The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 235

"Hah, fine. I don't know what this whole situation is, but I get that you're planning to storm the lord's castle. Right?"

Mio, who had been momentarily left out by Irehgue's appearance and Rwen's sudden performance, spoke with a slightly sulky expression.

"Well, yeah."

"Fine, then how exactly are you planning to storm the lord's castle?"

Mio, bringing the topic of conversation back, pointed at the sky and said.

"It's almost time for the sun to set, but even after night falls, a minimum level of security will still be active, and there will be people working inside the castle."

Mio said that and looked at Lee Shin.

"So how on earth are you planning to avoid all their eyes?"

"I'm not planning to avoid them."

"...What?"

At Lee Shin's words, Mio's expression turned a little strange.

Seeing that, Lee Shin chuckled and said.

"I'm not planning to sneak in, but to walk in proudly through the front."

At Lee Shin's words, Mio and Rwen stared at him with dumbfounded expressions, and only Irehgue nodded as if it were obvious, agreeing with Lee Shin.

"But before we go to the lord's castle... you two should probably wash up first."

"Huh? Why all of a sudden?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

At Mio's words, Lee Shin looked back with a puzzled expression and said.

"I don't know what kind of person the lord of this place is, but it's clear he's connected to your enemy in some way. In other words, in a broad sense, he's one of the people you need to get revenge on."

Having said that, Lee Shin pointed at the two of them with his finger.

"You're going to meet a guy like that, you wouldn't want to go in such a dirty state, would you?"

"...Are we going with you too?"

At Mio's words, Lee Shin nodded as if it were a matter of course.

"Of course. It's not my enemy, it's your enemy."

Having said that, Lee Shin looked at Mio and Rwen with a wide smile.

"Don't tell me you were planning to be satisfied with me getting revenge for you and just sit here sucking your thumb?"

Squeeze-

"No, that's not it, but..."

Mio's hand clenched tightly.

Abandoned by her parents because of her dragon's blood, she was sold off somewhere.

The place she arrived at was a laboratory.

The memories of that place were enough to make her have seizures in her sleep.

The many test subjects who were with her and her sister all died during experiments, and only she and her sister survived.

-Dirty sinners, but excellent as test subjects. To endure this much at such a young age.

-Hahaha, I must thank the lord of the other 127th territory. To think he would send such a specimen.

-It would be nice if the other lords would try a little harder.

-Shhh, let's speak quietly. We just need to quietly continue our experiments.

If she could repay the humiliation and pain she received back then... she could jump into this level of danger with a bright, smiling face.

But...

Mio, after glancing at her sister beside her, said.

"Could my sister stay here and I go alone..."

She couldn't put her sister in danger.

Just as Mio, having made up her mind, was about to speak to Lee Shin.

Swoosh-

The quiet Rwen placed her hand on top of Mio's.

At that, Mio lowered her head.

They had escaped that hellish place together.

So, of course, she understood her sister's feelings.

Even so, she couldn't choose the option of taking her sister to such a dangerous place.

Just as she made her decision and was about to open her mouth, Rwen spoke a step faster.

"Do not doubt your master's abilities."

At Rwen's sudden words, Mio turned her head to look at her.

Rwen continued.

"Your master is a great being who can protect two little kids even with his eyes closed... is what the master said."

After finishing her words, Rwen glanced at the space above Lee Shin's head.

There, though Mio couldn't see it, Irehgue was wearing a satisfied smile.

"...Alright."

Mio, who had been looking there for a moment, gripped the awl-dagger in her bosom tightly and nodded.

She wasn't trusting the words of the strange man who had suddenly appeared and claimed to be her master.

She was just steeling her resolve.

No matter what situation arose, even if she were to die, she would make sure her sister escaped.

'It's an older sister's duty to grant her younger sister's wish.'

Lee Shin watched Mio, who had made up her mind, with an amused expression and got up.

"Then let's hurry up and go bathe. Honestly, blocking my sense of smell with internal energy is getting annoying now."

Having said that, Lee Shin looked at the two's state for a moment and said.

"Throw away the clothes you're wearing now and change into the clothes those guys were wearing."

"Those have blood on them."

At Mio's words, Lee Shin said with an exasperated tone.

"What you're wearing is much dirtier, you know?"

Left speechless by Lee Shin's words, Mio thought about something quietly, then collected two of the men's shirts and three cloaks, shot a glare at Lee Shin, and said.

"Don't follow us."

"Nothing to see, yet you're making a fuss."

"You, are you looking down on my sister right now?!"

"I just stated a fact, that's all?"

At Lee Shin's words, Mio retorted as if she would pounce on him at any moment.

"...Sister, let's go quickly."

At that, Rwen, with a slightly flushed face, pulled Mio into an empty house in the alley.

Once inside, the two took off their clothes, wiped their bodies with the cloaks they had taken to use as towels, then put on the adventurer's shirts like one-piece dresses and used the cloaks to cover their faces.

Looking at the two who had transformed from dirty kids to suspicious kids, Lee Shin said.

"By the way, do you two know where the inn is?"

"..."

At Lee Shin's words, Mio began to seriously consider whether it would be better to run away right now.

◎ ◎ ◎

Guided by Mio, Lee Shin entered an inn.

The innkeeper, seeing the two foul-smelling twins, thought some street kids had come in and tried to chase them out, but thanks to Lee Shin stepping in, nothing happened.

The innkeeper, flustered by Lee Shin's unexpected appearance, asked him to leave as it was bad for business, but when Lee Shin offered extra money, he grumbled but brought water.

"S-So tiring..."

"Phew..."

The two of them did nothing but shower repeatedly until the sun went down, and only now did they finally succeed in scrubbing off the old grime that covered their bodies.

"Hoh..."

"...Why are you looking at us like that?"

Mio said bluntly at the sight of Lee Shin staring at them intently.

"No, I was just thinking, so that's what you two looked like."

Watching them quietly, he felt he understood why the two had covered their faces with black soot and even changed their way of speaking to thoroughly act like boys.

They were young and hadn't grown up in abundance, so they were very thin, but despite that, their looks were radiant enough to be recognizable.

Their heads were small and their faces were delicate, just like dolls.

On top of that, their pure white short hair, which had been hidden by muddy water, the horns on the right and left sides of their heads, and their blue eyes, which were the same as Irehgue's but a different color, combined to give off a mystical atmosphere.

-They are my subordinates!

Irehgue also seemed quite satisfied with their appearance.

"But the size of your horns is a bit different."

Both their horns were a shining silver, but at a glance, Rwen's looked a bit larger than Mio's.

"I don't know either. Originally, our horns were about the same size, but when I looked today, it was like this. It's become even harder to hide, thanks to that."

'Hmm, it seems to be because of what happened earlier.'

Lee Shin watched Mio grumble for a moment, then held out some clothes to the two.

"Here, wear these."

"What's this?"

Lee Shin answered.

"I went out and bought them while you two were polluting the clean water."

-I wanted to buy high-class items befitting my subordinates, but unfortunately, there were no such things.

Irehgue grumbled, but unfortunately, Mio, who couldn't hear his words, just took the clothes and checked them.

"I bought both skirts and pants, so pick and wear whatever you like."

At Lee Shin's words, Mio and Rwen unhesitatingly grabbed the pants and went into the room to change.

After showering and changing their clothes, the two shone like unrefined gems, despite the shabby clothes.

"This should be good enough. Let's go."

"I don't think I even need to ask where."

Swoosh-

"It is convenient to have a clever subordinate."

At the sudden change in tone, Mio and Rwen looked at Lee Shin's face.

But Lee Shin had already switched bodies with Irehgue.

"Is that person... here?"

Mio asked with a slightly awkward tone.

At that, Irehgue smiled and patted Mio's head as if she were cute.

Mio, seeing the hand approaching her head, recalled the moment she had been hit on the head by Irehgue and became anxious, but she seemed to think she shouldn't avoid it, so she darted her eyes around while receiving Irehgue's pat.

"I asked that guy to switch. They're so pathetic it's embarrassing to even call them enemies, but..."

Grin-

"They can at least serve the role of showing you a fragment of how great your master is."

After finishing his words, Irehgue wrapped his arms around the two of them.

Without giving them a chance to be surprised, he said with a smile.

"Hold on tight."

Crackle-!

The moment Irehgue said that, a golden electric current flowed from his feet.

Irehgue unleashed the Lightning Flash Steps and shot out of the window like a thunderbolt.

"Hyaaaak!"

"Kyaaaaak!"

The two screamed at the dizzying speed they were experiencing for the first time in their lives.

At that, Irehgue laughed lightly and slowed down a bit.

"We've arrived, so don't be scared anymore."

"Hyaaaang...?"

Mio couldn't even answer properly and just rolled her eyes.

What Mio saw was the lord's castle, which had looked tiny from the inn's window just a moment ago.

But something was strange.

The lord's castle grew larger and larger, and soon it was too big to see in one glance.

Yet, Irehgue was still moving his feet, charging towards the lord's castle.

'H-He has to stop!'

At that, Mio tried to stop Irehgue.

But perhaps because her head was spinning, she couldn't put any strength into her hands holding onto Irehgue, and not even a small voice would come out of her mouth.

Before she knew it, the lord's castle was right in front of them.

Just as Mio struggled to at least save Rwen, Irehgue said in a voice mixed with laughter.

"Hold on tight."

Just as the pure white wall in front of them was about to collide.

Crackle-!

Irehgue kicked the wall with his electricity-wreathed foot.

Then, the wall in front of them flew away coolly, and a large hole was created in the lord's castle.

And in that commotion, Mio couldn't regain her senses.

"Wh-What was that!"

"An attack! It's an attack!"

The guards moved urgently.

"Oh, a direct hit."

-I know, right? You're lucky today.

And Irehgue and Lee Shin smiled, satisfied that the place they had roughly broken into was the lord's room.