Published: July 3, 2025
For now, the course of action has been decided.
The next question is what to do with the four captives.
"They don't really look like adventurers, do they?"
Ryo muttered without looking at anyone in particular.
"Eh? Is that so?"
Prince Willy tilted his head in confusion.
Indeed, their equipment resembled that of adventurers who primarily engage in close combat...
"How should I put it... They don't exude the roughness that adventurers typically have."
Saying this, Ryo glanced at Corn.
"Hey, Ryo. Why are you looking at me?"
Corn snapped back at Ryo's gaze.
"Uh, it's nothing..."
Ryo quickly averted his eyes.
"I see..."
Then, Lord Rodrigo quietly compared the four captives to Corn.
"Lord Rodrigo, that's not exactly a fair comparison, is it?!"
Corn lamented the harshness of the world.
"The difference is in the stubble,"
Lord Rodrigo remarked while looking at the four.
"Ah... I see. It's not just you, Corn, but it seems many adventurers don't shave their stubble. Compared to these four, they certainly have clean-shaven faces. Almost like knights..."
The members of the knight order from Run all maintain a neat appearance.
Ryo, who often visits the training grounds for mock battles with Sera, recalled the faces of the knights he knew.
"To look like knights yet deliberately disguise themselves as adventurers... It's extremely suspicious."
Corn voiced his honest opinion.
The group, including Ryo, had parked their carriage by the roadside.
Naturally, passersby on the road glanced at the four bound captives but moved along without saying anything.
In that moment, one of the captured men woke up.
"Hey, hello there."
Corn greeted the man.
"Ugh."
The man bit his lip as he confirmed that his arms and legs were tied, and that the other three were in a similar state.
"It seems you've grasped the situation. So? Who are you guys?"
Corn asked, but naturally, there was no response.
"Well, I’m not really good at this... Hey, Ryo, you aren’t the type who can handle this, are you?"
Corn turned to Ryo, who he assumed might have a way with words given his fondness for alcohol.
"I don't understand why you're looking at me... What should I do in this situation? Is it effective to pierce their eyes with thin ice needles or to show them a frozen heart? Would that be intimidating?"
"No, Ryo, that's going too far..."
As Ryo questioned the methods of torture, Corn found himself taken aback at the excessive nature of Ryo's suggestions.
The color drained from the man's face as he listened.
"While the heart might be pushing it, piercing the eyes seems quite doable, you know? Apparently, the eyes themselves don't hurt when pierced. It just makes the victim remember that moment as a lifelong trauma..."
Upon hearing this, the man's teeth began to chatter, and his expression froze.
"Hey, you. I'm not a fan of causing pain either. How about you tell me who you are and under whose orders you're acting? If you do, I might just prevent... well, that eye-piercing thing from happening."
Corn leaned down to the man's eye level and asked gently.
"I... I can't say..."
The man, who had not spoken a word until then, finally managed to squeeze out a reply.
Ryo continued to generate and erase thin ice needles with his fingertips, and it might have had some effect.
"I see, that's unfortunate. Ryo!"
"Wait a moment!"
As Corn called for Ryo, the man screamed as Ryo stepped closer.
"Hm? What's wrong? We don’t have much time before that guy gets any closer."
"I... I want to say it, but I can't... Captain, please wait until the leader wakes up."
(He almost said 'captain'... So they really are from the knight order...)
Ryo decided to remain silent out of compassion for the warrior's code.
"You aren't adventurers; you're part of the knight order."
Corn wasn't a warrior, after all...
"!"
The man was left speechless.
Just as he froze in shock, the second man, likely the leader, woke up.
It was Prince Willy who first spotted a group of horsemen approaching from the west of the road.
"There's a group of cavalry coming from that direction."