CH 130

“He worked hard when you needed him to, and now you wanted to kill him for his secrets?”

“N-No! Don’t listen to that!”

By th time the wizard shouted, contradicting Lucion’s words, the momentum had already tilted.

The branch manager glared at the wizard and his blood vein popped up on his neck.

“Please kill that bastard right now! Then I will give you my allegiance!”

Grit.

The branch manager even gritted his teeth.

Write, write again.

Until the end, he couldn’t stand the sight of them treating him as a magic machine that had run out of mana stones, not as a human.

It was different from when his family was held hostage and he couldn’t do anything.

Hamel freed him,

Didn’t Hamel release the shackles that seemed impossible to untie?

“No, don’t be deceived…”

“Shut up!”

The branch manager raised his voice at the wizard.

At the same time, the wizard’s eyes became fierce.

‘Yeah. That’s how it should be.’

Lucion was pleased with the branch manager’s actions.

Now, in order to work together in the future, the branch manager had to be free from the past that was holding on to his ankles.

Shh.

A block of ice, like an icicle, shot toward Lucion.

‘Now that it’s getting hotter, I need an ice wizard.’

Lucion brought out his darkness and grabbed the ice block.

[Oh!]

―Oh! Gotcha!

Russell admired, and Ratta rejoiced.

The cold air flowing around the ice was much cooler than normal ice.

‘It’s great to know how cold the magic ice is.’

Splash.

Darkness crushed the ice as if crushing tofu.

“…A warlock?”

The wizard’s eyes widened.

Why is a warlock suddenly showing up here?

The wizard trembled.

Because he knew he could never deal with a warlock alone.

If he dealt with it, he’d get eaten.

Even death wouldn’t be able to free him.

Slowly, the wizard backed away, and Russell pointed his finger.

[Did you see that? He’s scared and running away. Because warlocks are strong.]

Lucion had already sent the darkness other than the darkness that broke the ice behind the wizard and enemies.

“Yes. I am a warlock.”

Darkness overtook them and pressed them to the ground like beasts preying on their prey with arrogant voices.

Coong!

“…Ugh”

The feeling of being crushed by a rock made them unable to resist and flattened them to the ground.

“Step on them.”

Lucion gave instructions to Hume.

Lucion was very satisfied with the gazes filled with fear.

He purposely directed it to this situation.

It would be scary for the enemy to die without being able to do anything, and the branch manager would feel like he was above them.

Crash!

Hume stepped forward without hesitation and smashed their heads with his foot.

One.

Two.

At first, the branch manager closed his eyes tightly, but now he opened his eyes and watched them.

Even his clenched fists were shaking.

And lastly.

The wizard’s turn is near.

As Hume approached, the wizard panicked and begged.

“S-S-Spare me!”

“Why should I?”

Lucion asked, smirking.

“I’ll tell you everything I know! I’ll tell you!”

“How would you know what I want to know?”

“D-Didn’t you come to the branch because you wanted to know who manages this place?”

The wizard smiled with difficulty.

But tears were gathering around his eyes.

It was evident that he was thinking hard, so Lucion got a little interested and asked.

“Who is the Owl?”

“…!”

The wizard was taken aback by the sudden question.

Lucion’s mask turned yellow.

“You don’t know.”

“W-W-Wait a moment…”

Crash.

Hume trampled on his face.

Then Lucion got up from his seat.

“Ale protects its members no matter what. Until you betray me.”

Unlike a moment ago, a tone of respect for the branch manager came from Lucion.

However, it was very ferocious when he brought up the backstory, so the branch manager immediately bowed his head to Lucion.

“I will give my allegiance to Hamel-nim. It’s insignificant, but I swear with my everything!”

Crisp.

A blue thread that was connected to the six branches was cut off.

Lucion smiled and looked at Hume.

“Wait here. You have to tell them of the situation.”

Hume looked like really wanted to follow Lucion, but he answered in a weak voice.

“…I understand.”

* * *

Swoosh!

As soon as he used shadow movement, Lucion’s darkness stirred at the sound of the wind crossing.

―L-Lucion!

Ratta was surprised.

“It’s all right.”

Lucion stretched out the darkness forward as if it was splashing water, and he blocked all the approaching swords.

Guggle.

With that harsh sound, Lucion felt his stomach shake.

‘…I hate this feeling.’

The light hacked through the inside, and the mana that shook the inside.

Both were equally annoying.

At that moment, Lucion stumbled, and both Bethel and Russell grabbed Lucion.

[Are you okay, Lord Lucion?]

Contrary to her worried voice, Bethel’s eyes were ferocious.

Thud.

As the weakly fallen swords turned into grains and split up then disappeared, Lucion wondered.

‘What is that…? I thought magic was wrapped around that sword.’

[It’s not a real sword, it’s magic.]

Russell answered right away as if he were reading Lucion’s inner thoughts.

[It’s Reint’s magic.]

Bethel, holding her sword, glared at Reint.

Reint trembled at the unknown death, and was taken aback when he saw Lucion.

“…Ha-Hamel-nim!”

As Reint drew closer, Lucion turned his eyes and saw corpses cut and pierced by something.

Are those all traces of magic?

‘No matter what trace it is, there are a lot of things to deal with.’

He had to send the ghosts to the sky so that the things that happened here couldn’t be discovered, whether it was by the Neubra Kingdom or the Hand of the Void.

Lucion exhaled.

His breath heated up again.

In response to the sound of approaching footsteps, Lucion gave a belated answer.

“I am fine, Mr. Reint.”

“A-Are you sure? Do you have any injuries?”

“What’s the status quo?”

Kran was probably on the first or second basement floor with Quate right now.

After helping the Reint mercenaries go down, there would still be people they had to deal with.

“… If you want to, you can beat me up until you feel better! Even if I am a wizard, I am very strong.”

Reinte suddenly rolled up his sleeves.

―No, Lucion. Hitting him when he’s innocent is a bad thing.

Ratta spoke with a lingering voice.

At that, Lucion swallowed his laughter and said to Reint.

“If you think you have a debt, just be loyal to the organization.”

But suddenly Reint’s expression hardened.

“I never take back words I already said. I’ll take the oath I made at Chonest to my grave, so I don’t want you to say that.”

“Then put it in debt. Isn’t that fine?”

“Yes. If that’s the case, that’s fine. Anytime, feel free to tell me.”

Reint smiled.

Looking around, Lucion brought up the same question again.

“What’s the current situation?”

“We’re still dealing with the magic bomb. Just in case, we have blocked the section from the third floor to the fourth floor.”

“The conciliation with the branch manager has already been successful, so take your time and come up to the third basement floor. Then, I’ll tell Kran-nim….”

“Uh, Hamel-nim.”

Reint caught Lucion.

“Is there any additional situation?”

Since he had the branch manager in his hand, Lucion felt relaxed.

“Anytime, wait, really, just a moment of your time is fine, can I ask you about black magic? It’s thoroughly up to Hamel-nim’s schedule.”

Reint rubbed his hands on his clothes as if they were sweating.

He tried not to speak, but this damn mouth moved on its own.

“If you want, I will set aside some time and see you again.”

Lucion smiled brightly.

Since Reint was the person who would become the cornerstone of the organization Ale in the future, he could grant this request.

“T-Thank you! I will never forget this grace!”

“Sure.”

“I… Wait a minute.”

Reint tried to catch Lucion again, but he had already disappeared with darkness.

‘I was going to give him a fever medicine.’

It was a pity that Reint was a step too late.

The heat he felt around Hamel was higher than before.

“Captain.”

One of the mercenaries who was disarming the magic bomb approached Reint.

He was the vice-captain of the Reint Mercenary Corps.

“What is it?”

“Don’t even think about fooling around like this.”

His subordinate giggled.

“You’re noisy.”

“You can tell him later.”

“That’s true, but I’m one step too late.”

“By the way, Captain.”

“What is it again? Didn’t you say nagging once a day was enough, Chen?”

“These are words that you press down and then you take out, so please listen to me.”

“Well, try me.”

“I can’t believe that we ended up in a good place, that’s so unlike you, Captain. What’s going on with the person who always plays nonsense?”

“What do you mean nonsense? My eyes are always right.”

Chen frowned openly at the answer.

“…Well, let’s just say so. Anyway, until I came down to the 4th floor earlier. I felt weird. Didn’t you feel it too, Captain?”

Chen had a smile on his lips as if he was recalling what had happened a while ago.

When he first entered the organization, he had fought with those who belonged to the Organization Ale from the beginning.

However, as soon as the mission began, he was surprised to see such feelings reversed as if they never existed in the first place.

“Kran, the leader of the organization, Quate, the head of the assassin, and the members of the organization all escorted us and asked us to dismantle the magic bomb. The feeling I felt at that time… I don’t know what to say.”

Chen’s heart tickled at the unfamiliarity.

Is this what he should have expected?

“Yes. I felt it, too.”

Reint also grinned.

The mercenaries didn’t belong anywhere and were thoroughly wandering.

He thought he would vaguely hate belonging somewhere, but it was different.

A sense of belonging.

That strong warmth attracted his heart.

“Oh, Mr. Hamel was surprising, too.”

Chen had seen the situation earlier, so he hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

“So do I.”

Reint nodded.

Rumors about warlocks were so solid and steady that they all could be said to be lies.

‘Besides, he overlooked my rudeness.’

“In fact, isn’t the security the most thorough in where the head is? I can’t believe he’s only moving around with Miss Rental. I was honestly worried.”

Even Chen carefully opened his mouth while looking at where Hamel had disappeared.

“…I think he’s moving on his own because he’s a warlock.”

“That may be the case. So let’s at least do our best. Now that we’re members of Organization Ale.”

Reint hit Chen on the back.

Plack!

“Let’s work now.”

“That hurt, Captain!”

“Because I like fooling around.”

Reint chuckled at Chen and put one hand in his pocket.

* * *

“I decided to go into… Ale.”

The branch manager presented the contract he signed with Kran, looking at the people of the branch gathered on the second basement floor.

It was regrettable to see him surrounded by Ale’s members as if he had become a sinner, but it couldn’t be helped.

If a fight happened again, the number of victims would only increase.

“What are you saying?”

Those who belonged to the branch, of course, protested.

Not only these people suddenly invaded the branch, they even killed their colleagues.

They couldn’t raise their voice for revenge, but they had to join these people’s group?

“Absolutely not! You know what will happen to my family!”

One of the men cried out, expressing his desperation.

“I know. I know everything.”

The branch manager looked at the man.

At first, he came here as an introduction to his career.

Even if he had to stay apart from my family, he got a lot of money, so he was happy to see the children growing up.

But this was no ordinary place.

The various information that he wrote before entering the branch became his shackles, and he had to act to betray the Empire even though he was a citizen of the Empire, and it became natural to betray someone for even the smallest information related to the Empire.

The information he gathered was used for Neubra.

When something was ripped out of his mind one by one and only left enough to maintain as a person, he became the branch manager.

“I am… a sinner!”

The branch manager uttered what he wanted to say.

“I betrayed the Empire even though I was a citizen of the Empire!”

Ashamed, he shouted out the words that he couldn’t bring out, fearing that if he admitted this, the last pillar that kept his sense of self would collapse.

“But I didn’t want to be their slave! Freedom! Yes, I wanted freedom!”

The noisy hall quickly became quiet at the mention of freedom.

“These men promised to free us.”

Clang.

The branch manager unpacked the bags he received from Lucion and spilled its content on the floor.

One pocket of money.

Two pockets of money.

Three pockets of money.

The eyes of the branch men shook at the existence of money that was gradually increasing to an absurd level.

Lucion was pleased with his remark.

Isn’t this too much money to be refused?

“This is money for our future, money for freedom!”

The branch manager shouted, pointing to the money.

He had worked hard like a dog, but it was an amount of money that he couldn’t get his hands on.

As Hamel said, no words would comfort his feeling, but money could be spent for the future.

For the future.

“It’s freedom!”

The branch manager howled and shouted at the top of his lungs.