Shaya walked over to the mind-broken Annelina and disdainfully tossed the fainted Nightmare Butterfly to the side.
Then he squatted down, reached out his hand, and began to search from her neck, moving past the pair of massive evils and her lower abdomen.
Finally, he found his target in the inner layer of Annelina's clothing around her waist.
It was a small stone statue, carved with a distorted beast's head.
From time to time, an intangible, yet decaying and deathly aura would emanate from it.
Shaya was extremely familiar with this aura; it was undoubtedly a contaminant tainted with the aura of an evil god.
Shaya held up the stone statue to examine it, then placed it into a pre-prepared mithril box. The decaying aura ceased to leak out, sealed by the mithril.
"Learn your lesson for next time. You have to pick your opponents even when it comes to a battle of imagination."
"However, given your crimes, the best-case scenario is probably spending the rest of your life in the Bureau of Control's Black Iron Prison. You probably won't have a chance to use it again."
"Hah, just a selfish bounty hunter, yet you still insist on putting on such a high-and-mighty, hypocritical facade."
"Even though you had the power to control the whole situation, you still allowed me to kill that first young man for that pathetic bounty."
Annelina seemed to have regained a sliver of composure from her mentally shattered state. She lay limp on the ground, a faint, mocking smile curling her lips.
Having seemingly accepted her unchangeable fate, her gentle face was no longer a mask, replaced by a savage malevolence.
However, as the target of that resentful and hateful gaze, Shaya remained as calm as ever.
"While I don't deny your assessment of me as selfish."
"However, you might have gotten one thing wrong."
Shaya closed the mithril box, carefully tucking it away. He looked at the malevolent-faced Annelina not far away and let out a soft sigh.
"Causing innocent casualties while on a mission will result in a deduction from the mission bounty by the Bureau of Control."
"And, as a selfish person, I consider my own little life to be quite precious."
"Being arrogant enough to rush out for a head-on fight without summoning a pet beast, that's the fighting style of those brutes from the Knight's Academy."
"And I'm not the kind of guy whose muscles are filled with brains."
He stood up, looking down at the noble girl below who had been bewitched by an evil god and the thrill of power, ultimately walking down a path of no return.
"So—"
"When did you start having the illusion that I wasn't using Kyōka Suigetsu?"
Shaya's suddenly indifferent words made Annelina's body freeze on the spot.
The next moment, all she saw was the silver moon high in the window, suddenly becoming incomparably bright.
Clear and translucent.
In an instant, as if by some magical power, that silver moon captured her entire attention, occupying her entire mind.
Then, on the surface of that bright silver moon.
Three blood-red patterns resembling magatama began to spin, continuously enlarging.
When Annelina abruptly woke up, she found herself still limp on the ground.
At some point, her undergarments had become completely soaked in sweat, as if she had been startled awake from a nightmare.
And Shaya was still standing in front of her, watching her with his calm eyes.
The only difference was that on Shaya's shoulder, at some unknown point, a snow-white figure had appeared.
It was a delicate snow ferret. Its silver-white fur was as smooth as silk, reminding one of the Three Holy Sages Snow Mountain in the far north.
The small snow ferret was lying on Shaya's left shoulder. In its left eye, which resembled a blood diamond, the three silver moon patterns, like blood-colored magatama, were slowly fading.
This is... his pet beast?
It clearly looks no different from those ornamental pets. How can it be a powerful combatant?
I was defeated by such an unremarkable Beast Tamer?
And when Annelina shifted her gaze from the snow ferret and began to survey her surroundings.
Her gaze, at this very moment, completely froze.
Behind Shaya, the people who should have drunk the poisoned wine and fallen down helplessly were still sitting in their respective seats, watching Shaya and Annelina with bewildered uncertainty.
Even the unlucky fellow who had clearly been killed by Annelina with a dagger was still standing there, completely unharmed.
He was looking at the savage-faced Annelina with an expression of utter disbelief.
His eyes were filled with the color of shattered dreams and a collapsing world.
The angel he had admired had suddenly transformed into a life-stealing demon right before his eyes, and then began to slash at the air like a madwoman.
One can only imagine how great a blow all of this was to this devoted simp.
"Good work, Silver."
Shaya reached out and stroked the little snow ferret on his shoulder.
The little ferret, called "Silver," lazily narrowed its eyes under Shaya's touch while its fluffy tail gently wrapped around his neck.
After teasing Yin for a bit, Shaya turned back around.
His gaze swept over the group of bewildered pyramid scheme victims in the hall. "I'll take her to the Bureau of Control's branch in the city center."
"As for you all, there's no need to worry."
"After those hounds from the Bureau of Control are done questioning you, you should be free to go, probably."
"With your soul aptitude having already reached the apprentice Beast Tamer level, the officials should also make proper arrangements for you."
"Whether it's becoming a reservist in the military and enjoying the empire's salary, or being accepted by a local transcendent academy in Resa City, both should be good choices for your current situation."
"Well then, it's about time to end this."
Shaya yawned, took his windbreaker from the back of the chair, smoothed out the wrinkles, and draped it over his shoulders.
And just as Shaya's words ended.
Annelina, still not having recovered from her astonishment, felt a strong wave of drowsiness wash over her.
Even with her spiritual power as a mid-rank Beast Tamer, she couldn't resist the rapid spread of that sleepiness in the slightest.
"Almost forgot to mention, my main pet beast also specializes in illusions."
Before her consciousness was completely enveloped by darkness, all Annelina saw was Shaya making a small gesture with his fingers in front of her.
"And, its illusion technique, 'Tsukuyomi,' might just be a little more proficient than that ugly butterfly of yours..."
"Just a teeny tiny bit."