Tick, tick-tick-tick, tick. Even without knowing, it was a knock with intention. It was presumed to be a signal used among kidnappers.
When the curly-haired man opened the door, their accomplice entered as expected. Satin was lying face down on the floor beyond the bed, so his face couldn’t be seen, but he understood from the conversation.
As soon as the door closed, the visitor spoke.
“Hey, it seems we messed with the wrong person.”
“What are you talking about?”
When the curly-haired man looked puzzled, the visitor answered irritably.
“That guy’s escorts are Temple Knights.”
“What? Why would Temple Knights be escorts?”
“I don’t know! And it doesn’t seem like that guy is as rich as we thought. It doesn’t look like he has anyone to contact either…”
Listening to his own situation through someone else’s mouth made Satin feel rather strange.
‘Well, if they kidnapped me for money, there should be someone to get money from…’
Satin had no money. He could probably get some by selling the luxury goods he had obtained while staying in the capital, but who would do that?
The Temple Knights who had come with him from the capital were protecting Satin, but they were not his guardians. They would never have dared to dispose of Satin’s belongings.
The kidnappers probably believed that if they informed the escorts about the kidnapping, the escorts would connect them to a place where they could receive money. Like family, for example.
The kidnappers’ situation had become ridiculous.
The curly-haired man spoke ominously.
“Maybe we should just kill him…”
“Are you crazy? Who do you think the person escorted by Temple Knights is? What if we go to hell for it?”
At this moment, he was glad he was gagged. He almost laughed.
‘Criminals worrying about going to hell.’
They were definitely out of their minds. Of course, a normal person wouldn’t habitually commit kidnapping either.
Satin quietly held his breath and continued to eavesdrop on the conversation. Perhaps he could find a clue to escape.
“First, we need to find a place to hide that guy. It looked like the Temple Knights were going to ask the Bureau of Order for cooperation.”
“Will the Bureau of Order listen? They’ll probably just file a missing person report and that’s it.”
“No, the atmosphere was weird. That guy is something…”
Suddenly, the conversation died down, and the two men approached Satin. Satin, who was crouched down beside the bed, flinched in surprise at the suddenly cast shadow. The curly-haired man bent down and untied the gag.
“Don’t make a sound.”
His tone was still pretending to be kind, but he might change his attitude at any moment. Satin quickly nodded. The curly-haired man was holding a menacing dagger, which he had apparently drawn at some point. Any thought of resistance vanished.
The visitor standing behind him had a mustache. From now on, Satin decided to call him Mustache.
‘Cain-style naming.’
Mustache frowned fiercely and asked.
“What’s your relationship with the temple?”
“I don’t have any relationship…”
“But why are Temple Knights escorting you? Even in disguise.”
He had only asked them to wear plain clothes because he didn’t want to stand out, but since they called it a disguise, he had nothing to say. When Satin remained silent, Mustache exclaimed in surprise.
“You, you’re not by any chance the hero…!”
Satin was astonished at how he had immediately made such a guess. Before Satin could even react, the curly-haired man hit Mustache on the back of the head and scolded him.
“There’s no way a hero would get kidnapped by us. They say he defeated a dragon with one hand.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Mustache nodded in agreement, but Satin couldn’t agree. He had never defeated anything with one hand. And the opponent Satin had defeated wasn’t a dragon.
Satin didn’t finish his thought. The demon inside his chest shouted.
―Hero-nim, duck your head! It’s going to explode!
“You bastard, you still…”
Satin, forgetting the situation, snapped irritably. Only belatedly did he realize his mistake and shut his mouth, but there was no need to worry. The sound of something truly exploding rang out. Satin’s voice was buried beneath it.
KWA-BOOM!
“W-what was that?”
“Something must have happened outside!”
Could it be that a meteorite had fallen?
Satin, who had been lost in absurd thoughts, quickly regained his senses.
‘No, if that had happened, I’d be dead already.’
Something had clearly happened at the inn, but there was no way to confirm it now. Leaving the bound Satin behind, the two kidnappers approached the door. However, they didn’t open it right away and instead exchanged glances.
“Let’s go out one by one. It’ll look strange if we appear together.”
The curly-haired man nodded at Mustache’s words. Soon, Mustache left the room and returned in an instant.
“We have to get out of here!”
“W-what’s going on?”
“There’s a fire!”
“What?”
A commotion could be heard from beyond the open door. The sound of hurried footsteps and shouts of “Fire!” One particularly conscientious employee could also be heard going around the guest rooms, announcing the fire.
Satin knew well, having experienced a fire before. The buildings in this world, mostly made of wood, burned very easily. There were no fire shutters or fireproof materials, so once a fire started, it spread to other places in an instant.
‘There probably are firefighters, but I don’t know how quickly they’ll arrive.’
While Satin worried, the two kidnappers also paced anxiously.
“What do we do with that guy?”
Compared to his harsh appearance, Mustache had a weak heart. He had said earlier that they shouldn’t kill Satin, and now he seemed very reluctant to leave him behind. Perhaps he was worried about going to hell.
Unlike Mustache, the curly-haired man was very cold-blooded.
“Since it’s come to this, we have no choice but to give up on this plan. Let’s just leave him. They’ll think he couldn’t escape and burned to death.”
“What if we go to hell…”
“Think about what you’ve done so far, you idiot. You can’t go to heaven anyway.”
Mustache looked slightly disheartened at the curly-haired man’s words, but soon nodded.
“Okay.”
Having made up their minds, the two kidnappers approached.
Satin wriggled like a larva, trying to retreat, but there was nowhere to go. The gap between the wall and the bed was so narrow that it would be completely filled if just two people lay down. Soon, his back touched the wall.
The curly-haired man put the gag he had taken off earlier back into Satin’s mouth.
“Sorry about this. I was planning to keep you alive until we got the money.”
That meant they had planned to kill him anyway, even if there hadn’t been a fire. After all, if they had intended to let him live, they wouldn’t have shown their faces so openly.
The two kidnappers, who were about to leave coldly, paused as soon as they opened the door. It wasn’t because they suddenly felt guilty. There was an obstruction.
“The evacuation is slow.”
The muttering voice was very familiar. It was Cain. Satin exerted all his strength to make his presence known.
“Ugh, ugh!”
It was difficult to make a loud noise because of the gag. He made the loudest sound he could, but he didn’t know if it would reach the doorway over the commotion outside. Growing anxious, Satin desperately wriggled his body.
‘What do I do? They can’t just leave without knowing I’m here.’
―I’m here! Here!
Contrary to his worries, the demon shouted in a loud voice. No matter how noisy it was outside, there was no way they couldn’t hear this.
“Looks like someone’s inside.”
“We’ve checked, sir. You need to evacuate quickly.”
As Cain tried to enter, the kidnappers blocked his way. Satin couldn’t see the scene from his position, but he could roughly sense a scuffle.
The demon shouted again.
―I’m here! Here!
Encouraged by the shout, Satin moved forward a little. Hoping that Cain would find the top of his head.
“That’s a familiar voice.”
“It must be the sound from outside. It’s dangerous, so please hurry…”
“Seeing you blocking me like this, it seems you have something to hide.”
Cain usually didn’t listen to others very well. Naturally, he didn’t listen to the advice of the employee he had just met today. Soon, the kidnappers stopped their antics.
“Damn it, grab him!”
The curly-haired man changed his stance and shouted. Satin knew the curly-haired man had a weapon, but strangely, he wasn’t worried. There was no way Cain would be hurt by such a small knife. Because Cain was…
‘…Could it be?’
Before Satin could logically verify his belief, flames erupted. The curly-haired man and Mustache screamed and retreated into the room. In a moment of desperation, Mustache grabbed Satin and tried to lift him up, struggling.
“I-if you don’t back off right now, I’ll kill this guy!”
The curly-haired man quickly approached and held the knife to Satin’s neck.
―You impudent bastards!
The demon shrieked. Cain didn’t miss the opportunity as Mustache and the curly-haired man, not knowing where the sound was coming from, looked around in confusion. He rushed forward as swiftly as when he sprinted down the back of the monster snake and kicked the curly-haired man in the jaw.
“Ugh!”
Before the curly-haired man collapsed with a strange scream, Cain deftly snatched the dagger.
The curly-haired man, who had fallen to the floor, was unconscious and unable to grasp the situation, but Mustache was wide awake. His face turned deathly pale, and he stammered, beads of sweat dripping down his face.
“S-sir, we, we really didn’t intend to kill him…”
Even while making excuses, Mustache didn’t let go of Satin. He flinched this way and that, trying to avoid the flames that had already spread to the wall, but he held onto Satin’s collar tightly.
‘He knows he’ll die the moment he lets go of me.’
As they say, birds of a feather flock together. There was no way a habitual kidnapper would trust another person’s humanity in a crisis.
Satin was standing uncomfortably because his hands and feet were tied. Being like this brought back some old memories. Back then, Cain had been tied up like this, but now it was the opposite.
‘I hope I’m not unnecessarily triggering his trauma.’
No sooner had Satin thought that than Cain approached. Mustache hid behind Satin. With his collar still held, Satin involuntarily groaned. It was a sound that naturally came out as his neck was being choked.
Did that small sound sound like a final death cry to Cain? Cain’s eyes turned cold. Cain raised his hand. The hand holding the dagger.
“Close your eyes.”
Without knowing Cain’s intention, Satin quickly closed his eyes. He felt something whiz by, and then Mustache fell away, making a choking sound.
“Ugh-hick!”
Taken aback, Satin flinched and cautiously looked around, worried that the flames might touch him.
‘C-can I open my eyes now?’
I..think not. Keep it shut for a while longer