“Stop!”
When the tent that held Jillian had appeared in their sight, Shien, who was at the very front, suddenly yelled out.
“…!?”
Everyone who had been running along with Shien felt a tremor in their hearts and, under the influence of Shien’s shout, each and every one of them stopped.
It was at that moment…
“Boom!”
Right in front of them, the tent that held Jillian exploded without any apparent reason.
The flames roared into the sky and burned furiously.
The people with Shien couldn’t hold back their shouts of surprise. Some even screamed in terror.
Shien alone was staring into the center of the explosion with a sneer on his face.
At the same time, people had started gathering here from all directions.
“This…!?”
Balon seemed to have managed to get away from the Old Demon Faction members who had been attacking him. He brought along a contingent of knights with him as he rushed over and witnessed the scene before him.
The rest of the knights and adventurers who had also rushed here were also staring at the blazing tent with uncertain expressions.
This scene held for some time.
Then, everyone saw it.
At the center of the flames, one figure after another appeared.
Each and every one of them were demons in black cloaks.
They slowly walked out, completely ignoring the scorching flames all around them. They appeared before everyone here with a certain person among them.
That person was Jillian.
Jillian had been successfully rescued by the Old Demon Faction.
“…!”
Balon could not simply sit still at that, and so he took a step forward as if wanting to take some kind of action.
However, Balon failed.
That was because before he could, a terrifying pressure descended here in this place.
“Rescued?”
A dark and elderly voice appeared along with the aforementioned terrifying pressure.
Only then did everyone discover that an old man had at some point appeared before the flames. He was standing about lazily as if he was just taking a walk.
At the sight of the old man, everyone, including Balon, had started shaking uncontrollably.
“How terrifying…”
“Ugh…”
Lumia and Melika couldn’t stop shaking. They even forgot their previous guard against Shien and willfully move to his side and grabbed at his clothes.
Shien was looking at that old man too.
“Is that him?”
The person in question was indeed the one Shien had sensed before who had an even stronger magic power than Jillian.
The person’s identity was revealed.
“Baydr…”
Balon, over at the side, spoke out that name in an out of sorts manner.
However, the old man of the Old Demon Faction acted as if he didn’t hear at all. Rather, it was like he didn’t even notice any of the mortals there. He only looked at this own subordinate while completely ignoring Shien’s group.
“Lord Baydr.”
The Old Demon Faction subordinate hurried to Baydr’s side to report.
“We have successfully rescued Lord Jillian.”
As he heard that, Baydr shifted his gaze to Jillian.
At that moment, Jillian was still in a bruised and battered state. His was completely unresponsive, not reacting even after seeing Baydr appear before him.
Baydr frowned at that.
“What happened?”
Baydr asked his subordinate uncertainly.
“Unknown.” The subordinate shook his head and spoke quietly, “By the time we found Lord Jillian, he was already this way.”
“Is that so?” Baydr’s frown deepened and he spoke to himself, “Was his mind disrupted by mental magic? Or was he tortured to the point where he lost his mind?”
“It should be the latter.” The subordinate spoke, “There were a number of injuries on Lord Jillian’s person. It’s likely that it really was due to torture.”