-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Only You
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Anyway, what does it have to do with me?
The Warden's order promising my release—nothing else was more important.
‘...Though I have no regrets.’
I lifted my foot and stomped, and the floor cracked beneath it.
Excluding Haira and Brett, the faces of Ged and Seth turned deathly pale.
It was a simple and easy way to scare the weaklings.
“If you understand, then get lost.”
“B-Big Bro!”
“Garet.”
“...Yes?”
“That's my name.”
Not your big bro. At my added words, the simple-looking face crumpled.
“I don't know what made you approach me in the first place. You've all seen how I deal with things that annoy me.”
The bugs on the 22nd floor. At those added words, Ged's face went ashen.
My faint display of killing intent probably played a part too.
“If you're going to go somewhere, go to the west side of the rest area. There's a decent guy over there.”
“...”
“If you're lucky, you might even find a not-so-bad master there.”
The only reason I said this was purely for Haira.
After all, as their leader, I felt a slight sense of debt for not being able to look after them until the end.
“No one will take you in, no matter where you go.”
It was Haira's voice that stopped me as I was about to turn away.
When I looked back, even Brett had a slightly weary expression, but Haira alone remained composed.
‘She really is the type of person Ramona would like.’
I was slightly impressed, but that was it. There was no reason to show any more kindness or goodwill.
“That's none of my business, is it?”
I felt a few surprised gazes on me for speaking formally to Haira, but that was all.
In the end, the four of them, led by Ged, turned back.
Even from a distance, Ged looked sullen and dejected.
“...You're like a villain.”
Helios muttered, watching their retreating figures. I was puzzled.
“Helios, if you mutter that quietly, do you think I can't hear you?”
“I meant for you to hear it.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
I expected him to grumble back that it wasn't a compliment, but an unexpected question came instead.
“...Why didn't you ask for the reason?”
“What do you mean?”
“She said no one would take them in.”
“Ah.”
So our dear male lead was concerned about them. I finally understood.
The frown on his face this time wasn't from his usual displeasure, but from discomfort.
I blinked.
“Why should I have to listen to that?”
“...”
I went, “Ah,” and smiled brightly.
“My dear disciple, you seem to have forgotten. This is a prison.”
A place where criminals gather.
“So here, being called a villain is a compliment. The worse you are, the longer you live.”
* * *
The reason why no one would take in Ged's group.
I soon learned the reason—one I had neither been curious about nor wanted to know—in a way I hadn't wanted to.
I had just finished dinner with Helios and was on my way to the rest area.
The evening break was shorter than the one at lunch. So I was nagging Helios to move quickly.
Of all things, the path was crowded, so I'd chosen a different route than usual.
‘Damn.’
The dull thuds I heard as soon as I turned the corner were not unfamiliar.
Thud, thwack! Thud!
No, I had known there was a fight the moment I entered the hallway, but I didn't know who was involved.
“You damn vermin!”
You know what?
When you hit a person, it makes a sound similar to beating a sack of flour filled with just the right amount of air.
The ones being beaten were Ged and his group.
Brett was already collapsed over there.
Ged and Seth were taking the blows while desperately protecting someone.
I found it surprising. The person they were protecting was Haira.
“Trying to act all manly. Ptui!”
“Just hand over the woman, I said. You're worse than cockroaches.”
“Hey, hey, just kill them.”
“Nah, I don't want to. The guards on our block have been on edge lately. Get dragged away for killing some vermin? Not worth it, man.”
“Well...”
My eyes met Haira's, who was crouched under the men protecting her, desperately looking up.
She had a desperate look on her face.
“Help... help me!”
It was a completely different expression from the composed face she had worn earlier today.
“...”
Was it just bad luck?
Did they just happen to run into some scum who prey on low-level prisoners?
The more I stared with a blank face, the more Haira's desperate gaze turned venomous and spiteful.
As if to say she would never forget if I didn't help.
“Let's make a promise with Mama. That you'll help people in trouble.”
For a brief moment, I recalled an old memory.
Of the person called ‘Mama’ who had been my benefactor.
“Hey, I'm older than I look, you know? What's with this 'Mama' stuff?”
“Aren't you going to help?”
The memory that had surfaced didn't fade, but overlapped with Helios's voice.
I turned my head.
“Why?”
“What do you mean, 'why'...? They asked for help over there.”
Helios looked like he didn't understand.
You have the power, so why not help?
They were people we'd briefly gotten to know.
But I just tilted my head, my expression unreadable.
“Hmm, a sense of responsibility? Or some paltry pity?”
Helios furrowed his brow.
I always found that recurring frown of his fascinating. If he kept frowning like this all the time, he'd get wrinkles before he was released.
“I can't cause any trouble.”
A dull thud echoed. Passing prisoners whistled and cheered excitedly.
“I'm a guard. You haven't forgotten, have you?”
“...”
“I'm here for you.”
Helios felt a tingling sensation at his fingertips.
Why did this person, who was a guard and called himself a master, always stare at him so intently?
For him, who was born into a noble ducal family but had never received proper love or a warm gaze, it was disconcerting.
In the midst of the chaos, he could only see his master. He could only hear a voice that was clear and beautiful for a man.
“I'll only care about you.”
His lips felt dry.
“And you're the only one I want to care about.”
He wanted to grumble as usual, saying it was the same thing, but his lips wouldn't move.
He didn't like this feeling of being needlessly tense. It felt as if his own body was beyond his control.
A sharp scream was what snapped him out of it.
“Kyaaaaaa!”
Even as they argued, the misfortune of Ged's group continued.
Helios hastily turned his head.
“So, you're not going to help?”
I found Helios, with his urgent expression, truly fascinating.
It was an expression I rarely saw unless he was in a crisis during training or tense in the Tower.
“You can help them.”
“...”
“I didn't raise you to be weak enough to get beaten up by scum like that.”
“...Who said anything about raising me.”
Helios turned his back without hesitation.
“If you weren't going, I was planning to go anyway.”
He retorted in a defiant tone.
Watching Helios's retreating back as he strode forward, I briefly remembered one thing.
Come to think of it, I haven't really taught him how to deal with multiple opponents, have I?
“Ugh, who are you?!”
“...”
“Huh, look at this. Isn't this the famous guy?”
“Yeah, that's him! I recognize his face!”
Helios's opening move was quite decent.
‘He's honed his senses by dealing with all those bugs.’
Truly a remarkable talent. To grow so much just by fighting for his life.
The bugs are swarm creatures, so his senses must have become even sharper.
‘Are the guys who attacked them Low-Grade/Rank 1 or Mid-Grade/Rank 3?’
In truth, the memory that had begun to surface upon seeing Haira's venomous expression still lingered in a corner of my vision.
“I don't want to. How can I know how many people are in trouble? Why should I help?”
“Then let's do this.”
Helios fought better than I expected.
But in my eyes, he was still just a greenhorn who had barely reached the 20th floor.
“Low-level.”
I muttered with a blank face.
“Only help those within your reach. Those you can extend a hand to.”
“Everyone here is a criminal, so why?”
“Because you have to live here.”
In one of Helios's hands was a crudely summoned spear.
Helios was of the material system, yet he was weak at creating and summoning matter.
‘It can't be helped. He still doesn't know which weapon suits him best.’
As if he didn't already draw enough attention, Helios's sudden intervention caused all the prisoners' eyes to turn to him.
I could sense Ged's group, having barely escaped, leaning against the wall and catching their breath.
“I just hope you don't forget your humanity.”
I ignored the surfacing memory.
Because I decided a long time ago not to dwell on troublesome thoughts.
