A Sanctuary for the Forgotten
“Then why do you not seek power?”
“Because I have something to protect.”
“I am the same.”
Why do you assume only you wish to protect anything?
Even the poor had things worth guarding. There were people and dreams they longed to keep. Loss never grew familiar no matter how often it came, so Edardo lifted his chin and offered a faint smile.
“Do you know how the security forces view the slums?”
“……”
“Nothing but annoying rats.”
Vermin to be exterminated. Something less than human. Future criminals.
The poor could not ask those forces for help even when trouble came. All they ever received in return was contempt or suspicious glares.
It wasn’t that the poor committed more crimes than others. Their very origins were treated as the crime, so they were denied even the most menial jobs. If they didn’t want to starve, they had no choice but to steal.
“The slums lie beyond the gaze of the powerful.”
No one spared them a thought.
In this world, they were shadows that did not exist. And so the man who had already lost someone precious once while living as one of those shadows reached a decision.
“Just as you wish to protect the people of the Empire, I intend to protect the poor.”
Let us remind both those who dismiss the slums and the poor who have surrendered to despair that our losses are not inevitable.
“A fence is needed.”
He knew it would sound arrogant, yet he also knew the young emperor before him would not take it that way.
When it came to freely wielded power, Edardo held the advantage, and the emperor was the one at a disadvantage. Given his nature—that he had been forced to grow strong in order to protect, and had to appear strong—simply using polite speech for even a short while was already an unusual concession.
Above all, this was an equal exchange between men who each had something to protect.
As expected, Kian Ardal focused on the substance rather than nitpicking the tone or posture.
“A fence…?”
“Yes. We need a territory that can shelter and safeguard the poor.”
More precisely, he was aiming for a foundation that would let them be treated as ordinary citizens of “a certain territory” instead of “slum-dwellers,” but there was no need to explain that far.
“Ah……”
The King of the Poor. Kian, who had heard the nobles whispering that title behind closed doors, widened his eyes.
Edardo turned away from the stunned emperor. He had never expected an immediate answer. The matter was not one that could be decided lightly; pressing harder would only produce the opposite effect.
“There is no need to answer right away. I will return later, and it would be good if I could hear your decision then. I’ll leave this document as well.”
A request was still a request.
Edardo set down the paper listing the requested information and climbed back onto the windowsill. He was about to leap down without a backward glance when a youthful voice stopped him.
“To possess a territory, one needs a title, correct?”
“……”
The golden gaze returned to the young emperor.
“The title itself is unimportant. As long as I can obtain land, anything will do.”
“Have you chosen a specific estate?”
“……Decert.”
“Decert…?”
That estate.
Kian Ardal froze, eyes widening as he stared at Edardo. Sensing the agitation in the reaction, Edardo raised one eyebrow.
“Is there a problem?”
“……No. None at all.”
The present-day Ardal Empire carried a hidden history passed down only to its emperors.
The tale of the first empire, before the name Ardal existed. The erased name from that era had just been spoken aloud. Could it truly be coincidence?
Golden hair, golden eyes—the same features as the first emperor. Kian studied the man for a long moment before shaking his head.
“Transactions are best kept clear. I will prepare proper documents. Please return later.”
One could not lose the present and the future by clinging too tightly to the past.
“A banquet will be held soon. That would be an appropriate time.”
If this too was fate, then so be it.
Kian Ardal smiled softly.
Now only Raven’s request remained.
He could not afford to fail the request of his benefactor. The moment he returned, Edardo began sorting through the piled materials on the mythic era.
And he let out a long sigh.
“……There is nothing of substance here.”
Most of it was shallow information based on hearsay.
“At least the Esperanes texts are detailed……”
That was to be expected.
Records connected to the mythic era had been reduced to ash in the endless wars that began at the dawn of true history. Only Esperanes, which had maintained silence at the center and used its geographical advantage to repel invasions with minimal damage, would possess intact archives.
‘I would like to contact Esperanes and borrow their books, but… that is impossible.’
Esperanes was an extremely isolationist kingdom. Rather than allowing outsiders in, they created channels of contact by sending their own people out. The one overseeing those individuals was Starve.
‘The Esperanes information guild known to the public is merely a side occupation for those sent out to serve as “gateways”……’
Called a side occupation, yet the guild’s history was so long that its origins were nearly impossible to trace. In practice it had become their primary work. Looking through history, there were almost no records of them actually functioning as “gateways.”
To them, another information guild like Aurell would be an unbearable thorn.
Moreover, his personal relationship with Starve was far from favorable, so expecting help was unrealistic.
‘From the start, the moment he learned of our situation he would obviously try to exploit it, so I never even considered asking him.’
There was no path forward. Edardo closed his eyes, searching for any other method.
After a stretch of silence, he tilted his head with casual grace.
Shick!
The sound of air being sliced preceded a blade brushing past his cheek.
Only then did his closed eyelids rise slowly. The eyes beneath them revealed themselves, fixed on a single point, then narrowed.
“You came alone.”
“……”
“I must look like quite the fool these days.”
To charge in like this when fleeing would have been the wiser choice.
A savage smile curved his lips. Edardo drew the sword he always kept within reach and struck away the incoming blade in a single motion. The rough gesture, heavy with contempt and irritation, sent the opponent’s weapon flying into the distance.
At the same time—
Kwaang!
The moment the clash of steel rang out, a woman kicked the door open and burst inside.
She flew in, planted a kick on the intruder, then mounted him and drove her sword into his throat.
Thud!
Red blood spread across the floor.
“I thought we had them all……”
She seemed far more agitated than usual. After panting for a long while, the woman let out a heavy sigh and swept her hair back.
“One slipped through. I’m sorry, big brother.”
“Lethe.”
Golden eyes flicked over the blood staining the clothes of the woman whose eyes matched his own.
“Are you injured?”
“No.”
“Then……”
His gaze shifted past her shoulder.
“What about El?”
The man who entered late quickly scanned the room, then bowed his head deeply.
“……There was one more body to dispose of. I apologize for the inconvenience, brother.”
“As long as you’re safe, it’s fine.”
After confirming there was no further threat, Edardo slowly sheathed his sword.
“I kept one alive just in case. What should we do with him?”
“The mastermind is obvious. Kill him.”
“Understood.”
“Don’t overdo it.”
“……Yes.”
As his siblings withdrew, Edardo watched the cleanup crew in silence. More precisely, he stared down at the corpses they were removing.
‘……This worked out well.’
He had already been planning to strike the Esperanes information guild. How convenient that they had come provoking him first.
There was no need to investigate who sent them. It was obvious.
Starve. He must have sent them. Even knowing it would fail… no, the half-intentional failure and meaningless gesture was the only thing the two of them ever did exclusively to each other.
In truth, infiltrating the Esperanes Kingdom itself would have been more effective than targeting the guild, but as someone with things to protect, he had no intention of risking a head-on assault against a place renowned as an impregnable natural fortress.
Just as he had concluded that raiding and seizing the information would be better than begging a favor from Starve.
“Considering they’ve been sending assassins all this time, they must have prepared themselves for a counterattack.”
If he ended up injured and hampered in his movements, infiltrating the imperial palace later would become extremely troublesome, but Edardo paid it no mind. An Awakener’s recovery was exceptional, and such a thing would not happen in the first place.
He had absolute confidence in his own ability.
“We should have helped him.”
To think they couldn’t even cleanly handle a single assassin and ended up bothering him.
“It’s infuriating.”
Lethe flicked her sword with a displeased expression.
“If big brother hadn’t stopped me, I would have separated that obnoxious purple head from its shoulders.”
“What can we do? Brother told us not to touch him.”
Did that man even realize? That he was only alive thanks to their brother’s mercy.
Lethe was an Awakener. If she set her mind to it, she possessed the power to accomplish what she wanted, even if it cost her somewhat. The aftermath would be another matter, but killing a single man named Starve was well within her reach.
It would have been even easier for Edardo himself.
“I know. I understand the reason. Certainly, facing a familiar opponent is better than dealing with a new, unknown figure who relentlessly checks and suppresses us……”
To know the culprit and still have to leave him alone.
Crack. Fingers dug into the wall with crushing force.
Fearing she might bring the whole building down, El let out a sigh-like laugh and patted Lethe’s head.
“Brother isn’t simply enduring it either, so let’s be patient a little longer.”
“Master!”
“Yes, my dear.”
Thanks to Altare lowering him with at least a speck more care than last time, Raven landed lightly on the floor and opened both arms toward the lovely disciple racing toward him. Liv leaped into his embrace as though she had been waiting for exactly that moment.
Fearing her fragile body might break, the master caught the disciple who had thrown herself forward like a moth to flame and lifted her at once.
“I was worried because you were so late. Everyone else had already arrived, but we heard nothing from you, Master, even though you left first……”
“I made you worry. I’m sorry.”
She had been anxious he might have run away again. It was almost comical how Raven accepted that anxiety with a calm smile.
With Hwan muttering in the background that Liv seemed to have finally lost her mind and that they should prepare the next candidate for president of the Sculpted Soul Master Association, Altare turned away from the ridiculous scene. He reached out, grabbed the nape of Rowina—who had stealthily approached and wrapped her arms around Raven from behind—and pulled her away.
The conversation between Liv and Raven continued.
“Your clothes are soaked in blood. Are you all right?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Nothing, he says.”
Altare ran his hand down Raven’s back, now fully visible after Rowina was yanked away.
It looked quite deep, and sure enough, his fingers met a rough, uneven texture.
“You’re not actually believing that, are you, Liv?”
“What?”
“Just because your eyes went from four to two doesn’t mean you’ve gone blind. You said you were worried about Master, yet you didn’t even notice the wounds?”
……At this severity, most people would be unable to move from the pain, yet he had simply allowed Rowina to cling directly to the injuries. While holding Liv, no less.
How were they supposed to handle this man who claimed he could not die yet looked closer to death than anyone?
The sticky blood coating his hand was distinctly unpleasant. Frowning, he flung Rowina—who he had still been holding—backward. She immediately bared her teeth.
“Ah, why! Why are you only mad at me!”
“Think about what you just did.”
“You knew this would happen! And it wasn’t just me who was on guard in case Master abandoned us and ran away again!”
Where did she get the nerve to act so prim?
At the unrestrained outburst, Altare moved to cover her mouth. Rowina refused to yield and fought back. Watching the two of them clash ferociously, Hwan let out a deep sigh.