It happened just as I predicted.

All three of the people whose job it was to "protect" us were defeated fairly quickly and... relatively easily.

Despite his large build, the man moved quickly, punching one of them into the wall, kicking the second one to the ground and knocking the wind out of him, and sending the third one to the other world with the back of his hand.

It was that simple.

I wouldn't be surprised if the guards were actually effective... I don't know why, but they always put useless ones on duty.

Always the same scenario.

"Now... let's focus on you again."

He turned his eyes back to us.

His gaze lingered on me for a moment, but Franz's voice caused him to look away, much like the guards had done when they passed in front of us earlier.

"Hello… I assume you are Harrison Reross?"

I had never seen Franz look so serious before.

There was not a trace of his angelic smile on his face.

On the contrary, his blue eyes looked calm and cold.

"You're right! You must be Franz Martin Inferesse."

His eyes turned away from him and back to me.

"And you…"

His smile faltered, his eyes grew serious.

He looked at me carefully, as if I weren't real, as if he were trying to confirm that I was really there.

"You're James Bluelet, whom I killed this morning."

…

Wait...

Really?

"I wonder how you're alive. After all, your body is still in our possession."

He took a slow step toward me.

"Or… maybe you're not alive."

He turned his eyes behind me, toward Franz.

"And nothing more than a game played to deceive Tom Bluelet."

"With all due respect, I am the one who found him, and I have records of the moment I found him. My head is just as confused as yours, actually..."

Franz was behind me, but I could feel his gaze on my back.

"Are you sure you have his body? He's here, in front of us, after all..."

Although there was a certain tension between them, both had remained respectful up to this point.

"Don't play games with me, kid."

But Harrison Reross set that respect aside after Franz's last words.

"I put the bullet in his head with my own hands, and I watched his body being carried away. I scanned the body before coming here. I did all the tests. I don't know what kind of things you're mixing up, but don't play the innocent with me—"

He suddenly stopped, turning around.

It happened suddenly, as if he had suddenly realized something was wrong.

There was a figure at the door he had opened with his own hands.

He was a calm-looking man with a suit covered in blood, his brown hair disheveled, and his green eyes flashing angrily.

He was looking at us.

Tom Bluelet had made it in time.

"F- Father!"

No matter how bad his relationship with his father was, James was the type of person who would be grateful to see him in a situation like this.

And so was I.

But... his eyes didn't turn to me even once.

His entire focus was on the man standing between us, Harrison Reross.

"Oh. Hello, Tom."

Harrison Reross slightly curled the corners of his lips upward.

He saw the blood on his suit, and his smile widened.

"I wonder…"

He turned his back on us, as if we were insignificant, and focused all his attention on the man in front of him, just like the man in front of him.

"Whose side are you on, right now?"

Tom Bluelet was silent, not seeming to be listening to what was being said. But Harrison Reross continued.

"As we've discussed many times before, are you on our side…"

…

Wait.

"Or is it the Inferesses?"

What did he say?

I replayed what he said in my mind, but Tom Bluelet took action before I had a chance to do so.

He hadn't answered Harrison, but his action itself was an answer.

The pieces of ice covering his hand and his eyes that clearly revealed his target made his intentions clear.

Harrison was his enemy.

"So that's how it is now!"

Harrison Reross raised both hands at the same time, his skin color and even the color of his clothes darkening instantly.

Tom Bluelet's ice-covered hand met his hardened arms.

~cling!

A sharp sound echoed through the room, as if two pieces of metal had collided.

Small scratches had appeared on Harrison's hardened arms, while his opponent's hands were covered in sharp, pointed ice shards, which were still intact.

At first glance, the two seemed evenly matched in strength.

Yes, his opponent's attack had broken through Harrison's defense and left countless small cuts on his arm, but he hadn't been knocked back. In fact, he had gained the opportunity for a counterattack.

And he seized that opportunity as quickly as possible.

Just like his arms, the color of his legs darkened, then he spun quickly around and kicked his opponent.

But the difference between them became clear right there.

They were in a narrow space.

They couldn't use their skills as they wanted to.

This was a fight where technique and speed were more important than destructive power.

And Tom Bluelet was superior in both of those areas.

Everything happened very quickly.

Before Harrison's kick could reach him, he raised his knee to block the attack. As he executed the block, he slightly lowered his raised knee and swiftly tripped Harrison with a swift movement.

He landed his icy fist on his opponent, who had lost his balance, and without even allowing him to defend himself, he threw another punch. As Harrison fell to the ground, he collapsed on top of him and continued to land punch after punch.

At one point, Harrison tried to throw him back, but the ice spreading from Tom's body pinned him to the ground.

He took punch after punch, blow after blow.

Blood spread across his face.

With each punch, a dull sound echoed as if his bones were breaking.

It was pure savagery.

In the end, his arm, which he could barely lift, collapsed to the ground.

Even though Harrison was motionless, Tom landed three more punches on him.

He wanted to be sure, taking no chances.

The ice fragments had already made the man's face unrecognizable, but now they made it even more unrecognizable.

Only then did he stop, stand up straight, and take a deep breath.

I couldn't take my eyes off Harrison.

Perhaps a man who had reached B-level, someone with considerable destructive power… how easily he lost?

Under the right conditions, the general level, the destructive power, or other things really don't matter much. This scene clearly proves it.

"Thank you, Mr. Bluelet!"

Hearing Franz's voice, I remembered his presence again.

After the savagery that had unfolded before me, I had forgotten he was behind me.

"You arrived just in time. Otherwise, we could have been in that man's place right now…"

Tom fixed his still-glowing green eyes on Franz without saying a word.

Though not a single word came out of his mouth, he seemed disturbed by Franz's attitude.

~tap! ~tap! ~tap!

But just then, another sound reached our ears: footsteps.

They echoed in the corridor, getting closer and closer to us.

~thud!

But then it paused.

Another figure appeared at the door.

Another familiar, non-hostile figure.

Someone with the Inferesse crest and the exact same face as Franz.

Philip Inferesse.

"You're alive, how wonderful!"

That's what he said when he saw us. Then he saw Harrison lying on the ground, the crest on his jacket, and Tom standing over him.

"And you've taken care of the enemy, even better!"

Tom Bluelet sighed deeply. He shook himself off and stood up, straightening his tie.

The sparkle in his green eyes faded as he looked at Philip.

"What's the situation?"

"We repelled the attack. There are quite a few casualties, but most are minor. We can say that the Rerosses came to destroy themselves."

He approached us but stopped before reaching us and kicked Harrison, who was lying on the ground, a few times with his foot.

"If Harrison is dead, there's nothing else to talk about."

Harrison was not the leader of the Reross Family, but he was the leader's brother.

After the losses incurred here, it would be unlikely for them to recover.

He shifted his focus from Harrison's body to us. He scanned us as if checking for wounds. When he was sure there were none, he broadened his smile.

"It would be better if we left here and went to a more… spacious place."

He was right.

This was not a place suitable for talking or listening.

"Absolutely! It would be great to take a shower."

Franz quickly walked over to his father.

The two exchanged a brief glance before taking their first steps out of the room. At that moment, Tom Bluelet was looking at me.

As Philip and Franz were about to leave the room, he sighed slightly and turned around.

"Let's go, follow me."

I simply nodded silently.

I turned my eyes to Harrison one last time before taking my first steps out of the room.

His death... was a pity.

It was almost sad, considering his power and position.

But it didn't matter much at this point.

I took my eyes off him and headed for the door.

At least I didn't have to step out of my role. As long as I revised the plan again, there shouldn't be a probl—

~bzzt!

~tchkt!

"What's the situation over there?"

I stopped suddenly.

Philip, Franz, and Tom stopped with me.

The sound... was coming from the body on the ground, from Harrison.

More precisely, from the device he had lifted up and was holding in his hand right now.

"We're waiting for the convoy."

What was noticeable was that both voices belonged to people who were quite familiar.

The person asking about their condition was Tom Bluelet.

The one answering, meanwhile... was Harrison Reross.

"They'll be here in five minutes, then we'll kill James and finish the job."

"Good, make sure he's dead."

"Of course! No problem."

~bzzt!

~tchkt!

It was a recording.

It was clearly a recording.

And the sound echoed down the entire corridor, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"H- heh…"

The body, indistinguishable from a corpse, trembled slightly, and the recording device in his hand slipped from his fingers and fell to the ground.

"Before I... g- go… I needed to stir... things up a bit… cough!"

He couldn't finish his sentence.

He fell silent.

And died.

Now, after he dropped the bomb… all eyes were on Tom Bluelet.

And me.