Chapter 272: All in One Net
“Whoa! What the hell are you guys doing—?!”
At the signal, the four who had been instructed to subdue the boss swiftly pinned a man to the ground. The figure who seemed to be the boss, likely caught off guard, didn’t even attempt to retaliate against the unexpected surprise attack. The surrounding people appeared momentarily stunned, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
“Alright, we’ve got him under control.”
“Heh… I suppose one doesn’t expect to be betrayed by their own subordinates.”
Ivan stifled a laugh, covering his mouth. There was nothing easier than restraining someone who wasn’t moving. Activating a convenient Spatial Isolation Barrier, he quickly bound the man so he couldn’t escape. As he checked the names one by one through appraisal, he felt relieved to find they matched the names of the members he had extracted from those who had attacked him.
“Huh?”
But then he noticed one exception.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, there’s one person whose name I didn’t catch.”
He pointed to a woman who looked bewildered. While she was just as surprised by our sudden intrusion, her demeanor was distinctly different from the others.
“Indeed. I wonder who she is?”
“It seems like we’re done here too.”
As we pondered the identity of the mysterious figure, El dragged two men from the adjacent room. They appeared to be the two who had managed to escape earlier, so it seemed we had gathered everyone.
“Ah, there’s one woman I don’t recognize, but I think it’s fine.”
“Hmmm. You could just leave that part to Dorothy.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that. We need to take care of the Summoning Array quickly too, so let’s get on with it.”
“Summoning Array?”
Ignoring El’s question, I dialed Dorothy. I figured El would explain things to Rio, but Phonia began gesturing animatedly, trying her best to explain.
“There’s a huge Magic Circle that appeared again!”
Her grand hand movements to illustrate the Magic Circle were worth capturing. After ending the call with Dorothy on my smartphone, I tucked it away and pulled out another smartphone to start filming Phonia. Just then, a voice echoed from nowhere.
“This is Dorothy… Um, can you hear me? Are you alright? Did something happen?! Please respond!”
As the voice grew louder, I suddenly remembered, holding the smartphone to my ear with my right hand while filming Phonia with my left. I thought I had hung up, but it seemed I hadn’t. Wait, can you cancel a call mid-dial? It’s a basic feature, but I need to be more mindful of it. For now, I just wanted to ensure the connection was good, but it seemed I had created a few inconveniences.
“Sorry, sorry. I can hear you just fine.”
I cast a soundproof barrier around the video I was filming to prevent any audio from leaking through, then continued my conversation with Dorothy.
“Phew… I’m glad we’re connected. If you can hear me, that’s a relief. So, what happened?”
“Yeah. We captured the group responsible for the Newcomer Hunt.”
“Eh?”
“I’m bringing them to the Guild. There are a total of twelve, so please prepare for their arrival.”
“Wait, what?!”
I quickly ended the call after relaying the necessary information and focused back on filming Phonia.
“I-I’m innocent!”
Once I finished filming Phonia and we all prepared to bind the captured criminals with ropes, one of the women protested while struggling against her restraints. Upon closer inspection, she was the one who had claimed to be an unrelated party. I had planned to leave everything to Dorothy, so I had thought it would be simple to drag everyone along in the same manner.
“Oh, I almost forgot.”
“Bwah!”
Ivan burst out laughing at my words.
“That’s a bit cruel, don’t you think?”
“What are you talking about? She’s in a place like this. The likelihood of her being a victim is far lower than her being an accomplice.”
“…”
The woman glanced back at Ivan during our exchange. While she didn’t seem to have any rebuttal, it made me want to suspect her as an accomplice even more.
“Regardless, I can’t let you go just yet, so you’ll have to come with us to the Guild.”
If she refused, anyone acting suspiciously would be forcibly taken along. I looked around to see if everyone was ready.
“Ready!”
Phonia seemed eager to join in, holding a rope in her hands.
“Let’s hurry and hand them over.”
“Woof!”
Nil was also enthusiastic about helping, holding a rope in her mouth.
“Alright, let’s do that. You guys head to the Guild first.”
I instructed the men wearing the Collars of Subjugation, and the four of them began to shuffle up the stairs and out. It would have been convenient if we had enough Collars for everyone, but unfortunately, we were short on stock. I didn’t foresee needing so many Collars of Subjugation in the future, nor did I plan to acquire more.
“Okay, let’s go. Ivan, you lead the way.”
“Me?!”
Surprised at being chosen, Ivan pointed to himself, the only one without a rope.
“…Well, fine. Just make sure you keep up.”
I told the woman who was the only one not bound, and Ivan, spear in hand, stepped out of the room first.
“Hmph… I’m not involved in this… I won’t run away.”
Muttering to herself as if trying to convince herself, the woman followed after Ivan. We dragged the captured criminals along with ropes as we made our way to the Guild.