Chapter 796

742 decided to make his escape around midnight on a day when the number of guards, including the supervisor, had been reduced to less than half the usual.

From what he overheard, it seemed that the “resistance organization” or something like that had achieved a great victory, and a big festival was being held in the major cities of Alvheim.

While the news of the resistance organization’s crushing defeat wasn’t exactly pleasant, the fact that such an organization existed and that the number of guards had significantly decreased was enough to make 742 feel that his eavesdropping had been worthwhile.

“Alright, today’s the day.”

Glancing at the fairies leaving the internment camp early in the morning, 742 clenched his fists tightly and waited for the deep night to arrive.

And then, midnight.

Children who hadn’t reached adulthood lay on the floor in tattered clothes, fast asleep. Dozens of men and women, having finished their breeding duties, were tangled together naked, deep in slumber. Even pregnant women with swollen bellies and toddlers who could barely walk were quietly asleep in the dead of night.

“Fire! There’s a fire at the training grounds! Everyone, wake up!”

The shouts of the guards, who had been drowning their disappointment at not being able to attend the festival with wine, jolted everyone awake.

“What, a fire?!”

“Damn it, why today of all days?!”

“Wake the inferior species! We need to put out the fire!”

The guards, panicked by the sight of the blazing training grounds, rushed around in chaos. They urgently needed to extinguish the fire. If the training grounds burned down completely, their disgusting pedophile superior would throw a fit.

“Water! Bring water! Where are those with water spirits?!”

“They went to the festival!”

“You should’ve left at least one! Damn it, then bring water from the Great Bathhouse! Mobilize the inferior species too!”

The quiet internment camp turned into a bustling marketplace in an instant.

The guards kicked open the doors of the human pens and shouted at the awakened humans to help put out the fire. Children in rags and naked men and women, who looked slightly older, rushed out toward the Great Bathhouse.

‘Idiots.’

Hidden in the shadows beneath the wooden fence, far from the training grounds, 742 sneered as he watched the scene.

Just as he had predicted, despite the large number of people gathered, not a single one considered the possibility that the fire might have been deliberately set.

That was the fairies’ flaw. They had become so accustomed to the routine repeated over decades and centuries that the idea of the humans in the internment camp attempting to escape never crossed their minds.

‘As expected, setting the fire was the right move.’

Confident that no one in the camp was looking in his direction, 742 quickly stood up and looked at the tall wooden fence.

The log wall, several meters high, was an insurmountable barrier for an ordinary human.

But for an ordinary human.

“Haaah…”

742 crouched down, bent his knees, took a deep breath, and unleashed the power he had been hiding for over a decade, leaping into the air.

—Whoosh!

Like a frog leaping to escape a predator, the young boy’s body soared into the sky, his outstretched hand grabbing the top of the fence.

‘Got it!’

Holding onto the top of the fence with a triumphant smile, 742 pulled himself up with sheer arm strength and climbed over.

The guards and his fellow humans were too busy putting out the fire to notice him. No one saw him, and no one could stop his escape. Now, all that was left was to jump over the fence and run eastward.

To a place beyond the reach of Alvheim’s Great Forest.

Freedom was waiting for him.

The freedom to live as a person who could decide his own life, rather than as livestock whose life and death were dictated by the fairies.

As he was about to jump down from the fence, the smile of a girl who had once thought she could be happy living as livestock if only they could be together—2067’s smile—flashed through his mind, making him glance back once…

‘…Yeah, this is the right thing.’

742 already understood. Staying here would only bring more suffering.

He had already learned about the concept of lovers through the fairies’ gossip and stolen glimpses of their lifestyle.

How could he endure it?

Watching the girl he liked embrace the ugly supervisor without hesitation, being moved to the Hall of Sowing, and then living a life of breeding with dozens of others, bearing their children without resistance.

For 2067, it was a natural way of life, but for 742, it was an unbearable hell.

He had once considered escaping with her, but… that was impossible from the start.

Clapping requires two hands.

2067 had no intention of escaping, and even if she did, she couldn’t leap over the fence. How could he possibly take her with him?

Even if they somehow managed to get over the fence, with 2067’s running speed, they wouldn’t last two days before being captured and brutally killed.

So 742 had no choice but to suppress his desire to escape with 2067.

He couldn’t drag her to her death just because of his selfish desires.

‘I can’t live here… and you can only live here.’

With his resolve hardened, 742 cut off his hesitation and jumped down from the fence.

—

Five days later.

“There he is! We found him!”

‘They’ve caught up.’

Hearing the murderous voice from afar, 742, who had been running through the forest, quickly turned and swung his sword toward the direction of the voice.

—Clang!

The vibration traveled through his grip. The deflected arrow sank deep into the dirt.

The longsword he had taken from a fairy he had encountered three days after escaping the internment camp trembled lightly, shaking off the arrow’s force.

‘It’s a good sword. Too good for that fairy.’

The flawless steel longsword had already saved his life several times.

It was a shame that such a sword belonged to a fairy who, despite his flashy attire, couldn’t wield it properly.

The sword must be happy too. Instead of a pathetic owner, it had found a new master who could use it to its full potential.

Chuckling at his own thoughts, 742 charged toward the direction the arrow had come from like a hungry leopard.

—Thunk! Thwack!

—Crack!

Three or four arrows shot like lightning, and roots that should have been quietly buried in the ground rose like thorns to block his path.

But instead of turning to flee, 742 increased his speed and raised the longsword above his shoulder.

“Haaaah!”

A chain of slashes unfolded behind him. The blade, swung diagonally, sliced through two arrows simultaneously, and the following slashes deflected the arrows, cutting through the roots like firewood.

The strength and speed were unbelievable for someone from the internment camp.

Having revealed his hidden power, 742 had slaughtered over ten fairies in the past two days of pursuit, and he realized that with each fairy he killed, his body grew slightly stronger.

He didn’t know why, but it was a welcome phenomenon.

“The blond-haired inferior species in rags…! It’s definitely the runaway from Pen 4!”

‘Now they’re openly calling it a pen. They used to boast that being a producer was an honor and a privilege.’

With a cold sneer, 742 increased his speed even more.

Thirty steps of sprinting, two leaps. Kicking off a tree trunk, he soared into the air and closed the distance to the fairy who had been shooting arrows at him from above.

“The inferior species who killed Lady Hefestitas!”

The fairy dropped his bow and frantically drew his sword, thrusting it toward 742’s neck. It seemed he had some training in swordsmanship, as the thrust was quite sharp.

“Who’s that?”

But 742 twisted his wrist slightly, deflecting the thrust downward with his blade, then hooked the fairy’s leg and shoved him with his shoulder.

“Ugh…!”

The fairy, overwhelmed by the significant difference in weight, lost his balance and fell from the tree.

The fairy flailed his limbs, trying to regain his posture, but before he could do anything—

—Crunch!

742’s longsword, following his leap, pierced through the fairy’s heart.

The movements of 742, who had never formally learned swordsmanship, were guided purely by instinct. Yet, the seamless, flawless chain of attacks was perfect.

—

Half a month later.

Twenty days since the night he set the internment camp on fire and escaped. After running through the forest without a moment’s rest, killing weaker fairies and avoiding stronger ones…

‘This is… the world beyond the Great Forest!’

742 finally emerged from the Great Forest and faced the endless plains.

‘A land without fairies… a land of freedom.’

An infinitely wide, dazzlingly bright grassland where no disgusting giant trees could be seen.

The boy, clad in blood-soaked rags and covered in wounds, knelt and kissed the ground, tears streaming down his face at the beauty before him.

The regret and sorrow for what he had left behind and lost were overwhelmed by the joy and hope swelling in his chest.

Here, the freedom he had been searching for would surely be found.

Without a doubt.