A Cage of Affection
“Altare…! I distinctly told you to bring Master here!”
“I did bring him.”
“Ha, you call throwing him over your shoulder ‘bringing him’? You should’ve at least carried him properly!”
“……I heard you two didn’t get along….”
After watching their quarrel in confusion for a moment, Raven muttered with a somewhat softened expression.
He had thought they had cut ties and were living like strangers, but apparently that wasn’t the case. It was a relief that things weren’t as bad as he had feared.
Even amid their rising voices, Liv caught his murmur and shot Altare a sharp glare, as if to say, “You told him that?” Then she changed her expression completely and answered in a gentle tone.
“We simply don’t get along well, but the bond remains intact. I’m sorry if we caused you any worry.”
“It’s a bond kept only out of necessity. I’d rather have someone I know in the president’s seat than some stranger, even if I dislike them.”
“Altare, you’re being an old fogey……”
……An old fogey. Hearing such a thought—something that belonged in the heads of stagnant elders—come from the mouth of his once small and pure disciple made Raven’s eyes tremble violently.
Liv coughed awkwardly, her face embarrassed, and glared at Altare.
“Could you at least put Master down first?”
“Ah.”
He had forgotten how light the man was.
Altare dropped the man he had been carrying over his shoulder. Even with the rough handling, Raven landed lightly and regained his balance. He glanced between the two still bickering, then fixed his gaze on Liv.
The shaman’s eyes narrowed slightly as he noticed something wrong with her body.
“……So, why did you kidnap me?”
“What? Kidnap!?”
Liv waved her hands frantically, startled.
“I only wanted to bring Master with me! You’re someone I’m endlessly grateful to, and I felt so guilty for forgetting you all this time. I just wanted to spend as much time with you as possible from now on……”
“……Is that so?”
It didn’t sound quite right.
“You have no idea how many precautions we took so we would never forget Master again.”
Ignoring Raven’s expression that openly revealed his inner thoughts, Liv told him to follow her and walked deeper into the mansion. Raven followed without much thought until he spotted a certain room and stopped dead in his tracks.
A door as ornate as the palace gates caught his eye. More precisely, it wasn’t the ornamentation that drew his attention, but the feeding slot attached to the door.
‘Surely not.’
Liv seemed to be heading that way, but it had to be his imagination.
……That faint hope was shattered when the second disciple flung the door open and beamed at him.
“This is a room prepared for Master. It even has its own bathroom, so you won’t need to go outside at all. You can live comfortably right here.”
“……There’s a feeding slot on the door.”
“Haha.”
More importantly, what did she mean by “won’t need to go outside”? Why make that assumption……
He peered inside cautiously.
“……There are no windows?”
Guardian Spirit ??? says not to enter.
“Hahaha.”
A windowless room. A door with a feeding slot. The door itself looked easily over twenty centimeters thick.
Just because the outside is fancy and the inside is well-decorated doesn’t mean it’s fine. Raven muttered in disbelief.
“Just say you wanted revenge. Tell me you resented me.”
“That’s not it at all. Please think of it as a disciple’s sulking after finally meeting her master again after so long.”
That’s some pretty dangerous sulking.
‘Well, considering she disappeared without a word and we’re meeting again after ten years, maybe this is normal……?’
Only someone who had experienced this would know.
“Would you like to go inside? It’s not stuffy at all. You’ll like it.”
“…Uh……”
Before he knew it, Liv had approached from behind and was gently pushing him into the room with a smile.
He couldn’t use force against a weakened disciple. Having already assessed Liv’s condition at a glance the moment he saw her, Raven wore a reluctant expression but had no choice but to step inside.
And then—clang—the door shut.
After staring blankly at the door for a moment, his vivid green eyes rolled to the side and landed on Liv, who was smiling beside him.
“Liv…?”
“Yes, Master.”
Guardian Spirit ??? says this is not mere sulking.
“If you come in here too, how are you planning to get out later?”
Guardian Spirit ??? says there is no need to accommodate them—leave without hesitation.
“Altare is outside, so even if you push past me, you’ll have to fight properly to get out. Surely you don’t intend to knock your disciple unconscious?”
……Guardian Spirit ??? is calculating the angle.
No. It feels more like my Guardian Spirit is the one who wants to knock you two out.
Calculating the angle? What angle? The angle to bring the sword down? Is he figuring out the best way to cut her in half?
At least he’s only sending messages because these are disciples I care about. If this had been a real kidnapping and imprisonment of strangers, he probably would’ve come down and started dancing with his sword already.
With an expression that showed he hadn’t fully adapted yet, Raven alternated between the Guardian Spirit’s messages and Liv before letting out a deep sigh and pressing a hand to his forehead.
“Liv, my child…… There’s a lot piled up, and we have a lot to talk about, but……”
“……”
“Could you step out for a moment? I think I need some rest.”
Setting aside catching up or leaving, he needed to calm the Guardian Spirit first.
After coming all this way, he was told that the master he had been searching for was already in the capital.
After confirming the person suspected to be the master and coming personally to bring him back, Rowina—the third disciple of Raven and president of the Fighter Association—turned around immediately upon receiving the message.
Despite her disappointed expression, her steps were quite light.
‘Still, at least they caught him. It’s better than not knowing where he is at all.’
She hadn’t shown it, but she too had wanted to meet her master in person.
Once she returned, the master she had been desperately searching for would be there. That fact lifted her spirits.
Even without memories, the records remained, so it couldn’t be helped. And for good reason.
‘Just what kind of person was he, that my past self was so determined to marry him?’
Her own diary was filled with her obsession to marry her master.
The master who had been confessed to had probably dismissed it as the innocent cry of a child who didn’t understand love—something like “I want to marry Daddy!” that would be forgotten once she grew up. But after reading the diary, Rowina knew.
It might not have been romantic love, but the determination to stay together for a lifetime had been real.
That was why she wore a dangerous smile and muttered under her breath.
“If I meet him and like what I see, I’ll propose.”
She trusted her past self.
If her past self had wanted to spend a lifetime together, there must have been a reason.
Several days had passed since he was locked in the room.
Contrary to the Guardian Spirit’s concerns, there was nothing uncomfortable about it.
Not eating meant he had to secretly dispose of the food himself—that was his own doing, so he let it pass. The modern bathroom, made by processing mana stones, allowed him to use water at any temperature he wanted whenever he wished. The bed was incredibly soft. He was being pampered beyond belief. What more was there to say?
Even when he requested history books related to the Mythological Era, they were brought without any questions.
Although he hadn’t obtained the information he wanted, if he judged only by the environment, it was perfect.
‘Even the Guardian Spirit ultimately respected my decision.’
Lying on the bed with a book spread open on his chest, Raven blinked blankly at the ceiling. With no one around and nothing to do, his dull gray eyes—revealing their true color for once—reflected his master’s thoughts instead of the world.
“Just for a little while. I want to stay with them, even if only for a short time.”
As always, the Guardian Spirit respected Raven’s decision.
“They said they prepared all this so they wouldn’t forget me. Of course, I know it wasn’t sincere, but still.”
“I’m the one who abandoned innocent children without a word and disappeared.”
He could distinctly feel a frustrated aura from the spirit……
“Is it really so bad, hyung?”
Anyway, the spirit had calmed down, so that was enough.
He felt sorry for the exasperated Guardian Spirit, but his bond with his disciples wasn’t over yet. Even after he had disappeared without a trace and their memories of him had vanished, they had still found him in the end, relying only on records.
‘If it had been just that, I wouldn’t have reacted this way.’
Until now, there had been others who sought him out based on records.
But the bond with these children was different. It had begun from a place of deep loneliness, with the intention of creating someone who would stay with him for a long time and remember him.
In other words, since he had been the one to initiate this bond, it was only right that he take responsibility until the end.
‘Either they forget me so cleanly that not even a trace of attachment remains, or one of us dies.’
Well…… Because he had assumed from the beginning that this bond would last a long time, he had given them more affection than usual, which made him softer toward the children.
Still lying down, Raven turned his head. Before he knew it, his eyes—now glowing with an eerie green light—were fixed precisely on the door.
Then came a knock.
“Master, it’s Liv.”
“Come in.”
The door opened and Liv entered hesitantly, looking somewhat reluctant. Behind her stood Altare, holding something under his arm.
A pitch-black…… familiar-looking…… crow.
‘……A crow?’
Raven pushed the book off his chest and shot up from the bed.
“Were you reading? I’m sorry if we disturbed you.”
“No. I was bored anyway. You came at a good time.”
He had finished all the few books there were a long time ago. Even then, none of the contents were certain—they were all written in the style of “supposedly” or “they say.”
It wasn’t because the association presidents lacked ability that they couldn’t obtain proper history books. It was simply that records related to the Mythological Era were disastrously scarce. That was why they weren’t recognized as official history and were instead called the “Mythological Era.”
“More importantly, what Altare is holding……”
“It’s a gift.”
“Caw.”
Suddenly, the crow was placed in his arms.
Raven reflexively caught it like a doll. The crow, which had been pecking hard at Altare’s arm the whole time, flinched and froze.
Holding the creature up to eye level and looking at it, he found a familiar gaze staring back at him and muttered in a reluctant voice.
“Don’t tell me……”
“Yes, it’s the youngest.”
“He was loitering nearby, so Altare caught—well, brought him here.”
He was captured, wasn’t he.
Raven silently examined the crow, checking for injuries. Chomp! His finger was bitten.
“……”
Quietly using his other hand, he carefully pried the beak open and pulled his finger free.
Since his finger hadn’t been torn off and wasn’t bleeding, he calmly stroked the crow as if nothing had happened. A subtle gaze reached him.
“……When Altare said we had a new youngest, I thought it was some ridiculous joke, but it seems it was true. A new youngest after ten years.”
“You don’t have to force yourself to accept it.”
Liv’s eyes, as she looked at the Sculpted Soul, were a mixture of bitterness and envy.
Just seeing it probably made her feel down. Knowing Liv’s condition through her body, Raven rolled his eyes awkwardly.
Besides……
“The father who disappeared shows up after ten years with a new sibling. I wonder how the others will react if they find out……”
Because Altare’s words had flashed through his mind.
Noticing the guilt rising on Raven’s face, Liv shook her head with a light laugh.
“It’s fine. Since we’re both Sculpted Soul Masters, I should take care of him even more. Would it be all right if I teach him the small things? I may not look it, but I have quite a bit of experience, so I should be useful.”
“If you’re willing, that would be convenient and nice for me, but……”
“Then I’ll do that. Thank you, Master.”
The second disciple smiled brightly.
……She had grown up well. After staring at her quietly for a moment, he slowly blinked.
“What about the others?”
“Rowina and Hwan are both away. They went to personally confirm the report that someone suspected to be Master had been found. Since we’ve already informed them that we’ve…… captured—ahem—brought Master to the room, they should be back soon.”
“……I see.”
So he really had been captured.
Guardian Spirit ??? asks if it wouldn’t be better to leave now.
‘Still, I should at least see the other kids’ faces before I go. Leaving like this would be unfair to the ones who haven’t arrived yet.’
He was going to leave when the time came anyway. No need to rush.
Raven shook his head slightly, cradling the crow securely in one arm while resting one ankle on the opposite knee. As he propped his chin on his hand, Liv, who had been watching his expression carefully, spoke up.
“More importantly, Master. There’s someone who wants to meet you. Would you like to see him? Of course, you’re free to refuse.”
……Judging by her expression, she seemed to hope he would refuse.
Even as she spoke, her face twisted with reluctance. Wrinkles from smiling and wrinkles from irritation affected one’s appearance greatly. He worried that her pretty face would be ruined at this rate, so he reached out and gently rubbed the space between her brows. Liv’s eyes widened.
Meeting her gaze quietly, Raven asked in a soft voice.
“Who is it?”
“Di—”
“Deciever.”
“……!”
“—is here. Father.”