"So, what are you going to do with them now, Flynn?" Infori asked Flynn, and Flynn calmly replied.
"They'll be punished for their continued rule-breaking, as they should be."
"That's right," Infori said, agreeing, but after a moment of silence, he considered his words. Then, he asked him again. "So, what are you going to do? Arrest me?"
"I'm not going to arrest innocent people; you'll just come with us for questioning."
Infori immediately feigned confusion, acting like someone who had just made a mistake—even though he hadn't.
"Interrogated? For what?"
Flynn let out a short breath.
"Haah... Think about it, Infori. A shopkeeper suddenly appeared out of nowhere and watched from a distance; you must have a reason, right?"
Flynn had inadvertently cornered Infori in this situation, which would make Infori break out in a cold sweat if he answered with a lie. However, if he were honest, Infori was still at a dead end.
This time, Infori decided to remain silent.
"..."
"...I won't think badly of you, Infori. You clearly wouldn't want to be someone who steals other people's artifacts," Flynn said. "Now can you follow my instructions?"
"…" Infori thought for a moment, understanding her current position. (…Normally, the choices I make should lead to something that determines what I'll do. Unfortunately, that's different now… Well, it seems refusing isn't a good idea.)
Infori sighed softly—she had to stop fighting something she couldn't fight. Her shoulders slumped slightly and her eyes closed, as if letting go of all her doubts.
In that stillness, there was a hint of acceptance. A simple decision that had to be made wisely.
"Haah… Alright, alright." Then, she opened her eyes again.
Hearing that, Flynn suddenly smiled faintly. He was glad to hear Infori's satisfactory answer, so that a fight was finally unnecessary.
For the current situation.
"Heh…"
Flynn drew his sword back, moving the blade away from Infori's neck.
"Thank you for understanding, Shopkeeper."
"Yes."
"Then, come with me—" His words were cut off when Infori suddenly spoke calmly, cutting him off.
"Flynn, can you do something for me?" Infori asked, without even looking up. Flynn was immediately confused.
"...?"
A silence fell around Lilith, Iris, the bandits, and the Knightley Queen. They were simply silent—fixated on each other, not saying a word.
It was getting very awkward. The atmosphere wouldn't change if no one spoke.
The Knightley Queen only paid attention to Takechi and the others; they had been assigned to guard the bandits by their captain.
His presence reconnected, and Flynn appeared in an instant. His feet landed on the ground where he had last stood. This clearly delighted the Knightley Queen's knights.
"You've returned, Captain."
"Yes. Now..." Flynn glanced at Takechi and the others, then spoke to them in a louder voice. "You should surrender now. We definitely don't want any fighting here."
Takechi then spoke back to Flynn, his tone seemingly irritated by Flynn's tone.
"From the start, you've been blabbering about us surrendering now. I was thinking of surrendering... But not anymore." Takechi then walked over to the bag still lying on the ground and retrieved its contents.
He took out the Gauntlet of Rebirth from the bag. The Gauntlet emitted a powerful aura and energy into the surroundings.
WOOSHHH
Everyone present was shocked, as they were struck by the winds emanating from the artifact.
"...?!"
Flynn suddenly realized something. (Is that the artifact you were referring to, Infori...?... the Gauntlet of Rebirth...)
Jill asked Takechi, while suppressing the aura of the artifact.
"Takechi, what are you going to do?"
"...Don't worry, I'll end this quickly," Takechi replied, his tone low. Yet, threatening at the same time. Shortly after, he quickly put the gauntlet on his left arm.
The gauntlet finally attached itself to his left arm, making a small 'click' sound. However, shortly after, Takechi felt something that seemed to pierce his body.
"...?! Guaarghh..!?"
The sight shocked everyone.
"...?!"
Iris was shocked, but Lilith still managed to correctly answer her surprise.
"What happened to him...!?" Iris asked.
"The Gauntlet of Rebirth refused to obey her, which is why he's feeling such excruciating pain...!"
"...?!"
In the midst of their conversation, they saw Takechi screaming in pain—suddenly the artifact on his left arm slipped from his hand, causing him to lose consciousness and fall to the ground.
"Takechi!?" Jill said. However, his gaze immediately shifted to the gauntlet, which was floating in the air, emitting an incredible amount of energy.
"..."
Lilith remained silent, staring at the artifact she was supposed to obtain to protect the sacred tree—Everness. Once again, she hadn't managed to obtain that rare artifact.
Her eyes widened with guilt, and her mouth fell open slightly.
"No way..."
However, suddenly, Lilith ran toward the still-floating Gauntlet of Rebirth. Iris, who saw this, was shocked.
"Eh? Lilith? Lilith!"
This caught Flynn's attention. He was also surprised to see the woman running toward the potentially dangerous artifact.
"...!?"
Fearing that something might happen if the gauntlet approached, Flynn immediately ran towards it.
Beside Lilith—Lilith ignored Iris's call, running with all her might to reach the gauntlet.
"...!"
Unfortunately, just as she was about to reach the rare artifact—the Gauntlet of Rebirth suddenly emitted a stream of electricity that shot directly at Lilith.
"...?!"
"Lilith!" Iris exclaimed.
Lilith couldn't simply dodge it, as she was almost touching the Gauntlet of Rebirth. However, the electricity suddenly shot out of the gauntlet, giving Lilith no chance to dodge.