Before That

"Before that."

Raon gestured, calling back the Light Wind Squad just as they were about to start up the mountain.

"Damn it…"

"We had a chance to finish him off."

"We're not finishing him off. We're just putting him through enough hell to wish he was dead."

"Ah. Right. My mistake."

"Count yourself lucky."

The Light Wind swordsmen trudged back toward the Heavy Martial Palace, faces twisted in open disappointment.

"What is wrong with these people?"

Burren swallowed dryly. In a single week their very temperament had changed. No — they had turned into beasts.

"Let's treat the wounded first."

Raon pointed to the returned Light Wind Squad and the Heavy Martial Palace warriors sprawled across the estate. Had they belonged to the Vanguard Squad, it might have been a different story. Most of these people probably hadn't even known Burren had been kidnapped.

"Four of us will be enough to see the Patriarch."

Himself and Burren, along with Gelmier and Olan — the ones at the heart of this incident. That would be sufficient to explain what had happened.

"Then Lord Dokoe and Lord Goman…"

Terond glanced toward Dokoe, the strongest person present, gauging his reaction.

"Our Chief Manager doesn't bother with tedious work like that. A man of his seniority kneeling to deliver a report would be a little undignified, don't you think?"

"Ahem. Quite so."

Dokoe gave a satisfied cough and nodded, clearly pleased with Raon's assessment.

"Instead, Lord Dokoe will take charge of the wounded."

"I-I will?"

"You will, won't you?"

"Ghhk!"

At Raon's smile, Dokoe's face went rigid in an instant. Stand before Glenn, or stay behind and mind the children — annoying as the latter was, the answer had already been decided.

"How far are you going to work an old man, you damned brat?!"

He let the curse serve as his answer.

"As expected, no one thinks of the squad members quite like our Chief Manager."

"Shut it!"

Dokoe waved them off, telling them to disappear already.

"Hah…"

Terond's mouth fell open as he watched Raon smiling beside Dokoe.

Was Lord Dokoe always this easy to handle?

Dokoe was famous for being impossible. Even on the Elder Council he had been difficult to manage, and once he gained his freedom he had been regarded as an uncontainable disaster. Seeing a monster like that unable to so much as twitch in front of this young swordsman drew a hollow laugh from him.

You can't judge this one by martial strength alone.

Raon's true face was not the talent and power that had made him the Youngest Master. It was the decisiveness to see through Gelmier's scheme and move at once, and the cunning to bend an entire situation to his will.

It's almost admirable.

To decide to strike the Heavy Martial Palace in order to save a comrade, and then to act without hesitation — "remarkable" didn't even begin to cover it. He had never expected to feel this way ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠toward a swordsman so much younger than himself.

"Shall we go, then."

Raon dragged the unconscious Gelmier and Olan along the ground.

"Y-you're going to carry them like that?"

Terond swallowed as he pointed at the two men, who looked like they'd been put through a wringer.

"Criminals don't deserve special treatment."

"B-but they haven't even been—"

"Ah. There's one more person we need."

"Pardon?"

Raon smiled and raised a finger.

"Someone truly important. Please be sure to bring him."

Rimer stared to the side with his mouth hanging open in a perfect circle.

There was Raon. There was Burren. There was Gelmier, one arm gone, and Olan, eyes rolled back and vacant.

He slowly lifted his gaze. At the top of the crimson stairs, from a golden dais that seemed to look down upon the world itself, Glenn's ice-cold eyes were waiting.

"Uh…"

Why am I here?

He had been drinking quite happily at the training hall. He had no idea why he'd been dragged to this place. Honestly, he didn't remember a thing. He'd come to his senses in the Lord's Palace, opened his eyes, and found himself in the Audience Chamber.

Raon watched Rimer standing there in a daze and let out a quiet snort of laughter. Terond had brought him here in person, and the man still hadn't fully returned to his senses.

"I present myself before the Patri—"

"Skip the greetings."

Glenn waved a hand the moment Rimer tried to bow. Rimer had known that man since he was five years old, and he had never seen a look that cold.

"Explain what happened."

"I—"

"I'll tell it."

Before Raon could open his mouth, Burren stepped forward. He was the one this had been done to. He would be the one to say it.

"B-Burren."

Gelmier gestured at him, desperate.

"Please…"

His voice shook. He muttered for his life as if this were the last chance he would ever get.

"……"

Burren did not look back. He drew a deep breath, and when he raised his eyes again, they held Glenn and no one else.

"The day I returned from my mission, the Vanguard Squad Leader came to see me. It had been a long time, and I went to the Heavy Martial Palace to talk. In the middle of the conversation, he suddenly brought up Raon."

"Raon?"

"Yes. He said he wanted Raon dead, and he asked me to tell him Raon's weaknesses."

"He wanted him dead…"

Glenn's crimson eyes slid to the right. A presence so cold it felt poisonous crushed down on Gelmier where he stood.

"Ghhk!"

Gelmier clutched his chest with his left hand and sank to his knees. Blood welled again from the right shoulder they had already staunched.

"M-my lord. S-spare—"

Gelmier pressed his forehead to the floor and begged, but Glenn's aura did not recede in the slightest.

A low, grinding pressure filled the hall. Roen and Sheryl, standing to either side of Glenn, turned the same rarely seen, bone-dry gazes on Gelmier and drove their own sharp auras into him.

"Hhhhk…"

Caught in the combined force of all three, Gelmier trembled from head to foot, unable to so much as twitch a finger.

"He told me to name a weakness. He even told me to lure Raon in so he could be killed. I refused and tried to leave the Heavy Martial Palace. That was when I was attacked. When I opened my eyes, I was in a secret chamber I'd never seen before…"

A deep rumble rolled through the Audience Chamber. Glenn's tremendous aura cut Burren's words short. What had been merely ice-cold ground itself to a point like an awl and crushed down on Gelmier and Olan's throats.

"Ghhhk—!"

"Urgh…"

The two criminals let out sounds as if their hearts had stopped, and collapsed onto the floor like dogs.

"Continue."

"They bound me and told me to help them kill Raon. I refused. That was when Olan, the Second Unit Leader of the Vanguard Squad, arrived and began the brainwashing…"

Burren recounted the week in that secret chamber, then looked at Raon.

"I was about to give up when Raon came for me. If it hadn't been for him, Olan's brainwashing would have taken me."

He turned back toward Gelmier and Olan, and his hands curled into fists.

"Nngh…"

"Hah— hah—"

Glenn's aura still pinned the two of them to the floor. Cold sweat ran off them in sheets as they bit their lips until they bled.

"Raon Zieghart."

Glenn's gaze returned to Raon at the center of the hall.

"How did you know Burren had been taken?"

"I wasn't certain."

"You weren't certain?"

"No. It started as a suspicion."

Raon nodded.

"The Burren I know has a stronger sense of responsibility than anyone. If he couldn't attend training, he would have come in person and apologized to everyone. Sending only a butler was strange enough to make me doubt."

At those words, Burren's shoulders trembled faintly, and Glenn's crushing presence eased.

"Hmph."

"As expected."

Sheryl and Roen both nodded, the corners of their mouths lifting just slightly, as if to say he had done well.

"I figured the one person who would know Burren's situation was his butler, so I found him in secret and asked for the truth. After that…"

Raon laid out everything that had happened, withholding nothing from Glenn.

"N-no, my lord! I—"

"Silence."

Glenn drove Gelmier's head into the floor with his eyes alone. Blood ran across the marble.

"I did not give you permission to speak."

"F-forgive—"

Gelmier's teeth chattered loud enough to hear.

"Gelmier."

"Y-yes…"

"Tell me what it is you claim this was not."

Glenn tipped his chin, as if he meant to give Gelmier a chance after all. The pressure pinning the man down, however, did not lift.

"I-it wasn't sincere! I only played a small prank because I wanted to see what my little brother had accomplished after so long apart. I-I did lock him up, but I never laid a hand on Burren!"

Gelmier worked his mouth even as he spat blood, unwilling to let this hard-won chance slip away. His eyes were desperate. The excuses spilling out of him were absurd.

"I-I was just about to end the joke and give Burren a gift when Raon showed up and everything went wrong. I-it's the truth! Please believe me!"

"That's strange."

Raon cut him off with a quiet laugh. No one in the hall seemed inclined to believe a word of it, but it was better to drive the point home.

"What kind of prank lasts a week? And the moment you saw me, all you thought about was killing me. When you actually swung your sword, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you aimed for my throat and my heart— kh!"

He hadn't finished speaking before blood he hadn't fully suppressed surged up his throat and spilled from his mouth.

The instant Raon's crimson blood struck the floor, Glenn's body lurched on the throne.

Sheryl and Roen clenched their fists and drew their auras up once more.

As if they had agreed upon it in advance, the three of them unleashed a terrifying pressure at the same moment. The Audience Chamber — no, the entire Lord's Palace — shuddered.

"—ghk!"

"Ghhhh…"

Gelmier and Olan flattened themselves to the floor like crushed tomatoes, their whole bodies shaking. They couldn't even breathe. All that came out of them were choked, broken sounds.

"Terond."

Glenn gestured to Terond, who had been standing off to the right.

"Yes."

Terond stepped forward and bowed to the floor.

"Which of them is telling the truth?"

"There wasn't enough time for the investigation itself to be complete."

"That's fine. Speak."

"Based on the state of the underground chamber, the testimony of the Vanguard Squad and Heavy Martial Palace swordsmen, and confirmation of Olan's brainwashing ability, I believe the Vice Leader of the Light Wind Squad's account is more than ninety-five percent certain."

"Well done."

Glenn nodded, and Terond returned to his place.

"Gelmier."

Glenn's aura snuffed out like a candle. His eyes, however, sank as deep and lightless as an abyss.

"You kicked away the last chance you were given."

"Ah…"

He looked down at Gelmier with eyes emptied of every feeling, and went on.

"T-twenty years?"

Gelmier's jaw trembled as he lifted his head.

"T-twenty years without even being able to reattach my arm! Are you telling me to die?!"

"You were the one who kidnapped your own brother. You were the one who tried to kill the Vice Leader of the Light Wind Squad."

"I only did what everyone else does!"

Perhaps it was the thought of being sealed in a cave for twenty years. Gelmier screamed up at Glenn.

"I only tried to erase an obstacle, the same as everyone who climbed to the top of this house! Father did it! You walked the same road, my lord!"

Glenn tipped his chin in a slight nod.

"But I finished the work perfectly. I checked again and again so that no one would know — so that it would never reach a single ear. And after that, I grew stronger. Strong enough that even if they learned of my shame, they couldn't question me. Strong enough that no one would dare raise a hand against me."

The aura that rose off him was dry enough to freeze the blood. It drove straight through Gelmier's soul.

"You, who couldn't even grasp your own brother's nature and handed him an opening, are nothing like me."

"Ahh…"

Gelmier's eyes went dull as spoiled eggs. His mouth hung open. He stared at the empty air as if his mind had left him.

"Heh heh heh heh!"

Olan drooled, as if Glenn's aura had driven him out of his mind.

"And Raon Zieghart."

"Yes."

"You are not without fault."

Raon said nothing. He only bowed his head.

"Internal affairs of the house are not for you to handle first. You should have moved through the Law Enforcement Division. The result was good. The beginning was not."

"I'm sorry."

He had expected the words. He lowered his eyes.

"I believed that going through the Law Enforcement Division would give Gelmier time."

"Give him time?"

"Yes. He was a man who would use even Burren's butler. I thought he might have a line into the Law Enforcement Division as well. In fact, Gelmier boasted that even Law Enforcement wouldn't be able to set foot in the Heavy Martial Palace."

"Hrm."

At that, Terond turned a murderous look on Gelmier. His pride had clearly taken a deep wound.

"You may discipline me and the Squad Leader if you wish. We're satisfied with having saved our own."

Raon glanced at Rimer and smiled, just faintly.

"Huh? Me? Why?"

Rimer's eyes went round. He pointed at himself.

"The Squad Leader approved even my unreasonable plan, and he sent a letter to the Law Enforcement Division. If he hadn't been there, I would have had a much harder time deciding to storm the Heavy Martial Palace."

"Ah…"

What the hell is this lunatic saying now?

It was absurd. He'd drawn up the entire plan himself and was now dumping the responsibility. Was this what they called pleasure without accountability?

Rimer bit his lip. Once the squad members had been brought into it, he had nothing left to say. And his last scrap of pride wouldn't let him admit he only survived around Glenn by taking the hits.

"This incident is primarily my fault and the Squad Leader's. Please discipline us."

"Ghhhh…"

Raon bowed his head with a calm expression. Rimer bent at the waist with a look of pure misery.

"Is that so."

Glenn looked down at Raon and Rimer with those ice-cold eyes.

"There were problems with the process. But not a single person died. Burren Zieghart was, in fact, kidnapped, and he came close to being brainwashed. Taking that into account — Raon Zieghart is confined for one week."

"M-my lord! Raon only did it because of me—"

"That's enough."

Burren started to step forward, but Raon caught his sleeve and pulled him back.

"Thank you for the consideration."

"The two of you may go."

"Mm…"

Raon stood and looked at Rimer. A jerk of the chin said he would be fine — go. Raon and Burren bowed to Glenn and left the Audience Chamber.

"Terond. Handle it according to regulation."

"As you command."

Terond dragged the half-senseless Gelmier and Olan out of the Audience Chamber after them.

"Hah. The kids these days really are full of life. It's nice."

Rimer scratched the back of his head with an awkward laugh.

"You heard the aura messages, right? I actually didn't do a thing—"

"Your squad went out to fight, and you sat there pouring liquor down your throat?"

Glenn's eyes sank as dry and empty as they had been when he looked at Gelmier.

"Eh?"

Rimer swallowed.

I burned off all the alcohol, though?

The moment he'd heard he was being summoned to the Audience Chamber, he had purged every last trace of it. He had no idea how he'd been caught.

"It's the smell."

Sheryl sighed and shook her head.

"When you burned the liquor off, the fumes soaked into your clothes!"

"I-I don't smell anything…"

"Of course you don't. You were the one who drank it, you idiot!"

"Urgh!"

Rimer's jaw trembled. She was right. He hadn't even had time to air the smell out of his clothes before being marched straight into the Audience Chamber. They'd known from the first second that he'd been drinking.

"M-my lord, you know this. The most important thing when children are growing is a guardian's trust. I, I trust our kids, and I—"

He looked up, and his mouth snapped shut. Glenn, Sheryl, and Roen, still on the dais, were all staring at the blood that had fallen from Raon's lips a moment ago.

"H-hey, if I could just—"

"Begin."

"Yes."

"Understood."

At Glenn's nod, the three of them came down from the dais with fury in their eyes.

"Sirs? I'm a p-patient! I'm not fully healed yet—"

"You don't need to worry about that."

"That's right. You think I'd hit you hard enough to leave aftereffects?"

Glenn and Sheryl gathered their power, fists curling.

Rimer swallowed hard and spun around. Roen was already there, blocking the way.

"L-Lord Roen?"

"Don't worry. I'll only do as much as Young Master Raon suffered."

Roen smiled gently and dusted off his hands.

"So it's three now?"

The words had barely left him when red lightning and a wash of blue energy dropped from the ceiling.

AAAAAARGH!

Raon narrowed his eyes at the trembling Lord's Palace. He thought he heard someone scream, but it cut off so quickly he decided he must have imagined it.

He tilted his head and stepped outside. The Light Wind Squad was waiting, their treatment already finished.

"Raon…"

"How did it go?"

Runaan and Marta ran forward.

"You won't be seeing Gelmier or Olan again."

Twenty years of Wall-Facing Meditation with his aura sealed. In some ways, it was a punishment worse than death. There would be no next meeting with Gelmier.

"Good riddance to that punchable face— mm."

Marta started to sneer, then caught sight of Burren and stopped.

"It's fine."

Burren smiled, faintly.

"Whatever feeling I had left is gone. I won't be going back to the Heavy Martial Palace."

He had never shown it, but even after joining the Light Wind Squad, Burren had carried a lingering attachment to the Heavy Martial Palace. That small homesickness seemed to have been burned out of him completely.

"I'll bury my bones with the Light Wind Squad. So don't worry."

"Burren…"

"Burren!"

"That's our squad leader."

"We're with you!"

At that unshakable declaration, the Light Wind swordsmen's eyes flashed red.

"That means…"

"We can start now, right?"

At Marta's nod, Dorian pulled the palanquin from earlier back out of his belly pouch.

"W-wait—!"

"Burren! Burren! Burren!"

The Light Wind swordsmen loaded Burren onto the palanquin again and started up Bukmang Mountain, which rose directly behind the Lord's Palace.

"Burren! Burren! Burren!"

"You need to suffer a little too!"

"Grrrr!"

"Hardship only gets harder the more you share it!"

"Kyaaah!"

The swordsmen growled, their eyes shining like animals.

"Raon! Save me! Why did these people turn into beasts?!"

Burren still hadn't grasped the situation. He trembled like a rain-soaked puppy.

"Hold."

"Urgh!"

Raon raised a hand, and the Light Wind Squad — who had been charging up the mountain like wild boars — froze in place.

Huh?

Wrath's mouth fell open in astonishment.

H-have you grown a human heart again, you wretch?

I should at least explain the situation.

Raon smiled faintly and walked over to Burren's side.

"Burren. You can see how much stronger the Light Wind Squad has gotten, right?"

"I-I can see it, but…"

He muttered that he did not want to end up like that.

"They all earned that by completing the concentration training. You're Light Wind too. Of course you have to do it."

"I was locked up for a week! I don't even have the strength to stand!"

Burren lifted a shaking hand.

"Burren. What do you get when you reverse a crisis?"

"Sisirc? That doesn't mean anything, does it?"

"That's right. It doesn't mean anything. Just do it."

"Uh…"

You lunatic!

Burren and Wrath both stared at him, mouths hanging open in disbelief.

"That's our acting squad leader."

"Damn right. That's the real Light Wind Squad."

"Let's go! Let's go!"

The Light Wind swordsmen nodded, their eyes still red.

"All right. Moving out again."

Raon patted the palanquin and smiled.

"Burren! Burren! Burren!"

The Light Wind Squad climbed Bukmang Mountain, chanting Burren's name like a spell.

"Ah. Set Burren down — and you lot hide as well. We're starting Concentration Training, Part Two."

"Burre—"

The chanting cut off at once. They turned around, the light gone from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠their eyes.

"What did you just…"

"You're doing it together."

Raon grinned.

"I start a week of confinement the day after tomorrow. Before that, I'm going to beat the training you still need into your bodies."

He had no intention of letting the Light Wind Squad's training stall for even a moment. He would drill them in the little time he had left. After that, he could leave them to Dokoe.

"I-I can't take this anymore…"

"We have to kill him."

"Yeah. That's the only way we survive."

The Light Wind Squad set the palanquin down and clenched their teeth. They drew their swords and pulled up every scrap of aura they had.

"KIIIIILL HIM!"

"AAAAAAAH!"

Marta's scream led them. The Light Wind Squad formed the Great Light Wind Formation and charged. Whether they meant it or not, a murderous pressure poured off their blades.

Hah…

Wrath let out a long sigh.

The others were counterfeits. True madness belongs to this one alone…

He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠squeezed his eyes shut, as if he pitied the Light Wind Squad rushing toward them.

"This actually makes it easier for me."

Raon smiled and lifted the Heavenly Sky Sword, still in its scabbard.

"Tonight's going to be a long night."