When Bard woke up, his entire body ached, especially his nose and stomach.
Instinctively, he tried to reach for the sore spots, but his hands wouldn't budge. Looking down, he saw he was tightly bound to a large tree.
Panicking, he scanned his surroundings and spotted Duncan, his face pale with fear, tied up beside him. The wizard who'd attacked them earlier was glaring at him with a predatory smirk.
"What… what do you want?! I'm warning you, we're with the Dark Guild, Oración Seis! You better not mess with us!" Bard blurted out.
"Oh!" Erza's eyes widened in mock surprise. "So bad guys really do spill their guild's name the moment they wake up, huh? Just like Ro—cough—I mean, just like Xiao Ming said!"
Bard choked on his words. Why weren't these Fairy Tail wizards quaking in fear at the mention of Oración Seis? And Xiao Ming? What kind of ridiculous fake name was that? Couldn't they pick something less absurd?
Roger strolled up casually, locking eyes with Bard before delivering two swift punches—BAM! BAM!
Sporting two black eyes, Bard roared in fury, "You brats! If you're gonna kill me, just do it! I'll never betray the boss!"
BAM! BAM!
Two fresh lumps swelled on either side of Bard's head. His eyes blazed with rage as he thrashed against the ropes, but the more he struggled, the tighter they got. A strange itch and a faint sting began creeping across his body.
"What… what did you put on these ropes?!" he demanded.
Roger held up a small glass bottle filled with amber liquid. "Honey," he said with a grin. "We tied you to this tree on purpose. Seems there's a fire ant nest right under your feet. The more you squirm, the faster that honey's gonna drip down."
"Fire ants?!" Bard's voice cracked with panic. Fire ants carried a mild toxin—harmless in small doses, but if a hundred or more bit you, your skin would swell, your body would slow, and an unbearable itch would take over. The only way to stop it was to scratch until you hit bone, but by then, the pain would be so excruciating it could kill you.
Damn it, Bard thought. Guess I'll have to make something up to fool these kids.
"Fine, fine! We're actually part of Oración Seis!" he admitted.
BAM! BAM!
"Why'd you hit me again?!" Bard shouted, his black eyes darkening further.
"You're lying," Roger said flatly.
Bard took a deep breath, swallowing his anger. "Okay, fine. I was sent here to—"
BAM! BAM! BAM!
"I didn't even finish talking!" Bard yelled, his face now bruised and swollen. "Why'd you hit me?!"
"You were lying again," Roger replied.
A faint crack came from Bard's mouth. He spat out a bloody tooth, glaring as he growled, "I haven't even said anything yet! How do you know I'm lying?!"
"Hmm." Roger paused, stroking his chin for three seconds before looking at Bard with dead seriousness. "Intuition. A woman's sixth sense."
"Are you kidding me?!" Bard nearly spat blood from sheer frustration, his rationality snapping like a twig. He thrashed like a wild beast, desperate to break free and lunge at Roger.
Nearby, Erza watched this "unique" interrogation method, nodding thoughtfully to herself.
Cracking her knuckles, she turned with an expressionless face toward Duncan, who'd been tied up and watching the whole ordeal.
"Wait! Wait! Don't come closer! I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!" Duncan's body shook like a leaf, his pants already soaked from fear.
Eyes squeezed shut, he blurted out at lightning speed, "We're new recruits for Oración Seis! Two days ago, we were sent here to mine magic crystals! We used hypnosis magic and illusions to trick the village men into coming up the mountain!"
"They're locked in a mine, forced to dig as laborers! They're not dead! The boss told us to keep it 'sustainable'—only nine hours of work a day, and we feed them! That way, we don't lose too many workers!"
"That illusion barrier outside the village? It's a secondhand one we bought from the black market! It looks legit, but if you dig up the glowing magic crystal buried at the center, the whole thing collapses!"
"That's all I know! I swear! Please don't hit me! And don't let those fire ants get me!"
Erza blinked, stunned by the rapid-fire confession. She muttered to herself, "Huh, this method actually works?"
"Duncan, you traitor! You idiot! You spilled everything—!" Bard started to yell.
BAM!
Roger's fist and a swift chop to the neck cut him off. Bard's head lolled to the side, out cold.
Duncan, witnessing Roger's brutal efficiency, trembled harder and shouted, "I-I really told you everything!"
Feeling two pairs of eyes lock onto him, he racked his brain for more. "Th-the illusion orb! We bought it for 200,000 jewels! The boss said if we brought back the crystals, he'd waive extra fees, and we could keep the orb for just 100,000 jewels!"
"Uh, uh, the ghoul nursery rhyme? We planted that in the kids' dreams with hypnosis magic!"
As footsteps drew closer, Duncan's voice grew shakier. "The-the other wizards? We didn't kill them! We didn't know the device would drain all their blood! We just followed orders and had them touch it!"
A shadow loomed over him, and Duncan's voice broke into a sob. "I-I don't know anything else! Please, don't kill me! I've got family—"
"When did we say we were gonna kill you?" Roger interrupted.
"Huh?" Duncan looked up, shocked, to find both Roger and Erza smiling at him.
"You're… not gonna kill me? Then… what about Bard?"
"Can you not kill him either?" Duncan pleaded.
Roger raised an eyebrow. "You two close? He keeps calling you an idiot."
Duncan's head drooped, his voice muffled. "I… I'm not the sharpest. But Bard… he's not a bad guy deep down. We're from the same village. He's always looked out for me, helped me find work. He even paid for the orb himself. He talks tough, but he's got a soft side."
"I even saw his diary yesterday. He wrote that after we're done, he'd leave the captured wizards out in the wilderness instead of worse."
Roger gave a wry smile. "Relax, we're not killing either of you."
"Really?!" Duncan's face lit up, but a second later, it twisted in fear again. "Wait, you didn't mean—"
THWACK!
A clean chop to the neck, and Duncan slumped over, unconscious.
Roger turned to Erza. "Got any prompts?"
Erza nodded. "Yeah. Right as I walked toward him, a message popped into my head: 'Enemy defeated. Gained 200 magic points and a skill called Eight Extremes Fist.'"
Roger mused, "So, knocking them out or getting them to surrender counts as defeating them."
Erza glanced at the two unconscious men. "So, are we letting them go?"
"No way," Roger said, retying the ropes around them. "I said we wouldn't kill them, not that we'd let them walk. If I'm not mistaken, turning Dark Guild members over to the Magic Council comes with a nice bounty."
The next day, after explaining everything to the village chief and the ecstatic villagers, Roger and Erza led a group up the mountain. Deep in a hidden mine on the southern slope, they found the imprisoned men. Tears, laughter, and shouts of joy filled the air as the village celebrated their reunion.
The chief and villagers thanked them profusely, not only paying the full commission but also gifting Roger and Erza all the magic crystals mined from the cave as a token of gratitude.
After leaving the village, Roger kept his promise, handing the tightly bound Bard and Duncan over to the nearest Magic Council branch with a detailed report.
With the bounty collected and the two criminals escorted away by council soldiers, Roger and Erza boarded a train back to their guild, mission accomplished.