Great Hero (5)
No one could avoid feeling contempt toward those who force people into hard labor.
If you have even a shred of humanity, you should naturally feel repulsed by such circumstances.
'Otherwise, you're a psychopath.'
So it was only natural that Silia was enraged.
However, she was also an officer of the 7th Legion who had led forced labor herself.
Since she wasn't in much of a position to be righteously angry, she settled with just a bit of disdain.
'Because I have no right to criticize others.'
But then, Silia, who had been calm, suddenly exploded with rage.
Anyone would respond that way if they had even one family mber among the people being forced into labor.
At first, Louis was also puzzled by the presence of that man here.
Just by slling the similar scent between Silia and the man, he could guess the relationship between them.
'Co to think of it, there were rumors about him being sighted near this area.'
There were only three Swordmasters in the Imperial Court.
Silia's foster father was one of those who held this title, reserved only for the mightiest knight.
At the sa ti, he was the family head of the Weissman family.
Andrew Weissman.
For Louis, it was shocking that such a man was in this labor camp.
"Ah..."
Louis checked the state of Andrew, who was slumped in the corner.
His eyes were completely lifeless, and he looked terribly emaciated as if he hadn't eaten in ages.
Silia had told him that Andrew was once the mightiest knight of the empire with a formidable physique.
But Louis couldn't feel any of that strength in Andrew now. His body was practically a mummy.
Given that another Swordmaster, Laika Bisted, still had a robust physique even after losing his strength, Andrew's condition felt alarmingly discordant by comparison.
'If soone saw him, they'd think he was a beggar.'
Andrew's arm—reduced to skin and bone—was wrapped in a rope-like thing.
The other laborers had the sa thing, which was connected to a machine.
Louis could see traces of sothing flowing through those lines.
That machine produced a sacred stone by drawing the collected spirit stones and the vitality of the laborers.
It ant that Andrew and the other workers had spent all this ti hooked up like they had IV lines, doing hard labor.
'No wonder he looks like a mummy.'
And it was understandable for Silia to be furious.
Most of all, why had her foster father, the one who raised her, been worked to death in such a place?
"Answer ."
With venom in her eyes, Silia demanded that the elders explain.
"Why is that man here?"
The aura radiating from her made the elders flinch.
But as if they had sothing to fall back on, the elders stood their ground confidently.
"What are you going to do with that knowledge? And you lot—how did you manage to break my sword without even being able to use magic pow—"
It was right then, as the elder who'd swung his sword earlier was speaking, that he felt a sudden emptiness in his arm.
"Huh?"
At the sa ti, one of his arms felt hot, and then it was simply gone.
"K-kkyaaaah!!!"
With a sudden slash, the elder's arm floated in the air before thudding to the ground.
It was Silia's invisible slash, and the elder scread in pain and shock.
"You wretch...! Do you know what it ans to touch us?"
"We are tied to the Holy Nation! Do you dare to make an enemy of the entire Holy Nation...?"
In the middle of their protest, the elders suddenly froze.
"You... can use magic power?"
That slash just now had contained aura.
One cannot generate aura without magic power.
The elders were all shocked that she was disregarding the laws of this place.
"How did you... huhh!!"
Silia stomped on the elder's head whose arm had been severed.
"Just answer . Why is he here?"
"Eeek!"
The elders tried to cast magic to subdue Silia, but before they could, Louis struck their bodies with speed invisible to the eye.
"Kkeuhh!"
With a fist imbued with speed, their bones broke in multiple places and they collapsed.
"Enough excuses. Just answer us."
"Gyaaah!!"
Louis drove the spear—dropped by the elf soldiers—into the elders' hands as they lay on the ground.
"You bastard..."
"Are you going to answer or not?"
"Argh! I'll talk! I'll talk!"
When Louis twisted the spear, the elders finally started talking.
Andrew Weissman. He hadn't co to this place alone.
A few years ago, his family, the Weissman family, had collapsed for so reason, and its mbers fled here in exile.
On the way, they t the reclusive Andrew.
Upon learning his family had been ruined, Andrew was greatly disheartened—as if he had always expected it would co to this.
"So, he led his family to settle here."
Regardless, the family mbers were Andrew's kin.
He chose to bear the responsibility and joined them.
Andrew had decided to start over in the elf village, but things didn't go as he'd hoped.
No one could have expected that the elf village would be enforcing forced labor.
"So you demanded a developnt fund from elder sister's foster father, too?"
"Hmph! What's the point in having high status if you can't use magic power?"
Even an absolute powerhouse is no different from an ordinary person if magic power is sealed.
That's why the Weissman family ended up stuck here as laborers, unable to do anything.
"But... Andrew Weissman. That man knelt before us."
In the past, the Weissman family had greatly contributed to making sacred stones.
For that favor, he begged us to at least spare his family. He offered himself as the sole sacrifice.
"Even with his magic power sealed, he truly was the empire's strongest knight. While others would die in a matter of months, that man has worked nonstop for four years."
Louis was incredulous to learn that Andrew had endured this IV-drip state for four entire years.
It ant he'd survived, with little food, all the while having his vitality drained.
"So, what about the rest of the Weissman family?"
"By now, they're probably living well in the capital of the Holy Nation. Only that man remained, and the rest were taken by the Holy Nation."
Thanks to Andrew, the family head, sacrificing himself, his family could live comfortably in the Holy Nation.
As the founder of his family, Andrew saw it as his duty to take responsibility for his bloodline.
"Uncles, isn't sothing a little off here?"
At that, Louis felt a growing sense of absurdity.
"During the demonkin war, I heard that old man was a hero who protected the elves. Is this any way to treat a benefactor?"
Co to think of it, Andrew Weissman was indeed a hero among the elves.
The fact that their benefactor ended up as a living mummy threw Louis into confusion.
"Well..."
The elders spoke up about that.
"So now... we're repaying that kindness, aren't we?"
"What?"
"He wanted to take responsibility for his family, so we did as he wished. Besides, we gave them a ho here, work, and even food."
"With that, we've repaid our debt, haven't we?"
Ah, so... sucking soone dry of vitality for four years, treating them as less than human, and working them half to death counts as repaying a favor?
"Wow..."
Louis tried to make sense of it.
He strained his brain to justify it sohow. But he failed.
Well, this isn't Earth; maybe the values are different here.
Plus, the elf village is almost completely cut off from the rest of the world.
They're bound to have a closed-off atmosphere and outdated values.
Even isolated island villages on Earth have their own ways of running society.
'Still...'
Even so... Louis couldn't understand.
Such insular mindsets have existed on Earth, but nobody has ever sympathized with them. Louis could only think one thing:
'Satan, you lose.'
Louis was montarily lost in thought.
Slik!―
The chilling sound of another body being cut was heard.
"Kyaaaah!!"
This ti, another elder lost a leg.
Having heard everything, there was no need to explain how Silia would react.
"Don't think you'll die easily."
Andrew was Silia's only family.
She could never forgive the elders who reduced her family to such a state.
"I'm going to make sure you suffer thoroughly before you die."
With Silia threatening that cutting off limbs was only the beginning, the elders pleaded in terror.
"Why are you doing this to us! Is it our fault that the Weissman family collapsed?"
"If you want to bla soone, bla whoever ruined your family! If not, that man would never have ended up like this!"
It was a classic shifting of bla, but Silia froze at those words.
Who was it that caused the Weissman family's downfall?
It was she herself, when she investigated their background.
"......"
Andrew had always been a responsible man.
Even when Silia took revenge for her younger brother at the academy and he resigned as family head, it had been out of a sense of duty.
That was why he couldn't just watch his kin suffer.
But he wasn't one to hold a grudge against Silia, the cause of the family's collapse.
"You can rest now..."
At that mont, Andrew muttered sothing.
"Hahaha... This old man... is fine."
He was laughing peacefully like a rchant with nothing left to lose.
It was the sa as those who had eaten that fruit—the one that makes you reveal only your true feelings.
"I'll... bear it all..."
Neither Louis nor Silia could understand what there was to smile about in his condition.
"And... Silia... Sylvest..."
Then, so familiar nas quietly spilled from Andrew's lips.
"I'm truly sorry."
"And... I love you."
And for the first ti, he wore a sorrowful expression.
Seeing that, only one thought crossed Louis's mind.
Lord Seifert, his own father as well—this world was clearly a place where kindness led only to misery.
"Elder Sister, please stay by this old man's side."
So Louis stepped forward in Silia's stead.
"At least you still have soone like a parent alive."
Unlike Lord Seifert, who was dead, Andrew fortunately was still alive, despite his four years of suffering.
"How many get chances like this?"
"......"
Without another word, Silia obeyed him.
While she took care of Andrew, she also started looking after the other laborers.
"Kukuku... Foolish brats."
As Louis and Silia exchanged roles, the elders suddenly smiled.
"Do you know what we did while you two were talking?"
"As elders, we can communicate with other elves."
"And in this village, that range has no limits!"
The elders claid they had alerted all the elves to their situation—and judging by the loud footsteps outside, it was no lie.
"By now, so elves will have gone to alert the Holy Nation about all this!"
"You imperial bastards will have to take responsibility for this ss!"
The elders were once again full of confidence now that the tables seed to have turned.
"The responsibility for what you did to us elders—caretakers of the World Tree—will not be taken lightly."
"If you don't want this to beco a war... Kyaaaah!!"
Despite hearing them out, Louis still drove the spear through the elder's hand once more.
"You brat! Are you even listening to us?"
"Do you not understand what we're saying?!"
Of course he understood. That's why Louis spoke.
"Captain, you heard them, right?"
His words, spoken to thin air, were received by soone.
All around Louis, minute, almost invisible spirits floated.
[Yes. I'm already dealing with it.]
Kelian's voice ca through, relayed by the spirits used as communication diums.
[Slik!―]
At the sa ti, the sound of a sword swooshing rang out.
[Not a single one will escape.]
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