Chapter 179

Ed subjugation battle (2)

– ‘I have to go out and come back because I have some business to do in the living area today. So don’t come looking for me until tomorrow morning.’

You have to lose it to know how precious freedom is. Clevious realized that fact painfully.

Is it a problem that I stayed at school because I didn’t really want to go back to my parents’ house?

Clevious was dragged around by Elvira throughout his vacation and went through all kinds of hardships, such as attending social church among students and taking basic etiquette classes.

Clevius, who was naturally gloomy, wondered how much he would win the favor of people by going out a little, but Elvira held on to Clevius’s collar until the end, saying that it was important to accumulate experience step by step in such matters.

For one reason or another, Clevious could not resist Elvira and hung out with her throughout her vacation, but as the start of school approached, Elvira became busy in her own way and spent less time paying attention to Clevious.

“Is this... freedom...?”

As Elvira’s hellish march stops and she sits alone in the private room of Phyllis’s house, the darkness of her familiar corner of the room greets Clevius.

Clevius was lying on the bed in a daze, looking up at the ceiling, and a wave of emotion came over him. The tip of his nose was so stinging that he even sniffled.

How long has it been since I’ve been lying still and doing nothing like this? A part of her heart feels relieved when she can’t see Elvira, who always runs at her like a moon.

“....”

So Clevius lay on the bed for a while.

The time is midnight.

Originally, Clevius was nocturnal. I decided to enjoy the quiet atmosphere, buried in the familiar darkness of the night.

Sensitive silence.

Now that Elvira, who was always so noisy, was gone, she returned to her quiet room as she always did.

What remained there was emptiness rather than rest.

“I’m finally crazy too.”

There is no need to become friends with people. Even if you engage in unsuitable extroverted activities, the only thing that remains is a scar.

For Clevius, most human relationships end in hurt, so he thinks that his relationship with Elvira will be the same. She just hasn’t faced catastrophe yet.

Most people who interacted with Clevius either spoke poorly of him or came to despise him.

Clevious himself is also aware of this. He is definitely not the type of person that anyone would like.

That’s why Clevius... it was his daily routine to be stuck in a corner of the room like this and look up at the ceiling blankly.

He doesn’t go out of his way to expand human relationships. He has his own way of life.

“...”

In this way, he strengthened his shell and sighed in a gloomy voice.

She said she was at peace like this without a single Elvira. It’s truly ironic.

Now that I think about it, I wonder why Elvira, who was always busy running around, was away for some reason.

Actually, she is not very relieved.

Isn’t she Elvira, who talks to Cleves every time and tells her every move?

It’s not a day or two that Elvira is seen chatting away about things that Clevius has no interest in, such as what she ate for snack today or that a new store has opened in the living area.

However, Clevius did not have a particularly good feeling about Elvira’s eccentric behavior of suddenly closing her mouth and disappearing.

What is she doing in the living quarters in the middle of the night like this? If you go to the living area late at night, all the facilities will be closed.

Not only that, but Elvira packed up a lot of her alchemy reagents and magic school supplies right before she disappeared... She seemed to be preparing for her battle to anyone’s attention.

“... She’s up to something useless again...”

Clevius mumbled and opened the window of his room. If you look towards Maxes Bridge from the upper floors of Ofilis Building, you can see a glimpse of the living complex, but it is only a small part of it.

“It’s okay. Why should I care?”

Even though no one was listening, Clevius muttered that and lay down on the bed again.

Now is the time to enjoy the freedom that has been in your hands for the first time in a long time.

Clevius lay down on his side and concentrated on the comfort that felt over his body.

But the silence of the room still tickles the back of his neck.

The summer night breeze blows in through the open window. It made the curtain flutter once before hitting the back of Clevius’ head and scattering.

Clevius lay down and stared at the wall for a long time.

“....”

*

“Tell me without hesitation, Lortel. While running the company, have you done anything scandalous or worthy of being caught and taken down? You must tell me everything without hiding anything.”

“To be honest... I’ve done so many things that suck that I’m not sure what to pick.”

I pressed my temples and narrowed my eyebrows. However, he did not slow down his pace.

As I quickly climbed the stairs and reached the fourth floor, I saw the hole in the ceiling that Ziggs had pushed through.

Should I call him tough or ignorant? Moonlight was streaming down from a hole in the ceiling.

The rope that Ziggs had tied also caught my eye. It was quite high, but even for me, I was worried about whether Lortel would be able to climb the rope.

I glared at him and without saying anything, Lortel nodded his head.

“I’ll give it a try.”

“Hold me and come up.”

My body is not in a normal situation due to the ring’s recoil.

Although I have recovered a lot, I still have a mild fever and chronic fatigue, and I have many limitations ranging from physical abilities such as stamina and strength to magical abilities such as magical power.

Still, I thought it would be possible to climb up the rope, so I quickly placed my feet on the wall and pulled the rope.

Lortel also tied his auburn hair back, rolled up his arms, and held on tightly to the rope.

As I held out one of his arms, Lortel put his right arm forward and shared his weight with me. This will allow you to climb the wall with some ease.

We climbed the wall of the hallway, whining for a while. If you go up to the roof like this, there will be a ladder installed on the outside wall for roof work. Just climb the ladder down to the first floor and escape toward the camp.

“Hmm!”

Is it because of my weak strength? Lortel’s slender wrists trembled. As I pulled Lortel up with all my might and reached the rooftop, his hand suddenly reached out from the rooftop and came down.

― Tak

A hand as slender as Lortel’s wrapped around my wrist and pulled me up with a squeaking sound.

It wasn’t great strength, but I was able to get up to the rooftop easily anyway.

I almost fell and landed on the rooftop, so I lifted Lortel up by his arm and helped him come up.

“Do you have a hobby of working out at night?”

“You came.”

“I came with Ziggs. I didn’t know he would cause such a mess, but...”

I saw the other person lying down on the rooftop next to Lortel.

Traceiana Bloomriver, the fourth-year Magic Department head and a renowned witch.

Her short hair, down to her shoulders and gently curled, is the same as when I saw her before.

Her bluish hair reflects the moonlight and subtly stimulates her eyes.

“Senior Tracyana?”

From Lortel’s perspective, he must have been an unexpected person.

Traceiana, the senior of the 4th year Ministry of Magic, is a powerhouse in her grade, wielding all kinds of high-ranking magic at her young age.

Not only that, but she also has a lot of direct combat experience and practical experience, so she is considered quite a veteran among her students.

“Senior, why are you here?”

“My junior told me he was in danger, so I rushed to him a month later... It would be a pretentious answer to say.”

She is grumpy, but not mean.

Tracy Anna flicked her cane the size of her torso and spoke.

“Petrin owes something to Ed Rosstaylor. I’m here to beat him up.”

“...Senior Ed? Were you also familiar with senior Tracyana?”

“We bumped into each other a while ago, so we’ve become acquainted. There’s also news that the Ross Taylor family and the Bloomriver family have joined hands.”

All of those inventions are things that only Elvira can use.

“This is already my territory.”

Tailly clenched his teeth as he held his greatsword tightly.

The sight of Elvira shaking off her skirt among all kinds of items makes me grit my teeth.

However, Elvira paid no attention to her and pulled out her small staff from the edge of the skirt of the alchemist uniform she was wearing.

Elvira’s fighting style was always like this. Tailly didn’t know either.

However, I could not imagine the possibility of meeting her enemy. That’s natural.

Because she thought that Elvie would be her colleague all along.

*

“There’s no time to get the keys! Just break everything and go down!”

Dune led the workers all the way down to the basement of the store.

His judgment of the situation is definitely quick.

He ordered some Sanghoe workers to keep blocking the entrance and ordered others to search the upper floors of the Sanghoe.

And he made the right decision to quickly go down to the basement of the company with the remaining personnel.

The most likely solution now is to secure Ayla, who is locked in the basement of the Chamber of Commerce, with one’s own hands.

Tailley McLaure’s target is Ayla Trees. Once you have that goal in your own hands, the scope for negotiation becomes much wider.

No matter how you think about it, Ed Rosstaylor’s movements are suspicious. Seeing that he disappeared side by side with Lortel, Ed’s movements cannot be suspected or ignored.

From Dune’s perspective, it didn’t make sense.

Ed Rothtaylor, judged by Dune, is by no means an emotional person to the point of giving up enormous benefits due to personal feelings.

He is the type that always rationally and clearly distinguishes between interests and interests, and clearly calculates his interests and calculations.

So Dune was somewhat confident. If these conditions are met, Ed will stick to his side.

However, Ed Rothtaylor’s choice was completely different from Dune’s expectations.

‘I saw the wrong person?’

Dune also lived as a merchant for more than a day or two.

Was there a change in Ed’s feelings in that brief moment?

To him, Lortel Kecheln had value beyond simply being the owner of a store that helped him.

He never thought he would do that. This is because, time and time again, Dune has met Ed in person and continues to carefully judge his character and inclinations.

He is like a vulture, lonely among the corpses on the battlefield, devouring them.

He is a poisonous species that can eat any corpse as long as he can fill his stomach to survive.

It is easy to see by looking at his actions and values that he lived a life amid such war.

– Boom!

In any case, there is no point in regretting past mistakes in judgment now. Just do what needs to be done right now.

Dune arrived at the cellar by violently breaking down all the doors leading to the basement.

They dragged the worker to the inner room where Ayla would be trapped and ran straight to the room, yelling at them to bring a rope for binding.

The workers followed, shouting loudly in response.

In any case, all you have to do is secure Ayla her Tris and return her to her taily when things don’t go well for her.

Then the situation itself can be ended immediately. Just by having that option, Dune can gain a fairly clear advantage in the current urgent situation.

– Woe!

Dune reached the room where Ayla was being held and couldn’t believe her eyes.

She doesn’t have Ayla... who needs to be tied up and tied up tightly.

Only the worker who was watching her was lying unconscious.

“what...?”

Dune hesitated for a moment, her voice trembling.

Ayla is more of an academic with no fighting skills at all. He knows how to use magic, but he is not powerful enough to easily overpower workers.

Because Dune knew that, he deployed only the minimum amount of manpower. As long as she has a straight reporting system, she has no reason to invest too much manpower in surveillance.

However, the guard worker who lost consciousness after being completely subdued... was completely lost.

“How is this...?”

Dune found a tray rolling on the floor. Even if they were hostages, they could not be starved to death, so only the minimum amount of food was provided and fed.

– ‘I really enjoyed the meal....!’

There is a note written in neat handwriting expressing gratitude for the food I received. Ayla’s handwriting looked clear.

I feel like I’m getting more distracted because I’m being unnecessarily polite.

Nearby, magical engineering supplies such as ‘magic cutter’, ‘shock-enhanced wave ball’, and ‘power radiator’ were lying around, having reached the end of their useful lives.

While Tailly was making a fuss, he took out magic school supplies from her body, subdued her workers, and escaped.

In the meantime, did he have enough time to remember the meal he got and leave a thank you note?

Indeed... should I say that he is a person with a lot of experience in being kidnapped? Despite this, she brought everyone a hearty meal and even cold water. He has the calmness of a professional.

She burped once in her stomach and remembered Ayla leaving the prison with her blushing face, as if someone had heard her. Dune gritted her teeth.

She was Ayla and she had been tied up ever since she came into Ed’s hands. There is no way she would have been able to secure these magic school supplies for an escape.

She was captured with everything hidden in her collar from the time she was first captured.

The story goes that Isla Trees was also in the same boat as Ed Ross-Taylor in the first place. It is natural to think that the magic engineering supplies were also provided by Ed Ross Taylor.

The way Tailly moves so rigidly, as if he had made a promise to this chaotic situation he is entering... If you think about it that way, it can be explained.

“Ed... Ross Taylor...!”

Dune gritted her teeth and raised her eyes.

From the beginning, Ed Rosstaylor had no intention of joining Dune’s side.

All of this was planned by him.

It was a picture he had drawn in order to throw ashes on Dune’s plan, steal Lortel, and use the Elte Company as a battlefield against Tailly.

“Go up to the upper floors! Find Ayla Triss! Ed Rosstaylor and Assistant Manager Hoeju!”

Grinding and gritting his teeth, Dune ordered the workers again.

The situation is not over yet. Soon at dawn, the imperial carriage arrives. Until then, Ed Rothtaylor and Lortel Kecheln must be secured.

*

“Is it going to rain?”

Lucy, who was sniffing the tip of her nose, suddenly said something like that.

“...Rain? Is it this clear?”

“It smells like rain.”

When it rains, Lucy Mayril notices it like a ghost. Of course, there is no way that Princess Fenia would know that fact, so she can only hear it as a somewhat random rumor.

“...By the way, I’m heading to Aken Island soon. Where can I drop you off when I arrive?”

“Aren’t you going to go to the royal residence anyway?”

“Before I go, I’ll stop by the place you want and drop you off.”

Of course, it was common sense to follow the princess’s movements, but Princess Fenia, out of her consideration, told Lucy Mayl as much.

Of course, Lucy had no reason to read the intention of his actions, so he just answered indifferently.

Lucy, who was looking up at the late dawn sky through the window... suddenly imagined the falling rain and sighed.

“Near the North Forest.”

It was an answer Fenia expected to some extent.

“I want to go to camp.”

So the imperial carriage moves forward.

In the far corner of the field of view, the small Maxeth Bridge leading to Aken Island was visible.