Chapter 172 – Alumni

(In the middle, the extras added an adult because there was a sexual description towards the extras.)

000

Once and again.

In the dark cave, whenever a silver flash and a red flash are swung, the bandits collapse without even screaming.

All of them were neatly cut off part of their body in one blow, and died on the spot due to their vital points being pierced.

Considering that they were human beings who were alive just a moment ago, Eustes swallowed as he looked at the bandits who were so vain, as if they had been born and lived to die here and now, quietly becoming corpses.

“…I’m talking about it now, but both of them don’t hesitate to cut people.”

As Eustes spoke, he returned his sword to his waist with a trembling hand.

Eustes, who said that, also remembered the murder of a bandit with his own hands earlier.

Of course, there were cases where he dealt with thieves or robbers while actively working as an adventurer.

The opponent would attack with the determination to kill us regardless, and there were many cases where the subjugation target’s life or death was not considered even when requested.

Even the adventurer Eustes came to think that taking one’s life was unavoidable.

Cleon and Iona’s movements were so clean and swift that they could almost be called work.

“Well… If you’re an adventurer, you can’t help but be like this.”

Saying so, Cleon wipes off the blood on his sword her.

The fact that the sword inherited from his master his was dyed red indicates that the sword had been swung towards countless lives from the generation of its original owner.

Even if it is not stained with magical power like Galatea, it is unmistakably a demonic sword if you look at the number of lives taken.

Iona also looked back at Eustes as she returned her own sword to her waist.

“Me too. I went through various missions as a knight of the kingdom … Although his father’s influence his is not small.”

What was most surprising to Eustes was Iona’s own sword skills in her.

Previously, when I entered the dungeon with Leona, I had only seen her using magic as an assistant behind her.

Right now, she was wearing silver armor and wielding a specially made longsword made from an alloy of steel and mithril, well known for being used by kingdom knights.

At first glance, her restrained movements her looked similar to Kingdom swordsmanship, but inside it was a mixture of ruthless and wild, curved skills, so it was clear that she arranged and used her Talchek swordsmanship in her own way.

That swordsmanship was different from Cleon’s, and if Cleon almost perfectly copied her Talchek’s swordsmanship, she was Iona. It felt like paying.

The only thing that is certain is that these two ‘certainly cut where they can be killed by cutting’, regardless of whether they are humans or monsters.

In that respect, she strictly followed Tal Chek’s teachings.

“Are you reluctant to cut people, Eustes?”

Looking at Eustes, her face dark, Iona asked quietly.

Eustes hears that, and clenches his fists while nodding heavily.

“That’s it… It doesn’t feel so good. No matter how evil you are. People are people.”

“It’s good not to forget that sense. If you become insensitive to cutting people, it’s the same as forgetting the gravity of human life.”

Saying that, Cleon approached Quon, who was praying for the rest of the dead bandits’ souls, and held her hand.

The light waves of her divine magical power spread from her to purify the spread of the resentful magical power that was enshrined in her fallen corpse.

If the souls of the dead are not cleansed in this way, some of the souls remaining there may create black magic and contaminate the land or create monsters, so the demand for clergy is never ending even in adventures or battlefields.

Cleon helped her control her divine magical power her to prevent the reaction of magic tools that might be in the bandits’ hideout.

“It is said that the bandits in Horseshoe Mountain sometimes raided the merchants who passed the road near the mountain, killed or kidnapped people, and stole goods. Looking at that fact alone, even if they were captured and transported to the capital, there is a possibility that they would be executed without a proper trial. It’s big.”

Iona said that as if to relieve Eustes of her guilt in fighting.

In fact, the bandits brandished their weapons without hiding their desires, saying things like ‘Save the woman!’ And ‘Kill the man!’

Although Cleon Iona grimaced at it and immediately shut her up.

After her prayer was over her, Quon let out a small breath and concentrated on her prayer, so she seemed to realize that Cleon’s hand was on her own, and she made her face a little of her. Surprised, but she smiled bitterly. Seemed

Eustes looks at the two for a moment, with a strange air flowing through them, then turns her gaze to Iona and answers quietly.

“… I know. Sorry. I made you worry.”

“It’s okay, Eustes, it hasn’t been that long since you became an adventurer… Rather, I think you are normal.”

“…Is that so? You too are strong enough to be no match for Cleon’s bandits. You have no hesitation when dealing with enemies. Isn’t that normal for an adventurer or a knight?”

At Eustes’ words, Cleon and Iona looked at each other, then shrugged and moved, then looked back at Eustes.

“Maybe it’s normal for a human who fights to protect something. But think of Talchek. Was he normal?”

The life that Cleon or Iona has been living since they were born.

Talcheck has lived with a single sword for a longer time than his life and has slashed countless things.

Among them, the one who cut the most was, of course, a human, and Talcheq was a human who lived on the precarious tightrope on the border between humans and Sura.

Even if they fell into a state of excitement close to madness in the heat of battle, they were more desperate than anyone else to hold on to the strings of reason in order not to trample on human life or dignity.

“A tool that cuts black enemies. If you cut a person, no matter what you wrap, the swordsman is a murderer. The more you do it, the closer the human becomes to Surah. But what keeps humans from falling on the path of Surah is to shoulder the life you cut.”

Iona says so.

It was also Talchek’s words.

Throwing himself into a life-and-death fight even after receiving the title of swordsman, and creating a swordsmanship that could slash any opponent with a single blow, was an expression of his determination to uncheck for those who were knocked down by his own sword.

Karma for what you’ve been cutting so far. It was Talchek’s conviction that he would wield the sword that he would bear it himself and minimize the suffering of his opponent.

“Please. If you continue to hold the sword to protect someone from now on, as a disciple of Talchek… No, as a swordsman. Please remember his words.”

At Iona’s words, Eustes nodded heavily.

In the future life, Eustes set his own beliefs, ‘the duty of a nobleman’ and ‘the responsibility of a man with authority’. In other words, he chose the path of an `adventurer` helping people in trouble for `Noblesse Oblige`.

Even if he does n’t regain his man’s body, his path his won’t change in the future.

Why do you think so? My heartbeat, which had been pounding until just now, gradually returned to normal, and I felt much more at ease.

It may be because of his mood, but his armor his seemed to have become lighter.

“…The story is getting long. Cleon, which way should we go?”

Iona turns her gaze from Eustes to Cleon.

“It’s divided into two branches as indicated by the thread. The side with one person and the side with two people. The one with one person is on the deeper side, so I think the leader of this bandit is on that side-“

Cleon closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked back at the group while talking.

“…Their vitality is getting weaker and weaker. I can feel the reaction of many people around them. Probably… There is a high possibility that they are being insulted.”

At that, Quon breathed in his breath and gave a surprised look, while Iona and Eustes hardened their faces a little.

“…Cleon.”

Quon quietly calls Cleon’s name his. Her expression was a desperate expression with a slight sadness.

Cleon nodded slowly and turned her around.

“…I don’t sympathize with the bandits…But even knowing that she reluctantly turned into a woman’s body and was humiliated in that state… I can’t just ignore it.”

“Of course, Cleon. There is still time.”

As if to agree with Cleon, Iona also turned her gaze to the direction Cleon was looking at while clenching her fists.

Looking at these two people, Eustes seemed to be able to understand a little what a human fighting for must not forget.

001

The hideout of the bandit’s den was used as it was by the imperial army during the past wars as a base.

Thanks to this, the inside of the cave was quite systematically divided into various compartments, and among them, there was also a place for detaining and interrogating captured prisoners.

Although it is impossible to fully understand the value of this base for bandits who are unable to adapt to a peaceful society and lead a life filled with violence and devoted to stealing other people’s possessions.

However, if there is something that can be used effectively, it is human nature to use it somehow.

White smoke was spreading in the room where the sound of gurgling water was constantly echoing.

It’s like a mist made from a kind of drug, originally intended to be injected directly into the bloodstream in the form of a drug.

Of course, the bandits did not manufacture or acquire these by their own power, and they found that among the items originally used for the ‘stimulant’ used by the imperial army before battle, unused stock remained at the base. .

The name of the drug is ‘Black Maker’. The more you use it, the more black tattoos will appear all over your body, and in humans who use it excessively, the whole body including the hair turns black, which eventually leads to death.

However, the effect is so certain that it amplifies physical ability and magical aptitude to the extent that the general soldiers of the empire can stand up to the knights, the elite soldiers of the kingdom. It is an item that makes it possible to fight enemies in a trance.

Diluted, used as a kind of incense, and filled with smoke in a confined space, it could be used as a stimulant so strong that the act could go on, no matter how many times it climaxed, while inside.

Of course, there was also the downside of inhaling the smoke for a long time that the side effects of the original drug would appear.

Once he began to take pleasure in the sense of omnipotence this gave him, and the reactions of his captured victims his, he was addicted to drugs as if he were in a sauna.

“Ku, hu, hee hee hee hee. You’re killing me so much… Myung-gi, Myung-gi… “

One of the bandits finished his act and sat down, taking turns with the next person.

How many times had this happened, the crazy women who rolled in, claiming to be colleagues, were forcibly brought into heat due to the effect of the drug, and were spread out without screaming anymore, accepting the next person.

“Recently, I couldn’t get out of the mountain, so I couldn’t even taste a woman… These bitches came rolling in on their own…”

“Hey! You just did it once! Why are you doing it again!”

“Because this bitch won’t let go…!”

People who don’t care about the condition of two people just for the sake of sexual desire while having low-level conversations.

Several hours had passed since the action had begun, but as if he was still not satisfied, he did not leave the room, waiting for his next turn.

“Anyway, where does the boss keep getting these drugs?

“That’s that… That red-haired woman who came before. She said she came to make a deal with the boss.”

“Ah~ that woman. The youngest bastard rushed at her on the spot and died when her head her was pierced…”

“I’m sorry for the guys watching from outside. By the time you change shifts with them, these bitches will be dead?”

“You’re out of luck.Haha!”

Just like that, the moment when the sound of laughter sneering at a colleague resonated.

Jjoong!

With a heavy sound hitting the ears, the door of the prison that was blocking the flow of fog neatly broke in two and fell.

The bandits who raped the women did not understand what they were talking about in the foggy vision.

Without even noticing that a red flash rushes in and cuts them down in an instant.

As she was naked, she collapsed on the spot ugly.

“Cleon! Are you okay!?”

“Yes, it’s okay. Quon. As it is, use secondary magic to prevent me from inhaling this smoke.”

Cleon looks around as he frowns.

Then, after confirming that the cloth was stuffed into what seemed to be a ventilation hole and blocking it, he roughly pulled them out so that the smoke could escape as quickly as possible.

“Kuh…”

Then, the gaze naturally goes to the two women surrounded by men.

Bruises from being beaten. Traces of dirt here and there.

The fact that Anansi’s ‘thread’ can be felt from them is that they were originally both human beings who were members of a gang of bandits.

A nearby blanket is placed over the bodies of the two people who are barely breathing with the light in their eyes lost.

Eventually, when the smoke slowly dissipated and the strength of the medicine no longer remained in the air, the rest of the party was allowed to enter the prison.

“I can’t believe he’s even using medicine…”

As Iona muttered, she approached her censer, which supposedly produced her smoke her, and she picked up the bottle that had fallen beside it.

“…”

“Quon. Healing magic for both of them.”

“Yes!”

“Ugh…”

Even though Eustes was covered with a blanket, he could easily imagine what a grievous act had taken place inside, just from the faces of the two men.

Quon stretches out his hand to the two of them, and when he summons the healing power through divine magic, the bruises that have formed on his body he gradually disappears, or the dangerous breathing begins to stabilize.

“Is mental stabilization magic possible?”

“Of course you can use it, but… You know? Whether or not it can be restored depends on the person.”

“Of course… You have to listen at least a little bit.”

At Cleon’s words, Quon nodded, and in addition to recovering the body, he added a recovery spell that stabilized the broken mind even a little and used it.

In the meantime, when Iona approached Cleon, who had picked up her vial of her, she was to show it to him.

There was a pattern on the label that I had seen before.

“…Astarothe…”

“I don’t know why they have a medicine bottle with this pattern on it, but… The identity of the medicine is ‘Black Maker’.”

When Iona said it with a serious expression, she just shook her head, saying Cleon was a name she had never heard of before.

“Simply put, it is a stimulant-type drug that was made in the Empire. However, with the fall of the Empire, the recipe was lost… All humans with the knowledge to make it died. It was also used in gladiatorial arenas, so even my father had never seen it. It is said that there was… And, he also said that all manufacturing facilities and producers were eliminated.”

“…According to Flarous, Ishtal and Lilim are from the Empire. Maybe, they have the recipe.”

Iona shut up for a moment at Cleon’s guess, then nodded her head in agreement, saying that was the most reasonable guess.

“Ugh, ugh…”

Of the two women lying down at the time, the one with the longer hair let out a painful groan and came to his senses.

“You, you guys…”

“…Don’t care who we are. Answer my questions from now on.”

When Cleon glared at the woman who had come to her senses and talked about it, she raised her voice with a ‘Hey!’

“Cleon… If you stare at her like that, you’ll get scared and won’t be able to speak her properly…?”

“…But these guys are both victims and bandits at the same time… I have room for sympathy, but I have no intention of showing mercy.”

However, the woman seems to feel fear from Cleon for other reasons, so she raises her upper body and backs toward her wall.

“Hey, black hair. You, you… Huh, are you from the dark horse clan?”

“…But.”

“Du, the same clan of dark horses as the boss…! The boss said he was the last survivor…!”

At those words, a shudder flowed through the prison, enough to stop the breathing of Cleon and all her companions her for a moment.

Cleon wanted to rush at the woman right away and listen to the details, but she calmly took a deep breath first.

“Are your bosses really from the dark horse clan? The Bandit King?”

“Yes, yes. It’s true. Black hair… I’m sure.”

Even though she is frightened, information flows out of her mouth, perhaps because of Quon’s stabilization magic.

Quon was furious and carefully grabbed Cleon’s arm as he trembled.

When Quon and his eyes meet, Cleon nods his head as if it’s okay.

“What kind of person is your boss? Where did these medicines come from?”

“Uh, that’s… Medicine is sometimes brought by the red woman that the boss is dealing with… And the boss is literally the boss…”

Cleon clicks his tongue. As expected, this gang of bandits had something to do with Ishtal.

“The identity of the king of bandits has been information that has not been obtained even by the kingdom’s intelligence agencies until now. No way, the black horse clan. Is there any other information? Gender, age, etc… Name.”

“Two, the boss is a man. And, he’s about the same age as you or a little older… He said his name is ‘Cleon’.”

Once again, the prison air freezes.

Quondo, Iona, and Eustes also stare at Cleon, their mouths wide open with surprised faces.

Cleon put on a blank expression for a moment, then stood up with his fists clenched.

“Shit.”

“And also, Talchek’s disciple…”

Iona twitched her eyebrows at those words, then turned cold and looked down at the bandit.

And as if to let go of his anger he for a moment, he closes and opens his eyes and looks back at Cleon.

“To the dark horse clan, to Cleon, to Talchek’s apprentice… Cleon. Can anyone guess?”

“No. …I’ll have no choice but to meet him and check it out.”

At Cleon’s words her, Iona closed her mouth for a bit and then nodded her head.

“Wait. What should I do with these two?”

“… You guys. What about the medicine you stole from the monastery?”

When Cleon questions the woman, she answers with a gulp.

“T-That medicine, the other guys said it had a strange smell and threw it away…”

`Strange smell…?`

Eustes feels uncomfortable at her words for a moment, but then shakes her head. Maybe it’s just people’s tastes.

“…The fact that men were turned into women by demons must never be known within the kingdom. If you return to the monastery in peace, I will take you out of here.”

“Su, to the monastery…!? Ha, but…”

Do I have to go back to that boring place? Before she could say her name her, her Cleon’s eyes her pierced her.

“To return to the monastery. To die here in silence. Decide.”

“Hey, Cleon…”

Quon is slightly intimidated by the great anger he feels from Cleon.

“Ah, okay… Back to the monastery. I won’t tell anyone…”

“Okay. That’s it… Come to think of it, you guys said you were uncooperative with background checks. What’s your name?”

“Gee, Gishid. This is Sam.”

When Cleon said that and looked back at Iona, she was already in the middle of organizing her thoughts while she had already pulled out her notebook her.

“Gishid. Sam… It’s a name I’ve heard before. He was a petty thief with a human named Norman, but I thought he didn’t show up after being placed on a bounty. He was in a gang of bandits… Will do.”

“That, like that…”

“Are you unhappy about surviving?”

When Cleon said that, Gishid hurriedly shook his head.

Cleon glared at Cid for a while, then he let out a big sigh and stood up.

…I also feel that the fire of life is slowly going out for the person to whom another thread is attached.

Perhaps, the ‘Cleon’ they were talking about was there.

“…Then. Wait here. I will meet your boss.”

“S-Stop it! The leader is a great swordsman because he is a disciple of the Sword Saint Talcheck! If you die, we can’t escape!”

“…”

Cleon and Iona. Their cold eyes fell on Gishid.

“That’s too bad. Me and her too. Please, she wants to clash her sword with that `Tal Chek’s disciple`.”

“I don’t know who or where in the world is selling my father’s name.”

Eustes senses the fact that the anger between the two is real through the magical pressure flowing out of them unconsciously.

And, if not as much as the two of them, he also felt anger towards the human boss who was tarnishing the name of ‘Talcheck’.

Cleon and his party leave the prison, leaving Guy Sid behind.

“Cleon. Are you okay?”

As Quon looked at Cleon cautiously and talked, Cleon smiled wryly and nodded his head.

“… To be honest. It’s a bit unbearable… But, it’s still okay.”

“…Tell me if you’re having a hard time. There’s not much I can do for you, but-“

“It is not so.”

“…”

Cleon quickly denied Quon’s humble words.

“Because just having Quon by my side… I can feel that it’s a line I shouldn’t cross… Thank you, Quon.”

“…Yes.”

Cleon’s hand and Quon’s hand overlap.

The words of Cleon, who said he needed him, made Quon’s heart skip a beat.

“…I’m sorry…”

And one more person.

Eusthes also clenched his fists and looked at the overlapping hands of the two.

“…Eustes?”

My goddamn heartbeat quickens again. However, it was not as much as before.

A little bit painful, though.

“Ugh, ugh. It’s okay. It’s nothing.”

“… Please don’t overdo it.”

Saying so, Iona moves away from him and approaches Cleon.

“… The reason why Eustes’ curse progresses seems to be influenced by Cleon’s actions of his.”

“…As expected. I don’t know why… I’ll be careful.”

Cleon and Iona nodded cautiously, then moved to the boss’s room.

To meet someone of the self-proclaimed ‘classmate’, ‘cognate’, and ‘same name’ who will be waiting there.