Following the direction Grain gave, I came across a structure I had never seen before.
It was a stone building—too big to be a house, yet too small to be a castle.
It didn’t have a refined vibe; instead, it had a rugged look with moss clinging here and there, which oddly suited it.
However, it seemed to be in a clean state, as if it hadn’t been built too long ago.
But… its shape felt oddly familiar.
‘What is this? Is this some kind of traditional Demon Race architecture?’
In areas densely populated by the Demon Race, you’d find buildings like this scattered everywhere.
I initially thought it was just a thematic design for the map, or maybe the Demon Race had taken over an existing building… but now it makes me wonder if this is just their taste.
It wasn’t particularly strange for such a building to be here. According to Grain, the person here is likely Diggerus, and he’s now a Demon Race.
Does it really matter what kind of houses the Demon Race live in? With that thought, I paused for a moment before taking another step.
“Let’s go in right away.”
“…Wait a second. You’re just going to walk in like this? You could just put me down…”
“You never know. You should prepare some defensive magic just in case.”
Seria was still being carried.
Her stats were heavily focused on magic, so her physical abilities weren’t exactly top-notch.
Even after moving non-stop for hours, she seemed fine, probably using magic to cover her stamina. But her movements still felt a bit stiff.
So, even if she couldn’t dodge, carrying her and letting her focus on defensive magic seemed like the most efficient option.
There might be a better way, but with the urgency of moving forward, I was too impatient to think of alternatives.
As soon as we stepped inside the building, what greeted us were blinking red zones everywhere—traps.
The problem was, some of them seemed to activate even without being triggered.
Avoiding them easily was out of the question.
“Rudion.”
Seria, sensing the danger, called my name to alert me.
I nodded lightly to show I understood and moved forward again.
Soon, a red zone briefly swept over the spot where I was standing.
“Ah!”
I quickly jumped to the side to avoid it, but in the process, my arm tensed up, and Seria’s body tilted dangerously close to being thrown.
Honestly, I was a bit flustered. It didn’t feel like this when I carried Alkiné before.
Maybe it was because Alkiné had excellent stats—even while being carried, she maintained an oddly stable center of gravity.
So I didn’t hesitate back then.
Moving around wasn’t a big issue…
“Lu, Ludion. Uh… that… don’t hug me so tight.”
Seria didn’t seem to handle it well. They seemed similar in weight, but the difference was this stark.
…Is it normal to compare things like this?
It definitely didn’t seem normal, so I decided to stop overthinking it.
“Sorry. Just bear with it a little.”
“…Okay.”
Right now, all we can do is move forward.
And so, we continued breaking through the traps.
Holding Seria meant I had to honestly deal with the traps without dodging, which wasn’t easy.
Avoiding them wasn’t a big deal since I could see their range… but Seria was the real problem.
“Ouch! Ugh, ah! Ludion! Slow down a bit… and stop forcing my body to fold!”
“Hey, there’s a bunch of traps! How am I supposed to account for each one? Just bear with it a little!”
Well… seeing her complain but still consistently using defensive magic made it seem like she had some leeway.
Of course, that didn’t mean she was being carried comfortably… I still heard all sorts of complaints and weird screams like “Eek!”, “Gah!”, “Ugh!”, and “Hek!”, but I was doing my thing, and she was doing hers, so we both decided to pretend it was fine.
Since the building wasn’t that big, we quickly broke through all the traps and reached the door.
“They’re probably inside. I can feel a bad energy right ahead.”
According to Seria, both Alkiné and Diggerus seemed to be inside.
There was no reason to hesitate, so I kicked the door open and charged in.
*Bam!*
“Kyaa! Ludion! Stop pulling me toward you!”
But in the midst of it, the force of running forward ended up yanking Seria into my arms again.
Seria hurriedly turned her head away from me… looking like a cat that just smelled something awful.
…Wait. Do I smell bad?
Seeing Seria’s reaction made me think that might be the case.
“It’s not like I’m doing this on purpose. It just happens when we move. But do I smell that bad? I don’t think I’ve been sweating much.”
“That’s not the issue… Haah, whatever.”
Seria will probably understand given the situation. Right now, Alkiné’s safety is more important.
I looked around the room we entered.
It was a fairly large space, but there was nothing in it. Just a few pillars supporting the building.
And in the middle of that empty room. A giant cage sat alone.
“Inside that cage… that’s Alkiné, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
Alkiné was looking at me from inside, and somehow her face seemed quite haggard.
Well, she did say she was tired and fell asleep, and then got suddenly kidnapped. It’d be weirder if she looked perfectly fine.
Seeing that she’s staying put without trying to escape, I guess her powers might’ve been sealed or something.
I know it’s not great, but in situations like this, you gotta ask out of courtesy, right?
“Chairman! You okay?”
At my question, Alkiné gave a small nod.
Phew. Thank goodness. She looks a bit worn out, but it doesn’t seem like anything serious.
‘Well then….’
I shift my gaze to a guy I’ve been ignoring.
Diggerus Jibchak. That lunatic. How did he even think of becoming a Demon Race and pulling off a kidnapping?
‘Their way of thinking is just different from ours.’
It was such an absurd move that it reminded me of that famous meme.
Even so, there are things you should and shouldn’t do.
It was just pathetic that he became a Demon Race because he probably couldn’t pull off a kidnapping with his own strength.
And yet, he still seems to think I’m the root of all his problems. The way he’s been glaring at me since earlier is unsettling.
If he were in front of me, he’d probably stab me with a knife right now with that murderous look in his eyes.
Finally, I put Seria down and walked toward Diggerus.
Behind me, Seria’s magic circle unfolded in a dazzling display.
‘Man, what solid backup support.’
While having these silly thoughts, I drew the sword from my waist and delivered a sharp remark.
“The Chairman doesn’t like you. Give it up.”
A line that hits Diggerus where it hurts the most.
The effect was massive. Diggerus opened his mouth to say something but instead charged straight at me.
Originally, I might’ve heard all sorts of stories—what happened, why he likes the Chairman, how he became a Demon Race, and so on.
“If it weren’t for you!! The Chairman wouldn’t have changed, and I wouldn’t have ended up like this!”
But maybe because I hit a nerve, he couldn’t control his emotions and just kept spouting primal rage.
Perfect. I didn’t really want to understand the sob stories of guys like him anyway.
I kept dodging Diggerus’s attacks, one after another.
The sword he always used was gone—probably sold off after becoming a Demon Race—and now he was swinging his bare hands, shrouded in dark energy. But whatever it was, I could dodge it, so it didn’t matter.
Too bad, but unless it’s a pattern I can parry, there’s not much I can do.
“Absolutely not, right? The Chairman never liked you in the first place?”
So, while messing with his head, I decided to keep running my mouth.
This is pretty fun.
Diggerus’s face, already red, started turning even more blotchy, probably because of the damage he took.
Wow, at this point, he’s not a Demon Race but more like a goblin, huh?
His movements were incredibly fast, but maybe because he was getting too emotional, his attacks weren’t that sharp, so dodging wasn’t too hard.
The hardest part was just listening to his pointless ranting.
“You arrogant trash…! I’ll tear you to pieces and kill you!! And I’ll make the guild master mine!!”
Hey, crazy dude. Killing me won’t make the guild master yours.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t say that out loud. Right at that moment, he swung an attack that I could parry.
Clang!
Immediate parry. Diggerus’s strike, filled with rage, ended up being deflected weakly.
Maybe his stance was unstable because he even floated and flew backward.
Direct hit on the cage that was just sitting there!
Upon impact, something must have triggered because the cage door opened.
I don’t know what exactly happened, but Alkiné isn’t the type to stay still in a situation like this.
Immediately, Alkiné dashed out of the cage, and Diggerus reached out to grab her.
But his hand didn’t reach Alkiné.
Because Seria, who had been watching from behind, shot a magic spell that knocked his hand away.
“…Tough. I was planning to cut it off.”
Seria, who had casually made a bloodthirsty remark, brought Alkiné over to her side after her quick escape.
Seeing Alkiné escape, Diggerus seemed to give up. He just slumped in front of the cage, staring blankly this way… Oh, he’s crying.
“Rudion. That guy’s crying.”
“He’s not a guy. He’s a Demon Race.”
“Ah, right. Wow… even Demon Races cry…”
It’s kinda fascinating that a Demon Race is crying.
I wanted to mock him a bit more, but I decided to save that for later and check on Alkiné first.
She looked weak inside the cage, but once she got out, she seemed pretty lively.
She immediately started creating a mana sword, so it seems her powers were indeed sealed inside the cage.
Having regained her energy, she carefully looked up at me and gave a light thank you.
“I almost got into big trouble if you were any later. Um… thank you.”
“…you?”
“Ah, no… thanks! I said thanks!”
Guess she was really nervous. Even her usual demeanor slipped.
Can’t blame her. She got suddenly kidnapped, had her powers sealed, and couldn’t do anything.
“…”
Seria’s eyes momentarily lost their spark as she saw that, but it was so brief that no one noticed.
