44. Oracle (1)
44. Oracle (1)
"Liberated from the karma?"
Bel stared at Yuma with wide eyes as he said that.
"Y-yeah. From the blood pact... I think I've been freed."
Bel's voice was trembling. She still couldn't believe that the White Night Clan had been liberated from the shackles of this White Night land.
It couldn't be helped.
Because until just yesterday, she couldn't even imagine this moment. Couldn't even glimpse it in a dream.
"Congratulations."
Yuma, who had spoken drily to Bel, began to step forward.
Chijijik-!
And then, he halted his steps in a hurry.
Black embers remained on the ground.
'...That was almost a disaster.'
Right after killing Ades, he'd nearly died engulfed in Ades's flames.
With a stiff face, Yuma carefully stepped over Ades's fire.
And then he walked forward again with an aloof stride. The people of the White Night Clan watching his steps from ahead didn't find that scene even slightly strange.
The sight of him stopping, then walking again flowed seamlessly, as naturally as water.
Clan patriarch Luke interpreted Yuma's action like this:
'He's savoring the afterglow of battle...!'
A strong person who pauses briefly to feel the lingering echoes of the battlefield...!
He couldn't help but think that, because the massive fallen giant behind, Ades, the King of the Giants, and the image of Yuma walking forward with aloof poise formed a magnificent spectacle.
It wasn't just the patriarch Luke alone. All sixty or so of the clan's core combat personnel felt the same way.
Luke and the warriors had come to genuinely acknowledge Yuma.
Because they had just witnessed it with their own two eyes.
They had clearly seen with their own two eyes the King of the Giant God Tribe, Ades, who had tormented the clan for hundreds of years.
They had seen that giant, who possessed recovery and regeneration abilities based on divine power, killed in a single strike.
And right now, the scene unfolding before their eyes wasn't what mattered.
It wasn't the time to focus on Yuma's level of martial power.
Everyone blankly examined their own bodies, and the bodies of their families. Then they embraced one another.
"Ades has...!"
"The King of the Giant God Tribe is dead!"
"Now, we're free. I said we're free!!"
As the giant's body completely tilted over.
Only when the clan members felt the chains of the covenant, which had once squeezed their hearts, completely vanish did they fully realize what had happened to them.
Freedom.
Freedom had come. To the bloodline of the White Night.
For a very long time, they held each other tight.
"...Now, it's time we gave our thanks."
When Luke, the first to collect himself, spoke up, everyone gazed at Yuma.
Jeobeok- Jeobeok- Kung- Kung-
Yuma watched the members of the White Night Clan gathering toward him, their footsteps making all kinds of different sounds.
Yuma swept his gaze over the White Night Clan members who were crowding in densely around him on all sides as if encircling him, and let out an internal sigh. Because their bodies were slowly tilting downward.
'Are they kneeling again?'
Recently, Yuma had seen people kneeling toward him far too many times.
However, this time, it wasn't kneeling.
Kung─
It was a prostration.
Starting with patriarch Luke, all 120 or so members of the clan prostrated themselves before Yuma.
From Luke's mouth, as he bowed at the very front, a weighty voice flowed out.
"I will never forget, for my entire life, the grace you have shown us by releasing our clan from its karma."
"We will never forget, for our entire lives. O benefactor."
Low voices echoed out in succession from all around.
"We will never forget, for our entire lives. O benefactor."
Among them, numerous voice were choked with tears.
A moment passed.
All members of the White Night Clan slowly rose to their feet.
"Pihyuu...."
A boy who looked about eight years old was visible, sniffling with a runny nose.
"So we can really go outside the castle now?"
"Yes, yes. We can go outside freely now. Diorn."
The voices of a son and his mother could be heard.
Yuma looked at the large man beside him, the clan patriarch Luke. Luke gazed steadily at Yuma with intensely heated eyes.
"You said you were the Grand Marshal of the Empire? If you need military force, I will lend you our strength immediately."
Luke's spirit, worn down for decades, had somehow been cleanly restored. It was understandable, since he had escaped the karma that bound him his whole life, the karma he had carried on his back his whole life.
Luke continued speaking.
"Every single member of the White Night Clan stands ready to become your sword, at any time."
The clan warriors behind Luke bowed deeply at the waist.
"That is correct. No matter what land we are in, no matter what country we are in. We will serve only you as our lord."
"O benefactor."
Yuma swept his gaze over the White Night Clan.
The number of warriors and mages among the clan who could stand on the front line wasn't very large, but they alone would far surpass the Empire's 1st Knight Order.
Because many of the warriors were those born with a superior talent for swordsmanship. A talent far exceeding what is commonly called 'talent.'
"That's reassuring."
If they became his sword, they would naturally become a great strength.
However, Yuma had no intention of taking them with him right now.
Yuma slowly shook his head.
"But it's not wartime right now. For now, enjoy the freedom you've gained. The liberation you've gained. What I need immediately is...."
Yuma paused his words for a moment, then looked at Bel, who was standing right next to Luke.
"Just that."
It was a statement Yuma had unconsciously blurted out due to extreme exhaustion, but being treated like an object as 'that', Bel's eyes grew wide and round.
Luke glanced back at Bel beside him and nodded.
"This, I give to you."
Bel's brow furrowed sharply.
"Wh-what are you talking about! As you please! Damn father!!"
Bel looked back at Yuma.
"Even if I'm given, it's because I willingly give myself!"
Bel, who had blurted out the words hastily due to her anger at her father Luke, realized what she had just said to Yuma only after replaying her own words in her head once.
A blush rose to her pure white cheeks.
"Eueuk...!"
And she clutched her long blue hair with both hands.
Slowly releasing her hands, she let out a sigh.
"...Bel. I'm Bel. My name."
"Bel."
"Yeah."
He had already confirmed it with his Searching Eye, but since she said it herself, Yuma spoke the name aloud once, and then had Luke dismiss the warriors behind him.
Luke, without hesitation, dismissed his subordinates as Yuma had said.
"Right, Bel. For now, you just need to come up to the Imperial Capital with me."
Yuma thought he needed to tell these two the truth.
"In the oracle concerning the Imperial Princess I'm assisting, a being called the <Blue-haired Sword Saint> appears. That's probably you, for sure."
Yuma gazed at Cloné standing next to him.
"Since the Resonance happened."
Bel nodded at Yuma's explanation.
"Ahh...that thing that rang in my head right before the battle. Did she and I do the Resonance?"
Bel approached Cloné, her pink eyes shining.
"Anyway, according to the oracle, I'm going to bring the two of you before the 1st Princess Brigitte. I'll think about what comes after that later."
Yuma gestured with his chin toward Bel.
"I plan to leave immediately tomorrow morning. To the Empire. It'll still take about a week, so say your goodbyes. To your clan."
"Okay...."
Bel trailed off slightly at the end, as if the word 'goodbyes' weighed on her. And she walked away with quick steps.
Yuma looked at Luke.
"You said you'd become my army."
Luke's blue hair swayed.
"Of courrrs. Just say the word, anytime. Yuma. You are, at least to this current generation, an existence akin to a clan god who must be exalted and worshipped."
A god to be worshipped, he said.
Yuma clicked his tongue internally. But the loyalty Luke held right now had value.
'I don't know when it will be, but when I need them, they will definitely come.'
He had almost gathered all the pieces of the oracle.
If there was a typhoon in this world right now, it was certain that he himself was standing at the very center of it.
"As I just said, enjoy your freedom first for now. I'll arrange a place so you can come to the Empire when I call."
Luke gave a bitter smile.
"Freedom, it was the thing I wanted most in this world. But now that I actually hold it in my hands, I don't quite know how to use it."
Yuma spoke indifferently.
"Well, you could travel. While eating delicious food."
Luke chuckled.
"Culinary indulgence, that sounds good."
***
The sun had completely set. The night grew deep.
The Castle of the White Night was empty.
The White Night Clan, clustered together, stepped out of the outer castle.
And they were walking through the thickets outside the outer castle.
They had left the land of the White Night.
"I'm not dying...."
"My heart isn't bursting."
Voices choked with tears and murmurs of comfort continued.
"Freedom."
"Fuck, I never knew this moment I only dreamed of would actually come true."
Among the White Night Clan, only praises for Yuma continued on and on.
"To defeat Ades, he truly achieved a tremendous thing for us...."
A young man with tears welling in both eyes said as he wiped them away. A woman behind the young man smacked him.
"Of course it's a tremendous thing he did, you idiot. If he'd slipped up, we might have had to marry each other."
"C-clan intermarriage...? But the previous generation, our fathers' generation, mostly married outsiders from other kingdoms."
The woman twisted her lips.
"That was because the Conqueror King kept rampaging across the previous generation. Our mothers ran for their lives and entered our White Night land, which the barbarian kingdoms don't touch, and from the clan's perspective, it was just luck. Normally, who would marry into a place you can't leave once you enter? When your children can't take a single step outside."
At the woman's explanation, the young man bowed his head.
"B-but, do you hate me that much?"
The woman's face crumpled up fiercely.
"Then, fuck! Would I like it─! Huh!"
And she lifted both hands high.
"Long live Lord Yuma! The clan's one and only god! Long live Yuma!"
The female clan member genuinely considered Yuma a god.
***
....
Haven looked up at the sky filled with countless stars and smiled brightly. It was just land slightly beyond the White Night territory, yet it felt like a completely different world.
Freedom.
Was this freedom?
He'd only just taken a single bite of it so far.
This thing called freedom was very sweet.
Sabak sabak-
"Orabeoni."
Stepping through the snow, Haven looked at his younger sister Bel standing beside him. He slowly opened his mouth.
"I hear you're going to the Astes Empire following Lord Yuma?"
Bel nodded.
"That's how it turned out."
"Well, I guess you're just going a little ahead of us. Father said we'll be called soon too."
"Yeah, probably."
The siblings leaned side by side against a tree and looked up at the sky.
Haven opened his mouth again.
"As expected, Bel. You're a chosen existence in many ways. If it weren't for you. If you hadn't been in our tribe, would Lord Yuma have even come here? I don't think he would have."
Bel remained silent.
Haven patted Bel's shoulder.
"Thank you, for many things."
"...That's my line."
It was simply the trust between siblings.
However, the trust as blood relatives was deeply strong.
"Still, I won't give up. Swordsmanship... one day, I'll surpass you."
At Haven's words, Bel chuckled. Because her older brother who never knew when to give up was quite commendable.
"Try it, just try."
"Alright, take good care of Lord Yuma first."
The two leaned against the tree side by side, gazing at the star-covered sky for a long time, then slowly returned to the land of the White Night.
It was the night when every single member of the White Night bloodline savored freedom for the first time in their lives.