C196: Returning to the Starting Point (1)
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Rudger brought Sedina out to Leathervelk while he was telling her the truth.
Others thought that he was going to procure books and materials needed for research with his assistant, but of course he wasn't.
"So, this is our new member?"
"Yes."
In one of the secret hideouts of {U.N. Owen} in the slums the members there looked at Sedina Rosen sitting in the middle of the room with interested gazes.
Sedina's body was shaking, as it was hard to withstand the intense gazes of the members.
"The kid that leader brought."
"She looks cute."
"Wow, she's young."
Most of them had a favorable view of Sedina because it was Rudger who brought her in but that didn't mean that everyone was weling and Hans was one of them.
"What can you do when you're so young?"
For Hans, Sedina was too young to be trusted.
Of course she is a talented member of the Black Dawn Society, and she has the characteristic of knowing the information better than anyone else.
'That was why.'
He felt threatened by her since their specialties overlapped.
"I agree!"
Seridan, who was wandering around Sedina and looking at her calmly, raised her hand and shouted.
"She looks cute, and if you brought her, there must be a reason!"
"I'm against it."
Violetta who opened her mouth to refute her.
"She is a member of the Black Dawn Society. What if the fact that she betrayed them is a lie?"
"Whatever. I think I'll be fine"
Alex agreed with Rudger.
"The leader brought her in the first place. Doesn't that mean that she's proven to be safe? And I wele a new cute kid like this."
"Wait! Alex! The cute one is here!"
"No, Seridan, you're a little……."
The members did not hesitate to express their opinions while Sedina looked up at Rudger with anxious eyes in a space full of pros and cons.
In the end, Rudger was forced to step up.
"Everyone, stop."
When Rudger opened his mouth, the conversation suddenly stopped.
The sight seemed strange for Sedina.
'They were so loud until a while ago but they stopped in an instant.'
She thought they were out of control but their attitude was full of courtesy and respect for the head of the organization.
'And all of this is probably…'
Because of Rudger Chelici and his exceptional abilities, natural charisma, and insight that elicit the respect of others naturally.
"I have heard everyone's opinions. I also understand what you guys are worried about. However, the recruitment of Sedina Rosen has already been decided."
"Can we really trust her?"
Asked Violetta.
Although she was the last member to join, Violetta, who was more in awe of Rudger than anyone else, did not want to pass on the unnecessary danger.
"I can believe her."
Rudger spoke with conviction and Sedina was moved to tears by his words.
The fact that he believed in her washed away the fear she just felt.
"If brother says so."
"Well, I agreed with leader 's opinion from the beginning."
"By the way, boss, this kid feels familiar."
Belaruna raised her hand and said if she felt something from Sedina.
"I was actually going to introduce you properly. Sedina Rosen is a member of the Rosen family and at the same time a half-elf."
When Rudger called her name, Sedina moved her brown hair and revealed hidden ears.
Admiring eyes flew in from all over the place and Sedina was shy because she seemed to reveal her disgrace was trying hard not to show it for Rudger.
"Belaruna you felt that way because she has elf blood."
"No. There's something, something more."
"Anyway, I guarantee Sedina's ability. She's a great wizard and a great informant. Her special magic will help us."
Sedina raised her palm as if she had been waiting and on her hand, the folded paper was alive and moving.
"Her magic is versatile and it's quite specialized in gathering information."
"She's like Hans except that he uses mice, but is it better to use cute paper."
"Hey!"
Hans was furious at Seridan's words. However, he, who couldn't do anything more than that, glanced at Sedina, who was staring at him and soon turned his head.
Rudger smiled bitterly. It wasn't that he didn't understand Hans' position.
"You don't have to worry too much. Sedina is only a temporary member. She also agreed not to bee an official member immediately."
Hans seemed a little convinced and it meant he was above her in the hierarchy.
"Please take good care of me from now on."
As soon as Sedina's weling ceremony was over, Seridan, Belaruna, and Arpa approached her.
It was a natural result because there were three curious people.
"What have you been up to?"
"Hmm…She smells unique. It's like looking at an old forest."
"Wow, I can't believe you're a half-blood. Can I touch you?"
"Yes?!"
Sedina seemed embarrassed in many ways and couldn't adapt to such interest.
I don't have to worry about her because they seem to get along well.'
When Rudger was thinking so, Hans sneaked up on him.
"Brother."
"What's wrong with you?"
"What are you going to do now?"
Hans's question was quite prehensive.
He brought a new member, but what's going to happen was even more important.
"There must be a lot to report since the Silver Sun disappeared. Say it."
"First of all, we ate most of the Silver Sun business. The remaining sugar is easy to absorb, so it wasn't a big deal. Thanks to that, the businesses have grown to nearly twice the size of before."
"That's a good thing. Anything else?"
Hans pulled out the list he had been organizing and recited it as if he had been waiting.
"The business is booming. The investment was big but the profit is also great so I think we can recover the cost quickly. And all that's left is to make a bunch of money."
"What is the Merchant Association doing?"
"Since Silver Sun disappeared they're scared to death. Well, if they are smart they won't fight with us anymore. All that remains is to slowly nibble at their mercial district."
"Good news."
Making a lot of money alone was good news, that way he could spend more money on researching the Relic.
"Don't press them too hard, cooperation is important."
"I know that. Oh, by the way, about the relic fragment."
"Yes, say it."
"How many did you say you needed to find?"
"There were four, but now that I found one at the Kunst auction house, there are three left and one of them might be in Lindebrnew, the empire's capital."
It was for that reason that he tried to head from the northern kingdom of Utah to the capital of the empire.
"To say it now……."
"Yes."
Hans nodded.
"I found it. No, I'm sure it's in that place."
"You must have been searching even before I came to Leathervelk, but if the results only came out now, it must have been quite hard to find."
Rudger was supposed to meet Hans at Lindebrnew, that's why Hans went to the capital in advance to find the relic fragments but things went wrong in the middle and he was delayed for a while, but now things were back on track.
"So what's the reason you haven't found it for so long?"
"It's in the only place I can't reach."
"If you can't reach it……."
There is only one place in the capital.
"The Imperial Castle of the Exilion Empire."
A place so clean and well guarded that not even a rat can enter and also the only place Hans couldn't reach.
"I couldn't find it anywhere else so it must be there."
"So you used the method of elimination, that's why it took so long."
Hans let out a murmur of shame. He was the one who boasted that he could find it faster than anyone else before.
"I couldn't enter the palace. It's a place where not even a rat hole exists."
"It's good enough that you found its location. We'll think about how to obtain it in the future."
"It's going to take a lot of time again."
"I guess so, but we still don't have any clues about the other 2 fragments."
"But what are you going to do now?"
At Hans's words, Rudger replied as if he was asking what he was talking about.
"Hans, did you forget what kind of identity I have now?"
"Oh, I did."
"I have to prepare classes, new assignments, and even the next exam so there's a lot to do but for now I have to visit Baltanung."
Rudger's eyes shone.
"Because I have to root out the Black Dawn Society."
He must do so in order to live, besides, he couldn't leave them alone.
Hans, who was watching the scene silently, carefully opened his mouth.
"But will you be okay?"
"What do you mean?"
"No, the question is wrong. Are you sure you're okay? Brother, your behavior is too inconspicuous these days."
This was what Hans was worried about.
Rudger has to hide his identity, but he is revealing his talent. Of course, in some cases, it can only be revealed in a force majeure situation.
"Even though you didn't have to, it was too dangerous to take risks on your own."
As in Esmeralda's case.
Rudger didn't have to act conspicuously and when things go wrong, he just had to pretend that he didn't know anything and step down but he didn't instead he took risks.
"I don't mean to blame brother's behavior because of your personality, it has to be like this but if there's a problem, how are you going to deal with what's going to happen?"
The Nightcrawler Knights were lurking around, the famous detective Casey Selmore came to Leathervelk and Zero Order visited him once at Theon.
"We might be caught someday and when that happens……."
"You have to make a choice."
"……Yes. Actually, I'm sure brother knows the best, but I said it just in case."
Sedina, Seridan, and Belaruna's laughter tickled their ears, it seems they were enjoying their talk in the distance.
"Hans, it's not that I didn't think of that either. I don't have to take these risks if I purposely bend down quietly and stay low."
"Why did you do that since you knew?"
"It's a whim."
Hans gasped at Rudger's words. He seriously doubted if this was what the brother he knew was saying.
"Did you hurt your head?"
"……."
"No, I'm kidding. Why are you staring at me like that?"
"Anyway."
Rudger looked out the window. Although it was said to be a secret hideout, the view outside was ordinary because it was a general house similar to the surrounding buildings.
To others it looked like a peaceful and quiet street but to Rudger this world was a stuffy cage.
"Hans, I've changed my identity several times so far. For me, the real thing was my status as a prince who had already been abandoned in the past."
He thought that having to live a fake life was inevitable for his future journey.
But was that so?
"To be honest, aren't you resentful?"
He made several relationships with his false identities but he had to forsake them when he changed his identity because of other people's intentions rather than by his own will.
He lived half of his life running away, hiding and lying.
Even if lies and deceit were ingrained in life, he didn't do it because he really liked it.
"I realized it since I was caught up in the train attack and had to use this unwanted identity. Maybe I was hoping for this."
Will he live his whole life as a fake?
"But did you risk dying?"
"Of course, I don't really intend to die because I have work to do and I want to do it so I turned around and formed an organization even if I will be caught for who I am in the future."
Rudger's gaze toward the window changed sharply.
"I want to be able to say 'No one can touch me!'"
To shout so, Rudger built up his power.
"In the end, {U.N Owen} is a haven for each of us, and it is brother's anger toward the world."
"It's our anger."
Those abandoned in the world and those who want to get something but can't even hold it in their hands.
Who will listen to their desperate voices?
Who can bring their condemnation and resentment together and spread it to the world?
Before he knew it, all the other members who were talking were listening to Rudger with their mouths closed.
"Be aware, I am not your teacher nor your captain, boss, leader, or savior."
Rudger said emphatically.
"I'm just a mouthpiece, a messenger who shouts the anger of the weak toward this world, including myself."
'So feel free to shout. I'll spread your voices.'
"The slums of Leathervelk where no one es will be our starting point and our fortress."