Published: March 21, 2026
As I said in the previous notice, this chapter will be told from the protagonist’s point of view.
A thin veil of moonlight lit the town. People were fast asleep.
I had come near Gram’s manor—the same place where I’d killed him the other day.
I’d left town once, but remembered something I had to do and returned alone.
Crow, Ria, and Amelia were camped outside town waiting for me.
Night rode on my shoulder as usual.
“This is it…”
I stopped near Gram’s manor, in a spot inside the town that felt empty despite being in the middle of people—an area where a barrier had been placed so it wouldn’t catch anyone’s eye.
To someone like me with the world eye, that seemingly blank patch wasn’t hidden.
If I were to hide a person, I’d keep them close by and bury them underground. If the door itself can’t be seen, most people don’t realize there’s an entrance below.
Ironically, it seems Gram and I thought similarly when it came to hiding things.
Besides, the maze-like town of Uruk is perfect terrain for concealment.
“Shadow magic—activate.”
As instructed, the shadow magic consumed only the barrier. Nothing else was affected.
I still don’t fully understand what shadow magic actually is, but I use it a lot because it’s very practical. Commander Saran would probably light up if he saw it.
…Actually, now that I think about it, shadow magic only started obeying me after commander Saran died, didn’t it?
Glass shattered with a crisp crack as the barrier broke.
A door appeared where nothing had been moments ago.
It was probably a visual-distortion type of barrier.
“Night, you ready?”
“Yeah, master. Anytime.”
After Night answered, I opened the door.
Inside was dim—moonlight barely enough to make out the floor.
It was dusty; not somewhere people passed through daily.
A staircase sat immediately beyond the door, leading down into some underground space.
Given Gram, I expected traps, but it turned out the only trick had been the barrier hiding the door.
A little anticlimactic.
Still, with only a barrier, it had been hidden well enough that ordinary people probably wouldn’t find it.
I felt something off and looked at the inside of the door—there was no doorknob on this side that was present outside.
That meant whoever was down here was being held captive.
My footsteps echoed on the stairs, the darkness thickening the further down I went.
The stairs were narrow, barely wide enough for one person, and the steps were just dimly visible.
Maybe I should have brought a light.
I descended step by careful step, thinking.
There was a reason I’d come here. I’d forgotten briefly after leaving Uruk with Crow, but an elf had begged me to rescue her kidnapped family.
I think I replied back then something along the lines of: if they happen to cross my path, I’ll pick them up.
When I scoped the building during the assassination, I’d noticed the hidden door, but the shock and aftermath let it slip from my mind.
That meant I’d broken my promise.
So I had come back specifically to make good on it.
“…Well, they probably wanted to rescue them themselves if they could,” I thought, putting myself in their place.
If my mother or my sister Yui were kidnapped, and I couldn’t go because of other obligations, would I entrust it to someone else? No—I’d act myself, at least now.
And these were elves: longer-lived than beastmen and with their own magical power. I couldn’t abandon the elves’ plea—given to me with reluctance to avoid interspecies conflict.
“Did you say something? Master?”
“No, nothing.”
I must have descended the equivalent of two underground floors.
I reached the bottom of the stairs at last.
My eyes, now used to the dark, picked out things besides the stairs.
“…Is there someone there?”
A strangely accented voice—like some dialect—carried.
“Did you come to threaten me again? I told you before, I won’t make any more drugs that ruin people! I don’t need food anymore. I’d rather die than make drugs that break humans! Send these people home!”