Chapter 342

The assailant, who had a reputation among his colleagues for his exceptionally good hearing, thought. I’m sure there was an engagement, but the sounds I heard were strange.

“I just heard the captain’s voice saying something about the archers.”

It was also a very urgent tone. Considering the general’s personality, it was very rare. Was it such an unexpected surprise? The battle seemed to be over soon, but somehow it was ominous.

“They must have been adventurers.”

After the reorganization, the others looked at each other’s wounds and ignored his words. Although their wounds were not so great, they were in a bit of a hurry because they had to check the prisoners one by one to see if they had any fatal injuries, and there was no time to seriously react to the talking to themselves.

Even the assailant with a good ear thought positively, trying to shake off his anxiety at the words of his colleague. If it was those who wanted to help the prisoners, they would have launched a pincer attack right away, and given the size of the fire, not so many people would have been moving.

A surprise attack by an archer does not cause any major problems. Concluding that, the assailant turned his head and looked at the prisoners, and one of the men in the best condition shouted at him.

“Fucking imperial minions. And yet you guys are the children of the West!”

“No one will fall for such a foolish provocation, so take care of your energy. If you die, we will be in trouble.”

It was so funny to see him ignoring his body and struggling like a mad dog when he roughly bites his tongue in fear. A pawn of the Empire, do you really think the Empire cares about the West? The level of self-consciousness is serious enough.

All the anti-imperialist factions were like this. Armed with the logic that if the Empire grows in power, they will one day eat away at the Western Kingdom and wield hegemony, they claim to be true children of the West, claiming to be true. And there were a few holes in that logic that were big enough to be seen by an uneducated assailant.

Among them, one of the biggest holes was that the empire’s power was already filthy, and the other was that the empire’s expansion policy had already turned to unexplored lands encroached by monsters, not human territory, from several years ago.

To the Empire, the Western Territory was a land that was no different from Isthel in the distance. If that side is the barrier that blocks the demons, this side is just a barrier that blocks the orcs and monsters of the steppe.

In any case, the West Zone is fighting against each other, so there is no way to check the empire, but it was foolish to take other people’s front lines by consuming less productive kingdoms, overextending themselves and making unnecessary expenses.

‘And the Empire is not an idiot.’

I don’t know what it will be like on the day the fire dragon dies and the monsters and orcs of the steppes disappear, but now is not that day, so the anti-imperialist claims are nonsense. They just saw reality the way they wanted to see it because of their excessive pride and vanity.

While he clicked his tongue, the assailant felt someone from behind, so he turned his head and felt his blood run cold.

A young man with a large body he had never seen before was glaring at them in the forest. With a familiar sword in one hand and a large two-handed ax with a corpse in the other.

At the moment, in the mind of the assailant, ‘Is the expression that the body is hanging is the right expression? A short consideration occurred on the subject, but I couldn’t come up with a better way to express that look than that right away. It was highly likely that it got caught in the process of digging into the breastplate and bones, but what was important now was that the corpse was the captain, not such trifles.

“If you lift even one finger, it will be judged to be hostile and killed.”

It was just a plain muttering of words, but no one could resist. Ten talented people died in an instant, and even the captain returned as a corpse. With five wounded, it was never a situation to do anything.

Even if it was the result of an ambush, it was even more dangerous if the young man did it alone.

“You have three options.”

The young man who nodded lightly, as if he liked the reaction of the assailants, raised his hand holding the sword and spread three fingers.

“One is just lost here. It’s nothing special. I’m just following him on my way. It’s the simplest and quickest option, so it’s a good thing for me.”

I’m still worried that the dinner stew will burn. One of the young man’s fingers folded along with the words that he couldn’t tell if he was serious or joking.

“Hao? Even at this point, do you use Hao body? Your neck seems a bit stiff. Shall I bend it in half?”

“...It’s just that.”

Judging by how he even caught the pod with his tone of voice, he seemed to be quite smart, not just a bit knowledgeable.

Feeling the threat of death at the moment, he immediately changed his words, and the young man clicked his tongue disapprovingly and pulled out the ax that was still embedded in the captain’s corpse.

“Take it.”

“...yes?”

“Take him.”

The arrogant anti-imperialist opened his eyes wide, and the assailant opened his eyes as well and looked at the young man.

“Long live the princess, you fuckers.”

The anti-imperialist’s face contorted in an instant and he tried to shout something, but the assailant acted faster. As he thought earlier, he blew off the bat and bit the cloth again in a feeling of exhilaration.

And I asked the young man who was walking away as if he was really not interested.

“Are you really done with this?”

The question stopped the young man. That alone made all the assailants flinch, but the young man no longer felt any hostility.

“what?”

“I have no intention of blaming you for killing our group. If your skills weren’t enough, it would have been you and not them who would have died, and that would have been a very unfortunate death. Can I believe it’s over and it’s over without a hitch?”

“I even talk at length about whether I’m going to change my mind and not stab you in the back. Fuck you for riding stew.”

The young man made eye contact with the assailant, replying as if he was more annoyed at the prospect of burning Stew immediately than he was trying to kill himself.

“The head that judged the attack was dead, and the attackers were also dead, and as I said at the beginning, I only listened carefully and gave you a chance. And the gods just smiled at you. Just because it doesn’t hit doesn’t mean you have to guarantee it. I don’t care if you believe it or not. It’s either off or off now.”

The assailant, who lost to momentary curiosity and felt the threat of taking his life again, took care of the prisoners with his colleagues without saying a word. Fortunately, no exchange of views was necessary to decide on a course of action. The young man turned his back and walked again, as if he had no lingering feelings for those gangsters.

“I don’t know who you are, but not twice. Take care of yourself.”

“Now, wait! You should know who you are to be careful!”

Colleagues scolded him with his eyes for why he kept catching a natural disaster that was about to pass by, but the assailant was steadfast because it was an important content that should never be overlooked. It is not enough to convey only appearance.

Even if the person who ordered them wanted to avenge the dead, they had to know their names.

Contrary to his determination to insult him with his eyes one more time, the young man answered with clear pronunciation even as he walked away.

“Go to Eldmia.”

The young man who identified himself as Eldmia walked away into the forest, leaving behind an unknown encounter that would be fate or bad luck.