FEFR 15

Episode 15

Lenart narrowed his eyes.

“…What are you trying to do?”

“There’s no point in rushing out blindly. It’s better to gather some information first before making a move.”

Despite her excitement, it was a rational decision.

Still, she hadn’t explained the purpose of the carpet, so Lenart watched Range nervously.

Unbothered by his gaze, Range flung the man she had caught.

“You think I’ll say anything just because of this?!”

“You’re already talking quite a lot.”

The man’s curses were muffled as he was wrapped up tightly in the carpet.

Tools used to destroy Calisa’s belongings were scattered all over the place, so Range picked up a wooden club without hesitation.

While she went about her dusting session without even asking questions, the man’s muffled curses turned into screams, then apologies, and finally, desperate pleading.

“I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything, anything you want to know!”

“This really is the fastest way.”

Wiping the sweat from her brow, Range threw away the broken club.

She muttered to herself.

“It’s not heavy, but harder to use than I thought.”

Lenart wasn’t sure whether he should feel relieved that this was Range’s first time doing something like this—or be shocked that she carried it out so swiftly.

The man, now unwrapped from the carpet, looked relatively unscathed despite the beating.

But he hadn’t forgotten the woman who’d messed him up.

A woman with cold, moonlight-colored hair stared at him.

His superior might be far away, but this woman looked like she could snap his limbs on the spot. The man wisely chose to cooperate.

“What do you want to know?”

His sudden shift in attitude made Lenart click his tongue in disbelief.

“That girl who was here—where did you take her?”

Range gestured toward the inner room with her chin.

“Well…”

Though the place was now empty, it had once been a major hideout. Revealing its location as is didn’t sit right with the man.

As he hesitated, Range helped him decide.

“Still haven’t figured out the situation?”

She clenched her fist. At her movement, the man quickly changed his tune again.

“It’s the biggest building on Feratz Street! The one with the green door!”

Calisa added her own testimony.

“I’ve been there once before too.”

“Great. Then you can guide us.”

Once he’d outlived his usefulness, the man was knocked unconscious and tied up like the rest of the goons.

As Lenart helped with the task, he glanced uneasily at Range.

“What is it? If you’re tired, you can rest a bit.”

“No…”

He was mentally drained from the stream of bizarre events, but physically, he was still fine.

“I’m more worried about you than me.”

“Sorry?”

“Your fever hasn’t gone down, has it?”

Range smiled as if touched.

“I’m fine! I’m brave, remember?”

Lenart closed his mouth. He couldn’t understand what bravery had to do with anything, and she didn’t even say she felt better. There wasn’t time to argue, though.

As he held his pounding head, unsure how to respond, Range turned to Calisa.

“Could you guide us there?”

“Of course. I bear a lot of responsibility. I’m sure Erna was taken because of a misunderstanding related to me. I have to settle this myself.”

“…I’m coming too.”

Lenart’s declaration earned a rather cheeky response from Range.

“You don’t look too eager.”

“Do you think I came all this way just to back out now?”

“You’ve got the perfect personality for losing out.”

“And you don’t?”

“This isn’t the time for banter. Let’s go!”

Ending the conversation on her own terms, Range took a step forward—then stepped back.

“Wait… which way do we go?”

“…Left for now. No, I’ll lead.”

Erna stared up at the low ceiling.

She’d said “for the first time in my life” a lot lately, and this really was her first time in a basement—especially being dragged there by force.

Though she knew self-pity wasn’t a good habit, Erna couldn’t help but dwell on how unfair her life felt.

Born with poor health, she’d spent her life plagued by illness. She came all the way to the west in hopes of a cure, but the doctor ran away, and while waiting for her group to return, she was kidnapped by a bunch of thugs.

And to make things worse, she couldn’t even faint conveniently.

Her nerves were so tightly wound that her mind remained painfully alert. Erna swallowed dryly and hunched her shoulders.

The men who had loosely tied her were busy arguing among themselves.

“We were told to bring the doctor! Why’d you bring some random girl?!”

“But, boss… she was the only one left…”

“Then go find the doctor! Why are you causing more problems?!”

It was obvious they brought her just to avoid returning empty-handed.

The man called “boss” looked visibly irritated.

He had slightly more judgment than his dim-witted subordinates. From what he could tell, Erna was likely unrelated to the situation or knew nothing about Calisa’s whereabouts.

“Didn’t we see a girl her age acting suspicious near the warehouse…?”

As if reading his thoughts, one of the underlings offered a timid excuse.

“If it were the same person, would she have let herself get caught so easily?”

The subordinate tried to plead his case but only made things worse.

“You didn’t even listen properly when they said she was with Calisa! If this is that person, why would she be here alone?!”

Having to explain every step just made the man angrier.

He started recalling the fire incident again, gritting his teeth as he sat across from Erna.

‘If only there hadn’t been a fire…’

Though he was yelling at his men now, he’d recently been scolded by someone higher up.

His boss, who ran things in Parel, took the recent events very seriously.

Accidental fires were common in this town. If it had spread further, they could’ve chalked it up to bad luck.

The issue was that the sudden rain had put it out early.

Even worse, a stranger had appeared at the scene, and the notoriously rude Calisa had shown up to lecture them.

“Ungrateful brat!”

Upon hearing the report, the boss had slammed his desk in fury.

“They say some foreign punks were snooping around Calisa—but to think it would come to this!”

It was a bit of a leap, but he quickly turned his suspicion into conviction.

Unlike the Empire, where nobles and restricted mage officers handled most combat, places like Inel still relied on magic to offset their weaker armies—and used mages for espionage too.

“So only our warehouse burned and then rain put it out? That’s practically magic…”

He believed those with Calisa were foreign mages.

Naturally, he assumed they were behind the fire.

Thus, he ordered Calisa and her so-called gang—whether they really existed or not—to be captured. The man in charge of the warehouse had no choice but to send his people out after getting chewed out.

But they failed to catch Calisa and instead brought back someone who seemed completely unrelated. Lazy to keep looking and unwilling to return empty-handed, they’d just grabbed anyone.

‘And quite a troublesome one at that.’

Unlike his clueless henchmen, the man had a good eye. From Erna’s smooth hair and clean hands, he quickly realized she’d been raised in a privileged environment.

‘Too frail to be part of Inel’s team… but her clothes are weird for a noble daughter.’

Since he couldn’t do anything about Calisa for now, he decided to deal with Erna first.

‘Some nobles have that weird hobby of dressing in shabby clothes…’

The man spoke as gently as he could.

“So, what were you doing there?”

Noticing her troubled look, Erna straightened her posture. Though afraid and intimidated, she didn’t want to seem pitiful.

‘I don’t know the details… but he seems reluctant to touch me.’

With them fighting among themselves, she had gotten a decent read on the situation.

‘They’re not planning to hurt me—yet.’

She mimicked her sister’s posture, who always said confidence was key.

“You’re the rude ones. You stormed into a clinic and dragged me here without warning.”

Erna didn’t waste energy coming up with excuses.