The Weight of Old Debts
The black, long hair fluttered in the wind.
In an instant, the figure who had deflected all those attacks and descended as if to protect Eckhart closed the distance in a single breath. He seized the hilt of the enemy’s sword, then kicked the man square in the chest, shoving him away. With the stolen blade now held diagonally at his side, he stared straight ahead with wary eyes.
Strange green eyes locked directly onto the enemies.
“Captain…?”
And the one who had likewise blocked the attacks and burst onto the scene was…
Eckhart, seeing the hooded man in black holding a sword and facing off against the lunatics, tilted his head in confusion.
“Who…?”
News had arrived that Eckhart Lofty was under attack.
Since a very noisy bunch had charged in screaming that they would kill him, there was no need to investigate who they were. It was obvious.
‘It’s convenient that there’s no need to look into it separately.’
Edardo, the head of the information guild Aurell, immediately pulled on a mask and hood. Watching him, El asked quietly.
“Are you going yourself?”
“Yes.”
If the one who had touched the workshop was still walking around perfectly fine, that alone would be an excellent insult.
“You’re not sending someone else?”
“It’s faster and more certain if I move personally.”
No matter how many people he sent, none would match a single Awakener.
Considering the location was an alley, a small number of skilled individuals would be better than a large group of mediocre ones. He smiled fiercely, grabbed his sword, and headed outside.
Sharp golden eyes gleamed between the mask and hood. They were the eyes of a confident predator who had never been hunted in his life—eyes accustomed to being the hunter.
The people facing those beast-like eyes instinctively recoiled.
‘What the hell is this guy…?’
He was dangerous.
Even mad dogs knew to pick their opponents. The stray dogs, sensing danger, changed their attitude and bared their teeth. A hostility close to killing intent was directed solely at one man.
Edardo, a true predator who had no reason to pay attention to such trivial movements, lazily rolled his eyes and glanced at Raven.
‘I thought I was the only one here.’
The man looked quite skilled. It seemed there had been no need for him to come at all.
Raven was thinking the exact same thing.
‘Still, two is better than one, so I guess it’s fine.’
Seeing that the guy had people willing to help him, it seemed he hadn’t lived his life carelessly after all. That was a relief.
Raven glanced at Edardo, then properly assumed a stance and charged at the enemies. For some reason they hadn’t attacked first and had simply waited, so he had more than enough leisure.
As if Raven’s attack were the signal, Edardo also raised his sword.
The moment the two of them moved to cut down the enemies without hesitation, a desperate shout came from behind.
“Please don’t kill them!”
Raven flinched, quickly twisted his blade, and struck the opponent with the flat of the sword.
THUD!
The man who took the blow to the head tumbled backward with a crash. Ignoring that, Raven stopped where he stood and asked a beat too late.
“Why?”
“I need to find out why they attacked me and who’s behind it…”
“If that’s the case, I already know. So it shouldn’t be a problem to kill them.”
Edardo, who had remained silent until now, interjected bluntly.
He hadn’t intended to speak, but killing them would be far simpler and faster than keeping them alive.
He had no desire to earn needless resentment after going out of his way to help.
“There seems to be some misunderstanding—”
“If they tried to kill someone over a misunderstanding, then dying in return is only fair.”
“No, that’s not it! Listen! These bastards are claiming I killed a nobleman’s daughter! I never did any such thing! If you kill me like this, I won’t be able to live with the injustice!”
He tactfully omitted the part about how they gave off a similar vibe to the uncles in his mercenary group, which made killing them feel oddly uncomfortable. After all, it was only at the level of ‘uncomfortable,’ so he could kill them if he truly wanted to.
Still, if he was going to kill them, he wanted to clear up the misunderstanding first. Eckhart pounded his chest as if he were about to explode from the frustration and sense of injustice.
But the answer that came back was completely unexpected.
“A nobleman’s daughter… You must be talking about the bandit leader. In that case, isn’t it true that you killed her?”
“What? Who… What did you just say?”
“She was a bastard child, ran away from home under the guise of marriage, and though the family had half-abandoned her, she proved surprisingly useful so they never fully cast her aside. Therefore, her status as nobility remains unchanged.”
They had even actively concealed the fact that she was a bastard, in preparation for future use. The family themselves probably never imagined their efforts would lead to this outcome.
In any case, the bandit leader had ultimately been nothing more than one of someone’s disposable, insignificant pieces. There was no need to pay her any special attention. Edardo, eager to wrap up this annoying situation quickly, shot Eckhart an impatient look.
“A noble… That crazy bastard who tried to force himself on people just because he ‘liked’ them was a noble…”
Then were those non-bandit bastards who tried to kill me back then some kind of secret guards or watchers attached to the nobility…?
Eckhart stood there stunned. In a different sense, he looked utterly wronged.
Meanwhile, Raven, who had been waiting with a dry, bored expression while idly tapping his sword, couldn’t ignore the persistent gazes directed at him and turned his head.
“……What?”
The ‘enemies’ were all staring at him with strange eyes.
The man who had been sent flying by Raven’s blow a moment ago rubbed his head roughly, then stared at him intently. When his eyes met the tattoo on his comrade’s forearm, he let out a soft “Ah!”
“No way!”
No wonder fighting hadn’t felt right!
He hurriedly lifted the hem of his own clothes. Raven frowned at the sudden exposure of a stomach, but the man paid no attention.
He simply checked the tattoo and inscription near his ribs, then opened his mouth like an idiot.
“Excuse me… May I ask your name?”
“……Suddenly asking for my name?”
“Just tell me. You can at least give your name before killing us, can’t you?”
“……”
“For reference, my name is Milan!”
“……I don’t have a name. Just call me Raven—”
“Benefactor!!!”
His guess had been correct! To think he would meet his benefactor in a place like this!
Even though twenty years had passed, the man looked exactly the same as in the records, so he had recognized him immediately.
Though he had no memories, the gratitude was immense because he had worked so hard to recall and reflect on those events. Overwhelmed by surging emotion, Milan rose to his feet with joy in his heart. And then.
THWACK!
“……”
“……”
A startled Raven struck the man’s head with the flat of his sword again.
The man who had just stood up flopped backward once more.
A short silence fell. Raven, who had been quietly opening and closing his mouth as if unsure what to say, muttered under his breath.
“……That scared me.”
“Ughhh, my head…! Benefactor! Don’t you remember me?!”
“How would I remember some dark-skinned old man?”
“Twenty years ago! At the arena!”
Twenty years ago at the arena…
“……Fifteen? No, around twenty years ago. I once saved some children. I taught them the sword.”
The old story he had told Eckhart came to mind.
Clang. His body reacted faster than his head.
The sword, now deemed useless, fell from his hand. Raven closed the distance in a stride, scanned the weathered faces of the middle-aged men, and parted his lips with a doubtful expression.
“No way… Are you those kids from back then…?”
“Oh! You remember! That’s right! It’s us! The children you personally taught the sword to, Benefactor!”
“……Did you suffer abuse there or something?”
Why did they age so badly…?
“That place was greedy for money, but I didn’t think it was rotten enough to torment children…”
Besides, they hadn’t been bold enough to break their promise with the ‘shaman.’ There would have been no reason to torment the children at the risk of doing so.
But then why…
“We weren’t abused! We ate well and grew up strong!”
“The old bastards were annoying sometimes, but we beat them all up!”
“We’re the ones running the organization now!”
“We’re making lots of money!”
“Then maybe something strange got mixed into the tonics you ate for health…”
No, never mind. As long as they survived, it was fine.
Raven alternated his gaze between their overwhelmingly sturdy muscles and faces that were unmistakably middle-aged, then shook his head.
When he had rescued them from the arena, they had been roughly thirteen to seventeen years old. That would put them all in their thirties now. But when he thought of Altare, who was also in his thirties…
‘Ah, Altare is an Awakener.’
Awakeners had longer lifespans than ordinary humans and aged more slowly.
As he recalled his first disciple, whose smooth twenty-something face made his thirty-one years hard to believe, a familiar call reached his ears.
“Um… Captain? Do you know these people?”
“Captain?”
“He called him Captain?”
“Was he one of the Benefactor’s subordinates?”
The stray dogs immediately closed the distance to Eckhart.
Startled by their overwhelming reaction, Eckhart—who rarely stuttered—answered hesitantly.
“Ah, not a subordinate… More like… a hopeful candidate…?”
“What? You were a candidate to support the Benefactor too?”
“Support…?”
“The Benefactor is only one person, yet so many wish to support him…! So it wasn’t only us who received his grace, Benefactor!”
“Wait, I don’t understand why ‘support’ is coming up here…”
“But we cannot give up on supporting the Benefactor!”
“Are you ignoring me?”
“Therefore, there is no choice.”
……What?
A sense of foreboding made his nerves stand on end.
Sure enough, the lunatics drew their swords and shouted.
“The only way is to kill you and claim the right to support the Benefactor!”
“What the hell is this!”
He had heard of custody battles, but what the hell was a support right!
CLANG!
Eckhart barely blocked the attack and looked back at Raven. The man stood with his arms crossed, slightly turning his head to avoid eye contact.
“Captain! When are you going to help?!”
“……Since I know both sides, there’s no reason for me to intervene.”
Besides, the reason for the fight had changed now, hadn’t it?
They wanted to support him—how touching, yet so embarrassing he couldn’t even lift his head. He could feel the masked man’s dumbfounded stare, which made it even worse.
Intervening to stop them would be ridiculous. So if one side ended up dead, it couldn’t be helped. It was the weaker side’s fault.
‘Just let both sides go to hell.’
If they were out of commission for at least a month, that would be good. Then they might forget about him. Raven closed his eyes completely.
After confirming that Raven had no intention of helping at all, Eckhart turned to the masked intruder this time.
The man had turned his back entirely and was sheathing his sword, as if he saw no reason to get involved in this pathetic fight.
“Goddammit, fuck!”
“Die!”
“We are the ones who will support the Benefactor!”
“I’m not supporting anyone! I’m not! I never even thought about it in the first place?!”
“Who are you to refuse the Benefactor? Die!”
This was driving him insane.
The uncles in his mercenary group had been exactly like this. That was why even their enemies would clutch the back of their necks in frustration while fighting…
His brief nostalgic recollection lasted only a moment. Eckhart hurriedly twisted his sword to defend his side. A terrifying attack slammed into his blade.
“Ah, then just support me together, you crazy bastards!”
“Huh?”
The situation was roughly resolved.
Eckhart had judged that the nature of these people—who had spent the long twenty years single-mindedly running toward the goal of repaying their benefactor—wasn’t all that bad. He attempted positive dialogue.
Since they had personalities similar to the previous generation of mercenary members—the ‘uncles’—he knew how to handle them. Once he reminded them that there was no need to fight or kill each other, the conversation flowed surprisingly well.
‘The rest isn’t my concern.’
Raven turned away from the scene of them discussing joining the mercenary group or whatever it was. He knew he was at the center of the conversation but deliberately ignored it. His disciples alone were already more than enough; he had no intention of taking in anyone else here.
But the man who had stayed silent the entire time spoke up.
“You there. Hold on a moment.”
“……”
“I would like to have a conversation with you.”
Perhaps because he was also an Awakener, he moved at a speed impossible for an ordinary human and blocked Raven’s path. His eyes scanned from face to neck, confirming the choker embedded with a red gem and the unusual green eyes. They narrowed with a subtle hint of amusement.
He lowered his mask and pushed back his hood.
Brilliant golden hair and golden eyes so dazzling they almost hurt to look at. From that unforgettable impression, Raven easily recalled a fragment of the past from ten years ago. His eyes widened.
And those eyes.
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
Met before.
The moment he heard the following words, they shook violently.