Abandoned by my Childhood Friend, I Became a War Hero chapter 39

39 – Scar

I saw a shabby-dressed blonde woman locked behind bars.

The blonde woman staggered out of the dark and opened her eyes, perhaps sensing my approach.

The moment she woke up, I recognized who she was.

“… Daisy?”

She was Daisy, a waitress at the Red Bear Inn.

Daisy’s eyes stared at me, desperately adjusting to the darkness.

She struggled to raise her upper body and said, her voice weak.

“That voice… ion? Could it be Ion?”

Daisy said in a voice mixed with tears as she caught her trembling breath as if she was terrified.

“Oh, I thought no one would know I was here… Did you come to rescue me? I was really, really scared to be suddenly kidnapped by a stranger and to come to a place like this.”

Daisy held her bars with her quivering hands.

“Could you help me get out of here? Ion… I need Aeon’s help….”

“… ….”

I stared at Daisy in silence.

“Why, why are you not saying anything? Didn’t you come to rescue me? Please, I don’t want to be in this terrible place anymore. Get me out of here please. Please….”

Her voice was filled with fear of unknown situations and a desperate desire for rescue.

But I didn’t move.

I just kept my eyes on her and asked her simple questions.

“Why did you just watch?”

Daisy’s eyes widened.

She said with a confused expression, as if she couldn’t understand the meaning of my question.

“Ion, what does that mean… ? Are you asking why I didn’t help the kidnapped people? See, you see I couldn’t get out of here either. Why the hell are you asking that question? Are you doubting me?”

“… ….”

Actually, it wasn’t a doubt, it was a certainty.

Compared to her shabby clothes, her body is clean without scars, the coachman, presumed to be an executive of ‘Future of the Empire’, guided Daisy to the inn, rumors that ‘Future of Empire’ was active in Area 21, Testimonies about the fact that a group of thugs who served as messengers for the Imperial Intelligence Service came to the Red Bear Inn, the distance between this place and the Red Bear Inn, and the blonde woman Hans mentioned.

I didn’t dare say that all those doubts piled up until the moment she met her at this place, they turned into her confidence.

I just stared at Daisy with unwavering eyes.

Daisy’s green eyes went cold as she realized I was serious.

“Ah… Did you catch it?”

Daisy said so and she got up herself and quietly put her hand on her barred door.

She just put her hand on it and to her surprise the door magically unlocked.

Daisy opened the barred door and walked out slowly. The slender woman she had cried and begged in the cage a moment ago had completely disappeared.

In the darkness, Daisy’s and mine’s eyes met clearly.

“Sorry. If you had taken me like this, I could have become closer to you as a victim of kidnapping by a terrorist organization.”

Daisy smiled faintly, as if she was genuinely sorry.

I looked at her like that and asked as if tossing her.

“Did you think of killing me?”

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“Me? Ion you? Why would you? You have everything our organization needs.”

Daisy said it without the slightest hesitation.

“You can go inside the academy at any time and make contact with the target without being suspected by anyone. It’s good to get information from you, and if you can get it into an organization, that would be the best.”

“Looks like it’s already too late for that.”

I gestured to the side as if showing off. There, the horrendous corpses of the members of the ‘Future of the Empire’ gang, about 20 years old, were ruthlessly scattered.

Daisy said with a big smile.

“I don’t like things that can be replenished as long as money and power are shaken in front of my eyes. As long as we can achieve our goal, this amount of damage doesn’t matter.”

The way Daisy looked at the corpse of the gang member was very indifferent. It was as if he was looking at less than a used tool rather than a colleague.

Then she looked back at me with her more benevolent gaze and asked.

“Speaking of which, how about joining our organization? If it’s you, you’ll be able to rise to a much higher position than you do now in a pristine empire with only humans remaining.”

Judging by the way Daisy spoke, her place in the organization seemed quite high. She is much more than the coachman who was presumed to be an executive.

She was even closer to her benefactor than the elder, she was more likely to be the leader who actually leads the ‘future of the empire’.

But my answer was already decided.

“I refuse.”

At that, Daisy’s faint smile hardened.

“… Okay. I’m really sorry. Why would that elf risk his life like this? Are you a student? If so, it must have only been a few days since I got to know you, but that’s no different than anyone else.”

“Do you hate elves too?”

“Why not? Anyone in my situation would hate elves. Because I lost my hometown, my country, and countless people.”

When I was served dinner by Daisy, I guessed that she was from the Ionian kingdom.

And the Ionian kingdom was destroyed during the last war.

By a single elven necromancer called the ‘King of the Immortals’.

Refugees from the Ionian Kingdom, which has now turned into a land of death inhabited only by the undead, will never be able to set foot on their homeland again until the energy of death rampant there and the undead filling the land disappear.

Of course, that didn’t justify the persecution of the different races.

“That wouldn’t be the fault of all the elves.”

“Anyone who doesn’t know might say that. But you know what? The ‘Immortal King’ is your student’s older brother.”

“… What?”

My expression naturally frowned. Daisy burst into a delightful laugh at the sight.

“Right. The ‘Immortal King’ was a high elf in the Great Forest of Linia. It was also very influential as the next leader. In other words, the prince of the elves?”

Daisy’s expression, which had been smiling pleasantly, gradually cooled. A cold flame of hatred flickered in her eyes.

“However, instead of taking responsibility for the destruction of the kingdom, the elves of the Great Forest shut themselves even more in the Great Forest, erasing all records of their prince. They are not bystanders. They are disgusting infiltrators.”

It was an unexpected truth. If this fact were known, the relationship between humans and elves might be irreversibly damaged.

But I crossed my arms and said.

“Still, it’s not Titania’s fault.”

Daisy’s answer was a little late.

“… It’s an elf’s sin. It’s not unrelated.”

She continued with a hard expression on her face.

“I wanted to make this known somehow, but the evidence was lacking. But if it’s the words of the same high elf, wouldn’t people believe it? It is to tell the world that no one can hide the truth anymore. Then my revenge will come.”

“That wouldn’t mean the kingdom would come back.”

“Since the elves destroyed Ionia, I must also destroy the elves. Isn’t that fair?”

What a great egalitarian. I burst out laughing.

Daisy said with a wry smile.

“… You know, Ion. Why am I telling this story word for word?”

“Okay. I don’t know.”

“I want to convince you somehow. If possible, I don’t want to fight you.”

Daisy looked at me with deep, soulful eyes. I also shut her mouth at the eyes of a woman who did not suit this situation.

“When I first entered the inn, I saw your eyes. It was sad eyes with a deep sense of loss. It was like looking at myself in a mirror. I knew at a glance that they were the same type. If we agree, we can be good partners.”

Only silence remained in the breathtaking tension.

Daisy, who was within reach of her hand, took a step closer to me.

She was looking at me with an intense look that resembled her first love.

It was a familiar scene. This was a continuation of a job I once rejected at an inn.

Then my answer has not changed at all.

I shook my head and said.

“I’m sorry, but I refuse.”

“… You will regret those words.”

“Maybe. But now I’ve decided to live looking forward.”

Even if two wounded men and women heal each other’s wounds and find comfort, in the end, they are still bound by the past.

I have decided to live without being bound by the past any longer. So Daisy’s proposal was not worth considering in the first place.

“Really?”

She let out a short sigh, as if expecting this outcome, and with her head down, looked down for a moment with sad eyes, then looked up at me again.

Her eyes harbored a deep murderous intent.

“Then I must die.”

At that moment, my hand reached for Daisy’s neck like a thunderbolt. But even if it was only for a fleeting moment, my hand grabbed Daisy’s air, not her neck.

I turned her head to follow her footsteps, and Daisy was floating lightly in the air before I knew it.

“Ahahahahaha! Could it be that I approached someone like you to kill me without any preparation?”

“… Is it Blink?”

“If you treat it the same as such trivial magic, it will be troublesome.”

The interior of the dark underground warehouse gradually became brighter. Daisy’s green eyes radiated the light of her eyes, and around her, her great magic gushed like a cascade.

I don’t know much about magic, but I could tell at a glance that this wasn’t normal magic.

“The royal family of Galatea uses the power of the dragon, and the royal family of Al-Kamil deals with the blessing of the night. Then, what kind of power do you think the Ionian royalty will use?”

The huge magic power flowing from Daisy’s body swept her air forcefully. The wall of the warehouse that separated the underground from the ground was ripped away as if it had been swept away by a typhoon, revealing a night sky full of stars.

“Ionian bloodlines use exceptional ancient magic for summoning from generation to generation. Spirits, phantom beasts, and even beings from another world!”

A huge gray fog filled the night sky.

No, it wasn’t fog. It was an army of demons.

Ghost, Specter, Banshee… An army of evil spirits roaming the air around Daisy filled the sky in Area 20 to an innumerable number.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen so many demons at once.

I looked at the scene indifferently and said.

“She was an Ionian princess.”

“Yes! It is the last insignificant bloodline of a kingdom that has now disappeared. Can you win against demons you can’t even touch with normal weapons? Surrender now and swear to be on my side. Then it will save your life!”

Daisy puts a special emphasis on the word oath. I don’t know much about the ancient magic of Ionian royalty, but that probably means false oaths won’t work in her presence.

I calmed myself down, and Daisy smiled bitterly.

“It’s really unfortunate.”

As if those words were a signal, the legion of demons that filled the sky rushed at me all at once.

The screams of the demon corps would shake the mind of a reasonable person and cause them to vomit blood. They roared terribly and came crashing into me like a huge wave.

Obviously, it’s going to be a little tough with a normal weapon.

I reached out into the air. Then he tugged at his arm as if he were pulling out a weapon. The object that had been in the subspace all along responded to the call and was placed in my hand.

It was an elongated spear that looked like a red thorn.

I grabbed the spear with both hands and swung it around at the screaming banshee.

Originally, demons were the most terrifying beings to soldiers in the last war, unable to inflict any harm with ordinary weapons.

As if the banshee knew it, it ran straight at me, as if it had no intention of avoiding my swinging its spear.

-Kyaaa!!

Soon the banshee’s screams turned into real screams and disappeared.

Daisy opened her eyes wide in surprise when she saw the banshee split in half and disappeared despite being disembodied.

But rather than the disappearance of the banshee, she focused her attention on the spear I was holding in her hand.

“Red spear? Hopefully, that’s… !”

Yes. The one I hold in my hand is one of only 10 sacred items on the continent.

It was the demonic spear Ezetus, a spear that slashed insubstantial things.