Reasons to Protect the Witch's Son

“Of course, not in one piece though.”

After saying that, Drayton pressed the button with a delighted expression on his face.

‘Now that I think about it, if the bomb explodes, will there even be any pieces left to give back? Well, in that case, Ash’s expression would be even better.’

He smiled triumphantly, anticipating the explosion that would soon follow.

“…”

“…”

However, as time passed, the night remained quiet. There was no sound of an explosion anywhere.

”What’s going on?”

Confused, Drayton pressed the switch again with a puzzled look on his face.

Click, click, click

He then pressed the switch repeatedly, but nothing happened. Let alone an explosion, there wasn’t even the sound of anyone breathing nearby.

“Is there something wrong?”

When he raised his head, he found Ash standing there looking right at him. Drayton gritted his teeth.

“Shut up, I have no problem killing you!”

He then threw the switch and drew his sword, lunging at Ash. He wasn’t sure why the switch wasn’t working, but his real target was Ash anyway.

At that moment, Drayton swung his sword directly toward Ash.

Clang!

Drayton’s broken blade flew through the air. The blade fell loudly to the ground as Drayton and his mercenaries opened their eyes wide in shock at the unbelievable sight. Ash, who had already cut off his chains, was standing there with his right hand extended.

“How!”

“The restraints were weaker than I thought.”

Ash tilted his head slightly as they looked at him wide eyed.

“If you wanted to catch me, you should have prepared something stronger.”

Unbelievable. It was a restraint meant for a powerful demon. How could he escape so easily?

He was a monster. However, instead of being flustered, Drayton recalled the ace he  had up his sleeve and regained his wicked smile.

“Wouldn’t it be awkward if we kept going on like this? Did you forget that we still have the hostage in our hands? We can kill him right now-“

“We’ve already found the hostage.”

“What?”

About to retort, Drayton realized there was something wrong when he met Ash’s eyes. Ash had felt the vibration of the signaling device in his pocket just before Drayton had pressed the switch. It had vibrated twice shortly. It was the signal that the hostage had been found and the bomb had been safely removed.

Additionally, the restraints they had used to bind him were not enough to seal his enormous mana. The door that had barely been shut with the restraints was easily blown open again with a slight amount of force.

Until now, he had deliberately allowed himself to be captured. Now that he knew the hostage was safe, he no longer needed to indulge them any longer. Ash raised his brow coolly. Drayton, who sensed something was wrong, cursed and shouted frantically.

“Damn it, get him!”

With that as their signal, dozens of mercenaries rushed toward Ash. He was greatly outnumbered. It seemed to be an unfavorable fight. Numerous blades were aimed in his direction.

“Ahhh!”

“Wahh!”

“Cough!”

But, none of them were able to reach him. The moment his purple mana cut through the air, many of the mercenaries fell in an instant. Ash picked up the sword he had dropped before and sung it with an expressionless face.

Every time his sword made a pass, the mercenaries fell helplessly. There was an overwhelming gap in their skills. Originally, it was a fight against an opponent who was not a match. One person was wiping out dozens of well-trained men in an instant.

Witnessing this, Drayton urgently turned his head backward. He saw mercenaries with frightened faces near the iron bars. Shouting he pointed to the people in the cage with a face distorted in rage.

“What are you idiots doing?! Use them as hostages!”

The mercenaries quickly came to their senses and hurriedly followed his orders. They were just about to open the cage doors.

Click!

The mercenaries were knocked to the ground by a dagger that had come out of nowhere. Then a woman appeared, pulling the dagger from the back of the fallen mercenary.

“I’m sorry I’m late, Sir.”

Hilaire, who had appeared leading a group of knights, briefly greeted Ash. She then turned her cold gaze to Drayton. Drayton’s expression changed to that of a cornered animal once he saw that they were surrounded from the front to the back.

How could it all end like this? He had finally gotten his chance for revenge! This can’t be the end.

“Aaaah!”

Suddenly, Drayton screamed in a desperate tone and rushed toward Ash, giving his final struggle. Something could be seen flashing in his right hand.

”Kraah!”

The next moment, Drayton was rolling around on the floor, clutching his wrist. Blood flowed out like a fountain from his cut wrist. In his severed hand, was a self-destruct type magic tool.

“Is this the end of your little joke?”

Ash asked indifferently, holding his blood-stained sword. As he walked toward Drayton, ho spoke softly. “Let me be the one to give you a gift this time.”

And following that, a horrendous scream rang out.

***

All over the hall you could hear the grans of the fallen mercenaries.

“Ugh…”

Ash shook his head as he looked at Drayton lying unconscious on the ground.

“After all the fuss he made, it turned out to be quite boring.”

Hilaire wiped the blood off her sword and nodded in agreement. She lowered her head heavily as she sheathed her sword.

“I apologize. We were discovered on my end.”

Immediately after being discovered, Hilaire and her group had been delayed while dealing with the mercenaries who had swarmed in their direction. In the process, when the man with the sword had been defeated, at that moment, the entire warehouse had flashed and an electric current surged through it.

Seeing the man who had turned to pitch black ash, she had realized what the trap was that was set up in the warehouse. After that, her and her men had overpowered the mercenaries and headed to where Ash was. Thanks to the loud noises the mercenaries had made as they chased him, they were able to find him quickly.

“There is no need to apologize. We wouldn’t have been able to keep it up for much longer anyway.”

Ash responded in a casual tone. Because the rescue was complicated and there was a delay in finding the hostage, they would have eventually been discovered by the other party.

“Rather than that, what about the signal that the hostage had been found?”

“I received the signal as well. I had thought it was a signal from you, Sir, but…”

Hilaire looked around, her words trailing off. Edwin was not there. If it wasn’t her knights who had sent the signal and it wasn’t him…

“Your Grace! Dame Hilaire!”

Hilaire reflexively turned around. She saw Elaine running from the other side of the hallway.

“Sister!”

The boy, who she had almost lost, who she had tried so hard to rescue, the most precious person to her in the world, was smiling widely at her.

“Edwin…”

At that moment, she heard a crumbling sound, as if something solid within her had collapsed.

Ah, is he really okay? Despite receiving the signal that he had been found, seeing him safe, gave her an indescribable feeling. Edwin hesitantly approached her when she stiffened.

“Uh,, sister… Oh!”

Hilaire ran over in an instant and embraced him tightly. The first words that she uttered were not asking whether he was okay or hat she was glad he was safe.

“I’m so sorry.”

It was very blunt, but it contained a lot of emotion. Edwin raised his head, eyes wide.

Because Hilaire had not handed over Ash, prioritizing her Lord, Edwin had to be in constant fear. It was possible he would never be able to see the world again. But Hilaire did not justify her actions. She just stared at him with a calm gaze that seemed ready to accept his resentment.

“It’s okay.”

Edwin let out a chuckle.

“Honestly, I was a bit resentful, but…”

“…”

“That is the attitude that I have always respected.”

As he said that, Edwin rested his forehead against Hilaire’s shoulder. But, she could feel something. A small, persistent tremor in the boy’s shoulder. Hilaire closed ger eyes and gently wrapped her arms around her younger brother.

***

The infiltration operation ended successfully, with Elaine rescuing Edwin Lister. Edwin, who had watched her disarm the bomb, was somewhat unsure. They said the mercenaries were exaggerating to scare him, there was no such thing as an automatic explosion function.

All the mercenaries, including Drayton, were imprisoned in the Count’s dungeon. In addition to the bomb, the magic tools used by the mercenaries were not something that they would be able to obtain on their own. The same for the trap installed in the warehouse.

After persistent questioning about who was behind this incident, Drayton finally muttered a few words.

‘A woman in a robe came… she said to get revenge and if I was successful, they would get me a new identity and let me live in luxury.’

However, he had no more information other than this. There was also nothing that could be gained from the other mercenaries. The people who had been locked up in the iron cage were first brought to the Count’s mansion where treatment began.

The people at the Count’s mansion were in a festive mood. In particular, Jackson, the butler, shed tears of joy as he hugged Edwin. While everyone else was so happy, Elaine alone was troubled.

“Oh my gosh! What happened to your face?!”

Elaine cried out in frustration as she looked at his face. It was a mess. One of his cheeks was swollen and red, blood seeped from his broken lip. This is what Drayton had done to him during the brief time he had been captured.

When Elaine had seen his face for the first time, she had immediately pulled out her sword and said she would crush Drayton, causing a small commotion. In order to interrogate him, he had to be alive, so everyone tried to stop her and she was barely held at bay.

“If we didn’t need to interrogate him, he would be…”

She muttered coolly, clutching the empty glass in her hand. There was then the sound of glass cracking.

But Ash was indifferent to what had happened to him.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“No big deal! What would we do if your pretty face gets scarred?”

“Pretty… What?”

Ash’s brows rose as she calmly pulled a chair over and sat down across from him.

“Anyway, it would be best to apply the medicine first.”

Then, she picked up the medicine on the table, opened the lid and scooped some out with her finger. She leaned over to apply the medicine to his face. He was startled by the sudden closeness and moved back.

“It’s fine. I can do it myself.”

“How are you going to do it without a mirror? I’ll do it as painlessly as possible.”

Hearing her soothing tone, Ash stopped pushing her away and his brow rose again.

“Who said I was scared of the pain… ah-“

Her fingertip touched his lips. He flinched involuntarily and held his breath.