Third Step, A Hundred Punishments As Warning

If you intend to surrender, enter Exorsus and complete the Setting for your dwelling first.

That way you can take both the benefits you get as a representative—the protective Setting for your dwelling that prevents fatal harm—and the benefits you get as a surrenderer, namely not being attacked by representatives.

If you pull that off, you can live comfortably for the rest of your days before you die of old age.

―From the autobiography of GG, the first representative to surrender in the Battlefield of the Gods.

Naruan did not wake up until she returned to the legion house.

Rebound Legion members, their bodies soaked in blood, didn’t even think about washing; they gathered at the training ground. The wizards who helped with chores in the mansion now knew what had happened, and the continentals camped outside the mansion had heard the story as well.

A heavy silence radiated from the Rebound Legion house, pressing on every chest.

It felt ready to erupt at the slightest provocation, and that tense stillness slowly spread outward from the mansion in northern Exorsus.

That uncomfortable energy affected even the representatives who hadn’t yet left Exorsus.

Hostility, enmity, and in extreme cases, murderous intent hung in the air.

The continentals’ sudden change in demeanor made the representatives uneasy.

But recklessly charging in like before risked terrible repercussions. Did you see what happened today? Over five hundred representatives attacked and were all defeated.

It didn’t end with mere deaths. Limbs were severed; others suffered injuries so severe they could not move. The gap in ability was enormous.

On top of that, the attackers’ equipment had been stripped off and their naked bodies dragged along the road.

It was gruesome, wretched, and humiliating.

Just imagining being in their position was enough to make someone tremble with dread and fury.

The continentals had deliberately smeared blood along the main road—from the southern mercenary street, through the square, up to the north.

They called it the “Red Banned Bloodway,” or simply the “Bloodway.”

Nobody was foolish enough to think that if you stuck your neck out now you’d die peacefully.

Those not yet included in any faction—representatives who had knocked on Benialis’s or Violentia’s doors and been rejected as unfit—were left with nothing but caution.

“Damn it! What idiot planned something like that!”

“Exactly! If you’re going to do it, do it properly. What is this?”

“They say the one who planned it hasn’t been caught yet? This is our chance.”

“Huh? What chance?”

“Think about it. If we cut off the limbs of the one Kim Han hasn’t caught yet and bring them to Kim Han, who knows? Maybe he’ll accept him into that great Rebound Legion?”

“Oho?”

“Sounds plausible.”

The talk that began in one corner spread through the tavern, and representatives stood up and left without being told.

Such talk didn’t start only here.

Across Exorsus, representatives with blazing eyes began hunting for the still-uncaught representative on scant information.

In a corner of the tavern the complaining representatives had vacated, a man in a black robe rose slowly to his feet.

He walked as unremarkably as any passerby toward a dilapidated house on the mercenary street.

He trudged up, opened the door with the weary, ordinary motion of a salaried worker coming home, but the moment he stepped in he bolted the door and gasped.

Uneasy, he couldn’t even light a lamp; he peered around.

“D-Dwelling Setting!”

『Starting search for Dwelling Setting. The house you are currently inhabiting, S-1332, is owned by the ‘Mirror of Truth’ mercenary company. Please reconfirm before attempting the Setting.』

“Damn!”

The man flung the door open again and hurried off, his robe billowing as he clutched a pouch heavy with gold coins.

A short while after he left, four beautiful women in red cloaks appeared on the street.

“Is it here?”

A soft voice came from the dark-haired beauty whose hair fluttered.

“Yes. I checked with the mercenary guild; this is the place. Let’s wait.”

“All right. Shumix, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Shumix was one of the Rebound Legion; she had suffered in the raid. In other words, these women belonged to the Rebound Legion.

“It’s not your fault. How many times did I tell you the companion is sleeping soundly?”

“…Yes.”

She said it, but her eyes were full of guilt. If she hadn’t fainted, if she hadn’t foolishly boasted by summoning a powerful soul, would Naruan have rushed out past Hugo’s defense?

After Shumix woke, no one reproached her—in fact, they offered comfort—but the sharp pain in her chest wouldn’t let her stay still.

The members, pale-faced, tried to stop Shumix from going after the representative they suspected was behind it, but her resolve was firm.

Even while coming here she gasped several times, blood from internal injuries rising to her throat, but she endured and came.

“I’ve heard about the situation too. They said that if Shumix hadn’t pushed herself, she wouldn’t have held on until Mr. Kim Han arrived. That was said by Mr. Kim Han himself. So hold your head high. Naruan will get up. Mr. Kim Han said she definitely would.”

Lee Hyo-ju comforted Shumix, eyes shining with unwavering faith in Kim Han.

Mae Young-ryeong beside her nodded unusually, as if to express agreement—whether to comfort Shumix or because of Kim Han’s words, no one knew.

“Besides, we came here to catch a rat, didn’t we? So we should be even more confident.”

As the four women stood under the glancing stares of nearby representatives, the man in the black robe slowly returned toward the shabby house.

The four exchanged looks, and Shumix pulled out a talisman, murmuring a spell to confirm their target.

The red talisman ignited, and after a moment Shumix’s closed eyes opened and she spoke.

“That’s right.”

Her confirmation changed the three others’ expressions dramatically. Especially Lee Hyo-ju’s gaze, which seemed ready to tear someone to pieces.

The man slowly pushed the house door open and stepped in. Shumix’s urgent voice sounded immediately.

“Now, seize him!!”

“Sever!”

“Time stop.”

Hazel and Lee Hyo-ju didn’t ask why.

Hazel’s attack sent the dilapidated house flying away intact.

Lee Hyo-ju’s assault, which should have felt instantaneous after a time stop, instead sent her sliding backward.

She skidded back more than ten adult strides before stopping, a thin trail of blood at the corner of her mouth.

Internal injuries.

Lee Hyo-ju paid no heed to the bleeding; she stared into the void and muttered in disbelief.

“…‘Setting’? Surrender?”

Many people had gathered in front of the Rebound Legion house’s main gate, all continentals praying for Naruan to wake.

At that moment the mansion’s huge doors opened and someone appeared.

At first they didn’t recognize him, but anyone would notice the difference if a blood-streaked face suddenly looked clean. It was Kim Han.

“You all should get back to your livelihoods. Thanks to everyone, Naruan has now fallen asleep. There’s no particular problem, so you may each return home. I won’t forget your kindness.”

The continentals bowed deeply at Kim Han’s polite nod as if a wave had passed through them; one by one they began to disperse at his suggestion.

The representatives watching from a distance felt goosebumps.

They were representatives like Kim Han. They had entered the Battlefield of the Gods with similar power.

But after earning notoriety as a pushover, he had grown disgustingly strong.

How could someone who was supposedly the ‘same’ representative be like this?

Their assumptions were wrong. Kim Han and they had been granted similar power upon entry, but their starting points were different. Differences in talent and effort had placed them in completely different tiers.

Some couldn’t hide their bitter expressions; they felt wronged and indignant.

They were sure something was wrong. They vowed to confront their assigned god.

One hotheaded representative among them sent murderous intent toward Kim Han.

He should have held back a moment longer. The instant that intent was emitted, Kim Han, who had been facing the continentals, turned his head and their eyes met.

Kim Han vanished from the mansion gate and reappeared directly in front of the group of representatives.

“If you emitted murderous intent, that must mean you’re prepared to die too, right?”

“W-What…!”

“It won’t hurt.”

“A baseless guess…? Huh?”

The man couldn’t finish his sentence. Strangely, his vision blackened until it went dark.

The other representatives stared in bewilderment at the man who had suddenly gone silent.

Kim Han calmly twisted his right wrist as if performing a routine task and made a round hole in the man’s chest.

Only then did the representatives notice a thin red line across the man’s neck.

They took hesitant steps back and stared at Kim Han in horror.

They hadn’t seen him swing a weapon or use any obvious trick. Without understanding what had happened, the man’s neck had been severed so swiftly the head still rested on the torso.

A beating heart throbbed in Kim Han’s left hand.

“Absorb.”

The heart vanished, leaving only red stains on his hand.

They hunched their shoulders and took another step back under Kim Han’s silent, steely gaze.

“How about you clear out instead of staying here and accidentally emitting murderous intent and meeting a grim fate like this guy?”

At Kim Han’s warning, the villains couldn’t even spit a defiant curse—they turned and fled.

A fear ran down their spines: if they looked back they’d be beheaded, like a mythic punishment. So they shut their mouths and ran as fast as they could.

The next day, a continental left steaming bread with the mage guarding the main gate, wearing a baker’s hat.

A middle-aged woman left a basket of fruit; she owned a famous fruit shop even the wizards frequented.

An old man left long-brewed liquor, a young woman left cheese, others left magical ingredients, iron ore, food, meat…

A child pressed five glass marbles into the wizard’s hands, tiny fingers trembling as he said they were his precious belongings.

When the wizard hesitated, the child sniffed and wondered if it was because his gift was cheap. Even the magic tower elders had no choice but to accept.

They soothed the child, claiming the gift was too precious to leave unattended. Of course the wizard memorized the child’s name and address with their characteristic memory.

But the procession didn’t stop, and awkward packages piled up at the main gate.

Coincidentally, steward Tess had left the mansion early with his son to handle matters for those harmed in the recent battle, and Lee Hyo-ju and Hazel had gone out the previous evening and had not yet returned.

So the only one who could sort the gifts was Merus, but he had gone to the library since morning.

“What… should we do about this?”

“Well. What does the tower master say?”

“The master—no, Kim Han—said to accept them for now and give money or magical items in return, or provide necessary materials.”

“…Who will sort them?”

“…Us.”

The two white-tower elders on guard at that moment sighed and began organizing the items.

Though they sorted at incredible speed, more continentals kept placing gifts as soon as a space opened.

Eventually they shouted for help, and mages ran out from the mansion to assist; when dusk fell Tess and Miku returned, and Hazel and Lee Hyo-ju’s party came back and joined in.

Only after Merus arrived did they finally finish organizing.

Upon entering the mansion, those who had been sorting at the main gate immediately heard joyful news: Naruan had awakened.