Chapter 78

Chaos, betrayal.

Malik, who had pretended not to be the mastermind behind the incident, had suddenly attacked. To Adele, such things were merely the messy leftovers of human emotion.

In that moment, the feeling that dominated her was relief.

‘You haven’t been caught yet.’

Adele smiled inwardly. Her eyes swept across the scene. There were at least dozens of enemies surrounding them. And there was more than one unseen sniper.

‘This is my least favorite kind of setup.’

Too many people.

A cramped location.

And archers.

It was a situation that would devolve into a chaotic melee the instant the fighting started. Izack seemed to be hesitating for that very reason.

‘Hmm, you said that man wanted to avoid armed conflict.’

And the same went for Shane. If the fighting began, this place would transform into something worse than a slaughterhouse in the blink of an eye.

‘I’d like to avoid that too.’

Adele decided to try talking to Malik first. Of course, she didn’t have the slightest bit of expectation.

“Didn’t you say you weren’t the mastermind of the raid? I’d love an explanation for what’s going on here.”

“My, my, it seems we’re of the same mind. If I could, I’d stay up all night making excuses. But there are many in the lower district who would prefer I didn’t.”

Even as he spoke, Malik kept glancing behind him as if he were conscious of something.

“And you’re not the only one who knows what this place is about to become. Hahaha.”

Malik let out an awkward laugh. Adele spoke up.

“Then you must also know that this will only result in useless sacrifice.”

“True. But unfortunately, the decision has already been made, and it wasn’t my call to make.”

Malik turned around, guided by Bard. As he disappeared into the alley, he left behind a single order.

“Kill everyone except the young master.”

At the signal, the enemies lunged forward. Adele felt a spark of resentment toward these foes who wouldn’t even give her a second to sigh. She vaulted over the heads of the enemies and charged toward Malik.

Just then, a gust of wind tore through the alley.

—Clannnnng!

A terrifying resonance rang out. It was the sound of Adele’s mace colliding with a second arrow.

Adele barely managed to deflect the projectile, but even she couldn’t completely brush off the impact. She spun several times in the air before landing. In that short interval, Malik had vanished.

‘My, he’s a fast one when it comes to running away.’

Worse, Adele had landed right in the center of the enemy swarm.

—Tsk.

With a click of Adele’s tongue, the enemies closed in. Izack, Vittorio, and the rest of the search party drew their blades. The massacre had begun.

I kept glancing back at the path I had taken.

‘She didn’t follow me, did she?’

Would Adele have seen through my lie? That anxiety kept me looking over my shoulder. It was still a mystery to me how she had actually fallen for my persuasion. I thought she would be incredibly stubborn.

‘I’m sorry for lying about hiding in the basement again!’

I apologized to Adele in my head. I had another plan. A crisis is an opportunity. I felt like if I didn’t execute this plan now, the chance would never come again.

However, even I knew this plan was a dangerously risky gamble. I didn’t want to drag Adele into that kind of danger. If she was alone, she could survive anywhere. It would be even better if she met up with the search party first.

“To think I’d pull an S-grade officer and then refuse to use her because it’s dangerous… What on earth am I doing? Haha…”

It was absurd, even to me. But Adele would have definitely stopped my plan, and I also didn’t want to hand over every single moment of glory to her. I’m the protagonist! How can I call myself a protagonist if I only rely on a companion’s martial might?

I looked up from beneath my hood. The dawn light filtering through the buildings heralded the end of the long night. I hurried my pace.

My destination was the second gate to the east. Not the gate that divided the upper and lower districts, but the gate that separated the entire Denabi canyon from the vast wilderness beyond.

The soldiers there belonged to the Denabi Legion, but they were composed entirely of people from the lower district. They cooperated with the Legion only when necessary and were usually free from its control.

‘But they’ve never caused trouble before.’

I took a deep breath and approached the gate. The two sentries at the front seemed to hear my footsteps.

“Who goes there? It’s still under curfew. Get lost.”

They tried to call me to a halt, but I didn’t stop. I felt their tension rising. I was just as tense as they were. I swallowed hard and pulled back my hood, revealing my face to them.

“You recognize my face.”

I spoke.

“I need your help.”

—Cr-crack!

Adele’s mace slowly rose. Covered in the blood of her victims, it glowed as if it were on fire where it met the red rays of the dawning sun.

“As I thought, this is my true calling.”

As Adele rested the mace on her shoulder, her white cloak was also dyed a deep crimson. The blood-stained cloak radiated a grotesque sense of intimidation.

As the battle reached its end, the alley was so crowded with those fallen into eternal sleep that there was no room to step. The raiders Malik had mobilized realized they no longer had a chance of winning.

They had been warned that an Emperor’s Hunter would be there. They thought they could surely handle Adele alone, but Izack and Vittorio were there as well. Why were three such monsters gathered in this narrow alley? It haunted the raiders like a horrific riddle.

The combat prowess of Adele and the search party was unfathomable. The enemies remained standing only because they couldn’t find a way to flee. Adele, of course, knew this.

“Right. If you just stay frozen like statues, I won’t kill you. Don’t get in my way and stay still, okay?”

After saying that, Adele trudged toward one side of the alley. Walking over the corpses was incredibly inconvenient.

“Oops…”

Adele slipped for a moment. A frozen raider didn’t miss that opening. Adele spun her body instead of falling.

—Cr-crack!

Another gruesome sound echoed through the alley.

“I told you to stay still.”

Adele looked around at the other raiders.

“A life isn’t like a dog’s bone. You can’t just throw it away and get it back. Hmm, do I really have to tell you this for you to know?”

Adele finished her walk. She looked back at Izack and Vittorio.

“I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“…Where are you going?” Izack asked.

Adele replied, “Hmm… to catch the sniper?”

The one firing those incredibly long arrows. That one seemed like they’d be a nuisance. They were good at hiding their presence and were a skilled shot. They had repeatedly struck at openings during the melee, which was quite distracting.

‘Though my main goal is to go find you, of course.’

Having resumed her primary duty, there was nothing to stop Adele. She was prepared to turn the entire lower district upside down to find Shane.

Meanwhile, unlike the perfectly fine Adele, the other two were in a state of disarray. Izack looked down at his comrades who had fallen into eternal sleep. Except for Izack and Vittorio, the search party had been wiped out. They had fought against dozens in this narrow alley. Such a result was inevitable. Without Adele, the two of them might have been in danger as well.

“You said this was in front of your house? An open battle would have been better.”

“…”

Izack couldn’t argue with Vittorio’s words. What had transpired in this alley was that horrific. Izack approached the raiders who stood frozen in silence.

‘Please, just get lost. You damn bastards…’

But contrary to Izack’s wish, the enemies lunged at the exhausted man. Izack’s sword painted the end of a foolish soldier in blood. Meanwhile, Vittorio cleaned up the remaining enemies. In the end, only the two of them remained standing in the alley.

Izack wiped his face in despair. Bloody handprints remained on his forehead and cheeks in place of sweat. Vittorio approached him.

“Indeed, the warriors of Denabi. Strong.”

It was still impossible to tell if he was being sarcastic. Izack sat on the steps in front of his house, which was a mess of blood.

“They’re members of the Guild’s Vigilante Association. Just lower-district scum like me, but they were men with pride.”

“Is dying like this the pride of the lower district?”

“I don’t know. Now…”

Izack looked up at the sky where the morning sun was pouring down.

“…I just don’t know anymore.”

“You must know what is happening in the lower district.”

“I know.”

“And yet you have completely abandoned any attempt at control.”

“What we must control is this gate. Not the entirety of the lower district.”

The captain of the Second Lower Gate’s guard spoke with a mechanical stiffness. I stared him down, my gaze unwavering.

“I don’t intend to sit here and lecture you on your dereliction of duty now. However, I expect you to help me from this moment forward.”

“…Help you how, exactly?”

“I am going to call upon my supporters in the lower district. Using that as a starting point, I will pressure those who incited this riot.”

—Ha…

One of the soldiers listening let out a burst of laughter. When the captain’s gaze shifted toward him, the soldier hurriedly wiped the grin off his face. However, the captain didn’t scold him. Instead, he looked at me and said:

“We cannot provide such help. You should be grateful I don’t drag you off and hand you over to the Guild right now.”

—Phew…

I leaned back into my chair and let out a deep, heavy breath. What was the best move here? I hadn’t expected to persuade them easily from the start, but their suffocatingly passive attitude was starting to piss me off.

‘I would have been less annoyed if they had actually tried to capture and imprison me.’

They were refusing to make a decision. I had come here holding the key that could make them the protagonists of this incident—whether as rebels, revolutionaries, or saviors. They could be anything they wanted as long as they had me.

‘And yet, they’re trying to be nothing at all.’

“You frustrating bastards.”

Both the captain and the guards flinched at my sudden swearing. I continued.

“Go ahead. Hand me over.”

“What…?”

“I said hand me over. To that damn Guild or the Vigilante Association, or whatever they are.”

The guards’ faces twisted into grimaces of hostility, but I had no intention of stopping now.

“Hand me over and take your pocket change. Then march all the way to Denabi Castle with them. Hang every person you see, and put my head on a pike in front of the upper district gate.”

“You’d better watch your mouth. Have you forgotten who holds your life in their hands right now?”

—Bang!

“I’m talking because I know exactly who does!”

I slammed my hand on the table and stood up abruptly. Startled, the soldiers reflexively aimed their spears at me.

“I told you to hand me over! Do you really intend to do absolutely nothing with my life? Have you all forgotten who you are? Everything out there is changing right now. This is the only time we can stop the conflict between the upper and lower districts. This is also the only time you can take the castle and cut my throat. But you’re hiding like cowards, trying to be nothing!”

I shouted at them without restraint.

“If you are truly men, then decide for yourselves who you are! Do you want to be revolutionaries and hang every person who stands against you? Or do you want to be goddamn traitors whose heads roll across the execution grounds!?”

“You…”

“Or else!”

I cut the captain off.

“If not that, then as warriors of Denabi, do you want to follow me to end this useless strife and restore peace to the people? …Make your choice. This is your only chance.”

One of the soldiers shouted back at me.

“Don’t make me laugh! End the strife? Restore peace? Who the hell are you to think you can do that!”

“Are you asking because you really don’t know?”

I glared sharply at the soldier and rolled up my right sleeve. I unraveled the bandages wrapped around my arm, revealing the crystallized limb beneath—the evidence of the struggle remaining on my body.

The soldiers gasped.

“Other residents might not know, but surely you—who watched my triumphal return at this very gate—should know? I am Shane Astrier. I have already saved Denabi once. There is no reason I can’t do it a second time.”

I leaned forward until the spear one of the soldiers was holding was right against my neck.

“Uh…”

I looked down at the captain.

“If you keep dawdling, the expeditionary force will return. When that happens, the ending left for you people will be dull and predictable. So, decide! Will you be the traitors who dreamed of being revolutionaries by piercing my throat, or will you follow me as the saviors of the lower district…!”

Looking into the captain’s eyes, I gave my final word.

“Now. I’ll give you one minute.”