Chapter 65: King of Slaves - 2
Chapter 65: King of Slaves - 2
Four days later, early evening.
Jiha sat in a corner of the tavern Yorn with the half-elf Lijin.
"Being cooped up ends tonight."
"Tonight?"
Sitting across from him, Lijin asked carefully.
She'd had no choice but to eat and sleep at the Blue Seal barracks for the last few days.
Sending her home would have made her a target for the elves.
Lijin had accepted the arrangement, but it couldn't have been comfortable.
"Tonight, and then you're back to commuting. The moment you get hired, you end up with a slave-driver boss who makes you eat and sleep at the office."
Work as the personal secretary to an important person, someone with a bad personality, and your private life disappears.
They call you at all hours and pile every imaginable chore on you.
Having been run ragged himself, Jiha had no desire to do that to his own subordinates unless it was absolutely necessary.
This was a special case.
"No, it was a measure taken for my safety."
"It's not exactly safe here either, but if you stay still, there won't be a problem."
Jiha hadn't shared his detailed plan to smash the elves with Lijin.
From her perspective, she'd been locked away with no explanation and this was her first time outside in days.
She must have been frustrated, must have had plenty of questions, yet she stayed amiable and didn't pry first.
Lijin smiled slightly, then rose and moved to the seat next to Jiha.
She opened a bottle of liquor and filled Jiha's empty glass with smooth, practiced movements.
Despite her demure appearance, her hands moved with familiarity.
When Jiha picked up the bottle, Lijin gently declined.
"I'm a lightweight, so it's better I don't drink."
"But you worked at a tavern?"
"Which is why I only worked as a server."
"Then just hold onto it."
Jiha said that and poured.
She accepted politely and set the glass before herself, then asked:
"Is this a custom from the world you came from?"
"Something like that...."
His days on Earth were growing hazy.
Would he wake up to a cellphone alarm tomorrow morning?
Answer it half-asleep to some VIP's yelling and impossible demands.
'Either way, I've probably been declared missing on Earth....'
Lost in sentimental thought, Jiha emptied his glass.
He'd already leaked his outing with Lijin to the elf gang through Jadrun.
The young elves who'd been waiting for an opening had taken the bait.
'Head count: thirty-four. Split between the ones coming after me and Lijin, and the ones hitting the barracks....'
Jiha already knew the elf gang's operation plan like the back of his hand.
That said, he needed to act at least a little drunk before they'd move.
As Jiha drank silently, Lijin refilled his glass each time.
"I wanted to become an administrative officer."
"A civil servant?"
Lijin suddenly began talking about herself.
A man and woman sitting together in silence would look strange to anyone watching.
"Yes, an administrative officer for Waris."
"Everyone wants to be a civil servant. You must have studied hard?"
"It's nothing. I lost my scholarship this semester so I had to take a leave of absence."
Lijin spoke in a light tone.
"Half-elves find it hard to live comfortably in Purple because of the elves. And it's not like moving to Blue means a warm welcome. So most half-elves in Warsland choose to live in Waris. A city where Blue and Purple are mixed together means relatively less discrimination."
"So you decided to use your leave of absence to come see Waris, where you'll be living later?"
"My uncle suggested it, too. One thing led to another, and here I am."
Lijin smiled.
"Working under you, Jiha, is a good opportunity for me. It'll be incredibly valuable experience later when I become an administrative officer."
"A civil servant, huh...."
Jiha turned his head and regarded Lijin quietly.
She was like a new hire fresh out of university, greeting everyone.
Actually, she was a beautiful, demure college girl with black hair.
Under his gaze, Lijin gave a shy smile.
"Bringing this up all of a sudden is kind of embarrassing. Would you tell me a little about yourself, too?"
"...."
Jiha's guard went up on reflex.
To overturn Warsland, Jiha was running multiple plans in parallel.
Not a single subordinate knew the full picture.
Even Uben, operating as his shadow strategist, only knew parts of the plan. He registered Lijin's question as probing.
Lijin clarified her intent.
"Stories from before you arrived in Warsland. If it wouldn't be a bother, could you tell me a little about that other world?"
"It's not very interesting. I just worked myself to death."
Lijin smiled and spoke.
"I just want to know a little more about you."
"How...."
About to cut the topic off, Jiha stopped mid-sentence and brought his glass to his lips.
At Lijin's puzzled look, he said quietly:
"They're here."
"...Where?"
"Four by the entrance. The ones with their hoods pulled down."
Lijin pretended to set the bottle down and stole a glance.
"They came in, ordered drinks and food, but none of them have touched the liquor. Barely talking to each other, glancing around the tavern while deliberately not looking my way. All armed. And most tellingly, every single one of them is wearing a hood. Suspicious."
"...They're wearing hoods to hide their ears."
Elves stand out by appearance.
That's why Jadrun had come in the same way.
Jiha let out a dry laugh.
"The very fact they're going out of their way to hide they're elves is, paradoxically, what tells me they're here for me."
Not even wanted criminals, yet every one of them hiding their faces.
They'd tried to conceal the fact they were elves, but it only drew more attention.
And Jiha even knew the names of those four.
Jadrun had supplied every scrap of inside information.
They were, he'd said, the four most skilled fighters among the ones following Galak.
'All Rare Grade....'
A four-on-one fight, and on top of that he had to protect Lijin.
Up until now, Jiha had always set up the situation and seized the initiative before a fight.
This time, he'd deliberately surrendered the initiative. And the enemy was a smoothly coordinated team.
Heavily disadvantaged, but....
'I've got measures in place for exactly this.'
Lijin lifted the glass she'd only been holding to her lips.
She took exactly one sip, then set it back down demurely.
"...It does help with the nerves."
Murmuring, she leaned her head gently against Jiha's shoulder.
Drunk already? At Jiha's glance, she lowered her eyes and whispered:
"Doesn't this look less suspicious?"
"...."
Jiha took up his glass without answering, but Lijin gave a soft shake of her head.
She moved her hand gently and brought the glass to Jiha's lips.
It was a gesture conscious of the assassins watching. Jiha drank in silence.
The burning liquid traced his lips and slid down his throat.
Lijin wrapped both arms around Jiha's arm with a pleased expression.
To an observer, it would look like a coquettish woman and a stiff man.
"...."
He wanted to.
The soft swell of her breasts beneath her blouse pressed against his arm, and lust crept up.
His lower half hardened in an instant, and Jiha frowned.
'I haven't done it lately.'
He'd only touched Enril and Leticia.
Unspent desire was suddenly boiling over.
The ones trying to kill him were right in front of him, and yet he wanted to handle the woman at his side.
Lijin filled the empty glass and said amicably:
"No more drinking from here on."
"...."
Without a word, Jiha moved his arm and draped it over Lijin's shoulder.
She looked a little startled but leaned against him readily.
They were in a corner booth; no one could see whatever they did.
Her dark eyes, cradled against his arm, looked up at him wordlessly.
In those calmly sunken eyes was a trace of tension and anticipation.
A man and a woman's gazes crossed in silence.
The moment Lijin closed her eyes, Jiha pressed his lips to hers.
Amid the tavern's clamorous noise and the drunken racket, a man and a woman's breaths quietly mingled.
The wet, soft sensation of lips touching.
Enjoying it quietly for a moment, Jiha began leisurely sucking on her lips, and Lijin's body gave a small jolt.
An innocent reaction that made it instantly clear she'd never had her lips sucked before.
Smack. Suck.
As Jiha unhurriedly sucked, Lijin's lips parted without her meaning to.
A reflexive response born of fluster and embarrassment.
Into that lovely mouth opened as if in invitation, his tongue pushed inside.
"Haa... Ah!"
Lijin trembled finely as his tongue thrust in without reserve.
While their tongues mingled thickly, Jiha slid his hand downward from Lijin's forehead.
Past her soft cheek to her slender jawline, down the line of her delicate neck, toward her chest.
His hand traced the gentle contour of a breast shaped perfectly for the taking.
As his hand gauged her ripened body, the woman trembled faintly in his arms.
Boom!
The four assassins, who had been waiting only for an opening, kicked off from their seats and lunged.
Jiha, still embracing and kissing Lijin, opened only his eyes and glared at the enemy.
Patpatpat!
Even in the cramped tavern, two of them leaped across tabletops to close in, while the other two rushed in at a distance so as not to obstruct each other's lines of movement.
Their breathing was perfectly matched—just as intel had suggested, they'd worked together for a long time.
'Got 'em.'
Still locking lips with Lijin, Jiha kicked the table upward.
The hooded man lunging at him found his path blocked; on reflex, he swung his weapon.
Shrrrk!
The price of slicing through the table was his life.
Blinding the enemy with the table, Jiha rose while still holding Lijin, then swung his blade a beat later.
Smack. Slurp.
Through it all, he kept suckling heavily on Lijin's lips.
The hooded man who had just pulled back his sword after cleaving the table had a clean line drawn across his face and toppled.
He was dead, no need to check.
"Yaaaah!"
The second one shouted a battle cry and hurled himself recklessly at Jiha, who was still mid-kiss.
A fierce, sharp thrust. With two more right behind ready to pile on, the situation was incredibly hard to counter.
Normally, even if you dodged the first surprise attack, you'd flounder against the second bold rush, and lose your life to the third and fourth's combined assault.
It was a perfectly coordinated attack. But Jiha had Shadow Hand.
Thwack!
Shadow Hand surged up from Jiha's shadow and slammed into the second man's stomach.
The monstrous strength capable of holding down 200 kilos struck his abdomen clean, and the second man tumbled in a heap.
Not dead on the spot, but combat-incapacitated.
The late-arriving third and fourth swung their blades at Jiha's throat and waist, respectively.
Swish!
Cornered in the booth, there was no room to dodge, and the third threw a dagger with his other hand for good measure.
Normally a perfect crisis. Jiha, however, was different.
Ending the long kiss, he unfurled his wings and launched upward while still holding Lijin.
The two attackers, utterly unaware of his flight ability, sliced through empty air.
Descending, Jiha drew his blade across.
The third man's forehead split open and his body sprawled.
Left alone, the fourth man gasped in shock.
"What in the world...."
"A pathetic last line."
Jiha stepped forward and swung his sword. The fourth man met it reflexively.
But in that instant, Shadow Hand shot out and seized the fourth man's arm.
"Gahk?!"
He knew about the ability yet panicked and got caught anyway.
His sword arm immobilized, the fourth man faced Jiha's question.
"Has the attack on the Blue Seal barracks already begun?"
"How do you...."
"So it has."
With the information he needed extracted, Jiha cut him down immediately.
After killing the fourth, Jiha dispatched the incapacitated second without hesitation.
In his arms, Lijin finally opened her eyes and looked down silently at the carnage.
The lingering heat of a fervent first kiss kept her cheeks aflame.
"Mu-murder!"
"What is this...."
At the sudden bloodshed, the tavern patrons shot to their feet in terror.
Jiha released Lijin and spoke.
"I'm heading to the barracks. Clean up here. Explain the situation when the security officers arrive."
"Ah, yes...."
Face still flushed red, Lijin nodded.
Jiha looked down at the corpses one more time.
The group's coordination had genuinely been decent.
Without intelligence, in a straightforward clash, even Jiha would have been in danger.
But Jiha had obtained their information in advance through Jadrun.
On the other hand, these four hadn't known Jiha had wings, nor that he'd anticipated their ambush.
The finishing touch: they'd been enraged by the amorous display between Jiha and Lijin—a lowly human and the half-elf they despised.
Never realizing it was the net Jiha had laid.
"The finale...."
Wiping the demure heat lingering on his lips, Jiha moved.
It was time to put an end to this.