Unable to resist the child’s pleading, the knight commander went back down the stairs, but only after instructing the child to keep their eyes tightly closed until meeting Lutis.

Aeli, whose hand was still held by the child, also accompanied them.

Just in case, she tried to cover the child’s eyes with her translucent hand to shield them from the scene not suitable for preschool children.

-…Gasp.

Aeli felt a chill run down her spine at the internal scene, which was more serious than expected.

There were blood stains scattered everywhere, and dark bloodstains remained on the floor as if someone had been dragged.

Although she couldn’t smell it herself, she was certain that the scent of blood, which couldn’t be hidden just by covering the eyes, would be filling the room.

With that conviction, Aeli deliberately pressed her hand more firmly over the child’s eyes.

“Mmm…”

Unaware of the situation, the child just kept fidgeting their fingers as if feeling uncomfortable.

The handcuffs had long been broken when the knight commander picked up the child, but the child remained still in his arms.

‘…No matter how you look at it, we should take them out of here.’

Aeli’s face grew increasingly serious as she became certain that this was emotionally harmful, even if not visible.

Setting aside everything else, just seeing the small footprints that must have been stained with blood was enough.

Yes, small…

-…Huh?

Aeli’s face hardened as she sensed something strange.

There were quite a few small footprints that seemed to belong to children not even in their teens, let alone adults.

There’s no way they would have brought children of this age to watch a slave auction unless they were insane.

‘…This is crazy!’

Aeli’s anger flared at the traces of children who must have been captured as slaves.

No sane human could do such a thing.

…They must not be in their right minds to commit such an outrageous act in the middle of the duke’s territory.

“Commander, we’ve dealt with everything on this side.”

“What’s the ratio of those captured alive?”

“Just under 50%. They were struggling desperately to escape somehow…”

“When a slave auction is discovered, three generations are exterminated and the mansion is burned down, so it’s unavoidable.”

It must have been out of a desire to at least attempt escape rather than die in trial, and a faint hope that if they died without their identity being confirmed, their family might be spared.

That’s what motivated their actions.

There was no way nobles who value honor could bear the fact that their traces would be completely erased from the empire’s history.

‘If they were so afraid of that, they shouldn’t have done it in the first place.’

Aeli scoffed at how accustomed they were to just pretending to be noble on the surface.

Even as they went to find Lutis, the conversation between the knight commander and other knights continued intermittently.

They received reports from those they encountered along the way, and overheard conversations exchanged among themselves that weren’t reports.

“Is this all of those who were captured?”

“The interior is complex, so we may need to check further… but we’ve captured the suspect believed to be the mastermind for now.”

“Keep a close watch to prevent escape. We’ve already disappointed the duke once; if we make another mistake and anger him, there will be no way out this time.”

The knight saluted with discipline at the knight commander’s sincere admonition that they might really need to prepare to have their necks washed.

Then the knight commander ordered to release all victims but gather those with nowhere to go separately, and to search for any other places they might have missed.

Finally, they arrived where Lutis was.

“…Siren Montero.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

“Is it your hobby to put your life in danger? If so, I’m willing to send you back to the battlefield.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll have to decline.”

As the knight commander politely refused, Lutis frowned deeply and asked sharply.

“I’m sure I told you to take the child out, so why are they here?”

“Ah, Papa…”

“…”

Correction. In the middle of asking sharply, Lutis closed his mouth as the child called out to him, trembling like a newborn lamb.

After staring at the child with tightly closed eyes for a moment, Lutis sighed and spoke. His voice had softened considerably.

“Why didn’t you listen?”

“Papa… didn’t come…”

“…This is no place for a child. I’ll come out after finishing up here, so go back to the mansion first and rest-”

“But… if, if you leave me alo-hic… what should I…”

“…You won’t be alo-”

“I’m scared, Mari… waaah!”

“…”

He seemed to want to retort that the child wouldn’t be alone, with over a dozen knights around.

However, Lutis couldn’t easily open his mouth as the child began shedding large tears.

Aeli thought it was understandable, as he probably had never seen a child cry so earnestly before.

And apart from that.

“Hic, huuu… waaah!”

-…That, Adi…?

“Waaah… Pa, Papa, so-sorry…!”

Aeli froze with her mouth open at the child who was crying so hard that even snot bubbles were hanging as they shed tears.

The scene fell silent as the child wailed, threatening to call Papa ‘a stupid idiot of an uncle who only cares about himself and has no consideration’ from now on.

-…

Uh, well…

Good job…?

Anyway, it wasn’t her business, so Aeli offered lukewarm consolation to Lutis.

It wasn’t truly consolation, but she didn’t care much since she knew it wouldn’t reach him anyway.

Only then did Lutis belatedly check the child’s mood and open his mouth.

“…Stop.”

“Waaah!”

“…”

It had no effect.

Rather, the child who started crying out of anger only stretched out their arms towards Lutis after a long while. It meant they wanted to be held.

-…

From the child’s perspective, they had just experienced something scary, and the parent who finally came looking for them disappeared completely, leaving them with strangers.

It was natural to feel upset even if they tried to act mature, when they should have been comforted and held at this age, but were left like that for hours.

Lutis looked back and forth between the child reaching out to him and his own attire, then hesitated and shook his head.

“…It’s dirty with blood.”

“Hic…!”

“If, if my cloak is alright, please use it!”

In the end, the knight who had been holding the child until now couldn’t overcome the atmosphere and shouted.

With no other choice, Lutis, who ended up wrapped tightly in the knight’s cloak over his blood-stained shirt, picked up the child. It was quite a comical sight.

As the child buried their face in Lutis’s shoulder and continued sniffling from unresolved sorrow,

“Ah, there… there’s someone escaping! Someone catch them!”

Aeli reflexively turned her head at the shout from far away.

She saw a figure running towards them, perhaps trying to escape.

If there was something a bit unexpected, one was that the figure was much smaller than anticipated,

“…Huh?”

“…!”

And the other was that it was a familiar face.

The startled child gaped as they saw the boy being held up by the scruff of his neck in the knight commander’s hand.

-Th-the, the ears…

Aeli was no exception.

The sound of heavy breathing echoed through the hallway as he pressed one hand firmly against his abdomen, which seemed to be injured, with bright red blood seeping through.

Tanned skin, uncommon ash-gray hair, pitch-black eyes.

In addition, round ears and a tail protruded from the boy’s head and tailbone area, revealing sharp claws and fangs.

‘No-not a foreigner…’

Was he a different species? Aeli silently stared at the boy before her.

It was indeed the same boy who had bought bread with the money he received from the child and Lutis the previous evening.

Before she could ask how someone who was in the neighboring territory could be captured and brought to a slave auction in the duke’s territory overnight,

The boy lost consciousness in the knight commander’s grasp shortly after making eye contact with the child.

Whether it was because he felt certain he was now safe, or because he could no longer endure, was unknown.

Having anticipated from the beginning that the boy had no particular connections, they brought him to the duke’s territory for now.

“Young master, please refrain from walking as much as possible for the time being to prevent the wounds on your feet from worsening. Also, apply the medicine consistently, and it would be good to rest in your bedroom until tomorrow since you must have been shocked.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Is there anything else?”

“Well, about this boy…”

“…”

“He appears to be around 12-13 years old, but his nutritional state is very poor. With his physique at the level of a 10-year-old and injuries on top of that, he’s likely to remain unconscious for some time due to lack of strength.”

“…Roughly how long until he regains consciousness?”

“It’s estimated to be about 3-4 days, but even that’s not certain… If he doesn’t wake up after that, please call for me again.”

“…Alright, you may go.”

Lutis said, rubbing his brow.

As if unaware of the child’s gaze fixed on him from the side, the boy lay motionless on the bed with his eyes closed.

Given that the boy’s identity was of a mixed-race known for not revealing their true form, it was impossible to simply entrust him to some facility within the duke’s territory.

So in the end, they brought him to the mansion.

It was after the doctor who had examined the child’s feet, ankles, and other bruises, as well as the boy’s wounds, had left the room.

Lutis sighed and ordered the aide beside him.

“From what I saw earlier, he was a bear beastman. Among mixed races, bear beastmen are famous for cherishing their young ones dearly. Even if he were of mixed blood or had some issues, there’s no way they would abandon him alone among humans like this.”

“…”

“It’s until we return to the capital. Find out why this mixed-race is here. Also, look into the slave auction matter.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Keep constant watch on those in the underground prison to prevent suicide.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

The aide answered, bowing his head.

It was after the storm had passed.

About a week later.

“…So. They were caught conducting a slave auction?”

In the dark night, a mysterious man spoke.