16. Liberal League and Ian (4)
Ian wrote down something and went out with Wolfgang.
Vivian and Helena, who were left in the room, were bewildered.
Apart from trying to meet Ian’s expectations, I felt that I was growing more and more distant from Ian.
Looking at the door Ian left, the two met eyes and smiled awkwardly.
Sensing that, Mercy quietly intervened.
“Why are you like that?”
“Oh, no… .”
“no… .”
Their expressions were complex.
“Huh.”
While Ian was revealing his identity, Mercy lay down depressed, but he wasn’t asleep at all.
She too was listening to Ian’s confession.
“I don’t know what you’re worried about, but there’s nothing to think about too deeply.”
Recalling the reason Ian hadn’t revealed from the beginning, Mercy swallowed a bitter heart.
“Wasn’t Ian like that? You say that you are the same as the ones you have seen so far. That’s true. The Ian I saw next to him was always like that.”
Whether Ian is Philip or not, it doesn’t really matter.
The only thing that changed was the two’s feelings of recognizing Ian.
“It may seem distant at times, but it’s all for the sake of its people, so wouldn’t it be better not to feel too difficult? From what I’ve seen, Ian is no different from when he was with you now and before.”
In the first place, the very existence of Philip is an illusion created by him.
Ian was just Ian from the beginning until now.
Even when I was the manager of the 1st party, and now.
“… Yes.”
“You are right… .”
Each of them seemed to have realized in their own way, and their expressions became more comfortable.
“Thank you for caring.”
“There is also a reason you have been with Ian-nim for a long time.”
“… … .”
Mercy smiled, but her heart wasn’t very happy.
Like this, what you can do is just a simple thing that anyone can do.
Things like trivial consolation, massages, and correspondence.
not even superhuman
In this human society, he had no power or connections, just an ordinary elf.
So if there was anything she could do for Ian, she was willing to do anything.
“Well, of course! Where else could there be an elf like me!”
Mercy said brightly, and Vivian and Helena also smiled.
*
Kati, who was clearing the base of the Liberal League with the 2nd Platoon of the Military Police, arrived at an old-fashioned corridor.
The luxurious yet neat atmosphere of the hallway was dark.
On both sides of it, there were a lot of narrow rooms.
The room, blocked by a glass wall, was bright unlike the hallway.
It was a induced light that made it difficult to see the outside from the inside, but from the hallway, it was possible to see the inside well.
Inside, the elves were imprisoned one by one.
This was the place Katie had reported to Ian where a number of elves were confined.
Each of the elves was beautifully decorated with various charms.
Some elves were gorgeous like nobles.
Some elves were neat like gentlemen.
Some elves were as thick as dancers.
There was a table in front of them, with only their legs and torso tied to chairs.
A white plate was placed on the round white table. Silver spoon, fork and knife.
And a live animal was put on the plate.
Elves who hear the voice of life do not eat meat.
To be precise, it does not eat meat by killing.
The only meat they eat is animals that have died of natural causes.
The harshest act for them is to feed living creatures.
And there were people here who watched and enjoyed the act as if it were a fun and rare spectacle.
Some of the elves’ plates were empty, and their eyes were lifeless.
Among them was a blonde elf dressed up like royalty.
“… … .”
Katy remembered the day she first saw Mercy.
The door on the opposite side of the one Katy came in opened, and armed men burst in.
“That bastard!”
“Rush and kill them all!”
Kati said to the gendarmerie following her.
“I will do it alone. Please free the imprisoned elves.”
It’s because it’s easier to fight alone on a narrow road.
On the way, the military police who saw Kati’s skills obediently followed his words.
A group of people with formidable faces rushes with the momentum to break through the narrow road.
Kati held the sword in both hands in reverse and lowered her body.
As soon as she hit the ground, her form disappeared.
-Suddenly!
With the sound of something being cut, a gust of wind cut through the hallway.
Kati, who had disappeared, appeared behind the enemies.
– Chijijik… .
Kati’s foot, which had slipped and came to a halt while running, touched the ground.
The upper and lower bodies of the enemies were separated at once.
After confirming that there were no survivors among them, Kati broke the glass wall and took out the elves inside.
The rescued elf was led by the military police.
Her gaze went back to the elf dressed like royalty, then to those who made the elf this way.
‘Even if I had better tracking skills back then… .’
The time I found Mercy.
Kati was also with Ian, but not as strong as now.
If he had been better at that time, wouldn’t Ian’s heart have been a little more comfortable.
Even though it wasn’t her responsibility, Katie used to think so sometimes.
“thank you… .”
“Thank you very much… .”
A few elves, who were at least in good shape, came up to Kati and said hello.
Carty just nodded.
Then, all of a sudden, I felt a strange feeling.
‘The way he speaks is different from Mercy.’
After being rescued, it took a long time for Mercy to speak, but from the beginning, Mercy was condescending.
I wasn’t as confident or playful as I am now.
‘Aren’t all elves like that?’
Mercy was the only elf Kati knew, so it wasn’t something that could be known by thinking.
*
“Everyone, if you want to preserve your precious life, please step back quietly.”
Ian declared, blocking the back road.
A roadway that two people could barely pass through was enough to block it alone.
Those who tried to escape from the military police’s surprise turned pale.
Ian glanced at their outfits.
‘They’re wealthy or aristocratic. Are they the VIPs of this place?’
The men all wore fancy suits, and the women wore dresses.
Because of the masks used to hide their identities, they looked like people who came to enjoy a masquerade.
One of the nobles stepped out.
“I don’t know who it is, but get out of the way! If you don’t get out of here right away… !”
“What if I don’t get out of the way?”
Ian pointed his sword and asked in response.
It wasn’t a training sword he hadtily pulled out when fighting Edgar, it was a real sword.
“I know that high-ranking people can’t objectify themselves even if they don’t say it, so there’s no need to step out.”
“How much, how much will it be… ?”
another nobleman asked.
This person was a man who knew how to bend.
But Ian’s heart couldn’t be moved.
“I am not the one who decides how you are treated. I’m the one blocking the way.”
It also serves to deal with Edgara’s Liberal Union’s members when they come here.
“So don’t think about negotiating, go back and stay calm. As long as you are not liberals, you will avoid summary execution.”
It wasn’t very welcome news.
If you are a visitor to this underground base run by the League of Liberal Democrats, it is obvious that you will not see the crime.
Even coming to the base of this safety-conscious organization was considered a high level among VIPs.
Ian knows it well because he robbed a branch of the Liberal League in the past.
“This arrogant lack of fundamentals… !”
A young nobleman pointed at me, and Ian lightly swung his sword and cut off his wrist.
“this. A mistake was made during the suppression process.”
That’s what I said, but it wasn’t a mistake.
“If you have any complaints, go to the military police later and file a complaint.”
An escort knight of a nobleman stepped forward.
“What a rude fellow. In return for not getting out of the way, your neck-”
Ian didn’t listen and approached at once.
It was a brief moment that others could barely notice that he had moved forward and moved.
The escort knight’s head fell from his neck and murmured.
“-Breathe… .”
“next. If there are any more dogs, come ahead.”
Everyone who confirmed Ian’s skills kept their mouths shut.
Even if they went back, it was the military police who were waiting for them.
Ian felt unpleasant as he recalled the old memories.
Mercy became a spectacle for these guys.
These guys say that my life is precious and try to live somehow.
There is no guarantee that none of these people are involved in the anti-Imperial coalition.
For the sake of information, it must be kept alive for now.
If they are taken away by the military police anyway, they will all feel executed after interrogation.
While Ian was scanning the crowd, someone ran wildly out of the crowd.
– Kang!
Ian leisurely blocked it and checked the opponent’s wrist.
‘You’re a libertarian. Did you come to clear the way for the distinguished guests?’
“Oh oh… !”
An exclamation of relief flowed among the people.
It didn’t last long either.
Ian didn’t bother to fight.
He just cut the other person’s body diagonally with his sword.
“Huh… !”
“Oh, I cut the sword together… .”
A few liberals quickly rushed in and even pincered, but they couldn’t get past Ian.
The henchmen, much weaker than Edgar, were just flying insects jumping into the fire.
Ian habitually repeated analysis and judgment even as he was cut down in one blow.
‘Your body is out of balance. This is how a left-handed person learns the sword from a right-handed person.’
‘The center of gravity is biased backwards. I was scared.’
‘He doesn’t even have basic grip strength. I’m not at the level of holding a sword.’
Instead of backing down despite the attacks of several people, Ian instead took a step forward.
Thanks to this, the crowd trying to get out was gradually flocking inside.
The road behind Ian was the corpse of a liberal.
“Slowly tidying up… .”
“aaan-!”
Deep down the road as Ian looked, someone shouted his name harshly.
The man emerged with an angry gait.
“Edgar. Did you run away?”
“you… ! It’s your business! You want the gendarmerie… !”
“Now you notice. I knew it, but it’s pretty brainy.”
“What the hell, why the fuck are you doing this to me… ! Because of you, ever since that day… !””
At Edgar’s appeal, Ian smiled.
“What are you saying as if you’re sorry? If you lived with someone else’s life, you should have calculated that your own life would be lost at any time.”
“Shut up-!”
Edgar took a bottle from his bosom and drank it down.
‘Is it a stimulant?’
Edgar’s blood vessels stood out on the surface of his skin, and his pupils narrowed as he glared fiercely at Ian.
Hitting the ground, he charged, breaking the crowd.
‘His strength is about that of a B-class superhuman. They even administered a stimulant, so it would be impossible to cut them black like small pikes.’
“Die!”
Edgar threw himself and thrust his sword at Ian.
Watching him fly through the air, Ian let out a shallow sigh.
‘It’s pitiful.’
I thought I would have to fight for quite a long time since I was given a stimulant, but it seemed to end without dividing the sum.
I didn’t expect to fight for a long time.
This is also a kind of habit that I developed while teaching the hero.
Instead of rejoicing when the other person makes an immature choice, it’s the fact that you click your tongue.
Ian slowly bent his back as he watched Edgar fly by.
Legs standing still, upper body lying flat on the floor.
He performed the acrobatic movement with ease.
“What… .”
Edgar, flying through the air, brushed Ian’s stomach.
Their faces met for a moment.
That plain, slightly tired, annoyed expression stared at Edgar nonchalantly.
-Puff!
Ian’s sword moved toward Edgar, who was flying behind him.
“Cheak!”
Edgar’s right arm was cut off as he fell to the floor.
“You can’t control your movements in the air. If you’re running and throwing yourself, especially because of inertia.”
Ian said nonchalantly and cut off Edgar’s remaining arm.
“You show too much immaturity.”
“aaah!”
“Relax. You might have information to mine, so I won’t kill you right away.”
A hot pang of pain welled up in Edgar’s arms.
More than that, fear gripped his heart more painfully.
It wasn’t just the fear of dying.
overwhelming helplessness.
The fear that he himself had been playing in Ian’s clutches from the start crept into his heart.
Also, Ian’s powerlessness was incomprehensible.
A power that does not feel the spurt of magical power at all.
It was not the body’s natural strength.
It’s just that you can’t feel it because it’s precisely processed.
A person who has been polished to produce the most efficient output with the least amount of mana.
‘From the beginning… . The odds of winning… .’
Beyond despair, it’s even empty.
“Huh, ha, ha ha… .”
Edgar laughed as if he had lost his mind.
[master.]
Katy reported.
[Cleanup is over. Key documents in the basement of the base… .]
The representative of the Liberal League, Edgar, was captured.
In the basement of the subdued base, a map of the main base, including an organization chart, was found.
As of today, the Liberal League collapses.
*
All surviving elves were insane.
Those who were fine were very few.
There was no place to put them until the survivors’ treatment was decided, so all survivors moved to Fiorene Castle.
It was the morning after the Liberal League’s stronghold collapsed that Ian and Mercy were alone.
“Mercy.”
“Yes.”
The two of them walked through the quiet corridors of the castle.
“Liberal League, remember?”
“… yes.”
“They will be gone sooner or later.”
“yes… ? what did that mean… ?”
Ian explained what happened yesterday in the least painful way for her.
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Just calmly, focusing only on the fact that they will disappear.
At the end of his words, Ian added without even realizing it.
“I thought it wouldn’t work, but it’s a coincidence, but it turned out like this.”
“… Have you always cared about that?”
Ian felt a special responsibility to Mercy.
Ian was the only place Mercy, who had survived from the old Liberal League’s stronghold, could rely on.
At first, he tried to take Ian away, but he couldn’t let Mercy go crazy.
Gradually, Mercy, who started talking and living with Ian, actively tried to help Ian.
However, with no special powers or status, all she could do was simple chores.
Because of that, Mercy often suffered from a sense of shame.
It’s similar to that kind of inferiority feeling that you’re not special among Ian’s group.
Although she pretended not to be the case every time on the outside, Ian couldn’t be ignorant of her feelings.
So I took more responsibility and tried to care so that she could get along better.
Even if she wanted it, it was Mercy who became like that because of the favor she gave her.
He wanted to get revenge on the Liberal League or resolve Mercy’s trauma, but Ian had a lot of work to do.
I had no choice but to neglect the pursuit by saying that I couldn’t help it, and that sometimes bothered me.
“Well, sometimes.”
Then, by chance, we came to today.
“… okay. I see. you are really… . no thank you really.”
Mercy’s hand, walking along with Ian, reached out to Ian’s hand before I knew it, then stopped.
Ian, who was walking ahead, continued without knowing it.
“So, I’m worried about how to take care of the people who survived there… . I thought you might be helpful.”
“… did i say Well, I’ll do anything to help, but I’m not sure how helpful I can be.”
“that… There are elves.”
“… Elf?”
The two arrived at a large door.
Ian asked one last time before opening the door.
“You can’t do it if you don’t like it.”
The disappearance of the Liberal League does not mean that Mercy’s trauma will disappear.
So it was a kind of therapy.
He hoped that Mercy would help an elf who was in a similar situation to himself and heal a little of his past.
But if Mercy didn’t want that, he wouldn’t let it happen.
“I, I, that… .”
Mercy’s expression hardened rarely.
“Well… . Was it a bit too much? If you don’t like it, let’s just go back.”
“No, it’s not that I hate it… .”
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Just then, Ian approached from the hallway behind him.
They were a few of the elves who were alive, and they were at least in good spirits.
They recognized Ian and wanted to say hello, then stared at Mercy.
‘Do you know each other?’
Around the time Ian thought so.
Surprise spread across the faces of the elves.
“… Princess?”
“Princess… ?”
“Princess!”
“It’s Princess Mercy!”
“Princess Mercy!”
“It’s a princess!”
Ian looked back at Mercy with a puzzled face.
Mercy closed her mouth tightly and awkwardly averted her gaze, breaking out in a cold sweat.
In disbelief, Ian repeated what he had just heard.
“… A princess?”