Chapter 27 : War Heroes (2)

The gaze that prickles on my back.

Normally, I wouldn’t have noticed it, but now, with my senses fully expanded, I could clearly feel the gaze.

As I turned my head to follow that gaze, I saw something faint yet unmistakable, and I opened my eyes wide.

Far in the distance, at the top of a massive clock tower, I could make out two figures that appeared to be small dots.

Focusing my mana on the sight, their faces became clear.

I was momentarily confused by their younger appearance, but I quickly realized who they were, as their faces were familiar from my memory.

I had written about them in my notebook, which contained useful information for a game I played long ago, so I knew exactly who they were.

‘Those guys must be… Sherda and Benjamin.’

They were core members of the Worst, villains who would cause massive casualties in the future.

Seeing them, I gained more than just a strong intuition that this was the work of the Worst – I now had concrete evidence.

…….?!

Benjamin, seemingly startled that I had noticed his gaze, was now facing me with a bewildered expression.

And to him, I casually mouthed a word.

I told him not to even think about dying easily.

After delivering that message, I leapt off the roof and onto the ground, where I turned to Ruina, who was standing nearby.

“Ruina, can you handle the cleanup here? Find the one who seems to be the leader.”

“Yeah, leave it to me, Kael. I’ll take care of this in three minutes.”

Despite likely being curious, Ruina didn’t ask anything and simply replied that she’d take care of it.

As always, her reliable attitude made me immediately focus on my feet.

“Thanks, Ruina.”

“Given the situation, it’s nothing. If you’re grateful, I’ll expect something later.”

With that, Ruina gave a slight wink and disappeared, aiming to deal with the situation first.

Leaving her behind, I too began to run towards the clock tower with all my speed, determined not to let those two escape.

The two of them, trying to flee in haste, would not escape at my top speed.

Boom!!

In an instant, my body soared through the sky, with the sound itself being pushed back by my speed.

Thud, the sound of Kael hitting the ground and dashing forward echoed.

While hearing that sound, Ruina, who had leaped into the air, quickly took in the sight of the riotous figures in the streets around the Mercenary Guild.

‘Seven locations in total.’

She surveyed the urgency of each street, the total number of underworld organization members, what weapons they carried, and any additional dangers.

In just a few seconds of hanging in the air, she took in all of this information and engraved it into her mind.

Then, Ruina, now back on the ground, began moving immediately based on the information she had just processed.

“First, I’ll handle the places where civilians are being hurt.”

Her first priority was to deal with the areas where civilians who hadn’t yet evacuated were being harmed.

Based on that, Ruina, trained as an Elven warrior, swiftly moved her feet.

Step, step, step –!

With three quick steps, she kicked off the wall of a building, rising even higher into the air.

From there, high above the heads of the underworld members, she aimed and pulled back on a bowstring made from the branches of the World Tree, capable of withstanding a tension of over 100kg.

As she pulled the string, five mana arrows were fired.

When she released the string, the arrows pierced through the heads of the underworld members who were slaughtering civilians, as if guided by magic.

Crack-!!!

The sound wasn’t just that of regular arrows; it was as though a ballista had been fired, with a crushing sound as their heads exploded.

“Arrows?!”

“A surprise attack! Where is it coming from?!”

“These guys got hit!!”

In the blink of an eye, five of the underworld members had their heads blown off, and the others cried out in panic.

But their screams didn’t last long.

“This is it, just three left.”

Because, by the time they could even process the situation, Ruina was already nocking a new arrow onto her bowstring.

Before they could even figure out what was happening, the remaining underworld members had their heads pierced once again.

And Ruina immediately leapt toward another alley, determined to complete the task Kael had entrusted to her.

“Now, we have to escape immediately!!”

“What? Why all of a sudden? Is something wrong?”

Benjamin, who had been watching the street of the Mercenary Guild, released his mana and shouted, causing Sherda, who had been writing a report nearby, to raise an eyebrow.

What was going on? Why was he suddenly shouting about needing to run?

Had his chronic delusion been triggered again?

With those thoughts on her face, Sherda looked at Benjamin, and he slapped his chest in frustration and shouted.

“Kael! It’s Kael!! The war hero Kael is right there!!”

“Huh? Why is he there? Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

The war hero Kael.

Sherda had heard of him so much during the war that she could recite his stories by heart.

During the war, when the world was ravaged by endless conflict, Kael had brought hope to the war-torn people, and many stories about him were shared among the people.

Although some might have thought those tales were exaggerated, any doubts had been wiped away by the refugees who had witnessed Kael’s strength firsthand.

How strong he is, how terrifying he is, and how amazing he is.

The plain truth about him spread to everyone through the refugees.

However, after the war ended, he retired from his high-ranking position in the royal palace and was said to be living in the countryside—so why is he here?

Sherda asked this question in response to Benjamin’s incomprehensible words, but Benjamin, equally confused, let out a frustrated groan.

“How would I know why Kael is here?! Anyway, the important thing right now is that Kael is over there! And if that guy is really Kael, then the woman next to him must be the war hero Ruina as well!!”

The fact that Kael and Ruina had a wedding was so well-known that no citizen on this continent was unaware of it.

Therefore, the woman with light purple hair standing beside Kael was undoubtedly the famous Ruina.

She was also a war hero, an elf, and though she wasn’t quite at Kael’s level, she was an unparalleled archer who had achieved incredible feats.

And the only explanation Benjamin could come up with was that Kael and Ruina had come to the kingdom today by sheer bad luck, and by another unfortunate coincidence, they had caused trouble on the same day.

It was an unlucky event so terrible that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the gods had cursed them.

“Anyway, we have to run first. Kael just spotted me, so he’ll be here any moment! Before that guy gets here—”

“……So we’re running. Got it, I understand.”

Regardless of luck, the most pressing issue was that Kael had clearly seen Benjamin and was now on his way here.

And when Benjamin spoke his name, Sherda finally realized the gravity of the situation and turned to follow him.

They had to escape before Kael arrived.

“This mission is…………… a failure.”

Now that Kael and Ruina had appeared, this operation was as good as doomed.

Originally, the plan was to partially destroy the mercenary guild’s building and get the underworld organizations arrested.

But now, those people wouldn’t even last three minutes.

Partial destruction of the mercenary guild? They wouldn’t even get that far before being annihilated.

Rather than lamenting a failed mission, escaping from this place was the top priority.

Ta-at—

-!

Benjamin’s body was the first to leap from the clock tower, and Sherda followed right after him.

“We’ll escape through the underground sewer system and then return to our leader in Rahman City.”

“Ugh…… We’re really escaping through the sewers?”

“Why? Would you rather wander the streets and get caught by Kael? If not, then suck it up. Even if we have to crawl through filth, staying alive is better.”

“Damn, that’s just…….”

Upon hearing the plan, Sherda shuddered in disgust.

Benjamin snorted at her reaction and exchanged a few brief words with her.

Of course, such small talk only happened when there was a sense of ease.

And if someone were to ask why Benjamin was so relaxed despite Kael spotting him, the answer was simple—he had prepared this escape route meticulously, ensuring they could flee immediately from the clock tower.

He was confident that they would reach the underground sewer before Kael could close the distance of several hundred meters.

The ground rushed closer in an instant.

As it did, Sherda pulled out her wand.

“Haa…… I can’t believe we have to go into the sewer.”

With a soft flash from the tip of her wand, their falling speed visibly slowed, and the entrance to the underground sewer opened below them.

The foul stench of the sewer already seemed to be rising, making Sherda bite her lip in frustration and mutter curses under her breath.

Benjamin smirked at her.

“Hah, you said you’d follow our leader, so endure it.”

And just as their bodies were about to slip into the open manhole—

A voice shattered Benjamin’s confidence.

“You’re still so relaxed even after seeing me.”

“……?!”

In the next moment, a swift sword strike slashed through the air.

Benjamin had sensed it, but he couldn’t even react in time.

The blade sliced cleanly through the tendons in both Benjamin’s and Sherda’s shoulders.

Swick—

Sherda’s wand slipped from her grasp as blood sprayed into the air.

“Ghh…! H-how is he already here……?”

He had been at least several hundred meters away—how had he arrived so quickly?

Just before Benjamin had jumped from the clock tower, Kael had still been in the mercenary guild’s district.

The sheer impossibility of Kael’s speed left Benjamin gasping as he turned his head.

And there Kael stood, closing the manhole cover that Sherda had opened with her magic.

“You didn’t actually think you could mess with my daughter and escape in one piece, did you?”

At the same time—

“I already told you—don’t even think about dying peacefully.”

Kael’s furious gaze burned with an intensity that made his wrath unmistakable.

He stood there, radiating an overwhelming presence.