Reborn Soul Master: The Rogue's Counterattack

The capital of the kingdom. Three years ago, the war between humans and demons started here. Once the richest and safest city, it has now become a no-man's land.

As soon as the war began, the king was assassinated, and the royal family that was supposed to lead the kingdom fled to survive. The city without its master quickly collapsed, and the nobles abandoned the capital in order to survive.

After the war spread to the entire kingdom, the demons no longer coveted the capital. The once safest city became the most dangerous city, and now it has become a worthless land.

"I'm hungry..." However, there are survivors in the abandoned city.

"Let's go hunting. We have to catch a bird to eat."

"Found an unpolluted lake! I'll go get some water! Anyone want to come with me?" Most of the survivors in this city are children.

No one took care of them, and the children hid their bodies and barely maintained their lives. Even if the demons left the capital, the children could not leave the city.

The kingdom is still at war with the demons, and the children cannot leave the city alone. Staying here is the safest option for the children.

A city that neither humans nor demons would come to. There is no safer place for children than this city.

"Huh? Hey, wait a minute! Kids! Hide!"

"why?"

"There's someone over there! Hide quickly!" The children who were about to walk out of the city wall saw the figure and hurriedly hid in the alley.

"Is it a human? Or a demon?"

"Why did he come here?" Without divine power, it is almost impossible to distinguish between demons and humans.

Also, humans can't be trusted. Some people sell children to demons, so sometimes when people find the capital, the children will hide like they are now.

"Was it a year ago that someone came to the capital?"

"Shh. What if we are discovered? The demons have sharp ears. Everyone be quiet and cover your mouths." The children hiding in the alleys covered their mouths and looked at the people who passed through the city gate and walked on the streets of the capital.

A man with black hair, fair skin, regular features and a well-proportioned body.

"He's quite handsome?"

"But it looks like a demon. That person has no expression."

“Where is he going?” The man walked slowly down the street, looking around. Although his face was expressionless, his eyes seemed full of nostalgia.

"Is it human?"

"Hush. Don't follow him, no matter who he is."

"Yes. He said that until the war is over, the safest place is the capital."

"What if it's the resistance or the revolution? I heard that if you go to the resistance base, there will be a lot of food."

Watching the men walking on the streets and the children hiding in the alleys depicts despair and hope. Is the man who appeared in the city once a year a savior? Isn't it?

"Don't trust anyone but us."

"Yes. I heard that there are people who pretend to be resistance soldiers, take children away and hand them over to the demons."

"So don't get your hopes up. Unless the Guardian comes to pick us up himself, we will all stay in this city."

The child who seemed to be the leader spoke with a serious expression, and the children next to him covered their mouths and nodded.

"Huh? Hey, wait a minute! That guy!" At this time, a child pointed at the man walking on the street and said.

"It looks like he's heading to our hiding place?"

"Ah, what should we do? There are so many children in the hiding place..." The children looked at the child who seemed to be the leader in panic.

"Attacking is a last resort. First, we follow him. Don't be seen. Everyone follow me quietly."

The seemingly leader boy made up his mind, picked up the sharp wood chip rolling on the ground, and quietly walked out of the alley. The mysterious man slowly walked towards the "hiding place" mentioned by the children.

The man kept walking, as if he had been looking for a hiding place in this city from the beginning.

"Huh? Uh, the door's open?"

"Everyone listen up. Our goal is not to kill that man. Our goal is to get the children to safety."

"But what if we die?"

"Even if I die, I will die. I will take the lead in dealing with him, and you guys focus on getting the children to shelter." The child who seemed to be the leader looked at the wood chip in his hand, then gritted his teeth and ran towards the hiding place with the door opened.

"You bad guy! Let the children go!" The children stopped in a daze as they rushed towards the mysterious man through the door of the hiding place.

“What, what?” The atmosphere in the hiding place was different from what was feared, it was calm. The kind of calm that the bloody scene that the children were worried about didn’t seem to happen at all.

"Mr. Jack Carter. Are you here?" The mysterious man extended his hand to Jack Carter, the children's leader, protector and person in charge, with joy on his face.

"Mr. Cardin..."

"Huh? Leader. Why are you crying?"

"Why are you crying, leader! Did this uncle make you cry?" Jack Carter burst into tears as soon as he saw Cardin.

"You're still alive. That's great. That's really great." I took Cardin's outstretched hand with both of my own and felt its warmth. This wasn't an illusion.

"I'm so glad you're safe, Mr. Jack Carter. I was worried because I had no news."

Although Cardin's eyes were wet, he didn't cry. Instead, he smiled brightly, trying to reassure Jack Carter.

In that brilliant look, Jack Carter couldn't help but shed tears again. Not long after.

Jack Carter, who had stopped crying, put a glass of orange juice on the table and asked Cardin.

"But how did you find this place? How did you know I was here..." Cardin placed a rolled-up piece of parchment on the table.

"what is this?"

"I asked someone I know to help me find Mr. Jack Carter." Hearing Cardin's words, Jack Carter carefully unfolded the rolled parchment.

[Jack Carter. Leader of the bandit gang. Current whereabouts unknown. Last seen in the capital three years ago. Possibly died after failing to escape.] The words written on the parchment were all hopeless.

"After seeing this, you still come to me?" Jack Carter showed an unbelievable expression. Then, Cardin pointed under the parchment and asked him to take a closer look.

[Recently, I heard from the person who sold human children to the demons that someone was seen near the capital. He looked similar to Jack Carter.] Below the parchment was written a clue that might lead to finding Jack Carter.

“I couldn’t see a single person around the capital, so it was very difficult at first.”

Cardan chuckled, remembering when he got the information from Belid. A few days ago. On the wall of Radames.

"You said it was written in detail, but it's hard to know like this." Cardin asked Belid with a chuckle.

"Let me inject magic into the parchment and see." Then, Belid pointed at the parchment, and Cardin tilted his head in agreement.

Buzz. The moment the magic power was injected, holographic text appeared on the parchment.

"what is this?"

[Jack Carter. Survivor of the Capital. Protector of the children left behind.]

"We were also surprised when we were on this mission. We didn't expect there were survivors in the capital." Belid also answered with a surprised expression, and Cardin looked at Belid with questioning eyes.

"Didn't the Revolutionary Group or the Resistance save the survivors in the capital?" Cardin also knew the situation in the capital. It was where the war started and where the damage was the most severe.

A city that has lost its value is an abandoned city that neither the enemy nor our army will seek.

"We didn't have the energy to rescue the survivors at that time because there were wars going on all over the kingdom." Belid shook his head regretfully and continued to answer.

"So it was probably last year? When the war was a little calmer, a few members of the Revolutionary League went to scout, but they found no survivors."

The Revolutionary Group and the Resistance Army also believed that there might be survivors in the capital, but even after several reconnaissance missions, no survivors were found.

Eventually, the revolutionaries and the resistance concluded that there were no survivors and abandoned the capital.

"Cardan. Since you plan to go find that person anyway, can I ask you a favor?"

"Do you want me to bring back the survivors?"

"Yes. Although it is an abandoned city, it is very dangerous. The most important thing is that there is almost no food." Belid said worriedly, and Cardin immediately nodded in response.

"Okay. I'll definitely bring them back."

Reunited three years later, Cardin and Jack Carter talked non-stop.

They shared their stories of what happened and how they survived, and were happy and sad together.

"So Mr. Cardin has reached 8 stars now?"

"Yes. Only one star is left to catch up with father."

"If Mr. Charlotte were still alive, he would be very happy." Charlotte's publicly disclosed star rating is 9 stars.

He was only one step away from becoming the supreme necromancer of the kingdom. Of course, Cardin also realized that this step might be impossible.

It has taken more than 8 years to reach 3 stars. How much more time and understanding will it take to reach 9 stars?

"I am already very satisfied to be able to fight the highest-level demons." Although he wants to reach the 9th star, now is not the time to increase the star level, but the war period to fight the demons.

"Has Mr. Jack Carter been here all this time? Why didn't he run away..."

"I can't leave those kids behind. And it's impossible to run away with those kids." Jack Carter said with a wry smile and emptied his cup.

"That's right. But if you have the chance, you will run away, right? With the children."

"If it's safe, you wouldn't not go, right?" Cardin seemed satisfied with the answer and took a sip of orange juice.

"I'm still worried about how I'm going to convince you if you insist on staying in the capital."

"Well, this tavern can be reopened after the war is over. I'm just worried about those children." Jack Carter looked at the children running in the alley outside the window.

"There are too many children that I couldn't protect. Half of the children who survived have already left or died."

The environment in the capital was too harsh for the survivors to live in. It was not easy to get food because there was nothing left.

The survivors of the capital city eke out a living by catching fruit and fish to this day.

"If the children are safe, there is nothing to be sorry about."

"Well. Do you need to take a lot of luggage with you?" Jack Carter asked with his head tilted when he heard Cardin's question.

"Well, it will be ready soon. Why do you ask?" Cardin chuckled and pulled a piece of parchment from his pocket, tearing it into pieces immediately.

"Why? I want to help you escape. It's easy and quick."