Chapter 7

Matilda, being a rabbit girl, has far superior hearing and is sensitive to the presence of others compared to ordinary humans.

However, even she, with her extensive experience as a mercenary and her expertise in "hiding in the bushes, eliminating her presence, and holding her breath," did not notice the men until just before they emerged from the bushes.

She only realized it just as the three men were about to jump out from the bushes.

In a split second, she shouted, "Master Noein!" to alert her master, and delivered a kick towards the rustling sound from the right bush. By the time she turned to face her master,

"Whoa, don't move. Don't move... or I'll hurt you."

Her precious master was held captive, a knife pressed against his neck.

Noein himself, taken aback by the sudden turn of events, seemed to still be processing the situation.

"This is your pet, right? If you care about him, don't move... I won't kill you, but I will if you do."

The man holding the knife to Noein's neck warned Matilda, his eyes never leaving her. He seemed to have judged that she had combat skills from her earlier kick and was now on guard.

"Alright, Radley, tie up that rabbit girl. We need to take her with us and get out of here quickly."

"Got it."

At the leader's command, the man with the bloody nose approached Matilda with a rope in hand.

As Matilda backed away, glaring at the man, he warned her, "Hey, hey, hey, we're not going to kill or rape you. We're just tying you up. We'll keep you immobilized until we get far enough away... If you move, the kid will suffer."

The leader moved the knife closer to Noein's right eye as he spoke...

"Alright. I'll stay still. Just don't hurt him."

Before the knife could reach Noein's eye, Matilda said this and knelt down.

The man with the bloody nose quickly tied her up, then rummaged through the cart and carried several bags of food.

Meanwhile, the thin man searched Noein's clothes and, saying, "Here it is, boss," handed over a bag containing all of Noein's possessions to the leader.

Having taken the money and food, the men seemed to have achieved their goal.

"We're leaving. We'll release the kid on the way, but if you follow us, we'll kill him. If you don't want that, just stay tied up here."

The leader said this and the three men carried Noein away.

"It's okay, Matilda. I'm fine, I'm fine."

The 15-year-old master, despite his worried and tearful face, tried to reassure Matilda with brave words as he was carried away like a piece of luggage.

Just as his figure was about to disappear,

"! Master Noein! Master Noein! Noooooo!"

Matilda, who had been trying to suppress her agitation and think of a way to save her master, finally reached her limit and screamed.

...

Noein Alcquist is a bit of a misanthrope, but that doesn't mean he is mentally strong or tough.

Having had an unfortunate birth, he can handle being disliked by others, but he is not used to being threatened with serious intent, let alone with a knife.

He is not good at rough stuff, is small in stature, has no combat training, and has never experienced a real threat to his life.

So he was very scared now. Even though the thieves said they would release him on the way, he couldn't trust them and was genuinely afraid that he would be killed.

He didn't want to die. As both a noble and an individual, he still had many attachments to this world.

So, how could he get out of this situation?

He couldn't possibly fight these thieves, even if the world were turned upside down.

The only option was to use his mind, his words, and his persuasion. He didn't have much confidence in his persuasion skills, but it was a better hope than trying to fight them with physical strength.

While he was thinking this, the thieves continued to move with Noein in tow. They seemed to be heading south, tracing the edge of the Bazel Great Forest.

On the way, two more people joined them, a man and a woman.

"Boss, it seems you've successfully captured the target."

"Yeah. You did well too... At this point, he's no longer useful to us."

As he said this to the newly joined subordinates, the leader looked at Noein.

The other four also turned their eyes towards him. Five pairs of eyes were now on him.

Scary.

"... I learned while gathering information in the city that you are a noble, 'Sir of the Forest.'"

The leader said this, and the man's face, which had been expressionless until then, quickly filled with hatred.

"I lied when I said I would release you. We usually release hostages unharmed, but not nobles. We kill nobles. So, I'm going to kill you."

As he said this, the man pulled out a knife.

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad, this is bad. I'm really going to be killed.

"W-Why do you kill nobles? W-Why do you hate them?"

In a desperate attempt to prolong his life, these words came out of his mouth.

"... You want to know? Since I'm going to kill you anyway, I'll tell you. We hate nobles because they tried to kill us."

The man then told his story—Yuri's story.

He talked about how he had led a mercenary group of considerable size, how he was hired by a noble in the southern part of the kingdom to provide troops for a conflict with the eastern Palas Empire, and how he and his men were used as pawns and many of them died cruelly.

He talked about how they had to flee the battlefield to survive, killing several knights in the process, and how they became outlaws and turned to thievery.

He talked about how they hated the noble class that had put them in this situation.

The young noble, who had been on the verge of wetting himself in fear, suddenly changed his expression and showed an evil smile.

"I see. I see, I see. So, you were also played by that damn father of mine."

This smile was so out of place for a young man who might not even be an adult, and who had been on the verge of tears just moments ago.

It was an evil smile that even Yuri, who had seen many battlefields, found a bit frightening.

"Hey, what are you thinking?"

"Maybe, just maybe, the noble who hired you and used you as pawns was the Count of Kivireft?"

"Wh-What! You! How do you know that!"

Yuri immediately stiffened and tried to hide his shock, but his subordinates couldn't do the same. They reacted so obviously that they inadvertently revealed that they had fled from the Count of Kivireft's army.

Then, the young noble, who had been on the verge of wetting himself in fear, suddenly changed his expression and showed an evil smile.

"I see. I see, I see. So, you were also played by that damn father of mine."

This smile was so out of place for a young man who might not even be an adult, and who had been on the verge of tears just moments ago.

It was an evil smile that even Yuri, who had seen many battlefields, found a bit frightening.