The Whitmoon Festival begins in a month.
Due to the many travelers coming in and out of the capital, the city's security forces were tightened, especially around the castle.
Next to the castle was a prison filled with people who had broken the rules of tier 1 and tier 2, whom the royal family kept for certain purposes. Castle's prison was the strictest among the other prisons, and the soldiers who guarded the place were more or less palladium-ranked or higher.
But that day…
All the soldiers who guarded the prison died, including the prisoners inside their cells. All of them were believed to have committed suicide. The archers pierced their necks with arrows, the vanguards pierced their heads with swords, and the prisoners slit their throats.
"What the hell is going on here!"
The head of the knights and one of the ten royal councils, Maximilian Beatrix Glenham, had just come in the afternoon because he had heard about this from his aide.
It happened in the morning. At that time, many people were working outside, but no one could hear a scream from inside the underground prison.
Even the guards, whose job it was to watch the outside prison, were inside and also killed themselves.
"Check every corner! Look for anything you find unusual! Just hope someone left a trail!"
The soldiers split up, looking for anything strange that was left inside the prison. In the main hall, there were footprints where blood had been stepped on. Then there was a dead soldier impaled on a sword, but the sword wasn't there.
"My Lord! You must see this!" said one of the soldiers.
Maximilian followed him, and he came to one of the prisoners' cells.
The iron bars were broken and cut in neat circles.
"What did they use to cut this neatly..." said Maximilian as he touched the bars.
"Whose cell is this?"
"That is the man His Highness Leofric arrested; his name is Arthur Lambert."
"Arthur Lambert? How long has he been in prison?"
"About a week."
"I see..."
'That is, there's no way he did it all by himself. Someone helped him get out of here.'
"Investigate this person further. Search his hometown, his family, everything." Maximilian ordered.
"Yes, my Lord!"
The Whitmoon Festival hadn't started yet, and someone had already damaged one of the best security areas in the castle.
"Oya oya, what a dreadful sight! Have you found out who caused all this?"
From behind Maximilian, he heard a voice that was very familiar to him. It was Prince Leofric, who was wearing a casual blue tunic.
"Your highness! What are you doing here?" Maximilian said as he placed his hand on his chest.
"I heard from my assistant about this. And coincidentally, one of my captives from yesterday is also here. Is he dead now?"
"Sir, most likely, the prisoner you took, Arthur Lambert, is the cause of all this."
"I see... But as I recall, he doesn't have this kind of ability. If he did, he would have killed that kid in the dungeon."
"What kid, your highness?"
"Nothing, I'm just talking to myself."
Leofric looked at the bars, then he said,
"Is there a possibility that Noctem Dolls did it? If I'm not mistaken, my brother Harald brought one of their members yesterday."
"It seems unlikely; one of their members is also dead, and it's a suicide."
Leofric looked around his blood-soiled clothes,
"Gross, I'll go out. Please take care here."
Then he stood up and walked away, thinking,
'God's blessing that can make people kill themselves... it shouldn't be possible because there are Clandestine flowers inside.
Clandestine flowers can absorb mana, but they don't actually go very deep into the human body. So if we are in prison, we still have mana, even if it's only a little.
But from the number of dead soldiers, it's impossible to do that with a small amount of mana.'
...
...
...
"Leader, Lewin is dead. He slit his throat."
"I see... it's a pity; his god's blessing was good."
A woman with short green hair was talking to a man wearing a black robe. A hood covered his head, but his long white hair was clearly visible coming out of the hood. The man was sewing a female doll the size of his hand.
They were talking in a place that looked like a ruin. It was rundown, gray, and dark. However, afternoon light could be seen through the ruins' holes.
The man sat under the light, smiling.
"Leader, don't you want to know why he killed himself?" the woman asked.
"Ah. Sorry, I was too focused on sewing and didn't think about it clearly. So why did he kill himself?"
"I don't know either. When I arrived, the prisoners were all dead, and it seemed they were all suicides. I wonder what god's blessing can be used without mana."
"Clandestine flower is not a flower that makes people unable to use mana, but a flower that absorbs mana. When people go into prison, the mana must still be left in their bodies. Maybe they used the remaining mana they have to do that."
"Is that so... but the number of people who commit suicide is vast. Is it possible to do such a thing with a small amount of mana?"
"How many?"
"There's almost a whole village, probably around 100 people, and the positions vary. Some are in the main hall, some are near the prison, and some are in the toilet."
"Then it's impossible... the mana inside the body will be slowly absorbed by the clandestine flower, while the mana released will be absorbed directly without remaining.
It might still be understandable if the victim gathers in one place, but only if they have a tremendous amount of mana. But if the victims were scattered in different places, the god's blessing would be inactivated before it could reach its target."
"Then, do you have any assumptions on this, leader? Or do you think this person is not a threat?"
"That's right. I still don't know their purpose for doing that. For sure, they are not targeting us. But still, they killed one of our friends; we have to fight back, right?"
He said it without emotion or care for his dead friend.
"My clan, the Norrtish have been slaughtered by the kingdom for being dangerous. If I let my friend die and don't feel anything about it, it will just justify their thoughts. We, the Noctem Dolls, should at least be humane to our members," he explained again.
Noctem Dolls was a high-class criminal organization that had troubled the Wildenhall Kingdom for more than ten years. They killed, stole, and some raped. Their targets were primarily nobles, but in some cases, they were also killed commoners. What made them terrible was that they were killers with a strong trust and bond with their companions, making them hard to trace even when one of them was captured and interrogated.
One of their friends, named Lewin, was caught by the second prince, Harald Regina Wildenhall, and imprisoned in the kingdom. But now their friend was now dead, killing himself in prison.
"Well, I didn't like Lewin, but we should at least avenge him," said the woman coldly, who was just like the leader. She didn't feel anything when her companion died, but felt she had to avenge him, even though they knew it was troublesome.
The leader put down his doll, and then he looked at the woman, who seemed to be carrying something beside her.
"By the way, what are you carrying in your hand, Elinor?" asked the leader.
"Oh right, I almost forgot."
"Hahaha, that's your bad habit; you always forget the little things."
Elinor threw the person she was holding in her left hand. The person was thrown forward under the afternoon sunlight inside that dark room.
"And this person is…?"
"I found him in prison, on top of the suicide corpse; he is the only one who is still alive."
It was Arthur Lambert. His body was strangely drooping, motionless, like a corpse. The leader then stopped sewing his doll and looked at Arthur.
"Poor thing, you took away his freedom. Give him back his freedom again, Elinor."
Elinor approached Arthur and walloped him in the heart.
"GAKH!" Arthur suddenly regained movement, and then he vomited.
"Wh-what happened? Everything suddenly went dark!" Arthur shouted.
"Poor thing, Elinor's god's blessing is indeed very scary. Don't worry; you're still alive. You can still see and are already in the real world." The leader's voice that Arthur heard was very soft, almost as soft as the white-haired woman who freed him, except that this man's voice was not as gripping as the woman's.
The leader then jumped from a distant place and was suddenly in front of Arthur, his feet descending slowly, like floating.
"So, young man, are you the god-blessing user who made those people kill themselves?" he asked.
Arthur lifted his head and was shocked. He once again saw a Norttish in front of him, and not only that, but his face was the same face on the wanted sheets scattered throughout the city. A blue-eyed Norttish man with ponytail hair.
"No! That is not my fault; I did not cause it!"Arthur shouted.
'What the hell! It's Noctem Dolls's leader, Ivaylo!' Arthur thought.
"Well then, you seem to know who did it, right?"
"Yes, she is..."
Arthur bowed his head, he tried to recall the face of the woman who had freed him from prison, but he could not. He didn't remember anything at all, apparently, and everything. All he remembered was only one, and that was…
"Kallen, her name is Kallen. That's all I remember."
"So that's it..."
Elinor then kicked Arthur's body.
"Don't lie. How come you remember the name but not the appearance?" She said expressionlessly.
"That's true! I don't remember anything but her name!"
Elinor continued to kick Arthur.
"Why don't you just kill him?" it turned out that it wasn't just the three of them there; a rough male voice was coming from the darkness.
"No no no, just let the leader and Elinor take care of it. Relax, Adam"
"I'm afraid I'm not much of a torturer like Elinor, so instead of getting beaten up, it's better to be killed, right?"
Arthur's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. There were at least nine people in the room with him. Two people were playing chess on the left, and the other two on the right appeared to be doing weapon maintenance. Adam and the person who scolded him earlier were the ones playing chess.
"Enough, Elinor," said their leader, Ivaylo.
Ivaylo approached the light and stared at it for a long time, the light shining all over his tall and thin body. He thought of all the possibilities that could happen in prison.
"That was sloppy," said Ivaylo.
"Who is, leader?" said Elinor, confused.
"This Kallen individual. Perhaps her god's blessing is related to memory manipulation, which may be why people there committed suicide, and why this young man lost his memory. But, strangely, this young man could remember her name. Which means she intentionally didn't erase that part."
"That's amazing, leader. You can assume that far." said Elinor, who still had no expression even though she was praising him.
Then Ivaylo continued.
"Then there's a reason why Kallen let this man live. It is also the reason why we should not kill this man."
"Are you serious, leader? Then what should we do with him?" asked Adam, who stopped playing chess.
Ivaylo squatted in front of Arthur, who still looked in pain.
"You are now a royal fugitive, just like us. What will you do now?"
Arthur, without hesitation, answered immediately.
"I have to kill someone, a black-haired boy."
"!!!"
Surprisingly, everyone there immediately stopped moving. Then one of them approached.
"Did you meet a black-haired boy?"
That person comes from the left. She was a woman with fair skin, black eyes, and long black hair. She was wearing a white mask that only had one eye.
"Where did you meet him?" she asked again.
"In-in the dungeon."
"Is he the same height as you?" she asked again.
"No, he's still a child."
The woman disappointedly turned around and returned to her place.
"I'm sorry, Nishizaka was stranded from another world to this world. She was looking for her friend. So she thought you met her friend who was also stranded in this world." Said Ivaylo.
Then Ivaylo continued,
"So, can you tell me more about that boy?"
Arthur somehow felt like he wanted to tell everything in front of Ivaylo; without hesitation, he said it in front of everyone,
"That kid... he killed someone precious to me, so if I don't kill him, I won't be satisfied! I'll look for him wherever he is and will kill him with my hands!"
"Aissh, just kill him, Leader. People like him are just stupid boys talking about useless grudges," said Adam with annoyance.
Suddenly the atmosphere became heavy, and Ivaylo looked at Adam with a terrible smile.
"Adam, will you shut up?"
"…"
Ivaylo then looked at Arthur,
"Are you willing to kill an innocent person to kill that person?"
"OF COURSE! ANYTHING THAT GETS IN MY WAY, EVEN IF HE'S A PRINCE, I WILL KILL HIM!" shouted Arthur.
"Aaah, no shouting. Welcome to Noctem Dolls, then."
"!!!"
"Leader! Are you serious?" Elinor's face, which had been expressionless, now showed her shocked face.
"This snot-nosed kid got into our organization?!" Adam shouted.
"Whatever," said Nishizaka.
"Me too; all of the leader's decisions so far have always gone well. It just so happens that Lewin is dead, so we need new members," said the man who was playing chess with Adam.
"I think you should doubt this one, Ralph. His body is small and he looks very weak; we don't even know his god's blessing yet. Don't you need to rethink about this, leader?" this time, the voice came from next to Nishizaka.
"Aren't you small too? Why are you talking like that?" replied Ralph.
"What did you say?!"
Ivaylo raised his hand, and everyone fell silent. Ivaylo held Arthur's head and stroked his hair.
"So what? I believe you can become stronger here; plus, if you're with us, you can get your revenge."
"I'd be happy to join your organization. Order me to kill anyone, I will do it as long as you can bring me to that child."
But in his heart, he refused to join. He doesn't want to be controlled by others.
'I don't want to, but there is no other way to survive this situation other than joining them. I'll run away when I get the chance.'