Chapter 117: Chapter 117

Chapter 117 - The One Who Walks into a Dead End

The battle ended rather anticlimactically. At least, that's how it would have looked on the outside.

In reality, I was exhausted.

‘……This consumes a lot of concentration.’

Using 『Space Perception』 in a real battle made it clear.

It was good that it provided information I couldn't perceive during combat, but the problem was that as the amount of information to process increased, so did my mental exhaustion.

Since the information was automatically hammered into my head, I couldn't intentionally ignore it. It was useful in many ways, but……

‘It’s not something I can use in a prolonged fight.’

Anyway, the battle ended with that lesson, but it wasn't as if I had killed all the opponents.

It wasn't that I was determined to somehow save the enemies trying to kill me in a pressing situation by taking time I didn't have, but…… I did leave alive those I could subdue without killing.

I silently cornered them in a part of the train and tied them up so they couldn't move.

Coincidentally, there was a sturdy rope in the corner of the train, probably used by them when they broke in.

Well, if they had struggled and resisted in their prime condition, my poor physical abilities might have made it difficult…… but thankfully, there were no issues.

After all, they were opponents I had already injured.

In that case, what way is there for someone who can't move properly to express their dissatisfaction?

“You…… Imperial pig……”

After grinding his teeth once, he threw out a single phrase filled with rage.

“While you fatten your bellies with our blood, do you even know how much we are starving……?”

“When you squeeze us to eat a few more pieces of meat, the pain we…….”

Well, their anger certainly had a point. It was a valid reason to rise up.

But for the target of that anger to be me.

For the one feeling the raw anger, filled with the sorrows of such people, to be me, one of the victims of the aristocratic society.

It was a strange thing indeed.

I just tied them up in silence, without responding.

Because I needed a moment to think.

Was their action right?

Even if they had a valid reason to rebel, that the nobles had exploited them, did that give them the right to take the lives of complete strangers?

Was that anger, aimed in such a vague direction, truly right?

After those thoughts passed, I opened my mouth.

“Is that why you tried to kill me?”

“If you were wronged, is it okay to nonchalantly kill someone you've never even met before?”

I slowly took in the scenery of the train. There were certainly the bodies of those who died in the previous battle, but as I looked around calmly, there were also several bodies that hadn't been touched by my hand.

They must have been nameless individuals killed by the hands of those who had invaded this train.

It was only natural that they would become angry upon hearing my words.

After being exploited their whole lives, they had finally stirred and risen up, only to hear such things.

The nobles were the ones who provided the cause by exploiting them first, and their anger was certainly justified.

Yes, well. It could be harsh. If you think about the anger that had been suppressed for a lifetime, even for generations before them, erupting now…… you couldn't just blame them entirely.

It was understandable.

But that was ‘understandable,’ not ‘right.’ Nor could it be called ‘good.’

It was a matter of where the anger was directed, rather than the anger itself.

I had certainly had my fill of the darkness of aristocratic society, and it was also true that the lower classes were being exploited…….

The difficult part was that even if they were the exploited class, you couldn't just call them unconditionally good.

It was a harsh reality. There would be few people who could choose only the right path in such a situation.

‘Exchanging…… evil for evil.’

While having such thoughts, I lightly shook my head.

‘What am I thinking.’

Time was of the essence right now; there was no time to waste on such thoughts.

Having made that judgment, I busily moved my hands and finished tying up the rebel intruders.

Although I had subdued them, there was no particular information to be extracted.

“Tell me the enemy's objective and their deployment.”

Their mouths were tightly shut. Their eyes, filled with hostility and hardened with anger, expressed that well enough.

I could roughly tell. They probably wouldn't talk no matter what I did.

In the first place, to attack a train teeming with nobles, they must have been individuals with a considerable amount of anger towards the aristocracy to even participate.

‘Honestly, if I were to truly and sincerely torture them, they wouldn't be able to stay silent, but…….’

I didn't have the time for that, nor did I want to abandon my humanity to that extent.

……Though if things went wrong and I had to regress, I might give it a try.

Yes. Anyway, once I had a general sense of their intentions, I gave up on extracting information and isolated the intruders in a guest room in Car 7.

It would be safe if Yuna kept an eye on them.

While I was tying them up and isolating them in the guest room of Car 7, what was Elwin doing?

The sound of the guest room door opening was heard, and Elwin walked out.

The room Elwin had just been in…… now that I listened, felt like there was a huge commotion.

“Rain-ssi, all the other passengers were in their rooms. Judging by the numbers, it seems the passengers from the Car 7 rooms were there as well.”

That was Elwin's purpose. Just as we had tried to find the hostages in Car 7, he had searched the rooms again this time.

Unlike in Car 7, where we came up empty, it seemed there was a harvest this time.

-They really took care of them……?

-Just the two of them……?

And following Elwin, the people who were in the rooms came pouring out.

And looking at the passengers coming out of the rooms, I thought.

‘Surprisingly, no passenger seems to have been treated harshly.’

That was quite surprising. The rebel intruders who were practically radiating hostility, the stiff-necked nobles. It should have been a relationship where the rebel side couldn't help but throw a punch.

Well, anyway, while I was having such thoughts…….

“Young master, how can we ever repay this kindness……”

“The legitimate heir of the Cardenas family is indeed different.”

Elwin was surrounded by nobles, receiving a baptism of gratitude.

Naturally, I was treated as if I wasn't there.

I saved your lives, and not even a word of thanks?

Well, since Elwin was the one who went into the rooms, I could let it slide…… but still.

Just as I was thinking that.

“……No, I really didn't do anything. If you wish to express your gratitude, please direct it to Rain-ssi over there.”

Elwin said, waving his hand at them.

The reaction of the noble passengers who heard that was peculiar.

“Ha, haha. You are too modest!”

Or they would outright deny reality by beating around the bush.

‘They’re all the same.’

It seems that isolating the rebel prisoners separately was a good choice.

If they had seen them tied up and defenseless, they might have started with verbal abuse and even moved on to assault.

I didn't really care. For me, that kind of reaction was an everyday occurrence.

What I wanted right now was for this farce that was eating up time when I was already busy as hell to end quickly.

Well, at least that sudden marketplace didn't last long.

“Everyone, the situation is not over yet. For now, please go back and take shelter. This place might become a battlefield.”

Elwin said to the passengers who were relieved as if everything was resolved, and sent them back to their rooms.

It was a good method. A warning combined with the anxiety that they might face a harsh situation again.

With that, even the most self-willed nobles would listen obediently.

‘It wouldn’t have worked if I had said it.’

The fact that the speaker was a promising knight candidate who had saved them, and the legitimate heir of the most prestigious family in the Empire, must have played a part.

“……Haha, I’m drained……”

Elwin pretended to wipe away sweat.

“You’ve worked hard.”

Given Elwin’s down-to-earth personality, he must have been inwardly annoyed by the nobles' attitude. Not that he was the type to show it.

“Well, anyway, let’s go. To the next car.” The most update n0vels are published on novelꜰire.net

Elwin was about to hurry our steps, but…… a question was taking root in my mind.

‘Why are the passengers meant to be hostages here?’

The people we found were the passengers of Car 7 and Car 6.

That meant the remaining passengers from Car 5 to Car 1 were being held elsewhere.

Why would they purposely separate the passengers? Why?

It would be much easier to manage them if they were all in one place.

Especially since the Railroad Mysterium has many private rooms, there wouldn't be that many hostages to manage in the first place.

Yet they deliberately separated the passengers…….

That was a clear sign of something wrong.

Elwin, seeing me standing stock-still despite his words, called out to me again with a puzzled look.

Right, well. Strange is strange, but…… I have to do what I have to do for now.

Moving on to the next step.

With that thought, I slowly approached the door leading to the next car, Car 5.

And then I stepped back.

That unidentifiable, truly baseless sense of unease.

It was the manifestation of a sixth sense honed through hundreds of deaths. It was the best way to avoid death.

And that sixth sense was telling me.

Elwin, on the other hand, had a puzzled expression.

“……Rain-ssi? I don't know what's wrong, but could I ask you to scout ahead first?”

Elwin's words were reasonable. He was suggesting we get a general idea of the situation in the next car with 『Space Perception』.

I paused for a moment, but I couldn't give up.

I once again drew up the magic of the Origin, reactivating 『Space Perception』 which I had deactivated to conserve magic and catch my breath.

A sky-blue magic circle, resembling Arien's color, spread across the ground, and since I was pressed against the door, its range extended beyond Car 6, reaching into Car 5.

The presence of ‘certain beings’ moving inside Car 5.

They were packed so tightly they seemed to fill the entire car.

They weren't objects. They were clearly moving.

But they weren't people either.

I couldn't feel any life from them.

What I felt from beyond was…… only the sensation of something moving.

And a sense of danger.

The conviction that a life-threatening presence was packed tightly over there.

Feeling this situation, I couldn't help but mutter in a trembling voice.

“……What, in the world, is this……?”