Chapter 159

Sometimes, in crime movies or dramas, you see scenes like this—

They set up a gloomy atmosphere, shooting in locations that are already dreary and making them feel even more depressing.

Construction sites, docks, empty lots, dark forests, or abandoned buildings—

Only bleak and unsettling places appear, making even the viewers feel down just watching them.

Well, I get it.

The subject is crime, so they can’t exactly film in bright, cheerful locations.

After all, crime isn’t something you can commit openly and proudly.

But still—

‘If it’s done openly and proudly, wouldn’t it stop being a crime?’

If you’re confident in yourself and have no shame even if others see what you’re doing, then it’s no longer a crime.

So—

“There’s no need to hide. We just have to be in a bright place, standing tall.”

“……”

“Don’t you think so?”

“……”

“This guy… Not answering, huh?”

Ihan clicked his tongue, scolding the mage for having such a bad attitude.

An adult asked a question, and he didn’t even bother to answer.

“I heard the cake here is good?”

“It’s amazing how times have changed. Who would’ve thought a café for commoners would pop up?”

“I heard the owner is some black-haired noble. Could it be…?”

“No way. There’s no way it’s that person. Hoho!”

A dessert café—

One of the most popular spots in the capital these days, famous for offering affordable desserts and coffee that even commoners could enjoy freely.

Most of the customers were women, but there were enough men sprinkled in to prove that the allure of sweets wasn’t limited by gender.

So, it wasn’t particularly strange for a bulky knight to be sitting there.

“Excuse me, would you like to order?”

“One fruit crepe cake and a milk tea, please.”

“And for the gentleman sitting across from you—?”

“Just a cup of coffee. Oh, and he likes his coffee iced, so make sure to add a ton of ice.”

“Ah, I see….”

The waitress glanced coldly at the blond man sitting in front of Ihan.

She muttered to herself, “He looks refined, but his taste is awful.”

As if putting ice in coffee was some kind of unforgivable sin.

“!?!!”

But the blond man looked utterly wronged.

He didn’t have any strange preferences for iced coffee.

Yet here he was, misunderstood, unable to explain himself.

The blond man—Huey de Beiron—clutched his chest in frustration.

Why did he have to be misunderstood like this?

Why couldn’t he even correct the misunderstanding?

Unfortunately—

“Mm…”

He couldn’t open his mouth.

He couldn’t even move a finger.

The most he could do was roll his eyes.

Huey’s body had been completely immobilized.

…Against his will.

He shot a resentful glare at the knight who had stripped him of his freedom.

But the knight—

“Oh, look at all the fruit in this cake! This place is pretty great.”

—was too busy celebrating his discovery of what might become his new favorite café.

*****

It had been a full 17 hours since Huey de Beiron was kidnapped.

Given his status as a noble guest of the kingdom, countless soldiers must have been dispatched to find him. The mages from the Magic Tower were likely scrambling to track him down as well.

And yet, after 17 hours, he was still held captive.

What made it even stranger—

Slurp.

“It’s been a while. Iced coffee really hits the spot.”

“……”

“What? You want some too?”

“……”

“Why aren’t you saying anything, huh?”

“!?!”

The fact that Ihan was sitting so openly in a café and still hadn’t been found—now that was an unexpected twist.

Maybe it was because he already knew the answer.

“How come no one’s even trying to rescue you? Honestly, I thought I’d run into at least one or two of your mage buddies, but nope. Seems like they’re all just relaxing back at the palace. Well, I guess it’s not surprising—mages have always been trash when it comes to loyalty.”

“Mmpph!”

Ihan mocked him, and the blond mage flared with indignation.

But the humiliation of being unable to refute Ihan’s words seemed to sting even more. Huey’s face turned bright red.

What shamed him wasn’t being called a “mage” in a mocking tone, but the fact that his title as the Magic Tower’s top disciple clearly carried no real weight.

Not that Ihan found any of it surprising.

The Magic Tower—the so-called gathering of mages—wasn’t exactly known for camaraderie.

“I’ve captured enough mages to know how they operate.”

Back when Ihan had practically been a “mage hunter,” he occasionally saw mages traveling in groups. But he’d never encountered any with proper teamwork.

Their overwhelming selfishness—

Their obsession with research and personal interests—

Mages were essentially just maladjusted loners.

‘They’re like group project teammates from hell.’

And the kind made up entirely of freeloaders.

So Ihan had already anticipated that kidnapping this guy wouldn’t cause any major problems.

All he had to do was avoid the soldiers, and he could enjoy sitting openly in a café like this.

…Though part of his confidence probably came from believing there was nothing wrong with kidnapping a blond mage in the first place.

Anyway—

“I’m telling you, we could stay out in the open like this for two days or even a week, and nothing would happen. It’s not just because the soldiers are incompetent—I’ve also got some guild contacts helping cover our tracks. If I wanted, I could keep you ‘missing’ forever.

“So how about it? Ready to start answering my questions?”

“……”

“Greg Vinn. You know where that bastard is, don’t you? Come on, Blondie.”

“!”

“And just so you know, if you don’t talk today, I’ll have no choice but to get rough with you. So let’s wrap this up nicely while I’m still being polite.”

Crack.

“Seriously, what’s the point of talking to a mage? I should’ve known better.”

Ihan grumbled to himself.

Talking was meant for people—not spell-slingers.

Still—

“Mmpph!”

‘You crazy bastard, how am I supposed to talk if you won’t even let me?!’

Sealed shut for 17 hours, Huey’s frustration reached its peak.

He wanted nothing more than to scream—

Let me talk, dammit!

…He was on the verge of losing his mind.

.

.

Currently, Ihan had locked Huey’s body using one of his martial techniques.

Technically speaking, it was similar to [Pressure Point Sealing].

It completely immobilized Huey’s hands, feet, and even the muscles controlling his mouth, leaving him helpless.

From Ihan’s perspective, it was an obvious precaution.

For mages, their tongues and hand movements were as deadly as swords.

Allowing Huey to speak would be giving him a chance to attack, so Ihan had no intention of loosening the seal.

That meant a lack of communication was something he just had to deal with.

However—

“I told you, you can blink or give me some other signal, but you keep trying to talk. What’s your deal?”

“Mmpph!”

“Damn, you’re stubborn.”

Ihan knew the mage wasn’t cooperating simply because he couldn’t open his mouth.

This was just defiance.

Whether it was pride or just poor judgment, it didn’t matter.

…One might ask why Ihan didn’t just torture him.

‘Mages always mix 50% truth, 30% lies, and 20% nonsense.’

As someone who had hunted more mages than he cared to count, Ihan knew—

Torturing a mage wasn’t effective.

You could make them suffer, sure, but trusting their words afterward? Impossible.

That’s why the only way to get the truth—

Was to make them speak voluntarily.

Otherwise, he’d never be able to trust what came out of their mouths.

But still—

‘Time keeps ticking away.’

Precious time was slipping by, and he couldn’t afford to keep dragging things out in a stalemate.

Sure, he could march in and directly take down the Sultan to find the rogue mage.

But if the rogue mage went into hiding, that would be a whole new headache.

That’s why he needed this guy’s cooperation.

Because this guy—

‘He definitely knows something.’

Ihan was sure that Blondie knew about the rogue mage.

It wasn’t just a hunch.

As someone who had hunted more mages over the past hundred years than anyone else, his judgment was backed by experience and knowledge.

So—

‘…No choice, then.’

It might be a bit exhausting, but Ihan decided it was time to get a definitive answer out of him.

By speaking directly to Blondie’s body.

“You’re probably thinking something like this—‘Why the hell did this lunatic kidnap me and start asking about a rogue mage out of nowhere?’”

“!”

“And maybe something like this too—‘Even if he’s looking for a rogue mage, shouldn’t he be politely asking for cooperation instead of pulling this crap?’”

“…???”

“Judging by your face, I nailed it.”

The guy looked dumbfounded.

Like he was asking, ‘If you know that, why are you treating me like this?’

“Well, let me explain why I’m treating you like this. We’ll need to go back about two years. That’s when I captured a mage named Kristin—a rogue mage infamous for human experimentation.”

“!!”

Huey’s eyes widened in shock.

Kristin, the master of lightning magic.

His name was well-known even in the Magic Tower.

Once upon a time—

“That bastard told me something interesting. He claimed he used to be part of the Magic Tower.”

“──.”

“And then he said something really funny—‘Even if mages get expelled from the Tower, all their movements and actions are still reported back to the Tower.’”

“……”

“…I see. So that bastard was telling the truth after all.”

“!!”

For a brief moment, Huey de Beiron felt chills crawl down his spine.

He hadn’t said a single word—

Yet this lunatic knight was talking as if they’d had a full-blown conversation.

‘…How?’

He couldn’t make sense of it.

Confronted by this unknown terror, the mage trembled.

‘Ugh, my head hurts.’

Meanwhile, Ihan’s actions weren’t as complicated as they seemed.

Not to him, at least.

‘Reading heartbeats and muscle contractions all at once is a pain.’

All he was doing was mimicking a lie detector.

…Granted, it was a skill that only he could pull off.