Chapter 82
Chapter 82
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 82
Chapter Title: Taming the Third Armed Force
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Most people from the East ended up living as combat slaves.
Sienjin's fate had been the same.
The lucky part was that an organization under Demorus had bought him.
Sienjin turned out to have more talent than expected, and he survived by racking up achievements too great for a mere slave.
-The main family is summoning you.
From being a slave, he rose to lead an entire sector, and then was called to the main family—all thanks to his talent alone.
Upon entering Demorus, he found what he had been searching for all those years.
His mother, from whom he had been separated as a child.
Because of the Eastern blood that valued filial piety and family above all.
-I'll help you.
With Gail Demorus's help, Sienjin found his elderly mother.
However.
-How tragic.
The state she was in was beyond words.
Surviving so many years as a slave was an incredible feat in itself.
She suffered from all sorts of chronic illnesses, and her mind was no longer sound.
-I'll help her.
Gail had stepped up at that moment.
Thanks to Demorus's support, Sienjin's mother seemed to recover her health in no time.
But.
-I'm sorry.
She had an incurable disease that even Demorus couldn't overcome.
Ganderic disease.
A illness that mainly afflicted slaves from the East, causing the body to rot away and plunging the victim into an eternal coma.
But Sienjin couldn't abandon his mother.
-Help her.
With Gail's assistance, he poured his high Demorus salary into maintaining her condition.
-There might be a way. I'll look into it.
That's how Sienjin came to revere Gail like a father and devote his loyalty to him—a clichéd tale.
That was the story of Sienjin's past, as told by Indus.
"You'll cure her."
Sein said he would cure that disease no one else could.
"......"
Sienjin was at a loss for words.
Hope was a scary thing—it made you cling to even the most absurd possibilities.
A successor candidate.
A young man barely into his twenties.
"...Are you mocking me?"
Sienjin forced down the hope rising in him and lifted his head.
"I know you were hanging around the back alleys of Chichiron in Sector 10 until just recently."
He swallowed the urge to curse.
"And yet..."
But it burst out anyway.
"How the hell do you plan to cure my mother when even elixir couldn't!"
Sienjin had even considered retirement.
His mother was his only reason for living.
If something happened to her, he wouldn't have any reason to go on, which made it easier to contemplate.
"You bastard!"
Explosive energy erupted from Sienjin's body.
"If you really think that, I'm disappointed. Sienjin."
Sienjin's energy wavered at Sein's cold voice.
"Do you think that makes sense?"
He would break him.
Not with force, but with spirit.
"A kid scraping by in Sector 10's back alleys, swallowing up Borfeo and Antara, earning simultaneous backing from Rasiel and Dante."
It felt embarrassing to say it himself, but he had to drive the point home.
"Becoming a Demorus successor candidate and receiving three armed forces as a reward from the family head on my first mission..."
Fuck.
Swallowing those words, Sein continued.
"Do I look ordinary?"
"......"
"Elixir didn't work? Yeah, because that's not what this is."
"...What?"
Ganderic disease.
"It's just a tangle in the mana flow. It's a phenomenon that happens to those who haven't trained mana operation, because Eastern mana density differs from Sanctuary's."
It was one of the quests.
Rescuing an Easterner afflicted with Ganderic disease.
Naturally, the solution was widely—very widely—known.
"......Really."
Sienjin's momentum vanished completely.
"You can really save her?"
"What do you think."
A grin.
"If I save your mother, what will you give me."
"Everything."
The immediate answer.
"I'll devote everything I have to you."
His mother truly was Sienjin's everything.
"Good. Then I'll tell you this one thing."
Sein said.
"Your mother contracted Ganderic disease because she's Eastern."
He needed to shake him even more.
Enough to completely topple a great tree like Sienjin.
"The reason she suffered so much, the reason you could find her exactly when you wanted to."
This was his trump card to rattle Sienjin.
And.
-...It might not be true.
It was just a rumor, possibly.
But what did it matter.
"It wasn't a coincidence."
"What do you mean...?"
"It was Gail's doing."
A dead man anyway—might as well use him once more.
*
*
*
The cheesy melodrama ended in a happy ending.
-Sienjin...?
-Mother!
His mother, bedridden with Ganderic disease her whole life, awoke.
Her disfigured appearance could be fixed in no time by working with Demorus's armed forces.
-Thank you. Thank you!
Sienjin bowed repeatedly to Sein in gratitude.
Because Sein had solved what no one else could.
And Sienjin was just the beginning.
-I hear she was sold into slavery in Sector 8. She's arriving at the main family soon.
Like Gail had done, Sein rescued the families sold off from the armed forces.
It wasn't difficult.
He was the ruler of Antara, the largest slave market in the lower sectors.
Beyond that, Sein granted the wishes of the Third Armed Force members.
-This is extra pay.
Money to those who needed it.
-A new sword from the smithy. Want to test it?
Gear to those who lusted after equipment.
Not even a month had passed like that.
"We greet the captain."
The Third Armed Force became Sein's.
The lined-up Third Armed Force had loyalty shining in their eyes.
Even if he had bought that loyalty with money, it didn't matter.
'Not yet.'
Taming them wasn't over.
"You all gathered well."
The Third Armed Force didn't so much as twitch at Sein's words.
They were underworld armed forces, sure, but their level far surpassed even elite knights.
And Sein liked that they lacked that pesky knightly honor.
They had loyalty, but nothing else.
"I gathered you today because I have something to say."
"Please speak."
Vice-captain Sienjin stepped forward.
A grin.
Since that day, he followed Sein's words most faithfully.
"Gail, your former captain, dying because of me—no, I'm not free of responsibility."
They froze at the sudden mention of Gail's name.
"That you trust and follow someone like me anyway... I appreciate it."
"We will never forget the grace you've shown us."
"That's why I think you understand."
The final step in taming the wolves.
"That Demorus could abandon you at any time."
"......!"
The Third Armed Force froze at the unexpected words.
*
*
*
Absolute loyalty to Demorus.
It had been instilled through brainwashing-like education.
But no one could deny it wasn't that simple.
-Defying Demorus means death.
Not just your own, but the death of everyone connected to you.
Fear.
It was what remained unchanged even after becoming powerhouses like the Third Armed Force.
"...Captain."
Sienjin called out to Sein cautiously.
But Sein raised a hand to silence him.
"It's true. I could die anytime too."
"......"
"Let's admit it."
No response came.
"I'm not saying this to kill the mood or anything. I called you to make a proposal."
Taming the wolves.
"Pledge your loyalty to me, not Demorus."
"......!"
The final step: making clear who their true master was.
"Whether you're the Third Armed Force or whatever, to Demorus, you're just pawns—nothing more, nothing less. You know that."
Sein walked past the Third Armed Force with his hands behind his back.
"Some of you must have suffered because of Demorus, yet still follow it."
Crunch.
Sienjin ground his teeth.
The story Sein had told him.
That Gail had ruined his mother and his life, yet raised him as if bestowing a favor.
The betrayal must have been indescribable for Sienjin, who had devoted his life without knowing.
And fortunately.
'It was true.'
Even in a cheesy melodrama, lying to use it had felt a bit off.
But luckily, investigating the slave markets through Barus confirmed the rumor as fact.
It wasn't just Sienjin.
This was the underworld.
Any dirty deed could happen.
"I'm not saying I won't do the same. I might if necessary."
"......"
"But look—I'm being honest, right?"
Sein declared he would use them.
"In exchange, I'll pay the price fairly."
"......"
"You probably think you've hit your limit already. But you can get stronger."
"......!"
They were already at master level.
There might be superiors, but they thought it impossible.
But Sein said.
"I'll take you higher."
He would make them more than that.
"That's the only promise I can make. Keeping you from getting stabbed in the back by unknown betrayal, and making you stronger than now."
Especially the second part was plenty enticing for the Third Armed Force.
Joining an armed force and reaching master level meant they had a strong desire to grow stronger.
If those who had hit a wall saw the possibility of another limit...
Gulp.
It would be an irresistible temptation.
If anyone else spouted this, they'd call it bullshit.
But Sein had already accomplished the impossible multiple times.
If it was that Sein.
"And don't think of it as betraying Demorus."
Sein drove in the wedge.
"If I become family head."
Thud.
Everyone's hearts seemed to sink.
The name of family head carried that much weight.
"I am Demorus."
"......!"
An awkward silence.
No one stepped forward easily.
This could be a revolution—or treason.
And the vanguard was.
"I'll do it."
Sienjin.
'I thought it'd be Indus.'
This was even better.