Hero or Villain, Both

In the end, I was the one that was chosen to lead.

I as in Yulian Redmont.

Since I was the leader of the human team and this was the land of the humans, it was only natural that I was chosen as the leader in the end.

Elder Arun had no problem with this and as for Aragon…

He didn't show it on his face, but he was mocking me within our shared minds.

"I told you that you should lead." He said in a teasing voice that made me give a bitter laugh.

But even if I was the one that was the leader of the team, that didn't mean that I would actually have to do anything. Instead, it meant that I was able to sit outside and watch as everyone else did everything.

I had already established myself as a weakling in the eyes of everyone, so they knew that I wouldn't be charging in myself.

At the same time, it wasn't as if us humans were the ones that would be handling this matter.

In the negotiations with the elves, we had already handed over the right to punish the noble to the elves. They would be the ones that would handle rescuing their comrades and would have the right to take care of the noble.

That noble was only a baron, so it was hard to imagine where he had gotten the courage to do something like selling elf slaves.

But since he was just a noble, it meant that him being punished wouldn't cause any harm to the Abel Kingdom.

So to trade his life for the chance to become closer with the elves was a welcome trade.

They didn't care if they had to sacrifice one of their nobles for this.

When we arrived at the manor where the baron was hiding the elven slaves, that was when our mission was over.

"This is it." After bringing them here, I said to the punisher squad, "I hope that you will keep discretion in mind when dealing with this baron. However, we will back you up and make sure that everyone that tries to escape is caught. At the same time, we will make sure to cover up everything that happens here."

Elder Arun said with a nod, "Thank you for your cooperation, it was more than we had been expecting in the first place. We will keep your words in mind and try to have as much discretion as possible."

Then narrowing his eyes, he added, "But there will be times where we won't be able to have discretion. I hope that you will understand when the time comes."

I gave a nod to show that I understood before adding, "I hope that you will keep in mind that there aren't just elven slaves, but also human slaves. They are people that have done nothing wrong, so I hope that you will show leniency."

Elder Arun gave another nod before saying, "Of course, we understand that there are all kinds of people out there. We will not blame an innocent person for the acts of an evil man."

Once we agreed on this, that was when Elder Arun led the punisher squad into the manner.

One moment they were standing there with us and the next they disappeared without a trace.

It was as if they had disappeared into thin air with how they had disappeared.

"What happened?" The others in my group couldn't help asking when they saw this, but I already knew what it was.

It was a simple use of a dark attributed spirit.

The others couldn't see it, but it was easy for me to see the spirit.

When it appeared, it even looked at me as if it wanted to talk to me.

So in the end, I had to gesture to it with my eyes to ignore me.

After the elves disappeared, I just said to the rest of my group, "Spread out around the manner and form the net. Make sure that not a single person is able to escape from this place."

"Yes, sir."

They didn't waste any time following this order since I had come here on the order of the king.

But at the same time, Viscount Denoir had helped a bit by making sure that the ones that came were those that were close to the Denoir Family. Since they were close to the Denoir Family, they knew the situation between me and Viscount Denoir's daughter, Debora Denoir.

They knew to cozy up to me for the future.

I didn't really mind since it helped me with this matter.

I just wanted to end this as soon as possible.

But there was a part of me that was still worried that there was more than met the eye.

After all, there was no way that a baron wouldn't know the consequences of dealing in elven slaves. Since he knew the consequences, he wouldn't actually do this unless he was confident that he would be able to deal with the consequences.

Or was he hoping that he would be able to gain enough power by selling this first batch of elven slaves. Once he obtained backers by selling the elven slaves, then he would be able to protect himself against those that wanted to punish him?

The more that I thought about it, the more confused I was about the goal that this baron had.

Taking a deep breath, I shook these thoughts out of my mind.

It didn't matter what the reason was at this point since we were going to take care of him.

Elder Arun and the punisher squad were an elite squad among the elves, so it wasn't as if they were that weak.

But since there was the variable…

"I might have to actually do something." I couldn't help thinking to myself as I gripped the sword that was at my waist.

I didn't want to do something, but there might not be a choice.