“Uhh, uh, uh, wha—“

Pressed back by Sebas’ smile, the man uttered incoherently. Without even realizing that his breathing grew harsh, the man tried to retreat back farther.

Sebas fastened the scroll he had been holding in his hand until now to his belt, the one he bought from the Magician’s Guild. He took exactly one step forward in order to close the distance between him and the man and stretched out his hand. The man could not even react to that movement. The hand that was grasping onto the hem of Sebas’ pants fell to the ground without a sound.

As if that was the signal, the outstretched hand grabbed the man’s throat and— too easily, his body was lifted into the air.

When comparing Sebas with the man based solely on their outer appearance, Sebas had no chance of victory. Age, thickness of the chest, arms, height, weight, and the smell of violence that their bodies exuded, Sebas could not beat him in anything.

That old gentleman had lifted the powerful heavyweight of a man into the air with one hand—

—No, that wasn’t the case. If there was a third party present, that person may be able to keenly sense the ‘difference’ between the two men. Humans possessed the senses of living creatures— even if they were duller than that of wild animals, would they not realize it if such a clear distinction was placed before them?

The ‘difference’ between Sebas and the man was—

—the difference between the strongest and the weakest.

Now completely off the ground, the man thrashed his feet about and twisted his body. As he tried to grab Sebas’ arm with his hands, his eyes filled with terror, as if he had come to a realization.

The man had just managed to figure out that the old man in front of him was an existence completely at odds with his outer appearance. Useless retaliation would only serve to further anger the monster in front of him.

“That girl, ‘what’ is she?”

A quiet voice flowed into the man who had stiffened up with fear.

His voice flowed quietly, like clear water. The stark contrast with how he was easily holding the man in the air with one hand only served to terrify him further.

“S-She’s our employee.”

The man responded desperately, his voice etched in fear.

“I asked ‘what’ she was. Are you replying to my question by saying that she is an ‘employee’?”

The man wondered if he had given the wrong answer. But was that not the most correct reply in this situation? His wide eyes looked about frantically, moving around like the eyes of a scared animal.

“Ah, there are some among my comrades who also treat humans like objects. I ventured to guess whether or not you also fall under that category. If you saw humans as objects, then you would not feel any remorse. But you replied by referring to her as an employee. Then you have done what you did while recognizing her as a human, correct? I will ask you again. What were you going to do with her?”

The man thought briefly. However—

A sound like something being crushed rang out.

Strength went into Sebas’ arm, instantly making it painful for the man to breathe.

“—Urrkgahhh!”

The man screamed with a bizarre noise as Sebas channeled strength into his hand, making it even more difficult for him to breathe. ‘I will not give you the time to ponder, answer immediately.’ His message was clear.

“S-She’s sick. I was taking her to the temp—“

“—I do not like lies.”

“Gaaghhah!”

The strength in Sebas’ arm grew even stronger and the man’s face became dyed completely red as he screamed out once more. Even if he could suspend all disbelief and acknowledge that putting her into a sack to transport her to the temple was a possibility, Sebas could not sense even a shred of concern from the man towards the girl when that same sack was dashed against the ground, like he was throwing out the trash.

“Stop…Gaah.”

With his air escaping him, the man’s life was in danger. He started to flail his legs, unable to think of anything else.

Sebas easily blocked the fist heading for his face with one hand. Although the man’s flailing legs slammed into his body and dirtied his clothes, Sebas did not budge.

—It was obvious. A normal human cannot move a giant block of steel with their feet.

Although he was kicked by a pair of thick legs, Sebas calmly continued to speak, as if he wasn’t even in pain.

“I recommend that you speak truthfully.”

“Urk—“

With the man no longer able to breathe, Sebas narrowed his eyes as he looked up at the man’s reddened face. He aimed for the moment just before he lost consciousness and released him.

The man rolled onto the floor with a loud noise.

“Uugh, haa, haa, haa.”

He expelled the last of the air that remained in his lungs with a scream and greedily gasped for breath. Sebas looked down at him in silence. He then reached once more for the man’s throat.

“W-wait, h-hold on!”

With fear piercing his body, he painfully stumbled on the floor, away from Sebas’ hand.

“T-T-Temple! I was going to take her to the temple!”

Still with the lies, his willpower is unexpectedly strong…

He had expected the man to break under the pain and the fear of death. However, despite being frightened, he showed no signs of spilling the truth. The danger of leaking information rivaled the danger that Sebas posed.

Sebas considered changing his approach. In some sense, this place was enemy territory.

The reason the man did not call for help from beyond the door was because he did not expect any of his allies to respond immediately. Regardless, staying any longer will cause the situation to become more bothersome.

He did not receive any orders to cause trouble for his master, only to keep himself hidden and quietly collect information.

“If that is what you were planning then there will not be a problem even if I am the one to take her. I will make sure that she recovers.”

The man’s surprised eyes shook side-to-side. He then desperately squeezed out his next words.

“… There’s no guarantee that you’ll take her there.”

“Then how about if you accompany me?”