After realizing that, Mozo immediately felt the urge to get the hell out of there as fast as possible.
But the moment he turned around, he saw the elven master craftsman still kneeling at his feet even in death, as well as the black-robed leader who was unquestionably dead.
If he simply fled now, he could certainly avoid a great deal of trouble.
But both the Empire and the elves would likely end up buried beneath a mountain of problems.
And more importantly, the faction truly responsible, the organization behind the black-robed man, would instead remain completely uninvolved and untouched.
So... I can't just leave?
Then how exactly am I supposed to deal with this?
What Mozo failed to notice was that while he was deep in thought, the girl behind him slowly woke up.
At first, confusion appeared on the beautiful young girl's face as she tried to understand the situation around her.
Then came fear, likely from remembering what had happened earlier.
Or perhaps from seeing two corpses and a gigantic ruined automaton nearby.
And on top of that, there was an armed man of unknown identity standing right in front of her.
The terror on the girl's face was practically overflowing.
Yet she did not scream.
Instead, she desperately covered her mouth while rapidly thinking of a solution.
At that very moment, Mozo suddenly heard movement coming from the sewer tunnel.
Then two black-robed men stepped out, apparently having returned to check on their leader after he had failed to come back for so long.
At first, they did not notice the situation on Mozo's side and casually muttered:
"Boss, we need to retreat already. The situation above has stabilized. If we don't leave now, the Inspectors' supernatural forces are probably going to swarm the place. Boss?"
But as they spoke, they finally noticed the leader's mangled corpse as well as the dead master craftsman kneeling upon the ground.
Immediately, Mozo dropped to one knee and raised his gun to aim.
At the same time, he deliberately adjusted his position to shield the girl behind him with his own body.
That instinctive act of protection instantly made the girl understand who the enemy was and who was protecting her.
And in that instant, her eyes filled with both delight and a kind of admiration even she herself had not realized.
Wasn't this exactly like the scenes from her favorite operas?!
Except this was not some fake script.
This was a real knight protecting a damsel in distress!
Ah, gods above! Please bless my knight with victory!
The enemies immediately reacted.
The man on the left raised a hand, and the brightly lit chamber was instantly swallowed by darkness.
As for the man on the right, Mozo could no longer see him in the darkness, but he could clearly hear rapidly approaching footsteps.
Following his instincts and relying on his earlier memory of the room's layout, Mozo pulled the trigger.
A massive muzzle flash erupted from the firearm.
But against a supernatural being, especially one fighting on favorable terrain, the attack accomplished little.
Still, it successfully forced the enemy back for a moment.
Using the brief flash from the gunshot, Mozo barely managed to make out the enemy's position.
He immediately discarded the long firearm and instead pulled out the revolver he had taken earlier from a soldier who seemed to be an officer.
Then he fired another shot toward where he believed the enemy to be.
At the same time, he continuously retreated backward while trying his best to keep the girl protected behind him.
Mozo deeply disliked Grand Duke Windsor.
That old bastard had burned the collector-grade doll Mozo had finally gathered the courage to purchase after overcoming his fears.
But the girl herself was innocent.
At that moment, a gentle and pleasant voice suddenly spoke beside Mozo's ear:
"Trust me. Shoot toward the upper right!"
She's awake?!
After only a brief hesitation, Mozo immediately fired in the direction the girl indicated.
This time, a painful grunt rang out from the darkness.
It was followed by the rapid sound of something heavy falling back and retreating.
Immediately afterward, the girl's voice sounded again:
"Lower left! Shoot! Quickly!"
Mozo rapidly turned the gun and fired again.
This time, however, luck was not on his side.
Still, the shot successfully forced the enemy to halt his advance once more.
Thankfully, the enemy did not have firearms or throwing knives.
And judging from his behavior, he was merely a low-level supernatural fighter specializing in close combat.
But what about the other one?
As that thought crossed his mind, cold sweat began running down Mozo's back.
Was the other enemy maintaining the darkness?
Or preparing some kind of killing move?
Before Mozo could continue thinking, he suddenly heard the girl behind him cry out in panic:
"More people are coming?!"
What?!
More enemies?!
Mozo's heart immediately sank.
But he did not give up.
Lowering the gun slightly, he prepared to pull the military dagger hidden inside his boot.
Yet before he could do so, the girl behind him suddenly hugged him tightly from behind.
"Miss Windsor?!"
Mozo panicked.
What the hell was this woman doing suddenly interfering with his movements?!
Was the earlier teamwork just bait to screw him over?!
At the same time, he heard footsteps approaching from extremely close range.
Without hesitation, he raised the gun and fired.
Immediately afterward came an exasperated yet helpless voice:
"Kid, you shot the wrong person!"
At the same time, Windsor's voice rang out once more:
"They're from the Inspectorate! We're safe now, Mr. Knight!"
"Huh?!"
Mozo froze for a moment.
And during that brief moment of distraction, the darkness covering the room suddenly disappeared, restoring the chamber's light.
The sudden brightness made Mozo's eyes ache slightly, but fortunately it only lasted for a moment.
After narrowing his eyes briefly, he adapted to the light again.
Only then did he finally see the situation clearly.
Of the two black-robed men, the one in the rear had already collapsed onto the floor, either dead or unconscious.
The one who had been attacking them directly was currently pinned to the ground by two men wearing trench coats.
Beyond them were even more trench-coated agents.
And not far from Mozo stood a middle-aged man clutching his shoulder, glaring at him with a mixture of irritation and complicated emotions.
Seeing this, the girl who had just been protected behind him suddenly let go of him, stepped in front of him, and spread her arms protectively as she declared:
"I apologize for your injury, but Mr. Knight didn't do it intentionally! And as an Inspectorate agent, you failed to announce your presence beforehand, so I believe responsibility for this accidental injury lies entirely with you!"
"You neither can nor have the right to pursue any retaliation or accountability against Mr. Knight because of this!"
The man's face immediately darkened upon hearing that.
Mozo could only sigh helplessly.
Miss Windsor... saying things like that is exactly how you make people want revenge even if they originally weren't planning to pursue it.
But Katherine Windsor immediately continued:
"Of course, since Mr. Knight did injure you in the end, I'm willing to provide some humanitarian compensation! How about one thousand gold pounds and a superior recovery potion?"
One thousand gold pounds?!
The moment that number left her mouth, everyone present, including the still-struggling black-robed man on the floor, stared at Miss Windsor in utter disbelief.
Seeing everyone looking at her like that, Miss Windsor glanced around in confusion before asking:
"Was that too little?"
"Then two thousand gold pounds! Any more than that and I'll have to tell my grandfather!"
At once, the entire room erupted with sharp gasps.
What the hell.
She was an absurdly rich sugar mommy!