The Treasure of the Haerin Tribe (2)
In the hush that followed, the Archmage's gaze flicked between Gwangrang and me. The composure he'd worn only moments ago was gone without a trace.
Why in the world was the 5th Lord here?
He seemed just as baffled by the situation as I was. The confusion, the tension, the naked dismay written across his face were all too clear.
Where the hell did she even come from?
I let out a silent breath of relief and looked at her. I had no idea how any of this had come about, but the immediate crisis seemed to have passed. Even if we were practically strangers, Gwangrang was still an ally of the same faction. The one backed into a corner now wasn't me — it was the Archmage.
"Do you intend to fight, 5th Lord?"
He spoke in a voice gone utterly still. It didn't sound like a warning or a threat so much as resignation. No matter how powerful the Imperial Archmage of Seintea might be, a Lord of Calderic stood a full rank above him. Even in raw levels, the gap was a staggering four. If Gwangrang meant to kill him, there was no way he was walking out of here alive.
But she shook her head.
"It's the opposite, you dumbass. I just saved your ass, and you don't even have the sense to be grateful."
"...What are you talking about?"
"Do you even know who that human standing across from you is?"
Gwangrang tilted her head toward me.
"Anyway, I've got no idea what you're doing in the First Lord's Territory, 7th Lord. Come here to go fishing or something?"
At those words, the Archmage turned to me with a look of stunned horror. I said nothing, meeting Gwangrang's eyes.
"...The new 7th Lord? The one who killed the Fist Saint?"
I heard him mutter. So he knew?
Well, the death of one of the Five Stars would have been a massive incident in Seintea. I'd been a prisoner on the transport ship to begin with, and the timing of the attack on that ship had coincidentally aligned with the birth of a new Lord in Calderic. Anyone who wasn't a complete fool would have pieced together, through circumstance and investigation, who had killed the Fist Saint.
Of course, being found out didn't mean much. Even if Seintea and Calderic still maintained a temporary alliance against the demons, that was nothing more than a surface arrangement. Behind it, armed clashes were still happening all the time. Unless I'd killed him in the open, even with both physical evidence and strong suspicion, they couldn't turn it into a political issue.
And besides, what this bastard needed to worry about right now wasn't any of that — it was his own survival.
...She said she saved him?
I looked at Gwangrang, turning it over in my mind. Judging by the way she was talking, she had no intention of fighting the Archmage — and I couldn't figure out why. She'd run into a major Seintean asset inside Calderic territory. Especially for someone who lived for combat, there was no reason to just let him walk.
"That one's the Imperial Archmage of Seintea, 7th Lord. You gonna kill him?"
Gwangrang asked me. I hesitated over how to answer. She didn't seem inclined to get involved in a fight, which made saying yes awkward. Saying no was just as awkward. In situations like this, the best move was to stay silent and let the weight of it hang. The other person would interpret it however they wanted.
Gwangrang seemed to take my silence as a yes. She scratched at her hair, then spoke with a peculiar look on her face.
"Hey, 7th Lord. I don't know what's going on here, but could you let this one slide?"
What she said next told me why she didn't want to fight the Archmage.
"I owe that mage bastard a debt from a while back. So if you're gonna kill him, I can't just stand here and watch."
...A debt?
I'd thought they seemed to know each other somehow — so there was history between Gwangrang and the Archmage? That was information that had never appeared in the game. I narrowed my eyes and spoke.
"And if I refuse to let him go?"
Gwangrang clicked her tongue.
"I already told you. I won't just stand here and watch."
"..."
I glanced back over my shoulder. The chieftain lay on the ground, his face deathly pale, and Anne clung to him, weeping. Through Super Senses, I could feel his pulse — so faint it could snap at any moment.
"Please, just stay with me...!"
Honestly, things had worked out well. All I had to do was let him run, just as she'd asked. No risk to me, and the Haerin would be safe. And yet...
...Why does this sit so badly with me?
The chieftain's fate was unfortunate, but there was nothing to be done about it. Pressing the Archmage any further would accomplish nothing. It would only make things worse — a stupid thing to do.
But ever since I'd possessed this body — maybe because of the Emperor's Soul — my mouth and my reason had a habit of going their separate ways. And now that mouth of mine went and did it again.
"..."
At those words, Gwangrang's pupils slit vertically, like a predator's. Then the corner of her mouth twisted, and her hand slowly reached for the hilt of the greatsword on her back.
"...There is no need for that."
The chieftain's faint voice cut through the razor-edged tension and dissolved it. The tribespeople who had been watching in breathless silence finally snapped back to themselves and gathered around him.
"Grandpa..."
I stared at Gwangrang for a moment, then turned away. The chieftain coughed, a wet, rattling sound, and managed to continue.
"Ron... forgive me, but... might I ask one last favor?"
Sensing the end, he seemed to be leaving his final words.
"Until everyone has entered the lake... I would ask that you keep that human mage from harming the tribe. That is all."
The Archmage would have no choice but to withdraw anyway, so it was a promise that would keep itself. I let out a breath and answered.
"Don't worry."
"...You have my thanks. And Anne."
She lifted her head weakly, still sniffling.
"So this place has become my grave after all."
"..."
"Do not think of revenge. My life was nearly spent as it was. I am sorry I could not return to the sea of my birth... but that, too, is all right. None of you need be angry. None of you need grieve."
"Hic... hh..."
"When I die, bury my body in the earth, and release the crystal into the lake. Let it ride the river all the way to the sea..."
His voice, already fading, came in scattered fragments, then dwindled away. And then there were no more words. The tribespeople who had been listening to his last words closed their eyes one by one, as if in silent mourning. Anne wept without end, her eyes empty.
Crack.
Before long, the chieftain's chest split open, and from within it a gem of blue light revealed itself. Anne reached out and slowly picked it up. The Archmage, who had been watching, went wide-eyed.
"A Mana Crystal..."
A crystal formed from a lifetime of accumulated mana. The pure essence of magical power. To mages, it was a treasure of the ages — something that could never be created artificially.
Anne whipped her head around and glared at him as if she could kill him with her eyes.
"All of this for a single goddamn rock?!"
Her voice tore as she screamed, raw and desperate.
"Half the land already belongs to you humans! The earth, the resources — you've conquered and claimed more than you could ever need!"
"..."
"So when are you ever going to be satisfied?! How much more do you have to take before it's enough?!"
"That is a treasure of no use to your kind."
The Archmage spoke, his brow furrowed.
"And you speak foolishly, Haerin. It was we humans who protected this continent through the long war. The Hero struck off the Demon King's head and put an end to the invasion of those wicked demons. Whose power do you think has kept the peace of this land intact until now? And yet you—"
"Archmage."
I cut in, interrupting him.
"When you're being given a chance to live, you shut up and get out."
He made a low sound in his throat and looked at me. I was in a foul mood, so I twisted the knife.
"And it wasn't humans alone who stopped the demonic invasion. What shameless garbage are you spouting?"
"...In the end, the one who sealed the Demon King was—"
"Yes. The Hero. But was that something you people accomplished? That wasn't the achievement of humanity, or of the Empire. It was the Hero's alone."
"And that Hero is a human — the guardian of Seintea."
"The guardian of an empire so blinded by greed it goes around slaughtering innocent races. You know it too, don't you? That the Hero despises your Emperor and the Imperial House."
There was only one reason the Hero had left the Imperial House's secret atrocities alone until now — or rather, had no choice but to leave them alone. Because she was a true hero, one who thought only of the continent's peace. And because that rat of an Emperor used his own children as shields, walking a razor-thin line with practiced care.
I cut off whatever retort he was about to make, his face flushed with anger.
"Get out of here. If I see you again, I'll kill you — no matter the circumstances."
Gwangrang, who'd been standing with her arms crossed and a look of bored indifference, jerked her chin at him.
"Go. That debt of yours is paid. Show your face in Calderic again and I'll kill you."
He bit down on his lip, shooting her a complicated look, then rose into the air and vanished across the sky in an instant. And with that, the situation was settled.
Gwangrang, who'd been watching the sky, shifted her gaze to me. Then she drew a finger across her own throat and asked,
"Were you actually gonna go through with it?"
"..."
"You know the Grand Lord might not take it well if one Lord kills another, right? Though you seem like the type who doesn't give a damn about that, same as me..."
"What were you doing here?"
She tapped her sword as she answered.
"Wasn't doing anything. I dropped my sword off with old man Agor and was on my way back."
...The 1st Lord, Shintoe?
So her appearance here had been complete coincidence. What were the odds of that?
"So what were you doing at this lake, then? And who are those people?"
"None of your business."
Gwangrang snorted a laugh and turned away.
"You're a real cold bastard. Nothing else for me here, so I'm gone. See you at the next council."
Watching her back disappear into the undergrowth, I let out a small sigh, feeling drained for no good reason.
"...Ron."
Anne, still holding the crystal in a daze, looked at me and called my name. She didn't say anything more. A few of the tribespeople rose and put their arms around her shoulders.
I looked down at the chieftain's body and offered a brief, silent prayer for his rest. He had died, but everyone else had survived. His death had not been meaningless.
I stayed with them until dawn. They buried the chieftain behind the cave where they had been staying, then performed what seemed to be a lengthy ritual. A tribal funeral, I supposed.
Only after the sun rose did they leave the cave, lining up along the shore of the lake. Anne stepped forward and released the crystal she had been holding into the water. The crystal shone with a bright light, then slowly began to dissolve into the water and vanish.
The Mana Crystals of the Haerin had the peculiar property of dissolving on contact with water. I'd already known that. And as I was seeing now, it was also how the Haerin honored their dead.
Once the crystal had fully dissolved, Anne stood and spoke.
"Grandpa used to say... this crystal is made from the mana we absorb from the water over a lifetime. We release it back into the water so the cycle can continue."
"..."
"Thank you, Ron. Because of you, we at least got to give him a proper funeral."
I asked her as she gazed at the lake with slightly unfocused eyes.
"Are you leaving right away?"
"Yeah. We have to. We'll head for the sea without stopping now."
The river that originated from Lake Gaitan and ran all the way to the northern sea of the continent. They seemed to intend to follow it straight home.
Splash!
After offering me their thanks and farewells, they began leaping into the lake one by one. Anne lingered until the last, as if her feet wouldn't move. I spoke to her.
"The Poluv Sea, you said. If I get the chance someday, I'll come visit your homeland."
"...Huh?"
"I hope the next time we meet, we can do it with a smile. Take care."
She stared at me blankly, then a small smile touched her lips, and she dove into the lake. I stood there for a long time, watching the surface of the water, before I finally turned and walked away.