The train had been hijacked by some organization, and following Karen's instructions, I stayed behind to calm Lixia Ethe—the girl we had just met. She had been targeted by the group, and if she were taken, there was no telling what they might do to her. Anyone in her position would be terrified.
But Miss Ethe was currently tense, her hands clenched and trembling as she kept her head lowered in silence. So I tried to comfort her.
"Miss Ethe, please don't be afraid. Karen will handle everything. You can rest easy."
When I spoke to her, she looked up at me—and to my surprise, she was smiling. Then she responded quickly.
"I'm not afraid. I believe Mr. Karen will resolve this. I'm just overwhelmed with excitement at the thought of being saved by her. But the situation doesn't really suit that kind of emotion, and I was worried it might show on my face, so I kept my head down and stayed quiet."
I was honestly speechless. Was that really the reaction of someone who had almost been kidnapped just moments ago? She had only just met Karen, yet trusted her to this extent. Was it because she had always admired Karen for hunting down Samidoride?
Karen might claim she's a normal person, but she definitely has some… unusual aspects.
"...I see. Looks like I spoke out of turn."
After I responded politely, Grace—who had her sword drawn and was on guard—spoke up.
"Mr. Karen and Ms. Eis have finished dealing with the enemies. Mr. Karen is interrogating their leader now."
"Huh!? So fast!?"
Miss Ethe's surprise was understandable. Karen was already fast, and with Ethefelis helping, taking down the enemies was even quicker.
"The leader looks terrified. He's even kneeling and begging for his life."
Hearing that, we all leaned out to take a look. Sure enough, the enemy leader was kneeling in front of Karen, who was crouching as he questioned him.
"As expected of Mr. Karen!"
Miss Ethe exclaimed excitedly, almost like a second Alice had appeared—and right on cue, the original Alice spoke up.
"Of course! That's Mr. Karen!"
Alice puffed up her chest proudly as if she were boasting about something, which made me unable to resist responding.
"What are you so proud of?"
"Karen's strength."
"...Never mind. Forget I asked."
Her answer left me speechless. She was simple, so her answers were simple.
"But we're too far away. We can't hear anything."
Miss Ethe was right. We were sitting in the last row, while Karen was closer to the middle toward the front. Still, I had a good idea what he was asking, so I said,
"Karen's probably asking about the person who wants to capture you, Miss Ethe."
"But they said they wouldn't reveal their employer's identity."
"No, this group is afraid of death. As long as their lives are threatened, they'll spill everything."
"Mr. Jacob, have you experienced something like this before?"
I said it so naturally that Alice assumed I had. But in our country, organizations like this didn't even exist.
"No. That's just how it's written in novels."
"But what's written in novels isn't necessarily true, right?"
"Is that so?"
Ms. Ethe's rebuttal disappointed Grace, who loved reading novels. As a man, how could I just stand by and let the girl I liked feel disappointed? I quickly countered her rebuttal—I had evidence.
"No, look—the leader is begging Karen for his life. He's clearly the type who fears death. To survive, he'll say anything."
"I see… that does sound somewhat convincing."
Ms. Ethe accepted it, and at that moment, Grace gave another update.
"A man just ran up and grabbed the leader by the collar. He looks very agitated."
We looked over again. It was one man and two women.
"Who is that…? Wait, that's Shien!? And Hera, and Sicilia!"
Miss Ethe recognized them immediately—they were her companions.
"So it's them."
"Mr. Karen made a shooing gesture and sent them this way."
Karen had waved them off. Looks like the three of them annoyed him. Not surprising—he never had a good impression of them to begin with.
They ran toward us and stopped when they reached us, bending over with their hands on their knees, panting heavily. Their stamina seemed even worse than mine.
Then Shien looked up, saw Miss Ethe, and grabbed her shoulders excitedly.
"Lixia, are you okay?!"
"Shien, Mr. Karen is amazing, right!"
"Mr. Karen…? Who?"
Shien was clearly worried about her, but Miss Et was excitedly talking about Karen instead, leaving him stunned.
And without considering the situation or Shien's feelings, she pointed at Karen and continued,
"It's that black-haired man. Handsome, right?"
"W-What?"
Shien froze completely. Then Hera spoke up angrily.
"Lixia, Shien is worried about you. What kind of attitude is that? His concern for you is completely wasted."
"Yeah, Shien was really worried about you."
Hera's words were reasonable enough, but Sicilia's felt fake—like she wasn't actually worried about Miss Ethe at all, just putting on a show for Shien. It was disgusting, just like typical noble ladies.
"How can you say that about Miss Lixia?! She clearly—mmph!!!"
For some reason, Alice suddenly tried to snap at them. I quickly covered her mouth and apologized politely.
"I'm sorry. My companion was being rude."
"Who are you people? Why are you sitting with Lixia?"
Because of Alice, Shien snapped out of his daze and finally noticed us.
"We are—"
Just as I was about to introduce myself, a strange sound drew my attention. Everyone else turned to look as well.
The source was one of the enemies Karen had thrown aside earlier. He wasn't dead? He clutched his head and slowly sat up, muttering.
"Ugh… why am I on the ground? My body hurts… ah, right, that guy knocked me out with one punch… damn it!"
So Karen had only knocked him unconscious.
The man started feeling around on the ground as if searching for something.
"M-my knife… oh, here it is. Huh? Feels kinda weird… whatever, same thing."
I remembered that Karen had taken his original knife—what he picked up now belonged to another enemy Ethefelis had killed. He stood up, apparently not even noticing the corpse lying beside him.
"Why is it so quiet? Did the boss and the others already leave? Did they just abandon me?"
"Sir, your boss is over there."
Grace kindly pointed him in the right direction.
"Oh, thanks. So I wasn't abandoned—wait! Why is the boss kneeling in front of that guy?! And where are the others?! Why are they all lying on the ground?!"
"They're dead. Please accept my condolences."
Grace answered with sympathy, and the man quickly accepted it. Then his gaze landed on Miss Ethe, and he pointed his knife at her.
"A blue-haired girl! So you're all together! I'll kill you to avenge my brothers!"
Realizing we were Karen's companions, he swung his blade down at Grace. She quickly raised her sword and blocked it.
Seeing the girl I liked in danger, I reacted a moment too late. I'd grown too complacent.
Grace tried to persuade him.
"Sir, if you have a family, please surrender. Don't make them grieve."
"My family is my brothers! I won't surrender!"
"Please stop doing this. It won't end well."
"Killing you will be a good ending for them."
"That's enough! Stop being so stubborn!"
Grace pushed his blade aside, then swiftly raised her sword and struck toward his head. The man shut his eyes in fear—but Grace stopped her blade just above him.
He opened his eyes, confused.
"Why did you stop? Too scared to kill?"
"..."
Grace said nothing.
Then he sneered.
"Ha! If you can't kill, what's the point of that sword? Die!"
He attacked again, but Grace blocked him once more and said coolly,
"Even if I don't kill, you still can't beat me."
Frustration showed on his face—then suddenly, he pointed behind Grace.
"...Look! What's that?!"
When Grace turned her head, we all looked as well—but the curtain was drawn. There was nothing.
We'd been tricked.
"...Ah!?"
Grace cried out in pain and shock. When we turned back, the man had grabbed her hair and was holding a knife to her throat.
"Grace!"
"Ms. Grace!"
Alice and I instinctively moved forward, but he waved the knife wildly.
"Don't come any closer! One more step and I'll kill her!"
We froze.
I had let the girl I liked fall into danger. As a man, I was a complete failure.
I wanted to save her—but the only way was to kill him.
I was just a merchant. I had never faced something like this. Like Grace, I was afraid of killing. I had seen death before, but doing it myself… I couldn't.
And yet, if I wanted to save her, I had to decide.
The only attack I had was the magic Karen taught me—but with its power, one year equaling ten, I might hurt Grace too. And I had only used it once before during training.
In the end, I still couldn't act.
Reluctantly, I looked toward Shien, hoping to ask him to use magic—but all of them looked terrified. Useless.
Then Grace, despite the pain from having her hair pulled, forced out a smile.
"I… I'm fine. I can handle this."
She was clearly the most afraid, yet she was trying to reassure us.
I still had no solution.
I could only rely on Karen.
The man yanked her hair harder, making her expression twist in pain, then sneered.
"With a blade at your throat, what can you even do? Oh—I know. I'll use you as a hostage to make that guy release the boss."
A plan formed in his mind.
Good. Karen would definitely find a way to save her.
Holding Grace hostage, he began moving sideways toward Karen, keeping his eyes on us the entire time, never exposing his back.
If he turned around… I might be able to knock him out with the iron sword Karen bought me.