The Weight of Forgotten Ghosts
With Raven’s tacit approval, the mercenary who had gagged the bandit leader and hidden him nearby coaxed the immortal along, promising extra income if he followed. They headed for the bandits’ stronghold.
Raven, who usually scavenged mana stones from whatever monsters he killed on the spot or simply relied on his face when money ran short, tilted his head in genuine confusion.
[Is this really necessary?]
“Of course! Even if it’s just to minimize civilian casualties, we still need to mop up the remnants. Two birds with one stone—clean up the leftovers and get paid!”
[…….]
“Technically the request did include wiping out every last remnant… but that’s not the only reason. It’s not like I can’t handle it. If I can reduce unnecessary suffering, shouldn’t I?”
[……I see.]
The moment the mercenary touched on the subject of ‘morality,’ Raven fell silent and followed behind him.
Reaching the bandits’ lair didn’t take long.
“Who the—urk!”
“Stay down and get searched!”
“What the hell is this crazy bastard doing?!”
“Uahaha!!”
Watching him gleefully tear through the remaining bandits was, once again, exactly like watching a dog. A rabid one.
It looked like the cleanup would be over quickly. No need to help. After that brief assessment, Raven left the mercenary to his work, covered Didi’s eyes, and began wandering through the hideout. A few fools tried to jump him along the way, but they posed no real problem.
“You could’ve run instead of attacking. How stupid.”
“You son of a— you’ll regret this… You have no idea who’s behind us… gahk!”
“Hmm… So there is a backer after all.”
Still, it has nothing to do with me.
Who could possibly catch a ghost no one even remembers?
Raven stepped over the corpse, pressing his foot against the dead man’s back.
His leisurely steps led him to a warehouse.
What kind of treasure were they guarding so fiercely? With a crooked smile, Raven kicked open the door of the storehouse the bandits had desperately tried to protect. The moment he saw what was inside, he froze.
“That’s…”
“Did you find something?”
The mercenary must have finished cleaning up.
Faster than I expected…? Raven’s indifferent gaze flicked toward the man who had suddenly poked his head in.
The mercenary, failing to catch the glance that brushed past him, followed the direction of Raven’s stare and widened his eyes. A stunned curse slipped out.
“No wonder they handed over such a trivial request to me.”
The room was packed with sacks overflowing with white powder.
No one would store something as mundane as flour, sugar, or salt in such an inefficient location. The mercenary’s eyes spun rapidly the instant he realized what it was.
Still… just to be sure. He crept inside, scooped up some of the spilled powder, and tasted it.
His fleeting hope vanished in an instant.
“If these bandits were distributing drugs, they must have had serious backing… Did I just step on a landmine?”
“They probably gave it to you because you’re the type who leaves no loose ends. Something they couldn’t touch directly…”
You definitely stepped on a landmine.
Raven almost said it out loud but stopped when he saw the man’s complexion. After a brief pause, he let out a soft sigh.
“It depends on who’s backing them.”
“Ugh…”
“By the way, is it really okay to taste that stuff?”
“Ah, all descendants of the Lofty family have a natural resistance to most ordinary drugs. We’ve been taking medicinal tonics since childhood. The recipe has been passed down for generations. If you ever join the mercenary group, I could show you—”
“No thanks.”
“Tch.”
Even while grumbling in disappointment, the mercenary couldn’t tear his eyes off the cursed white powder. He scratched his head with a heavy sigh.
“Anyway… we should report this, right?”
“We can’t exactly carry it with us, so yes.”
“Ugh, this feels like I’ve gotten dragged into something annoying…”
But they couldn’t just leave it, so the mercenary pulled out his communication device.
“When I get back, I’m eating meat. Since it might be my last meal, I’ll get the best kind. Something ridiculously expensive. Maybe I should go to a super high-class restaurant.”
“……”
The mercenary grumbled all the way down the mountain after finishing his report.
Raven, who had been walking behind him, suddenly stopped. Then he turned and headed back toward the sacks.
“Lord Raven?”
“Shh.”
He covered the bewildered Didi’s mouth, then kicked one of the sacks aside with his foot. It slid away with a scraping sound, revealing a hidden door underneath.
Raven lifted it slightly and peered inside.
‘…….’
After confirming the ledgers crammed within, he glanced at the mercenary’s retreating back.
The mercenary, finally noticing no one was following, turned around. From a slight distance, a puzzled voice echoed.
“Aren’t you coming?”
“Eat the best kind.”
“Huh?”
“Your last meal, I mean.”
“Wait…?!”
Am I really going to die?!
After leaving the hideout, the mercenary Eckhart shouldered the bandit leader once more. “You’re not going to ungag him?” “Do I have to? He’s loud.” “Fair enough.” As if he had been part of Raven’s group from the beginning, he naturally joined them and began chattering away.
Most of it was pointless babble. Even when Raven started treating him like he didn’t exist, the mercenary kept smiling brightly and talking about anything and everything. Then, suddenly, he brought up a different topic.
“By the way, your eyes are really unique.”
“……Unique?”
Raven had been about to ignore what he assumed was more nonsense, but answered a beat late.
“Yes. They’re beautiful.”
“Your tastes are certainly unique.”
“If I offended you, I’ll take it back.”
“It’s not that…”
Raven touched the corner of his eye, then smirked. A mischievous smile spread across his face.
“It’s just interesting that you’d call a ghost’s eyes beautiful.”
“Pardon…?”
“Are you scared of ghosts?”
“Ah, n-no? B-but… are you a ghost, Captain?”
Scared? It’s written all over your face. Your pupils are practically having an earthquake.
The mercenary slowly backed away. Raven’s green eyes curved gently as he watched.
“What do you think?”
“Ah, C-Captain… please…”
The fear was obvious. Raven almost wanted to let him run away.
So he deliberately gave no clear answer and simply kept walking. The petty prank seemed to have improved his mood; his steps were noticeably lighter.
.
.
.
Usually fear made people quieter, but Eckhart did the opposite—he whined nonstop.
So much that Didi covered his ears and even Raven, at the end of his patience, told him to shut up because he would explain.
Only after hearing the answer he wanted did the mercenary stop complaining. He immediately asked for an explanation about the ‘ghost eyes.’
“What a pain in the ass.”
“Did you just swear at me?! Though I suppose that means we’ve grown close enough for—”
“……Sigh.”
Raven, already thoroughly exhausted by the mercenary’s persistence and noise, wore an irritated expression as he rattled off the explanation.
The mercenary listened in stunned silence as Raven spoke of his non-functional eyes, his identity as a shaman, the existence of the guardian spirit, and their relationship.
“Whoa……”
“I went through all that trouble to explain and that’s your reaction?”
“No, it’s just… you explained it in way more detail than I expected……”
“Ah, well……”
Since they would part ways eventually and he would forget everything anyway, there was no need to measure his words. That was probably why the explanation had come out so detailed. Raven brushed it off vaguely and turned his head.
The mercenary didn’t seem inclined to dig deeper. He simply clutched his chest in relief that Raven wasn’t actually a ghost, then expressed awe at the guardian spirit and its mysterious abilities. Suddenly he looked up at the sky and let out a bright “Ah!”
“Captain, when are we taking a break? This spot looks perfect for resting…”
“If you want to rest, just do it. Don’t ask me.”
“That’s a bit cold. If I stop to rest, you’d just leave me behind, wouldn’t you?”
“Correct.”
“Caaaptaaain……”
More pointless chatter.
Raven was about to ignore him out of habit when the mercenary, sensing his mood, quickly shouted. This time there was a reason he couldn’t let it slide.
“You have to take care of the kid too!”
“I’m already carrying him. There’s no need to—”
“No, not that. I mean food.”
He pointed at the sky.
“It’s mealtime right now. Are you going to let the child starve?”
“Ah.”
Right. I forgot again.
It wasn’t particularly surprising. He had already missed several mealtimes while traveling with Didi. Still, this guy was pretty ruthless—never saying anything even though he needed to eat, unlike Raven.
Raven lowered his gaze to the child in his arms.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Didi blinked a few times at the sudden question before answering belatedly.
“You’ve already helped me so much… I couldn’t burden you with something like that……”
“I told you it’s fine. It’s not a burden. If I miss it, you should speak up.”
One must look after their own bowl. Waiting for someone else to prepare it only leads to starvation. As a noble’s child, he probably didn’t understand that yet.
The mercenary, who had been nervously watching the exchange between Raven and Didi as if worried the child might get scolded, suddenly jumped in.
“Whoa, you really almost let the kid starve? That’s messed up, Captain!”
“What—”
“We should definitely rest here, right? Meals are important!”
Raven tried to say something, but the mercenary didn’t give him the chance and kept talking.
“I’ll go hunt! See you later!”
“……”
“Oh, I’ll leave the bandit leader here, so please watch him! Thanks!”
The way he spat out the words and fled under the excuse of hunting was quite comical.
Raven’s eyes met the bandit leader who had been unceremoniously dumped on the ground. After silently opening and closing his mouth a few times, he finally managed to squeeze a sound from his throat, choked with disbelief.
“Seriously… what the hell is he doing……”
“Uh……”
“You’re back.”
“Uhh…?”
Some time after the mercenary had fled under the pretext of hunting.
Eckhart returned with a wild boar over one shoulder and a bundle of firewood under the other. He paused for a moment, processing the scene before him.
A boy who looked like a young man was holding a blade, trying to stab Raven in a vital spot. Raven was half-lying down, gripping the boy’s wrist to hold him off.
“Um, excuse me.”
“Speak.”
“Are you currently being attacked?”
“Yes.”
“What the…”
With a grunt, Raven kicked the attacker away, grabbed one of Dan’s arms, flipped their positions in an instant, and climbed on top. He twisted Dan’s arm behind the boy’s back, pinned both wrists together, and pressed them down with his knee. Only then did he have enough leisure to look at the mercenary as if to say, ask whatever you want.
Eckhart stared with a strange expression at Dan, who was now perfectly subdued beneath Raven, then spoke.
“I’ve been wondering this whole time—what is that guy? At first I thought he was part of your group, but seeing him follow from afar, it doesn’t seem like it. The way he’s attacking makes me think he’s an enemy, but he also seems to know you… so maybe not?”
“Stalker.”
“A… stalker?”
“And an aspiring assassin.”
“Don’t use such a pure word like ‘aspiring’ for something like that! What kind of aspiring anything looks that rotten? All dark and creepy. His potential seems completely off.”
“Don’t be so harsh.”
After struggling for a long time, Dan finally went limp in defeat. Raven chuckled and stepped back, crossing his arms as he finished his thought. His tone was as casual as if he were talking about the weather.
“I’m the one who killed his family.”
“What kind of grudge makes him try to kill you like this? Did you murder his family or something?”
“I did.”
“……Really?”
“Just roast the meat.”
Instead of answering further, Raven chose to brazen it out.
After an awkward silence, the mercenary let out a deep sigh and grumbled as he set the boar down and began preparing a fire.
“You really didn’t prepare anything. Couldn’t you at least have started a fire?”
“I haven’t done that sort of thing in about ten years.”
“Oh… As expected of the Captain! You must be someone important!”
“……I can roughly guess the train of thought that led you there… but every single thing you said was wrong, so I don’t even feel like correcting you……”
Just cook.
Raven cut the conversation short, sat on the bandit leader, and glanced in the direction of the rapidly retreating presence. He saw Dan’s back disappear behind a tree.
…Come to think of it, when I abandoned Dan at the inn and ran, my instincts had warned me. If he caught up, it would be almost impossible to shake him off.
‘It really turned out that way.’
Whether it was because of that incident or not, Dan never let Raven out of his sight for even a moment. It was truly relentless. While Dan had vanished to a place beyond his gaze, a crow still sat on a branch, staring intently this way. Raven looked at it with a tired expression, then lifted his eyes to the sky—
Whoosh!
“!”
Flames suddenly flared up on one side of his vision.
The instant the scarlet light entered his eyes, Raven flinched violently and quickly retreated. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he threw himself backward.
In the process, the bandit leader who had been stepped on flailed in protest, but Raven didn’t even register it.
“……”
“……”
His startled green eyes trembled uncontrollably. The fact that he hadn’t made an embarrassing sound was perhaps the only saving grace.
His quivering eyes, as if struck by an earthquake, were filled with faint terror.