Liens opened his eyes and looked at Elsa, who was squatting beside him.

From this angle, Elsa's chest was quite impressive; although not as grand as some of the larger beauties he had encountered, it was much better than ordinary women.

"Is there something you need, Miss Elsa?"

Liens sat up from the bedding and asked Elsa.

"I apologize. I called for you outside the door just now, but I didn't get a response. I thought something had happened to you, so I came in without permission."

Elsa apologized to Liens and explained her actions.

"I'm fine. I'm just a bit prone to sleepiness. Once I fall asleep, I can barely hear anything from outside."

"So, Miss Elsa, next time if you call me and don't get a response, you can just come in and wake me up."

Liens shook his head, indicating he didn't mind.

"Let's not talk about that… Miss Elsa, is there something urgent you came for, or have President Benjamin and the others returned?"

Liens asked about Elsa's purpose again.

"President Benjamin and the others have returned. Upon hearing of your arrival, President Benjamin was very pleased and asked me to inquire if you have time to meet now?"

Elsa replied.

"They've returned, have they… Of course, I must meet them. We also need to thoroughly discuss the evacuation plan."

Liens smiled and affirmed.

With the outbreak of war and the restrictions imposed by the two factions within the city, the Adventurers' Association simply couldn't have enough food to sustain nearly ten thousand people.

Therefore, every day, the Extraordinary Ones of the Adventurers' Association would take most of their combat power outside the city to hunt magical beasts or wild animals.

Every day, they had to bring back at least a ton of prey to barely meet the food demands of nearly ten thousand people.

The two factions within the city naturally knew about this, but they didn't stop them.

After all, even a rabbit cornered will bite, let alone the Adventurers' Association, which still possessed a certain combat capability that could pose a threat to both sides.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have imposed restrictions on the Adventurers' Association.

Besides preparing food for the civilians sheltered by the Adventurers' Association, Benjamin and their daily outings were also to clear out the magical beasts outside the city, preparing for the subsequent evacuation.

Although they had requested aid from above, Benjamin and his group never gave up on self-rescue because of it.

...

Led by Elsa, Liens quickly met President Benjamin, as President Benjamin was waiting not far outside the quiet room.

He seemed to have been eager to meet Liens for a long time, but was concerned that a sudden disturbance might cause displeasure, so he chose to have Elsa come and inquire about Liens's thoughts first.

"Haha, hello, Mr. Heier, I am Benjamin. Thank you very much for extending a helping hand in this critical moment."

Seeing Liens and Elsa, Benjamin quickly ran over, warmly clasped Liens's hand, and laughed.

He was stout, had a buzz cut, and a resolute face with thick eyebrows and large eyes, looking very energetic.

However, Benjamin, with such a physique and appearance, emitted magical elemental reactions in Liens's elemental vision.

In other words, Benjamin in front of him was not a Knight, but a Mage.

To be honest, this contrast was quite significant. It's just that he didn't know if Benjamin was a melee Mage similar to Lucrezia.

"Hello, President Benjamin."

"I just accepted a commission from the Adventurers' Association; it's essentially a transaction, each getting what they need, so you don't need to be so polite."

"Moreover, Miss Elsa has already expressed her thanks many times before. If you keep saying it, I'll feel embarrassed."

Liens responded with a smile.

"In that case, I will not say more, lest I cause annoyance."

"Mr. Heier probably hasn't had lunch yet. Everyone outside is waiting in the hall for dinner. How about we go eat first?"

"Afterward, we can discuss the evacuation plan in detail. What do you think?"

Benjamin asked.

It was now approaching noon. After his narrow defeat against Earl Bard of the Glenbagen Family, Liens had run several more instances to test the strength of the noble forces.

After the test, he concluded:

If that Earl didn't make a move, he alone could go in and out of the Inner City seven times.

But if the noble forces gathered all their troops to interfere with the Adventurers' Association's evacuation, even he would find it difficult to protect everyone.

However, thinking about it, the Adventurers' Association's evacuation shouldn't be worth the noble forces using all their strength; at most, they would deploy forces like the Divine Wind Adventurer Group, or even fewer.

Elsa had mentioned before that to formulate a perfect evacuation plan, they had attempted to organize an evacuation operation.

At that time, the noble forces dispatched a legion to intercept them. That legion was led by several Extraordinary Ones and composed of hundreds of elite soldiers in armor.

Because it was only a test of both sides' reactions, they did not engage in conflict but chose to retreat back to the Association.

As for the rebel forces, it seemed they saw them retreat under the pressure of the noble forces' legion, so they did not deploy any troops throughout the process.

Thinking of the rebel forces, a hint of gloom appeared in Liens's eyes.

Elsa had previously mentioned that the rebel forces were composed of multiple factions, making them very chaotic, but he hadn't expected this chaos to be much more severe than he imagined.

Rewind time a bit.

After testing the noble forces in the Inner City, Liens planned to take the opportunity to test the strength of the rebel forces.

He was very curious: why didn't that Earl, who was clearly so powerful, completely crush the rebel forces? Was there some special means on that side?

With this curiosity, he opened an instance and went to the territory occupied by the rebel forces, which was the Military Fortress.

If one overlooks Kara City from a high vantage point, one would see an irregular semi-circular structure built against a mountain.

The Inner City, nestled against the mountain, is located on the north side of the city, while the Outer City's structure resembles a crescent moon formed by inner and outer city walls.

The Outer City is further divided into three parts: the west of the city where the Military Fortress is located, the south of the city where the Adventurers' Association is located, and the east of the city where the Church of Heavenly Light is located.

And the rebel forces occupied the entire western city area, marked by the Military Fortress as its landmark building.

Scene change.

In the instance.

Liens appeared on a desolate street, then turned and headed west. Soon, he arrived in the west of the city from the south.

Then, he saw a scene that made him feel disgusted, even extremely repulsed.

In an alley, a group of men surrounded a woman, holding an open-air gathering, wantonly displaying their ugly organs below.

The woman, pressed beneath them, had vacant eyes and a body like a soulless corpse, passively enduring their torment.

Liens knew he wasn't a good person. He had killed many people, both in reality and in instances.

Especially during the massacre at the Slave Exchange, there might have been innocent people present.

But there were certain bottom lines he always upheld.

And these things before him were truly trampling on his bottom line, trampling on the conscience he retained from his previous life.

"Benjamin, is this the equality you pursued… It's truly disappointing."