HIFH | Chapter 11

Episode 11

Themis was a young man.

However, with his graying hair, unkempt beard, and wrinkled shirt, he seemed like someone who had little interest in self-care.

Someone who looks like a vagrant knows information about a sacred relic?

It was hard to believe, but both the Guardian and Catacle had confirmed the information.

So, I had to meet Themis and talk to him first.

Of course, he won’t tell the truth right away.

But there were many ways to make him open his mouth.

I quickened my pace, thinking about the daggers strapped to my thighs and the musket at my side.

The marquis’s garden was connected to a forest, and Themis was heading in that direction.

As if he were looking for a secluded place.

I kept my distance and hid behind a wall.

If he was meeting someone, I needed to confirm who it was.

Shhh.

I held my breath and leaned against the wall.

Then—

“You were here?”

Lu peeked out from right beside me.

I had planned to get information from Themis before Lu did.

Why did he get here so fast?

I was a bit startled, but I deliberately acted nonchalant.

“You’re late.”

As if I had expected Lu to follow me all along.

“The Marquess got involved and held me back, so I had no choice.”

“I can greet her later, right?”

“Yes. I made up a reasonable excuse, so it should be fine.”

Lu responded while observing Themis.

Themis was pacing between the garden and the forest path with his hands clasped behind his back.

As if he were waiting for someone.

“Does he have an appointment?”

“If he didn’t, there’d be no reason for him to come to such a secluded place.”

“Hmm. Who could he be meeting?”

Exactly. I was curious too. And I wanted to be the only one who knew.

Damn. Just as I pouted—

“…Huh?”

The breeze that brushed past my nose felt strangely eerie.

A tense, unsettling air lingered.

I had felt this kind of atmosphere before.

The air that had been created when a sniper’s bullet pierced through Esmeralda’s body in the past.

This was unmistakable.

“Watch out!”

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

And at the same time, Themis collapsed.

“Ah, damn it!”

I hurriedly ran toward Themis, but another gunshot rang out even faster.

Bang!

Fortunately, it missed Themis’s body.

Swoosh!

Sliding in front of Themis, I quickly examined him.

“Ugh… Ugh… It hurts! It hurts!”

Whew, thank goodness.

It was just a shoulder wound. If I stopped the bleeding, it wouldn’t be a serious problem.

“It hurts! Bring medicine, now!”

“This little thing and you’re whining? Just stay still.”

I grabbed Themis’s uninjured arm and propped him up.

“Lu!”

Before I could even finish shouting, Lu aimed his pistol into the air.

Bang! Bang!

Firing warning shots, he gave instructions.

“Protect Themis first!”

Didn’t need to say it—I was already doing that.

To escape the sniper’s line of sight, we had to move while staying behind cover.

But this was a garden.

There was nowhere to properly hide.

That left only one option…

The forest.

Supporting Themis, I fled into the trees.

All the while, Themis kept grumbling.

“It hurts… It hurts so much…”

What a wimp.

Back in my prime, I’d kept moving even with bullets lodged in my body.

“Just bear with it. Once we’re hidden, I’ll stop the bleeding.”

At that, Themis’s half-lidded eyes lifted slightly.

“Who… are you?”

“Not your concern.”

Brushing off his question, I kept moving.

After entering the forest a bit, I found a suitable spot to take cover.

I leaned Themis against a rock and tore his shirt apart.

‘In times like this… don’t they usually rip a dress?’

“Oh. This was a new shirt.”

Why waste my clothes when he had his?

“This is going to hurt.”

“Arghhh!”

Pressing down on his shoulder to stop the bleeding, I wrapped the wound with the torn fabric.

“It hurts too much!”

Themis thrashed, but I ignored him. Keeping him alive was the priority.

Whew.

Once I finished stopping the bleeding, I examined his body again. No other injuries.

“So.”

Listening to his gradually calming breaths, I asked,

“Who was it?”

“W-What?”

“Tell me who attacked you.”

Pale-faced, Themis shook his head.

“I don’t know… How would I know that…?”

He looked like he was in shock.

Well, he had nearly died just now.

Not that I cared.

“Then who were you supposed to meet here?”

Only then did Themis’s hollow eyes land on me.

“Why… should I tell you?”

Oh?

I twisted my lips into a smirk.

Then, I stomped on the sitting Themis.

“Argh!”

“Do you not realize that your life is in my hands?”

“T-That…!”

Themis bit his lower lip anxiously.

“If you want to die, keep your mouth shut. It’d be easier for me to just kill you.”

To seal the deal, I rested my finger on the trigger of my gun.

Of course, it was a bluff. I didn’t kill people.

But Themis wouldn’t know that.

“Ahh! Wait! Wait! I’ll talk!”

Themis had likely never been threatened like this before—he gave in almost immediately.

Good.

“I—I was supposed to meet a Catacle agent.”

He spoke in a halting manner.

He knows about Catacle’s existence? My expression hardened instinctively.

“C-Catacle is… a secret organization of the Empire… His Highness the Crown Prince introduced me to them… S-So that’s why I arranged a meeting.”

The Crown Prince let that slip?

What a fool.

I pressed further.

“Why were you trying to meet them?”

Themis swallowed dryly before slowly answering.

“To… to discuss the distribution channels of modified aura…”

“Modified aura?”

I narrowed my eyes.

“Y-Yeah. It’s something like an aphrodisiac… But anyway, I—I’m not involved. I just needed to discuss it first.”

Catacle was trying to distribute aphrodisiacs?

That wouldn’t benefit the Empire in any way… Why?

“I—I’ve told you everything! You can’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

Themis trembled as he screamed.

If Lu found out about this, he would recognize Catacle’s existence and begin hunting them down.

That meant Themis—who held this information—should be silenced.

However—

“I won’t kill you.”

More precisely, I can’t.

I can’t take a life.

I can’t bring myself to kill.

Thinking that, I withdrew my gun from him and lifted my foot off his body.

Then—

Bang!

A short gunshot echoed, and Themis collapsed.

I stared blankly at him, fallen like a marionette with its strings cut, before quickly turning my head.

“…Lu?”

Had Lu followed and overheard everything?

But—

“Oh dear, Charles.”

The one who appeared was not Lu.

“Mistaking me for a mere lapdog of the Holy Kingdom?”

He was—

“Why do you insist on angering me?”

Adrian.

The son of the leader and the second-in-command of Catacle.

He had arrived.