Hesitantly, hesitantly.
Hector’s back hit the door as he retreated.
He fumbled for the doorknob but found nothing.
“Looking for this?”
The doorknob was already in Lloyd’s hand.
‘When did he even…?’
That thought didn’t last long.
The intangible energy emanating from Lloyd was unmistakable.
It was mana.
At that moment, Hector felt the pieces of the puzzle fall into place.
The sudden drop of the sword to the floor.
The lack of any sound in the midst of that.
The boy’s seemingly frail physique.
All those mysteries were cleanly solved by one word: ‘Magic.’
“A magician, damn it.”
In an instant, the power dynamics shifted.
A magician is not a common presence.
Magicians require exceptional intelligence, particularly in calculations, and their training demands enormous capital investment.
They are not the sort of beings you’d expect to encounter on the streets.
Even among ‘organizations,’ having a magician could determine their hierarchy.
Vincenzo’s Gang had three magicians, which is why they were the most powerful group in Easton.
But what?
That boy is a magician?
“Damn it.”
The problem had now changed.
The boy wasn’t the only issue.
There was also the girl who had a magician as her servant.
Just who was she to have that kind of status? Once you surpass the rank of a count, even the organizations struggle to handle it.
Hector’s mind raced.
He reached a conclusion.
‘I have to run.’
It was the only option.
But to do that, he had to confuse the magician.
Close combat would be the best choice.
Hector clenched his fist and swung it.
The boy’s eyes widened, as if caught off guard.
‘Got him.’
Expecting a solid hit, Hector followed through with his punch.
But then.
— Whoosh.
Instead of the satisfying impact, there was only the sound of air being sliced.
“?!”
Hector was bewildered.
He looked between his hand and the boy.
The boy had somehow already slipped to the side.
“For someone who goes around extorting money, you’re a bit slow.”
“What? How did you dodge that?”
“Should I really tell you? Considering we’re fighting?”
The boy smiled brightly and reached out his hand.
“You b*stard!”
Hector swung his fist again.
Or at least, he tried to.
“Arghhhhh!”
An excruciating pain burst from his wrist.
He hurriedly glanced down.
His fist and arm were grotesquely twisted.
“Aww. That’s what happens when you try to punch without knowing your own condition.”
“Please, stop. Stoooop!”
“It wasn’t me. You were clenching your fist too hard. Try relaxing.”
With his vision spinning from the pain, Hector unknowingly followed the boy’s advice and relaxed his hand.
As if by magic, the pain subsided.
Only then did Hector realize.
“My hand… it’s stuck?”
“That’s right. I wondered if it would work, so I froze only your hand. Turns out it did. Magic really is something.”
The boy grinned slyly as he continued.
“It’s not that I did anything special. You tried to swing your immobilized hand, and your fist just dislocated. See?”
Lloyd grabbed the man’s fist.
Then, snap!
“Arghhhhhh!”
He realigned the dislocated bone back into Hector’s arm.
The fist returned to its normal angle, but the excruciating pain of setting a raw bone made Hector foam at the mouth.
“… This is a t*rture method I’ve never seen before in the imperial family.”
The murmuring voice of the girl next to them didn’t reach Hector’s ears.
He was in too much pain to even scream.
Watching him, Lloyd smiled slyly.
“If you don’t want to hurt even more, you’d better answer my questions.”
Although Lloyd said this, he didn’t actually know how to cause more pain.
‘I’m not exactly an expert in t*rture.’
However, he knew well that words like these were effective threats.
Sure enough, Hector’s body shook violently.
‘When interrogating someone, it’s best to start with easy questions.’
Lloyd, recalling his knowledge, opened his mouth.
“What’s your name?”
“He… Hector.”
“Great. Mr. Hehector.”
“It’s Hector.”
“What’s with that cursed name?”
Lloyd shrugged lightly.
The exact name wasn’t important right now.
The only reason Lloyd had intervened in front of the princess was that these men seemed to have information worth extracting.
Easton.
Information that could be a clue to swallowing up this city on the way to the empire’s capital.
Lloyd asked.
“Now, tell me. Why did you break in here?”
“Of course, we came to collect the bribe.”
“Ah, right. That’s obvious.”
Lloyd bent his fingers in a beckoning motion.
Hector shrank back in fear.
With a bright smile, Lloyd asked.
“Your eyes were full of greed. Why try to take 30% when you could have settled for 20%?”
“How… how do you even know that…”
Yulia, who had been quietly listening, interrupted.
“Yeah, how did you know that?”
Lloyd shrugged his shoulders.
“That’s just how it is when you do business on the streets. Not only taxes, but you get nicked for all sorts of things. Later on, they’ll probably come to extort the communal funds too.”
In truth, this was all common knowledge Lloyd had picked up during casual chats with Claire, who was the heir to the Harold Trading Company and very knowledgeable about these things.
‘Come to think of it, it’s possible Claire orchestrated this whole thing.’
She was very calculating.
If using Lloyd could bring her significant benefits—if the gains from Lloyd’s absence outweighed those from his presence—that could be within Claire’s modus operandi.
Even though they were childhood friends, Claire had often been wary of Lloyd during their time in the Hero’s Party.
Anyway.
Lloyd shook his head to clear away the distracting thoughts.
“Why were you in such a hurry to collect the bribe? Speak.”
This question should be enough.
Lloyd extended his fingers, causing Hector to panic and start spilling the truth.
“O-our organization is bringing in some drugs soon. To sell them, we need to secure the top spot in the bribe extortion rankings!”
So that’s what it was.
Wait a second.
“Drugs? You mean narcotics?”
“Y-yes!”
“You idiots!”
The princess standing beside them was the one who got angry instead.
“When one person becomes addicted to drugs, do you know how many people suffer? The whole family suffers! And you want to make money off of that?”
Yulia fumed with anger.
It was the first time Lloyd had seen her this enraged.
She seemed to care more about the well-being of the citizens of the Empire than he had expected.
Perhaps she isn’t a tyrant after all, Lloyd thought as he took a step closer to their captive.
“Eek!”
Hector instinctively recoiled.
‘It’s annoying.’
Swish.
Lloyd waved his hand horizontally.
Hector’s legs became fixed to the ground.
“Don’t move. Or your legs might pop out like before.”
Hector’s eyes trembled in fear. Oh?
Lloyd hadn’t meant to scare him that much.
He had only stopped Hector’s legs because it was bothersome to deal with him otherwise.
Hector’s eyes darted around nervously.
Well, if he’s having this much fun, it might be a good thing.
Lloyd asked.
“How much of the drug are we talking about?”
“Enough to supply all of Easton.”
“That’s quite a large scale.”
“Of course, our Vincenzo’s Gang is the best in Easton…”
“The best? You’re just low-level distributors. Anyway.”
Lloyd tapped his chin thoughtfully with his fingertips before asking,
“Where does the drug come from?”
“It’s from some remote countryside where the Empire’s power doesn’t reach…”
“That’s not what I mean. Who is bringing the drug here? Your organization is just the distributor in the city. But who is producing the drug and distributing it across various locations? Who are they?”
This drug operation was no small-scale business.
This much would not just be for Easton; it was likely being distributed across the entire continent.
This isn’t something small fry could pull off by themselves.
Something big is involved.
Something very big.
Yulia nodded in agreement, indicating she shared the same thoughts.
Hector shook his head.
“H-how would I know something like that?”
“Are you sure?”
Lloyd raised his hand menacingly.
“I swear, I don’t know!”
Hector trembled violently as he answered.
But Lloyd wasn’t convinced.
“What do you think would happen if I stopped something else, like I stopped your hand and leg? For example, here.”
Lloyd pointed his finger toward Hector’s lungs, his fingers slowly rising.
“Or maybe here.”
His heart.
His throat.
His brain.
As Lloyd’s finger hovered over each vital area, Hector nearly started to scream.
“I-I really don’t know! I swear on everything! I absolutely, absolutely don’t know. Please, forgive me. I’m sorry. I’ll quit the organization for good. I swear. I’ll live a good, honest life.”
Hmm. Judging by his reaction, he might be telling the truth.
Whoosh.
Lloyd snapped his fingers.
— Thud.
Hector collapsed to the ground, not because something had been severed, but because the magic holding his legs had been released.
Lloyd’s magic had been keeping him upright.
“Ugh…”
Hector groaned in pain but quickly pulled himself together and stood up.
Then, he bowed his head deeply.
“T-thank you. I’ll… I’ll live a good life. I won’t do any more gang work.”
Lloyd shook his head dismissively.
“No, there’s no need for that.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Hector and Yulia responded simultaneously, both bewildered by Lloyd’s words.
Lloyd shrugged.
“Keep doing your gang work. Just don’t cause any trouble for us. And make sure you collect protection fees reasonably.”
There’s such a thing as a necessary evil in this world.
Claire had once explained that it was a necessary evil for organizations to collect protection fees from businesses.
She said it was because the law was distant, but a strong arm was close.
Lloyd agreed with that.
Of course, he hadn’t let Hector go because of such lofty reasons.
Rather…
“In exchange, bring me information. About what’s happening within your organization. What I’m most curious about is who’s supplying the drugs.”
There was a scent.
A very strong one, and…
Big and sweet.
