A Promise with the Female Leader (1)
She looked up at me with a steady gaze, a faint smile playing on her lips.
“Taking advantage of a moment of carelessness—now that’s a good strategy. That side of you makes me happy, you know. Clever, wise, and good at getting things done.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
When I cut her off with a displeased expression, she smoothly changed the subject.
“You know what? Right now, I feel like I’ve been conquered by you, Hyunwoo.”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“Look at this position. Doesn’t it seem a little strange?”
I had her pinned to the floor, pressing her down with raw strength. Yeah, it did look a bit odd.
“It’s almost like I’m being ravished, don’t you think?”
“Stop saying useless things. That’s not what’s important right now.”
“You don’t like compliments, you don’t like jokes… So what am I supposed to say? Should I say something you’ll hate?”
“Just shut your mouth completely.”
I put force into my words and subtly let my killing intent leak out. I wasn’t sure exactly what my eyes looked like right now, but one thing was clear—I was deliberately radiating a menacing aura to make sure I had her completely suppressed.
Perhaps because of that, the female leader’s expression quickly hardened. She spoke with deep meaning.
“My answer is only one. Even if the sky falls, I have no intention of ever letting go of you, who shines like a jewel.”
The moment she finished speaking, the female leader’s eyes suddenly flashed with a beast-like gleam. She unleashed an unknown power and sent me flying with a single blow. It was as if her body had exploded. The shockwave hurled me backward, slamming me into the wall before I crumpled to the floor.
“Ugh……”
I lay sprawled on the ground, letting out a groan. Only one thought floated through my mind.
What the hell was that technique just now?
Could it be the thing that always shows up in genre novels? The act of condensing a massive amount of mana and then releasing it all at once. Yeah, it had to be that.
Come to think of it, why didn’t Marcus ever teach me how to use mana?
While I flailed weakly and grumbled to myself, the female leader calmly stood up, picked up the knife that had fallen to the floor, and approached me. With a smile on her face, she pointed the blade at me and looked down.
“Is this the end? Do you have no strength left to resist?”
Damn it. I hated to admit it, but this was her victory. That last impact had completely drained my battery for the day.
I gave up and turned my gaze away from her, staring blankly at the ceiling. Kill me or spare me, do whatever you want.
“I’m exhausted. Now……”
Soon, the female leader’s voice reached my ears.
“As punishment for the humiliation you inflicted on me earlier, I will make you pay.”
With those final words, a sharp blade plunged into my chest.
When I opened my eyes, I saw a familiar ceiling. It was covered with the naked women drawings Phelton had scribbled and plastered all over it.
I shot upright.
“Huk!”
I frantically touched my chest. It felt like I’d been stabbed, but there wasn’t a single mark. I looked around. Then I was startled.
Dana was lying right beside me, tucked under the same blanket and sleeping peacefully with soft, steady breaths.
Huh?
“You awake?”
When I looked toward the desk, Marcus was staring at me, pausing in the middle of carving something. From the other side, Haida and Evynee—who had been trimming vegetables—jumped up with happy expressions and ran over to me.
“Master!”
“Wow~ Master woke up!”
I hugged the children on either side of me and looked back at Marcus with a bewildered face.
“What happened? Why am I here?”
“Because this is your house, you idiot.”
“That’s not what I mean. How did I end up sleeping here?”
“Early this morning, the leader herself carried you and that girl Dana here. What the hell happened outside?”
The female leader brought us here? Without questioning us about any crimes and just letting it slide?
“What about Squad 4? Didn’t the leader say anything about them?”
“You knew about that too? They’re all dead. This morning the leader said they got ambushed by Chen’s men who were hiding in the mountains and were completely wiped out.”
“…What?”
I was dumbfounded. What the hell was going on? Had the female leader neatly cleaned up the aftermath for us?
“At dawn, the leader told me to send you to her barracks as soon as you woke up. Go wash up and head over. And watch your words in front of her.”
She wanted me to come to the leader’s barracks? What was she planning to say? By the way, Marcus… I think it’s already too late to watch my words.
“Yes, I’ll go……”
I wanted to tell Marcus about what happened last night, but if he found out what I’d done to the leader, he’d probably clutch the back of his neck and collapse.
“Are you going to wash up?”
When Haida asked, I nodded with a smile and said yes. She slipped out of my arms, took Evynee with her, and began gathering the laundry.
Because there were so many perverted men living here, we never let the children go outside the barracks alone. Whether they were going to the bathroom or doing laundry, either I or Marcus always went with them.
While the children were getting ready, I glanced at Dana, who was still sleeping soundly. I thought about waking her so we could go together, but decided it was better to let her sleep deeply and left her alone.
“I’ll be back after washing up.”
After asking Marcus to look after Dana, I took the sisters—who were each carrying a bucket full of laundry in both hands—and headed toward the stream near the mountain stronghold.
I had run around everywhere yesterday and gone through all kinds of hardship, so my body was quite dirty. When we reached the stream, I took off my clothes and placed them on a rock, then waded into the water that came up to about my belly button and poured water all over my head.
“Uwaa, that’s refreshing~”
When I swept my wet hair back with a refreshed expression, Evynee put a finger to her lips and stared at me blankly.
“Master, aren’t you cold?”
“Not cold. Want to come in and try it, Evynee?”
“No, it looks cold.”
“Master, here.”
Haida tossed me a stick with a sponge attached from outside the water. I picked up the stick that had plopped into the water and vigorously scrubbed my back. Since I was washing with only water and no soap, my skin gradually turned red. My whole body was covered in bruises too.
I wished I could soak in steaming hot water and let all my fatigue melt away, but that wasn’t an option, which was a shame.
“Ugh……”
Washing with the valley’s cold water made the bruised areas throb even more. While I felt like I was only making my injuries worse by trying to bathe, Haida and Evynee spread out flat stones on the gravel and began washing the clothes and underwear.
They beat and rubbed the wet clothes with their small hands, working hard at the laundry. But Evynee quickly lost interest and started searching for pretty stones in the water.
Haida stepped in like a mother and warned her.
“Don’t play, you have to work, Evynee.”
“But I want to find pretty stones.”
“Master is watching. Come over here and sit down before you get scolded by your sister.”
“Hiiing.”
Despite being only twelve, Haida had a very mature and calm personality. From her demeanor, I could roughly imagine what kind of person her mother had been. Intelligent and elegant, perhaps.
In contrast, Evynee was still only six, so she felt unfinished. She was an innocent child who loved to play and took interest in all sorts of things.
I scrubbed myself thoroughly with the sponge, swam around for a bit, then came out of the water. Haida quickly ran over and handed me a towel made from recycled old clothes.
While I dried myself with the towel, Evynee came over huffing and puffing, hugging clean clothes and underwear to her chest.
After getting dressed, I sat on a rock and stared blankly into the distance while the children finished the laundry. The blue sky and the lush green forest. Wow, what a nice view.
Even if only for a moment, being immersed in nature and spending a leisurely time resting healed my tired heart. At the same time, the knight who was probably staying in Nobern suddenly came to mind.
“I really should go see her once… but I never seem to have the time……”
I still needed to hear her answer to my proposal.
“How did the leader come to know that child? Don’t tell me the cave was discovered?”
I was sitting on the edge of the bed, tying my shoelaces, on my way to meet the female leader.
“It seems we were followed. I was with Dana when she suddenly appeared at the cave.”
“The leader?”
“Yes.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
Marcus looked like he couldn’t believe it.
“Why would the leader bother tailing a small fry like you?”
“Why am I a small fry? I’m the perfectly respectable leader of Squad 15.”
“Still, it’s strange. A busy person like her following you around with nothing better to do?”
“Agh, I don’t know. Anyway, we got caught. What can we do about it?”
I thought about telling Marcus the details but there wasn’t enough time, so I roughly glossed over it.
“I got hit a few times for acting out and lost consciousness. That’s all.”
“It’s a miracle you weren’t punished. And on top of that, she even carried you both back herself. She really is an incredibly generous person.”
She’s not generous at all.
Suddenly, the aura blade the female leader had manifested last night came to mind. For the leader of a mere bandit group, she possessed truly outstanding skill.
“By the way, Marcus, when did the leader create our bandit group?”
“The leader didn’t create it. The Elk Bandits were founded more than ten years ago. It’s only been about two years since the current leader took the position.”
“So she inherited it?”
“She didn’t inherit it.”
“Then?”
“One day she suddenly appeared alone at our mountain stronghold. Then she killed the previous leader and became the new master of our bandit group.”
Simple and brutal.
“A rolling stone pushed out the embedded one, huh? But didn’t the subordinates just stand by? Their leader was killed.”
“She had such overwhelming skill that everyone could only watch in a daze. What could a bunch of petty thieves like us do? In the world of beasts, when a new, stronger one appears, you have no choice but to obediently submit and serve them.”
It made me curious. The female leader had such outstanding ability—why was she content with this kind of life? I couldn’t understand it.
“What is the leader’s name?”