No One Shall Die Before Me
Maybe it was because of the story from nine years ago. There was no reason for Deciever to take his anger out on Lofty.
……No, that wasn’t right. Taking one’s anger out on someone meant there was no reason at all.
Of course, there was no proof he had done it…….
I can check later.
He could just ask the man himself. Whether he admitted it or denied it, his demeanor and attitude would give away some information.
After sorting his thoughts, Raven lifted his gaze to the basket on the table. The moment his eyes landed on it, Eckhart quickly began pulling out the contents and laying them out. Even as he did so, his muttering never stopped.
“I accepted it on impulse and brought it along, but you really don’t have to eat it. There are plenty of people here who’d be happy to finish it in the captain’s place. I was planning to prepare a proper gift later anyway……”
It seemed someone else had prepared it instead, insisting that if it wasn’t Eckhart’s own doing, then at least someone should do something. After all, the man who remembered Raven’s aversion to meals wouldn’t have brought this as a gift himself.
The fact that he hadn’t forgotten. That alone was enough.
“Captain…? Are you going to eat it?”
“Yeah.”
Raven picked up one of the simply prepared foods and put it in his mouth. After chewing slowly and swallowing, he closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and spoke.
“Tastes awful……”
“Ah, this was made by my grandfather—”
“Really? He needs to relearn how to cook.”
“……!”
For a moment, an awkward silence fell.
Altare, who had been watching, stared at Raven with an expression of surprise. Liv, who had been peering through the door as if her business wasn’t finished yet, also widened her eyes and looked back and forth between Raven and Eckhart.
Raven, who noticed the atmosphere but couldn’t figure out why, simply ignored it and slowly pushed the next piece of food into his mouth before adding a piece of advice for Eckhart.
“Or don’t let the old man into the kitchen and cook yourself. At his age, his stomach must be weak. Eating something like this would only cause trouble.”
One of the Lofty members let out a low murmur of admiration.
“That’s our captain…… Honest and merciless.”
“What?”
Why were they all acting like this?
He had offered advice out of genuine concern, yet their reactions were baffling.
Just as Raven wore a puzzled expression, answers came from Liv and the Guardian Spirit.
“It’s just that people are usually careful when talking about family. We thought you, Master, would be even stricter about that……”
[Guardian Spirit says that it is polite to speak of family, especially the other person’s elders, in a positive light as much as possible.]
“……Ah, I see.”
That must have been it.
He hadn’t understood it at all, and after ten years without meeting anyone, he must have forgotten. But even thinking about it now, he still didn’t understand.
“I get being careful when talking about the dead……”
But why the living?
He understood why one had to be careful mentioning family to those who had lost theirs. But why be careful with people who were perfectly fine? If it were an insult, maybe, but it wasn’t.
“……Benefactor, no, Captain.”
Among those present, no one was in a position to freely offer Raven advice.
In the strange atmosphere where everyone could only stare at Raven, unable to speak, a Lofty member named Milan cautiously called out to him.
Whatever chain of thought had led there, an unexpected remark slipped out.
“If being supported feels like a burden, how about becoming our son instead?”
“……Do you even know how old I am? I’m the one who taught you brats how to hold a sword when you were still in diapers.”
“The face value is different, so it doesn’t matter!”
“Ooh, a son! That’s perfect!”
“Please become our son!”
“What nonsense……”
While Raven muttered in disbelief, one of them grabbed his comrades by the head and shouted.
“You idiots, the order’s all wrong!”
“Then?”
The one called Cleter, if he remembered right.
Yeah, he was curious too. Why was order suddenly being mentioned?
As if sensing Raven’s gaze on him, Cleter glanced over and shrugged before speaking confidently.
“We prepare the adoption papers first, then ask.”
“Aha!”
“Don’t ‘aha’ me.”
He had seemed the calmest, yet this guy wasn’t normal either.
Raven stuffed the tasteless food into the noisy members’ mouths to shut them up and pushed the rest into his own. As he chewed quietly, Eckhart held out his palm in front of Raven’s mouth.
“Why are you eating so much? Tasting it should be enough. You said it tastes bad anyway.”
Raven, who had stopped mid-bite in confusion, looked down at the offered hand.
……He wants me to spit it out here?
How unsanitary. What was wrong with this guy’s sense of hygiene?
With an incredulous look, Raven alternated his gaze between the hand and Eckhart’s face before firmly pushing the hand down in refusal.
Beep-beep-beep-beep!
A sudden alarm-like sound rang out.
Hwan, who had been occupying a corner of the room as if he were both there and not, pulled a communication device from his robes and checked something before speaking.
“A gate has appeared. The location is the criminals’ temporary detention center—”
“Wait, Master!”
It was fortunate he hadn’t eaten much.
Before the words were even finished, Raven shot up from his seat.
∗ ∗ ∗
He didn’t know where the criminals’ detention center was, but finding it wouldn’t be difficult.
Since it was a temporary facility and an alarm had gone off, it had to be within the city. A place holding criminals would be in a remote area. If he searched those kinds of places while moving against the flow of terrified people running away, he would find it.
At the sound of “gate,” rushing forward without hesitation had become both habit and inertia. Not wanting to waste time going down the stairs, Raven simply leaped out the window.
Altare, who had been staring in disbelief at the black hair disappearing below the window, straightened up.
He must have heard that the location was the criminals’ detention center……
More precisely, it was a “temporary” detention center, but that didn’t change anything. It was just a holding place before sending criminals to a proper facility, so in the end, it was still a place full of criminals.
It wasn’t in a crowded civilian area like a market, but in a place swarming with criminals. Personally, he didn’t think a few deaths mattered, but……
His master seemed to think differently.
He’s no hypocrite.
Altare smirked and placed his foot on the windowsill. Then he paused, turned around, and gestured to Hwan.
Realizing what Altare intended, Hwan frowned and approached reluctantly. Altare slung the unwilling man over his shoulder and glanced at Liv.
“You stay here.”
“……Fine.”
A Sculpted Soul Master who had lost their soul fragment was nothing more than a patient waiting to die. Knowing she would only be a burden, she answered through gritted teeth.
The Lofty members, who had noticed the movement to chase after the vanished Raven, also became busy.
“The captain just now…… he went to close the gate, right? It’s not like he’s running away. There’s no reason to run from a safe place like this anyway.”
“Who would’ve thought our benefactor—no, our captain—would run straight into a gate instead of away from it?”
“How can a person be this kind? That’s why we were saved, though.”
“Let’s follow him. I don’t think our captain will be in danger, but we should at least be of some help.”
“Dan, you go back to the lodging. You haven’t learned properly yet, so it’s dangerous.”
Since he had attached a Sculpted Soul anyway, it didn’t matter. Dan nodded while confirming Raven’s location through the soul fragment’s vision.
Altare, who had glanced at them, leaped out the window.
.
.
.
A gate response team usually consisted of one or two Awakeners, one Shaman, and the rest Fighters or ordinary people close to Fighter level.
It wasn’t that they deliberately kept the number of Awakeners and Shamans low. There were simply too few talented individuals in those two categories, so they had set a minimum and somehow persuaded them to join. Sculpted Soul Masters were so rare that even that minimum couldn’t be met, so they were excluded entirely.
There were teams with Sculpted Soul Masters, but they were extremely rare.
The reason this came up was because the people who had arrived here already exceeded the composition of a standard gate response team.
How wasteful can this get?
Hwan, who had climbed down from Altare’s shoulder and stood on the ground, pulled out a talisman and let out a dry laugh.
Not just ordinary Awakeners and Shamans, but the President of the Awakened Association and the President of the Shaman Association were here. On top of that, the new youngest member’s Sculpted Soul had followed, and Lofty Mercenary Group members who were close to Fighter level were swarming the area.
And most decisively, the master who was heading toward the gate without hesitation was a terrifyingly capable individual who was simultaneously a Fighter, a Shaman, and a Sculpted Soul Master.
Even if more people came, they’d probably just watch and leave……
As if sharing the same thought, Altare drew his sword and muttered.
“We should tell the gate team not to come.”
“Mm.”
“Though this means we won’t be able to show one of the reasons we kept him tied down……”
Showing the system for handling gates. To demonstrate that, they would have to quietly wait for the gate response team. But……
Seeing how he charged straight ahead without looking back, that didn’t seem right.
“Well, it doesn’t matter.”
In this case, the responsibility lay with the one who had directly interfered.
Altare spoke indifferently, yet he couldn’t take his eyes off Raven. He had no choice.
That’s too reckless.
It was reckless.
Usually, when a gate opened, monsters from the Abyss instinctively flocked to it. That was why, if a gate appeared, one had to either enter as quickly as possible before the monsters gathered or evacuate, and if it was already too late and monsters had begun pouring out, the standard approach was to hold the defense outside the gate until their momentum slowed, then wait for an opening.
But Raven was trying to charge into the gate against the tide of pouring monsters.
Surely it’s not because of us.
It looked exactly like a general standing alone at the front lines to protect the people behind him.
Those green eyes, unwavering and shining clearly with an unidentifiable will, looked so firm that Altare, who had been watching the precarious sight, finally furrowed his brow and clicked his tongue softly.
“……Master.”
He kicked off the ground and crossed the long distance in one leap, landing beside Raven. The green gaze, which had just pierced through a monster that had been about to attack, turned to the disciple who had arrived.
“It would be better to enter slowly. Since everyone here is a criminal anyway, there’s no need to rush. Following proper procedure and staying safe—”
“Child.”
The lives of sinners had no value.
At the remark that revealed such a belief, Raven reached out and gently stroked Altare’s blood-stained cheek. Altare’s mouth closed on its own.
Green eyes and sky-blue eyes met for a moment. Then the green eyes curved into a bitter smile.
How much hardship must he have endured to say something like that so naturally?
Raven could tell that during the ten years he had been gone, the man had gone through all sorts of things to reach the position of association president.
To survive, to climb to a high position, he must have had to become even more ruthless. Especially since his opponents were criminals who gave no respect or consideration in return, so he had judged them even more worthless.
Raven understood. In this merciless world, such a mindset was common, and he even agreed with it. More than anything, he felt sorry for the child who seemed to have internalized it.
But.
“There’s a principle I established when I resolved to handle gates.”
There was a line Raven could not cross.
Taking advantage of Altare’s momentary pause at the unexpected touch, an uncharacteristically firm voice flowed out.
“No one should die because of a gate in front of me.”
“……”
“Even if that person is a murderer who has killed a hundred people.”
Compared to the countless lives he himself had taken, it was nothing.
“I have no right to judge the value of a life standing before a gate.”