Chapter 25

Rodella had been watching the situation unfold through the window. The moment Thousand Faces hurled himself toward the building she was in, she shoved Felix by the neck.

“Duck!”

—Kuwa-kwaang!

Almost simultaneously, a series of crashing sounds erupted from the upper floor.

“Everyone, get down!”

Rodella shouted to all nearby.

Thankfully, Felix, whose survival instincts were remarkably sharp for a mage, was already darting toward the exit.

Whether the building was expensive or not didn’t matter at that point. First, she had to evacuate the administrative staff of the guard unit that were still inside.

“Kyaaa!”

As screams rang out and people began fleeing en masse, Rodella bounded down the stairs two or three steps at a time—nearly sliding down the handrail with her speed.

Even if she was just a clerk in the finance division now, her physical abilities, which once ranked in the top five during the Academy’s practical classes, hadn’t disappeared.

Then, at that moment—

—KWAANG!

The ceiling right beside her blew open, and Thousand Faces dropped down through it.

“……!”

She nearly froze, but momentum carried her forward, and she continued her descent.

Behind her, a hand imbued with magic leisurely reached out.

Even though she wore civilian clothing, a trained body moved differently—it was unmistakable. There was no doubt now: she was the fiancée from the rumors.

The Thousand Faces let out a delighted, twisted laugh.

—Tat!

Rodella, perfectly timed, threw herself downward in a dive.

—Whoosh!

She could clearly feel part of her clothes being violently torn away by the magic.

Then she looked back—

“Aivert!”

Her childhood friend, with a terrifying expression, was about to bring his sword down on Thousand Faces’s neck.

His eyes, gleaming like a beast’s, momentarily locked with Rodella’s.

* * *

If he drove the sword down like this, not just Thousand Faces and the building—but Rodella, too—would be caught in the gust of the blade.

Realizing that, Aivert instinctively twisted his sword’s trajectory.

—Ssaeek!

No one but someone of his strength could have redirected a sword swinging down at that speed.

“Tch!”

The next moment, as Thousand Faces snorted and tried to slip through the opening, Aivert slashed his sword.

Just as his grip tensed without meaning to—

Rodella’s face flashed in his mind.

So did the words she said in the carriage: “If you think you can’t hold back, I’ll teach you how to control your strength.”

Her expression, like it was the most obvious thing in the world: “Just go as easy as you do with me.”

When he first heard it, it felt like the most absurd thing she could’ve said.

If he really did that, he wouldn’t even be able to lift a finger against that bastard.

But now that she was really in front of him—he couldn’t think of anything else.

…Go as easy as I do with you?

At that thought, the power drained from him in an instant—but not fast enough. What power remained sliced toward Thousand Faces’s arm.

—Sseog!

The strike severed only Thousand Faces’s arm, cleanly, and Aivert let go of the sword.

He didn’t have time to wait for the power imbued in the blade to fully dissipate.

“Kh!”

But Thousand Faces seemed to instinctively know he needed to grab Rodella to survive.

Even with his arm severed, he moved a beat faster than Aivert, reaching toward her with his remaining hand.

A hand charged dangerously with magic.

Aivert’s mind froze, as he was about to cuff that remaining hand.

“……!”

He had planned to shove Thousand Faces back with his left hand and clamp the cuffs on his wrist with his right—but the bastard reached Rodella quicker than expected.

—Thud!

Aivert kicked Thousand Faces, knocking him just barely off course from Rodella.

Before the dust even settled, he swung the cuffs and flung them at the man’s wrist, intending to latch them on.

Then—

“……!”

The Thousand Faces twisted his wrist, dodging the cuffs.

Somewhere in the distance, there was a metallic clatter—the cuffs had hit a wall or something.

But there was no time to glance in that direction. The Thousand Faces was already reaching for Rodella again.

What a persistent bastard!

Aivert threw himself between the two, blocking the attack.

—Paht!

The mana and aura radiating around his body violently repelled Thousand Faces.

In the next instant, Aivert’s hand struck the man’s head.

“Gah!”

That Aivert had managed to control his strength just enough to keep the man’s head attached to his body—it was likely because he didn’t want to show Rodella something as gruesome as a decapitated corpse.

Especially not one drenched in blood.

Seeing Rodella’s face turn pale in an instant, it seemed his choice had been the right one.

She was afraid of blood, after all.

“Phew.”

Only then did he exhale.

Moments later, he reached out to fasten the remaining cuff lying on the floor.

—Clack!

“……?”

The opened cuff suddenly moved on its own and clamped around his wrist before he could even react—like a clam snapping shut.

A ripple of blue light shimmered, spreading from the cuff into a chain.

As Aivert raised an eyebrow and looked down at the cuff now fastened on his wrist—

“……Aivert.”

Rodella’s voice came from behind.

There was a hint of uncertainty in her tone, and Aivert responded calmly.

“If needed, I’ll just cut off my wrist. It’s fine.”

Having a cuff on his wrist was a bit of an unforeseen issue, but it didn’t matter as long as he caught Thousand Faces.

A criminal of that level had nearly zero chance of returning alive once captured.

He could always claim it was for surveillance, and when the man died or his sentence was decided, they could just cut his wrist and remove it.

With that, he moved to go after Thousand Faces again.

But then—

—Clunk!

Just as he moved away from Rodella and reached toward the criminal, his right hand was suddenly yanked backward.

“…What the?”

Frowning, he turned around.

His eyes met Rodella’s, who was smiling sweetly.

“Whose wrist were you planning to cut off?”

She lifted her arm.

The same kind of cuff was fastened around her wrist, linked to his by a glowing blue chain.

“Huh?”

Aivert froze in place.

* * *

“Wh-What is going on here?”

Felix looked completely flustered.

He had rushed over after hearing someone had been cuffed, only to find Thousand Faces sprawled on the ground—while the ones actually wearing the cuffs were the Vice-Commander and the Quartermaster.

Aivert replied coldly.

“I reached out to cuff the bastard, and the cuff just latched onto me instead.”

He waved his hand pointedly to show him.

“Then why is the Quartermaster also—”

“Is the method for putting on these cuffs different from regular ones?”

At that, Felix shook his head.

“No, you just bring them near a wrist and they snap shut.”

“…Then something’s wrong here.”

What kind of cuffs worked like magnets and just latched onto the nearest wrist?

Rodella froze at his words.

Wait. Has this man… never seen handcuffs before?

Well, how many people had actually worn them?

Still—he made them without even testing them!?

Meanwhile, Aivert was now gripping his forehead and grinding his teeth.

“…So what happens if someone just reaches to pick up a cuff lying on the ground?”

Finally, Felix’s face went pale.

“No… no way…”

Now, he was starting to piece together what had happened.

Rodella looked at him and asked, “You can take them off, right?”

Felix glanced over at Thousand Faces—who looked like he’d been flattened in a fit of frustration—then replied weakly, “…It’s possible, but the branch will need to do a bit more research…”

“You can take them off, right?”

This time it was Aivert who asked.

His tone was nothing like Rodella’s. It was the kind of tone a knight used when barking an order that would be obeyed.

His sharp eyes locked with Felix’s tearful ones.

Wait—weren’t they the ones who said to make cuffs that couldn’t be removed no matter what? That it was urgent?

That catching Thousand Faces took priority, and they could make the key after?

Sure, there was a bit of a mishap in how they were used… but wasn’t the goal to make something he couldn’t escape?

“…I’ll do it.”

“Do it. As fast as you can.”

Faced with commands from both his superiors, Felix’s face crumpled in misery.