Chapter 319
“Kuuhhh!”
Eli glared hatefully at the Punishers surrounding her.
She was kneeling on the ground with mana restraining cuffs locked around both wrists.
The Punishers had subdued her and put the restraints on her.
Even they had suffered quite a few injuries in the process. As expected of the North District’s second-in-command, Eli was strong.
If the Punishers hadn’t worked together to corner her, they never would have been able to capture her alive.
With the mana restraints still on, Eli screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Hurry up and take these restraints off! If it weren’t for these pathetic cuffs, I could wipe all of you out in an instant!”
“She’s still full of spirit, I see. Maybe she’d quiet down if we cut off one of her arms?”
At the cold remark from the elf wearing a silver mask, Eli flinched for a moment.
The Punisher wearing a deeply pulled-down hat let out a deep sigh as he looked at her.
“Haah… How did things end up like this, Eli?”
“What? Who are you to talk like you know me?”
“You know me as well. I’ve been watching you for a very long time.”
“Then take off the hat and talk.”
Eli glared at the hat-wearing Punisher with bloodshot eyes.
Faced with her venomous stare, the Punisher sighed once more.
Part of him wanted to take off the hat and reveal his identity immediately. But if he did, the peace he had barely managed to obtain could vanish.
If he had revealed who he was, people seeking power—including Eli—would have already approached him or caused him trouble.
He had hidden his identity precisely because he hated such nuisances.
If he exposed his face now out of anger at Eli’s words, he could easily get dragged into troublesome affairs.
Eli shouted at the Punisher.
“See? You don’t even have the courage to show your face. Do you enjoy living like a hypocrite? Did Serian tell you this is the right way to live? Let’s be honest with ourselves. How long are we going to keep parasitizing the human world like this? Elves are superior to humans, so why should we live watching their moods all the time?”
“Do you truly believe elves are superior to humans?”
“Our intelligence is far greater, and our physical abilities are superior too. Humans can’t even compare to our beauty.”
“Then why didn’t you become independent long ago? Instead of living in Neo Seoul while watching humans’ reactions, why not build your own kingdom in the outside world? Or go to the city founded by our kin who crossed over from Kurayan?”
“That’s……”
“Let us at least acknowledge reality. Humans may be physically inferior to us, but they possess something we do not. Do you know what that is?”
Eli’s expression twisted at the words of the hat-wearing Punisher. But no matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t find an answer.
The Punisher sighed and spoke.
“If you don’t understand that, you’ll spend your entire life trapped in that delusion.”
“So what’s the answer?”
“Courage.”
“What?”
“The courage to rise again with bare hands even after losing everything you once had. The courage to fight overwhelming magical beasts you cannot possibly handle. The courage to move stones atop ruined wastelands, build houses, and eventually raise cities from the rubble. That is a kind of courage elves can never possess.”
“Don’t make me laugh. Why would elves lack courage? Elves are warriors stronger than anyone.”
“Then why did you flee from Kurayan? Why did you run to this world instead of fighting against the destruction of your own?”
“That’s……”
Eli hesitated, unable to answer immediately.
The hat-wearing Punisher calmly continued while looking down at her.
“We lacked the courage to fight against destruction. But humans, even in worlds destroyed against their will, rose with their own two feet planted firmly upon the earth. That is the greatest difference between elves and humans. They possess the courage we do not. That is why we cling to the human world to survive. You need to face that reality.”
“You think I’d fall for such nonsense?”
Eli desperately denied the Punisher’s words to the very end.
The Punisher let out another sigh.
“Haa… What meaning is there in saying all this now? What’s done is done.”
Thanks to the mobilization of the Punishers, Eli’s rebellion had been suppressed before it could fully erupt. However, they could not prevent division from forming within the North District itself.
This incident would send massive shockwaves through the North District.
Those who followed Eli would resist, while those loyal to Serian would look upon them with hostility.
Cleaning up that division now fell upon Serian’s shoulders.
“Her Majesty is going to suffer for quite some time again.”
“What choice do we have? All we can do is help her.”
The elf in the silver mask approached the hat-wearing Punisher as he spoke.
“Before that, there’s still one more thing we need to resolve.”
“What?”
“The Sand Mage.”
“Mm.”
The silver-masked elf groaned quietly.
If not for Zeon, the entire North District might have suffered catastrophic damage.
“To think she made insects devour one another to create a monster like ‘Gu.’”
“Just imagining what would’ve happened if Gu had been unleashed is terrifying.”
“If not for the Sand Mage, we never could have stopped it.”
“We’ll have to repay him somehow.”
“That’s our way.”
They might not possess the courage humans had to rise from nothing, but they still repaid the debts they owed.
Whether gratitude or resentment, they always calculated things thoroughly and paid an equivalent price.
At the very least, if they wished to live among humans, rewards and punishments had to be absolutely clear.
The silver-masked elf sighed.
“I can’t even begin to estimate how much we owe him.”
“What’s the point of us worrying over it? Her Majesty will handle it herself.”
“Hoo… We only keep placing heavier burdens upon her.”
“It’s the path she chose. All we can do is continue supporting her from the shadows like this……”
The hat-wearing elf shook his head and looked behind him.
Borin and the Blue Leaf Special Operations Squad were collapsed on the ground, gasping for breath.
Now that the buff had ended, the backlash was tormenting them.
They had compressed and expended an enormous amount of energy in an instant, so they would likely suffer for several more days.
The problem was that even with the buff, the Blue Leaf Special Operations Squad had still suffered many casualties.
Cleaning this up would also take a long time.
It had been a day filled with wounds in every sense.
“Huu…”
“Haa…”
The Punishers’ deep sighs scattered into the air.
Yoo Sehui stared at the suddenly appearing Zeon with a dumbfounded expression.
“Wait, weren’t you inside Neo Seoul?”
“I was until yesterday.”
“Then you came out today? What in the world happened inside Neo Seoul? The entire North District is in an uproar.”
“So you already know that much?”
“They locked everything down so tightly that I don’t know the internal details, but I could tell some major incident had happened.”
The moment trouble erupted in the North District, Yoo Sehui had tried to investigate the situation. But all entry into the district had immediately been forbidden, completely cutting off information.
Because of that, she had been feeling frustrated.
Zeon explained everything that had happened.
“The North District’s second-in-command, the Spider Queen, attempted a rebellion.”
“Eli?”
“Yes.”
Zeon briefly explained about “Gu” and Romina.
After hearing the entire story, Yoo Sehui looked utterly disgusted.
“If a grotesque lifeform like that had been released……”
“A lot of people would’ve died.”
“She’s completely insane. No matter how much she wanted power, trying to kill that many people…”
Even in a world where human rights had collapsed to the bottom, there were still lines that should never be crossed.
Eli had crossed those lines far beyond measure.
“So what happened to Eli?”
“Since things are quiet, I guess you managed to subdue her successfully.”
“That’s a relief then. But who are the people who came with you?”
Yoo Sehui’s gaze shifted to the men standing beside Zeon.
One of them was fidgeting nervously like a dog needing to relieve itself. It was Akashi, formerly of the Helbrin Mercenary Corps.
Because he had participated in kidnapping people to be used as food for “Gu,” he had no idea what to do with himself.
Zeon explained him without holding anything back.
“His name is Akashi. He was a scout for the Helbrin Mercenary Corps. Thanks to him, the Helbrin Mercenary Corps was able to avoid magical beasts while kidnapping countless people.”
“A scout? Don’t tell me he can detect magical beasts in advance?”
“Yes.”
“My god!”
Yoo Sehui shot up from her seat in shock.
That was how astonishing Zeon’s words were.
Awakened capable of detecting magical beasts beforehand were extremely rare.
“How far is his detection range?”
Instead of answering, Zeon looked at Akashi.
His gaze clearly told him to explain it himself.
Akashi hesitated awkwardly for a moment before finally opening his mouth under Zeon’s pressure.
“I’m a C-rank Awakened. My detection range is roughly ten kilometers.”
“You can detect magical beasts from that far away?”
“Ah! Strictly speaking, it’s not magical beast detection, but lifeform detection. The only magical beasts I can sense from ten kilometers away are those with exceptionally strong life signatures.”
“So B-rank or higher large species.”
“Yes.”
“Then what about smaller magical beasts?”
“If they move in groups, around seven to eight kilometers. Small magical beasts need to get within four to five kilometers before I can detect them.”
“Ugh!”
Yoo Sehui let out a groan.
Her eyes gleamed sharply.
If they could detect large magical beasts from ten kilometers away, they could avoid them beforehand.
As far as she knew, the best existing scout could only detect magical beasts from around three kilometers away.
Even that was considered extraordinary and earned special protection.
But the narrow-eyed man standing before her claimed he could detect large magical beasts from a full ten kilometers away.
At this level, he could practically be considered a human radar.
He couldn’t compare to a professional navigator, but this was still top-tier talent.
Yoo Sehui turned to Zeon.
“Hand him over to us.”
“He’s committed many crimes.”
“I don’t care. We’ll squeeze more value out of him than the weight of his crimes. We’ll work him until he begs us to kill him instead.”
“That’s exactly the kind of answer I’d expect from the owner of the Goblin Market.”
Zeon smirked.
To her, a person’s morality mattered very little.
What mattered was ability.
As long as someone had useful abilities, most sins could be forgiven.
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If they utilized Akashi properly, they could open up multiple routes to the outside world.
For example, the Steel Fortress Zeon had mentioned.
Just securing a safe route to the Steel Fortress would bring enormous benefits to the Goblin Market.
That alone would more than offset the burden of taking Akashi in.
Yoo Sehui spoke.
“We’ll repay you properly.”
“There’s no need for repayment. Instead, take good care of this man.”
Zeon pointed to the man standing beside Akashi.
“And who’s this?”
“Bryce. An F-rank Alchemist.”
“An alchemist? Just F-rank?”
Yoo Sehui looked unimpressed.
F-rank Awakened were so common they were practically everywhere.
She liked the Alchemist class itself, but not enough to recruit one blindly.
Zeon smirked and said,
“He can create sand hardener.”
“Hardener? What do you mea— Wait! You mean he can solidify sand?”
“Yes.”
“Goddammit!”
Bang!
Yoo Sehui slammed her desk.
Only then did she realize just how incredible this F-rank Alchemist named Bryce actually was.
“He can harden sand into bricks. That means we can build more houses.”
“Yes. You could even build underground bunkers.”
“Where the hell did you kidnap this guy from?”
“He’s one of the survivors the Helbrin Mercenary Corps plundered from a survivor village.”
Contrary to Hashim’s claim, the Helbrin Mercenary Corps had not handed Bryce and the villagers over to Eli. They had merely imprisoned them somewhere.
Akashi, desperate to save his own life, revealed Hashim’s lie, and the moment Zeon learned where they were being held, he rescued them.
Zeon continued.
“Bryce has family members.”
“Okay! No matter how many there are, we’ll protect them and provide them with a place to live. So hand Bryce over too.”
“That’s a promise?”
“I swear on my name. The Goblin Market will take responsibility.”
“Good.”
Zeon nodded.
At that moment, Bryce, who had been standing there blankly, suddenly burst into tears.
After losing everything and falling into despair, Yoo Sehui’s words had become a ray of light to him.
Even if it wasn’t in the way he truly wanted, he was still satisfied knowing that everyone from the survivor village he once lived with would now be able to survive in the slums under the protection of the Goblin Market.
“Thank you… Sob! Thank you so much.”
Bryce’s sobs echoed throughout the quiet room.