The Time to Choose
The moment Chad, Head of Biyeonhoe, stepped out of the Lord's Palace, he sprinted straight for the top floor of the Biyeonhoe building.
In a stately office overlooking the grounds of House Zieghart's main estate, a middle-aged woman with long white hair tied neatly behind her head and a pair of round spectacles sat reading a book no larger than her palm.
"Madam Head!"
Chad shoved his face right up in front of the white-haired woman.
"I'm not curious about your face. Back up."
The middle-aged woman pushed Chad's face away without taking her eyes off the page.
"And the Head of Biyeonhoe isn't me anymore. It's you. How long are you planning to keep calling me Head?"
"R-right, of course. I was so flustered I said it without thinking."
Chad flushed and bowed his head.
"Then, Lady Alisa."
"What is it?"
For the first time, the gaze of the woman called Alisa turned toward him.
"We're in serious trouble!"
"I see. If you're this shaken, it must be no small matter. However..."
Alisa let out a sigh and closed her book.
"As I told you a moment ago, the leader of Biyeonhoe is no longer me. It's you. The decisions and the judgment are yours to make. If you keep asking for my opinion and following only my thoughts, you'll never grow."
She patted Chad's shoulder the way a grandmother might scold a grandchild.
"I-I know that, but..."
"Then that's that. This is where the former Head of Biyeonhoe loafs around doing nothing. Out with you."
Muttering that he shouldn't harass a retired woman, she waved him off.
"War!"
Chad bellowed it at the top of his lungs.
"The Clan Head is trying to start a war!"
"Hnn?"
That, apparently, she had not expected. Alisa dropped her book with a thud.
"Start a war? Now?"
"N-not now. Three years from now."
"Hoo. Explain."
Alisa took off her glasses and turned in her seat. That alone transformed her entire presence. The kindly middle-aged woman vanished, and the eyes of the heroine who had once held Biyeonhoe in a single hand and raced across the continent came alive.
"This time, the Light Wind Squad..."
Chad told her everything—what had happened at the Gazelle River, and what had taken place in the Lord's Palace afterward.
"Those three seem to cherish Raon Zieghart in particular. It isn't simply because his talent is outstanding. It's as if he's someone truly precious to them..."
"Heh heh."
Alisa looked at Chad and smiled, soft and amused.
"Th-this isn't something to laugh about! I'm telling you, it's real!"
"You're still young."
"Pardon?"
"You're reading them all wrong."
She waved a hand and leaned back against her chair.
"The Clan Head is far colder than he appears. He's the kind of man who wouldn't spare even his own children if it served his goals. Even recently, that ruthless gaze and presence of his hadn't changed one bit, so what nonsense are you spouting?"
"I'm telling you, he's seriously thinking of wiping out the South-North Alliance because of Raon!"
"That isn't because of the South-North Alliance."
Alisa let out a short laugh.
"No, I'm serious..."
"You know who I am, don't you?"
"Yes..."
"Say it."
"You are Alisa, the White Falcon, Queen of Information, who has always led Zieghart to victory!"
Chad snapped to attention as if he had done this many times before and recited Alisa's epithet at the top of his voice.
"That's right. I'm Alisa. You don't trust me?"
Even her kindly tone had rolled back to the woman she had been in her youth.
"The reason the Clan Head, the Heavenly Sword Squad Leader, and Roen are angry is that those South-North Alliance maggots didn't know their place and trespassed on our territory. Their pride was wounded because the name of Zieghart was disregarded."
"I-I thought that at first too, but when it comes to Raon specifically..."
"Tsk. Who am I?"
Alisa frowned and clicked her tongue.
"The White Falcon, Queen of Information, Lady Alisa!"
"That's right. I'm Alisa. Have you spent a lot of time around the Clan Head? I've spent a lot of time around the Clan Head."
"The White Falcon, Lady Alisa, has spent a great deal of time around him!"
"So whose word is right?"
"Ordinarily Lady Alisa would be right, but this time it's really..."
"Tsk!"
"The White Falcon, Lady Alisa, is right!"
Chad squeezed his eyes shut and bowed his head.
That's really not it, though.
Glenn, Sheryl, and Roen hadn't been angry simply because their territory had been violated. They had given off the murderous air of parents whose precious child had come home after being beaten by someone else. They had looked ready to smash the entire South-North Alliance to pieces, and Alisa was failing to understand any of it.
"Um..."
"What now."
"They didn't show any particular interest when it came to Lord Rimer. But the moment Raon's name came up, all of them flew into a rage..."
"Haaah, Chad. Oh, Chad."
Alisa let out a sigh, her eyes full of pity.
"It isn't only the Clan Head. The Heavenly Sword Squad Leader is so cold-blooded she'd resent coming in second. However close they may have grown from sharing missions, she is not the kind of person who would volunteer to take the vanguard over something like that."
"Ugh..."
"Roen even more so. That man hasn't touched assassination in decades. And you're telling me he'd pick it up again because of Raon? Does that sound remotely plausible to you?"
"But information on Raon has been going straight up to the Lord's Palace from the beginning..."
"Taking an interest in Raon is only natural. He's the Youngest Master, and his talent is extraordinary. But starting a war over that child? That doesn't make any sense. Think about it with some common sense!"
She waved both hands, insisting it was absolutely not the case.
"Kh..."
Chad swallowed a groan.
Common sense.
Yes. Common sense said it didn't make any sense. Starting a war because someone had laid a hand on Raon? Preposterous. And yet that circus of a situation looked like it was actually going to happen.
"You understand now?"
"But it really..."
"You little..."
"No, ma'am! The White Falcon, Lady Alisa, is correct!"
Under Alisa's piercing stare, Chad could do nothing but nod.
"Wars don't start that easily. Zieghart especially is hard to set in motion."
"Because of the Mediators?"
"That's one of the reasons, yes."
Alisa nodded.
"In any case, there won't be a war. The South-North Alliance will bow their heads on their own."
"Bow their heads..."
"If you think about it, Tiller is dead, so they should be the ones pressing us—and yet they've gone quiet, haven't they? They're keeping their mouths shut because they're afraid of us."
"I'm aware of that."
Chad nodded. If Zieghart truly set its mind to it, it could wipe the South-North Alliance from the map. But they were one of the Five Demons as well, which meant this side would take enormous damage too.
"Damage? Of course the losses would be considerable. Just not as considerable as you think."
"Pardon? But..."
"I suppose I never properly told you about the martial power of the people above us."
Alisa smiled faintly, as if things had come this far and she might as well let a little of it out.
"Roen claimed he could assassinate Floating King Roman in a single night, didn't he?"
"Yes."
"That's an exaggeration."
"I already knew that..."
"But in about four days, it's a certainty. Lady Sheryl was probably exaggerating a little as well. The Clan Head, however, is a different matter."
A chilly smile touched her lips as she pointed at the ceiling—no. At the sky beyond it.
After buying the supplies Rimer would need from a nearby city, Raon returned to Doran Village. Mercifully, nothing had happened in his absence; Unit 2 of the Light Wind Squad and the villagers greeted him with smiles.
"Raon."
Runaan, who had been perched atop the watchtower, hopped down and came running. Her eyes were even more unfocused than usual.
She must have pushed herself.
Looking at those pupils swaying like water, he could tell she had overtaxed her mental strength.
"Did you find it?"
"I did. You did well, guarding this place."
"Mm."
When he told her she had done well, Runaan smiled—very faintly. She nodded, and then, without warning, crumpled.
"Huh?"
Raon caught her and immediately checked her condition. He couldn't feel any wounds. It was exhaustion, the kind that came from forcing her stamina and aura past their limits.
"Runaan?"
"She hasn't slept."
Ebi, vice-leader of Unit 2, approached with a sigh.
"After you left the village, she didn't sleep a wink standing guard here."
"I see."
Raon looked down at Runaan, who was breathing in soft, even snores, and smiled.
There was no need for her to push herself that far.
He had asked her to keep a good watch, but he hadn't expected her to forgo sleep entirely. Gratitude and apology rose together, and he gave her back a light pat.
"How's the squad leader?"
"He still hasn't woken. His condition is unchanged—neither better nor worse."
"Mm. I'll take Runaan in."
Raon laid Runaan down on a bed in the lodgings, then went to check on Rimer. Just as Ebi had said, his condition had not shifted in the slightest from the moment he had collapsed.
That isn't a good sign.
His dantian was surging as if it would shatter, and his mana circuits were constricted in the worst possible state—still eating away at Rimer's lifespan even now. But treatment could only begin once Rimer woke, so the only thing Raon could do at present was stir a little vitality through the man's body with aura.
Raon circulated the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames, working through Rimer's entire body as if giving a massage, then stepped outside. At some point, Marta and Unit 1 had returned.
"Figured you'd already be here."
Marta came over, brow furrowed.
"How did it go?"
"Couldn't find it. I scraped two cities down to the floorboards and there wasn't an elixir like that anywhere."
She sighed, muttering that it was an infuriatingly rare item.
"I did find an artifact that eases the strain on the dantian and mana circuits, though. It won't do much, but it should help that bastard a little."
Marta pulled out a golden bracelet. The energy rolling off it was considerable; this was no ordinary artifact. Unique-grade at the very least.
Raon took the bracelet and nodded.
"You did well."
Something like this was never going to be easy to come by. She spoke of it lightly, but she must have gone through a great deal of trouble to find it.
"Did well, my ass."
Marta snorted and turned her head slightly away.
"What about you?"
"I got it."
"Y-you did?"
"I did."
"Haaaah..."
Marta let out a long breath and sank to the ground.
"That's a relieeef..."
She pressed a hand to her chest, lips slightly pursed. Whether her tongue had gone slack or the tension had simply drained out of her, the pronunciation had come out all wrong.
"Eeef?"
"Huh?"
"You just said 'that's a relieeef'..."
"I-I did not!"
"You all heard that, right?"
"Sh-shut up!"
Marta shook her head wildly in denial and bolted toward the inside of the village.
"Off to the lodgings, are weee?"
"I said shut up!"
Face scarlet, she raised a fist and ran for the lodgings.
"I don't think I've ever seen the unit leader look that cute."
"'Relieeef,' she says..."
"She talks like that once in a blue moon."
The members of Unit 1 burst out laughing as they watched Marta go. Now that they knew Rimer could be saved, the tension seemed to have drained out of all of them.
"You've got a real gift for teasing people, don't you?"
Wrath smacked his lips.
"Want to try being the Demon King of Mockery? The demons of the Demon Realm would absolutely lose their minds."
He went on and on about wanting to show the other demons a real devil, insisting they had to visit the Demon Realm someday.
That evening, Burren arrived in the village with the elixir the family had given him clutched tightly in his hand.
"I took it, at least, but I don't know if this will be enough."
He held out the elixir and a Gold Tablet and sighed.
"It's fine. I found one too."
"Y-you found one?"
Burren's mouth fell open as if he couldn't believe it.
"You actually went into a dungeon and brought it back?"
"It was seriously insane!"
Dorian stepped forward in Raon's place, spreading both hands wide.
"We even met Lord Loengrin, who'd become a ghost, and fought an Apostle!"
"An A-Apostle?"
"An Apostle of the White Blood Cult?"
Raon had spoken of obtaining the elixir as if it were nothing, so everyone went wide-eyed in shock.
"Everyone's here, so I suppose it's fine to tell them."
"Let me do it!"
Dorian was panting like a puppy in front of a meal, clearly desperate to recount what had happened in the dungeon.
"Go ahead."
When Raon nodded, Dorian beamed and took his place in front of the Light Wind Squad.
"Let's start from when we found the dungeon. We..."
Dorian told them everything he had seen and felt in the dungeon, leaving nothing out.
"Whoa..."
"The Fourth Apostle is a M-Mid-rank Master."
"Is it even possible to kill an Apostle in just three exchanges?"
"What is he, a Grandmaster?!"
"That's insane. He's insane."
At the news that Raon had taken down an Apostle in three exchanges, the Light Wind Squad couldn't close their mouths for a long time.
"...And so, thanks to Lord Loengrin's consideration, we were even able to bring his legacy out with us. H-he was a little scary, but he was a kind person."
Dorian sniffled, saying he missed him. It was funny, hearing that from the guy who had refused to let go of the white wooden desk until the very end.
"I'm more amazed by that than by him taking down an Apostle."
"Right? How do you even get a ghost to help you?"
"When someone's got it, they've got it, no matter what they do."
The Light Wind Squad let out dazed breaths, equally stunned that they had walked away with all of Loengrin's legacy.
"Then the elixir you found there can save the squad leader, right?"
Burren, who had been unable to breathe at the news of the Apostle, finally collected himself enough to ask.
"It can. At the very least, he'll be able to return to how he was before."
"Hoo. I can finally relax a little."
Burren let out a sigh of relief and smiled, small and genuine.
"Of course, if he chooses for himself..."
Raon was about to mention the Artificial Dantian when a shout cut him off.
"He's awake!"
Marta, who had been keeping watch at Rimer's side, yelled it out.
"The squad leader is awake!"
Without anyone needing to say a word, the entire Light Wind Squad ran for the lodgings.
"Nngh..."
When they entered, Rimer was pushing himself upright, swaying. His face was deathly pale, and his breathing was ragged. He looked nothing like the man they knew.
"Why the long faces? Did I sleep in a little?"
He offered a faint smile, as if he meant to laugh this off the way he always did, but he couldn't hide the way his eyebrows trembled from the pain.
"Everyone already knows."
Raon sat down in front of Rimer and shook his head.
"You don't have to hide it from us anymore."
"Hide what? It's not that serious. If I go back and sleep it off, I'll..."
"I told you. We know everything."
Raon caught Rimer's trembling shoulder.
"Haaah..."
Rimer sighed and dropped back onto the bed.
"Ah, damn it! I wanted to only ever show you the image of a perfect, handsome squad leader! And now I look like this!"
He thrashed like a child throwing a tantrum, insisting he hadn't wanted anyone to see him in such an ugly state.
"We've only ever seen you looking pathetic, though..."
"Yeah. The only thing we learned from you is how not to live."
"Mm."
Burren, Marta, and Runaan all tilted their heads as if they had no idea what he was talking about.
"That's a remark that kills a man twice over. My heart hurts worse than my body. Ugh!"
Rimer clutched his chest and sat up.
"Anyway, I'm fine! If I go back and sleep as much as I want, I'll recover."
He was trying to brush it all aside when Raon laid three things down in front of him, one after another: the golden bracelet Marta had brought, the Sheti's Tears Burren had received, and the Spirit Flow Pill obtained from the dungeon.
"What is all this?"
"These are the things we went out and found for you."
Raon gave Rimer a brief account of everything that had happened.
"You ran all the way to the branch without rest, turned two cities upside down, and stood watch over me without sleeping? And..."
Rimer's gaze passed over Burren, Marta, and Runaan, then settled on Raon at last.
"You defeated an Apostle and even brought back Loengrin's legacy..."
He bit his lip hard, as if the emotion were too much, and lowered his head.
"This is genuinely embarrassing. I've never felt like this in my life. It feels good, and mortifying, and my chest is filling up with heat—but I can't lift my face."
Rimer's voice trembled in fine shakes. He seemed unable to contain what he was feeling.
"We've only ever received help from you, Squad Leader. It's only right that a day like this comes around sometimes."
Raon smiled faintly at the mortified Rimer.
You've helped me more times than I can count.
From the fundamentals of martial study to the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames, to any number of sword techniques and footwork, Rimer had given him countless pieces of advice and aid. He had saved Raon's life more than once or twice, and he had taught him what it meant to feel like a human being. This much didn't even begin to feel like repayment.
"Squad Leader. It's time for you to choose."
"Choose?"
"If you take Sheti's Tears and the Spirit Flow Pill, your constricted mana circuits will recover, and you'll be able to return to your former body. Of course, if you expend as much power as you did fighting Roman, the same thing will happen again."
"I suppose it would."
"However..."
Raon drew the Artificial Dantian from his coat and set it down in front of Rimer.
"If you shatter your own dantian and use this Artificial Dantian, you'll have to gather aura from scratch, and you'll need a great deal of training. But you would be able to return to how you were before your dantian was damaged. To the time when you were called Zieghart's Sword of Light."
"An A-Artificial Dantian..."
"Choose for yourself what you'll do."
Raon pushed the elixirs and the Artificial Dantian toward him.
Rimer looked at the Artificial Dantian and the elixirs in turn, his eyes trembling, then clenched his fist.
"I..."