Assault

Several hours later, Allen was busy polishing silverware.

During this time in the day, he did not have any particular duties to fulfill, so he normally went around lending a hand to other servants who needed help.

At times, he would help cook, tend the garden, do the laundry, and so on and so forth. He was, in short, a jack-of-all-trades. And today, he just happened to be taking a cloth to the silverware used by the Baron's family.

'But still, "shared management"? That's a nice name to put on what's definitely going to be trouble.'

The contract from earlier was still on his mind. "Shared management." "Peaceful resolution." "Equal distribution." With so many empty platitudes that sounded so morally upright, Allen worried how the Baron would be able to turn down this "proposal." If he did so, he could end up being accused of trying to monopolize the mithril market. Allen did not have the faintest idea what the Baron could do even if he went to the capital.

Suddenly, a scream rang out from the floor above, jolting Allen from his thoughts.

CRAAAAASH!

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

The sound of glass smashing was immediately followed by the sounds of struggle coming from the third floor. Allen hurriedly placed the silverware down and dashed up the stairs from the first floor.

Everything was so sudden that he had no clue what was going on. It was not Cecil who had screamed, meaning it was likely one of the maidservants.

Soon, Sebas and other servants came into view. Allen rushed past, taking care not to bump into anyone.

When he came out the other side of the crowd, the first thing that he saw was a quivering maidservant standing frozen in the hallway and a gentleman-in-waiting crumpled on the floor, the angle of his body indicating that he had been sent flying out of Cecil's room.

There was a crater in the wall where he had presumably crashed against it. He was on the verge of death, bleeding profusely from his stomach.

'The assailants came in through the window?!'

Allen stepped past the frozen maidservant and rushed into Cecil's room, finding her window gone along with a large portion of the wall. Clearly, the assailants had forcibly blasted their way in.

There were three of them, all wearing leather armor for ease of movement. At first, Allen thought they were adventurers, but then gathered from their vibe that they were more likely hoodlums or robbers. Whatever they were, they sure weren't knights.

One of the men was carrying Cecil tucked under his armpit. As soon as he saw this, Allen knew what he needed to do. He grabbed his mithril sword from Storage and rushed at the man. But one of the other intruders, this one big and muscular, blocked the thrust with his greatsword.

"What the hell's up with this damn brat?!"

Allen continued unleashing a barrage of attacks, but the man managed to parry them all, swearing the entire time.

'Shit! What's with this guy?! He's really strong! I need to change out my cards! Oh, and...'

After the first two clashes, Allen could already tell that his opponent was no pushover. He carefully observed the other two as well, worried that they were equally as skilled. Currently, thirty of Allen's fifty holders were occupied with Fish D cards.

While continuing the sword fight, he fetched a Crop of Magic from Storage and used it to restore his MP, as he had converted everything he had into Skill XP earlier on.

After this, he sent away his grimoire and briefly turned around to call it back out directly over the gentleman-in-waiting, page down. A Leaf of Life fell out, fluttering until it landed on the man's body.

Once he had confirmed with his eyes that the servant was fully healed, Allen whirled around once more. This opponent was far too powerful for Allen to keep his back turned for too long. While he maintained his onslaught, the grimoire floating in midair flipped its pages furiously as cards were Deleted and Created at a blistering rate. Allen felt power welling up inside as his stats climbed higher and higher.

"Hurry up and kill the brat already, Helgei!"

"I know, I know. Die already!" The man apparently did not expect to struggle so much against a child who appeared to be about ten years old. He grew increasingly frustrated as time dragged on.

Upon understanding the situation, Sebas had started shouting down the hallway, "Intruders! Intruder alert! All gentlemen, take up weapons! Someone, call the knights!"

At the same time, the Baron was also barking out orders, and all the gentleman-in-waiting who had not already rushed for their weapons after the maidservant's scream did so now. All of them pounded down the hallway, fast approaching Cecil's room.

"There are knights gathering in the garden! Helgei, that's enough! We got the target. Time to clear out."

"You're not getting away!"

The assailants seemed to have given up on defeating Allen, but Allen kept attacking in a furious bid to save Cecil from their clutches.

That moment, however, the assailant armed with a short sword took something out from a pouch on his waist and threw it hard against the ground. Smoke exploded throughout the destroyed room.

'Poison?!'

Allen tried to hold his breath, but his reaction had been a beat too late, and he managed to get a small whiff.

His consciousness faded to black, and he collapsed in place.

***

'...Where...am I? I...fainted? ...How long was I out?'

When Allen woke up, he first tried to remember what had happened.

'...Did the assailants kidnap me together with Cecil? Shit, that smoke probably paralyzed me or put me to sleep. I didn't have any precautions in place against status debuffs...

'Hm? I'm tied up?'

Upon regaining full control of his faculties, Allen gleaned that he had been abducted. Just in case his kidnappers were watching him, he kept his eyes closed and pretended that he was still unconscious as he checked his body.

Thankfully, he had no injuries or broken bones, but he did realize he could not move his arms and legs. Ropes dug into his skin, and his mouth was biting down on a gag. He had been thoroughly trussed up, much like a caterpillar.

'Is there anyone nearby?'

Allen concentrated his senses and picked up on several presences. Perhaps the kidnappers were still close by.

'I need to confirm Cecil's condition. Let's see what I can do.'

It was still a mystery whether Cecil was unharmed or not. However, if these men had planned on killing her, then they would have done so back at the mansion. Allen himself being kidnapped meant chances were that she had been as well. Checking up on her took priority.

'Robbers, you fucked up. No, I should really call this a stroke of luck instead. I would've been powerless if they had blindfolded me too.'

Although Allen could neither move his limbs nor speak, there was no pressure around his eyes, meaning that he could open his eyes to examine his surroundings.

Summoners had one huge weakness: their eyes. They had to visually specify the spawn location whenever calling out Summons. This was why it was impossible to Summon on the other side of obstacles. Naturally, it was also impossible to do so with eyes closed.

So Allen cracked his eyes just the slightest, barely enough that they still appeared closed.

'What is this place? A storage room?'

Several large wooden crates first came into sight. This appeared to be a rather sizable storeroom. Allen promptly Summoned out a Bird G on top of some boxes and Shared with it. The first order he gave the parrot was to not flap its wings.

'So far so good. It might raise suspicions if I get too many out, so just one more for a second perspective.'

The eyes of the two Bird Gs transmitted a group of men lounging around in seats. These were indeed the same three who had assaulted the mansion. Cecil quietly lay on the ground a slight distance behind Allen.

'Found her. Looks like she's okay.'

Through Bird G, Allen confirmed that Cecil was also bound and gagged. Her restraints proved that she should still be alive.

"What the hell?!"

'Shit, they spotted me!'

The pit of Allen's stomach plummeted as he thought the robbers had figured out he had regained consciousness and was surveilling them.

Through Bird G, he watched as a fourth man whom he did not recognize walked in. He had not been with the group that attacked the mansion. Appearing to be slightly over forty, with gaunt cheeks and belligerent eyes, the newcomer wore a similar outfit to the others but was surrounded by a markedly different air. He seemed like someone deeply involved with the criminal underworld.

One of the men in chairs sat up and said, "Dagrah, sir!"

"Hell's the meaning of this? We were supposed to nab one brat, so why're there two? This one looks like a servant or something."

'Oh, they didn't see my Summons.'

"Y-Yessir. He seemed to be really good with the sword despite being a kid, so I thought we could sell him as a slave for some pocket cha—OOF!"

Before the man could finish speaking, the fourth man had driven a fist into his side. The speaker was wearing leather armor, but it did nothing to soften the force of the blow.

"Listen closely, you pieces of shit. Don't do anything unnecessary. You heard it? I'm the leader for this mission, which means you do what I say. The next time you decide to get 'creative,' I will fucking end your pathetic lives. Capisce?!"

"Y-Yessir. Sorry, sir..." the man said through gritted teeth, clutching his side and propping himself up on the ground with both elbows.

After casting a glance over at the other two men who were acting as if nothing had happened, the gaunt man left the room. Apparently he had dropped by to confirm how the kidnapping had gone.

"...You okay there, Marcus?"

Once Dagrah was gone, the other two approached the man who had gotten punched.

"Ugh, yeah, I'm fine. Why the boss hired a hit man like that is beyond me. He's such a massive asshole," Marcus spat angrily.

"I was told he's insurance in case Zenof shows up."

"You serious?"

'Okay, I need to figure out where we are.'

Allen attempted to glean what information he could from the kidnappers through his Shared Bird Gs. It seemed like this was a storeroom in town, but there was no way to see outside as there were no windows.

Allen wanted to know where they were so he could figure out how he would escape with Cecil after getting away from their captors.

"You sure you okay, man?" Helgei asked. "You look like you're in pain."

"I'm good," Marcus replied, despite still holding his side and wincing.

"Shit, that bastard seriously pisses me off. He didn't break a rib, did he? Seriously, why the hell is he the leader?" Allen continued eavesdropping on the men's conversation while pretending he was still asleep.

"Not much we can do about it. Direct orders from the boss."

"He's all full of himself just cuz he survived a battlefield or two, Zenof countermeasure or not... Did you know? I heard he ran with his tail between his legs after just one year on the front lines. So why's he strutting about like he owns the goddamn place?"

"D-Dude, leave it at that. Someone told me Umbra said that to his face and got his head chopped off right then and there."

"For real?! No wonder I haven't seen Umbra around lately."

"Dead serious. Still, Zenof was supposed to have protected some fortress for a decade, right? Can Dagrah really beat him in a fight?"

"Probably? I mean, he may have protected the place for a decade, but did you hear what happened to it afterward?"

"Why do you know so much about that battle? All right, I'll bite. What happened to it?"

"After ten years, the place suddenly got attacked and fell—" Helgei snapped his fingers, "—just like that. Everyone inside got massacred. Those bastards aren't human. No idea how Zenof got away, but he sure is shameless being a high-and-mighty Knight Captain after all that."

"Damn, man. Having a sword-using Talent is good and all, but it sure ain't worth dying for."

"That's why a year, ten years, it makes no difference. Only idiots go to the battlefield."

'Battlefield? But Mr. Rickel was insistent that the kingdom isn't at war. So there really is a war going on?'

The discrepancy between what Rickel had said and what these abductors were saying did pique Allen's interest, but his highest priority at the moment was getting out of his current situation. He continued eavesdropping, hoping to gather more information.