Trap

"Now that you've received more land, we can do a lot more things," Illianna looked contemplative as she walked side by side with Sian.

"I'd rather not have to work anymore," Sian immediately denied Illianna's intentions in advance.

"Don't be lazy," Illianna complained. "You must think big, that's the only way you'll get richer."

"I'm already satisfied with what I have."

"That's what you say, but think with me, if you are richer and more influential than you are now, won't Ophilia and Emily be even more proud to be your family?"

"I don't think Ophilia is that shallow."

"She's not, but the people in general around are," Illianna argued astutely. "Sooner or later she'll be invited to noble ladies' tea parties and the like. Don't you think the more powerful you are, the more respected she'll be?"

Knowing that Illianna would keep bringing arguments until he accepted, Sian decided not to prolong the argumentation. "Fine, I get it, do as you wish. I can invest the money, but don't include me in the labor."

"That's great," Illianna showed a satisfied expression. "I must admit that girl has good business senses. She gifted you with a lot of land, probably with the hope that you would build more luxurious buildings to further enhance the town's value."

"Whatever," With a tired expression, Sian tilted his head back and observed the completely clear blue sky without a single cloud. "Do you already have plans for what to do?"

"A casino and a brothel."

"Brothel?!" Inadvertently, Sian's gaze fell on Illianna.

"Is it just me or have you suddenly become happier?" Illianna teased.

Clearing his throat, Sian said as he averted his gaze, "It's your imagination."

"Just advancing some things, it's not going to be low-class places that you usually go to. They will be high-class places, but I don't intend to start construction now. When I have more detailed planning, I'll explain it to you."

"That's great and all, but why do we have to skip midday rest again?" Sian complained as they walked past the entrance to the hotel grounds.

"Since the first floor will have a larger area than the other floors, we're spending a lot of time on it and now that you have more land, we have a lot to do," she replied. "So the quicker we complete the construction, the better."

"Then, let's get started right away," Sian said begrudgingly.

"Wait," Seeming to have realized something, Illianna looked around. "Now that I realize, those 3 still aren't here even though they're always so punctual."

"Now that you mention it, they still haven't come back after they left to do what I asked."

"Do you think something happened to them?"

"I don't know, but I can tell they're not dead, I can feel it through the contract. But whether they're here or not, makes no difference."

"I have to agree." Illianna looked at the group of golems who were madly breaking rocks with their hands. "They are very efficient and need no rest."

Even though Sian questioned the need to break the stones, according to Illianna, it was just a matter of efficiency when it came to using her unique skill.

***

"Your skill sure can use a lot of magic," Sian said as he stretched. "I'm exhausted."

"It's understandable," Illianna said as she refreshed herself with a glass of juice. "We've worked hard, look, it's almost late afternoon."

It was as Illianna had said, all afternoon they worked without a single rest break. But thanks to that, they finished the floor of the first floor and prepared the foundations of the hotel's features. Despite Sian's complaints, both of them worked tirelessly and even started the preparations for the second floor.

"Despite complaining that you're exhausted, you look completely normal," Illianna said as she looked Sian up and down.

"I am not speaking physically but mentally," he replied. "It is extremely tiring to deal with a magic I am not proficient with."

"If you can do that without having proficiency, I wonder what you could do if you did."

"I probably would have already lifted that hotel in one go," Sian said in a confident voice. "Enough talk, let's go back to the inn and rest for now."

"You're not going to look for those three?" Illianna asked. "I have a feeling something went wrong."

"I'll check where they are."

After using the master and slave contract to find out their location, Sian was surprised.

"They're in a forest outside the town."

"Are they trying to escape?"

"They wouldn't do that, if they tried, the contract would kill them."

"What do you intend to do?"

"Since I'm lazy, I'd like to leave them there, but I believe this has to do with the guy I sent them to find." With an expectant expression, he placed his hand on Illianna's shoulder. "Let's see what happened."

In the blink of an eye, the surrounding scenery had changed. Instead of the mound of soil they saw every day, they were surrounded by tall trees and sparse undergrowth.

"So this is what teleporting with space magic is like." Illianna looked impressed. "Why don't you use it more often?"

"I like to use only when necessary or when I'm feeling lazy." Saying that, Sian looked at the 3 who were gagged and tied to the thick trunk of a tree.

"From how deformed their faces are, they must have taken quite a beating," Illianna said apathetically.

Compared to their appearance before, currently, they were unrecognizable, their faces were swollen, noses were broken and eyes were purple. Their bodies are full of purple, bulky hematomas. Judging from the direction the leg of one of them was, it was certainly broken.

"Have you noticed?" Illianna asked suddenly as she looked over her shoulder at a place that apparently only had trees.

"Yep, it's a trap." Sian replied nonchalantly. "There are 2 guys hiding behind those trees. One of them is using the communication tool to talk to someone."

"What do you intend to do?" Illianna asked.

"Wait here, kill the guys who come, then I'm going to dinner." Sian untied the three who were moaning weakly and began to heal them.

"You want to avenge what they did to those three?"

"Why should I? I'm only doing this because I'm still angry about what happened in the morning. To make matters worse, they're unnecessarily wasting my time, which makes me even more angry and in the mood to hit someone."

"Your motives for killing people is so frivolous it gives me the creeps."

"What can I do? I'm used to it." Finished healing the injuries of the three, Sian continued. "So, how exactly did you guys end up like this?"

With frightened eyes, Bardock lowered his head and knelt down. "Excuse us, master, you have charged us with an important task-"

"I don't want your excuses," Gesturing with his hand, Sian interrupted him. "Just answer my question."

"Y-Yes!"

According to Bardock, they had found the guy they were looking for not long after they started their search. Doing as Sian had ordered, they gave the message and tried to pull a few strands of his hair, but they eventually got into a fight with the man.

Even being three of them, they were being beaten up by the guy. To make matters worse, 12 more people arrived and helped massacre them up. Unable to do anything to defend themselves, they tried to use Sian's name, but people just ignored it. After a big beating, the three of them fainted and were tied up here.

"After we woke up here, we found out that those 13 people were part of a famous group of mercenaries, they just recently arrived in town." Bardock looked at Carl and nodded. "Hand over to the master."

With trembling hands, Carl lifted a small lock of blond hair. "W-w-we-"

"I get it." Sian took the lock of hair and imbued magic into it.

"What are you doing?" Illianna asked.

"I was looking for a dead man." Sian turned to the entrance of Solaris which was not visible due to the trees. "But he is already coming here accompanied by 10 people. Putting them together with the 2 who are hiding, that's 13."

Smiling atrociously, Sian continued, "Looks like we're going to get the full troupe."

Reaching Sian's expectations, within minutes, they were face to face with the 13 mercenaries.

Some wore full-body plate armor with shields, others just small breastplates, and others wore cloaks. Something they all had in common was the silver moon stamped on the right side of their chest and the silver details.

"Since we just arrived in town, I planned to rest for the day and pay a visit tomorrow."

A blond man who acted like he was the leader of the mercenaries spoke up.

Judging by the scar on his nose, this was the man Sian was looking for, he looked to be in his early twenties.

With a smile wide enough to show his white teeth, the man continued with a dismissive tone.

"But since you are anxious, we came here to return the favor your minions went to do us."

Among the mercenaries, he was the only one who didn't have the silver moon stamped on his iron breastplate.

"I suppose you were the fellow who dared to offend my daughter, right?" Sian looked at him with indifference.

"So you were father to that filthy creature?" The man sneered. "It seems there are many filthy humans in our kingdom."

In a single instant, without the surrounding people understanding what happened, the distance between Sian and the blond man was reduced to the point where they were inches away from each other.

While that in itself was an amazing feat, what perplexed everyone was the fact that now, there was a spear wedged laterally into the man's neck.

Watching the agonizing man as he tried to seek for air, Sian's lips curved back in a contemptuous smile.

"I dare you to repeat what you just said."