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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: The Answer is 'Colleagues'
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“Oh… As a respectable young nobleman, I can’t just let that slide.”
Sergeant Steven wore a look of perfect understanding.
“Right, you just became a guard, so it makes sense you’d get worked up. Alright. I’ll handle it that way.”
“Thank you.”
“Haha, don’t mention it. What are senior guards for?”
Sergeant Steven laughed cheerfully and clapped my back. With that, I left the guards’ wing.
Just as I stepped out of the building, I spotted Helios standing with the other guards.
Ged’s group was there too, but the assailants were nowhere to be seen.
‘They’ll be dealt with accordingly.’
Either way, they wouldn’t escape punishment even if they returned to their cells.
The law of the jungle—the moment a rumor spread that mid-rank inmates were beaten by low-rank/third-class ones, they would face horrific torment from the others on their floor first.
The guards, likely thinking there was no danger, kept a safe distance.
“…Um, thank you for your help, Hyung-nim.”
“I didn’t help you.”
“Huh?”
Ged looked bewildered. His face was swollen from the beating. He looked like a steamed bun.
Before Ged could say anything more, a guard who was watching stepped forward.
“Everyone, return to your cell blocks.”
I turned away without a second thought.
“Let’s go, Helios.”
“…”
“Helios?”
Helios narrowed his eyes. The cut on the corner of his mouth was particularly unsightly.
‘I’ll have to do something about that.’
Instead of walking beside me, Helios brushed past me.
“Master, you’re an enigma.”
What’s that supposed to mean? I tilted my head. Still, I gave him a sincere answer.
“That just means you don’t know.”
“…I wasn’t looking for a reply, so just forget it.”
The same old prickliness.
* * *
The next day.
Today was the day we would enter the 23rd floor. After lunch, we were training as usual in one of the recreational areas.
*Thwack!*
“You’re the only one who would call this training, Master!”
“Tsk, tsk. No resting while you talk.”
“Who’s resting?!”
Today, Helios was being battered by countless spears.
“Why? I, for one, think you’re doing admirably.”
I gently patted Helios’s head as he pushed himself up from the ground.
Hmm, I’d always been curious about what this felt like, and now I knew.
‘Cotton candy? Or a ball of yarn?’
Either way, both were rare sights in this prison, so I decided to go with yarn, the more common of the two.
“What are you doing?”
“Praising you. You’ve learned properly.”
“…What do you mean? You’re still messing up my hair.”
Helios grumbled.
Indeed, the spot my hand had passed over was all tousled.
I’d have to find that servant who taught me common sense and ask again soon.
“Why are you stopping? Since you started, just keep going.”
My retreating hand was snatched and pulled back down. It was odd, but I had no reason to refuse.
‘But this behavior… I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before.’
Ah.
“…A dog?”
“What?”
“Ah, but you’re not a cat.”
The face looking up at me was quite pretty. The subtle downturn of his eyes and his thick lashes did bring a cat to mind, though.
“Who are you calling a dog?”
Helios muttered in his pleasant voice, but he still didn’t remove my hand.
“What do you mean by ‘admirably’?”
“You know that hallway where you fought yesterday?”
“What about it?”
“Normally, you can’t use Kia there. But you did, didn’t you?”
Helios paused. His eyes asked what I meant.
“To be precise, only Kia above a certain level can be activated. Who was it yesterday… Geda? Genome?”
“You probably mean Ged.”
“Ah, right. It wasn’t for nothing that Ged, the other guy, and Ms. Haira were just taking the hits.”
“…That sounds like you’re saying my level is on par with those bastards from yesterday.”
“Oh, quite the ego you’ve got there.”
“…”
“You’re right. That’s why I said you were admirable.”
And that talent was also astonishing.
In the novel, it was no wonder he had the skill to climb the tower, reach the top, and figure out an escape route all on his own, without a master like me.
Unfortunately, the path he was on now was to become the leader at the top of the tower, not to escape.
“You’ll survive just fine on the 23rd floor.”
“…Don’t be ridiculous. Not if you’re planning to sic ‘those things’ or the scarecrows on me again!”
“Still can’t bring yourself to call the bugs ‘bugs.’ They’d be disappointed.”
“What does it matter?”
Helios shot up to his feet. My hand naturally fell away.
“By the way, was yesterday’s incident resolved properly?”
“Of course. You can thank your master for being so competent.”
“You beat them one-sidedly and there was no punishment?”
“They’re not guards for nothing.”
Truthfully, if those guys hadn’t hit Helios in the face, would I have stepped in like this?
As I glanced at Helios’s wound again, I sensed a presence from behind.
I wasn’t particularly surprised.
Just like yesterday, I had already been sensing them for a while now.
“Ahem, good a-afternoon, Hyung-nim!”
Ged bowed his head deeply.
Seth and Ms. Haira. Even Brett, who had disappeared yesterday, was with them.
If they had one thing in common, it was that none of their faces or bodies were in one piece.
Haira was in the best shape, relatively speaking.
Ged and Haira stepped forward as representatives and bowed deeply.
“Thank you so much for yesterday! For helping us…!”
“I didn’t help you.”
“But we received help, so it was help!”
“So if I kill you right here and call it a mistake, does that make it a mistake?”
As I muttered with a blank expression, a large hand suddenly appeared and blocked my view.
“Why are you being so grim?”
I was puzzled. What did I do?
“What did I do?”
“…If you don’t know, then that’s even more—no. Forget it.”
Ged and his group seemed even more determined than yesterday.
I knew what was going to happen next. I only knew because I had experienced something similar before.
“Hyung-nim, could you please teach us a thing or two as well!”
“Yeah. No.”
“Huh? Wh-why?”
“Even in a prisoner’s uniform, I’m a guard. I’m busy.”
Ged’s simple face fell, but with it being so swollen, he just looked like a thug.
“Is it really impossible?”
“Yes, it’s impossible.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“Hmm?”
It was then that Haira stepped forward.
‘Ah.’
I felt it clearly. A faint purple light emanating from around Haira.
‘A mental-type!’
I hastily pulled Helios back, but.
‘Was I too late?’
Helios was already clutching his head and groaning. Haira quickly raised both hands.
“I’m not attacking!”
“…”
The light that shot from my hand stopped right in front of Haira’s eyes. She panted but continued speaking.
“I just let him know! What you heard—Helios is an involved party too!”
Damn. Haira’s range of mental abilities was wider than I thought.
‘She can use telepathy?’
I ran a hand through my hair.
*CRASH!*
In that instant, a golden disc appeared behind Ged’s group and struck them all.
Countering would have been difficult to begin with, but they were already injured. They were knocked down in an instant.
And they didn’t get back up.
“Kugh…! W-wait, Hyung-nim, my words…”
I hate things I can’t control.
“…”
I strode over to them and crouched down. The groaning Ged struggled to meet my eyes.
“Not bad.”
He wasn’t a musculoskeletal-type who acted as a tank for nothing; his endurance was impressive.
Just as I was about to say something to Haira.
“Master.”
I paused my hand and turned my head.
“This is your first time against a mental-type, isn’t it? Good. It’s a learning experience.”
“Can’t you help them?”
At Helios’s polite tone, I stood up.
“Why should I?”
“…Because this happened while they were stepping up for us.”
I strode toward Helios without hesitation. I hadn’t withdrawn the force pressing down on Ged’s group.
I could feel Helios flinch. I pressed down on him with a single finger.
He collapsed with a thud, revealing the top of his neatly disheveled head.
“Even if they stepped up for us, that’s no reason to take responsibility for their actions. Why?”
“…”
My eyes widened slightly.
“The one I’m responsible for is you.”
“I know.”
Instead of being pinned to the floor, Helios had lifted his head high.
‘He’s something else.’
Realizing it once more, I released my power more forcefully. I was a little curious to see how long he could endure.
Helios, trembling, reached out and finally snatched my hand.
“But ‘colleagues’.”
“…”
“Didn’t you tell me to make colleagues?”
“There’s one more thing the prisoners here need, by the way. What do you think it is?”
“The answer is ‘colleagues’.”
The pressure weighing down on Helios and Ged’s group vanished all at once.
I soon let out a small smirk, the corners of my mouth lifting.
“Correct.”
