When the spear was pulled out, the poor soldier fell to the ground while spurting blood profusely from his chest. The two men who witnessed his death couldn’t react in time because their minds were still frozen in shock from seeing Bern’s explosive death. As such, another died when the spear was thrown and stabbed through his throat.

The last one remaining didn’t look at his ally’s corpse, but at the one who threw the spear.

“You…?” [Soldier]

“Yeah, well, I was obviously suspicious. Of course it’s me.” [Ryner]

The red-haired, drunken man said in a deep voice. He was definitely sober as he stood tall and spoke clearly.

“I said I was going to kill you all, remember?” [Ryner]

“That voice… It, it’s you… You’re…” [Soldier]

The surviving soldier, who was the one Ryner joked about being married to, shakily pointed at him.

“I’m Mindo Buzzness.” [Ryner]

After giving out a fake name, Ryner pulled out the spear from the corpse’s throat and faced the door.

“You were just… Your voice was coming from that thing… Like you were at two places at once… That’s not p-.” [Soldier]

“It was a recorded message.” [Ryner]

There were screams and angry yells resounding throughout the mansion after the explosion. Footsteps could be heard approaching the office. Of course, Bern’s death was heard by every single person living in the mansion.

“You blew Bern up…” [Soldier]

The shaken man who witnessed the A rank’s death murmured, almost in a daze.

“You blew him up.” [Soldier]

“That bastard killed my friend, the black-haired man. He deserved it. It’s my revenge. Revenge, get it?” [Ryner]

Ryner emphasized the last part without facing the remaining soldier that saw what he did. He knew that he didn’t have the will to fight. The man’s hands were shaking and his eyes were darting about. Perhaps seeing someone blow up from a bomb that was stuffed inside them was too much for him. Otherwise, it might be because of how cold, sharp and ruthless Ryner’s eyes currently were and he knew better than to jump to his death.

“You people picked a fight with me and want to hunt me down. Then, I, Mindo Buzzness, a red-headed, eyepatch-wearing guy with a scar on his right cheek will face you all.” [Ryner]

Once Ryner was done needlessly describing his current features, he intently stared at the door. Behind it were several armed soldiers that were getting ready to storm the office. Just as they were about to make their move, he stabbed his spear through the door. The sound of someone’s death groan could be heard as his chest was pierced. Then, while Ryner firmly held his weapon in place, he kicked the door and sent it flying, knocking back every man that was unfortunate enough to stand behind it.

“Wh, who is this guy?!” [Soldier]

“Our uniform?! He’s one of us?!” [Soldier]

“Dumbass! Of course he’s not one of us! We need to kill or capture him! Capture if you can, but just attack him! Magic users, forward! Magicians, support with long-range spells!” [Soldier]

“It’s too cramped to use magic here! We’ll hit our own men!” [Soldier]

“… MAGIC USERS, FORWARD!!!” [Soldier]

Once someone shouted orders, the fight began in the hallway. The soldiers charged at Ryner, but none of their attacks could reach him. Although he was surrounded, Ryner easily warded off their blades with his spear as he deftly spun it around. Using the extra reach his weapon provided, he parried incoming strikes, rotated and swept a soldier off his feet with the end of the pole. Then, he slashed the throats of two enemies and stabbed his spear downward and straight through the back of the man that was knocked on the floor.

“What is this guy?!” [Soldier]

“H-he got three of us in three seconds!” [Soldier]

“He’s definitely a magic user!” [Soldier]

“Don’t panic! Hold the line while I go fetch reinforcements and my armor!” [Soldier]

“You’re going to go get your armor NOW?!!” [Soldier]

“I don’t wear my armor in the mansion!!” [Soldier]

“NO ONE’S GOT ARMOR ON RIGHT NOW!!!” [Soldier]

While chaos was spreading through the ranks of the uniformed soldiers, Ryner was taking out anyone that tried to kill him. More enemies came from both sides of the hallway, but that didn’t change the course of the battle. The situation was becoming grimmer as men kept dying from getting slashed, stabbed, punched or kicked. Moreover, Ryner was purposely giving them gruesome deaths as if putting on a bloody show.

He stabbed a soldier through the throat and pulled his spear upward, ripping the head off from the neck as blood gushed out like a fountain. The decapitated head was kicked in someone’s disturbed face like a soccer ball.

He caught another by the throat and bit his ear off before using him as a shield to block an incoming sword. Then, he drove his spear through the meat shield and the attacker.

He stabbed a foe through the stomach from the back and lifted him over his head, displaying his skewered form for all to see as the groaning and dying man slowly slid down the pole of the bloody weapon. Then, he vigorously swung his spear and sent the victim limply crashing against the wall, which left a red stain.

While the one-sided fight was underway, the soldier that was spared was seeing it unfold in the office before his eyes. He weakly sat on the floor and watched as his allies all tried to kill Ryner, or Mindo, but failed. The red-haired man wasn’t even moving from the doorway and stayed in his view, as if he wanted him to witness it all.

Ryner moved like a flowing whirlwind and relentlessly fought off all opponents. He delivered a high kick to the side of a soldier’s face which buried it in the wall. Then, as four swords simultaneously came down on him from both sides, he ducked and used the length of his spear to block three while he caught the one in front of him by the blade using his bare hand. As he stood up, he pushed the three swords away and pulled the one in his hand towards him along with the wielder.

The soldier stumbled past him and suffered a roundhouse kick in the back, which caused him to knock into his allies. Using that opportunity, the eyepatch-wearing man stabbed his spear into the stomach of the other soldier that had attacked him. This time, however, he didn’t pull it back and under everyone’s gaze, he froze him.

This stopped his opponents from attacking him as they turned their eyes on the ghastly spectacle.

“J-Jack is…!” [Soldier]

The man known as Jack was being frozen little by little as frost crawled over his body. His skin turned cold and pale, his blood froze in his veins and his eyes lost their light. Once he was dead, Ryner swung his spear and threw the rigid body to the foes behind him. The corpse shattered on impact. Those hit by it stared with wide and shaky eyes at the frozen bits and pieces of meat.

“That just now was magic…” [Soldier]

“W-wait, look at the spear! There’s weird frost covering the blade!” [Soldier]

“… An Artifact? It’s an Artifact… It’s an Artifact!” [Soldier]

As the soldiers murmured and yelled at each other, their words fanned their own fear and anxiety.

“You’ve got to be kidding me! On top of his crazy strength, this guy’s got a magic spear to boot!? There’s no way we can take on a monster like him!!” [Soldier]

“(Artifacts are really popular. They got scared way faster than I thought. Maybe I should have held back some more.)” [Ryner]

The soldiers of Jadistro that were part of Tenneb’s private army were mostly mercenaries on his payroll. They weren’t a real army that held unity or conviction. They were only there to keep the town under control because that was where the underground auction for elves took place. Most of them only did what they wanted all day long and held no real loyalty to their employer. They had gotten used to pushing the townspeople around and having their way with them. The occasional fights were won by either their numbers or by their A rank captain.

In short, they had grown a bit too used to being strong.

As such, when faced against overwhelming odds, they chose the logical course of action.

“Screw this! I’m not getting paid enough to fight this monster!!!” [Soldier]

Once someone shouted out his thoughts and ran away, others did the same. Soon, many turned tail and ran. As they escaped for their lives while screaming, a few stayed behind. They chose to face Ryner.

Gritting their teeth, they held their swords in their trembling hands and glared at the opponent with fearful eyes.

“S-s-surrender!!! You’re, you’re going against the soldiers of Jadistro! Its protectors! T-T-Tenneb’s army!! DO YOU REALIZE THAT!!?” [Soldier]

One brave soul shouted because of arrogance and pride great enough to beat his fear and rationality. Ryner didn’t heed his words and calmly walked towards him.

“I-I told you to surrender!! Surrender!! I’m a soldier of Tenneb!! A soldier of an earl!!” [Soldier]

Only a few steps separated them, so he stood right in front of him, right in front of his trembling sword, in a few seconds.

“W-why aren’t you obeying me? E-everyone o-o-obeyed me…” [Soldier]

The soldier said in a weak and rather tearful voice as he thought back on the many times that he ordered the townspeople around for his amusement. Having the men act as clowns, having the women serve him, and if they disobeyed, he would beat or kill them. His friends did it too. Everyone did it.

In Jadistro, the blue uniform they wore made them kings.

“S-stop!!” [Soldier]

And yet, the one before him ignored his words and silently pushed a spear through his heart.

After Ryner quickly eliminated everyone that chose to stay, he looked at the cowering soldier he spared that was still sitting on his butt in the office. Ryner walked up to him, which caused him to shiver violently in fear, and spoke in a deep voice.

“This is my warning. The warning of Mindo Buzzness. Remember it.” [Ryner]

Afterwards, he knocked him out with a punch and began pursuing the soldiers who ran away. This time, he didn’t hold back and used his life force to run at superhuman speed, catching up to every single one of them. Ryner ignored the screaming servants that were also making their escape and cut down every person that donned a blue uniform.

It was a horrifying scene of men running away in fear of death itself. It wielded a spear that robbed their bodies of warmth and held enough strength to crush a person’s skull.

Soon, all the blood curling screams and frantic footsteps disappeared like they never existed. The servants ran away and escaped into town. The soldiers never made it past the door. Those who tried to jump from the windows were caught. Those who succeeded had either a sword or some random object thrown at them which pierced their heads.

Standing in the middle of the hallway and drenched in blood, Ryner once more confirmed that there was no one else but him in the mansion. His spear, which was the Artifact that he took from the bearded triplet in the forest, was covered in frozen blood. All around him were corpses littering the bloody floor. Each of them had a terrified expression on their face.

Ryner stared at them all, as if taking in the surroundings, and grandly puked.

He emptied his stomach, wiped his mouth and walked on. He had to put away his disguise, secured a couple of horses and meet up with the elves waiting in the small forest outside of Jadistro. So, first off, he would need to wipe away all of the blood on him.

“I’ll have nightmares about these guys after this.” [Ryner]

Ryner muttered as he thought back on all of the terrified men he cut down as well as Bern. The A rank captain became a bomb so that he would leave a large impact on the selected witness’ memory. That witness was the soldier that Ryner spared, the only one still alive in the mansion. Planting explosives inside people and turning them into meat bombs was not something Ryner enjoyed doing, just like killing.

That’s why he sighed tiredly and scratched the back of his wig-covered head.

“… Damn I’m cruel.” [Ryner]

“There’s no need for such a blatant lie.” [Elf]

Suddenly, he recalled the words of the elven woman that he rescued.

“You don’t actually feel anything watching those corpses.” [Elf]

Those words echoed in his head, causing him to freeze in place and stop walking.

“Crap, those elves can definitely read minds.” [Ryner]

He said as resumed his march and considered how he would get out of the mansion without being spotted.

On that day, a massacre occurred in the mansion of the governor who controlled Jadistro. After an explosion was heard, an unknown assailant started killing people left and right. Although the servants escaped unharmed, the soldiers had all died except for one. From the testimony of the frightened, sole survivor, the attacker was a red-haired man who had an eyepatch over his right eye and a large scar on his right cheek. The motive for his attack was because they had killed a friend of his and he wanted revenge. He caused an A rank magic user to blow up while screaming in pain and possessed a magic spear of the ice element.

Using the shivering soldier’s description of the felon’s physical features, a wanted poster was made and distributed throughout the Stornith Empire. This case not only affected the order and peace of the empire, but the authority of the aristocrats. After all, during the chaos, governor Isecke, the representative of Earl Tenneb, died. Moreover, said earl was believed to have been found along with four other nobles whom he had ties with in a secret room of his basement when the mansion was searched after the commotion.

They were all burned to death, but no one could really identify the bodies. The only way they knew for sure was because of a conspicuous message left on the floor in red paint.

REVENGE

TENNEB AND HIS FRIENDS’ PARTY

On that day, Mindo Buzzness became a criminal in Stornith that was wanted dead or alive for the crime of murdering five nobles as well as multiple other homicides.