Chapter 264.
I magically built a stone wall ahead to block Brown Mask’s escape.
"Where are you trying to run?”
Brown Mask momentarily flinched at my words. "I won"t be dragged to a place like a lab!"
I scratched the back of my head and sighed. "Well, aside from experiments and research jokes."
"Oh, was that a joke?" he asked in a relieved voice.
It wasn"t really a joke. It was just that the first priority was to send him to jail. I didn"t reveal my inner thoughts and spoke seriously, "Things have become crazy because of you. Kidnapping? Are you out of your mind?”
"That"s—"
According to the testimony of the servants and the Fairy Tribe delegation, the kidnapping was carried out by a crazy woman wearing a red mask. However, the words and actions of her colleague, Brown Mask, seemed to be quite rational. Of course, considering that he was a part of the kidnapping group, he probably wasn’t actually sane.
Brown Mask spoke sternly and solemnly, "But I couldn"t help it. It’s to prevent war!"
"What?!"
It was so ridiculous and my inner thoughts just popped out of my mouth as I thought he was out of his mind.
"What nonsense are you talking about? More like to start a war."
"What are you talking about? The empire is preparing for war! The alliance with the Fairy Tribe is for that!"
I was dumbfounded by Brown Mask. That lunatic seemed to be genuinely thinking that.
"It’s the opposite, you idiot! It"s not the empire that"s preparing for war, it"s the Hunter Tribe, their allies the Kingdom, and the Trade Union!"
"What did you say?!”
"The alliance with the Fairy Tribe right now is a foreign policy to prevent war! You guys breaking that has half-confirmed the war!"
I had also heard this information through Big Mama Information Agency, so the public couldn"t have known it.
"That, that can"t be!" Brown Mask was genuinely shocked.
"And! What kind of idiot would kidnap the most important VIP in a country to stop a war? No, before that, if you wanted to make excuses, you shouldn"t have tried to kill the envoys at the least!" I roared.
His pupils dilated greatly. "There, there were deaths...?”
There weren’t, but there was no need to tell him.
"Is the fact that there are dead people important right now? The relations.h.i.+p with the Fairy Tribe has already been shattered. If I hadn"t saved Khan, we"d be at full-scale war with the Fairy Tribe right now."
Actually, even now, there was no guarantee that there would be no war with the Fairy Tribe. For the empire, they had to prove that the kidnapping was not a self-made play by the empire.
However, even if the real kidnapper was captured and handed over, it was questionable whether the Great Khan of the Fairy Tribe would believe it. If it could be resolved this easily by handing over the kidnapper, there would be no such thing as a diplomatic war with foreign countries.
But luckily, Palamut was rescued without wounds and none of the envoys were killed. Now, the prime minister"s relations.h.i.+p with the Fairy Tribe would be determined by how he handled them.
"You, you are…!” Brown Mask was thrown into confusion.
I said with a sigh, "You know what? I hate war.”
In the event of a war, the draft order would be dropped again and I would have to wander around the field under Guild Director Glont. In other words, walking around the field was no different from being on overtime every day. Uncomfortable bed, seemingly daily night watch, an environment where it’s hard to properly bathe… Bad tasting military meals, having to constantly carry around a bulky gun and sword, and lastly having to manage supplies.
It"s h.e.l.l!
"So you need to be captured here for peace."
The kidnappers had to be handed over at the least for the prime minister to make excuses. Then he could somehow entice the Fairy Tribe to prevent a war.
I believe that the prime minister I know of would show that kind of ability. Of course, his stomach would be a mess, so I should send him some good stomach medicine through the Big Mama Information Agency.
Brown Mask shook his head and clenched his teeth. "I... I can"t trust the empire. Those who brutally slaughtered my friends and villagers are trying to stop a war? Don"t be ridiculous!"
"Slaughtered?!"
"I"m certainly in the wrong to be involved in the kidnapping. But I cannot be caught by you."
Brown Mask put his hands on the stone wall that I made and shot out mana.
Kw.a.n.g-!
It was a stone wall that was a meter thick, but a large hole was bored through it at once.
"Tell Khan of the Fairy Tribe that I"m sorry."
Brown Mask began escaping through the hole. I don"t know what"s going on with this guy, but I couldn"t let him get away. I couldn"t go into a h.e.l.l of overtime like this.
I quickly chased after him. "I asked where you think you"re going!"
I manipulated the ground with magic to create spears made of rock as big as the human body and attacked Brown Mask. My goal was to capture, so the tip of the spear was blunt.
Brown Mask avoided the spears that attacked suddenly from below in a flashy manner. And the ones that couldn"t be avoided were cut with his sword.
I blocked the front of Brown Mask, who got delayed avoiding my magic.
"Get out of the way!"
“I don’t want to.”
“Don"t regret it!”
Brown Mask sheathed his sword and attacked me with his fist. It was a quick and accurate attack, but I lightly turned my upper body to avoid it.
But was he confronting barehanded because he thought I didn"t have anything in my hand?
I don"t know if it"s arrogance or stupidity. Based on his words and actions, it was probably the latter.
"It"s been a long time since I fought bare-handed."
It didn"t seem bad to have a bare-handed fight for once. No, it was rather good. If I used my sword and he died suddenly, I wouldn"t be able to glean the secret of my aphrodisiac.
I grabbed Brown Mask’s outstretched arm and at the same time, moved forward, grabbed him by the collar, and hurled him. Losing his balance, he twisted his body to disbalance me, wrapped me with his inside leg, and wrapped my neck with his arms.
“Pa.s.s out for a moment!”
“Heup!”
As expected, he had a great fighting sense. In no time, it went from grappling to a back choke. His power was strong enough to match that of my eldest brother. However, his form was not perfect because one of his arms was held by me.
As my body had developed, I was confident in my strength. I put strength on my leg that wasn’t caught by his inside leg and jumped right up.
"Oh!" exclaimed the fl.u.s.tered Brown Mask.
I turned in the air, turned him toward the ground, and pressed down.
"Kuok!"
Having turned the tables, the arm that was wrapped around my neck lost strength. I hit away his arm and put an armbar on the arm I was holding.[1]
Crunch!
I was going to twist and break his arm, but he raised his arm with me attached to it.
What a monster to lift me up while in an armbar!
"Uaahap!"
Then he slammed me towards the ground with a strong aura, but I let go of the armbar and escaped being crushed into the ground.
Kw.a.n.g-!
Brown Mask hit the ground so hard that the surrounding land was smashed and the area shook as if it were an earthquake. It was so powerful that I wondered if he was some battle race.
I swatted away the rocks that flew from where he hit the ground while quickly charging towards him and launching a jab.
Brown Mask lowered his head to avoid my fist, came closer, and hit me with a hook aiming for my chin. I pulled my head back to dodge the hook and jumped up and tried to catch his arm in an armbar in mid-air. But before I could wrap his arms with my legs, he swung his arm wide as if to shake me off and sent me flying.
"Ootcha!"
I flipped in the air and landed.
"Whoah, that was dangerous. I thought you were a striker since you tried to elbow me in the temple, but it seems like you"re a great grappler." Brown Mask stuck his tongue out and shook his arm in pain from when I twisted it.
I said with a smirk. "Well, when I learned to fight barehanded, I was too young and lacked strength."
Of course, I was superior in muscle strength compared to my peers, but I was lacking a lot compared to my older brothers who were already fully grown. My brothers were not the type to go easy because I was weaker, so I naturally learned grappling.
"Haha, I don"t think that’s the case now. A grappler with superhuman strength sounds terrible. My limbs won’t be fine, the moment I let my guard down."
Despite saying so, he smiled as if he liked it. Based on his aura, it seemed like he gave up on running away and was trying to subdue me instead.
We both smiled, emitted a martial aura, and ran towards each other.
"Uwack!"
As we tried to exchange fists with each other, a giant, blood-stained wolf suddenly flew from far away and crashed into Brown Mask, and rolled on the ground.
"Ahahahaha! Will you be able to get revenge for your brother with only this much strength!"
With the familiar voice and martial aura, I looked in the direction the wolf flew from.
"Keuuk! b.l.o.o.d.y!!"
There stood Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y, smiling in ragged clothes that looked like it had been torn with claws, and covered in wounds. I did feel strong mana in the distance but turned out it was Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y fighting.
"Huh? That mask, are you perhaps Denburg?"
Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y talked to me, wiping the blood from the wound on his forehead.
For a moment, my heart was fluttering at the fact that I was wearing the Adventurerd’ Guild uniform, but luckily, it seems he didn"t recognize my outfit because of the mask.
Lucky!
I almost got caught in a difficult spot.
"Long time no see, Uncle."
"Yeah, I haven"t seen you since Asterium, so it"s been two years?"
Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y seemed excited as if it’d been a while since he had a proper fight. At that time, the wolf, who had rolled on the ground, put a strong aura on his claw and jumped at Uncle.
Kang!
"Aigoo!"
Uncle blocked the wolf"s claws with a sword.
"b.l.o.o.d.y! How dare you get distracted in front of me! Are you praying for me to kill you?!"
The wolf growled as if his pride had been hurt.
By the way, it was amazing that a wolf spoke. Was it a magically created chimera? Or a person of the Hunter Tribe?
Considering the green mane, if the wolf was of the Hunter Tribe, he could be one of the trio of brothers of the Hunter Tribe, Great Warriors of the Demon King subjugation party 120 years ago.
Then Brown Mask shouted and asked, "Capricorn! Is it true that this kidnapping is not to prevent war, but to start a war?”
"I don"t have time to deal with you right now!"
The wolf, called Capricorn, let out killing intent and attacked Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y who skillfully received it.
"I need to hear it now!"
Taurus emitted a martial aura and got between the wolf and Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y.
"Hey! You"re interrupting Taurus!"
The wolf swung his claws at Brown Mask and Uncle b.l.o.o.d.y smiled wide.
"What? Internal conflict?”
Then he cut at the wolf’s neck with his full strength.
1. Armbar is a grappling technique.