Fairy Heart (2)
Fairy Heart (2)
A night when the moon is unusually bright.
Redin and Seria headed out together.
They walked into the woods, breathing in the cool air, and stood face to face in a clearing used for training. Seria cleared her throat and gave him a fierce glare.
"Are you ready?"
He gave her a light nod.
"Let's get started."
"Don't forget the terms I gave you."
"I engraved it in my heart."
He thumped his fist on his heart.
The look in Seria's eyes says it's not enough.
"Even if I never master the shadow arts you taught me, I will honor my promise to let you meet your father. You hear me?"
"Okay, come in front of me."
He slowly stepped forward.
In the moonlight, Seria's face grew nearer, and though she tried not to show it, her eyelashes fluttered with nervousness.
He reached out and clapped lightly.
Clap!
"What are you waiting for?"
"It's just that it's my first time teaching it to someone else, so if anything goes wrong..."
"You were originally going to kill me."
Redin said in a deadpan voice while staring at Seria.
"That was then."
Seria blushing after hearing Redin recount their past interaction in the Burning Hell Training Room.
"I won't die if you mess up, so chill."
"Do you think you have two lives?"
Seria pouted at the sight of him, and he shrugged, rubbing his arms together.
"It's cold. Let's get this over with and get inside."
"Hah... Seriously, how did I run into this guy."
Seria's hand came up to rest on his chest.
"Then, let's start."
At the sound of her voice, Seria changed. Her short hair whipped around and her black eyes turned white.
Snap!
Black sparks flew.
The sparks started at her toes, then enveloped her entire body. Everything blackened except her eyes.
As if she were truly a living shadow.
"This is going to sting a little."
The corner of Seria's mouth curled upward, and black sparks rained down on Redin.
Bzztt!
For a moment, there was darkness.
It was silent.
Like when he entered the Mythic Portal.
There was no feeling of any sort.
Thud!
Thud!
The sound of his heart beating.
Beginning with the sensation of blood rushing through the whole body, He was aware that his body was alive.
But he couldn't move.
With only his mind active, he began to see things. A black world, unable to tell if it was real or a dream. There, a huge snake appeared.
No, more of a dragon.
Two huge horns.
Glossy black scales.
The black dragon slithered toward him like a swimming fish, its long beard billowing.
He'd seen it somewhere before.
'God of the Seas.'
An archipelago in the southern part of the continent of Bern.
A place of constant thunderstorms and violent waves, where humans find it hard to inhabit. The people called it the Shadow Islands.
And the God of Sea was one of the transcendent species that inhabited the Shadow Islands.
Only those chosen by the sea god could live in the Shadow Islands, and for many generations, the House of Baskervan had been chosen.
-Are you afraid?
A rumbling voice rang out.
Thanks to his [cold heart], he felt no fear; he simply stared at the approaching dragon with nonchalance.
-Be afraid.
-Because you are not a chosen person.
Swoosh!
The sea god's mouth opened wide.
-My power is granted only to the children of Baskervan, and I will take away all that you have in your greed.
The dragon's teeth appeared overhead.
Chomp!
Was he going to be eaten by a dragon?
But why doesn't it hurt?
-This...
The God of the Sea must have been surprised by something.
-I can't believe that his bloodline is still here.
That guy's bloodline?
-And he's the chosen one of the Phoenix. Hahahahahaha. Hilarious, very interesting. Okay. I'll give you special permission.
What is he saying?
-I'll be waiting for you on the Black Tempest Rock. Come to me when you are worthy.
The echoing voice of the God of the Sea.
He blinked as his head felt like it was spinning. The black world faded and he saw Seria's face.
"What happened?"
A message came up in response to her question.
[You have obtained the Shadow Art (F)].
He reached out, recalling the information in his head. An energy different from the mana inside his body. He summoned it up.
Shadow Entrapment.
Two hands reached out from the shadow behind Seria and immediately grabbed her arms.
Seria wore a puzzled expression.
"Did you actually... learn it?"
"Didn't I tell you to let me learn?"
He released the shadow's restraint.
The hands sank back into the shadow.
It was still low-ranked, so there wasn't much it could do. There were only two shadow hands to work with.
He would have to work diligently to improve its rank.
"Seria?"
"W-Wait for a sec."
It seems like she was quite shaken up.
Well, yes. It's understandable, considering what the god of the sea said. He wouldn't allow anyone who wasn't a child of the Baskervans.
'Hang on'
Did she know that if he wasn't chosen, he would die?
He shook his head.
If she had, she wouldn't have tried to pass on the Shadow Arts. Seria wants to save her father more than anyone.
"Father says you can't be chosen by the God of the Sea... unless you're a child of Baskervan. then… Not my uncle's child."
Seria looked up at him with a shocked expression on her face.
"Dad's hidden child..?"
"Absolutely not."
"How would you know?"
"The god of the sea tried to kill me at first. So don't get any ideas. There's not a drop of blood between us."
Then he remembered the words of the sea god.
He said it was definitely his blood. He must know about the lineage of the Redin he possessed.
"Seria, do you happen to know a place called the Black Tempest Rock?"
"It's a rock in the innermost reaches of the Shadow Islands, and I've heard it can only be reached by mastering the Shadow Arts to the extreme."
So the qualifications the god of the sea said were Henry Baskervan caliber.
For the time being, he pushed it to the back of his mind.
Although he's curious about his lineage, he needs to become one of the most powerful people in the world to meet the God of the Sea, and to do that, he needs to focus on his current work.
The order is just pushed back a bit.
The direction of the objective has not changed.
"Haaaahhh."
Now, he's starting to feel drowsy.
"Let's go back."
* * *
The Burning Hell Warden's Office.
Daylon raised his knuckles against the door.
*knock!* knock!
“This is Daylon.”
“Come in.”
A short, gruff voice from inside.
With Warden Rukel's permission, Daylon opened the door and stepped inside.
He took in the sight of the office.
The atmosphere was luxurious, but not overbearing. He made his way over and stood in front of Rukel's desk.
"First, I have something to report to you."
Today's meeting had been arranged by Daylon because he needed to see Rukel.
Rukel clenched his jaw through his teeth.
"What report?"
"Redin, who was presumed dead, is alive, and this is a report from him."
Rukel looked at the report Daylon handed him with interest. The contents were bizarre.
Luckily managed to avoid the explosions.
I was lucky to find a dungeon.
We got lucky and killed the Boss Monster.
It was a complete streak of luck.
One ridiculous thing after another happened that, if someone else had seen it, they would have thought it was a plot for a novel.
"You won't believe it, but..."
“I believe it.”
Rukel replied calmly.
He was the surviving child of that family. He wasn't surprised by this stroke of luck. Perhaps it was to be expected.
Part of him was curious.
He wondered how long it would last.
"Where is this child now?"
"He's currently resting in his quarters with his two companions."
"Did you decide on your next mission?"
"I'd like to talk to you about that, sir. I'd like to be assigned to take care of Terry the Poison Toad exclusively for 7th Division."
"You think you can catch him?"
"Yes. I think he could be caught."
Rukel looked away from the report.
The look in Daylon's eyes told him that he truly thought so.
He thought about it for a moment.
It wasn't like he could see into his head, but he had a longstanding hunch that he had Redin in mind.
'Revenge.'
Revenge is not a bad thing.
It can be a strong motivator.
But this was Terry.
Rukel knew him well. He had been a prison guard, but he was a very hot-tempered and violent man.
People might think that's all he was, a simple bastard.
He was more cunning than anyone else.
If he realized that the special 7th Division was targeting him, he'd do the opposite and kill them all.
'Redin would be the most in danger.'
Rukel envisions Redin as the next big thing, but he has a backup in Khan.
If.
Very if.
If they capture Terry in a Task Force Mission, and Redin makes a big splash in that mission.
The impact won't be as great.
'Low risk, Low return.'
From Rukel's perspective, he had nothing to lose. He wanted to test the waters, see what Redin's limits were.
"I'll grant it, but the deadline is for three months."
"You imply that we have about three months?"
Catching a major criminal took a long time. They needed to know where he was, and they needed to plan for a lot of variables.
The timeframe was too short.
"Is there a reason you set a time frame?"
Without a word, Rukel opened the right drawer and pulled out two files. He rose from his seat and sat down across from Daylon.
"In the future, the Special 7th Division will be disbanded."
Daylon clenched his fists.
"What are you talking about, all of a sudden disbanding the special 7th division..."
"I've decided it's a waste of manpower to keep a Special Task Force 7th Unit for Brassel, which is now a shadow of its former self."
He wasn't wrong.
"Read it."
Daylon opened the white file.
[Establishment of a Special Education for Specialized Unit].
The idea was to set up a training center with a specialized curriculum that would allow new recruits coming into Burning Hell to go straight into the Special Forces.
All of the members of the Special 7th Unit, including Harris, were assigned as instructors.
The target is the latest trainees to enter.
"Why isn't my name listed?"
"You're here."
*Tap!* Tap!
Rukel tapped the black file with his fingertips. Daylon looked at the writing on the black file.
[Cerberus Establishment Proposal]
Daylon opened the black file.
There was a seal that said Top Secret, and further details.
The purpose of the establishment was simple.
It was created to capture the head of Magnes, and its members were said to be knights drawn from each kingdom and guards from Burning Hell.
At the bottom was an organizational chart.
-Organizational Chart-
Captain: Daylon Artier.
Vice Captain: Vacant.
Group 1 Leader: Vacant
Group 2 Leader: Vacant
Group 3 Leader: Vacant
Group 4 Leader: Vacant
Group 5 Leader: Vacant
"Is this even possible?"
Knights have very high self-esteem.
Rukel must have known they held the guards in such a low regard, but it was hard to imagine such knights becoming part of Burning Hell's organization.
"Authorized from above."
"Are you sure?"
"The back page is a list of participants in the upcoming Hell War."
Daylon checked the back page.
Each kingdom had a list of names. Some he knew from his position in the intelligence organization, and some were very famous.
Others he didn't recognize.
"This will be a special organization that exists above the law. All of its members will have immunity, and they'll be able to execute nobility on the spot."
Daylon couldn't believe it.
Aside from other places, the Holy Empire didn't take kindly to killing criminals in the process of arrest.
But summary execution of a noble?
"The Holy Empire allowed that?"
"A suggestion from the Holy Empire. We've been given great power, and we need people who can wield it properly. See what you can find out and fill the vacancy to your liking."
Suddenly he got curious.
If he could wrap it in his own taste.
"Then, is it okay to plug in Redin?"
"Sure. But it'll have to be something that convinces a lot of people, including the Council."
"I suppose catching Terry will solve that."
Rukel chuckled lightly at Daylon's comment.
"I hope so."