episode_0081

Bang!

Bang!

Kagan!

It seems that my thinking that it was a hopeless naming sense was a big mistake.

Cast iron can group.

The crisp sound of the impact befitting its ignorant name told us the reason for its naming, and the refreshing sound of the impact, like kicking a can, was quite addictive, making us want to beat up the fallen guys one more time.

Bang!

Kwajik!

“Eight. It’s broken.”

As he was breaking each of the pots one by one, his club broke and he grabbed a new club that was lying nearby.

And then he approaches the guy who appears to be the leader.

The reason their heads are called pots.

It was because of the thin brass helmets they were wearing, and the thrilling sound and feel of the impact whenever they struck the pot with their clubs was truly wonderful.

“Here, collect 10 years’ worth of tolls.”

Bang!

Kagak River!

“That, stop…! I was wrong…!”

“I will pay generously for the residents of Bukbu-ryeong. Accept it.”

Kyaang!

Bang! Bang!

Kangkararang!

“Please, please! My head is ringing so hard…!!”

“Really? So the toll here has been paid? Even for the residents of Bukbu-ryeong?”

“Yes! That, that’s right!”

“Okay. Lastly.”

Kaang-!!

“Get your taxes.”

I paid the taxes as well as the tolls for 10 years in advance to the last remaining man who seemed to be the leader.

As expected of the leader of the Iron Can Group, the brass helmet he wears makes a louder sound than any pot as he hands out the certificates of payment.

What on earth did they do to that iron plate that is embarrassing to be called a helmet to make the sound so clear and refreshing?

It was such a great rhythm that you could line them up and have them beat up.

Knock knock.

After banging their bowls so vigorously, I shook my hands.

I looked around.

Many toll collectors are lying on the ground, deeply moved by the voluntary payment of tolls.

Rachel swung her sword in the air, shaking the blood off its blade, and walked past the slain custodians, approaching me and asking.

“Are you hurt?”

“Yeah. You?”

“I’m fine too. There were quite a few of them anyway.”

“That’s right. It seems like collecting tolls was quite lucrative?”

“There might be a base nearby.”

Those dispatched to the toll collection raid party numbered at least thirty.

It was an unusually large group for a mountain path guard, and based on their experience over the past six months, there was a high probability that the main base was nearby.

And there was a high probability that there were detainees in that base.

Weren’t they drooling just now over Ariel and Rachel?

“That’s right. If the raid is this large, there must be at least fifty people in the main camp.”

I saw Rachel.

Shh.

Rachel smiles as if the student’s suffering is the teacher’s happiness.

Or, as in taking medicine.

“You must be nervous?”

Rachel had been telling me over and over that in order to have a smooth monster food tour, I needed to know how to deal with humans more than monsters.

Every time I get annoyed or express my doubts by saying, ‘Why?’

And every time, Rachel would rebuke them, saying, “In rough terrain, humans are more dangerous than monsters.”

With his characteristically sharp gaze.

Same as now.

Moreover, this mountain path led to the village of Gelida, which was not too far away, so the villagers must have been humiliated as well.

“I’m nervous.”

He shrugged his shoulders and acted coy as if it was no big deal.

I had no intention of refusing anyway.

Because Rachel is my teacher, and a student has a duty to follow his teacher’s orders.

Although the main purpose of the monster food tour is to eat well, I did not want to ignore the unfair oppression I witnessed along the way.

Oppression and injustice.

Because turning away from what I had to go through as Lee Jun-woo in my previous life felt like turning away from myself that day.

There was no reason to disobey the just order to help those in danger, and no reason to fear the bandits that were there before, so he picked up the club he had put down.

Perhaps because he was not impressed enough, he grabbed the scruffy guy on the floor by the collar with one hand.

And asked for additional toll payment.

“Where is the Road Traffic Authority?”

The location of their main base.

“… Yes?”

After a while.

Kyaang—!

With the cheerful sound of a tin can, I, who had even given them a generous retirement allowance, started heading towards their base with my companions.

**

Bang!

“Hey, it’s a monster! Run away!!”

Kyaang!

“Save me—!!”

Kagan!

“Fuck!! Catch those bastards and kill them—!!”

Cast iron can group.

This is a bandit group that has been nesting in the low snow-capped mountains to the west of Gelida Village for six years now, and with its size reaching the level of a company of about 100 members, it dominates the surrounding area.

Their main source of income was the toll on the Seolsan Mountain Road, and they also made a living by collecting tribute from the village of Gelida and by robbing merchants and travelers who passed by on their way around the mountain.

The headquarters of the Iron Can Group, where peaceful(?) days continued.

For them, who had been living a life of luxury by using women they had received as bribes from Gelida Village and women they had captured through robbery as sex slaves and men they had kidnapped from the surrounding areas as laborers, the attack by the two men and women was like a natural disaster.

The attack that came upon them, who had always been on a rampage, began to crush and collapse everything in an instant, and the members of the Iron Can Unit fell one by one without even being able to struggle.

A man with black hair fluttering in the wind.

Because of the woman with purple hair fluttering in the wind.

The Iron Can Group’s headquarters is literally being reduced to rubble.

By the time they realized that the man and woman were the bloodthirsty prince who had recently become famous and the purple knight who had once made a name for herself on the battlefields of Bukbu Ridge, it was already too late, and the ragtag bandits who had neither received systematic military training nor had outstanding individual skills were easily crushed.

“Keuheok… … . I, I’m so angry… .”

“A line befitting a third-rate villain. Farewell. Tinheads. No, Iron Tins. ”

Bang!

Elden, who finished the last chapter refreshingly, started searching the base with Rachel, and those who had been detained here and there were released, hugging each other in joy or expressing tearful gratitude to Elden and Rachel.

Ariel and Rendler then entered and began to lead the liberated people out of the base, and a woman was watching this series of movements.

It was Lumiang who got off the cart, thinking that he should help in some way.

Lumiang’s gaze, with his hood pulled down deeply, was fixed on one spot.

“Thank you. Ugh. Thank you so much… !”

“I just did what I had to do.”

It was Elden who greeted the liberated people with a bright smile.

Lumiang stares at him from afar as he shakes the hands of commoners without hesitation, shows humility to those who rejoice, and occasionally pats the backs of those who rudely hug him.

At that sight, a memory came to mind.

【I’m just curious about what it looks like.】

【Elden’s appearance to help those struggling in adversity…】

【Elden’s appearance to help those who are driven to the end of the world…】

【I’m just, I’m just curious.】

Something I wrote in my diary some time ago.

One day, during the Great Battle of Engagement, I heard a rumor that I had personally helped a woman and a child who were almost victims of brutal violence in the name of family. I couldn’t believe it, so I remembered the content I had written down in my diary.

Lumiang was examining Elden’s appearance in detail, recalling the story of how he used to look down on and despise the weak, how he used to just stand by and watch their suffering, but then he shed blood on his fists for the weak.

“Thank you, sir! You are our hero!”

“What about heroes? Take good care of your parents.”

“When I grow up, will I be able to be like you?!”

◦If you want to be %◦.”

“Really?!”

“Then.”

Elden patted the head of the little child who was resting on my waist.

A little boy who wants to be like Elden.

That pure longing knocks on Lumiang’s ears.

‘… … .’

A sight I was so curious about but couldn’t possibly imagine.

I tried to imagine it, but all that came to mind was his contemptuous gaze crossing over me as if trying to interrupt my thinking.

Even though he had seen the eyes that had given him ointment, and even though he had seen the lips that had treated him respectfully and spoken warmly, to Lumiang, who had never imagined the wonderful appearance of Elden that the people had been talking about, the sight of him subduing the bandits and freeing those held captive there was truly foreign.

and.

‘As the rumors say… .’

That was cool.

The sight of Elden swinging his club for the victims was so cool that it was now understandable, and the sight of him comforting and cheering on those he saved negates the Elden that had remained in his memories until now.

A new picture called Elden Raphelion is drawn over the picture called Elden Raphelion.

The moment I saw him through the eyes of a third party, not through the eyes of the person who was helping me, I was able to draw a picture in my imagination, and the moment that picture was complete, only then was I able to realize it.

On the verge of death.

【Le, Le Mien?】

There was warmth behind the embarrassment in his voice as he called her.

It was only then that Lumiang realized that the hand reaching out to him was the Elden he had been so curious about and had imagined so much.

“You are the hero sent down by God for us. Please tell me your name.”

“I don’t have any new ideas or anything.”

“You are a bloodthirsty prince.”

“Rachel..!”

“All praise! The Blood Demon Prince!”

“Woooo! Bloodthirsty Prince! Bloodthirsty Prince! Bloodthirsty Prince!”

“This…”

like that.

“… .”

For a while.

It was Lumiang who was staring intently at Elden in his imagination.

like.

Like looking at a mythical beast.