenched his fists unknowingly. Queen Veronica continued, “That means Issac could use mana way before all of you and never told you.”
“No, wait, that doesn’t make sense. If he could then-”
“What else do you want to say, Miss June?” The Queen cut her off, “The evidence is for everyone to see. It’s in your friend’s hand.” She pointed at Ray, who was looking at the Interceptor with complicated emotions.
The Queen sighed tiredly and clapped her hands. A butler entered the room from outside. She waved her hands dismissively, “Take all of them back to their rooms. They need time to think, and so do I.”
The butler nodded and gestured the four to follow him. All four otherworlders followed the butler silently, with a storm brewing in their minds. She looked at the knight captain and asked, “Cassius, where do you think Issac escaped to?”
“Your highness, it’s probably to the Forest of Illusions.”
“Then send patrols to the outskirts of the forest.”
“And about the center?”
“If Issac goes there, the monsters will take care of him for us.”
“Understood,” the knight captain saluted and left in a hurry. Once everyone had left, the Queen’s tired eyes sharpened. She leaned toward the female attendant, who did the same and brought her ears closer to the Queen.
Queen Veronica only ordered one thing in a quiet voice, “Increase their dosage of 『Malice』.”
The female attendant nodded robotically, “Understood, your highness.”