Marcus dropped Martin like a poor sack of potatoes on the edge of a dull, dark, and damp room in the basement of one of the buildings in Meriel’s Haven. The cultist arrived at the orphanage tied and gagged, concealed by Marcus’s [Unseen Veil] skill so that he wouldn’t arouse fear from the establishment’s peaceful inhabitants. After the situation with Stella and Louise, they were led here, where the cultist would be kept.

  “H-hey,” Stella stammered from behind, watching as he roughened up the cultist a bit more. “You really don’t need to…”

  “Let him do his work,” Louise chided, her arms crossed as she shot a glare at the cultist. “He knows what he’s doing.”

  Marcus removed the piece of cloth on Martin’s mouth. The cultist immediately gasped as Marcus forced him to look up at him. He gave him a cold glare, enough that Martin practically trembled under Marcus’s gaze.

  “You talk to them respectfully,” Marcus said. “And I want you to beg a lot for mercy. Secondarily, even if she grants you mercy…”

  Marcus leaned closer. “Don’t get too comfortable.”

  “U-understood, sir.”

  “Good.”

  Marcus stood up before standing to the side to give Louise and Stella both a better look at the cultist he captured. Marcus leaned his back on the wall, scoffing a bit, as he spoke to Stella. “As you well know, this guy’s a Lourian citizen. Quite frankly, I’m of the opinion that throwing him to the Royal Army’s clutches and letting them have their way with him is a good one.”

  Marcus laughed.

  “His usefulness for me already ran out, anyway.”

  “Grr…damn it, I knew you’re the kind who kills those who surrender.” Martin glared at Marcus. “I should have fought to the very end.”

  “You already did. You just got defeated.”

  The cultist stared at Marcus with a murderous gaze. Marcus didn’t care though, as he wasn’t really joking. The only reason he decided to talk and give this cultist a chance to breathe this world’s wonderful air a little longer than he should have was because Marcus wanted leads on that little Miss Cockroach and other clowns of the Death God Cult. Now that he extracted most useful intel from Martin, the final approach left was to dispose of him.

  That’s how we did it in hell. Marcus thought. Once we capture an enemy demon that is sentient, we’ll torture them, sometimes for weeks, until they start talking. When they’re finished…

  The policy of the Holy Astrean Army against any and all demons was simple: complete extermination. It was only fair after all, for the demon horde would not spare humans a chance for mercy. In that war, any demon, including their collaborationists, was a mortal enemy of mankind itself, and thus, they would be killed, no matter what.

  While Martin was a cultist who had more sense than the rest of the cultists Marcus faced, in his eyes, Martin was no better than a common household pest. He had absolutely no pity or empathy for the person in front of him, and Marcus would end his pitiful life in an instant should it be required.

  But now, I have to consider her feelings too…

  It was something Marcus had come to learn since his travels with Stella. She was a merciful woman, the kind who would talk and be kind, even to her enemies, provided, of course, that they were kind to her if they were defeated. Otherwise, Marcus would step in and do what must be done. Until then, though, he wanted to let her do her thing.

  Perhaps she would have a better idea on how to deal with a surrendered cultist than Marcus did.

  Stella entered the dark room, looked down at the cultist, then knelt to his level. The cultist naturally turned more relaxed just by having Stella closer to him. Immediately, he began pleading for mercy.

  “Y-Your Highness! I know I’m a sinful, wretched creature, and I know I worked alongside the worst this world had to offer!” Martin shouted. “But I was blinded by my lust for power and greatness. I’m a fool! A massive fool! But please…”

  Martin began trembling.

  “I don’t want to die.”

  “Come on,” Marcus rolled his eyes. “Stop with the melodrama. Someone who dishes out death and misery to other people shouldn’t be too afraid when it comes back to haunt them.”

  Even Marcus, who believed he was ultimately fighting for good, knew that one day, it may be his turn too. Should that day come, though, he vowed that he wouldn’t be reduced to this man, who was so laughably confident earlier at trying to fight and defeat him, only to become a mess now that he was just a few inches away from his reaper.

  Stella sighed.

  “I apologize. Sir M over there is just that kind of man, I suppose. What’s good, though, is that you’ve come around in your senses. You’ve told him everything you knew, no?”

  “Yes, Your Highness! Even the location of our ministry’s headquarters!”

  “Lady Siris told me that you weren’t lying about that,” Stella added. “It only speaks to your conviction about atoning for your sins. After all, the information you supplied to us will help us well at chasing and dismantling your colleagues, who are evil.”

  “Yes, of course! Please dismantle them! I don’t care; I’m out now!”

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  “Regardless though…” Stella stood up, her face turning neutral. “You still worked with men who are evil, and I see in your heart that you’ve also committed many grave sins in your life. It is the goddess’ place to judge a man, though, not mine, but, until then, you will have to be judged by our fellow man about what to do to you in the mortal realm.”

  “Does that mean…?”

  “Yes. Of course, I won’t just let you go off scot-free. I will pen a letter to my father, the king, and tell him that you’re one of the cultists responsible for attacking her daughter and killing countless Sordalian citizens. The only thing I can offer you is a guarantee of a fair trial. What happens after that is not in my hands. For now, Lady Louise here will hold you interned in this room until we can transfer you to the kingdom’s official authorities.”

  Marcus grinned, impressed. Stella was indeed someone merciful, in that she didn’t just straight up murder an enemy like Marcus did, but she wasn’t being naively kind to this person. All she gave him was an assurance that he would be judged fairly, which she could reasonably offer him because, as a princess, she had the ability to pull some strings from behind. She promised only what was reasonable and fair. It was justice.

  Marcus thought that perhaps this was a good thing too. The Death God Cult had been a shadowy organization that most people regarded as untouchable. They were a scourge feared by both governments and civilians. Having one of them stand trial in the court of law was probably going to do wonders at satisfying the population’s thirst for revenge, especially since after Eisenfeld and various other engagements with the Death God Cult in Sordale’s countryside, there was a growing mass of commoners demanding action from the government to protect them.

  So, Marcus nodded, satisfied.

  “Well, that’s what the lady wants,” Marcus said to Martin. “That’s my end of the deal for you; you get to meet her, and now, that’s going to be your lenient fate. Thanks for the intel, by the way.”

  “Wait! Wait! Wait!” Martin shouted, agitated. “The Kingdom executes criminals! How is this fair?! I thought she’d let me live!”

  Stella lowered her head. “Apologies, but this is the best I can give you. I hope that the judges and the jury will find you worthy of only being sent to prison.”

  “I hope they don’t,” Marcus said. “Anyway, let’s go…or I can break his bones and tendons so he wouldn’t be able to attempt anything nasty?”

  It was Louise who shook her head. She was watching from outside the room. “Absolutely not. I do not wish for this institution to be a place of wanton physical violence. I’ll cast spells to bind and weaken him. Not that he would be able to get out of this room unburned.”

  “Oh…yeah, I almost forgot…” Marcus said. He almost didn’t notice that all this time, while they were talking, Louise was silently chanting under her breath. Indeed, Marcus could sense a very subtle and almost undetectable barrier around the room.

  She told him that with it, Martin wouldn’t be able to get out without being outright killed if he managed to get out of the spells and bindings she would place on his hands and knees, of course.

  “D-damn it…” Martin gritted his teeth. Stella looked apologetic, clearly feeling somewhat bad for an enemy who surrendered, but she kept her tongue in check. Marcus walked outside, followed by Stella, while Louise entered the room to finish casting all of her spells to contain Martin inside.

  “So…” Stella fell into a seat on the sofa of the guest lounge. “We now know where to go, once I’m done with my business here.”

  “Yes. Louria, it seems.”

  Stella nodded, calmly. Behind her, Phoebe and Marie seemed to still be worried. Phoebe was the first to speak out. “Stella, after what happened to you, you can’t seriously expect us to just let you go alone on a journey that far.”

  “I suppose you’re right, Phoebe. And I know what you’re thinking. Unfortunately, going there is quite risky. The Death God Cult isn’t like the small fries you’ve dealt with back in the academy.”

  “Even so, I refuse to let our dearest lady go out of our watch any further, and I especially cannot leave you alone with this male.”

  An insistent pout appeared on Phoebe’s face, and even Marie, who remained silent, was nodding profusely. After being referred to so negatively by the elven maid again, Marcus defensively looked at her with a frown as he snapped at her.

  “Hey! A ‘male’? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re a boy, Sir Marcus,” Marie spoke up, her tone soft and apologetic. “How can we expect you to take proper care of Stella?”

  Marcus felt like his brain was short-circuiting. He knew he was quite the crappy attendant and guard to a princess, because the only thing he ever did while he was running around with Stella back to Sordale was drag her into more trouble or mooch off her money whenever they found themselves in a nice restaurant or hotel, but still, he was quite sure that he did a damned fine job, all things considered. After all, Stella returned to Sordale whole and happy, reunited with Siris, alongside other nice stuff.

  Surely, he wasn’t that bad of a traveling partner!

  “Marcus, please just ignore them,” Stella softly said, before looking back at her maids. “And you two, please stop messing with him. He’s not that good at identifying harmless teasing.”

  “All the more reason for us to keep watch on you, hmph,” Phoebe said with finality.

  Stella sighed. “Fine. Whatever. If I shall have a new knight attend to me in a mission to dismantle the Death God Cult, I suppose having my maids keep me nice and tidy wouldn’t be too out of the usual. What do you think, Marcus?”

  “Before that…” Marcus frowned. “These two…they’re not awful at fighting, right?”

  Keeping Stella safe is my priority; I don’t want distractions from that goal.

  He did use [Identify] on both Marie and Phoebe back then. As was to be expected, Marie, the gentler and more domestic maid of the two, was on the weaker side. She was also human. Not that the maid was someone who was simply that…a maid, but she was a level 40, silver-ranked [Guardian Maid]. It sounded like an improved [Maid] class, so she was probably quite adept with some lighter weapons and had skills comparable to other combat classes. On the other hand, the already more combative and protective Phoebe was a level 42 [Mystic Artist]. Marcus didn’t exactly know what that class offered, as, from what he knew, it was something unique to elves.

  “They can hold their own against most cultists we’ve dealt with,” Stella curtly said. “Especially Phoebe here. While her class isn’t near as good as my class, [Mystic Artists] have great control over nature and spirits. She’s a bunch of contracted lesser spirits with her, for example.”

  “Your Highness, I do not appreciate that you’ve just revealed my true nature to this man,” Phoebe said from behind. “I feel awfully naked now.”

  “P-please don’t say such scandalous things!” Stella turned red. “Besides, Marcus here is a good man. He needs to know what you can do and expect of you in times of crisis!”

  “That may be so, but still…”

  And so, Phoebe and Stella began bickering again. Marcus sighed on the side, watching as Marie, the soft-hearted maid, tried to mediate between the two. He supposed the two elven women just liked butting heads with each other all the time, especially with Phoebe seemingly mastering the ability to find things to tease her master about.

  In any case, Marcus still had much to prepare for before setting out on a journey to Louria. While Stella was working hard at getting her charity works in order, Marcus still needed to enhance his magecraft. After all, he needed to grasp magic well if he wanted to get rid of that cockroach.