Chapter 544
Chapter Title: The Shadow's Legacy
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From her earliest memory, the sky had always been gray.
And the world around her was even darker, more somber.
Death was a constant companion in Bihareu's life.
Day by day, she desperately clung to life.
But the longer she lived, the more she felt herself sinking into a deeper mire.
One day, living in that deep, dark world,
a man with hair and eyes the color of the sky and a beautiful woman with deep, dark hair and eyes appeared before her.
The man, Kyle, looked down at Bihareu, who was slumped on the ground looking up at him, and spoke.
“You’re a lot like me, surviving no matter what.”
At his words, Lisinas sighed softly and knelt before Bihareu.
“What do you want to do from now on?”
“I don’t want anyone else to end up like me.”
Bihareu knew nothing of the outside world, but she knew that what she had been forced to do was wrong.
To survive, you had to trample on those who struggled alongside you.
To survive, you had to kill those you had laughed with, with your own hands.
The only warmth and kindness you could offer others was to take your own life.
‘That was definitely wrong.’
“I can’t forgive the people who do these things.”
Bihareu stated her resolve calmly.
Seeing her, Lisinas’s eyes wavered.
The girl, raised in a horrific environment, showed hatred for those who had made her this way.
But more than that, she wanted to ensure there would be no more victims like her.
Looking at the girl who, at such a young age, thought of others, Lisinas realized instinctively.
‘This child will live her life in the shadows.’
She was just like a black dragon.
The black dragons had lived for generations with the mission of protecting the world from the darkness.
If the world hadn't been like this, Lisinas herself would have lived such a life.
‘It is the mission of the black dragons, passed down through generations. But the one taking on that role now is…’
Slowly—
Lisinas turned her head, seeing a hand extended past her face.
It was Kyle, offering his hand to Bihareu.
Bihareu took his hand.
Kyle pulled Bihareu to her feet, then turned and walked away without a word.
As Bihareu started to follow him, Lisinas spoke.
“Little one.”
“Yes.”
“Don’t live your entire life in the shadows.”
With a worried voice, Lisinas gently pushed young Bihareu’s back.
Bihareu stared blankly at Lisinas walking beside her.
It was the first light Bihareu had ever seen.
“Who’s this?”
“My apprentice.”
“I’m your apprentice.”
The elf girl, Berkia, who seemed to be a bundle of rebellious spirit against Kyle, stood before Bihareu after the introduction and spoke sternly.
“I’m your senior. You’d better treat me with respect.”
“Okay.”
“Then this senior is thirsty, so go fetch me some water.”
She ordered her around as if it were her right, only to get a good smack from Kyle.
At the sight, a laugh escaped Bihareu’s lips before she knew it.
Bihareu didn’t dislike Berkia.
She was fundamentally different from her.
It wasn’t just because they were different races.
The eyes of those born in the age of calamity were all tinged with darkness.
Even the Brave Hero, Ar-on.
But with Berkia, she felt none of that.
‘She’s just like Lady Lisinas.’
She puts others at ease just by being there.
A person like a brilliant light.
Someone so bright and beautiful that you couldn't even feel jealous.
That was her first impression of Berkia.
‘Our paths are different. But someday… just as Master supports Lady Lisinas, a day might come when I have to support this girl.’
If the day comes when they must take the place of the Great Heroes.
She vowed that she would.
Bihareu became Kyle’s apprentice.
The days of training alongside Berkia continued.
After she had grown some, Bihareu began to undertake missions with Kyle to eliminate traitors.
She had no complaints about it.
No, in fact, it was what Bihareu had wanted more than anyone.
A necessary task, but one that not just anyone could do.
‘Because it’s dirty work.’
As she was thinking this with her head bowed, someone placed a teacup in front of her.
Pulled from her thoughts, Bihareu looked up at the person sitting down before her.
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Should I take a guess?”
Lisinas said, bringing the mug in her hand to her lips.
“You’re thinking that the work you do is dirty, aren’t you?”
“…”
Bihareu flinched, seeing how Lisinas could see right through her.
Bihareu was staying at Lisinas’s house.
Lisinas had taken her in the day Bihareu first came to Gardsrone.
As the lord of Gardsrone, she was busy, so they didn't have many chances to meet like this at home, but they did talk from time to time.
“The work you do is by no means dirty.”
Lisinas said, sipping her tea.
“Of course, since you’re eliminating traitors in the shadows, you don’t shy away from any means necessary.”
Traitors are even more vicious than demons to the hunters who come to judge them.
Because they hunt such people, the hunters themselves become more ruthless, stopping at nothing.
They must instill absolute terror in the traitors.
Lisinas knew this better than anyone.
For if this weren't such an era, she would have been the one doing this work.
Bihareu knew that as well.
However…
‘It doesn’t suit her at all.’
In Bihareu’s eyes, Lisinas was a dazzling person.
She couldn’t possibly imagine someone like Lisinas staining her hands with blood, eliminating traitors in the shadows as she did.
‘I think I understand why Master took Lady Lisinas’s place.’
Watching Bihareu sip her tea, lost in thought, Lisinas spoke.
“But Bihareu, what you do is also for the good of this world. I want you to realize that yourself.”
“Lady Lisinas, do you think what I do is something to be proud of?”
“Of course.”
Lisinas smiled warmly.
Bihareu was a little surprised by her unhesitating answer.
“I believe that those who can stain themselves with darkness for the sake of the world are noble.”
Bihareu spent as much time with Lisinas as she did with Kyle.
It was as if she was trying to heal Bihareu’s darkness.
Despite her busy schedule, Lisinas took care of Bihareu.
And time passed again.
The Great Heroes began preparing to leave on their final expedition.
“I probably won’t make it back. So…”
Kyle said one morning, having stopped by Lisinas’s house.
At his words, Bihareu’s eyes widened.
Lisinas scowled.
“What nonsense is that?”
“I just think we need to be that prepared.”
“We’re all coming back alive.”
Kyle didn’t answer Lisinas’s scoffing remark.
He simply placed the food he’d cooked in the kitchen on the table.
“Does Lisinas ever cook?”
“Sometimes.”
“Must be tough for you then.”
Seeing Kyle mock her so genuinely, Lisinas’s hand trembled.
Bihareu laughed at the sight.
“I’m the one who asks her. It helps me focus.”
“You ask her to cook when you want to punish yourself? I don’t think you’d do anything wrong enough to deserve that.”
“Die!”
Lisinas swung the knife in her hand.
Of course, Kyle dodged without batting an eye.
Usually, Bihareu was in charge of the meals.
But on rare occasions, when Bihareu seemed to be struggling, Lisinas would do her best to cook.
It wasn't exactly delicious, but it definitely gave her strength.
Watching Kyle and Lisinas bicker, Bihareu burst out laughing.
“You know, being like this… it feels like we’re a family.”
At her words, Lisinas paused, then smiled gently.
It was the first time Bihareu had said something like that.
And so, from that final expedition, the two saved the world and never returned.
***
After the world was saved.
Bihareu spent her days in a frantic haze.
The first thing she did was tear out Kyle’s records of his activities as a shadow from the Hero Record.
Bihareu was proud of her master, who had stained his hands with blood to eliminate traitors.
But at the same time, she knew.
‘The world will never see that side of him in a purely positive light.’
Kyle wouldn’t have cared.
But Bihareu hated the thought of it.
That was why she tore out those records and kept them separately.
Afterward, Bihareu lived in the shadows.
Just as Bihareu had expected, Berkia took on Lisinas’s role.
The brighter the light Berkia shone to lead the world, the longer and darker the shadows it cast.
And those shadows were the world where Bihareu lived.
She never once thought of her work as shameful.
But Bihareu never revealed herself.
The more she did so, the more exhausted she became.
Then one day.
In the darkness, Bihareu saw children in the same situation she had once been in.
And just as Kyle and Lisinas had done in the past, she reached out her hand to them.
That was the light Bihareu found in the darkness.
Bihareu took in many children.
And those children brought normalcy to a life she thought could never be normal.
She found someone to love and had children of her own.
After finding peace at the end of a long life, she heard news of Berkia.
***
“Mother!”
Seeing Bihareu return, covered in blood, her son’s face went pale.
Looking at her son, Bihareu spoke.
“Shan.”
“Mother, we need to treat you…”
“Don’t resent her.”
“...!”
Seeing Bihareu speak with a faint smile, Shan trembled.
“My life was already short because of my illness. So don’t resent her.”
“Mother…”
“To me, she’s like a sister who shared the same father.”
Shan knew.
He knew his mother had spent her entire life working from the shadows to support Berkia.
“Lady Lisinas told me. That those in the shadows are the noblest of all. So it’s okay if others don’t acknowledge you. If you are to walk this path too, I want you to know that it is not a misfortune to go unrecognized.”
Bihareu smiled.
“He always said he wasn’t, but I hope you live like my master, who always dedicated himself to the world.”
“Yes… Mother.”
“Good, my son. Please take care of your siblings.”
“Yes…”
Seeing her son clench his jaw and stoically accept her death, Bihareu smiled brightly.
It was a smile just like that of Lisinas, who had been a light to her.
It was a life with no regrets.
If there was one thing that weighed on her mind, it was that she couldn't stop Berkia.
***
-I never thought my last words would torment you for thousands of years.
Having seen the past, Chen Xia was silent.
It was a very long story.
But in reality, it had only been a fleeting moment.
During that time, Chen Xia had seen the past through Bihareu’s spirit.
Bihareu had awakened in the present out of concern for Berkia.
But just as Chen Xia had seen Bihareu’s past,
Bihareu had also seen Chen Xia’s.
And she learned how her descendants had lived.
That her last words had become a curse, tormenting her posterity for thousands of years.
That countless shadows had despaired of themselves.
-You resent me too, don’t you?
‘Yes, I resented you a great deal.’
She had dreamed of being a hero since she was young, but her duty as a shadow had always bound her.
Chen Xia had resented the ancestor who was the cause of her clan living their entire lives in the shadows.
But…
‘Lady Bihareu, are you ashamed of us?’
-No. I am proud of you, very proud.
Bihareu’s descendants had not lost sight of their mission, even in their suffering.
How could she not be proud of the descendants who had carried on her will for so long?
At Bihareu’s words, Chen Xia smiled warmly.
Bihareu had certainly confined her descendants to the shadows.
Even if it was unintentional.
Countless people had suffered.
But one thing was certain.
‘I resented you, Lady Bihareu, but I was just as proud of you.’
No one else acknowledged them.
Countless people had pointed fingers at the Shan Empire.
They were discriminated against for dedicating themselves to the world, simply because they could not have their names in the Hero Record.
And yet, the reason the Shan Empire had silently pursued its path for so long was…
because they were that proud of Bihareu, who had dedicated her entire life to the world.
‘I’m sure it was the same for the previous generations. They may have resented you, but because they were proud of you, Lady Bihareu, I believe no one strayed from the path, living for thousands of years in the shadows.’
Chen Xia said.
‘So you are more than worthy of being called our ancestor.’
Bihareu couldn’t answer.
-Thank you, for saying that.
She could only express her gratitude in a trembling voice for Chen Xia’s comforting words.
‘It’s strange. I have no talent as a spirit medium, yet I can talk with you like this, Ancestor.’
-It was my master’s spirit arts that awakened me. But it was your spiritual power that completed the contract.
The contract Leo had created through Bihareu’s dagger reacted to Chen Xia’s spiritual power.
Hearing Bihareu’s words, Chen Xia said.
‘Then would it be possible for you to possess my body?’
Chen Xia glanced toward Leo.
‘I need your strength.’
-Yes. In fact, that is what I wanted to ask of you.
***
“Bihareu, you…”
“We’ll talk later.”
Bihareu gave a faint smile.
“I will stop Berkia now.”
Bihareu readjusted her grip on the dagger.
“Master, please take care of that elf.”
“Alright.”
Leo walked toward Ulain.
Leaving him to it, Bihareu stood before Berkia, who was clutching her head.
“Berkia.”
“Agh…”
Clutching her head, Berkia shook it frantically.
Looking at Berkia, Bihareu spoke.
“I don’t resent you. But if you crumble just like this…”
“Aaaaaaaah!”
“I will never forgive you.”
Flash—! Craaaaaaaash—!
The sword Berkia swung swept over Bihareu.
Berkia’s gaze quickly shot behind her.
She had moved at an imperceptible speed, but Berkia’s senses instantly tracked her.
Thud—
For a moment, confusion flickered in the eyes of the maddened Berkia.
Before she knew it, there were two Bihareus.
Thud— Thud—
Two became four.
Four became eight.
Soon, countless Bihareus stood before Berkia.
“We were like sisters. And we fought a lot because of it. Do you remember what we fought about?”
There was one thing neither of us would ever concede.
Bihareu said calmly.
“Five thousand years ago, we couldn’t settle things because I closed my eyes first due to my illness.”
Bihareu’s gaze glinted sharply.
“Let’s settle it now.”