The Hound's Return: Selma and Clay's Reckoning
Zeroa led the way down the familiar path, his steps steady and unhurried as he guided Rai and Aslan forward.
Rai's curiosity burned during their training, and he asked Zeroa who had taught him to wield a sword. Zeroa answered without hesitation that it was a former adventurer turned blacksmith.
The words felt oddly right, yet something about the combination struck Rai as off. He tilted his head, and Zeroa replied that the blacksmith still operated his shop in Legandia. He offered to introduce Rai if the opportunity arose.
Rai stood immediately, declaring they should go right away. Zeroa, completely unaware of the surprise in store, blinked in confusion before he found himself directing them to the forge. Asran, meanwhile, had been sprawled out in Rai's private garden and was dragged along for the ride.
Rai's rough-and-tumble nature and unpredictable behavior made Asran uneasy, but Zeroa simply assumed nothing would go wrong and continued on. Along the way, he explained who his master was to Rai.
According to Zeroa, the blacksmith and his wife were adventurers who had turned to blacksmithing as a hobby. They claimed to be nothing special, yet when other adventurers or mercenaries tried to start trouble at their shop, the couple's skills were undeniable.
Rai dismissed it as mere guesswork. "As if I'd ever be the bad guy. The real demons are out there somewhere," he muttered with a lazy wave of his hand.
Both of them had taken a liking to Zeroa, so the couple had taught him swordsmanship and magic. Thanks to them, Zeroa had survived his life as an adventurer's porter without losing his life and had been able to attend the academy.
Zeroa spoke at length, but Asran's eyes drooped with exhaustion and Rai kept snacking on street food as if the explanation were boring him to death.
While sucking the sticky residue from his fingers, Rai eyed the shield Zeroa carried.
"Did you buy that shield over there?"
"Yes, but I didn't buy it. The owner said it was free because I was using a shield."
"Hmm. Good people."
Rai examined the shield's quality, nodding thoughtfully. It wasn't a gift from his own master, but it was a present from the person who had taught him. Still, the craftsmanship was poor.
Rai had expected something sturdy after years of adventuring and occasional blacksmithing as a pastime, but the shop pointed out by Zeroa proved disappointing.
The storefront looked ordinary, nothing special. Anyone walking the street would pass by it without a second glance. Forges were usually crowded in the outer districts because the noise of hammering metal drove neighbors mad, so this one stood out as shabby compared to the grander workshops nearby.
It didn't specialize in weapons. Outside, tools like shovels and pitchforks were displayed alongside the usual assortment.
Asran, who had only ever visited fancy stores, scanned the items with genuine surprise. Ordinary shops that dealt in multiple items usually belonged to low-skill craftsmen or newcomers.
Zeroa had worked as an adventurer two years ago, so he must have spent some time at the forge. The fact that the shop still stocked so many varied items suggested the master's craftsmanship was far from exceptional.
Zeroa pushed aside the half-drawn curtain and stepped inside first. The sound of hammering came from outside, but nothing reached the interior, indicating the business had fallen on hard times.
"Miss Selma, Master Clay—anyone home?"
A presence stirred from within the empty shop. A large man emerged, his broad frame softened by years into a jovial appearance. White hair framed a face where age had erased any trace of former muscle.
The man named Clay opened one eye in confusion before flashing a warm grin at Zeroa.
"Zeroa! Long time no see! Still using the shield well?"
"Yes, thanks to you, Master Clay, I was able to train right away. Ah, this is Instructor Rai Redford, the teacher who instructs me."
Rai, who had been examining the weapons on display, turned his head toward Clay.
"... ..."
Their eyes met and froze.
"Still causing trouble on the streets."
Selma, Clay's wife, appeared from behind his heavy back and smacked him on the shoulder. Her eyes then locked onto Rai's.
"... ..."
Selma froze just as deeply, but her gentle gaze sharpened into something fierce. She reached for the dagger on the counter.
Rai moved faster than she could blink. His hand clamped onto her wrist in an instant.
Clay swung his massive double-bladed axe.
—Kwaaaang!
Outside, Asran was watching the tools when Zeroa suddenly flew out the door. He jumped back in shock, but his eyes widened when he saw the shop beginning to collapse.
"This bastard did what now?!"
Rai strode out, casually tossing aside debris. Asran yelled, but Rai ignored him and punched Zeroa, knocking the dazed student out cold.
Rai seized the unconscious pair by the neck and hurled them far away. He lifted the collapsed roof with one hand, then turned to the rising Clay.
"Devil spawn! What business do you have in the Empire?!"
Clay tossed the roof at Rai without waiting for an answer.
Rai caught the dropped sickle with a foot sweep, swung it, and the massive roof split cleanly in two, flying past him.
Rai's expression twisted at the sight of the broken sickle, so he dropped the handle and charged forward, grabbing nearby weapons.
"Persistent, aren't you?"
Selma lunged forward with a venomous glare, her sword thrusting straight for his chest. Rai countered with a precise thrust that grazed her blade.
Rai followed through with a straight punch. Selma twisted desperately, but the impact still grazed her—her white hair exploded outward as she was blasted back.
Rai didn't bother to check her landing. He rolled sideways just as Clay's axe crashed down where he had stood, showering everything in flying debris and dust.
Clay's eyes widened as he saw Rai stepping on his own axe and climbing after him.
"Gah!"
He tried to dodge, but Rai's knee already connected with his jaw. Rai hooked his leg around the falling Clay, crushing him beneath his weight as they both tumbled.
"Devil!"
"Stay down."
Rai's voice was cold and calm. Selma, who had just cleared the wreckage, froze in place with a dazed expression. Rai sat atop the fallen Clay, pressing his dagger against the man's neck.
The crude blade Clay had made dug into his skin, drawing a thin line of blood. Selma dropped her weapon and knelt, defeated.
"If you're going to disguise yourself, at least make your weapons decent. Who are you after?"
"We weren't after anyone."
Clay snarled, but Rai didn't believe him.
Selma and Clay. Their real names were unknown, but they had never been called that in the past.
The Viridian Lizard and the Fallen Knight of Bane. Fixers who took on dirty jobs and left their names ringing across the continent. Rai, who had clashed with them several times during his time in the Caelen Kingdom, recognized their faces instantly. They recognized his disguised features just as quickly.
"Stop with the lies. You said yourself you've been here for over five years. What kind of request required that much effort? The princess?"
"Damn... who's talking nonsense? Who are you calling a princess?"
Clay spat out a loose tooth and spoke viciously. Rai noticed something off in the man's face—too calm, too ordinary—yet Selma's voice cut in while she still knelt.
"Why did you chase us? Clay..."
Rai cut her off before she could finish.
"You seem to have mistaken me for someone else. I'm Rai Redford. Born in the Empire and lived here my whole life."
He silenced her with a single sentence.
Fixers couldn't afford to be gullible. Selma instantly understood his intent and met Clay's eyes.
"You mistook us for someone else, too?"
Clay parroted the same words.
The explosion had brought people running. Craftsmen from nearby shops and passersby began gathering. Rai kept an eye on the crowd, sheathed his blade, and offered Clay his hand.
"Run, and I'll chase you down and kill you."
"Why would I run? What are you afraid of?"
Clay grumbled and took the offered hand to stand.
"Clay, are you all right?"
"Aaah—I'm fine, I'm fine. I'm just built different. This damn... this human got me so angry with his 'your weapon's no good' nonsense."
"See? There's blood dripping from his neck..."
"I'm telling you, it's fine. Look, the head's still attached. Go back to work."
Clay waved dismissively at a concerned neighbor, who was staring at Rai. The man glanced back at the shop, then left. Selma offered a warm smile, apologizing for the disturbance, and everyone murmured their own words before dispersing.
The way they spoke made it clear they were worried about the pair, as though they had become part of the neighborhood.
"Let's go inside and talk. It's only half... collapsed."
Clay pointed toward the house where the kitchen was clearly visible. Rai grabbed the unconscious Asran and Zeroa from the ground and pulled them inside.
With the war-torn ruins behind him, Rai sat in one of the kitchen chairs. Selma and Clay took the opposite seats without hesitation. There was no guestly courtesy between old enemies; they simply sat facing one another.
Rai wove a soundproofing spell around the room and studied them. A faint smile tugged at the corner of his usually expressionless mouth.
"You've grown weak over the years. Back pain?"
"You're twenty years older than me, so of course. Plus, accumulated injuries have caught up. If I'd met you five years ago, I'd have drawn a line on your neck instead of mine."
The threat was real, yet the deep cut in Clay's neck forced him to grimace while Selma treated it.
Rai's comment about being raised in the Empire made Selma pause, her hands still.
"Are you an Empire citizen?"
"Yeah, I've been one since birth. The Empire knows me."
Selma paused her treatment, piecing together his meaning. Clay complained that his throat felt tight, but she ignored him, lost in thought.
Selma's eyes wandered blankly toward the ceiling for a moment before returning to Rai.
"Voluntary? Coerced?"
"Coerced. No point in prying. The high sun is watching."
The sun symbolized Emperor Julius. She nodded slightly in understanding and continued bandaging Clay's neck.
"Our connection is strangely sticky. I retired years ago, thinking I'd never see you again."
"Retired? For real?"
"Yeah, Luigi died. After that, I didn't even touch a sword until I met you."
Selma's voice carried quiet sorrow. Clay, too, lowered his head with a heavy sigh at the name Luigi. As the large man slumped his shoulders, Rai watched with a uneasy frown.
The couple had stayed together even after retiring from their fixer days. Luigi was their son. If he were still alive, he would be roughly Zeroa's age now.
Having a child while carrying out such dangerous work as a fixer was impractical, but Rai found the pair oddly familiar. They had proven their strength through sheer skill despite the danger.
Rai remembered seeing Luigi during a few jobs. The boy had looked up at him with sparkling eyes, unlike his stern parents.
"How did it happen?"
"The Six Fingers syndicate kidnapped Luigi. They gave us a lousy request. The payment was Luigi's life."
"Failed?"
"No way. We were at our peak back then. Too good, actually... Poor Luigi. What crime did he commit? We got injured, but we completed the job and were paid with Luigi's head."
Selma's voice dripped with hatred as she spoke. Her eyes burned with the same savagery the Viridian Lizard had once possessed.
"The Six Fingers?"
"You were locked in that prison, right? Only just out?"
Selma pieced together the situation from Rai's silence. The continent-spanning criminal syndicate rooted in drugs, murder, and abduction had vanished, yet she hadn't realized it until now.
Rai gave a silent nod.
Even though the deduction was correct, Selma spoke in a sad voice.
"The Six Fingers were wiped out to the last by my husband and me. Every family member. Clay took a healing-magic wound that should have been fatal."
"And you came here?"
"I thought it was strange too. But I, and Clay, never used Luigi's death to our advantage."
Looking at Rai with the eyes of parents who had lost a child, he fell silent and stared at the unconscious Zeroa on the floor.
The boy was roughly the same age as the late Luigi. He had a humble face that would appeal to adults, and there was an air about him that suggested he needed protecting. If what they said was true, Zeroa would have fit perfectly into their hearts.
If it weren't, they wouldn't have shared their secrets with an ordinary village boy.
The magic Zeroa possessed and the sword techniques he knew were far beyond what any adventurer had taught him. They were simply too advanced for Zeroa to use properly.
Rai had found that strange and pursued his master out of curiosity, leading to this tangled reunion with the couple.
Rai shook his head with a dry chuckle, then looked at them with a mocking smile.
"Seeing those pathetic techniques and thinking they felt familiar... so you really are the ones who taught him."
"Pathetic? What nonsense. My techniques are the best in the world. Your eyes must be blind."
"Yes, five wins and three losses in our next bout. Win at least once, won't you? No, since I have to put one in today, that makes it four losses."
Selma caught the back-and-forth between Clay's anger and Rai's laughter and felt a strange pull of nostalgia. Though they were old enemies, their fights had turned into deep-seated bonds. They spoke like old friends while stabbing at each other's deepest wounds.
The vivid red hair had been dyed dull brown for disguise, and the mad eyes now looked almost gentle.
Yet despite the changed appearance, the same atmosphere and personality lingered in Rai. Selma smiled faintly.
Battle-scarred survivors from the front lines always remembered the past.
"Is that boy your student?"
"I teach him. He's not a real disciple, so don't worry. I'm so strong I have no interest in stealing students."
"We didn't teach him properly either. He looked too fragile. We only gave him the bare minimum to survive. He's a good kid. Take care of him."
Selma gazed at the drooling, unconscious Zeroa with eyes full of affection, as though looking at her own child.
Rai saw a storm of grief, memory, regret, and love in her gaze and let out a soft laugh.
"Don't worry. I'll carve up the Viridian Lizard and Fallen Knight until there's nothing left."
"You think you can?"
"Unless you want to try me?"
Rai asked, then caught himself and smiled wryly.
Selma shook her head slightly and looked away.
Everyone acknowledged his talent was ordinary.
Yet he could do nothing.
A collection of skills as common as street pebbles. Anyone who saw him would have given up on the spot.
Rai had thought the materials were better than expected, but honestly, he wasn't sure he could refine them properly.
"Get up already. Stop sprawled out like that!"
Rai kicked the backs of Zeroa and Asran to wake them.
The pair sat up groggily, took in the ruined surroundings, and stared at Rai with bewildered faces.
"W-what did you do?"
"Why are you so calm? What's the problem?"
"Why is everything my fault?"
Clay had actually destroyed the shop, yet Rai was singled out as the culprit. Rai scowled, but when the two gave him suspicious looks, he found the situation amusing. Selma turned away laughing, and Clay roared with laughter.
They had been ready to kill each other moments ago, yet now they sat together like old friends. Zeroa tilted his head in confusion.
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