Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

Team leader Dains pointed his gun at the man and talked seriously.

"Explain yourself."

The man scowled and frowned even more at those words. He tidied his pajamas and opened his mouth with annoyance.

"What do you want? Arrogant bastards. You've entered my house with force and want me to explain myself now? Get out. Get lost."

It seemed that his shock from seeing the weapons in the intruders' hands was just momentarily as he was cursing a bunch of armed men openly and without any fear visible on his face at the moment.

"Please, explain yourself."

"Shut the fuck up, man! Who the hell are you guys? You explain yourselves."

Team leader Dains took a deep breath.

"We are agents."

"HO HOO! Agents! Do you see me as an idiot? Agents forcefully enter other people's houses?"

"You've been using a historical site as a house? In the midst of a snowy mountain? Don't try to fool me."

"Historical site what? It was an abandoned building so why couldn't I use it? Gosh! Get out of here."

The man waved his arms in the air with a disgruntled face. Seeing them not react at all, he walked a step closer to the team leader as if he wanted to force them out of here himself.

Team leader Dains signaled Darren and Carlson with his head. The two of them understood the meaning of the signal quickly and moved forward. They approached the man, grabbed his arms, and forced him to kneel on the ground. 

"What? Oy! Bastard! Let me go motherfuckers!"

"What is your name?"

The man glared angrily at the team leader. Kairen thought he would surely punch the team leader's face if his arms were free. The man's body looked quite sturdy and muscular, it was surprising that he was surpassed by Darren and Carlson so easily.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Huh?"

"Sigh."

"Damn it! Let me go!"

Team leader Dains sighed again and took out something from his pocket. It was SMF's badge that he took out. He held the badge right in front of the man's face.

"Fidel Dains, team leader of unit 5 of Special Units, SMF."

"...."

The man looked at the badge, the team leader, and then again at the badge.

"Oh, Fidel?"

"....."

"PFFF, Fidel!"

"Yes?"

"S M F?"

"That's right."

"Where is that?"

"...What?"

The man raised his head and asked again in an annoying voice.

"I'm asking you where the fuck is SMF. Didn't you hear it?"

Team leader Dains brows frowned. He took a deep breath again. It looked like he was finding it really hard to deal with this man.

"Stop playing the fool and answer me. Who are you?"

"Who is a fool? Huh? Let me go to show you who is the fool."

The man moved his body, struggling to get up. That made Darren and Carlson hold him even tougher. His knees were pressed against the ground harder. He gritted his teeth and glared at team leader Dains.

Team leader Dains went closer and pointed at the man with his gun again.

"Answer my question."

"PFFT. Do you want to threaten me with little toys like this? Hmm? Fidel Don't look at me like that, kiddo!"

He was calling the team leader 'kiddo'. Someone that definitely looked younger than team leader Dains was killing him 'kiddo' and treating him like a child.

The team leader closed his eyes and stepped back. He took a deep breath once more. 

Every time he was taking a deep breath, the team members walked a step away from him. He turned to look at his unit members that were gradually getting far and far away.

"Keep holding him down. We'll examine the interiors of the building first."

"Yes, sir."

"What? You'll do WHAT? OY!"

The man was continuously cursing and shouting. The unit members didn't pay him much attention and silently obeyed team leader Dains and divided themselves into two groups. One would examine the building while the other would keep watch and hold the man.

"What do you think you are doing? You are ignoring me!?"

"Kairen, Bray, and Rai. You come in with me."

"Yes, sir."

"SMF, was it? I get what it means now! Stupid MotherFuckers, is it? You've chosen a nice name. It suits you well."

"The rest of you, hold down that man and guard the entrance."

"Yes, sir."

"Hold down my ass! All of you shall get lost!"

The first group followed team leader Dains and walked to the building wordlessly. Kairen could still hear the man and the second group's conversation.

"Don't set your dirty foot into my house!"

"Can you shut up already? It's too annoying."

"You god damned bastards-"

"I can shut him up with some magic if you want."

"Yeah please, Serria. My head is starting to hurt."

"You- You mo- MMM... ?? MMFFMM. MMMFFMM!!"

Kaien could sense Serria's mana move. Then, the man's voice was cut off and he was unable to talk anymore. He could only make weird sounds.

"MMMFFM!! MFM! MMMMMMM!!!!!!"

He wobbled and moved around his body, but he couldn't free his arms nor could he utter a single word.

'Poor man.'

Kairen felt sorry for him. They weren't still sure if he was really lying or was simply stating the truth, but they had captured him. The man was a little bit annoying and rude, but still, it didn't sound right to him. Kairen wasn't sure, maybe, this was the right thing to do.

The door of the building was open, probably because the man had left it open while exiting it. They carefully pushed the door open and peeked inside. 

"...."

"...."

What came into sight once they entered the building was a neat room. It was big, clean, and warm. 

'Warm...'

Kairen felt happy. Really happy. His frozen body could get warmer if he stayed there a little bit. He looked around the place while moving his numb fingers.

There were a few sofas placed in a corner with a table in the center of them. They looked old, but none of them was broken or damaged. 

A few carpets were half-covering the white ground. There was a bookshelf on the wall and a few books on the table and the sofas. They could also see a pair of boots placed near the door.

There were no windows and no other doors, there was only one staircase going up to the second floor. The room was large, but most parts of it were empty.

After checking the whole room, they carefully walked up the stairs. There was a corridor on the second floor with a few doors on one side of it. They looked at each other for a moment before opening the first door. 

"...."

"...."

"...."

"Oh, a toilet!"

There was... not really much to see in the room. It was just a toilet. A simple small toilet. 

Clack

They opened the next door.

"...."

"...."

"...."

"Oh, a bathroom!"

The bathroom was also a simple bathroom that one could find everywhere.

'Is it really possible to provide so much warm water in such a place?'

How? That was the only question in Kairen's mind till he saw the next room.

"Oh, a kitchen!"

It was a kitchen this time. It wasn't a well-equipped one, and only had a small number of furnishings, but it was still obvious that this place was used as a kitchen.

'What the hell.'

The four people stepped into the room and started searching the whole place. The more they looked, the more it resembled an ordinary kitchen.

And then, there was only one room left. It was obvious to Kairen what it would be at this point.

"Oh, a bedroom!"

And like every other room in this place, this room was also a normal room. The room looked a little bit old-fashioned. The furnishings looked old as if they belonged to a few decades ago but were undamaged. They examined the whole room again, but there was nothing suspicious. There was some out-of-ordinary stuff here and there, but nothing they could regard as dangerous or related to Philomns. 

They were all ready to react in case there was anybody else hiding in the room, but they had found none. The group searched around once more, the results were still the same.

"Was... that man telling the truth?"

Deputy team leader Bray mumbled that under her lips, but she flinched as soon as she saw the team leader's frowning face.

"Truth or not, this whole place is suspicious. How can there be such a house in this place?"

"R-right. It is indeed suspicious. So what are we-"

"We'll go back to the capital. We will take that man with us."

Kairen also thought that this place was like...super suspicious. Why, and how would someone build a bouse here?

'He could buy a house for himself in the city instead of putting so much effort in building this house.'

Of course, there would be reasons as to why he did such a thing. 

Maybe, he was just a weirdo who enjoyed doing crazy things. Or maybe, he couldn't buy a house in the city. 

'It can't be that he lacked money considering the overall money one would need to build such a place.'

Another group of people who couldn't easily live in a city were criminals. The ones that wanted to hide from the police or the military. 

There was the possibility that the man wasn't the one who had built this place, but again, that would make another suspicion.

Also...

'A man wearing pajamas in the middle of a snowy mountain is more suspicious than anything else.'

Kairen had such thoughts in his mind. He still couldn't tell for sure if the man was at any fault or not, but it was probably the best thing to take him with themselves.

But, taking him with themselves...

'He won't like it...'

It wasn't hard to know that even though he had met the man only a few moments ago.