I Became a Leader in a Wretched Prison - Chapter 118

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 118

 

― Junior?

 

Sergeant Steven’s voice echoing in my head was less like a voice and more like conveying will through Kia.

 

― What are you going to do now?

 

And yet I could feel his smugness – that was quite a talent.

 

― If you go back like this, someone whose name is too sca―ry to mention will be waiting for you.

 

― What scary name? Just say it. That bastard Hades.

 

― Ahahaha.

 

― Sergeant has only one role to play.

 

After a brief pause, a voice echoed in my head again.

 

― Hmm, what could it be? I’m getting excited.

 

He seemed to try to hide it, but there was faint tension mixed in the will I could hear.

 

― Are you confident you won’t say unnecessary things to the Warden?

 

― ….

 

― For instance, that since Hades caught me, my mission no longer seems to have any chance of success.

 

― ….

 

― Don’t bother going and saying such things. You’re still at an age where you need your tongue.

 

I pondered for a moment. Then I added briefly. Like when I was the Boss. Very shortly.

 

― You should live long and prosperously.

 

Sergeant Steven was silent for quite a while.

 

My tone changed slightly as I spoke to him.

 

― I don’t particularly hold any ill feelings toward you, Sergeant. You’re not annoying, so I quite like you.

 

Why would the Warden assign that sergeant to me for no reason? To get help with Hades-related matters?

 

That old man who treats all prisoners like chess pieces would certainly do that.

 

Of course, Sergeant Steven would have the role of assistant like this, but there would be more. Surveillance. And judging the success or failure of the mission.

 

He would report in the end.

 

― Would I dare encourage a junior to make false reports to the Warden? I’m just saying let’s keep things amicable.

 

Oh. Now that I said it, it sounded quite delinquent.

 

After a long while, Sergeant Steven conveyed words into my head like a sigh.

 

― I felt it when you were King too, but you still have that talent for making threats not sound like threats. I have no intention of reporting things that haven’t happened yet.

 

Saying he wouldn’t make unnecessary remarks. That was enough.

 

Anyway, he was someone who was only on the same side as me due to current orders, but couldn’t truly be on my side.

 

I hummed a little tune.

 

I could feel Helios looking at me.

 

I slowly gathered my Kia.

 

Helios was right. I had only exhausted my Kia. It wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t use it.

 

‘Even if I fought Hades… I wonder if it would have been enough to help Helios escape.’

 

Besides, I can’t kill that bastard anyway.

 

The Kia that gathered smoothly in the air created a familiar shape.

 

It was a gun.

 

A rifle. My most beloved weapon.

 

“Now, this is a gift for a good child who listens well.”

 

As I muttered leisurely, Helios clicked his tongue and released my wrist.

 

“…Which side am I supposed to go along with?”

 

“Oh my. You were actually thinking of going along with it. What an honor for Master.”

 

I shrugged my shoulders and floated the gun created in the air toward Helios.

 

“Watch while lying down.”

 

However, Helios, who had half-risen to grab my wrist, didn’t lie back down.

 

“Why are you showing me this?”

 

“The return trip will take as long as it took to get here, right? A special lesson during that time.”

 

“…”

 

“It was your wish, wasn’t it? Learning this.”

 

Helios had wished to learn how to make guns, and I had agreed to teach him.

 

Although quite a few things happened differently than planned in the middle, I remember it well.

 

“What’s with that expression?”

 

“I was thinking about what a good Master I am.”

 

“Hah.”

 

I know very well that I’m a good Master.

 

“It’s really such a useless weapon, I still don’t recommend using it, but anyway.”

 

“I’ll still learn it.”

 

Seeing his stubbornly pressed lips, I shrugged my shoulders indifferently.

 

“Unlike simple weapons like spears or swords, to implement complex things like guns, cannons, gunpowder… you need to approach the fundamentals of Material Realm Kia Ability.”

 

“…You mean constituent materials?”

 

“Similar. How and what it’s composed of.”

 

Why on earth does he want to learn something as unhelpful as guns?

 

Unlike me, who came from a world where guns were the ultimate weapons and are recognized as the most powerful weapons in my consciousness, he wouldn’t even know about that world.

 

“Fortunately, you don’t need to go as far as materials, molecules, atoms and such. You just need to know how guns are composed, to the extent of disassembly. How about it, pretty easy, right?”

 

“Is that sarcasm?”

 

When I instantly disassembled the gun I had made with Kia before his eyes to show him and quickly reassembled it, Helios frowned and said this.

 

I’m puzzled too. Why does he want to learn it when he’s going to be disgusted?

 

After that, I demonstrated disassembly and assembly a couple more times, no, three times. Four times. Several times over, explaining each component.

 

Helios wore a perplexed expression.

 

“Usually when teaching assembly, shouldn’t you at least teach the names of the components?”

 

“Ah. Right.”

 

“…Sometimes I can’t tell whether Master teaches well or poorly.”

 

“Can’t tell? Obviously I’m the best Master.”

 

“…”

 

“Ahahahahaha. Hey, Junior. Are you serious? Listening to this is too funny.”

 

Sergeant Steven’s laughter, who had been listening to our conversation, filled the awkward silence.

 

Well, I admitted it. While I had taught other things easily, teaching guns wouldn’t be so simple.

 

It couldn’t be helped.

 

“Still, bear with me.”

 

I tilted my head slightly and gazed at Helios.

 

Clatter clatter.

 

The carriage wheels kept turning. You and I would succeed in our mission and return.

 

Not the stuffy and damp air of the prison, but outside where refreshing wind swept through our hair, even if there might be dust.

 

“This is the first time I’m teaching this.”

 

Mama had said that guns would suit me better than swords or spears.

 

‘She also said if I couldn’t handle a gun perfectly, I might as well carry a broom.’

 

She was occasionally kind but generally sly and strange.

 

Even so, teaching a child suitable ranged weapons was probably her effort to delay as long as possible the feeling of stabbing and cutting someone.

 

Though inside that child wasn’t really a child, but my soul.

 

At the same time, her ghostly intuition that recognized guns as the right weapon for me and recommended them was something even I had to acknowledge.

 

“No one shows this much.”

 

Trade secrets, after all.

 

“So what if my teaching is a bit clumsy.”

 

After I became able to handle guns and shooting perfectly, I hid it even from Mama.

 

“What matters is that the heart behind the teaching is special.”

 

* * *

 

Mint’s casually thrown words had the power to effortlessly steady Helios.

 

When he came to his senses, Helios was earnestly listening to this terrible explanation.

 

Rather than self-loathing, laughter flowed out from absurdity.

 

Right, it was easier to just accept it.

 

‘Listening to this explanation that doesn’t consider the listener at all, I think I’m starting to understand.’

 

He didn’t know it, but due to half of Mint’s natural disposition and half of the disposition that had dulled since coming to prison, she had developed into someone with absolutely no consideration for others.

 

He was unknowingly becoming a person tailored to Mint while beside her.

 

He exercised his natural observational skills to understand what his master didn’t explain.

 

He used the knowledge and intuition he had learned and acquired as the Duke’s son to guess what Mint didn’t say.

 

He grasped her disposition and distinguished between what she liked and disliked.

 

And ultimately.

 

‘So that Master cannot abandon me.’

 

He hoped she would feel such hunger. He hoped she would feel the thirst that came even when he was beside her.

 

Helios’s Adam’s apple moved with a gulp.

 

Time passed quickly.

 

When the carriage that Sergeant Steven diligently pulled finally approached near Niflheim, Mint officially acknowledged it.

 

By this time, it was fair to say that Helios had mastered the basics.

 

“…You said I got the basics down. Why isn’t it forming properly? It won’t fire.”

 

“Oh my, Disciple. Just because a baby has learned the basics of walking doesn’t mean they should try to run right away. Do you think it would be easy? You still have a long way to go…”

 

Bang!

 

Before Mint could finish her sentence, a crisp gunshot rang out across the Wasteland.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————