Prisoner #131
“Capturing people…?”
“People? Nah, I’m asking if you’ve ever killed any of those bastards.”
Calling them “people” felt off, so those bastards it was. The word choice might have seemed unnecessary, but it wasn’t. The question was where exactly their brand of racism, yard-pound system worship, and “non-whites deserve to die” ideology drew the line. Some of them might still cling to a vaguely Christian aversion to getting their own hands bloody. Even if it sounded ridiculous, the game had featured a teammate who screamed about discrimination while preaching pacifism. It was a laughably idiotic contradiction, yet that exact brand of hypocrisy was what passed for Southern-style bigotry.
“Never killed anyone… but I don’t really care either way.”
Thankfully, Ines wasn’t that much of an idiot. She was plenty stupid, sure, but not the kind of brain-dead moron who couldn’t tell right from wrong.
“Oh, good—”
“They’re nothing but filth staining the blood of white Earthlings. They ought to be offered up to God.”
“Ah.”
Anyway, the fact that she had the will to do it was enough.
Kang Sian started walking forward without a hint of concern. Ines hesitated.
“Wait, even so, fighting them like this seems dangerous.”
“It’s not dangerous at all. Just get ready to fight.”
She didn’t want to die in some random brawl, but when Sian put it that way, she had no other choice. Running off alone would just get her lost and killed anyway. In the end, she followed after him.
That was when another arrow flew toward her.
Ting!
Once again, Sian blocked it for her. His barrier had taken a hit, but he didn’t seem particularly bothered. The hero party faltered. They clearly hadn’t expected their second attack to be neutralized so easily. Technically the arrow had been aimed at Ines and Sian had taken the blow instead, but to the enemy it simply looked like a physically gifted opponent casually swatting their shots aside.
Sian kicked the fallen arrow away with clear disdain. The provocation made the hero candidates mutter among themselves before finally drawing their weapons in earnest. Sian’s expression turned sour.
“They really are first-years.”
It wasn’t a compliment. Their weapons were gaudy as hell, and their stances were visibly shaking. One short girl wasn’t even trying to hide the terror on her face as she clutched her dagger. She was still lugging around a massive backpack, so Sian pegged her as the porter.
He stared at her, then picked up a stone from the ground. He gripped it tight and sent mana flowing into his arm. It was body reinforcement through mana, but because the consumption was so high, the strengthening only applied to a few specific muscles. He didn’t hesitate. The stone flew straight at the porter.
“Charge!”
He rushed forward alongside Ines. The moment the stone struck the porter square in the face, she was momentarily incapacitated.
“!!!”
She toppled over backward and hit the ground hard. Her old, chipped dagger flew from her hand as the sound of breaking glass came from inside her bag.
So she’s a supply carrier rather than a gatherer. Smart choice.
Leaving her alone would have been asking for trouble once she started handing out supplies. Unfortunately, things didn’t go perfectly. The candidate who had shot at Ines was already nocking more arrows while the mage beside him waved his wand frantically. Water, fire, earth, ice, light—Sian couldn’t tell which school it was. He simply had to assess everything in the brief instant before the spell went off.
“#$^%#$#@!!!!!”
The two long-range attackers shouted something incomprehensible. Three arrows began glowing with yellow light as the ground along their charge path started to warp.
Magic-enchanted arrows and an earth spell.
Given that they were first-years, the power probably wasn’t anything special. The real problem was that their inexperience might mean they wouldn’t follow standard attack order. The earth spell should have come first, followed by the enchanted arrows. Sadly, Hero Academy first-years lacked the strategic judgment to pull that off.
“$#@!@$!#%!!!”
The bowstring released first. Three arrows streaked forward like beams of light. Sian could have dodged all of them, but it would have slowed him down. Deciding it wasn’t worth it, he twisted his body just enough to avoid two. The last one struck his shoulder, but the armor plating deflected it harmlessly.
The moment the light faded, an earthen wall erupted from the ground directly ahead.
An earth spell now?
Stopping would mean a collision. Instead, Sian accelerated. His faith in their first-year level had given him a rough estimate of the spell’s strength. With a thunderous crash, he smashed straight through. The wall was hard but thin; it exploded into countless fragments and dust. His barrier lost some durability, but he kept most of his speed.
Grinding his teeth, Sian sheathed his sword.
“You sons of bitches!”
Slaughtering them now would be a waste. Since bringing them in alive would probably net some extra commission points, subduing them was clearly the better option. He locked the sheath in place and drew the entire thing from his belt like a club. Then he hurled himself at the closest enemy—a man wielding a spear.
The man tried to swing, but a spear was a terrible weapon at point-blank range. The instant Sian closed the distance and deflected the thrust, resistance became impossible. All the man could do was watch helplessly as a palm slammed into his face.
“Pierce!”
Bang. His head snapped back and slammed into the ground. The helmet crumpled instantly as a scream tore free. The armor on his back barely kept his neck from snapping, but the internal components took so much shock that he couldn’t move properly anymore.
“One down.”
“#$!@#$@#$!!!”
A roar came from the side. A woman in bulky armor with massive gauntlets was charging at him.
“How dare an ugly bitch like you attack someone?!”
Before she could reach Sian, Ines’s spear swept in from the side and knocked her flat. Ines then mercilessly rained blows down on the fallen candidate. The metallic clang clang clang mixed with the sound of the steam engine’s exhaust turning thick and dirty.
“Only disable them! Don’t kill anyone!”
Sian shouted the warning as he moved on to the remaining three. The archer and mage attacked desperately, but they couldn’t land a single hit. Even if they had, the power was too weak to matter. It was nothing but panicked flailing—which meant anything Sian did would work.
He grabbed the archer’s hand as she wildly swung her bow, then used her as a human shield. Every spell the mage fired slammed into her instead.
“!!!!!”
The armor prevented fatal damage, but the magical impacts were still significant. The woman’s screams forced the mage to stop casting. That was the opening Sian needed. He kicked the mage’s shin to drop him to his knees, then beat his head in with the scabbard. Not once, but over and over. The helmet split open and blood poured out. The mage thrashed in agony before collapsing unconscious. Sian slammed him face-first into the dirt with another spell, then turned to the mage.
“Two.”
She was trembling, spitting out what sounded like threats. But whether from fear or depleted mana, nothing happened no matter how much she waved her wand. Caught between a rock and a hard place, she eventually snarled and charged. With the steam engine assisting her, she probably thought she could overpower a normal human. She was right about that much—but Sian wasn’t normal. He was a trained awakener. On top of that, she suffered from chronic starvation, stunted growth, and a complete lack of proper exercise. No amount of strength assistance could overcome a fundamentally frail body. It was exactly why most mages followed the combat doctrine of staying in the rear. A mage who ignored that rule when she wasn’t even a combat caster was in for a harsh reality.
“Who the hell do you think you’re rushing?”
Slap!
A powerful smack sent her sprawling. Her sense of balance had been just as compromised as her strength. It was pathetic for a hero candidate, but expecting much from brand-new first-years was unrealistic to begin with. They had talent but almost no accumulated ability. In the end, the little sprout was plucked and brutally stomped by Sian. The bonus was that the damaged steam pipe caused her engine to shut down completely.
“Three.”
Only the porter remained. Sian grabbed her by the hair as she rolled on the ground and beat her with the scabbard until she was covered in blood and her eyes rolled back. Done.
“Four.”
Crash!
“$@#!$@$@#$@#……!!!”
“Show me that back! That back!”
Something heavy fell over. When Sian glanced over, Ines had already completely subdued her opponent. In the short time since his warning, she had even tied the girl up in a tight tortoise-shell rope binding using the leftover cord.
“Mm. Five.”
It was truly over.
The hero candidates who had entered the academy with dreams of saving the world were, unfortunately, reduced to prisoners in just two months. Tied up with ropes, gags stuffed in their mouths, steam engines broken, they trudged along in utter misery. It hurt like hell, of course. But any resistance or attempt to sit down would earn them a fate worse than death, so they had no choice. With a sword at their crotches and a spear at their backsides, what could they possibly do? Especially when one of their captors was somewhat strong despite being sloppy, and the other was overwhelmingly powerful.
“#$%#$%#$%!!!”
“I bet these bastards are cursing us right now.”
“Looks like I’ll have to stab them in the ass with the spear.”
Even if they tried to run, they were already trapped in the palm of their captors’ hands. All they could do was seethe and despair inwardly. In a way, it was a blessing. Thanks to their helpless rage, the two who had captured them reached the World Gate without any further incidents.
Kang Sian and Ines headed to the inspection office to complete the procedures for gate entry. The sight of them dragging a line of prisoners behind them was quite the spectacle. And before long, they found themselves on the receiving end of very strange looks from the academy staff.