Leo wept silently.
Rudger watched in silence. At first, Rudger was shocked to hear that Leo was a member of the Liberation Army. It occurred to him that he leaked information by sending a note to Leo that day.
He had thought he could use Leo's skills and discretionary nature to his advantage in the future, but he hadn't realized he was in the Liberation Army.
What a coincidence.
Now that he knew the truth, Rudger was troubled.
The logical thing to do was to capture Leo and hand him over to the police. But the moment Leo told him his family was being held hostage, and the look on his face that thought melted away like ice on a scorching sun.
'He tried to provide for his mother and sister.'
Seeing Leo, Rudger suddenly remembered himself in the past. Leo trying to endure everything alone for his family seemed to overlap with himself.
At that age, when he should've spent his youth happily, he became a slave for the Liberation Army instead.
Unable to trust anyone, no one to help him. He must have lived in a hellish reality every day.
The fact that he came to this point and laid out the whole truth was a sign of his desperation and determination to do the right thing. In fact, there was probably more of a sense of giving up, of wanting to end this difficult choice.
'How can I not understand that feeling?'
"Leo."
At Rudger's call, Leo lifted his bowed head. The tears had been wiped away, but his eyes were still red.
"I intend to help you as a teacher, and as someone who is older than you in life. There is no lie in these words."
"……."
"But there is something I need to verify."
"What is it?"
"Are you really ready to fight of your own volition?"
Aidan, who was next to him, and Leo, who heard the words, were stunned but Rudger's expression was serious. He always was, but his eyes were especially serious now, as if he wanted an answer.
"It doesn't matter if someone helps you if you don't do anything."
Rudger once wanted help, too. In fact, he'd gotten help many times, in his previous life and in this one. But the most important thing was whether he was willing to fight.
You can't wait forever for someone to reach out to you. In the end, it had to be yourself.
"I'm asking you, are you really ready to take it all in?"
"……I've spent half my life being tormented by them."
Leo's eyes shone, not avoiding Rudger's gaze.
"I don't think I'll be able to get over it if I don't at least punch them in the face."
Rudger's eyes softened at his remark.
"Excellent."
Aidan's eyes widened.
Since Rudger was stingy with compliments, this was the highest praise he'd ever received.
Rudger glanced back. Passius was watching him with a complicated expression on his face.
"Sir Passius, that's what happened."
"……Yes, it happened."
"I'm afraid you're going to have to go along with my stubbornness this time."
"No, that…… ha."
Passius sighed since here was no point in arguing with Rudger here.
As a master knight, he could hear everything Leo said from a mile away. Of course, he also knew what Leo was going through right now, and for that he sympathized with him.
The problem was, the man behind the curtain was right here, right now.
"In case you've forgotten, I'm a member of the Royal Guard. I'm a knight charged with protecting the Empire of Exilion, not just the imperial family."
"You're not a Royal Guard now, where did your uniform and sword go?"
"……Yet even you, Mr. Rudger, said just a moment ago that you were only a teacher on the surface."
"That's why I'm trying to help on the surface."
"You haven't said a word."
"Perhaps that's why the Princess sought me out."
Passius shook his head in disbelief but with Rudger coming on so strong, he realized that it was probably for the best.
Arresting Leo here and dragging him away was not something he felt comfortable with.
Turning a blind eye to a truly evil person is something he can't stand but the fact that Leo was a victim after all was a big factor.
"I thought you were just cold-blooded."
As much as he admired Rudger's unexpected side, he was suddenly reminded of the past.
During the time he was the shadow of the First Princess and had learned much from her, he had, of course, heard of his predecessor, Jack the Ripper.
-Princess, how was the former shadow like?
Passius had no choice but to ask Princess Eileen about Rudger.
-He was a tidy man. Cold, calculating, rational, calm. He had a quick mind and an eye for trends.
-That's quite a compliment.
-I'll give him credit where credit is due.
-If you had complimented others as often as you did him, you would have gotten a better evaluation.
-Do you think I care what other people think of me? If you're so upset, you should try to earn it, just like that man did.
-So that's the end of the story of Sir Jack the Ripper, The Shadow of the Past? He sounds like a killing machine without blood or tears.
-No. Not necessarily.
-Not necessarily?
-Yes. The man is much more tender than you might think, with an outward appearance of coldness but a weakness for compassion, and a deep concern for others, even when he's being harsh.
-That doesn't seem to follow what you said before.
-That's why he's a man, not a killing machine. We all have our own contradictions, our own stories. That's why I chose you.
-You mean me?
-You may have great skill as a knight, but you have no chivalry, and if you want to do justice and have the blood of others on your hands, so be it.
Aileen smirked at Passius, who looked at her with trepidation as she spoke.
-That is why I chose you to succeed him. You were a perfect fit.
-……That doesn't sound like a compliment at all.
When he had finished his reminiscences, Passius could not help but smirk as he recalled the image of Rudger and the words of the First Princess.
At the time, he hadn't understood why Princess Eileen had said what she had but now it seemed to make sense.
"So what are you going to do now 'teacher' Rudger?"
"You put a lot of emphasis on the 'teacher' part."
"Did I?"
"That's enough. We don't have time to argue with each other now. You just asked me what I'm going to do, right? First of all, I'm going to get information from that child."
"And when you get it?"
"We need to get moving. The clock is ticking."
Rudger listened to Leo talk with Passius. Although Leo was wary of the new blonde man with Rudger, but given the circumstances he didn't argue and told him everything he knew.
Unfortunately, the Liberation Army didn't give Leo all the information. They withheld some crucial information because Leo wasn't usually cooperative. But that didn't mean that what Leo knew wasn't helpful.
Like their lair below ground, and the attack that would soon center around it.
"But there's something you need to be careful about."
"What is it?"
"Obviously, the targets are the Theon students, but they seem to be targeting the mentors as well, and the way they're acting like they're so confident that they're not going to be easily taken down, there's got to be something……."
"Don't worry about that. I have a pretty good idea what they're up to."
They're planning to use special gunpowder not affected by magic.
If they didn't know about it even a sixth-rank wizard might be hurt but if they know it won't be that dangerous.
"That's not the point. Leo, your family is somewhere in the capital right now, right?"
"……."
Leo nodded, his face somber, his family was now in the capital city of Lindebrugne.
They hadn't come because they wanted to; the Liberation Army had brought them here on purpose.
"If they were in the countryside, far away, it would take the Liberation Army a long time to send a signal to deal with them, so they deliberately kept them close by to threaten you."
They're trying to keep reminding him that if he makes the slightest move, they can't guarantee his family safety.
"But their behavior actually helped you."
"What?"
"I'm saying that if your family is far away, it will take time to get there, but if they're inside the capital, things will get done faster, which is good."
Rudger nodded and looked at Passius.
"I'll need you to take care of that for me."
"You mean me?"
"Yes. Sir Passius is probably the most qualified person in this situation."
"Mr. Rudger. As you know, I'm……."
"It's an extension of our work. And as you heard, there are Liberation Army troops standing next to Leo's family right now. I don't know about you, but I'm told they're pretty strong."
The Liberation Army must have done the math that as long as they had Leo on their side, at least a mid-level mage would come to help.
Leo's position as a student of Theon is too important to ignore.
Somehow, they're going to keep this threatening situation alive, and Leo's family is going to have to be on their side.
"I can't fight while protecting his family, but Sir Passius is different, you're a specialist in hand-to-hand combat."
Passius wanted to argue, "Isn't that true of you as well?" but when he saw Aidan and Leo, he shut up.
On the surface, Rudger is a teacher of Theon and he shouldn't expose too much about himself.
After all, hadn't one of the Princess orders been to help Rudger if he was in danger?
In the end, Passius was forced to do as Rudger told him to, even if it was unfair. Moreover, Rudger's words were not entirely wrong.
A knight is obviously better suited to hide in a crowd and ambush someone than a wizard.
A knight doesn't shy away from the idea of an ambush, especially if he's a master knight with superhuman physical abilities.
"That aside, what are you going to do, Mr. Rudger?"
"Isn't it decided?"
Rudger replied with a nonchalant tone.
"I'm going to wipe out the Liberation Army on the surface."
* * *
"In the end, the things that I was worried about happened."
In a secret branch of the Liberation Army, one of the people waiting there with a stiff face opened his mouth but no one answered.
The situation was not that good.
"They say Branch 3 is caught."
"So are branches 5 and 17."
The bad news kept coming.
It meant that the Cold Steel Knights and the Nightcrawler Knights were in full swing, and that their throats might one day be tightened.
"It's not too bad yet. All those branches that were raided were just bait."
Said Karl, the branch's general manager and first-level agent.
His face may have been grim, but he remained calm.
The Liberation Army did not hope that the Empire would do nothing. They would certainly make their move, and in fact, they had called in two of the Empire's three largest knight orders.
They had at least a vague idea of what the Liberation Army was doing. As such, they deliberately set up fake branches to distract them.
However, Karl was not without anxiety.
'This is just buying time anyway. They must have noticed since they're the elite of the Empire, and they'll be coming for the main body in no time.'
For that to happen, they would have to prepare to show a united front.
At Karl's gesture, the waiting men checked their weapons.
High explosives in automatic rifles and firearms that reeked of gunpowder, they were perfect for catching opponents off guard.
"Each group will travel to their assigned location through the underground waterways. If anything goes wrong, you must be prepared to take at least one more person with you."
At Karl's command, the Liberation Army agents nodded, their faces grim.
The moment came as one wall of the compound exploded.
Planks of wood and bricks scattered. Some of the Liberators swept up in it sprawled across the floor. Suddenly, light flooded into the darkened room.
There was a collapsed wall, and a man with his back to the bright white light of day.
While most of the Liberators were dumbfounded by the sudden surprise, Karl's eyes widened as he recognized the man.
"Rudger Chelici!"
What the hell is a Theon's teacher doing here?
Karl immediately recalled Leo's face and stiffened.
At that moment, Rudger's gaze fell on him.
"It's you."
The cold voice from his mouth coiled around Karl's body like a snake.
"The scumbag who threatened my student."