11





Lecan arrived in front Goncourt House's gate.

It's night time already, the gate is shut tight and there's no guard. It's dark around the gate.

He concentrated on <Life Detection>, and while he could detect several red dots indicating mages inside the mansion, it's not clear whether one of them is Eda. The dot with the strongest mana is probably her, but he can't be sure. He should have memorized Eda's red dot pattern while he had a chance. However, there's no point in mulling over that now. Either way, he simply has to comb through the mansion.

Lecan decided to go in through the front door. The side door would be easier to break in, but it doesn't really matter which in the end.

He took out <Guardian Jewel of Zana>, put it in his breast pocket, and buttoned it up.

He took out <Lightning Dragon Gauntlet> and put it on his left hand.

He removed <Sword of Rusk> hanging on his waist, stowed it inside <Storage>, and grabbed a Sacred Solid Silver sword in its stead.

Silver Ring is adorned on his left finger.

<Dagger of Harut> on his waist belt.

He took out a cloth bag packed full with grain-sized and medium-sized Magic Stones and tied it on his belt.

He's checked the gate with <3D Perception>. It's a double gate that opens from the center, shut tight with a thick fastened bolt from the inside. Destroying the bold should do the trick.

Lecan held his left hand up and recited a spell.

"<Flame Spear (Bandroux)>!"

A beam of light emerged in the darkness of the night and pierced through the giant gate's center, destroying it along with the bolt before landing at the mansion's front door around 50 steps ahead and causing an explosion.

With his left hand still held up, Lecan recited another spell.

"<Move (Torim)>."

The gate opened to the left and right with a dull sound.

It was quite heavy, he ended up consuming more mana than expected before it was fully open.

Lecan thrust his left hand in the cloth bag on his waist, roughly grabbed a fistful of small magic stones and absorbed mana from them before throwing them away.

Sounds of magic stones getting dropped on a stone-paved path resounded.

Tonight he's going to use all the expendable magic stones he needs to replenish his mana. He's not gonna skimp on it.

Lecan's <Overking Bear> overcoat-tails fluttered in the night wind.

Right before he reached the front door, two guards showed up from the right bypath.

"You ruffian!"

"Turn yourself in!"

They were swinging their swords at Lecan as they shouted.

Lecan swung his sword twice to cut apart the guards' swords. With the incredible sharpness of Sacred Solid Silver's sword, it was as if he was cutting paper without any resistance.

He pours mana into his left arm and swung it wide, gently brushing the two's heads in a single motion. Even though Lecan deemed it as 'brushing', it might actually feel like a heavy blow to the guards' themselves.

Electricity emitted out of <Lightning Dragon Gauntlet>, the two guards crumbled down without a sound.

Lecan does not intend to attack this mansion yet. He's still at a stage of looking for Eda. He doesn't care if he has to slaughter all inhabitants of this mansion once he found Eda, but there is no need for that if she isn't here. The time to unleash mayhem has yet come.

As he took the first stone step of three, wreckage of a broken door dangled in front of him.

"<Flame Spear>."

He blew the wreckage away with a bit of mana.

Lecan stepped inside the mansion's entrance and advanced toward a stairway ahead.

The strongest red dot in this mansion is located in the center of this mansion's back. It's probably on the second or third floor, <Life Detection> can't distinguish.

As he took the stairs up, several faces peeked out from the entrance. But they're not attempting to attack him. They're probably non-combatants.

In any case, this mansion's inhabitants' reaction is slow.

They must have never imagined they would be raided like this.

Or perhaps, Eda is not here.

But he can't turn back now.

Just as Lecan's finished scaling up the stairs, several people are headed toward him from inside the mansion.

The hallway is furnished with candlesticks, shining lights on the approaching people.

Three people.

The man in the middle looks familiar.

It's the butler who interacted with them during the house call yesterday.

It was Kanner or something.

Kanner halted and spoke to Lecan while glaring at him with a stern face like he's a different person.

"What business do you have breaking into this mansion in the middle of the night."

Lecan answered back without stopping his advance.

"I'm looking for something. Passing through."

They would try to dupe Lecan if they really have abducted Eda. In other words, it's useless to even ask.

The two men behind Kanner are equipped with light armor, and just trousers. They must have put on their armor in a hurry after news of an intruder broke out. They've had their swords out already.

The two stepped forward to cover Kanner.

Lecan proceeds ahead without caring.

The two raised their swords, coming for Lecan from both sides.

Lecan swiftly moved to the right, cutting the right man's sword apart, and swiftly raised his sword overhead before swinging it down to sever the left man's sword.

"<Flame Arrow>."

Lecan shot out two <Flame Arrows> from his left finger, piercing the two swordsmen's top of feet each. The two screamed and fell down the floor. They writhed in pain as Lecan closed 20 steps of distance.

More people are coming.

But none attempts to attack him even though some are timidly observing from afar.

Judging from their lack of alertness, perhaps she's really not here.

Lecan hit a dead end in the passage.

Should he go right or left.

There's a stairway to the right. While the left passage would bring him deeper into the second floor.

Wonder if <Graph Making> would help him not get lost in situations like this.

Lecan proceeds to the right. A stairway immediately came into view.

He went up the stairs toward third floor.

With his right hand still gripping a sword.

The Sacred Solid Silver sword gleamed ominously in candlelights.

He's getting closer to the red dot. It's on this floor for sure.

Soon.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
Soon he will arrive at the room where that red dot is.

He's here.

Lecan invokes <Mana Detection> in front of the door.

This mana.

It's Eda!

No doubt about it.

She's really been carried off to this mansion.

"Eda!"

There's no response. He understands she's sleeping in a bed through <3D Perception>, they must have forced her to.

As he gripped the knob with his left hand and turned it, the knob broke. He did put his strength but it was also because there was a resistance. It's locked.

With a sword still in his right hand, Lecan lightly punched the door's keyhole with his left hand.

Lecan was only going to hit it very lightly, however his destructive force has been doubled thanks to <Guardian Jewel of Zana>. The boost far exceeded Lecan's estimation, part of the door and the wall ended up getting blown off with a loud sound.

He tried to open the partly broken door, but it would only give off a weird cranking noise and not budge. The hinges must have been bent from the impact. Lecan tore off the entire door and discarded it in the hallway.

There's a woman sleeping in a canopied bed.

A woman with a truly small, small body in contrast to the huge bed.

Another woman who seems to be a maid is curling up in the corner of the room, trembling.

"Eda."

Was Lecan aware how a smile came up on his face when he said her name then.

A noisy sound echoed, a door to the opposite room was pushed open, then a knight-like man donning a full armor rushed out with a heavy looking sword raised overhead.

Lecan thought of dodging and slashing back at him, but then the knight could end up crashing into Eda's bed.

Lecan drove his left fist on the knight's belly as he turned around.

The knight's body twisted into a < shape as he got blown backward, breaking the already crumbling wall before crashing into the hallway's wall and falling down.

Since he heard only the king is allowed to appoint a knight, this man is probably not a formal knight.

Lecan didn't even glance at the sham knight's sword lying on the floor as he looked at the face under the bed's canopy.

It's Eda.

A peaceful sleeping face.

However, there's something wrong with her still not waking up after all this commotion.

Lecan switched his sword to his left hand, put his right hand into <Storage>, took a yellow potion out and crushed it above Eda's face. It's a potion that removes abnormal status.

When the half-transparent liquid got splashed over Eda's face, her eyes immediately opened. And they caught Lecan.

"Lecan!"

Eda sprung up straight from her position and clung to Lecan's neck.

Then she quickly let go.

"Where, is this place?"

"Goncourt House."

"Goncoort?"

"The house we visited yesterday."

"Ah, that old man's mansion?"

Lecan continues to monitor this room and the surrounding area with <3D Perception> even while conversing with Eda. The maid trembling in the corner of the room doesn't look like she's gonna attack.

"Yeah. What happened?"

"Uh, well, some people came up to me and said they got some business with Lecan, one of them was doing something behind my back while I was talking to another. Then something went bzzt, and I passed out. It was way late by the time I thought 'they got me'."

"I see. Can you walk?"

"Un."

Eda nimbly moved like a small animal and got off the bed.

Her bare feet could be seen. They've been wiped clean.

Not sure about Eda's opinion on the matter but having his body groped by other people while he's not awake is the most repulsive upsetting thing in the world to Lecan.

Eda put on her shoes that were left next to the bed and stood up.

"Thanks for waiting! Let's outta here."

"Right. But first, let's take a little detour."






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