Chapter 52

The banquet was quite satisfying.

Ariel and Rakia ate their fill of the food they wanted and left the banquet hall after a good sleep.

They came to the banquet hall by carriage, but they had to walk back because there were no carriages passing by.

Still, this time, there was no worry about getting lost because they knew the exact location of their lodging.

In Goldcastle, no matter where you are, you can see the statue of the former hero Leonhardt.

The statue is very large and even made of gold, making it visible at night. Using the statue as a reference point, finding the way wasn’t a problem.

Shortly after, Ariel arrived at the lodging and headed straight to the courtyard.

Even though they had slept well at the banquet hall, there was still a lingering drowsiness.

In such cases, burying oneself in Ghost’s soft and fluffy fur was the best. There was no greater happiness than that.

But.

“?”

Ariel stood at the courtyard threshold, tilting her head.

The courtyard was eerily quiet.

Normally, Roo would be lying drunk on fruit wine on a rock, and Ghost would be wagging its tail to greet them.

But now, the courtyard was just quiet, with no one around.

Ariel slowly moved forward and brushed her hand over the courtyard grass.

Something wet stuck to her hand.

A red liquid.

Blood.

The courtyard was splattered with a large amount of blood.

As if a battle had taken place.

“Human blood… and Ghost’s blood too…”

Rakia muttered beside her.

Rakia is a dragon. She could tell whose blood it was just by the smell.

“It seems like humans and Ghost shed blood here, Lady Ariel.”

At Rakia’s words, Ariel quietly looked around.

Then she suddenly noticed something stuck to the courtyard wall.

It was a piece of paper.

Snap!

Ariel quickly approached the courtyard wall.

Her speed was so fast that even Rakia, a dragon, couldn’t follow her movements with her eyes.

To Rakia, it seemed like Ariel had disappeared and reappeared.

For someone who usually moved slowly, it was an incredibly fast movement.

It showed how shaken Ariel was right now.

Ariel looked at the paper stuck to the courtyard wall.

The paper read:

– If you want to get the wolf and fairy back, come to the location written below –

*

“Hehe, stupid elf girl.”

A boy muttered.

“Daring to come to Goldcastle without fear, very well.”

A boy with a golden bowl-cut and prominent cheekbones.

It was Cobin, the second son of the Baraton family.

In the past, Cobin had challenged Ariel to a duel at Sierra’s banquet.

Cobin, though appearing frail, had learned an ancient martial art and was confident he could defeat Ariel in a duel.

He never once thought he would lose.

After all, Ariel was just a small elf girl.

He believed that the Mantis Fist he had learned would easily defeat her.

But the result was unexpected.

When Cobin attacked Ariel, his wrist was broken, and he was sent flying by a light backhand from her, resulting in multiple fractures.

That incident brought great shame to Cobin. He became known as a weakling who couldn’t even defeat a little girl.

The Mantis Fist he had learned also became a subject of ridicule.

To Cobin, the Mantis Fist was an excellent martial art, but people just laughed at it as a series of useless, strange movements.

“Only someone who copies such silly movements would get beaten by a little girl… What a disgrace to the family.”

The Baraton family members were busy mocking Cobin.

Even the family head, his father, took measures to prevent Cobin from attending any future banquets, saying he had tarnished the family’s honor.

Of course, even without that, Cobin couldn’t leave his bed.

He couldn’t move due to the injuries he sustained from Ariel.

While recovering, Cobin kept thinking about Ariel.

Her expressionless eyes, pointed ears, silver hair…

In terms of appearance, Ariel was actually Cobin’s type. But that didn’t matter.

Cobin was determined to take revenge on Ariel.

She had brought him great shame and left him in this state.

The Baraton family’s emblem is a lion. A lion never forgets a grudge.

“I’ll show you what happens when you mess with a lion cub…!”

Cobin muttered those words every day while lying in bed.

Whenever something happened, Cobin compared himself to a “lion cub,” but no one agreed with that.

Except maybe Jerome, the eldest son of the Baraton family, no one thought of Cobin as a lion cub.

Cobin was just Cobin. Pathetic and pitiful.

Anyway, Cobin recovered surprisingly quickly for someone with multiple fractures.

The Baraton family was wealthy, and even though Cobin was a disgrace, they didn’t skimp on his treatment.

Thanks to high-grade potions and skilled priests treating him daily, Cobin was now able to move around freely.

Although he still needed crutches to walk, it was much better than being bedridden.

The first thing Cobin did after getting up was to bribe a mercenary group.

He wasn’t preparing for war or anything; he just wanted revenge on Ariel.

He needed people to find and kidnap her.

Even though Cobin was a pathetic figure, the Baraton family head didn’t skimp on his allowance.

With that money, Cobin secretly bribed a mercenary group.

It was a group of about fifty called “Crow,” infamous in Goldcastle.

They were the kind of mercenaries who would do anything for money—kidnapping, drugs, murder—exactly what Cobin wanted.

Cobin had Crow search for Ariel.

A young elf with silver hair and red eyes.

That was not a common feature, so Crow quickly found Ariel.

They confirmed that Ariel had come to Goldcastle shortly after the hero selection ceremony began.

“As expected of Crow!”

Cobin highly praised Crow’s abilities, but in reality, Crow finding Ariel was just a coincidence.

Ariel had been drawing attention by walking around with a giant silver wolf, and she just happened to arrive in Goldcastle, Crow’s base, at the right time.

Anyway, Cobin started gathering information about Ariel through Crow.

Revenge had to be meticulous and secretive.

If this got out, Cobin’s image would plummet.

Even Cobin knew that seeking revenge for losing a duel wasn’t honorable.

Cobin found out where Ariel was staying and identified her companions.

Based on that information, he decided that kidnapping the wolf and fairy traveling with Ariel would be the best plan.

By kidnapping the wolf and fairy, he could lure Ariel and handle things quietly.

“Hehe, that elf girl should be on her way here by now, right?”

The wolf and fairy had already been kidnapped.

In the process, five Crow members were injured by the wolf, but Cobin didn’t care.

He paid them. Mercenaries were supposed to risk their lives for money.

“When she comes, I’ll make her kneel and apologize.”

Cobin was currently in an abandoned building in a corner of Goldcastle.

There was nothing around, just a lone building left behind.

Here, even if a big commotion broke out, the patrol wouldn’t come.

No one would hear.

That’s why he deliberately chose this remote abandoned building.

“If that elf girl resists, subdue her immediately, got it?”

Cobin said to the bearded man next to him, the leader of the Crow mercenary group.

“That elf girl, she’s not ordinary. She defeated me, who learned the Mantis Fist.”

“Don’t worry, young master.”

The Crow leader had a calm expression.

He had also seen Ariel during the information-gathering process.

Ariel was just a small girl.

The giant silver wolf might be a threat, but Ariel herself was not intimidating at all.

A little girl like that would surely cry and collapse with just a bit of intimidation.

‘To mobilize the entire Crow for such a kid…’

The leader smiled bitterly.

Currently, nearly fifty Crow members were hiding in this abandoned building.

All just to capture Ariel.

To the leader, it was an overly inefficient situation.

‘One or two people would be enough to capture such a kid…’

But Cobin insisted on preparing for any situation, so the leader had to gather the entire Crow.

Thanks to the generous payment, or else the leader would never have created such a situation.

‘What we should be wary of is that wolf.’

The leader turned his gaze to the silver wolf tied up in the corner of the building.

Five members died subduing that silver wolf, and many more were injured.

To the leader, it was a painful loss.

‘But the fairy is mine, so just bear with it a little longer…’

The leader’s gaze then fell on the magic cage in the corner.

Inside was a small creature.

A fairy.

The fairy was one of Ariel’s companions, but since Cobin only wanted Ariel, the leader could dispose of the fairy as he pleased after the job was done.

‘Hehe.’

A greedy smile spread across the leader’s face.

Fairies were quite valuable.

Including the payment, this job would bring in a hefty sum.

“Whatever you’re planning, you should stop.”

The fairy inside the magic cage spoke.

“You shouldn’t anger our big sister. I’m saying this for your sake.”

Of course, no one reacted to those words.

Cobin sneered, and the leader ignored it.

Fairies were known to be liars.

There was no need to believe a fairy’s words.