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Liber replied,
"To avoid being found out as an independence soldier. That way, my family will be safe."
Latia nodded as if she finally understood what he meant.
"Ah."
"Because this is one of the many colonies of the Marino Empire."
"Then the people fighting outside are..."
"Independence soldiers trying to reclaim their stolen country. Anyway, it's none of our business. Let's get out of here quickly."
Liber grabbed Latia's arm and pulled her.
Latia had no choice but to follow Liber.
Davian stood firmly in his place.
"Davian! What are you doing?"
After a moment of silence, Davian opened his mouth.
"Let's help. Those independence soldiers."
"What?"
"We may not be able to liberate this city, but let's help them just for tonight."
"Davian, this isn't like you?"
"It's not that difficult, actually."
"That's true, but..."
"It's just. Everyone has a point that makes them snap."
If they're Korean.
Outside was already a fierce battlefield.
Swish.
Davian created an ice sword.
Whoosh.
A sharp wind blew over the back of Latia's hand.
Liber stared at a soldier who appeared to be a commander with a cautious expression.
"Let's go! Latia!"
"Okay!"
Davian jumped into the crowd.
Latia began to continuously fire wind elemental magic.
The intense battle situation was instantly reversed due to the intrusion of the two.
"Watch out!"
"They're skilled!"
Davian's ice sword mercilessly cut through the limbs of the imperial soldiers.
The same went for Latia's wind elemental magic.
In the midst of that.
Click, creak.
The highest-ranking imperial soldier moved stiffly and raised his left arm high.
"Cea. se. fi. re."
Although his pronunciation was a bit awkward.
The sound of clashing weapons quickly subsided.
"Se. nd. the. m."
The imperial army's attack on the independence army completely stopped.
In the meantime, the independence soldiers quickly disappeared into various alleys.
Latia looked back with surprised eyes.
"So fast?"
Liber took out a necklace from inside his shirt and showed it.
An item that Davian had obtained.
"Thanks to this."
"Still, that's amazing."
While the soldiers were bewildered by the sudden order.
"Let's get out of here too."
Davian whispered.
The three began running in the opposite direction.
"Davian, over there!"
Liber stretched out his arm and pointed to another alley.
A battle was raging there as well.
"What is it today? Or is it like this every day?"
"I think we sparked the fire."
"Looks like it?"
"If it's because of us, we should help a little."
"Of course."
After participating in three or four more local battles and about to throw themselves in again.
"This way."
A man opened the back door of a tavern in an alley and beckoned Davian and his party.
"Crouch down."
Crouching down and following through the kitchen, another back door appeared.
"This way."
After wandering around the maze-like back alleys for a while.
This time, they entered an ordinary house.
Squeak.
When they pulled on the seemingly ordinary wooden floor, a passage leading to the basement appeared.
"This way."
Walking along the long underground passage again.
A fairly spacious space appeared.
Dozens of people dressed in shabby clothes were gathered.
"I've brought them."
"Oh, are these the people? The foreigners who are helping us. They're younger than I thought."
Because they weren't wearing school uniforms, they didn't realize they were students.
Davian stepped forward.
"I'm Davian."
The oldest-looking old man asked.
"May I ask why you are helping us tonight?"
It was common sense to introduce oneself when the other party revealed their name.
However, Davian didn't care at all because of their situation.
"I've heard roughly about what the imperial army is doing, and it seems too much."
"Clins told me that you came from another continent?"
"Yes. I came from the Pax continent."
"Oh, the Pax continent. I heard it's a very good place to live."
Coming here.
It seems like it.
"I won't forget the favor of helping our people tonight. However, staying in this city is too dangerous now. I'll tell you about a secret passage that leads out of the city, so get out of here quickly."
"You don't have to do that."
"I'm very grateful for your willingness to help, but getting involved any further is too dangerous for you. Clins."
Clins.
The name of the man Davian had saved.
"Yes."
"You will guide these people out of the city."
"Yes, Elder."
Clins gestured to Davian and his party.
"Come this way."
Davian and Latia exchanged glances.
Davian nodded slightly.
Latia did the same.
This is it.
Even if they took off their shoes and jumped in to help them, nothing would change much.
What good would it do to wipe out all the imperial troops in this city today?
The Marino Empire would send even larger forces.
The oppression of the Colonians would obviously become even more severe.
Unless they settled down here and helped the independence movement for months or years.
It was right to stop here, even if it was regrettable.
Liber, who knew this fact better than anyone else, pushed Latia and Davian's backs.
"Let's go now. Getting too deeply involved can also be a problem. It could backfire."
"Yeah."
"Let's go."
Davian and his party moved into the underground passage in the direction that Clins was guiding them.
"It's not connected to the entire city, so you have to go up twice in the middle. If you're careful at those times, you'll be able to get out safely."
"Thank you."
"I'm more grateful. You're my saviors."
Davian smirked.
"Savior? You weren't planning on dying there, were you?"
Clins was surprised and turned his head.
"I saw you deliberately dodging slightly when the sword pierced your chest. Just enough to look like a fatal wound without actually dying."
"You have great eyes."
This time, Liber asked.
"By the way, isn't this direction towards the center of the city, not the outskirts?"
Clins was even more surprised.
Had he been aware of the direction and location since entering this underground cave?
"How did you know? Do you have some kind of magical tool that tells you the direction? No. Even if you knew the direction, it would be difficult to know where you are right now, wouldn't it?"
Liber smiled awkwardly.
"I just memorized it all. A few steps and then left. Then a few steps and then right. Then a 30-degree curve. A few steps again."
"You've... memorized all of that so far?"
"Yes."
"You can deduce where you are now based on that?"
"Yes. I don't know, but Davian's stride is always consistent."
This time, even Davian was surprised.
Liber and Latia are in the Department of Magic.
Aside from being able to manipulate magic power, they were just like ordinary people.
If they talked to the person next to them, their breathing would change, or if they were distracted by looking around, their stride would change little by little.
But Davian was different.
Swordsmen maintain a constant breath unless they are in combat, so they always walk with the same rhythm and stride unless they deliberately try to disrupt it.
"Did you count with my stride on purpose because I'm in the Department of Swordsmanship?"
"Yeah. Davian, your stride is the most accurate among the three of us. Actually..."
"Actually what?"
"If Bonita had come with us, I would have measured it with Bonita's stride."
Davian smirked and nodded.
Bonita, who always has a straight posture, would have a more accurate stride.
"Anyway, you're amazing people. The Alkanzia Kingdom has a bright future with young people like you. Our Colonia's young people should receive a proper education..."
Latia opened her mouth.
"Because there are independence soldiers like you, the day will soon come when the young friends of Colonia will be able to receive a proper education."
"That's right. We have to make it that way no matter what. Ah, I haven't answered the question of that smart young man yet."
Liber nodded with curious eyes.
"The underground tunnels of Colonia are a tangled mess of tunnels that have been around for a long time and tunnels that were created during the independence movement. We're going to take the underground tunnel that connects to the southern outskirts of the city, but to do that, we have to go all the way to the center of the city and transfer."
"Ah, so that's what you meant by saying we have to go up twice."
"That's right. It's late at night and the entrance to the tunnel isn't far, so it won't be that dangerous. Okay, this way."
Following the stairs that Clins was pointing to, a backyard of a house appeared.
"Just be careful here. It's close to the central square of the city."
Following Clins' guidance, Davian and his party entered the alley and moved quickly while crouching down.
The left side seemed to be a plaza, brightly lit with the loud voices of people.
"This way. Be careful."
Clins, who was guiding us along the alleyways, suddenly stopped abruptly.
"Ah..."
His head was facing the plaza on the left.
Davian, who was following closely behind, also turned his head and looked to the left.
A wide plaza could be seen past the narrow alley.
Where Clins was looking.
Four or five people were standing on a high platform with ropes around their necks.
"Ah... Arina, Roman."
Clins' trembling shoulders shook greatly up and down.
"You said your name was Liber."
"Yes?"
"You're unusually smart. If I draw you a map, would you be able to get out of the city?"
It wasn't impossible.
"Well, that's true, but..."
"Then I'm sorry, but I'll have to stop guiding you here. I'll draw you a map of the entrance to the next underground tunnel and the road to the outskirts of the city. If you get out once more from there, then you can go outside the city without having to use the underground tunnel. Most of the imperial soldiers will gather here soon."
With trembling hands, Clins began to draw a map of the underground tunnels on a large piece of paper.
Davian said.
"Clins."
"What is it?"
"Among the people who are about to be executed..."
Clins tightly closed his mouth.
"There's a wife and child."
Clins nodded up and down with a trembling face.
"So you're going to go and save them now?"
This time, he desperately shook his trembling face from side to side.
"No."
"No? Isn't that why you stopped guiding us and are drawing a map?"
"It's true that my wife and child are there. If I leave them like this, they'll be hanged and executed. But. What's important now isn't that."
"Your wife and child are about to be executed, and there's something more important than that?"
"The person next to them. That person is... the princess who inherited the last lineage of our Colonia Kingdom. She's the only one who can unite the Colonia Kingdom again, and she's the last hope of our Colonians."
"Ah..."
Ding.
A notification sound that only Davian could hear.
=====
[Hidden Event: Help the Colonia Independence Army's desperate resistance and succeed.]
Reward: Secure the location of the Millennium Tree
Accept: Y / N
Failure: Most of the Colonia Independence Army dies and the organization is disbanded
=====
A hidden event has opened.
The reward is the exact location of the Millennium Tree.
'Someone in the Independence Army must know where the Millennium Tree is.'
Davian looked at Clins.
"Looks like there's going to be a huge battle today."
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