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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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Just when were these people going to show up?
I’d been waiting in the plaza for an hour.
Tapping my elbow with a finger, I looked around, searching for the two who were nowhere to be seen.
We were supposed to meet at the plaza around noon, weren’t we?
As far as I could recall, that was the agreement, but there was no sign of them.
“…Do they even realize they left me, a blind man, all alone?”
If we were going to split into two groups, shouldn’t they have paired me with Miss Jonah and let Mr. Foreman go alone?
That thought occurred to me after I’d been searching for the carriage for a while.
Come to think of it, why did they send me off alone, knowing I couldn’t see?
Mr. Foreman, I thought you were smart, but I’m a little disappointed.
Unless they deliberately wanted to separate me… there was no reason to leave me alone like this, is there?
After waiting another ten minutes, I finally stood up with a sigh.
“It seems like the carriage thief is long gone. Let’s just withdraw some money from the bank and rent a new one…”
Just how much would that cost?
The price of the stolen carriage, plus the cost of renting a new one.
And a horse too?
Normally, I wasn’t stingy with money, but expenses like this in just a few days were enough to make a small-time adventurer like me tremble.
But I couldn’t just sit here and wait forever…
After a moment of internal debate, I looked up at the clock tower.
It was long past our meeting time.
“Ugh, fine, I’ll go! I’ll go! If I don’t go looking for them, they’ll probably stay out there until nightfall!”
In the end, I started running towards the road they had taken, determined to find them myself.
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“I was a pawn of those in power even before I was assigned to Miss Jonah.”
Foreman declared.
“Miss Jonah is competent. With Mr. Benjamin’s support, she could have solidified her position immediately. Well, it seems Mr. Benjamin had no intention of doing so.”
Foreman continued.
“So… the others, worried about Miss Jonah gaining influence, placed me under her.”
Simple logic, wasn’t it?
Despite being exposed for his betrayal, or rather, for approaching Jonah with that intention from the start, Foreman remained remarkably calm.
As if he had expected this secret to be revealed eventually.
“But you figured it out sooner than I expected. I thought I could last another five or six years. As expected of you, Miss. You’re quite astute for a teenager.”
“…”
Jonah remained silent.
She couldn’t speak.
Foreman was practically Jonah’s closest confidant, having been with her since she joined the company.
He was competent, young, and diligent, and Jonah had valued him greatly.
The fact that he was a pawn planted to monitor her… was too cruel for Jonah, who was just starting to find her footing.
It was so cruel that she could now understand, to some extent, why Benjamin had remained indifferent.
The experience of being betrayed by someone you trusted.
Perhaps Benjamin wanted Jonah to experience that hardship, something he must have endured countless times.
The sight of someone she trusted confessing their betrayal so casually was a painful blow.
‘Don’t be afraid of failure, Jonah.’
Those words echoed in her ears once more.
That the worries and trials she faced now might have been insignificant, as he had said.
‘This too is a necessary experience for running a trading company.’
Benjamin must have thought that, which was why he had allowed Foreman to remain by Jonah’s side.
He must have believed that Foreman’s eventual betrayal was a necessary experience for Jonah.
Thinking that this too was part of Benjamin’s plan, Jonah felt a sense of calm wash over her.
Her racing heart and trembling gaze gradually settled.
“…What are you going to do with me now?”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to stay with me for a little while longer. I haven’t received confirmation that the situation has been resolved.”
“So, this road wasn’t leading to the plaza?”
“That’s correct. I’ll apologize to Mr. Iyer, but Miss Jonah needed to wander a little longer with me.”
“Despicable…”
Iyer had only helped them out of kindness.
He had spent his own meager funds to rent a carriage, buy food, and provide them with clothes.
Not only had he tricked him, but he was also trying to isolate him in the city.
It was not how a merchant should treat someone who had shown them pure goodwill.
“What if I refuse to go with you?”
“…If you refuse…”
Jonah and Foreman stood facing each other, a certain distance between them.
Hearing Jonah’s words, Foreman rolled up his sleeves with a cold expression and approached her.
Slowly, step by step.
“My betrayal was bound to be exposed eventually, and it was a given that I would be expelled from the company. Do you think I’ll hold back now that my betrayal has been revealed?”
“Are you saying you’ll take me by force?”
“That’s right.”
Jonah didn’t know what had driven Foreman to betray her, even at the cost of his position as her confidant.
But what she did know was that now that everything was out in the open, he had no intention of letting her go.
Jonah calmed herself and assessed the situation.
She had been running for a long time and had little energy left.
Foreman, on the other hand, seemed fine.
Once they were out of the alley, he wouldn’t be able to use force because of the presence of other people, but the problem was that she might be caught before they reached the end of the alley.
Foreman was already approaching, and the distance between them was closing rapidly.
She needed to make a quick decision.
“Haa!”
Taking a deep breath, Jonah turned and started running.
It was the most desperate run of her life.
She splashed through a puddle in the alley.
She heard the sound of someone stepping in the same puddle behind her.
Even without looking back, she knew Foreman was chasing her.
‘If I can just reach the entrance of the alley…!’
If she could reach a place where there were people and shout for help, if the people who heard her cries didn’t ignore her, she could be saved.
That was her only hope.
Splash, splash!
The sound of footsteps on the wet ground grew closer.
It was proof that Foreman had caught up to her.
‘Just a little further…!’
The end of the alley, where her voice could reach others, was just ahead.
Just as she thought she was almost there… she felt something trip her foot.
A piece of wood, commonly discarded in alleys.
Jonah saw her foot catch on the wood, and then she felt herself flying through the air.
With a splash, a sharp pain shot through her body.
She rolled several times on the rough alley ground before coming to a stop.
Having run with all her might, the pain of falling on the rough cobblestones made her head spin.
“Ugh… Ouch…”
She needed to shout, but the pain only allowed her to moan.
Her mind screamed at her to shout, but her body wouldn’t obey.
In her blurry vision, she saw Foreman approaching.
He still seemed emotionless as he looked down at her writhing in pain and reached out a hand.
Jonah stared at the approaching hand with a resentful gaze.
Resigned to her fate, she closed her eyes tightly.
Thud!
A dull thud echoed through the alley.
Contrary to Jonah’s expectations, no pain followed.
Then what was that thud she just heard?
Slowly opening her eyes, Jonah saw a figure standing in front of her, shielding her.
It wasn’t Foreman.
The man with black hair, clad in a brown robe…
“I apologize. I’m a little late.”
He turned his head slightly, revealing the black cloth covering his eyes.
Iyer.
The man who should have been waiting for them at the plaza was standing before her.
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“…Mr. Iyer.”
Foreman, who had fallen ignominiously, wiped his mouth and stood up.
There was blood on his sleeve.
His lip must have been split.
Just as Foreman was about to grab Jonah, he saw a metal plate approaching at lightning speed.
Then, excruciating pain.
When he regained consciousness, Iyer was already standing between him and Jonah.
He realized the metal plate he had seen was the iron plate attached to the bottom of Iyer’s greaves.
If he had been hit squarely, he would have been lucky to just be knocked unconscious.
He could have died.
“I didn’t expect you to figure it out so soon…”
In Foreman’s plan, Iyer was supposed to wait for them at the plaza and eventually give up when they didn’t show.
The variable of Iyer finding them so quickly hadn’t been part of his calculations.
And the fact that Iyer had attacked him… meant that he already knew what was going on, to some extent.
Then, there was only one answer.
“You already knew, Mr. Iyer.”
“…It’s as you suspect.”
“Since when? I thought I didn’t give you any openings.”
The young man with the covered eyes smirked slightly.
“Since we first met in the Tillasden Forest. Mr. Foreman, I knew you weren’t actually unconscious.”
Foreman’s eyes widened.
Pure admiration struck him.
To think that he had seen through his feigned unconsciousness when they first met.
He knew Iyer wasn’t an ordinary herbalist, but he hadn’t expected him to be this sharp.
“Completely unexpected.”
“I noticed something was off from that moment.”
“Impressive. That you knew from so long ago.”
He couldn’t help but to be impressed.
Iyer, who he thought had simply helped them out of kindness, had actually noticed something strange about Foreman, and followed them.
And despite sensing something was amiss, he had waited and observed him.
‘This man… could it be that he waited for Miss Jonah to figure it out?’
That thought crossed Foreman’s mind.
Iyer hadn’t taken any action until Jonah realized Foreman’s true nature and Foreman revealed himself.
Because only then could Jonah understand the truth about Foreman.
And the moment she recognized him as an enemy, Iyer appeared perfectly.
It seemed too calculated to be a coincidence.
“…Mr. Iyer, you have nothing to do with this. If you step aside like a gentleman, I won’t harm you.”
Foreman raised his fists.
Despite his words, his posture clearly indicated he was ready to fight.
Iyer, showing no intention of moving, simply stood protectively in front of Jonah.
‘Let’s finish this quickly without causing a commotion.’
Unnecessary trouble would only complicate things.
Foreman’s objective was simply to detain Jonah.
To do that, he needed to handle this quietly.
Knock Iyer unconscious, restrain him and Jonah, and confine them.
Once he received the all-clear from the company, he would release them.
“Don’t blame me, Mr. Iyer!”
Foreman, who had been slowly approaching, suddenly lunged at Iyer.
Having received various forms of training since childhood, Foreman was skilled in close-quarters combat.
He had learned grappling techniques as part of his self-defense training and tackled Iyer, grabbing his upper body.
With Foreman’s weight behind him, the two tumbled to the ground.
“I wasn’t raised so gently that I can’t subdue a blind man!”
Iyer had displayed incredible skill during their journey, shooting down goblins with a bow despite his blindness, but Foreman was confident he could subdue an unarmed Iyer.
Iyer wasn’t particularly large or strong.
Foreman believed that if he could restrain Iyer and apply a chokehold, Iyer wouldn’t be able to escape.
Foreman wrapped his legs around Iyer’s abdomen and crossed his arms, using one to choke Iyer’s neck and the other to pin his right arm.
He had completely immobilized Iyer, except for his left hand.
If he continued to apply pressure, Iyer would lose consciousness.
Completely subdued, there would be no way for him to escape.
Foreman was certain of it.
“I wasn’t raised so gently either,” Iyer said, his neck being choked.
Foreman then realized something was strange.
Despite being completely restrained and choked, Iyer wasn’t moving.
He wasn’t even trying to escape, offering no resistance whatsoever.
Foreman realized, just before a fist flew towards his face, that this wasn’t the behavior of someone who had given up.
Thud!
A direct hit landed squarely on his face.
A groan escaped Foreman’s lips from the sudden attack.
But the blows didn’t stop.
Thud! Thud!
Foreman’s arms gradually weakened as punches rained down on his face.
‘What kind of strength is this…!’
It was Iyer’s left arm that was pummeling his face.
Despite being completely restrained, Iyer was delivering powerful punches with just his left arm, enough to make Foreman’s head spin.
It wasn’t human strength.
With his arms occupied with the chokehold, Foreman had no way to defend his face.
Foreman’s chokehold versus Iyer’s punches.
It was a battle to see who would knock the other unconscious first.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Foreman’s arms were half-limp.
His willpower was remarkable.
He hadn’t released the chokehold even after being pummeled to the point of near unconsciousness.
But in the end, it was Foreman who lost consciousness completely.
“I apologize. I’m confident in hand-to-hand combat.”
Iyer, who stood up as if nothing had happened after being choked for so long, delivered a few more punches to Foreman’s face to ensure he was unconscious, and then got to his feet.
“…How am I going to clean this up?”
Foreman, his face a bloody mess, lay unconscious.
Jonah, likewise, was sprawled unconscious on the ground.
Looking back and forth between the two, Iyer let out a deep sigh.
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