Nowhere Is Safe
“Guhhk… gahh…”
With Leos’s chain blade still buried through his abdomen, Alik staggered, tried to stay upright, and finally collapsed to the dirt. The man’s face was twisted with pure anguish. Losing an arm and a leg had already made defeat a foregone conclusion—yet that was not what hollowed him out.
“The Red Gate… you’ll seal the Red Gate… right…?”
Alik had lived his entire life on the single claim of loyalty to the Empire. Every life he took, every soul he drove into a corner, he had justified with the same self-serving logic: for the greater good, the few must be sacrificed. That rationalization had always let him stand tall. Now he could not stand tall at all. He had broken his own creed. The only path left to an honorable death was to make his dying somehow benefit the Empire.
Certain he would never leave this place alive, Alik kept muttering even as his breath failed—scraping together one last excuse to comfort himself.
“Keep your… promise… you said you’d seal the Red Gate…”
Leos stepped right up to him and looked down.
“I said I’d seal it if you killed your own men, or if they killed you. Right now you’re just thrashing around trying not to die, and you got yourself a dog’s death for it. Why the hell should I listen to you?”
“…”
The trembling hand of Alik, captain of the Imperial Execution Squad, stretched toward Leos.
“Heaven’s… judgment… will fall on you…”
“Take it for me when you die.”
A wet slice, and Alik’s head dropped cleanly to the ground. If hell existed, the man was headed straight there.
Without another word Leos turned and regarded the survivors still standing in the empty clearing.
“You all saw it, didn’t you? The ones who always demand sacrifice from everyone else never sacrifice a damn thing themselves. They only talk that way because they sit in a position that lets them force it on others. So your beliefs are wrong.”
One by one he drove the chain blade through the necks of the remaining Execution Squad members, voice low.
“Every murder and crime you’ve committed until now was nothing but selfish self-comfort. Meeting me today is simply the price for those sins.”
“Guhh…”
When the last man hit the dirt, corpses of the Execution Squad littered the clearing. Leos clicked his tongue at the blood spattered across his clothes, then walked slowly toward the boys who had been attacked only moments before.
“Hyung… hyung… open your eyes…”
Teon clung to Tedre, sobbing. His own body was covered in wounds, yet worry for his older brother drowned out everything else; he never even thought of stopping his own bleeding, just stayed glued to Tedre’s side.
Leos spoke to Lacart, who had been watching from nearby.
“Heal them.”
“Easy enough.”
At Lacart’s gesture Paron stepped forward and extended a hand. Fierce mana surged from his palm and poured into Tedre’s body.
At once the dripping blood slowed, then stopped. Tedre’s ragged breathing evened out. Paron cast the same healing magic over Teon before withdrawing his mana.
“Te… on…?”
Tedre’s eyes opened a moment later and found his brother.
Teon threw his arms around him and wailed.
“Hyung… hyung… you’re alive… I thought you were dead… I really thought you were dead…”
Leaving the beautiful sight of two brothers clinging to each other, Lacart turned to Leos.
“How do you plan to take responsibility? You saved people who should have died. Are you going to abandon them here, or see it through to the end?”
“I don’t have the means to look after them. I only saved them because I hated watching them despair right in front of me.”
“Hmm… then we just leave them.”
Leos gave no answer. Before long Teon, still sniffling, approached and grabbed the hem of Leos’s clothes.
“Mister… can’t you help us…? Please… we’ve almost died so many times… Today we got lucky and you saved us, but next time we’ll die for sure… Even if it’s just my brother… please take him with you… I’m begging you…”
As Teon clung and sobbed, older brother Tedre strode over, face stern.
“Teon! What the hell are you doing? Get over here right now! These people already helped us for nothing—and on top of that they used free healing magic that normally costs a fortune. Trying to cling to them for our lives after that is the behavior of a parasite. We have to find our own way to survive. So get over here. Now.”
At Tedre’s shout Teon walked away again, still crying.
“I’m sorry… please forget what I just said… and… thank you so much for saving us…”
Leos looked from Tedre to Teon, then slowly spoke to Lacart.
“Can you take them? Leaving them just like this doesn’t sit right.”
“Look, Leos. It’s not like we don’t care either. But you know the situation. Monsters are crawling everywhere, we still have to find food for the Execution Squad, and the Empire keeps sending trackers. Taking those kids on is hard. You decided you couldn’t take them yourself because you’ve got your own people to protect and worry about.”
“If you help them, I might start looking at you in a more positive light.”
“What kind of irresponsible—?”
Lacart scrubbed a hand roughly through his silver hair, then let out a long sigh.
“Paron. Bring them. Rough out a base with the nearby trees while you’re at it.”
“Lord Lacart… the opposition inside the squad will be fierce. They’ll be operating with us, won’t they? Coldly speaking, those two are completely useless.”
“Leos said he’d look on us more favorably. That alone makes them plenty useful.”
“…”
Paron started to argue, then shut his mouth.
If I hadn’t just watched that fight, I might have said something…
Paron had seen Leos in combat. The Execution Squad ranked among the Empire’s elite. Leos had not merely beaten them in a one-versus-many fight—he had crushed them utterly. Strategy, combat skill, even moral high ground: he had dominated every aspect. Calling the man a monster would still fall short.
He’s indispensable for the coup.
Even setting aside the fact that only Leos could seal a high-grade Red Gate, his pure combat strength was non-negotiable.
But… the records said his specialty is fighting monsters…
A chill ran through Paron. Every piece of intelligence he had found claimed Leos had zero kill counts on humans before the Red Gate vortex erupted. He had never murdered a single person. That meant he was even more terrifying against monsters than he was against people.
A man whose limits truly can’t be seen…
After weighing everything, Paron had no choice but to bring the boys over.
“You heard all that, right? From now on you’ll operate with us. We’ll protect you.”
“R-really?”
Teon asked through tears. Beside him Tedre hesitated a moment, then bowed his head.
“We’ll do everything we can not to be a burden. If there’s anything we can do, just give the order—we’ll give it our best.”
“Fine. Have you eaten? Looks like you were about to roast a monster carcass when you got attacked.”
Growl…
As if on cue, both Tedre’s and Teon’s stomachs roared. Paron ordered a subordinate to fetch a large chunk of jerky.
“Eat. We’ve got plenty anyway.”
Paron tossed them the whole hunk and started walking ahead. The subordinate muttered in dismay.
“Boss, that was today’s rations for us…”
“So what? We’ll just roast a monster for once.”
The man looked at the children’s bright smiles and nodded.
“That works. It’s been a while since we tore into monster meat. Not a bad idea.”
Watching the exchange from behind, Lacart clapped a hand on each of their shoulders.
“Look at those kids. Happy, aren’t they? One piece of jerky and they’re beaming like that.”
“It wasn’t one piece—it was a whole slab. Anyone who got shipwrecked would be happy with that much.”
“Paron, you’ve got zero romance. It’s just a manner of speaking.”
Paron gave a short laugh, fell quiet for a moment, then spoke.
“Lord Lacart… if we rise in rebellion, will the Empire become a little more livable?”
“I don’t know either. But one thing’s certain: people who can find happiness in something that small won’t die for nothing anymore. The current emperor is garbage who treats everyone except himself as spare parts.”
“I see.”
Even after Lacart and the others moved on, Paron kept watching the boys from a distance—two brothers who looked so close and so happy.
“Hyung! We’ve got way too much jerky. Let’s just eat a little and share the rest with everyone!”
“Good idea, Teon. They must have strained themselves to give us this much. Eating it all would be wrong. We’ve had enough of a taste, so we’ll hold onto it and give it back tomorrow.”
Feels good.
A family that could feel gratitude for the smallest things and would die for each other. Paron envied them.
After lingering in that warm afterglow, he walked toward Lacart.
“Hyung-nim, how about we take a walk for old times’ sake? We can scout while we’re at it.”
“Creepy. Since when do you call me hyung-nim?”
“You used to tell me to.”
“That was when you were a kid.”
“Hearing that hurts.”
“What’s gotten into you? Not like you.”
When Lacart eyed him with suspicion, Paron simply smirked.
“Even when you get older, the urge to act spoiled around someone you can lean on stays the same, I guess.”
Lacart recoiled in mock disgust and fled. Paron followed at an easy pace.
The night wind was unusually cold. Yet between those cold gusts drifted the scent of blood from the corpses killed that afternoon.
“So many people died, and somehow this place feels more peaceful.”
To protect freedom and peace, one needed power. Paron felt the truth of it again and gripped his sword tightly.
Word that the entire Imperial Execution Squad had been wiped out began to reach the imperial palace.
The emperor had already dispatched the Shadow Squad, the Execution Squad, the Enforcement Squad, and several other units. He still believed that, given enough time, they would drag Leos in. Yet the rage boiling up inside him was impossible to contain.
—Crash!
He smashed every object in the hall, then fixed his trembling attendant with a glare.
“Say it again. What happened to the Execution Squad?”
“Captain Alik and… every single member are presumed dead.”
—Crunch…
The emperor kicked an innocent maid out of the way, strode forward, and roared.
“This won’t do. Even if I have to mobilize every force guarding the palace, I will bring that bastard in. If time drags on any longer, the palace itself will be in danger. No—maybe I should change my thinking. If I just deal with the source, at least we won’t have to worry about more Red Gates spreading. They’re all going to die meaninglessly anyway. If they sacrifice themselves for the Empire, they’ll be glad. Better to abandon what must be abandoned. From this moment, wipe out everyone inside the Red Gate vortex together with the monste—”
—Rumble-rumble-rumble!
A sudden vibration shook the hall while the emperor was still issuing orders. He barely kept his feet and bellowed.
“What is it?! Report at once!”
The knight-commander waiting outside the doors rushed in, dropped to one knee, and cried out.
“Your Majesty… disaster. Right now…”
“Spit it out! Is it an enemy attack? If rioters have invaded, kill them all! They dare assault the imperial palace? Wipe every last one of them out!”
“It isn’t that… The Red Gates… are no longer confined to the vortex. They’re expanding across the entire Empire. And just now…”
The knight-commander’s eyes were pure despair as he finished.
“A high-grade Red Gate has appeared… right beside the imperial palace.”