Short Flashback, Long Flashback (2)
At the very end of the cluster of mages stood a girl with pink hair. It was a hair color you rarely saw in the world Kriel had once lived in. A vivid pink so striking that you could confidently say it couldn't possibly occur naturally. Yet in Tirnanog, such unique hair colors weren't all that uncommon.
But more than the color of her hair, what truly caught Kriel's eye was the girl's identity.
"Oh."
It was a familiar face. The mage he'd originally planned to seek out after crossing into the empire. The lady of the Ket Count family who had utterly shattered Kriel's fantasies about mages.
"Long time no see. Armed. Or should I call you Lady Armed now that you're back with the Ket Count family?"
Armed's eyes trembled as she saw Kriel raise his hand in greeting.
Armed felt a momentary illusion that time itself had frozen.
At first, when she'd vaguely thought, that voice sounds familiar, she could easily dismiss it. How many times had she turned around upon hearing a similar voice or glimpsing white hair, only to be disappointed? This time, too, it was probably just another stranger with a passing resemblance. Armed pulled out the resignation she'd drilled into herself.
But as she stepped out from behind the barrier, sorting her shaken emotions—suddenly, a familiar shock of white hair flashed before her eyes.
Not the cold, sturdy white inherited from the northern harshlands, nor the dignified white of an elder naturally bleached by time. It was pale as bone ash, ominous. The white hair that only she could claim.
No matter how she tried to deny it, there couldn't be another person in this world with such pale white hair paired with those foreboding eyes.
He raised his hand casually, greeting her as if the past few years of silence had been a lie.
Something bubbled up fiercely from deep within Armed's heart. He'd abandoned her so heartlessly. Well, maybe "abandoned" wasn't quite right. But it had been heartless all the same. She'd had to wake at dawn and lie in wait just to wring a farewell from him as he tried to slip away without a word.
The guy who hadn't shown his face once despite her hosting academy sessions for years straight. And now he just shows up like it's nothing?
The members of the Abyss Prevention Society hesitated and stepped back at the sight of Armed glaring at Kriel with trembling eyes.
'No way this guy's her creditor instead of us?'
'N-Nah. The Ket Count family is loaded...'
'And she's pouring all that wealth into this money-pit research?'
As Armed maintained her silent stare, Kriel awkwardly lowered his raised hand, feeling the ominous hush.
Orishin, sensing dark clouds gathering over this hard-won hope, hurriedly whispered.
[You two know each other, right?]
"I told you before we came. I remember her, but she might not remember me. Looks like I came off too familiar..."
He'd meant to speak quietly, but at this close range, his voice carried clearly.
Armed whispered low.
"I remember you."
"Oh. Good to hear. Didn't know you were the one hosting this academy."
How can you say that so casually?
Armed swallowed her unreasonable surge of emotions. This academy had been formed because of the words you left behind. You gave me just your name and vanished—how was I supposed to find you? I thought if I made an academy researching abyss purification like you asked, maybe you'd show up.
And now you appear and say that?
Armed took a deep breath to calm her boiling insides. As he'd always advised her during their mercenary days, a mage had to stay cool-headed.
"Yeah. Long time no see, Kriel."
"Honored that the lady of the Ket family remembers my name."
Armed glanced around. The academy members were watching them with confused expressions.
"Out."
"Pardon?"
"Everyone out. I'll call if I need you."
Armed waved them off dismissively. Her pink hair, falling to her shoulders, swayed with the motion.
The mages were deeply curious about their leader's personal connections, but fear of their funder outweighed it. Once the last member filed out, only Armed and Kriel remained in the chamber.
Kriel naturally turned, stepped down from the dais, and extended his hand—a gesture offering support so she wouldn't stumble. The signal for an escort.
'Damn it...'
Armed cursed both Kriel, who had probably extended his hand without a second thought, and herself for the way her heart pounded regardless. She ignored the hand and clomped down on her own.
Toward the round table below the dais.
Kriel absently stroked his chin once, then pulled out a chair for her without thinking and sat across from her.
[Hey. You two parted on good terms, right? Why's she so frosty?]
"Nah. Armed's always been like that. Even as a mercenary, she was the lofty type who preferred solitary contemplation."
[A lady... and a mercenary?]
"Training exercise. The Ket County always passes the family to the most talented mage among the kids."
Seeing him explain so nonchalantly twisted something inside her. Armed suppressed a sigh and watched the conversation between the unicorn spirit and Kriel.
[So, what. Fellow mercenaries?]
Kriel paused in thought. Fellow mercenaries. Truth be told, they hadn't been in the same mercenary band. Kriel had always operated solo, and while Armed had volunteered for mercenary work as training for the count's daughter, she had her own dedicated band made up of the count family's retainers—like a private guard detail.
He and Armed had just been assigned to the same requests a few times. Factoring in their final encounter, their relationship boiled down to...
"Employer and employee. I worked under her briefly."
"How do you sum it up like that?!"
Armed yelled in disbelief. The incident that changed my life was just "that" to you?
"Explaining every detail would make the story too long. And the summary's accurate enough."
"You idiot!"
Orishin grew curious watching Armed growl at Kriel like she wanted to devour him. What on earth had happened between them?
[Anyway, no fighting. Sit down and tell us what went down. Why the intense welcome?]
Armed, who had been fuming, closed her eyes briefly and regained her composure. Kriel spoke in his usual emotionless tone.
"Nothing much. Monsters hit her territory, I happened to be in the right spot. End of story."
"I keep telling you, it's not the kind of thing you sum up like that!"
Armed recalled the past.
The calamity that had invaded Ket territory. It went by different names depending on the region. Hundred Demons Night Parade in some places, Procession of the Dead in others. Its most famous name was the Wild Hunt.
The stormy night when inhuman monsters poured down like a flood. When the Ket Count collapsed from an unknown curse and the territory's barriers crumbled.
The one who stepped forward to block the vanguard of those abominations was Kriel.
"Like I keep saying, I just got lucky. The leader of each region's Wild Hunt varies, and the one that hit your territory was the talkative sort."
"Oh yeah? Because it accepted your duel challenge?"
Kriel explained slowly. Yeah, the kind you could reason with. Not some storm-condensed behemoth or demon remnant, but a Wraith King who had once been human—so the ploy of challenging it to a duel bought time.
If the Wild Hunt's leader had manifested as something else, it would've swept the village before he could even issue the challenge.
[Huh?]
Orishin stared at Kriel in surprise.
The Wild Hunt was one of the three great calamities, ranked alongside the ancient dwarf war machines left by their civilization. Below the abyss in threat level, but still one of humanity's top three woes. In sheer scale, the Wild Hunt's ghost hordes couldn't compare to the automaton legacy of an entire civilization.
But they earned calamity status through their undead immortality and ability to appear unpredictably anywhere across the continent.
Winning against such a disaster? Kriel deserved to be hailed as that region's hero.
Kriel answered with his usual blank expression.
"I didn't win."
[Ah, gotcha. Well, then...]
"What do you mean 'well then'!"
Armed shook her head. No one would call challenging the Wraith King to a duel—from midnight to dawn, holding it one-on-one to buy time—"didn't win."
In the backlit glow of sunrise, Kriel had propped himself up on his sword. Armor shattered beyond repair, right arm bent at an impossible angle. Legs that seemed a miracle to still support him.
The knight who held his blade until the Wraith King fully vanished answered her question about payment with those words.
'A single coin.'
And then he left. Did this guy really not grasp the magnitude of what he'd done? She'd wanted to repay him somehow, but he'd taken just one coin and gone...!