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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: The Disciple Got Beaten Up
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At his command, the memory that had been causing his head to ache slowly faded away.
“Well, you had some good momentum. Is that all you’ve got?”
Helios gasped for breath and turned his head. The moment he ducked, something heavy grazed the space where his head had just been.
A fist.
“Hah, hah. What the hell, you’re pretty tough for a low-level punk, huh?”
“Tough my ass, you crazy bastards. It’s embarrassing to be on the same floor as you! You can’t even take down one guy in a three-on-one!”
“Booo! Yeah! This is boring!”
Helios could feel the spear he had summoned into his hand was about to disappear.
In contrast, the blazing fireball cradled in the hand of the man before him hadn’t lost any of its firepower since it had struck Ged.
*He’s different from the bugs.*
He was different from the mutant bugs he had fought on the 21st and 22nd floors. He was also different from the mutant dogs he had fought on the 20th floor.
Still, the only reason Helios could hold on was because the only person he had ever truly fought was Mint.
These men were slower than Mint and weaker than Mint.
“Tsk, if you’re weak, you should aim for their weaknesses. Disciple.”
“Where the hell do you have any weaknesses!”
“That’s why you have to make them. You’re weak, aren’t you?”
“……”
Mint was truly merciless.
“Get hit and make one.”
Mint had told him that perfectly dodging was impossible at his level anyway.
With her usual expressionless face, she had spewed insults that bordered on character assassination while she taught him. Ah, of course, she taught with her body.
Meaning, he learned while getting beaten up.
“You think I’m gonna let some piece of shit like you make me look like a lackey? Fuck!!”
He dodged the fist of the man charging at him.
And he didn’t dodge the other fist, the one without the flames, that flew toward his face as he ducked.
The moment it connected, he saw it.
*An opening!*
CRACK! It sounded like a thick-skinned fruit splitting open.
Helios’s spear was bent at an unnatural angle, unlike a proper spear.
He had learned under Mint, who could handle all types of Kia.
This allowed him to use Kia without adhering to the conventional, established forms like others, helping him awaken to methods that shattered preconceptions.
Just like now.
*One down.*
The problem was the other one. He had only managed to take down one, but his spear felt like it was about to vanish.
“Wow, he actually beat a bottom-tier intermediate.”
“Ah, what the hell. That bastard is a disgrace. Shit. Hey! Someone kill him already!”
Judging by the murmurs, the guy must have been quite high-level.
The remaining two didn’t hesitate and charged in. Just as one man’s weapon grazed Helios’s hair.
WHAM!
With a tremendous sound, the men who had been rushing Helios collapsed in his direction.
Thud.
Visible behind the fallen men was a head of light brown hair. His small-statured master waved her hand nonchalantly.
“Wow. It’s been a while since I used my bare fists.”
His master then furrowed her brow slightly.
“They don’t even feel good to punch.”
Mint’s gentle eyes turned toward him. Helios swallowed hard.
Because she just happened to be standing with a window behind her.
It looked as if the light was radiating from Mint herself.
“……You said you wouldn’t step in.”
“What’s with the polite tone?”
Mint tilted her head. Her face showed no concern for the fact that everyone watching was either shocked or scrutinizing her.
“Because right now, you’re worthy of respect.”
Mint looked at Helios’s faint smile, and something about it displeased her.
Scabs had formed on his pretty face.
Mint snapped her head around to stare at someone. It was Seth, one of Ged’s companions, who was just catching his breath.
*Hiccup.* Seth, caught in her blank stare, was so startled he gasped and hiccuped.
Mint’s face was forcibly turned away.
She didn’t get angry at Helios for forcing her head to turn.
“Who were you looking at?”
“No one.”
“So why’d you step in? You said they weren’t even fun to punch.”
As Helios immediately reverted to informal speech and continued his grumbling, Mint raised her hand.
“Even if it’s not fun, I had to step in.”
Her hand soon came to rest on his soft, silver-white hair. *Why is the male lead’s hair the only one that’s so nice when we all use the same detergent in this prison?*
She chuckled.
“My disciple got beaten up.”
Helios lowered his head slightly.
Perhaps because he’d been hit in the face, his head was ringing and throbbing.
It was funny. Was he only now feeling the pain?
Moreover, a wave of heat washed over him.
This, too, was only flaring up now.
Even though he’d been hurt a while ago.
“Huh, why are you blushing?”
“I don’t know!”
“……?”
Helios ducked his head completely. The sudden heat rushing through him must have been from the rough fight.
And this suddenly racing heart, too.
In the midst of suffering from these inexplicable symptoms, Helios reluctantly stood up at Mint’s urging and, glancing somewhere, finally realized.
Ged and Seth from Ged’s group, helping each other walk.
And Haira, following behind them.
……In the end, Mint had ended up helping those three.
* * *
“Well, junior. You really are no ordinary lunatic, are you?”
Every incident requires a cleanup. The person who appeared to handle the aftermath of this fight was none other than my superior, Sergeant Steven.
Since the opponents were intermediate-level prisoners, the sergeants in charge of the intermediate ward had come down as well.
“So, what should we do to clean this up?”
“I apologize.”
“No, no, I was quite entertained.”
Sergeant Steven nodded eagerly.
“This is your plan to make sure the higher-ups don’t forget about you, right? Since they’ll take you back if you’re useful? Guards are always short-staffed, after all.”
The more I thought about it, the more I realized how convenient this man was, misunderstanding everything on his own. Since that was a thank-you for me, I remained silent.
“So, what do you think we should do? Ah, I’m not scolding you, just tell me. It’s your mess, so you clean it up.”
“……Shouldn’t we just follow the rules?”
“What? What rules?”
“Manual, Article 7, ‘Protocol for Violence Directed at Guards,’ Section 1. Should a prisoner initiate violence, disciplinary action is left to the discretion of the guard in question.”
“But whatever. I heard you weren’t the one who was attacked.”
“Article 7, Special Clause 1. Upon being subjected to insults, mockery, or lewd remarks and sexual harassment beyond a certain threshold, a guard may exercise discretion in determining disciplinary action.”
“……”
Not long after the fight ended, the guards appeared.
Not just Helios and I, but also Ged’s group, who had been getting beaten up initially, were all taken in.
However, Brett, who had been knocked out early on, had already been moved by someone, so only Ged, Seth, and Ms. Haira came with us.
Normally, violence between prisoners isn’t treated this seriously, but it was clear that Helios and I had been marked as persons of interest by the lower-ranking guards.
In any case, as we were being escorted along with the perpetrators, I heard a little from Ms. Haira.
“The reason Ged and I got on their bad side in the first place was because of you and that new prisoner over there.”
“Why us?”
“Some bastards were saying things about you and your colleague Helios that I can’t even repeat. You’ll live a long life, getting full off all the curses they were slinging.”
Haira muttered quietly enough for only me to hear.
To put it bluntly, it was talk about a man getting it on with another man.
Even by the standards here, it was quite vile.
It wasn't like I was actually a man, so it wasn't something that would particularly offend me.
But it would be different for Helios.
*To say that about a man who’s supposed to go out and have a sweet romance with the beautiful female lead.*
If the future Helios heard it, he’d be beyond wronged; he’d be furious.
“But why did you step in? It had nothing to do with you two.”
“I didn’t step in from the start, either. Ged did, at first. Then the fight got bigger, and I got dragged in.”
“……”
“Then I just felt it wasn’t right. After all, I owe you my life.”
Even if my presence had jumbled up the story and Helios never met the female lead.
There was no reason for him to hear such insults. But it’s not like I could check and control every rumor that went around behind my back.
“I thought you were a cunning type, but this is unexpected.”
“You get to say whatever you want because you’re strong, is that it? Well, you’re right, I’m a cunning criminal, but I can still feel gratitude. I do regret it, though.”
“……”
“But who knows, I might owe you my life again in the future, right?”
I never went out of my way to save Ged’s group whenever we were on the same floor and in the same area.
But thinking about it, both Helios and I had wiped out an enormous number of bugs, so to them, that could certainly be considered a great help.
Besides, I did remember personally cutting down the scarecrows on the 21st and 22nd floors.
*I only got rid of them because they might have been a threat to Helios.*
Anyway, we were taken in by the guards one by one, and when it was my turn, I met Sergeant Steven. That’s the long and short of it.
I briefly explained to Sergeant Steven what I had heard from Haira.
