My father stepped forward, looked the mage straight in the eyes, opened his mouth, and poured a healing potion into it. He needed to recover his hearing if we wanted answers. I honestly thought my father was going to crush his skull the moment he grabbed his face.

We waited a moment for the potion to take effect. According to them, the ears would react first since they're a sensitive part of the body and require immediate care. His hand was secondary in this situation.

My father grabbed his face again. "You'd better talk and not hide anything." With his hand infused with some fortified skill, he cut off the mage's remaining hand. There was no scream, likely because of my mother's prison. His body didn't flinch either, only tears spilled from his eyes.

My father placed a strange, round object on the mage's chest, exactly over his core. "You know what this means. If you don't want this to get worse, talk fast." In this room, I was probably the only one who didn't know the meaning of that tool.

The mage, with his mouth now partially freed, began sobbing. He knew where he stood—there was no turning back. I needed to ask what that device did. A few seconds later, runes lit up on the object and it stuck tightly to his chest.

"Maki, you don't want to see this. Wait outside." My mother's voice sounded both like a suggestion and an order. I wanted to argue and watch, but I didn't. My parents were absolutely furious, and I didn't want to make things worse.

"I'll tell you the short version later, little one. I promise." As I turned and placed one foot on the stairs, I heard her voice again. "Don't use your domain to find out what's happening here. If I focus on you, I can tell if you're using it." I kept walking in silence, deactivated my domain, and let out a sigh outside where Randy stood, keeping watch.

I knew what they were going to do—they were going to torture him for information. I had never seen torture before and didn't know how my body would react. A part of me really wanted to see how it was done, but I understood their position. A twelve-year-old shouldn't be watching something like that.

Celes' point of view: Once Maki left the room, I turned to ask my mother-in-law. "Can you really sense Maki's ability? I can't feel anything when I'm inside his domain." It's curious—a sensory ability that completely surpasses any I've known.

"I'm not entirely sure. I just have a feeling and an idea in mind. There's about a 50% chance it'll work." She thought for a second, then turned her attention back to the mage. That redirected my attention too. The rage in me flared again. I just wanted to freeze him, make him suffer for attacking our land and our son.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll talk." My husband was just as furious as we were. In the past, he would've broken some bones before even starting to ask questions.

"Did you cause the stampede?" His first question went straight to the point.

"No." The mage stammered, his voice shaky from crying and fear.

"He's telling the truth." Thanks to the device connected to his core, he was forced to tell the truth. It linked to his soul, and if he lied, it inflicted a pain so intense no one would want to experience it—a direct blow to the soul.

"Do you know who did?" He still answered no, truthfully.

The answers came little by little. This suspicious mage belonged to a group called The Red Demon. This group had a minor reputation in the marquisate; they moved purely for money, indifferent to the job as long as they were paid well. They were considered a small group based far from our towns.

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The mage didn't know who hired them—he just followed orders from his leader, a highly wanted assassin of diamond rank. The group was considered small because they only had one diamond rank and a few rubies. His task was to guard the dungeon until it activated and caused as much damage as possible to our village, then escape without taking anything.

They were unusual mercenaries—they didn't seek revenge for fallen comrades because they considered them disposable. That's why they charged so much. If we didn't retaliate, they wouldn't either… unless the employer paid again for another attack.

"That's all the useful information. We won't get anything else." My mother-in-law said what we were all already concluding. You can't get more out of someone who doesn't know. We tried every approach, but he had no further knowledge.

"May I have the honor?" I didn't need to explain why—it was understood. My husband and mother-in-law nodded, their eyes cold as my affinity. We all wanted this bastard dead.

I pressed down my prison of mana and Imra, reinforced by two Laws and my standard. His entire body began to freeze slowly until it became a solid block. With the pressure, his body fractured into pieces. This wasn't just ice. That way, there would be no blood on the floor.

I pushed my skill to the limit. After a while, all that was left were tiny ice fragments. You couldn't tell what shape or figure they once belonged to. Jarrid used an ability to pulverize them further—just shattered ice on the ground.

"Randy can clean this later. He'll be glad to." Randy had deep respect for our baronet house. We were the only ones who trusted him, took him in with his brother, and helped them however we could. We were lucky to gain such loyalty; we took a gamble, and both sides won.

"It's almost impossible those mercenaries will retaliate, but we should prepare for emergencies." Rita knew this group well. She'd encountered them years ago.

"I'll inform Camus. He might get some info through his contacts in the marquisate capital." Jarrid aligned with the plan. It was time to dig deeper. We only had two suspects in mind.

"You're thinking the same, aren't you?" I asked. "It could be the work of two people who hold a grudge against us—Baronet Nuno or Baron Loga." We all fell silent in thought. Nuno resented us ever since losing the election for the new town.

Baron Loga held a deep hatred for Jarrid and Camux from a past incident. When they graduated, they entered a dungeon. Loga's son caused trouble, trying to send monsters their way. After escaping, Jarrid confronted him, and days later, the boy tried to kill them in another dungeon. He ended up dead—and we earned a lifelong enemy.

"Could be either." Rita was the first to speak. "Loga has more means. Hiring that merc group takes absurd money. Nuno doesn't have the funds to be that reckless."

"Could they be working together?" Jarrid's words made sense. Maybe they connected over their grudge and decided to play this little "prank" in revenge.

"Not impossible." I sighed. "Let's not overthink it now. Here's what we know: unless they pay more, we're safe. We don't know who funded this, so we just need to stay cautious and move forward." My words calmed the mood a little, and we headed upstairs.

As we exited, we found Randy at the door like a perfect sentinel. He noticed us and gave a deep bow, hands behind his back, eyes straight ahead.

"Would you mind cleaning up downstairs, Randy? I'd appreciate it." Jarrid asked, and our loyal guard nodded, leaving his post without a sound.

Outside, we saw Maki sitting backwards on a chair, arms resting in an X on the backrest, chin on top of his wrists.

"It's done, little one." His grandmother addressed him. "Time to return home. There are some things you should know." Maki nodded, stored the chair in his dimensional bracelet, and we all began walking home.

Along the lonely path between towns, we told him the story of Baron Loga's son in detail—his arrogant behavior in school, his stupidity without merit, and how it all ended. We added moments when Baron Loga kept trying to mess with us over the years.

When we got home, we had dinner and moved to the meeting room. We told Maki about the latest incident with Baronet Nuno. He's incredibly perceptive for his age. He understands everything and even offers sharp insights. How can a child think like this? In critical moments, he acts like someone far older.

We kept discussing possibilities, plans, and ways to protect the family and our towns. Now that we have three towns, we've had to recruit more guards and promote trustworthy ones to leadership in the new town until we earn their full trust.

"Time to sleep, Maki." He came to say goodnight to each of us and headed to his room. We all needed rest. My blood was still boiling from knowing someone tried to kill my son. It's best to sleep and calm this rage.

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