Apostle of Arrogance -1-
A short while after the blue window appeared, strange text began to flicker into view before Hanna, who sat alone on the bench. Not the neat, orderly script of the usual blue windows, but crooked letters, as if scrawled by hand.
[During the quest, you can temporarily use the power of ??? once.]
Hanna bit her lip as she read the message. There was nowhere to run. So, even knowing it was the worst choice, she went to her father. Even if the decision she made led to the absolute worst outcome.
Hanna had no regrets.
*
Rowen’s eyelids twitched at the visitor who had come to his office. The one who had sworn never to return stood before him. He couldn’t help but be shocked.
The visitor greeted Rowen in a cold voice. It’s been a while.
“Long time no see, Dad.”
Histania Hanna. The one who had left her family’s embrace because she hated the house… no, hated herself.
Rowen looked at Hanna, who held a sharpened sword, and spoke. He had so many questions, but first, he wanted to call her name.
“Yes, it’s been a while. Histania Hanna.”
“Yeah, it’s me, Dad.”
Hanna forced a smile as she gazed at Rowen. His hand trembled faintly at his daughter’s reluctant grin. He knew it didn’t carry a good meaning.
Rowen let out a bitter sigh. Why now, of all times? The thought flashed through his mind. He wasn’t prepared at all right now. He saw himself as a stubborn fool, unprepared to accept her, still clueless about everything.
He realized something was wrong, but with no time to steel his heart, the only face he could show his daughter was his true one. All he could manage was a sigh.
Rowen gripped his glass and looked at Hanna. Hollow eyes. Pale complexion. The blue-glowing sword in her hand. Not the fragile, timid daughter he remembered, but one who seemed to have made a resolute decision—yet she looked deeply unstable, like she might crumble at any moment.
Rowen pried open his stubborn lips and spoke to her.
“I have a lot to say, but first, I have to point this out.”
“Pointing something out… to your daughter after so long?”
“Right and wrong must be made clear.”
Rowen took a deep breath and continued.
“Who told you to bring a sword into the office? I don’t recall teaching you that kind of etiquette.”
Hanna stood silently for a long moment, then tilted her sword under the moonlight and let out a hollow laugh.
“You had to teach it for me to follow.”
“What…?”
“Nothing. I just felt like rebelling a little today.”
“Histania Hanna. You know if I wanted to punish you by law, you couldn’t escape severe penalty.”
“That hurts. I’m still your kid… Never mind. Fine…”
Hanna spoke to Rowen without a change in expression.
“I’m sorry. I made another stupid mistake.”
“…Watch yourself next time.”
“But.”
Hanna muttered softly toward Rowen.
“Dad wouldn’t care if I picked up a holy sword—or a demon sword anyway. You could just toss it.”
“…Histania Hanna.”
“Right?”
Hanna sneered at Rowen.
“What can I even do?”
Rowen clenched his fist. He wanted to ask why she was being so aggressive. He was trying his best to be polite, but her sharp tone nearly made him snap.
Shut your mouth.
“Hoo…”
Rowen sighed and revealed his true feelings in response.
“I didn’t mean it like that. You’re my daughter…”
“So what am I to you?”
“You…!”
Hanna stared straight at Rowen and asked.
“What the hell am I? In this family, to you—what am I that I don’t even get treated like a person?”
“You’re my daughter.”
“…I’ve thought about it a lot. Who am I? Why do I have to be treated like this? I finally showed the talent I always wanted, so why can’t I get any recognition?”
“…”
“Do you know, Dad? Why I have to be treated like this?”
“It’s all for your—”
“What’s for me, exactly…?”
Hanna bit her trembling lip and spoke to Rowen. What kind of daughter do you want?
“What’s for me? Why do you talk like you understand everything?”
Her daughter’s visit had been welcome, even after she’d cut ties. He hadn’t expected her to come back on her own. But.
Seeing Hanna tremble with rage and spew insults, Rowen could only bow his head. He hadn’t changed. He knew he was wrong but couldn’t say the words she wanted. His stubbornness hadn’t broken. His heart wasn’t easily tamed.
Hanna kept hurling abuse at such a Rowen, as if she wanted to end it all right there.
“Why…!”
“…”
“Did I have to get that kind of treatment…? Did I commit some mortal sin against you? Did I tarnish the family name? No! No!!! All I did was sweat and bleed to not be a disgrace to this family, to the name ‘father’! So why me…?!”
Hanna bit her lip until it turned purple and cursed at Rowen—words no child should say to a parent.
“If you were gonna do this, just throw me away.”
“…”
“If you’d just abandoned me, I could’ve met that person sooner. Why did you even raise me?”
“Histania Hanna!!”
Rowen shot to his feet at her childish words, unable to hold back a shout. Even to one’s worst enemy, there were lines a child shouldn’t cross with a parent.
“You’ve gone too far.”
Hanna clenched her fists.
“What about you, Dad?”
In the silence, her words hung heavy. Rowen halted and stared at his reflection in the mirror.
Ah…
Young flesh. A body that escaped time’s flow. The man’s face, seeming to have it all, was filled with ugliness—rationalizations like those of the talentless he’d despised. Selfish, grasping ugliness reflected back at him. With a trembling voice, Rowen offered excuses to Hanna. For the victories he’d always chased.
“I… I did it for you all…”
Hanna frowned at Rowen’s stammering.
“What have you ever done for me…?”
“I…”
“You taught my brother the sword, made a place for my sister to learn it.”
Hanna voiced her doubts to Rowen. Why was there no place for her in all this?
“In my memories, all you ever gave me was indifference. What was for me…?”
“I was harsh so you wouldn’t waste time. Like any parent wanting their child on the right path, I wanted that for you too…!”
“Then why didn’t you just tell me once?”
“…What?”
“Not just ‘Stop,’ ‘You have no talent,’ ‘Swinging a sword is a disgrace to Histania’ every day! Just give me ten minutes!”
Hanna’s voice shook as she spoke to Rowen.
“If you’d invested ten minutes in me! Said one kind word… I wouldn’t hate you like this.”
“…No. I did for you.”
“Is there a single scene in your memories where we talked alone?”
Hanna shook her head with a hollow laugh. She turned away, rubbing her eyes with trembling hands to hide the tears, her voice thick with moisture as she spoke emptily.
“There isn’t… Funny, right? But get this—the funniest part is, I have no memory of laughing in this family.”
“…”
“Puhaha… Really…”
—Haa…
“Hilarious, huh?”
[You can project 'your appearance' from the 72nd side story for a set duration.]
It wasn’t funny at all.
Despairing.
This entire moment. The blue window spat out its words with certainty. It felt like the emotional walls she’d painstakingly built were crumbling. No room left for excuses.
Falling because of you again. Hurt because of you again. Circling the same rut in this relationship, she looked so pathetic. And in that cycle, it seemed she’d inflicted deep wounds on that man. Hanna couldn’t laugh.
She feared what choices she’d made in that side story. She didn’t want to repeat such mistakes.
So.
She wanted to shatter this cycle for good. Give this father she never wanted to see again one last chance. Praying he’d seize it, Hanna spoke to him.
“Take the sword.”
“…”
“This time, I’ll prove it.”
Emotions gathered at the blade’s tip. Not killing intent, but something else. Like a long-pent-up flood bursting forth, fierce feelings churned wildly at the edge.
Ferocious. Savage emotions.
A pitch-black aura, too vast for the heavens, began to envelop Hanna’s sword.
[The Curse of Arrogance begins to writhe.]
In that instant, Rowen saw Hanna differently. The image of a woman wielding a blood-soaked blade overlapped in his vision. She looked just like Hanna.
But a woman who had walked a different path.
Hanna suppressed her emotions and spoke to the trembling Rowen.
“I worked hard for you.”
—I sacrificed so much for you.
“Sacrificed a warm home.”
—Gave up my place beside the one I loved.
“Even thought I’d rather die.”
—Wished I’d died in that cave.
“Despaired and cried countless times.”
—Cursed you endlessly.
“Hanna…?”
Hanna bowed her head and said to Rowen.
“The sword. Pick it up. Now.”
—Ding.
[72nd Side Story - The form of the 'Apostle of Arrogance' is projected onto Histania Hanna.]
And so, to Rowen.
Thick darkness descended.