Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Seonwoo’s Story (2)
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Jensen had once asked him. The burden of the Seonwoo Clan is heavy. When you take on the name Seonwoo, you must carry their grudges as well.
And because of that, Ban never went out of his way to introduce himself as "Seonwoo Ban" anywhere. Of course, since the Seonwoo Clan itself had been branded as traitors, it was only natural not to utter the family name anywhere, but Ban introducing himself simply as Ban wasn't just for such political reasons.
*When did I start deluding myself?*
As long as he didn't seek out the clan first, they wouldn't come looking for him either, he'd thought.
But the answer to that delusion had returned like this. Unlike Ban, goodwill overflowed unchecked on a face brimming with refined elegance.
Ban looked at Yujin's face, then quietly asked.
"I'm your... uncle?"
"Don't speak so formally, Uncle! You don't have to!"
"......Hearing someone call me 'sir' is a first."
And from a woman who looked about his age, no less.
Yujin said with an excited face.
"I've heard the stories since I was little. The moment the Sword of Seonwoo returns, the days we live holding our breath will end. We'll reclaim our library, and light will shine on the North once more......"
"......."
"Ah, sorry. Talking about such gloomy things right as we meet. I've really wanted to see you, Uncle."
"Did you want to see your uncle, or the Guardian more?"
"You're asking a cheeky question."
Yujin smiled softly. It was an innocent, pretty smile that no one could resent.
"I wanted to see both."
For something like that, they'd come awfully late, but they must have had their reasons. For better or worse, they were blood relatives he'd just met for the first time. Ban couldn't help but feel a lump in his chest.
"Oh my, we've got quite the guests."
That was when Quint appeared. The moment he did, Yujin's fresh, spring-breeze-like expression turned icy in an instant. She bowed deeply to Ban.
"It's getting late. I'll come see you again. It was a pleasure meeting you... sir."
"You're welcome to come again, but next time, drop the'sir'."
Ban smiled wryly.
"I'm just barely twenty yet."
"Oh, my apologies."
Yujin smiled with crinkled eyes once more and hurried off. Watching the people behind her bow their heads one by one and leave, Quint asked in a bewildered voice.
"What was that? Did they form a gang in Shionel Village or something?"
"......No."
"That girl earlier was seriously pretty. Though she gave off a cold chill...... Do you know her?"
"If she greeted you, then yeah."
Ban answered that much and went inside. Quint tried to ask more, but Jensen blocked his path with a scary face.
"Did you chop the wood?"
"Ah, old man. It's a problem if you keep making me do these trivial chores. Anyone else, sure, but making a knight chop wood! Even Ban complained last time."
"If you don't like it, starve. In my house, anyone who doesn't earn their keep starves. That's my rule."
"Then why didn't you make Ban do anything?"
"I've already given him plenty."
Jensen muttered quietly.
"......That guy's got too much on his plate already."
§
"Why was Seonwoo abandoned?"
It was the night Yujin came. Ban finally sought out Jensen and asked the question. It was one he'd deliberately avoided until now. He feared that hearing the answer would make him hate this kingdom. That the world his friends had desperately protected would no longer look beautiful.
But in the end, he had no choice but to ask from his position. At Ban's question, Jensen looked at him with a complicated expression, then slowly parted his lips.
"Want a drink?"
"......No."
"It's well-aged."
Ban silently stared at Jensen. His eyes were resolute. In the end, Jensen sighed and spoke.
"How much do you know about the Night?"
"......A place where things that shouldn't happen do, and things that should don't. A place where the laws are broken, that's about it."
"Is the Night something to avoid, or to confront?"
Ban pondered the question briefly. They were certainly threatening. Ban had only tasted the fringes of the Night, but what monsters lurked in its depths...... He couldn't even fathom.
"There's too much I don't know to decide."
"Seonwoo said to confront it. No, the North said to confront it. But few empathized with that voice. Only the North confronted the Night, and only the North bled for it, so people came to mistakenly think the Night threatened only the North."
"......That difference in fervor sparked the revolution."
"That alone couldn't be the reason. The North said politics is the right of the citizens, not the king. That the king should reign but not rule. They valued art and scholarship over the sword, and when the flames of revolution finally ignited......"
"They were abandoned."
"The border lighthouses guarding the North extinguished their lights all at once."
Jensen said with a bitter expression. Ban quietly spoke.
"The Academy said it that way. That Northerners themselves extinguished the lighthouse flames. That by rejecting the kingdom, they plunged themselves into the Night......"
"That's what they'd say. But you know better. Not pursuing power doesn't mean denying it. The Northerners knew they couldn't overcome the Night with their own strength. That's why they started the revolution. To gain that power."
"......And as the price, the kingdom extinguished the lights?"
Jensen didn't answer. He pulled out a bottle of liquor and slowly wet his lips. But even the alcohol couldn't loosen the tension in his eyes.
"At least that's what the survivors believe."
"......So the Seonwoo Clan was abandoned just for being revolution supporters?"
"Yes."
"I've met His Highness in person."
Ban clenched his fist.
"He didn't strike me as evil-hearted."
"Those who truly sicken the world are zealots with good intentions and justice."
"......."
"Once conviction takes root, even a child can wield a weapon that severs necks. You know that story well."
Jensen continued quietly.
"Justice is often more ruthless than malice."
That justice made the people raise swords against their own kingdom,
and forced the king to abandon his own people.
"What should I do?"
"When you learned your identity, you said you wouldn't be bound by the Seonwoo Clan's old grudges. ......And I supported that. Seonwoo is dead. You're the one alive. I hoped you wouldn't pour your life into the voices of the dead."
"......But my ability to strut around pretending to be some special swordsman is thanks to those dead ones."
Ban raised his head. The deliberation wasn't long. Maybe it wasn't even a matter for deliberation.
"I am Ban, Master."
"I know."
"But I'm also Seonwoo Ban."
Ban said quietly.
"Since I was born in debt, I have to repay it."
§
"Thanks for coming with me, Uncle."
"I wish you'd stop with the formal speech. It makes me feel old."
"Th-then how should I talk......?"
"Just use casual speech."
"I can't do that!"
"......Then should I go formal too?"
"Ah, no, that's...... ......That's cheating, Uncle."
Yujin looked sulky, unable to do either. Ban looked around the inside of the carriage. It was no shabby cart by any means.
"They say even a ruined rich man is still rich. Looks like the Seonwoo Clan, even wandering homeless, still has means."
"We're all artisans, one by one. If we set our minds to it, building wealth isn't hard."
"And those artisans care this much about a sword-slinger like me."
"A sword-slinger? The Guardian isn't something you dismiss as just a sword-slinger!"
"Ah, got it. Why get so mad?"
"You don't get it, Uncle. How long we've waited for you."
"......The Guardian, not your uncle?"
"Th-that's true, but...... you're still the Guardian, Uncle."
Yujin's flustered face was quite cute. Ban chuckled and looked out the carriage.
"How have the Seonwoo Clan people lived all this time?"
"We did whatever it took to survive. Everyone has some skill or craft, so it wasn't too hard. At first, we hid from the kingdom's pursuit out of fear...... but eventually, the surveillance loosened. After I was little, it didn't feel that tough."
"That's fortunate."
"......I know asking for help right away seems shameless."
Yujin said in a slightly subdued voice.
"But please don't push us away too much."
"When did I push you away?"
"When you saw me, you looked less glad and more like 'so it came'."
"......Did I?"
"You did! But I'm not blaming you. I understand your situation, Uncle. When Elder Jensen said he'd raise you ordinarily, the adults didn't seek you out. They had their own noses to the grindstone. I know it might seem hypocritical now that we know you're the Guardian and come looking."
She'd thought deeper than expected. As Ban watched Yujin look a bit choked up and was about to say something, she continued.
"But at least for me, I wanted to see you as much as the Guardian. That's true."
"......Yeah."
"......You're not mad, right?"
"Not mad."
Ban smiled wryly.
"Why would I be?"
"......You know, Uncle? I can read the voice of the hammer."
"The hammer?"
"More precisely, the blacksmith's hammer. And in Seonwoo Clan history, those who hear the hammer's voice are......"
That was when it happened. The carriage stopped, cutting off Yujin's words. She glanced around, then smiled quietly.
"Looks like we arrived. At our new home."
"......Is this Seonwoo Clan land?"
"More like a temporary residence. Let's get out. Everyone's waiting."
That "everyone" might have deserved more attention.
The moment he stepped down from the carriage, Ban couldn't help flinching under the barrage of stares fixed on him. From children to elders, all had stopped what they were doing to gaze blankly at Ban.
Whispers rose. 'It's Yujin.' 'Definitely Yujin...... she went to find the Guardian.' 'Then that young man?' 'Finally the time......' 'Ah ah...... we've waited so long.'
And over the murmurs, an old woman's voice rang out.
"Yujin, is that young man perhaps......"
"Yes, Auntie."
Yujin bowed politely.
"The Guardian has finally returned."
That was the moment. The old woman knelt. Not just her. Children, women, men, elders. All who breathed and had legs knelt quietly, and Ban unwittingly held his breath.
They uttered not a single word, but their heavy silence whispered to Ban.
Welcome home.
Just like that.