Chapter 83. Expert of Secret Passages

"Eleven, twelve, thirteen."

Radel was counting the number of assassins he had dealt with outside.

The Black Fang guild members who came out were defeated by the group and fell unconscious.

At first, they came running out to put out the fire in the warehouse, only to be hit one by one and fall, and then they came out because they felt like they were suffocating from the smoke, only to be hit one by one and fall.

By Radel's count, the number of guild members they had caught was a total of thirteen.

'Excluding Tunia and the guild master, there are about five left.'

As Radel was gauging the remaining forces, an assassin, who seemed to have come from nowhere, rushed at him.

Although he was staggering slightly, perhaps due to inhaling the smoke, his attack was fierce, as befitting an assassin.

He shouted at Radel and swung his hidden weapon.

"Who are you!"

Clang!

As soon as the assassin rushed in, Gusto quickly drew his sword and faced him.

The Black Fang guild member, who was subdued in the blink of an eye, collapsed to the ground.

Thud!

'...I think it just went down to four.'

The Black Fang was said to take on only one request at a time.

Since Tunia was currently on a mission to assassinate Radel, there would be no other guild members on external missions.

At the point of knocking down fourteen people, it was as good as having dealt with most of their forces.

No matter how much he thought about it, setting the fire was a good idea.

The plan to set fire to the base came to him after hearing from Tunia that there were no magicians in the Black Fang.

Well, even if there had been a magician, they wouldn't have been able to handle Inette's ability, the 'Essence of Flame', unless they were a great talent.

'Essence of Flame' was the hottest flame in the world.

It was so powerful that it couldn't be dealt with by ordinary magic.

It was a matter of course that the defensive magic on the Black Fang's building was helplessly broken through in front of Inette's flame.

"Burn even more!"

Radel saw Inette, who was freely controlling the flames and going on a rampage.

"Ahahaha!"

Perhaps because she had been frustrated at not being able to use her ability to her heart's content, she was happily burning the building.

Radel wanted to leave Inette alone, but there was no time. And it seemed that by now, everyone who was going to come out from inside had come out.

"Inette, step back now. We need to put out the fire."

"What? Already?"

It was now time to go inside.

* * *

Radel examined the inside of the half-burnt warehouse.

He had wondered if there were any people who hadn't been able to get out of the building, but there was no one inside the warehouse.

There should have been four more, including the guild master, for the numbers to match.

"What about the people who haven't come out yet?"

When Radel asked, Tunia thought for a moment and then answered.

"The remaining people are probably moving through a secret passage."

Although Tunia didn't know the details, she had heard her father say something like that.

A word that, taking the collapse of the Black Fang in the past as a lesson, he had set up countermeasures against attacks.

At that time, Tunia had learned that there was a secret passage in the guild.

The problem was that she didn't know where it was.

"Only my father knows the location. I haven't been told where the passage is hidden yet."

No matter how many guild members they subdued, the dissolution of the Black Fang was impossible if they couldn't catch the guild master.

If they lost him here, it was obvious that all their efforts so far would be in vain.

"At this rate, we might lose the guild master."

Tunia said seriously.

No matter how much of a first-class assassin she was, she did not have the ability to find a secret passage.

She should have figured it out in advance.

She wondered what she had been doing all this time, not knowing a single thing like this, even though she was the successor.

Tunia bit her lip, blaming herself for being so complacent.

However, Radel's reaction was nonchalant.

"Don't worry. There will be no such thing as losing him."

A secret passage?

As soon as he heard that, Radel rather thought it was a relief.

Wasn't there an expert of secret passages here?

From the Prince's Palace to the academy.

There was a person here who knew every single secret passage there was to know.

* * *

Radel and his group went down to the basement of the warehouse.

The guild master's room and important facilities were all said to be in the basement.

As expected, when they went down to the basement, a space where the guild members usually lived appeared.

"Cough! The smoke has reached all the way here."

Inette coughed, covering her mouth with a handkerchief.

Radel also covered his mouth with his sleeve and asked Armandy.

"Armandy, can you get this outside?"

Armandy looked at Radel with an expression that said he had a lot to say.

For some reason, it felt like he was being treated like a convenient mana slave since a while ago.

However, Radel didn't care.

"Don't tell me you can't? If you think you can't, just say so."

"...I can."

At Radel's words, which subtly touched his pride, Armandy ground his teeth and took out his staff.

It was annoying, but it wasn't a level of magic that he couldn't do.

"Blow."

Armandy summoned the wind element and sent the smoke that had spread in the basement outside.

As it became much easier to breathe, Pirenzo approached Armandy and said.

"Magic is really good."

Normally, Armandy would have sneered, asking if he now understood the great power of magic, but he was not in the mood for that.

It was because the more skilled he was at magic, the more Radel's demands increased.

'I'd rather not know anything.'

For the first time, Armandy felt a sense of skepticism about his own abilities.

Regardless of what Armandy was thinking, Radel was looking around the now-pleasant basement.

When he entered the guild master's room, a luxurious space compared to the other places appeared.

"The guild master must like luxury."

"He was that kind of person."

Tunia nodded in agreement.

He was a guild master who had only taken on high-paying requests as soon as the children who had trained at the Black Fang became somewhat useful.

He had no interest in who died during the mission.

He was a ruthless person.

Nevertheless, the guild members, including Tunia, had tried not to get on the guild master's bad side.

'He only looked after his own interests, putting our lives on the line.'

It seemed the guild master's own life was also precious.

The guild master's room was a mess, as if a thief had broken in, perhaps because he had hastily packed his money and valuables while fleeing.

Tunia looked around the guild master's room with a cold gaze.

Luxury items that she had never seen in her life were scattered and rolling around.

They were things earned through the missions that the guild members had carried out risking their lives. They were also the price for taking the lives of others.

Radel, as if he had the same thought, asked Tunia.

"What was the guild master's job?"

"Taking requests?"

"Did he pay you on time?"

Tunia's expression worsened.

Come to think of it, she had never received any money other than for her living expenses.

Pirenzo sneered from the side.

"Just like my time. The bear does the tricks, and the guild master takes the money."

"Is that why you left the guild?"

At Armandy's words, Pirenzo did not deny it.

"Come to think of it, that also annoyed me. I'm the one who goes on the missions, so why does that bastard take the money? And I couldn't even run away because of the tattoo."

"Good for you for leaving. What an annoying guild master."

Tunia, hearing Armandy's casual remark, found herself nodding.

She hadn't known before, but as she reflected on the past, her anger towards the guild master began to build up.

If there was this much smoke, shouldn't he have checked on the guild members' condition first?

The thought of the guild master, who had slipped away by himself, made her feel that she must catch him.

"...The secret passage, you can find it, right?"

At Tunia's suddenly motivated question, Radel shrugged and answered.

"I'll have to try. I probably can."

With Radel's Status Effect Nullification, a secret passage with illusion magic on it could be found easily.

However, the secret passage here seemed to be hidden behind a wall with a device, not magic.

Still, if there was a secret passage hidden somewhere, mana would surely flow through that passage as well.

Mana is everywhere.

He just needed to find it.

Inette asked with a face of incomprehension.

"You probably can? How are you going to find it?"

"I just have to feel the flow of mana."

Radel closed his eyes and focused his mind to feel the flow of mana.

A thin line.

A thicker line than the flow of mana he had found at the 8th Prince's Palace appeared clearly before his closed eyes.

Before, it had felt like a very thin thread, but now it felt like a thick thread.

'Is it because the rank of Hayden-style mana training method went up?'

Now, there was no need to carefully follow a thin thread that could break at any moment.

He just needed to follow a thicker and stronger flow so as not to lose it.

As Radel was confirming the results of his Hayden-style mana training, Armandy, who was watching, asked.

"Do you feel something?"

Radel answered Armandy with his eyes closed.

"Don't you feel it, Armandy? The flow of mana is different."

Since Armandy was also a seasoned magician who had learned magic at the Mage Tower from a young age, it was natural that he could read the flow of mana.

However, he had never seen anyone read even the subtle differences in the flow of mana like Radel was doing now.

'No, in the first place, is this something that can be done just by concentrating?'

Not only Armandy, but also Inette and Gusto were trying to read the flow of mana from the side.

Tunia, who was taking mana training at the academy, was also the same.

Since they were all students of the Imperial Magic Academy, it was easy for them to feel mana and find its traces.

But to read another mana that was flowing inside a secret passage?

That was a completely different matter.

It was because it was a very subtle difference that was barely perceptible even to Armandy.

'The 8th Prince has so little magic power, so how can he feel the subtle differences in mana so well?'

The foundation of a magician was the amount of magic power.

Although mana sensitivity, which was the ability to feel mana well, was also important, the strength of a magician was ultimately determined by the amount of magic power.

Those with a lot of magic power also felt mana well.

However, the 8th Prince was overturning that formula.

"Found it."

Radel caught the flow of mana in the guild master's room.

The flow of mana was continuing beyond the wall.

It clearly meant that there was a passage behind it where mana could flow.

"If we break this, a secret passage will come out."

"Then should I start right away?"

Inette took off her gloves and summoned the 'Essence of Flame'.

It seemed she was excited as she had more opportunities to use her ability.

Inette immediately shot a flame at the place Radel pointed to.

Boom!

The wall melted down, revealing a secret passage hidden inside.

'There really is a passage!'

Armandy just blinked his eyes at the unbelievable result.

To distinguish that subtle difference and find a real secret passage.

Gusto, who looked into the secret passage, admired.

"As expected of Your Highness."

It's all thanks to Hayden's mana training method, but I can't say that.

The embarrassed Radel made another excuse.

"It's just thanks to taking the mana training class diligently."

To Armandy, who was listening from the side, it was absurd.

Do you think this is something that can be done just by taking one class...?