CH 12

“Ugh!”

The man who was attacked unexpectedly fell backwards without even trying to counterattack.

“Hey, this crazy…!”

His friends standing behind him rushed in with their faces red and green from drunkenness.

Elsez easily dodged the attack of the man who rushed in first, and then hit the staggering drunk man with her knee.

“Ugh!”

Then she pushed the man to the man behind him. As the man who couldn’t bear the weight of his friends stumbled, Elsez seized the gap and kicked them together.

A shock of formidable power pierced the two of them.

There was a faint blue light on Elsez’s hands and feet. By using mana, the ability of the body was temporarily raised.

It was a method mainly used by local dealers.

Even so, it was hard to believe that they’re a guild member and were getting hit by a woman.

Surprisingly, the boy who was watching from behind Elsez was also the same.

At that moment, the boy saw the first man fall to get up and run to Elsez.

A sharp light flashed from her sleeve.

The boy hurriedly shouted.

“Ah, it’s dangerous!”

Elsez stopped the man’s attack without looking back.

It was easy to read the presence of a drunken man, who had just been hit hard and his movements slowed down.

Elsez broke the man’s arm, dropped the dagger in his hand, and pushed it to the floor.

The man gasped for breath and looked at Elsez.

“Ugh… What guild are you in? You know who we are…!”

“Should I know? A gangster bullying young children.”

“We are once—”

Once was a famous dark guild on the guild street, most of them from criminals and a guild with a lot of bad guys.

Elsez turned her attention to the conversation, stepped on the man’s hand who was about to pick up the dagger, and looked at the men who were wrinkled.

“Ah, Once. But, what is it?”

“……”

“Are you going to your master and tell him? What are you going to say?”

At that question, the men all shut their mouths.

Elsez grinned and opened her mouth as if mocking them.

“I was bored after drinking, so I touched a passerby, and then a woman struck me in the dust. Please scold her.”

“…….”

“Go and say that.”

Elsez, who walked in and out of the guild street like home in the first round, knew the master of the guild they belonged to.

Madame Latour.

She is a proud person.

If she knows that her guild members are bored with drinking and touching a young boy passing by, and she knows that they have been beaten by a woman because of that, she will not be able to stand still.

From the standpoint of her who is proud of the notoriety of the Dark Guild, this would be a very shameful thing.

“Should your Master hear about it and take revenge on me first, or cut off the wretched guild members who were beaten by a weaj woman?”

“…….”

“Or should I make a rumor? If it was rumored that I had won against three members of the Once Guild, it would be a great honor for me.”

“That, that…!”

The men’s faces turned white.

That was when they opened their mouths to say something. A large and long shadow fell on the alleyway.

Sensing that presence, Elsez turned around and saw a bright red hair, even in the dark.

‘Cassian?’

Behind him with a stiff expression stood Jack with a worried expression.

Elsez’s eyes met him, and his eyes widened in embarrassment.

‘No, how did you know?’

I was going to end it quietly!

Cassian strode over to this side with a cold, hard expression on his face.

In the meantime, the man who tried to attack Elsez was kicked by Cassian approaching and Elsez’s feet, which he noticed, and collapsed.

“Ugh!”

Cassian, who approached her, twisted his brow and looked down at Elsez.

Elsez was taken aback by the sight of him like that.

As a tall, well-built man had a cool expression on his face, her body instinctively sensed the threat.

“You”

Cassian scanned Elsez’s body.

Elsez noticed what he was worried about and said, raising her arms slightly and showing her palms.

“I’m… No, I’m not hurt… this.”

‘Using respectful words to this man, I’m not used to.’

He has been a friend and partner for 10 years, but when I see that face, I can’t help but speak informally.

Cassian, who took a quick look at Elsez’s condition, sighed and opened his mouth.

“Are you not afraid? How do you intervene to deal with three strong men?”

“Three, I took them down.”

Elsez answered sarcastically, pointing to the men crawling on the floor.

Cassian looked at the men’s condition and turned away.

“… Do you know where those man belong? How can you deal with retaliation without fear?”

Under the circumstances, they wouldn’t tell their masters about this, but if any retaliation came, it was definitely a dangerous situation for the general public.

“Next time, don’t jump into dangerous things alone and wait. Until others come.”

“What if that child gets seriously injured while waiting?”

“……”

“I have the power to stop that situation right now, so you just want me to watch it? That’s coward.”

Cassian kept his mouth shut without answering.

The emotions reflected in his eyes were the fear of losing someone close to him, and the guilt that he couldn’t even tell her to ignore injustice in order to protect that person.

Elsez knew the root cause of Cassian’s anger at him.

‘You’re looking at me as your father.’

Mikhail Riden, the hero who died after saving the Empire from the beast, and his son Cassian Riden.

Just as he had lost his father, Cassian’s fear of losing someone close to him was understandable.

‘But, pretending to be ignorant of the weak is not like Cassian.’

Elsez looked straight at him like that and continued.

“The strong have a responsibility to protect the weak, and I deserve that responsibility. If it’s something I can do on my own, even if it involves some risk.”

“…… ”

“Didn’t the Master become a hero with such a heart?”

At that question, Cassian’s eyes fluttered as if pierced.

Elsez knew why he became a hero.

The father who died saving people became a hero, but the existence of his wife and son was forgotten.

Cassian had a hard time living alone with his sick mother and resented his father.

‘What kind of hero can’t protect even his loved one?’

He said he wouldn’t be a hero, but he was a hero for that. He wanted to protect the weak, and he said he could not stand injustice.

The people who saw through Cassian’s mind and persuaded him to become a hero were Ruel of the past and Elsez of the present.

Cassian glanced at the amber eyes that resembled those that he had forgotten, and then lowered his eyes as if he had lost.

“… Do as you please.”

Then he turned to Jack.

“Jack, take the newbie and this little boy. I have a story to tell to these guys.”

“I get it.”

Elsez walked out the alley with Jack and the boy.

As the three moved away, Cassian’s savings plan, which had maintained a strange look until a while ago, sank coolly.

He approached the dark guild members who were still groaning.

Then, as soon as he Infront of them, he kicked them and opened his mouth.

“Can you stop pretending to be sick and get up?”

“Ugh….”

But the men only groaned and rarely got up.

Elsez’s words, which she claimed herself to be strong, didn’t seem to be bluffing.

Cassian said, holding the head of the closest man among the men and looking at him with cold eyes.

“If anything happens today, tell your master.”

“…….”

“Your member is touching my people is the same as touching me.”

Of course, it would be best not to be revealed for your sake.

When Cassian had finished speaking, he put the man’s head to the side and stood up.

A while ago, Elsez’s voice rang in his ear.

‘Didn’t the Master become a hero with such a heart?’

Cassian pondered the words quietly, then turned and followed the path the three of them had passed.

****

The next morning, Elsez stood in front of the guild with a sad expression on her face.

‘After all, is resignation the answer?’

I haven’t signed the contract yet, so all I have to do is tell him.

It’s not that difficult, but strangely, I was also hesitant to say hateful things to someone who liked me.

‘But in this situation, the information of the magic tower doesn’t look promising unless it’s Cassian….’

I was seriously thinking about how to get information and the risk, but Cassian suddenly appeared from behind.

“What are you doing? Not going in.”

Elsez looked at the handsome face that passed her by with distressed eyes.

It was indescribable to think that this friendly face would try to kill me if he knew what I was doing.

‘Let’s go to another guild.’

It was at that time that Elsez, who had so hardened her heart, was about to talk to Cassian.

“Master!”

A guild member from afar rushed to him and called him.

Cassian, as well as Elseez, looked back.

The expression of the guild member, who was gasping for breath, was seriously hardened.

“The Master of Guild Once… They captured our guild members.”

“What?”

“She wants to meet the Master.”

He paused for a moment before saying the next word, looking at Elsez, then added.

“Rookie, you too.”

Elsez’s brow furrowed.