Those More Wicked Than Demons (5)

Running and running, we finally reached the place where Ellie had left the children.

Ellie had been slowly comforting and soothing the children the whole time.

Ten wind wolves in total had come rushing toward Ellie, and with them, she had brought me along with roughly thirty slaves and a formidable swordswoman by the name of Hwa Yeon.

Ellie walked up to me and asked, "You weren't in any danger, right?"

"Yeah. Of course. No danger at all."

At my matter-of-fact tone, she reached out and ruffled my hair, smiling down at me like the goddess she was.

It felt like my very soul was being healed.

Then Hwa Yeon, who had been standing behind me, approached us — barefoot, of all things — her long hair, closer to scarlet than crimson, fluttering behind her.

"Things were too urgent earlier, so I couldn't say it then. Thank you for saving me. You helped us because you wanted to aid our escape too, right?"

With that, she also expressed her gratitude to Ellie.

Ellie looked at her and replied, "We only did what anyone should. You don't need to thank us for that."

"Still, for something like this, it's only right to show gratitude. My master taught me that much, at least."

Well, considering the kind of man her master was, that figured.

"So then... I want to repay the debt of you saving me. I'll swear it on my master's name. I will never do anything that would give you reason to doubt me."

"So... could you tell me what it is you're trying to do?"

Her master was an absolute titan of a figure, and in the game, she'd been a trustworthy, usable ally from the mid-game all the way through the endgame. From my position, she was a fairly reliable person to have around — but from Ellie's, she was a stranger who had suddenly appeared, claiming she wanted to help and asking to be used.

Perhaps sensing that herself, Hwa Yeon immediately invoked her master's name as proof of good faith.

It was a good approach.

At her words, Ellie deliberated for a moment, then looked at me.

"Can we trust her?"

She was asking for my opinion too. She probably wanted me to confirm with my gut instinct whether this woman was someone we could believe in...

At any rate, there was no way I could find a fighter of her caliber anywhere else. Frankly, I'd already judged that the two of us alone were reaching our limits.

We needed someone who could fill in the gaps in our defenses — and who could hold her own, with force alone, against a crowd of enemies all by herself.

The one person who fit every one of those conditions was Hwa Yeon.

"You can trust her."

At my words, Ellie looked at me with eyes brimming with trust, then gave a small nod.

It meant she trusted my instincts and my judgment.

Looking into those eyes, I felt something inside me quietly fill up.

We now had slaves who had barely escaped that hell and children with no idea what lay one step ahead of them — and we needed a way to get them all somewhere safe. The lord would soon be sending men out to hunt us down. Fighting off that ambush while worrying about their safety at the same time would be no easy feat.

And so, Ellie took extraordinary measures.

She reached into the inner pocket of her chest, drew something out, and handed it to Leon.

What Leon received from Ellie was an adventurer's badge — the very tool that proved our forged identity as adventurers.

Clutching it, Leon stared up at Ellie's face, visibly bewildered — why was she giving this to him? Why was he the one receiving it?

Ellie spoke to him.

"Escort all of these people to the neighboring territory — Humid Territory. Lead them there, just as you did with the children."

".....!! B-But! This is more than I can—!"

"This is the price of your sins. You led adventurers there to that place so you could live comfortably. Carry the weight and the pressure of that for the rest of your life."

"......"

"That is the punishment I can give you. And when you have led every one of these people safely to the neighboring territory..."

"......"

"...your debt will be considered paid in full."

I understood. Watching Leon's remorse, Ellie had judged him to be someone still pure — someone who had never yet set foot in black water. Unlike the slavers who groveled and begged for their worthless lives even while staring at the evidence of what they'd done, this boy had offered up his own neck, repenting, even in a situation where he could have been killed without consequence.

More than that, he'd taken every sin upon himself, claiming he was the one who had ordered the children around.

Having seen that side of Leon, Ellie had decided to place her faith in the boy one more time.

The people here had no idea how to safely escape this city — many had been kidnapped without ever knowing what hit them. So what they needed were people who knew these roads better than anyone and had some experience leading others. And Leon needed a punishment he would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠remember for life, a burden to carry as he worked off his debt.

So Ellie gave Leon the adventurer's badge from her hand — and a sword.

The sword she handed him was not the blade Ellie treasured. But engraved on its scabbard was her formal family name.

That alone would guarantee Leon's safe passage.

After all, it was a sword given personally by the Grand Lord of this land — the ruler of the Cumul Territory herself.

I could follow Ellie's reasoning. She wasn't truly trusting Leon. Considering what he'd helped do to us, I could have drawn the Sword of the Azure Sky right here and taken his head, and no one would have said a word against it.

But rather than trusting Leon himself, Ellie was choosing to trust the humanity in him — his compassion, his capacity for self-sacrifice.

A person who could read the essence of a man's soul, guide him toward repentance through the right means — and at the same time, bring the blade of judgment down without hesitation upon those who crossed the line and showed no remorse whatsoever.

That, I realized, was why she was still held in such profound trust by her principal vassals.

As if he'd understood Ellie's heart, Leon swallowed hard and bowed.

"Thank you. I will return to see you again — I swear it. I will never forget this sin, and I will live the rest of my life in repentance for it."

With those words, Leon declared they had to escape before nightfall, and led the people away.

All we could do was trust him, and watch him go.

Once Leon had disappeared with the children and the slaves, Ellie held out her hand to me and asked me to make her a sword.

"Huh..."

Wait, the single greatest swordswoman here is asking *me* to make a sword? Then I realized — she'd given her own blade to Leon to vouch for his identity.

I had no choice, really. It was the price of guaranteeing Leon's status. I'd let it slide, just this once.

In an instant, I materialized the wind and shaped it into the form of the beloved sword Ellie so often used. The second blade was for the woman standing at Ellie's side.

When I kneaded the wind between my bare hands and fashioned weapons out of thin air, Hwa Yeon gaped at me in open shock.

"Wait — back there you said you had no sword! You said you had no sword!!"

"Think about it. If I'd made a weapon out of wind back there, and wind came blowing through, anyone with decent skill could have picked up on our position. I didn't have a choice."

"...Ah."

"'Ah,' my ass. Here, take this one."

"Tch. You're so sweet to *her*, aren't you..."

She was muttering her little side commentary under her breath — but I heard every word.

Pretending I hadn't, I handed the other sword in my hand to Ellie.

And Ellie said, "Hm. You two seem awfully close."

"....!!!!!"

I nearly dropped the sword meant for her.

"Hyun. You can... explain the situation, right?"

.....Damn it. So she hadn't let it slide quietly after all...

At her words, Hwa Yeon scrambled to stammer out something that wasn't quite an excuse.

"No, wait, we didn't do anything! I mean—! He, uh, he just gave me a cape! That's all he did, gave a cape to me, who wasn't wearing anything—!"

Had she always been like this.....?

Why did this feel like it was spiraling further and further out of control...

Feeling the darkness closing in before my eyes, I gave Ellie a full and detailed account of everything — and thanks to Hwa Yeon's world-class trolling, explaining it in a way she could actually understand left me drenched in cold sweat.

"So. It was an unavoidable accident, was it?"

By some point, my beloved had settled herself atop a large boulder, legs crossed, radiating pure queenly menace.

And naturally, we — still very much guilty parties — couldn't even meet her eyes. We knelt before our queen in silence.

"Yeah... sorry..."

Ellie shifted targets, turning her gaze back to Hwa Yeon.

"Shall we introduce ourselves properly, then?"

Ellie beamed and extended her hand to her. Was it just my imagination that the hand looked like the grip of a death god?

It was not my imagination.

I wasn't the only one who felt it.

Hwa Yeon was trembling — *brrr* — and looking at me with an expression that screamed help me.

You brought this calamity on yourself, sister.... Just grit your teeth and endure it...

"I'm... Hwa Yeon. I came to the Holy Empire from a country called Dong to train, and I was kidnapped by these people. Thanks to that man, I was able to escape."

"That man?"

Ellie tilted her head, glancing between me and her.

"We haven't... even introduced ourselves to each other yet. All we really did was the rescue. That's it."

"...It's fine, Hyun. If you're going to make another lover, do you really have to bring her to me first?"

".....I said I'm not doing that."

"We'll see?"

We'll see *what*, exactly?

And with that, she turned her gaze on Hwa Yeon.

Under that stare, Hwa Yeon's face had gone quite red.

Why are *you* blushing?

One of them is more than enough for me.

Sighing at the thought, I walked over to Hwa Yeon and extended my hand.

"I said it when we took down the Giant, but let me introduce myself properly. I am Lee Hyun — the Seventh Successor of the Azure Dragon, who rules the East."

Looking at me, making not the slightest effort to hide her flushed face, she lightly took my hand in hers.

...I mean, it's not like I'm handsome... though if I were, at least it wouldn't feel *unfair*...

"I... I'm Hwa Yeon. A direct disciple of Shin Ryu, come to the Empire from Dong to train..."

At her words, Ellie was visibly flustered, her eyes going wide as she stared at the woman.

The name she had invoked was Shin Ryu.

In other words — the strongest swordsman of the nation of Dong, the man some called a Sword Master.

And this woman before us was the last direct disciple that Sword Master Shin Ryu had ever taken.

Which meant this woman could wield a sword at a frightening level.

She had sworn on her master's name — staking a Sword Master's reputation to prove she was no spy or assassin.

Not that Ellie seemed to know that yet.

"I... I'm twenty-four."

Same age as Ellie, huh?

Quite young. In the game, Hwa Yeon had been a woman in her thirties — she'd spent nearly a decade of her life trapped in that darkness. The Hwa Yeon of the game had to have been at least thirty-four.

Only after Hwa Yeon and Ellie and I had sorted out ages and forms of address did the introductions finally end.

For the record, what I called Hwa Yeon was simply 'Yeon.' Calling her 'noona' felt awkward, since that was what she'd been to Ellie before Ellie and I had ever met.

Fortunately, Yeon didn't seem particular about titles at all — she'd just waved her hand at me and told me to call her whatever I liked, and 'Yeon' was what stuck.

At any rate, with this, every piece needed to take down the lord was now in place.

The three of us, combining our strength, were a small elite force that could casually handle over a hundred knights.

So we resolved to strike at Moss ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠immediately. Any further delay, and who knew what further harm would come to the captives. Even now, at this very moment, victims would be overflowing, suffering in the dark.

In other words, we had to draw up a plan to capture this territory's final king: Moss.

And then Yeon shared her thinking with us — and both Ellie and I couldn't help but be stunned.

"Send me to him, disguised as an offering."

The first to react to that proposal was none other than Ellie.

"...Are you sure that's safe?"

"Don't worry. I was captured to be sold as a sex slave... but nothing actually happened to me. If you'd been even a little later, it might have been beyond saving — but it wasn't."

The reason the Hwa Yeon of the game carried that air of mystery around her was probably because she never wanted to speak of what had been done to her after being taken as a sex slave. And just as she said, if our rescue had come even a little later, she would surely have been sold off to some old noble.

I didn't want to think about what came after that.

Yeon smiled brightly at me, as if to say thank you. She had very nearly lost that laughter-loving nature forever — and yet here she was, volunteering to push her feet back into that very hell.

"Besides — Hyun, you'll disguise yourself as a slave trader, and you'll drag me before the lord."

"I won't be going there naked — I'll have clothes on, so it's fine."

Objectively speaking, there was no better infiltration method than this. It would conserve my mana, and the lord appeared to maintain an ongoing relationship with the slave traders. After all, a place that manufactured slaves had sprouted up inside his own territory — the idea that he, its lord, knew nothing of it was absurd.

So we concluded there had to be some manner of connection between the slavers and the lord.

Both Ellie and I raised objections to her plan, but she simply insisted it would be fine, reassuring us instead.

The execution date: tomorrow. Yeon said we could go today, right now — but we refused to allow it. She'd only just crawled out of that darkness, and neither of our hearts could bear to send her back so soon.

Ultimately, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠persuaded by the two of us, Yeon nodded, and the operation was set for the following day.

And so the three of us drew up the plan in meticulous detail, trading opinions and refining it again and again.

If we failed, there was no telling where the lord might flee. And if we let him slip away now, the 'den of slavery' would undoubtedly rise again.

On the day of the operation, Yeon — who had asked Ellie for clothes — borrowed a spare set from her wardrobe.

"Alice... this thing's a little tight around the chest, don't you think....?"

Thanks to which, I overheard a conversation I was never meant to hear.

The 'Authority of the Azure Dragon' had evolved, sharpening every one of my senses, and with me keeping the 'Dragon's Instinct' running constantly, their voices reached me in perfect, excruciating detail.

I shook my head, scattered the stray thoughts, and set out with the two of them.

The streets in broad daylight were crowded with people — hard to believe this place was called a small city. But I could feel that the number of knights and mana-wielding warriors moving among them had grown far greater than that of ordinary citizens.

They'd been sending men after us this whole time and still couldn't catch us. It seemed their patience was wearing thin.

We moved with our appearances hidden as much as possible, slipping past patrol after patrol. When concealment finally became untenable, we moved swiftly to put the plan ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into action.

First, we engaged the Authority of Moonlight and the Authority of Wind in tandem to mask Ellie's divine presence. Then Ellie and I donned our capes, disguising ourselves as a pair of slave traders.

And last of all, Yeon began binding her own body with rope. To bring her own plan to life, she wound the ropes around herself, then handed the end of the lead to me.

With every preparation complete, as we moved to enter the lord's enormous mansion, the gate guard looked us over and spoke.

"It's not yet time for 'house calls,' is it?"

I answered the knight. "Have no worry. Consider this a gift, sent in reverence of the lord — a token of our deepening devotion."

The knight glanced at Yeon's face.

"Hm. She looks to be in fine condition. Very well. Enter."

With the knight's approval, the iron gate barring the great mansion swung open — and we were able to walk through its doors in the plain light of day.

But the danger was not yet over.

Two knights, catching sight of Yeon being led away in her ropes, began leering over her body from head to toe, spitting vulgar oaths, their gazes slick with lust.

I tried to brush them off, declaring she was a gift for the lord himself — but instead, the knights said,

"Oh yeah? Then we'll inspect her and decide for ourselves."

"Can't be too careful. Who knows what she's hiding on her body? We have to check before we let her in."

It was disgusting. The same sick chill that had run through me when Ellie was being sexually harassed by strangers now coursed through my entire body.

I looked around. There was no one. No knights. Not even soldiers.

In other words — these two were all there was.

"So how about you give us a little courtesy, hm?"

As they reached their hands forward —

"Get your filthy hands off her."

My blade was faster.

My sword stroke sheared clean through both knights' wrists, and I gifted the power of Morning Star Cleaver — in a form that could be unleashed in a single breath — to the knight standing on my right.

- CRACK!

The kick slammed squarely into his throat. Unable to withstand its force, he hurtled backward, was slammed into a tree, and did not get up.

Seeing that, the knight on the left yanked at his hilt, trying to draw his sword —

- Clack.

Yeon's foot shoved against the knight's hand, driving the half-drawn blade back down into its sheath. In the same motion, she struck up under his forearm, knocking his grip loose from the hilt, drew the sword herself, and in one stroke severed the neck of the man who had tried to lay hands on her.

"Touching me? Where do you get off, you little bastard."

She tossed the sword she'd taken onto the ground, flashed a smile, and held the ropes back out to me.

For reasons I couldn't quite name, I decided that arguing with this woman would be a very bad idea. Quietly, I took up the rope, and playing the parts of slave trader and sex slave, the three of us stepped through the doors of the lord's mansion.

The moment we crossed the threshold, what greeted us was the scream of some woman —

- KYAAAAAH!!

We understood at once what was happening and rushed toward the source of the sound. And there, we found a woman — drenched in blood, barely clinging to life.

I granted her a measure of the Authority of Life to bolster her healing, and as I made ready to move on and hunt down the lord —

I saw it.

Messages from the Status Window so horrific I could scarcely believe them —

— and before us, standing in our path, the people whose flesh was melting away.