Guardian Star and the Last Sin (2)

Apparently these were swordsmen whose skill and stamina had long since surpassed the limits of ordinary humans, because we managed to climb the endless stairs without much trouble.

We were already at the second peak of the Helios Mountain Range.

But there was something strange about it.

I can't hear any hammering...

Most of the people who had built these stairs into the Helios Mountains and set up their forges here were those who had grown deeply disillusioned with human relationships, and had settled in this place precisely because of it.

Perhaps for that reason, the majority of them either shunned outsiders outright or worked only by taking the occasional commission, just enough to scrape together money for food.

People who barely saw another soul — unless they were meeting each other to share information or molds, they spent nearly every waking hour inside their own forges.

So they would refuse even bulk requests for weapons or commissions meant simply to pass the time, and instead hammer away at the weapons they themselves wanted to make.

That was why there was a saying that once you climbed past the second peak of the Helios Mountains, the hammering grew so deafening that party members could barely communicate with one another.

Of course, I couldn't assume that everything I'd seen in the game was accurate.

The Azure Dragon had said it chose only the most plausible possibilities and showed them to me through the medium of the game.

And yet, for that to be the case, it was equally strange that there wasn't a whiff of smoke or forge-fire in the air.

As if there were no blacksmiths here at all.

For now, the only thing I could be certain of was that the number of blacksmiths had dwindled.

The rest we would have to learn as we walked.

And so the party began climbing the stairs again, following me steadily upward.

"Hah... hah..."

"This is rough..."

About halfway up the third peak.

Finally, Yeon — the one among us with the lowest realm — was the first to start flagging.

Even so, she whipped herself onward with the willpower her master had drilled into her, dragging herself after us.

We had been given one week.

And roughly two days of it had already passed.

Watching the sky slowly redden toward dusk, I figured we would have to camp here for the night.

"I'm sorry... everyone... it's because of me..."

"Don't say that. We were planning to stop here tonight anyway."

Yeon believed the reason we couldn't push further was her own stamina falling short of ours, but...

The truth was, there was another reason entirely.

Once the sun set and darkness fell, the stairs became completely invisible.

We would be spending the night in a blackness where a hand's breadth ahead was impossible to see.

Climbing those stairs in the dark was a dangerous act that even working blacksmiths didn't attempt.

You couldn't tell how many steps remained ahead of you, and one misstep meant plummeting from a lethal height to a fall that would kill you.

Of course, someone like me, bearing the authority of the Wind, could catch a falling person or pull them back up.

But how was I supposed to pull anyone up in conditions where I couldn't see an inch in front of my face?

I'd be lucky if it were a rock I was hauling up instead.

Fortunately, the blacksmiths had carved cave shelters out of the rock ledges halfway up the mountain, for their own use alone.

Pat, pat...

Ellie and Yeon, watching me run my hands over the rock face, began to react.

"Hyun? What are you... doing?"

"Hyun... are you very tired?"

Fair enough, I suppose. When the man leading the way suddenly sits down and starts groping at a rock wall, it's bound to look bizarre.

Something pressed against my palm. A something.

But after enduring their stares, the shelter I finally found was, frankly, magnificent.

"Found it."

Grroooomble... CRUNCH!!

The moment I pressed down, the wall split open with a tremendous rumble, revealing a cave of astonishing size — just right for three people to rest in.

The truth is, the blacksmiths weren't entirely without warmth, either.

They had simply been burned by people so many times that, having seen every shade of human ugliness, they had built this device for whoever might make it this far — a quiet plea: don't give up on people just yet.

If they truly hated humanity, why bother hiding a button at all?

They would have concealed it somehow, changed its position every time, rigged the door to stay shut unless a certain pattern was matched.

So there was no problem with us using it.

It was made for exactly this purpose, after all.

You ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠could reasonably call it a kind of bunker.

When I explained this to the girls, their expressions cleared, and they strode without hesitation toward the interior, where a soft light was spreading.

Though blacksmiths and travelers had rested here many times before, it wasn't dirty at all — on the contrary, its roughness made it feel all the more cozy.

The light, too, wasn't a bright white but a warm orange, which only deepened that impression.

It was truly a cramped space of barely a hundred square feet, but it was more than perfect for resting before moving on.

And so we quickly unpacked and began preparing to rest.

We'd eaten only enough preservation rations to quiet our stomachs, so tonight a simple dish like soup would do nicely.

Besides, the blacksmiths had built these shelters to sustain someone for a month, so there was no worry at all about supplies or anything else.

Using old ashes left behind by some long-ago occupant, I kindled a fire with the Authority of the Crimson Dragon, then used water and our remaining ingredients to whip up a simple soup.

To think even a rice-cooker-like contraption existed out here...

The most surprising discovery was that there really was equipment here resembling a rice cooker back home.

Of course, it wasn't a true rice cooker, so it had its fair share of drawbacks — but hey, having one at all was something.

Its main flaw was that it took quite a while to heat up, but that was easily solved by channeling my authority to push heat into its sides as well.

Once the water came to a boil, I threw in potatoes and carrots and let it simmer, then added sausages that had been salted to within an inch of their lives to keep them from spoiling, using them to season the broth.

Properly speaking, soup needs cheese or fresh cream to be real soup, but finding such things out here would be strange, so I let it go.

The point was simply to fill our stomachs with something warm.

With the sliced potatoes in the pot, their white starch slowly thickened the water, and with the carrots and sausages added, the stew came together.

It had turned out looking quite delicious.

"Wow...!"

"I love this side of you, Hyun..."

Yeon and Ellie watched me, each unable to hold back her admiration.

At last I lifted the lid, and the aroma of the slow-simmered soup filled the little space.

We fetched wooden bowls, ladled out the soup one by one, and began to eat.

"Fair warning — it's not going to taste good. You two know we're not eating this for flavor, right?"

At my words, they replied,

"Of course. Thank you, as always, Hyun."

"Thanks! Let's dig in, Hyun!"

Each thanking me in her own way, they immediately scooped up their soup and took a taste.

"Wow, this is actually good?"

"You said not to expect much? Then why is it this tasty?"

Huh? It should taste bad, though... I didn't even salt it, and there's no cream, so it shouldn't be smooth at all?

But as I ate my own soup, I understood at once.

Ah — the potatoes and sausage did all the work.

The potatoes had simmered down into a mellow softness, lending the broth a gentle body, while what they couldn't provide was made up by the sausage — its meaty aroma and punishing saltiness filling in every gap in the flavor.

Well... as long as the result was good, that's what mattered.

And so, after eating the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠soup I'd made together with the two of them, we quickly prepared to rest.

Tomorrow would be another day of climbing, and to restore our stamina, sleep was the best medicine.

I chatted warmly with them for a while, then spread out our bedrolls, pulled a blanket over myself, and drifted off.

But something alien stirred me awake.

I turned my head and looked around — the bunker where, until moments ago, we'd shared soup and soft conversation before sleep.

The girls, who had fallen asleep beside me, were somehow already standing, talking to each other.

And Ellie and Yeon could not see me.

No matter how loudly I called their names, no matter how I reached out to touch them.

Nothing worked.

When I shouted, they heard nothing of my voice at all.

When I stretched my hands toward them, my body simply passed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠through theirs.

And there was another difference. They despised me. They resented me.

"Haah... why are we even here, putting ourselves through this? Because of that bastard Lee Hyun."

At first, I thought I'd misheard.

No matter how fiery Yeon's temper was... this was the girl who had smiled shyly and confessed her feelings to me...

And now she was cursing me, hating everything I did.

Ellie didn't respond to Yeon's words directly, but she was frowning in a way that said she agreed.

I could feel it — a nameless darkness gnawing away at my mind.

Time slipped by, and when the door of the bunker opened, the smokes came lunging for their bodies as if they'd been waiting.

Their manner suggested less lust than hunger — they meant to devour.

How many hours had passed?

"Haah... haah... ugh!"

"Get off! I told you not to touch me, you bastards!"

Before my eyes, Ellie — one arm torn clean away, sword raised in her remaining left hand — was gasping for breath.

Yeon, too, was mercilessly cutting down the shapes that reached for her body, that meant to toy with her.

But for some reason.

Everything Ellie and Yeon struck at looked to me like nothing more than black smoke.

I wondered if it was a dream, but the blood that had spattered across my cheek was grimly telling me that this place was real.

The blood that had sprayed when Ellie's arm was severed slid slowly down my cheek — and simply hardened there.

"Ellie, they're coming again."

"I know."

Even after driving back the black smoke once more, they watched the things creep ever closer, quickly steadied their swords, and readied themselves to meet the attack.

And of course, so did I.

No matter how they cursed me, how they scorned me — I could not abandon them.

What use was the seat of a Successor when the people most precious to me were dying right beside me?

And as the black smoke closed in on them, revealing its monstrous forms —

I tried to use my skill to help them, but...

Not only my skills — even my Status Window refused to answer me.

I seized the rusted sword propped in the corner and charged forward.

And just before I swung it at the smoke —

"Hyun! No!"

"Wake up!"

Familiar voices rang out, and only then did my eyes open again.

I was standing, sword raised toward the entrance of the bunker.

In my hand was a sword of summoned lightning, forged from my skill.

I turned my head — Ellie and Yeon appeared unharmed.

Thankfully, the bunker was untouched as well.

It seemed they had managed to hold off whatever it was with sheer physical force before I could swing my sword at the entrance.

I quickly dismissed the sword and pulled the two of them into my arms, desperately trying to convince myself that this was reality.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Only now did I hear my own breathing — a ragged, thunderous sound filling my ears.

Naturally, my lovers were alarmed.

"Hyun, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Ellie, let's get him comfortable first. Look how he's sweating. What on earth did he dream about?"

...A dream?

That was all... a dream?

But the blood that had splattered my cheek — that was never a hallucination... was it?

I raised my hand to wipe the blood from my right cheek — and found nothing on my palm but sweat.

What... is this.

I'd never known a nightmare could be like this.

Ellie and Yeon hurriedly settled me down inside the bunker, stripping off my soaked clothes and wiping the sweat from my skin.

"What kind of dream were you having?"

When Yeon asked, dabbing the sweat from my arm, I slowly poured out the story that had felt so terribly like reality.

As they listened, their faces drained white, turning ghostly pale.

"I said that? To you, Hyun?"

"...Hyun..."

It had felt so real, and I knew — I knew — that every curse from their mouths had been slander aimed at me.

And still, I had thrown myself forward, sword in hand, to protect them.

Because it was right.

Because I never wanted to live through a bad ending again.

"You did well. And thank you. Even if we said those things to you, you knew you would still protect us."

"Yes. And the fact that you protect us — you've never once treated it as an entitlement. To keep from losing someone precious again, you take that step forward. Who are we, of all people, to scorn you for it?"

"You've always staked your life for us, lived looking only at us. Anyone who cursed you for that would be out of their mind."

The words Yeon had begun so harshly were wrapped up in Ellie's warm embrace, and the tension in my chest began to loosen.

Only when Yeon murmured, in a tone that promised she would never, ever say such things again, did my heart finally settle.

"Hyun... are you crying?"

"Hey, why are you crying... now I feel terrible..."

Huh?

I'm crying?

I didn't do anything... why am I crying...?

Ellie and Yeon held me close, quietly soothing me as the moments passed.

In time, as I began to feel like myself again, I gently set aside the two of them fussing over me and used the Authority of Purification, winding it through the inside of my body.

As I used it, I felt something leaving me — something draining away.

I couldn't tell what it was.

And then something caught my eye: a sub-quest notification on my Status Window.

What on earth...

A linked quest... seriously, again?

Either way, now that I'd accepted the quest, I had to move my feet if I wanted any hope of not failing it.

The moment I struggled upright, the girls grabbed hold of me, telling me to rest a little longer.

"Where do you think you're going? Sit down, right now!"

"Hyun, you're in really bad shape. Your face is still pale, and..."

Thanks to her worried gaze and her insistence, we decided to stay one more day here.

I felt an odd pang of guilt over it, but they insisted it wasn't my fault.

More than anything, they said — we're the ones who love you, so how could we ever curse you? — and all through the night they comforted me, patting my back again and again until I fell asleep.

Thankfully, this time I had no nightmare.

Quite the opposite of that other dream: Ellie and Yeon nestled against me, laughing happily as we went on an outing — a truly blissful dream, and I woke from it smiling.

And then, the message waiting before me.

...So that nightmare was a trap that bastard Bret had deliberately crafted just to inflict pain on me?

Have some decency, will you? Thanks to you, I nearly died and came back to life.

I've only ever watched people die on the other side of a monitor, so I wouldn't know his face, but...

The fact that the Status Window issued a quest like that could only mean one thing: he is definitely alive.

After all, if he were dead, the quest would have told me to find the truth, not hear it.

And just as I moved to slip away quietly —

No matter how silently I moved, the girls' ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠senses as swordswomen were sharp, and they woke.

Rising from their beds, they studied my condition, decided my color looked much better, and began patting my head with visible relief.

The moment I started to protest that they were treating me like a little kid, my women answered:

"Yep. You are a little kid. You were so scared you cried."

"....."

Ellie, apparently having decided to join the teasing, just snickered and made no attempt to deny it.

Well, whatever. I could be a real child in front of them and it wouldn't matter.

It's a side of me only my women ever see — who's going to know?

So we made our preparations quickly and set out, climbing and descending the stairs over and over again.

And then we found it.

A spearhead, unmistakably designed with killing us in mind, embedded in the ground.

Countless people had apparently already died here — the only things standing were rows upon rows of bleached skeletons, utterly motionless.

"Hyun... are you sure this is really the reward the Azure Dragon granted us?"

If it weren't for that bastard Bret's interference, this mountain would have been a treasure chest overflowing with blacksmiths who could forge artifacts with ease.

Instead, thanks to him, we were in for nothing but suffering.

"I'd guess somebody's been tampering with the reward the Azure Dragon left us."

Whoosh! THWACK!

I hurled a stone forward, and a torrential storm of arrows erupted in answer.

Each and every one of them carried a force far beyond anything an ordinary arrow could manage.

"He dares... to defile the Azure Dragon's name, right in front of the family that serves him?"

Ellie, naturally, was seething, her fury stirring awake.

"Haah, I don't know about anything else, but the moment someone lays a hand on my man... I suppose I'll just have to kill him?"

Having realized that this machinery had tried to physically kill me, Yeon, too, was spitting out talk of slaughter, her words turning violent.

But I had my doubts.

What on earth could a blacksmith be lacking, that he'd hate and despise the Successors — me included — so much?

The current Successors probably don't even know this system exists in the Helios Mountains in the first place.

I can't know what the previous Successors did, because the game never showed it.

Besides, if I had known, then I would have known what my parents — the second and third Azure Dragons — had gotten up to, wouldn't I?

For now, I decided the clearest path was to meet him face to face, and committed myself to breaking through the traps.

The traps had been enchanted so they could not be destroyed — turned into artifacts, in effect.

In other words, it meant we had no choice but to punch through this rain of arrows one way or another.

Any ordinary person would have found no clever solution and simply turned back.

But Bret had overlooked two things: that I had grown powerful enough to wield my authorities freely, and that I had experience breaking through traps of exactly this kind — back when I saved Yeon.

Granted, back then I'd destroyed the trap outright. This time, my judgment was that I could deflect the projectiles with my authority and force the mechanism to jam instead.

I had Ellie and Yeon move in close beside me, then summoned the wind spirits around my body and whipped them into a furious gale.

A projectile's course — and its power — naturally shift with wind and air resistance.

In effect, the spot where I stood became the eye of a typhoon, a ring of howling wind around us that would intercept the projectiles.

The girls wore tense, stiff expressions, anxious about whether the wind could truly hold back a rain of arrows —

but the moment I took my first step and they saw the incoming volley glance off my gale like it was nothing, both of them let out sighs of relief.

And so, as I passed through, the machines were left a mangled ruin with arrows jammed in every joint — while we, by contrast, carved our way forward in exactly the same condition we'd been in before entering the trap.

My Status Window, as if to applaud me, sent along a notification with obvious flourish.

Catching my breath, I tinged my body with alertness so I could react to anything sudden, and walked slowly onward.

Bret's location was the fifth peak of the Helios Mountain Range.

I intended to hear the whole truth from him — why he had done all of this.

With that thought, our party passed the third peak before we knew it, and set our feet toward the fourth.