2nd Rank Has Returned

Gaiden – Coincidence

Time passes.

Each day becomes a week, the weeks are listed and listed, and a month is formed.

This was about a month after that, and the existence of a girl in Leo’s memory faded.

“Are you here?”

Holding the horse’s reins, Leo looked at the map. When I opened the bounty wanted form and even the request form, this was definitely the case.

“…why are you buying and selling babies because there’s nothing to do?”

This case was about catching a human trafficker, and a farmer who had his son kidnapped robbed him of all his property.

In addition, the trafficker was known as the ‘Hydra’ of the assassin organization, and a bounty was also awarded, so it was an excellent request for Leo, who lost his income this month due to an injury.

‘Sometimes I want to beat that guy with my own hands.’

With that in mind, Leo drove his horse into the city.

***

“…stop, there will be a checkpoint.”

While riding, the guard stopped Leo. It was a completely different look from the guards he had beaten up a month ago.

Leo held out his mercenary plate expressionlessly and was checked.

“You look young… Are you a mercenary?”

“…there was something… let’s say.”

It was complicated to explain as it was related to my mother, and above all, I didn’t want to tell anyone.

“is it? i get it. You can go.”

“How are kids these days so big?”

Hearing the murmur of the guards next to him, Leo went into the city without saying a word.

“…it’s pretty good.”

The city was quite lively. In the market, merchants bargain tight, and lovers and family members laugh while eating food or watching the sights.

It would be great if there were no human trafficking.

“Leon!”

“…mom…?”

Leo looked back for a moment.

“Mom!!”

And a child named ‘Leon’, who was next to him, was held by his mother. Naturally, he sang ‘Leo’, and there was no one to call him.

“Where have you been? Did you find it!”

Leon’s mother looked over her body, stroking her hair. It was to check whether there were any scratches on the child’s body.

Unsurprisingly, the scar on my chest throbbed. It seemed that cauterizing with fire was too reckless.

“That’s… I saw a very pretty sister on the street… I was thinking about something else…”

“A pretty sister?”

“I have white hair and blue eyes, just like a fairy from a fairy tale!”

At that, Leo paused for a moment. But he soon laughed.

‘There are not one or two white-haired people in the world… they are too sensitive.’

Thinking so, Leo fell from the two hats. For some reason, it seemed that if I was there, I would not be able to concentrate on my work.

“Ariaspil!! No, where the hell did you go!?”

Whether they were looking for a missing child in the city, a large knight screamed and went looking for the child he was looking for.

‘It seems that there is also human trafficking.’

It is no coincidence that Mia disappeared. It wouldn’t be related at all.

‘…I’ll have to go to the back street a little bit.’

With that in mind, Leo moved to his seat.

***

The back alleys of the city were closer to the abyss than the shadows created by the light.

The sick, the beggars, the orphans abandoned by their parents, and the elderly abandoned by their children.

When it comes to museums that collect human suffering by type, Leo will always refer to the back alleys.

‘…Still, it’s pretty good. Where is it that no one eats human meat?’

While Leo was looking around the back alley, an old woman shouted.

“Buy flour…!”

An old woman holding a small sack and asking to buy flour alone on a street where no one cares.

‘…and then maybe…’

Perhaps he had an idea, Leo approached the old woman.

“How much flour do you have?”

“…this is… it’s all…!”

The old woman handed a sack of flour with trembling hands. As if he knew that Leo needed just this amount.

“…It is appropriate. it’s pretty too how much is it?”

“A fairy tale… one leaf…”

Even for back alley flour, the price was too cheap. Even if it was mixed with sand or cheap medicine, it would be more expensive than that.

“Isn’t it too cheap?”

Leo asked quietly as he held out a leaf of a fairy tale.

“…that flour will hold the key to your destiny… you can’t pay a high price for it.”

“…are you a fortune teller?”

Leo trembled, perhaps embarrassed by his secret intentions being revealed.

“…a point, so it could be…but…I’m fate…I hate things like that…I don’t want to see them…I don’t…”

“Then why don’t you give me flour?”

“…that can’t be… even… even if you don’t have a rudder… you will… sail or row a boat…”

I wondered if it was an old woman with a slightly weird head, and the moment she was just about to go, the old woman opened her mouth again.

“…where you want to go… it will disappear the moment you give up… Destiny is like a sea made of air… When you’re constantly being pushed by unseen waves…”

Leo looked back again, just in case.

The old woman had disappeared at some point. It was to the point that I thought that the air was actually an old woman.

“You have to do something.”

Leo thought as he picked up the sack of flour he had bought.

***

Maybe it was a joke of fate, and not long after walking down the back alley, Leo saw men holding a child’s face in a bag of sacks.

Read at readwn.com

Judging by the child’s not struggling, it was probably due to the poison’s stun.

‘It’s not an ordinary bet… I’m sure.’

An assassin using such a precise poison would not be able to subdue even an experienced veteran mercenary.

“…then…”

pursue as undetected as possible. That way, you would know what you saw. As expected, the men began to move, with the child in the vat.

As he was used to following and chasing by hunting, he succeeded in going to their hideout without being detected.

‘…something is strange.’

There was something odd about a human trafficking organization. Normally, in order to sell for money, I properly prepare a route to sell…

‘…These guys don’t care about customers.’

Even if it is a dark merchant, the merchant must think about the merchant, and ultimately the customer to sell. However, when it comes to human trafficking in such a remote and deep forest, it was self-evident that it would be much faster to have someone kidnapped him in a back alley.

‘…There may be other cases…’

Read at readwn.com

Just as I was thinking about it, the kidnappers with the barrel of the child entered the hideout. Fortunately, it was just a simple lock in the form of a padlock.

‘…it must be easier to infiltrate than you think.’

When the party went into the hideout, I noticed that they had entered a secret space like the basement.

“…then…”

Leo looked around while holding his sling. The most suitable subject was quietly chirping on a branch of a tree.

Whiik, Tit!

As soon as the bird was hit by a stone, it broke an ankle and began to cry. Does not kill or stun

I liked the birds that chirped so loudly.

‘…there is quite a distance, so there is a gap.’

“…what the hell are you talking about?”

Then a man comes out to scout. must not be killed If that person doesn’t come back, I’m sure they’ll notice a massive invasion.

so.

squeaky…

Enter the gap between the door opening and closing. Walk as quietly and quickly as possible.

‘…A decent place to hide… This would be a good place.’

And now hide in an empty barrel where you hide. Leo went into the barrel with the memorized instrument to be used as a counterattack when she was driving.

It was also an operation that was possible because of the boy’s physique.

“…why is the bird down? Is this a revelation to eat even rice?”

Unexpectedly, the assassin was an idiot, picking up a broken-legged bird and thinking about dinner tonight.

But they will die or be captured within this evening.

‘…or because I’m dead.’

With that in mind, Leo cautiously got out of the barrel. The infiltration was successful, the important thing was not to be detected.

‘…Should I start a fire at all?’

In fact, they brought flour for that purpose. A convenient strategy that burns the entire hideout and kills only those who survive.

‘…but now we’ll have to look at the situation.’

Like the child I brought earlier, there must be a lot of kidnapped people here. Knowing that and burning the whole thing because it was comfortable was unlucky in my dream.

‘…Shall we go in?’

First, look into the basement. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any sentinels or anything like that, and since it was a narrow road, you wouldn’t be noticed if you went fast.

‘…if you have a car, it’s enough to set a fire.’

If one’s own life is in danger, of course, it is right to take care of yourself first. Whoever says that is a hypocrite.

‘…why…so wide?’

This was not the same as kidnapping, it was like a place where livestock was put in a slaughterhouse to catch fish at some slaughterhouse.

‘…Is the kidnapping right…?’

“Ahhh…aahhhh…”

Someone struggled to squeeze out a scream. The whip heard before long, leaving a mark so that it would not be noticed first. Leo turned towards the whip and scream.

“…aa…”

“Shut up and eat…! Eat it!!”

A person is definitely linguistic. And on the other hand, not a single word is mixed with a scream, let alone the ability to speak.

‘…as if he couldn’t even say a word.’

Read at readwn.com

Just in case, Leo wets the hood with water in advance. It was a decision considering the worst case scenario.

“…!”

At that moment, Leo stopped at the end of the alley. There were two things to see from that angle.

‘…what is this…’

Young children who are really raised like livestock, children who are locked up in iron cages eating without thinking about the feed from the trough, and even cry like animals.

“Uh… uh…”

“Kung… Khung…”

And next to Connor, holding a sword, I saw a girl wobbling. It was hard to say that they were on the same team with this gang, and for the first time seeing them, the gray hair and the wall were too impressive.

‘…why are you here…!?’

It was a girl who had a hole in her chest.

“this…!”

The moment the impatient girl was about to pull out her sword,

chin

“…!?”

Leo gripped her mouth and sword. Then, with his mouth clenched, he barely speaks without a sound.

(If you leave, you die.)

Perhaps the girl also remembered herself, and nodded her head with a bewildered expression.

“Now let’s go. I eat well now.”

They went away with a satisfied expression on their faces when they saw the child who was still eating even after being beaten with a whip. The creaking of the jailer’s keys and the gurgling of the cattle children produced a strange harmony.

(Why are you here?)

The girl said as soon as Leo took her mouth off her hand. It was fortunate that I was able to follow the squeaking if I had an eye for it.

Leo held out his mercenary plate without saying a word. And at the same time, I had to take out one precious consumable.

[I’m a mercenary and I’m here to handle this.]

What he took out was a notebook woven with string, charcoal wrapped in cloth, and the most suitable tool for writing.

[From now on, write it down and say it. It should be written as easily as possible. I don’t know many words.]

In fact, learning the letters itself was a great thing for a mercenary. Leo’s efforts to be safe from contracts and traps stood out.

[Why did you dry it?]

The girl was the first to waste the most useless things on the precious paper and charcoal.

[If you go out, you will die too, and I will die too. Even if I live, it will be like that.]

An alarm will sound when you know that there is an intruder. Even if it’s a child.

In a place like this, it would be difficult for even that monstrous girl to break through.

‘…and even more for a guy who can’t kill anyone…’

Meanwhile, the girl continued to write.

[Then what do these kids do?]

It was a meaningful question that came up now.

[I’ll save you. Because that’s what I came here for.]

[How are we going to get it?]

[I know we don’t get along well, but first we have to get through it together. There is only one way to live together.]

The girl, who paused for a moment, kept her mouth shut and wrote in her notebook.

[If you save those kids.]

Even in this situation, he is worried about others, or maybe it is not a heroic family, so even in this situation, he pretends to be an apostle of justice.

[okay. Then we have to get them out of the cage first.]

[How are you going to get it out? They had the key earlier.]

[You don’t have to.]

Leo grabbed Arya’s sword and wrote it down.

[There are people who even cut an iron sword harder than an iron spear even with a fruit knife.]

Of course, I wasn’t talking about Leo himself.