Persuasion

Six hours since I'd slipped out of the hideout.

"I'm sure it's around here."

North of the capital, I reached the Verdant Forest and let Yellow Dragon's memories take my feet.

The forest was exactly what its name promised. Enormous trees and plants of every color grew so thick that each step came slow. Nahan's body was sturdy enough that it wasn't as hard as it looked, but the mess at dawn and too little sleep were wearing me down all the same.

"Ah, forget it. I'll rest a bit, then go."

In the end I found a decent rock, dropped onto it, and pulled out my canteen. Once my throat was wet, I ate the jerky and dried fruit I'd bought at the capital market. A short rest and a little food, and of course I thought my strength would come back.

"......Full stomach. Now I'm sleepy."

I only got more tired. Well, I'd lived in peace for nearly a month, then spent yesterday and today getting tumbled halfway to death. I'd thought one quiet year would be the end of it. I never imagined I'd be thrown into the middle of an incident.

Still. What else am I supposed to do?

If I wanted to live, I had to move. I barely shook off the fatigue pressing in, got up, and walked on.

Black Wolf's memories.

Unlike the original and the setting compendium, which had settled into my head on their own, these seemed to open only when I faced the related incident head-on. Which meant the only memories of Black Wolf available to me now were the ones tied to Yellow Dragon—and even those were mostly basics. His hermitage. His habits. His way of speaking.

Still, with this much, I won't fall short of playing Yellow Dragon.

I couldn't swing power like Yellow Dragon, strongest of the Ten Strong, right away. The look of him, though—that I could imitate well enough. I'd already slipped out of the mess before dawn yesterday by acting as Black Wolf. If I could act as Yellow Dragon the same way...

The named commission. I might actually be able to handle it.

I walked on, about to open the named commission the Emperor had given me once more, when—

A sensation ran over my whole body, thin and soft, as if I were passing through cloth.

Just as I remembered.

A space sealed under a barrier of the highest grade, so the members of Black Wolf would not find it.

This was where Black Wolf had brought the fifth member of Black Wolf into the fold. The wreckage of a shattered hut. Logs left as nothing but stumps. And, because of them, a wide-open sky. The way a battlefield heals itself once the years pass after a war, this place had healed too—but the traces of the fight still lay thick upon it.

"Did the two of them fight, then end up close?"

They probably still weren't on bad terms. ...Eh. Whatever.

"Ten Strong or not, if they belong to Black Wolf, everyone but Lactea is under a Restriction."

They couldn't hit me anyway. ......Probably.

"Enough. Let's just move."

Three days left, counting today. I had to grasp Yellow Dragon's power as fast as I could, meet the fifth member, and deal with the named commission.

"People really fought here?"

Shoving aside wreckage strewn far too thick, I searched for Yellow Dragon's mark. I hadn't taken even ten steps when my eyes locked onto one place.

"......Found it."

On the ruined flat sat a massive rock, as if someone had set it there on purpose, and beneath it—where stone roofed the ground—a low mound rose just slightly. A greatsword driven in, scabbard and all. Armor laid neatly beside it. One crude necklace.

"Looks expensive, just from a look."

Thinking it might be a high-grade artifact, I called the system. Gold on the outside, flashy as anything, and no particular effect at all. Clank, click. Rattle. I swallowed the disappointment, strapped every piece on, and light flared from the necklace I'd settled against my chest.

Whether the Emperor had made it himself or not, the name and the voice written into it were Reyna's, and thanks to that I could see myself as Yellow Dragon. Ornate armor where gold light and platinum light mingled. A greatsword the length of a torso, sharp even at a glance. A splendid helm engraved with Yellow Dragon. Several times better than Black Wolf, who had nothing but a worn robe and a mask—ragged as a flea-bitten mutt.

"Hyung, could you say that a little nicer?"

"......Right."

Anyway, it was better than Black Wolf.

"Hope it isn't heavy."

Clank. It looked heavy enough to match the flash, so I shifted a little—but aside from the helm making the view slightly awkward, it moved easily. After that I took up the greatsword and ran the minimum: vertical cuts, horizontal cuts, diagonal cuts. Adaptation, done.

"Good. Next, skills."

Wondering what to check first, I decided to look over Black Wolf's skills again.

Of Black Wolf's skills, the only one open so far was Skill 1. Black Curtain.

Feel fear of me even once, and the status ailment Fear (Ex) takes hold. Viscount Gafelt, an A-rank mage. The thirteen knights who died. Even the Emperor, S+. The moment Black Curtain took them, they shrank in on themselves. A genuinely broken ability. Of course, if someone of a high rank like Reyna felt an emotion stronger than Fear, they seemed able to push through it somehow—but they had never endured it perfectly.

I'll learn more as I go.

Dig further into the skill, and I could put it to use in all sorts of ways.

"Ah, right. There was a passive, too."

Belatedly, I checked the Black Wolf (Ex) listed under the passive and called up its window.

......I was going to lose my mind.

So that's why a warning popped up saying I'd die too, back when Hanryang was in danger.

Damn it. I'd been planning to leave them and run if it came to the worst, and now if a member dies, I die.

...Fine. I'll quit fighting it and take this as it is.

From the moment I understood what Black Curtain was, stopping the bad endings had become my job. So whether I lived as Black Wolf or lived as Yellow Dragon, I would move as carefully as I could and clear the main quest.

"Okay. Black Wolf's done."

The rest looked like they'd open only after I stopped six, and ten, of the fifteen bad endings.

"Bit of a shame."

Black Wolf, and the Black Wolf under him, as the original described them, looked strong enough to be called the strongest in the world. Right now all I had was the posture. Still—the prologue wasn't even over yet.

Gear ought to cover the gap. All I could do was stop the bad endings as fast as possible and earn the next skill.

"Anyway. Black Wolf and the artifacts are checked...... Now just Yellow Dragon left? Be nice if this one had an attack skill worth using."

I murmured it with a small hope tucked in, and called up Yellow Dragon's skill list.

Yellow Dragon, like Black Wolf, had only the passive and Skill 1 open.

"Let's see......"

"......No wonder it was glittering."

The flashier it is, the worse the poison—was that the saying? I hadn't used it myself yet, so I couldn't be sure, but it felt like a lesser copy of Black Curtain.

"Right. It's a passive. I wasn't expecting anything. Long as the main skill is good, yeah?"

I shoved that half-useless passive aside and brought up Sunlight Annihilation.

"Show me what you've got, Sunlight Annihilation. Unlike the passive, you're a guy with a cool name from the start."

"......What even is this."

It was the moment I understood, if only a little, why Nahan was the leader of Black Wolf.

I thought about using it once, just to check. The warning of exhaustion was blinking red, so I didn't. In the end, after a long stretch of thinking—

"......So it's like a flashbang. Then it won't be completely useless."

A reasonably rational judgment. I sat down on a moss-covered scrap of the hut.

"Either way, that finishes taking stock of what I've got...... Oh, right. What's Acting?"

A faint blue window that had risen, hazy, whenever I sank into the role of Black Wolf. I'd been too deep in the act to check it, and I couldn't even remember what it said. I tried to call the information up the same way I had the skills.

Nothing rose but an unhelpful window. No other gain. It wasn't as if I couldn't act, so I decided to look into it later and dismissed the thing.

"All right. The real last item."

The Emperor's second commission. Rustle. A soft tear. I took out the named commission I'd left outside the armor and unfolded it.

That line, I'd written myself. A flick, and I was about to turn the slip without wasting time and read what was on the other side, when—

"Well now. If it's something good, let's have a look together."

Someone snatched the named commission and put distance between us in a blink.

"Trust no one easily? Tch. All squiggles, even from far off, and sure enough it's writing. I came running because I thought it was one of those indecent prints."

He'd come up without a sound while I was trying to focus, and my heart nearly dropped. I didn't let it show. I turned my head after him. Solid muscle. Long, brittle white hair. Narrowed eyes curved beneath it. He looked like the well-built grandfather from down the lane. The fifth member of Black Wolf.

Tenth of the Ten Strong. Monster Dragon, Dalan.

"It's been a while, Leader."

I dropped straight into the Black Wolf act, ignored the greeting, and answered short.

"Bring it here."

"Of course I'll give it to you. By the way, the handwriting was lovely. Have you found yourself a lover?"

"I wrote it. Bring it here."

"......Heh heh. Is that so?"

Dalan offered a kindly smile, came close again, and held out the paper. Tap. I took the named commission as if nothing were wrong and was about to draw it back, when his narrowed eyes opened a sliver and a blade-cold glare poured out.

"There was much I found suspect, so I only watched. But even the hand is not the Leader's."

An oppressive weight burst out all at once.

"Are you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Eclipse?"

A killing intent that seemed to whisper he would cut me apart no matter what I answered.

I'm dead.

The way you shut your eyes on reflex when a fist comes flying, I triggered a skill in order to live.

The best move, chosen without a thought. Blind Dalan's eyes, then get clear—

—that was the idea. What actually launched was a sword-aura honed to a monstrous edge.

CRAAAAACK!!

Destructive force that dropped my jaw.

My vision blurred in an instant.

If I go down, I really die!

By the time I caught my guttering mind and barely came to, I was already set in a stance, as if I had just swung that massive greatsword. What met my eyes was the barrier, ripped in half. Clouds split down the middle. Trees sheared in two. And—

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"L-L-Leader. You were hurt that I suspected you all of a sudden, weren't you? I apologize. Sincerely. Shall we use words now? Conversation is a good thing, after all."

Dalan, whose persuasion had somehow already run its course, and—

"By the way. An imperial command to capture Black Wolf. What do you intend to do now?"

"...What?"

"You haven't seen it yet? Please, look. Please capture Black Wolf and bring him in. It's telling the Leader to go and capture the Leader."

A commission that set my skull to pounding. That was all.