The first one to make a move was Schwarz, who had augmented his movement speed and strength by channelling mana throughout his body. Afterimages followed him as he simply slammed into the three men with his body, and awful cracks filled the air as they flew away from the woman and her companions.

Dia found herself speechless. “I thought you wanted to test the sharpness of our new artefacts.”

“…Right.” Schwarz stood in front of the woman, his clothes fluttering from the gust he had generated. “Sometimes, you just forget about little things like that, you know. Especially if there’s a stimulating sight, like three thugs.”

“Do you know these guys?” Nero asked. “You seemed quite agitated by them.”

“Yeah. We’ll help you beat them up if you want us to,” Farah added. “How did they wrong you?”

“I don’t know these guys personally, but I know their ilk,” Schwarz replied. “And…never mind. Anyway, I don’t like hired thugs. They beat people up, usually into unconsciousness, but they don’t realise that knocking someone out is actually a very dangerous thing. Their simple minds think fainting and sleeping are the same thing.”

Nero glanced at them, and then walked up to the woman. In low voices, they began to exchange words, but Dia wasn’t particularly bothered about that. Instead, the implications behind Schwarz’s words were what disturbed her more.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at Schwarz. “But fainting and sleeping aren’t the same thing.”

A few pieces fell into place, and she asked, “Who did you lose?”

Pain flashed across Schwarz’s face. “When I was a kid long ago, my mother brought me out for some food. My father, who was running Triple-D at that time, was quite famous and wealthy. A few thugs, who were looking to earn money, decided to kidnap me and my mother. They knocked my mother out, and then used her to get me to go along.”

“…What happened next?”

“She never woke up again,” Schwarz replied.

Those five words sent a small chill up Dia’s spine, and the others flinched too. Like her, they didn’t know what to say, and after a while, the bartender turned away from them.

“That’s why I hate thugs. And people who resort to needless violence.” Schwarz turned to the three moaning men. “You three check on the unconscious people. I’ll deal with the rest.”

The icy chill in his voice intensified, and Dia found herself mentally recoiling from the murderous air that was spreading out from Schwarz. It would seem that everyone had their own childhood traumas here and there, save for perhaps Risti and Dia herself. As a result, she didn’t know what to say to Schwarz.

“…It’s fine. Don’t worry about me.” Schwarz waved the NX-2 Energy Blade. “After all, my father taught me how to deal with thugs. He kicked the door down an hour later, killed all the thugs, and then carried my mother out. But…she never did wake up again. She was unlucky.”

The chill in his voice did not subside as the bartender walked over to the moaning men, and in that instant, Dia understood why Schwarz took it upon himself to deal with these people. These people were mana-users. They had far greater strength and abilities, which also increased the chance of them doing irreversible damage.

If they wanted to kidnap people, or harm them, there was a high chance that they would end up causing permanent injuries or even death. Schwarz, who had been scarred by his own experiences, had no desire to see this tragedy happen to anyone else again.

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“It’s vigilante justice,” Farah muttered.

“And?” Schwarz turned to look at her. “You disapprove?”

“Justice is not enough sometimes, especially when it comes to mana-users,” Farah replied. “I don’t like it, but when it comes to monsters like us and them, it’s almost necessary. Mana-users usually enjoy more privileges to discourage them from acting against normal people for that reason.”

“…Privileges, huh.”

“Dark dealings. Shady ones.” Farah looked at Schwarz. “Bribes disguised as gifts or rewards for completely easy missions, or just random gifts of lifestones. All these are strategies that happen to be very useful in ensuring that mana-users stay…peaceful while inside a noble’s territory.”

“And outside?” Schwarz asked.

“As long as these mana-users know who not to touch and who to touch…of course, there are always forces on the other side,” Farah replied. “The Folders’ Association. But this is a case of who watches the watchers, and it’s one of the reasons why the nobles don’t quite like the Association too.”

“It’s a mess, then.”

“Yes. Like I said, dealing with errant mana-users is not something a court of law can handle easily.” Farah turned away from him. “Do what you will. I’ll try to help the three of them.”

Dia glanced at Nero, who was already bandaging the woman’s wounds up. As for why he had taken the lead, Dia didn’t know, but there were more things to do right now. The two men were still unconscious, and Schwarz had said that being unconscious was a bad idea, as a whole.

There was a problem, though.

How would she make them wake up?

Dia looked at Farah, who said, “Let’s deal with the wounds first. It’s a shame there aren’t any healing items around here…who the heck walks out of the house without ten barriers hanging off their person anyway?”

“Right?” Dia pulled out a few rolls of bandage from her backpack. “Let’s stem their bleeding first…Nero, is your patient done?”

“Some parts are a bit sensitive. I want to switch with one of you guys,” Nero replied.

“I’ll go, then,” Farah replied. “You can handle the men instead.”

After a few minutes, the men on the ground, who were still out cold, had been bandaged properly. Dia patted herself on the back, and then turned to the woman. “So, you’re the one who kicked the storefront over, right?”

Nero stifled a giggle.

“Y-yes,” the woman replied. “Um. Thanks for saving us. Especially you, mister.”

She bowed to Schwarz, who was just getting up from three patches of dark red. Schwarz looked at her once, and then at her unconscious friends. “It’s nothing. Remember to wear lots of barriers next time.”

He walked to the two fainted fellows and checked their pulse. “I think they’re fine, but there is a chance of long-term sequela. They should see a medical professional, especially ones with healing skills and artefacts. Lady, you should take care of them later.”

“Are the four of you for hire?” the woman asked. “I would like to hire you people to protect me and help bring my companions to Lacuna.”

“Lacuna…is neutral territory.” Nero looked at the others. “And we should help her. You are a Blessed of the Blue God, after all.”

The woman froze. “You know who I am?”

“Rather, you don’t know who I am?” Nero looked at her. “You know, it’s me? Nero? The Ho—”

“The Holy Son of the Black God!” The woman straightened her back. “It’s been a long while, Nero. I didn’t expect to meet you here…”

“Nor did I. And I definitely didn’t expect you to still be a bi-folder after so long,” Nero replied. “What happened? You should have burned your fifth mana circuit or at least your fourth by now, right? Did something go wrong?”

“Let’s not talk about that and we’ll still be friends.” She huffed. “Anyway, you should introduce me. Your friends are very curious.”

Dia bobbed her head up and down. “Who’s she?”

Nero cleared his throat. “This is Sara, a Blessed of the Blue God. And…I don’t know why you are here, though? Last I checked, the Church of the Blue God was based in the Saran Supremacy. You’re in Grandis.”

“I could say the same. And didn’t they say that Holy Son Nero went missing? What’s going on?”

“Alright, you guys should catch up later,” Schwarz interrupted. “We should head to Lacuna first and get those guys checked. You don’t want a tragedy to occur, after all. Shoo, shoo!”

Under his constant nagging, everyone and two unconscious fellows moved into the Civilian Teleportation District. There were teleportation platforms for incoming and outgoing people, and Dia followed the others towards the platforms that led out of the ruins.

The incoming teams of mercenaries gave Dia and the others a wide berth. It was natural; Nero and Schwarz had a person lugged over their shoulders each. Sara had bandages all over her body, and her clothes weren’t in the best condition.

Only she and Farah looked normal, but if one was with an odd team like this…

Would they really be normal?

Shaking her head, Dia joined the others on a teleportation platform.