Aftermath of War (2)
Two days after the funeral came to an end, we managed to meet at the time we had promised.
Fairy's condition looked dire. The skin beneath her eyes was darkened with exhaustion, her once-playfully swaying pink hair was losing its color, and she hadn't even managed to change her clothes — she was still wearing her pajamas. Even now she was trembling violently in Khan's arms.
The moment Ellie saw how serious her state was, she immediately began to approach Fairy.
No — she stopped halfway there.
Instead, Ellie asked Khan to lower himself, and he nodded and knelt on one knee before her, bringing Fairy down to Ellie's level.
"Khaan... he... how could... Ellie, unnie...! Unnie... because of me...?"
"It's all right. I'm right here in front of you. Don't worry — I'm awake."
"Sob... what if you hate me? What if you decide you don't need me anymore?"
"I'm... I'm scared. Can't I just go back? I'll say it was my fault, and we'll go home. Okay?"
At Fairy's tear-soaked voice, Khan tried to speak to her directly — but he couldn't bring himself to open his mouth.
The one who opened their mouth instead was Ellie, holding her arm outstretched in front of her, waiting.
"Come here. My little sister."
".....Unnie...?"
"Yes. It's your unnie."
"Unnie... I — I, you see... I... I..."
Fairy trembled all over, looking at Ellie in a fluster. And as though to soothe her, as though to tell her it was all right, Ellie held her arm out — and never once lowered it.
"It's okay. So... will you come here?"
At that single sentence, Fairy slowly, naturally, slipped free of Khan's embrace and began walking forward of her own accord.
Slowly.
Very slowly, but...
Certainly, forward.
She was walking toward Ellie now, one small step at a time. She drew closer and closer — and at some point, when barely any distance remained between them, Fairy's footsteps stopped, as if she simply couldn't push herself any further.
And even so, tears were pouring from both her eyes. Tears in which countless emotions had melted together.
There was still about two meters between them. And at that distance, Ellie simply waited. She had resolved to stay perfectly still until Fairy could close the gap on her own.
Perhaps it was that resolve that gave her courage.
The stalled footsteps turned toward Ellie once more.
- Thump...
- Tap...
- Thump...
There was one reason Ellie didn't walk the rest of the way to meet her.
If a moment like this ever came again, Fairy would collapse just as she had before. Even then, if all she did was tremble in fear and weep, nothing would change. So Ellie was giving her the courage and strength to move by herself.
So that Fairy could walk forward on her own two feet.
Trembling and shivering, Fairy kept inching closer. Ellie rose lightly to her feet, offering nothing but a gentle smile and that outstretched arm. And when Fairy finally came within reach of Ellie's hand, Ellie beamed and welcomed her with open arms.
"You did well. Fairy."
"Un... unnie!!!"
Ellie swept the girl who had come so close into a firm embrace, stroking her head as if to say she'd been through so much. And Fairy buried her face against Ellie's shoulder.
"Unnie...! Unnie...! I'm sorry! It's because of me! You — you..."
Of course, the reason Fairy had fallen into such a state was exactly what I had predicted. Ellie had tried to deflect an attack meant for her — and failed, taking the blow in Fairy's place.
On top of that, if she hadn't forgotten she was wounded and had immediately run Khan's attacker through with her spear, things would never have spiraled to this point.
Perhaps that was what she was tormenting herself over.
I wasn't Fairy, and I had no power to read her mind. Naturally, all I could do was guess.
But the sight of Fairy sobbing her heart out in Ellie's arms was, without a doubt, the most cathartic expression I had seen in this entire territory.
After shedding a whole storm of tears, Fairy was suddenly so worn out that she drifted right off to sleep.
According to Khan, anxiety and fear had made it impossible for her to sleep properly at all. She couldn't even lie down in bed unless he was holding her. And even when she tried to sleep, she couldn't bear the image of Ellie glaring at her and cursing her name — so she simply hadn't slept a wink.
"You look exhausted too. Go sleep with Fairy."
At my words, Khan shook his head with a small, weary motion.
"I can't. There's too much to do. Now that it's confirmed the Plot Territory's aid is coming in, I need to be present for the Crystal Territory."
It was a fair answer — but it didn't change the fact that Khan looked absolutely wrecked.
And naturally, as his friend, I couldn't just stand by and watch.
So I grabbed Khan and laid him straight down on the bed. Then I manifested my Authority of Purification around him, wrapping him in warmth.
I hadn't known the Authority of Purification could feel comforting like that. I'd heard it from Ellie yesterday, after our fight, when the air between us had finally begun to settle.
'If you keep feeling it... it makes you sleepy, she said?'
According to Ellie, it was like having every warning bell and alarm in your head switched off all at once. Fitting for something called 'Purification,' I supposed — an Authority that simply swept away anything threatening or dangerous. It was also the Authority I'd used the most, after 'Lightning' and 'Wind,' so perhaps that was why it carried that kind of sensation.
While I was lost in these musings, Khan lay down beside Fairy and began breathing in slow, steady rhythms. The fact that even Khan, with all his strength, had been dragged into sleep with no power to resist the Authority showed just how exhausted he truly was.
He could easily have refused and fought it off if he'd wanted to. The fact that a mere trace of power like this had put him under meant he'd been worn down to the bone.
Putting him to sleep now was for the best. Given his personality, if I hadn't, he would have simply endured and endured until something inside him finally snapped.
"Why do people always try to live by enduring? Surely it's fine to let loose with something as basic as this."
At those words, Ellie stared at me intently. At first I thought her expression was one of agreement — but something about it felt strangely different.
And then—
"Hyun."
".....?"
"I don't think that's something you should be saying."
".....Really?"
"Yeah. You're the type to hold it in and hold it in and hold it in some more until you finally blow up. Honestly, Fairy and Khan, who at least let it show a little, look healthier to me."
"Well... still..."
"No 'still' about it! What I mean is, you need to change too!"
I had nothing to say.
Her point was, of course, completely valid. Winning an argument by unfairly wielding facts — how dare she! Fight me properly with demagoguery and fabrication like an honest opponent!
All joking aside, Ellie was telling me that I was no different from them. So I supposed I ought to try changing.
About three hours later, the hour of the meeting slowly began to approach.
"It's almost time for the meeting to start."
"Is it?"
"Yeah. Should we wake Khan?"
He was still dead asleep. It said a great deal about just how worn out he'd been.
"I hate to wake him, but he's the representative of the Plot Territory now..."
When we gave him a light shake, his eyes snapped open and he sat right up.
"Huh? What? Was I asleep?"
And of course, his bewilderment came as a bonus. To be fair, he'd closed his eyes the instant I used my Authority and dropped straight off.
"Yep. You were out cold. Sleeping like a log, too."
"What time is it? The meeting isn't over and you're only waking me now, right?"
In answer, I stepped sideways and showed him the clock. It was just past one in the afternoon.
We had little to prepare for the meeting. We were the ones offering help, not the ones asking for it. All we had to do was respond to whatever Gerald requested — expressing where we couldn't oblige, where we couldn't comply — and that would be that.
That said, we planned to respond as favorably to his requests as we reasonably could.
Because there was no telling when the Cumul Territory or the Plot Territory might end up half-destroyed just like the Crystal Territory. When that day came, we would surely be the ones needing the Crystal Territory's help. And so, in preparation for that day, there was no reason whatsoever to make enemies of them now.
Besides, Gerald and Jewelry had been quite friendly to us.
Just as Khan and I were setting off to attend the meeting, Ellie spoke up.
"I'll stay here and watch Fairy. You can go by yourself, Hyun. Right?"
"Huh? Me?"
"Yeah. You and I are the only ones from the Cumul Territory here, so obviously the summons is for you. Fairy's still mentally fragile, and I feel like I should stay with her."
"Ah..."
She was right. If Ellie, Khan, and I all went together, Fairy would be left completely alone — and there was every chance her anxiety would come surging back.
But if it turned out that way, then...
...it meant I would have to attend the meeting in Ellie's place, as the representative of the Cumul Territory.
".....Can I actually pull this off...?"
At my muttering, Ellie patted my shoulder and said, "Hyun, you grew up in the Cumul Territory since you were little. You know how to speak up for what's right and what's wrong. And besides — I'm sending you because I trust you."
"......"
"And if you personally judge that any of the meeting's proposals aren't realistic, I'll talk to Gerald and veto them myself. So go with an easy mind."
".....All right. I'll be back."
I decided to leave my nerves behind and carry only my sense of responsibility. Watching my reaction, Ellie smiled, sent me off with a word of encouragement, and saw me to the door.
And so Khan and I arrived at the meeting room.
Gerald and Jewelry were there, along with every one of the Crystal Territory's vassals — a little over ten people in all. These were the people whose decisions would determine the fate of this territory.
Once Khan and I took our designated seats, the meeting began before long. The hall was quite spacious, so Gerald, seated at the head presiding over proceedings, lifted a voice-amplifying artifact and tested it so that everyone could hear him clearly.
"Ahem! Can everyone hear my voice?"
At his words, everyone nodded — and the moment it was confirmed that his voice carried, the meeting began.
The agenda covered military aid and material aid.
Three vassals rose to request military support, each addressing their appeal to me and to Khan. But with imperial reinforcements expected to arrive from the capital before long, Khan and I answered cautiously.
And so, the decision Khan and I reached was this:
"After the Tide of Corruption ends, at the meeting between the Successors and His Majesty the Emperor, it has already been promised that the Crystal Territory will receive priority support."
"As for military aid, the Imperial Army dispatched from the Imperial Palace will reach you faster than we ever could, so we judge there is no need for our own forces to intervene."
Gerald, being the one to whom those promises had been made, nodded — and Jewelry, though she hadn't heard the promises herself, seemed to have heard them from Gerald, because she nodded along in agreement.
"No, our territory is in serious danger! Our lands lie right up against the walls, so we would very much like to request substantial military support!"
"...Pardon?"
One of the three vassals — the pot-bellied one with the mustache — Sapphire, apparently having let our explanation go in one ear and out the other, kept insisting that support was desperately needed.
I began to explain it all over again, patiently.
"In the presence of the Successors and His Majesty the Emperor, His Majesty has already pledged priority military support for the Crystal Territory. And yet you claim aid is still required?"
At my question, he nodded. And then he began to lay out his reasoning.
"Our estate sits directly behind the third wall. If that wall falls in the current situation and we come under attack, we will not last long — we will be annihilated."
As far as I knew, the number of demons currently pushing against the third wall wasn't all that large.
Naturally. Florence had strung the demons together like some pied piper, empowered them, and turned the whole horde into a weapon of his own. And of course, Khan and I had demolished every last one of them.
And now he wanted stronger military support, on top of all that?
Something about it reeked of an ulterior motive. But as things stood, I had no way of knowing what he was really after. It was entirely possible his lands genuinely looked precarious to him.
So for now, I set the topic aside, and we moved on to material aid.
Gerald stepped forward to request assistance rebuilding the walls, and knowing the circumstances of each territory, Khan and I nodded and passed the measure. It was agreed that the Cumul Territory would immediately send stone and iron for the walls upon our return — and in exchange, the Crystal Territory pledged to commit its forces the moment either of our territories fell into crisis.
And just as the meeting was drawing to a close—
"Did I not already tell you?! Our territory still requires military support!"
The vassal's shout crashed over us, and the temperature in the meeting room plunged in an instant.
Even if I pressed him for a reason, I doubted he'd give an honest one. What on earth was he scheming?
Fine. Let me fish a little.
"You aren't intending to use that military support for any purpose other than holding back the demons, are you?"
The moment I asked, I laid a trap he couldn't help but spring.
And of course, the vassal took the bait.
"Of course not! What possible other reason would I have for requesting military aid?! How dare you suggest such a thing!"
And there it was. That vassal was lying.
My gut instinct — which had more than earned its keep all this time — was telling me so, loud and clear. He intended to use those soldiers not for defense, but for something else entirely.
But right now all I had was suspicion, not proof. If I pushed the accusation any further, the outcome was a guaranteed defeat for me.
So for the time being—
"Very well. The Cumul Territory promises to grant you that military support, Vassal."
At my words, the vassal let out a hearty laugh, oozing gratitude.
I wondered — what exactly was the black, festering appetite he was hiding?
Confused by my baffling behavior, Khan was asking me over telepathy why I'd done it.
- What was that? All of a sudden? He's clearly got something up his sleeve... why give in?
So this was what telepathy was like? Well, I supposed I just had to treat it like talking to the Guardian Dragons.
- I laid a trap. Now that I've given him a firm answer, they'll believe the support is coming, no matter what. I find his behavior extremely suspicious myself, so don't worry about it.
- Ah...? Got it. Need any help?
- No, I'm fine. It's time to teach a rat that getting caught in a trap means dying on the spot.
With my agreement, the meeting wound down as smoothly as flowing water. I told Ellie everything afterward — and her reaction was:
"Really? He is suspicious, no question. Still, good work. You actually thought to set a trap? Impressive."
Of course, it was praise. I'd half expected her to worry about me pushing things too far, but that had been needless anxiety on my part.
"There's no doubt he has some dark scheme buried in there. And when someone shows you a black heart like that... obviously. It has to be removed."
If a man like that kept his seat among the vassals, the Crystal Territory's reconstruction would only drag on longer.
When I told Ellie and Khan my plan, they both agreed — it was a clever approach, something only I could pull off, and the odds of being caught were slim.
I was still holding the pen he'd left behind in my hand. It was the key that would help Jeongryeong track the vassal down.
With their approval secured, we decided to put the plan into action the moment night fell.
The vassals lodged within the Crystal Estate's castle. The journey in was long and treacherous, and it was also thanks to Gerald's foresight — arranging for them all to gather at a moment's notice in times of crisis.
Which was precisely what made a plan like mine possible.
The time was around midnight. In that furtive hour, I summoned Jeongryeong.
Jeongryeong, plucked out of nowhere in the dead of night, tilted his head and peered up at me. I gave his fur a gentle ruffle and asked,
"Do you think you could share your senses with me — the way Baram and I are one?"
Jeongryeong tilted his head again, closed his eyes, and seemed to concentrate on something.
It had worked in the game... the technique that let a spirit master and their spirit temporarily share their senses.
Spirit Unification.
One of the great walls every spirit master faces after learning summoning. By forging a temporary sharing of senses with a spirit whose heart beats in time with yours, the two of you — bound by contract — become a single body.
Mastered to its extreme, it granted an absurdly superior upgrade in the form of Spirit Possession, but I had no need of that just yet.
Spirit Unification had only one real flaw: it was extraordinarily difficult to use. It could only be cast with spirits with whom one had built deep empathy and deep resonance — but for me, that was no obstacle, since after Baram, Jeongryeong was the spirit with whom I had fought and communed the most.
A spirit's rank also influenced Spirit Unification, which made it a genuinely risky gamble — but Jeongryeong was a Wind High Spirit of the same grade as Baram.
There was more than a fair chance of success.
Before long, every sound around me began pouring into my ears, magnified. And when I closed my eyes, the view that unfolded before me was the view from Jeongryeong's eyes — it had worked.
- Arf!
They said that when Spirit Unification succeeded, the spirit and its contractor felt a profound sense of security. The comfort flooding through me — far deeper than anything in my ordinary state — had to be because of that.
Jeongryeong must have liked the sensation too, because he let out one big, happy bark, just like before.
Now the real plan began.
My plan was this: unify Jeongryeong with the wind to hide his form, and then — through the sensory link granted by Spirit Unification — search for whatever scheme the vassal was hiding.
I had given him a firm answer, after all. Sooner or later, the moment would come for him to take off his mask.
When I let Jeongryeong catch the scent of the ballpoint pen the vassal had gripped, that man's distinctive body odor reached me through the link as well.
Good. That's plenty. I'd been worried the scent might have washed away — but then again, it probably helped that I'd never grabbed the pen with my bare hands; I'd lifted it on the wind.
"You remember the scent? Find the room belonging to whoever carries that smell, and dig out whatever he's hiding. Off you go."
At my words, Jeongryeong vanished from sight in an instant and set off toward the vassal's room.
Good. He's moving well.
Beside me, Ellie stood watching me intently, on standby, ready to turn whatever information I fed her into hard evidence. Khan and Fairy stayed close as well, guarding against any unforeseen threat and making sure my Spirit Unification was never interrupted.
And so we reached the suspicious vassal's room.
From within, voices drifted out — someone was talking with him.
As long as there was even the narrowest crack, the wind could pass anywhere. Without so much as touching the door, Baram— no, Jeongryeong hurled himself at the gap beneath it, slipped through in a breath, and successfully infiltrated the room.
Found it. Exactly where he should be.
The vassal who'd been scheming through the whole meeting was deep in conversation with someone.
Since I could only hear, I closed my eyes to see through Jeongryeong's vision — and the moment I did, I froze.
The vassal was speaking with a horned figure.
'A demon...!!'
Having recognized what the thing was, I resolved to keep listening. I had to learn what they were planning — so I swallowed down the fury rising in my chest.
"Is the plan proceeding smoothly?"
"Naturally. The brat of a Successor from the Cumul Territory promised military support, and once we intercept the Imperial Army's reinforcements as well, everything falls into place."
"Good. Then perhaps it's time to set our sights on replacing the Crystal family itself."
"Yes. Let's hurry up and destroy this territory already — one with no Successor of its own doesn't deserve to exist."
The instant those words left his mouth, the pot-bellied vassal's form melted into that of a black, liquid mass.
= Tch. If that Successor brat of one of the Four Perils had only done a little better, I could have swallowed this whole territory. That war accomplished nothing but waking everyone's guard. =
"Consider yourself fortunate. If anyone had noticed what you were, you should have died for it long ago — Doppelganger."
= Still, deliberately igniting that war worked out rather well. It was an opportunity that would never come twice. =
"So — where will you meet? Planning to gather in the estate's garden again?"
= Of course. We'll need to lay out the plan properly. Best to put it into motion only after every Successor has left the territory. =
"Good. Then we'll meet tomorrow, and you'll tell me everything in detail."
= Agreed. =
The moment that exchange ended, having absorbed the staggering intelligence, I sent Jeongryeong the call to return.
The instant I felt Jeongryeong making his way back, I severed the Spirit Unification and relayed everything I'd heard to the others.
As the information left my lips, the emotions of Khan, Fairy, and Ellie curdled into fury in a heartbeat. I felt exactly the same.
Resolving to bring certain judgment down upon the one who had laid the very foundation for this territory's suffering, I decided to first inform Citrine of everything we'd learned.
She — she above all — was the crucial key to resolving this affair. And this was more than enough of an opportunity for her to cement her standing as the Successor of the White Tiger.