NOVEL WEB Chapter 168
“The Hero Association is having a daily war.”
Since the establishment of the association, the president has been overwhelmed with headaches, claiming it has never been this busy.
All employees, retired heroes, and even the staff dispatched from the Heros Company were trying to help with the workload, but the processing speed couldn’t keep up with the situation.
Heroes and villains were clashing from all directions.
Villains were being captured every day, and as a result, heroes were getting injured or even dying.
It’s already hard enough with the Evil Society, and now the Liberators and various other organizations were stirring up trouble.
The Hero Association didn’t even have the energy to be surprised at how much evil lurked in the world.
At least the Heros City, where Invictus and several top-ranking heroes were focusing their defense, seemed calm, but that was merely the surface.
If the most fortified place, Heros City, was like this, it would be safe to say that other cities were practically battlegrounds.
Thus, the Hero Association couldn’t spare much attention for the students from the Academy who had come to visit.
They were too busy relaying the battle conditions to the heroes, assessing the damage, and predicting the villains’ next moves.
No matter how much those students were victims of the Academy ambush incident, there was no room left to even offer them a cup of tea.
“You seem really busy.”
Lapiz commented indifferently while observing the employees who didn’t even glance in their direction.
Only after she made her presence known did the receptionist, Zion, finally react and welcome them to the Hero Association.
If it were any other day, they might have exchanged a brief “Haven’t I seen you somewhere?” but both were too frazzled to recognize each other.
Ageha felt sympathy for Zion, who looked like she hadn’t showered in days, and mentioned they were here to see the Association President.
“About the president, um, well, she’s a bit busy right now. Unless it’s extremely urgent, it might be hard to meet with her…”
Zion recognized who they were but couldn’t give them special treatment, so she attempted to politely send them away.
What she lacked was physical comfort, not mental tranquility. She didn’t want to be harsh to the students who were probably having a tougher time than herself.
“It *is* an urgent and important matter, which is why we came all this way. We’re planning to breach the Liberators’ territory and transport one of their executives to Heros City.”
Minho’s bold declaration caused the employee to momentarily doubt her hearing.
Having hardly slept for two days, Zion thought for a second that she might be hallucinating or mishearing things.
So, she had no choice but to ask again. It was that unbelievable.
“…So, you mean to say you’re going to capture one of the Liberators’ executives? By yourselves?”
“Yep, you heard that right.”
Zion was exhausted and barely coherent, but she asked them to wait a moment while she contacted the Association President.
She could have dismissed them as just kids with childish fantasies, but she was holding out hope that they might actually have something to offer.
The situation at the Hero Association was critical, and since they were Academy students, they might at least have something worth considering.
Even if not, giving some mental support to the students wouldn’t hurt either, so Zion guided them to the president’s office.
Seolhwa and Yeonhwa sighed inwardly, realizing the terrible state of the employees who looked worse than Zion as they headed to the president’s office.
Changwon raised a logical question, thinking that even in a busy situation, shouldn’t they take a break to be more productive?
“That may be true, but everyone is so busy that there’s simply no time to rest…”
“That’s because Blanca is wreaking havoc everywhere. So, the sooner we capture her, the better.”
Jinhyeon burned with determination even in the chaos, while Minho gloomily lamented how things had spiraled out of control.
But whining wouldn’t change anything, so as soon as they reached the president’s office, he shifted gears and began explaining their plan to the suspicious president.
Initially, the president seemed skeptical but gradually started paying serious attention to Minho’s words and was considering the plan.
By the end, he was completely dumbfounded, questioning why they hadn’t just executed this plan sooner instead of idling around asking for permission.
“Well, we’re just aspiring heroes. No matter how perfect it seems, we have to at least report before acting.”
“That’s… true. And reviewing such matters is our job. Just wait a moment, what if the plan goes awry?”
The president paused and asked what they would do if the plan went awry from the get-go.
In response, Lapiz replied in a calm voice that they would simply make sure things didn’t go sideways from the beginning.
“No, no, what I mean is, of course, it would be great if everything goes smoothly, but you know that in life, things don’t always go as planned? So, I’m asking what you’ll do if it doesn’t.”
“We’ll solve it by force.”
“…Even knowing that civilians might get caught in the middle?”
“There are no civilians. You know that? The city is practically the Liberators’ den. All the residents are allies of the Liberators.”
Lapiz, who would never have said such a thing before, calmly declared that they would push aside all obstacles.
“And the situation is such that we can’t afford to pick and choose.”
The president couldn’t dispute it as it wasn’t technically wrong, but ethically he couldn’t agree, so he kept his mouth shut.
In normal circumstances, he would have had to refuse. However, given the present situation, he couldn’t afford to be picky and approved their plan, promising his support.
Meanwhile, he silently prayed that things wouldn’t go sideways.
– – – – –
“Blanca. You really should rest now. Your eyes look like they’ve seen better days. You look so worn out.”
Justitia looked at me, worried that if I didn’t rest soon, it would be a dangerous situation.
I wanted to argue that I was fine, but as I approached her to say so, my knees buckled slightly, and I stumbled.
Justitia quickly steadied me and helped me up.
“…No, you need to take a break, Blanca. This is an order from your senior. If you keep going like this, you might screw up when it really counts. You need to rest, for both yourself and the Liberators.”
The Liberators had a horizontal hierarchy within the same rank, so seniority didn’t apply here. Only heroes had those kinds of privileges.
Even Justitia, who hadn’t properly escaped her own situation yet, sighed as she murmured that it seemed I really had to.
If I had pushed my body this far, I probably wouldn’t be dreaming. At the very least, I wouldn’t have to see those kids in my dreams.
The reason I wanted to avoid seeing them in my dreams wasn’t because they were cursing me. It was exactly the opposite.
After treating them like that, they were still kindly saying, “It can’t be helped,” and I was scared to sleep, fearing I might hear such words.
“I get it, so just let me be. I can hang in there until today.”
“You…”
Justitia gave me a look of concern one last time. But she didn’t seem willing to break my stubbornness, warning me that if I staggered again, she’d forcibly lay me down on a bed.
“Well, I’m not old enough to worry about my stamina like you do!”
“What are you talking about?”
Justitia seemed slightly offended by my words, frowning and wondering why I was saying such things.
“Eh… I just don’t have a reason to smile, so I figured I’d try to laugh, even if it’s forced. Humor me.”
She fell silent, saying she had no rebuttal if that was the case. She knew I was struggling because of my friends.
Even though I had never said it, it seemed she had figured it all out.
Everyone kept saying it would get better with time, that they would understand too.
But how could they? That was impossible.
Looking up at the sky, I noticed the weather was oddly clear today.
December in Portugal was warmer than December on the peninsula, but it wasn’t warm enough to survive in just a shirt, so I pulled on my coat.
…Now that I think about it, did we have any kind of defense measures for our archduke?
I didn’t think we had any besides abilities users.
I briefly considered this but dismissed it, attributing it to the fatigue making me think oddly.