3.7.

The holy knight in front of the group paused. He told Sequencee to hold her still as they approached her to remove the poison. He took off her veil to reveal her beautiful face, but he didn't think much of it and proceeded to force his fingers into her mouth.

'The hell?'

It looked quite lewd, with the cardinal looking at him with upturned eyes, tears beginning to condense at the edges.

And as their eyes met for a short moment. Her golden eyes glowed slightly.

The holy knight's movement choked for a moment. He retracted his fingers, finding no hidden poison inside.

He turned around and stared sternly at Sequencee.

"Sir Mage, release her."

"What? Sir Procto, if we do that it would.." The female knight questioned his reasoning.

"Release her–"

"Something isn't right."

"Come on now, kill them," the cardinal chuckled.

Her voice was the trigger that led to the beginning of friendly fire.

Sequencee restrained him in ice an once. He also shrouded the cardinal's face with a layer of thick mist.

Almost at the same time a commotion was happening behind them. The sounds of blood splattering and a scream of denial.

"For the cardinal!" the swordsman mercenary screamed out, having just slashed the party mage.

"Oi! Yousuff you bitch!!"

The mercenaries began to clash.

Crick– crack.

The ice encasing the male holy knight began to crack.

"This is a bummer.. what do we do.." Sequencee noticed how the cardinal had disappeared from the ice.

She could've escaped into the shadows all along.

"Thank you~" the cardinal's sweet voice rang out.

"Bye bye mister."

"Be careful mister!"

Disarrayed by the turning of their friend, the party had allowed the kids to go free.

The female holy knight drew her sword and hacked at Sequencee. A double barrier was formed to intercept her attack.

'What the hell–'

From the light remaining in her eyes, Sequencee though this knight wasn't being controlled. So why was she attacking him?

"Traitor!"

"You got it damn wrong!"

Shouts and the clashing of metal continue to echo as crackling grew louder until–

BOOOM!!

The ice incapacitating the male holy knight exploded. The shard fragment hit both Sequencee and the female knight. He swung his sword straight at her.

"Sir Procto?!"

She quickly shifted her focus and parried his attack.

Sequencee quickly froze up a portion of his leg– just to realize he had adjusted himself with a layer of antimagic.

"Sir Procto! What are you doing!"

"For the cardinal!"

The battle at the side of the mercenaries had just come to an end. The two remaining member of the party manage to knock out the one swordsman who injured their mage.

"Uh?!" the female knight tripped on the ledge.

Sequencee formulated a water cohesion spell and carried her to the walkway at the opposite side.

"Procto!" one of the mercenaries shouted, catching his attention.

[Unique Skill: Lullaby Needle]

Just then, a small object whizzed by, just about to hit his face when he swatted it away with his metal gloves. His hazy eyes could be seen from the dim glow of the light orbs around.

Just then, Seqeucneee transmuted a portion of the ground to restrain him. Unlike ice which was conjured directly using magic, a restraint molded from surrounding materials was less likely to be affected by the coating of antimagic around himself.

Another small object whizzed by, the holy knight tried to break free but under Sequencee's full concentration, it was futile. The object managed to pierce somewhere between his lower chin and neck.

As he pushed for one final resistance, his muscles swelled as a red aura surrounded himself.

"GGRRRUUUAAAHH!!!"

[Activated Skill: Forged Invigoration]

An animalistic howl ruptured the air as the earth restraint was blown into fragments.

Ignoring Sequencee, Procto charged straight towards the mercenary who had fired the needle. He staggered backwards as the vanguard stood forward against Proto, ready to accept his strike when a large deformation of the wall occurred.

Procto was thrown into the water where Sequencee began to bend the water current to his will, creating a whirlpool.

"Fire again!" Sequencee shouted.

"On it.. keep him still!"

"AUUURGGG!!"

Struggling to keep himself afloat, Procto had barely any leeway to retaliate.

[Unique Skill: Lullaby Needle]

Another needle was fired which landed right on his forehead. Sequencee maintained the whirlpool long enough until the red glow around him subsided. The narcotic began to take effect as his movements slowed and finally stopped.

Just as he began to sink, Sequencee tossed him out of the water and pushed the caretaking responsibility to the female holy knight on the other side.

Sequencee then rushed towards the mage which had been hit by friendly fire earlier. A large gnash could be seen on his back, bleeding profusely.

"I'll do what I can," Sequencee took off his robe and clothes, causing him to scream out.

"H-Hey, you know how to heal?" the female mercenary who used the poison dart skill what-not questioned.

"A little."

'If I'm not careful he could be paralyzed for life. The spine was hit.'

"Can you knock him out?" Sequencee asked.

"Huh?"

"It'll hurt."

"O-Oh right. S-Sorry Karl."

"It's alright.." the mage replied weakly.

Exposing his back, Sequencee began by first healing the outer portion of the muscles to stop the bleeding. After which, he used ice to act as a temporary cork stop to where his spine was hit.

"We need to carry him to the hospital quickly."

Sequencee cut out the large chunk from the ground to form a floating slab which acted like an emergency bed.

"I'm sorry it happened. I didn't know that woman had a mind control ability," Sequencee said, turning to face the female holy knight supporting the other one.

"Then why was.. Yousuff affected.." the vanguard of the mercenary party clicked his tongue, carrying his mate on his back.

"I think it has to do with looking. I'm not sure about the particulars."

'It's probably the eyes. If you look at her eyes you'll turn loony..'

It reminded Sequencee of how Schwii's eyes would sometimes glow and made him aroused.

'Why wasn't I affected then..?'

"We're falling back," the female knight shouted from the other side.

"Roger that!"

===

"Beautiful display."

Reese stepped out of the shadow.

"Steadfast, quick witted, proficient.. how old is he really? Could he be a half-elf?"

"Cardinal, why did you let them go?" the girl asked, stepping out of the shadow together with the boy.

"Oh, that? I didn't want them to hurt you two precious little things," Reese tousled the girl's hair.

"Mister is really good at magic."

"You're right about that. It makes me curious really," she said, gazing towards the fading light.

The girl tugged at the cardinal's robe.

"I'm hungry."

"Me too," the boy rubbed his belly.

Reese chuckled.

"Alright. Let's go get some food.. call me Reese when I'm not cardinal okay?"

"Hm? You told us to not call you by your name though?" the boy tilted his head.

"Dunken," the girl slapped his hand.

"Mwu.. fine. Sister Reese."

"Good," the elder sister then patted the little brother's head.

"Really.. these kids are really brave aren't they?" Reese mumbled with a little smile on her face.

Along with the kids, they melted into the shadows.

===

"My deepest gratitudes and apologies."

Outside the hospital, the female holy knight, Lowar Twight lowered her head.

"It was a mistake of mine to judge you as an enemy without proper assessment."

"It's part of the work, right? A little more caution doesn't hurt."

"There is some truth in those words," Lowar closed her eyes. "It may be impervious to ask but do you perhaps recognize that woman?"

"No," Sequence denied. "She just approached me all of a sudden, and I just trapped her in ice. She was probably waiting for the moment when we regrouped to break free. I guess that's to be expected of a cardinal?"

Cardinals were supposed to be at the tippy top of the organization, so when the woman raised the white flag so easily, Sequencee thought it made no sense. Incidentally, a lot of the chaos could've been averted if only he were more perceptive. Staying at Mane's Home over the past three years had made his instincts dull. Who knew the veil covering her face was her way to stop herself from charming others with her gift.

"You weren't affected by the spell were you?" Lowar asked.

"I don't think so."

"I would be concerned if it was otherwise.."

She closed her eyes for a beat, the night breeze sent her hair fluttering.

"Sequencee. Are you affiliated with any organization?"

"No. I'm not affiliated, at the same time, I won't be accepting any invites any time soon. Sorry," Sequencee recalled how his mother would often reject invitations from private guilds.

"Shot down even before I had the chance huh? Well, I shall respect your wishes. I'll raise your evaluation for your performance. The report should be submitted by latest tomorrow afternoon. You can expect additional rewards as compensation," Lowar said.

"Thank you."

This quest was supposed to be an investigation mission, not a subjugation mission, so it didn't matter that the cardinal took the kids away. The fact that they went in and burned the cultist was merely an on-the-way extra. It was fortunate that the cultist group they faced wasn't too large.

Though, it does really beg the question of why a cardinal would be around.

Sequencee left the hospital district and headed to Dimitri Guild. The branch for this guild in Rika Nation had accommodations and amenities built into the building itself. Anna was once a mercenary of this guild, which was why Sequencee chose this among the many other guilds out there.

Sequencee walked through the open doors and was greeted by the wide reception foyer. He skipped past the lobby and headed to the tavern area. It was crowded with people, he took the corner seat of the bar.

"Order?" the bartender asked.

"Just water. I'm not a drinker."

"Mn.. alright."

"Your order sir?" It was also then that the waiter came and asked.

"What is today's special?"

"Fried piglin cutlets in seaweed rice."

"Then I'll have that," Sequencee said.

"That would be 50 G sir."

Sequencee took out five pieces of holy copper and passed it to the waiter.

"Thank you for the patronage."

'How nostalgic.'

Sequencee watched as the waiter bounced towards the cashier.

"Your drink."

One cup of water and one big jug of alcohol were pushed in front of him.

"Hm? I didn't order alcohol though.."

"He's paying," the bartender pointed at a person sitting two seats away with his thumb.

'I still don't drink though..'

Sequencee stared at the unknown alcoholic drink and then to the brawny guy whom the bartender referred to..

'Huh, wait that.. Sir Aaron?'

"Excuse me," Aaron got up from his spot and sat beside Sequencee.

"Why are you here?" Sequencee asked, surprised.

"I'd question how you never recognized me."

Aaron's statement did have a point. The adjacent seats around him were empty simply because most people didn't dare to carelessly approach an SS-rank mercenary like himself. The fact that Sequencee didn't take notice of this conveniently empty spot was rather unexpected. It helped save Aaron trouble to approach him if he had sat at some other place.

"Sorry. I was out of it, a little. I just came back from a mission."

"What kind of mission was it?"

Sequencee could feel the gazes on his back. Most people were wondering what a kid like him had to do with someone like Aaron.

"An investigation mission."

"Could I hear the details?"

"Well.. that would go against confidentiality wouldn't it?"

"Does such a thing exist to begin with? You're just reluctant."

"Yeah right. So the quest.."

Sequencee began narrating. Beginning from why he took the quest to the cardinal's escape.

"Are you sure you're alright? You don't feel like you're a blur? No lapse in memory or anything of that sort? People like these are quite dangerous."

"I feel fine, at least for now.." Sequencee glanced at the big jug of alcohol on the table and sighed again.

"What? You don't drink?"

"I don't like drinking?"

"What kind of son are you even?"

"Can we not go in that direction?" Sequencee groaned.

Sequencee's food came. There was a moment of respite from the conversation as he focused on completing his dinner. Aaron ordered small bites while he sipped on his nth jug of alcohol.

Voicing a refreshing sigh, he asked.

"Sequencee. I want you to tell me honestly, are you angry at them?"