The Shadow's Triumph
Runaan watched Raon cleaning the training ground, her hands fidgeting nervously.
‘It was tough.’
Even after hearing Raon’s advice, she still couldn’t bring herself to swing the sword at the orc. She knew it was a monster, not a human, yet her hands refused to move.
‘I almost threw up.’
Every time she stepped on the blood-soaked floor, her limbs trembled as if her brother were watching, and her stomach churned violently.
Since she couldn’t attack directly, she had no choice but to keep spitting frost, even though it drained her aura heavily.
She knew people were shouting and yelling around her, but she couldn’t hear a single word.
Her vision gradually filled with darkness. Not just her hearing, but her sight was also fading to black, and she was barely holding on, unsure what to do.
“Runaan!”
Raon’s clear voice cut through the surrounding darkness like a blade.
Even though the orc was charging toward her, she immediately turned her head to face Raon.
When she saw Raon smiling and their eyes met, the turbulent waves of emotion and sensation finally settled. As if nothing had ever happened at all.
When she heard his words—“It’s okay”—the darkness that had choked her vision completely vanished. The memories of her brother that had filled her head faded into mist.
Yeah… it’s okay. She muttered to herself, and the arms that had felt so heavy suddenly moved freely once more.
At the exact moment the orc swung its axe down, Raon released the condensed energy in a single strike.
The sound of the axe handle shattering and the orc’s heart bursting echoed through the air, but she no longer felt any fear.
The blood sprayed from the orc stained the back of her hand. Just as Raon had said, nothing happened even when the blood touched her.
“Kyaahhaang!”
The moment she realized it, the sound of the thick iron chains wrapped around her body being crushed rang out.
The face of her brother, entangled with blood and shadows, completely disappeared. The dark world felt as if it had been filled with light once again.
“Tear up the floor of the sparring ground and move it to the right warehouse! We’ll need it again, so be careful carrying it! Ah, where did that brat coach run off to without cleaning up?!”
She lifted her head at the voice coming from in front. Burren was instructing the ward trainees while cleaning the training ground.
‘He changed.’
She had known Burren since they were young. He had always been arrogant and had never paid her any attention, yet she could find not a trace of that arrogance in him now.
The person who had brought about that change wasn’t Burren himself, but Raon. After losing to Raon, his swordsmanship had become sharp and precise like that.
‘I’m the same.’
Thanks to meeting Raon, the heart that had been locked away had opened, and she could once again build relationships with people.
Every single day had been a pleasant time, and today marked the peak of that change.
Thanks to Raon’s advice and his words of “it’s okay,” she no longer heard her brother’s voice, nor saw his shadow.
It felt as if something stuck deep in her head had finally been removed, leaving her free.
Runaan nodded at Raon.
‘I should say thank you. Really, thank you.’
It was time to convey her gratitude as she had heard from her mother.
***
In the Heavy Martial Palace submerged in darkness, Jake, wearing a tattered robe, knelt on his knees.
“F-failed.”
He bowed his head with a trembling voice.
“Failed? Did Rimer get involved?”
Karun frowned and looked down at Jake kneeling before him.
“Ah, no.”
Jake’s condition was far from normal. His eyes were blank, as if his soul had fled, and his jaw hung slack, drooling.
“Then how exactly did you fail?”
“R-Raon Zieghart cut down that orc with a single sword, even adding frenzy to all the enhancement magic.”
“It’s not like just saying ‘from the mouth’ makes it true. Are you seriously claiming you believe that now?”
Karun’s voice came out like a beast snarling.
“It’s true! The flames that bloomed from that guy’s sword split the orc’s neck right through!”
“Flames?”
“Yes! The flames that sparkled golden in the sunset, the orc couldn’t do anything and gave up its neck. Moreover,…”
Jake, thinking he had to survive no matter what, spilled everything he had seen at the 5th training ground.
“Rimer knew all our thoughts. He said if I touched the trainees while giving me a belly, he’d kill me.”
He told Karun the warning from Rimer, who was showing interest.
“As expected, it was because of that guy.”
Karun snorted and laughed.
‘Is he rotten to the core?’
The balance of Rimer’s body and mind that he had met before had already been broken. He had been so lazy and willful that he thought even if he used a trick, Rimer wouldn’t notice, but it seemed not to that extent.
“I-is it okay? Rimer’s mouth also mentioned your name…”
“It doesn’t matter. That worm can’t do anything.”
Karun waved his hand. Previously, he might not have known, but now Rimer was no different from a weed that had no influence.
“Go back. Call me again later.”
“Ah, I understand. Sorry.”
Jake bowed repeatedly and left the room.
“If he cut the orc and the weapon at the same time with one sword, it wouldn’t be strange to think he learned an advanced martial art.”
“In the information the spy brought before, it was said that he caused a very strong mana fluctuation.”
“If it’s a spy, is it in the annex?”
“Yes.”
“He seems useful.”
“There was not a single wrong part in the information the woman brought.”
The steward answered with half-closed eyes.
“Give him a little more support. From now on, investigate Rimer’s movements too. And…”
Karun finished speaking and looked at the door Jake had left, slicing his neck with his finger.
“Handle that guy. He’s quick-witted and will talk, and he’s already eaten by Rimer’s killing intent.”
“Yes.”
The steward nodded and disappeared like smoke from the spot.
“Raon Zieghart and Rimer.”
They were distant figures that didn’t need to be guarded from his position, but strangely, they kept coming into his eyes.
“It would be good to handle both at once.”
Karun’s cool gaze made the air in the Heavy Martial Palace heavy.
***
Marta leaned her back against a tree at the edge of the training ground. At the end of her gaze, Raon cleaning the training ground was visible.
Tsk.
She clicked her tongue and frowned. No matter how she thought, she couldn’t understand.
‘What the hell is that guy?’
How could he cut the sword so decisively?
She had clenched her fists knowing today’s training was to kill a monster, one that looked like a human.
She thought she could show a better figure than Raon Zieghart this time.
As expected, Burren and other trainees couldn’t properly swing their swords at the monsters. Only after receiving help from Rimer or the coach could they kill the monsters.
But Marta was different.
The moment a gap appeared in the monster, she stabbed the sword into the neck without any hesitation.
It was natural that she was different from others.
‘Because I tried it.’
Before coming to Zieghart.
When she infiltrated the White Blood Cult alone to find her mother, she had stabbed the cultists with a sword.
Thanks to that experience, it wasn’t difficult to swing the sword at a monster that looked like a human.
‘But how did that guy…?’
Raon is different from her.
He was born in a safe wall, the epitome of the young master who was pampered because his body was weak.
A guy who grew up like a flower in a greenhouse cut the neck of an orc that looked like a human without any hesitation. And faster and stronger than her.
Honestly, it was so beautiful that it made her dazed for a moment.
‘I couldn’t believe it.’
Even though she saw it with her own eyes, she still wasn’t sure if it was real.
“Damn…”
Marta hit the tree she was leaning on with her fist.
‘I should have won this.’
She lost to Raon in sparring and said she’d listen to his commands, but she didn’t surrender her heart.
She had trained to death with the resolve to make that guy kneel someday, but she felt her teeth grinding at the thought of losing in the part where she thought she would definitely win.
But in the middle of that, a small ripple arose in her heart.
It was a sense of kinship. The emotion that she might have similar corners with Raon.
Anyway, Raon didn’t seem to be just a pampered kid as she thought. There must have been a reason he developed such a ruthless heart.
“Hmm?”
When she was thinking about Raon’s past, their eyes met.
“Hmph.”
Marta looked at Raon’s calm eyes, snorted, and turned her head. She left the training ground as is.
Her stiff steps became a bit softer, but she herself didn’t know.
***
When Raon finished cleaning the training ground and was about to head to the indoor training ground, Runaan approached.
“Raon.”
She bowed her head with her purple eyes shining.
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
She shook her head. The fact that she helped was true, but the big role was done by her. She wasn’t the type to receive thanks.
“Still, thank you.”
“It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s really nothing…”
“Thank you.”
“H, okay.”
“Yeah.”
She waved her hand as if it was done. Only then did Runaan nod.
“You’re okay too, right?”
Raon checked Runaan’s eyes and hands. It seemed like Syria’s brainwashing was lifted, but he asked just in case.
“Yeah.”
Runaan smiled faintly. An unforced smile. For now, it seemed well resolved.
“If your brother makes you suffer again, tell me. I’ll help if I can.”
“It’s okay.”
Runaan tried to nod but shook her head.
“I have to do it.”
Her eyes sparkled. The wounded heart seemed to be healing and becoming stronger.
“Yeah.”
Raon smiled. Runaan left the training ground after saying thank you again.
-Are you not helping the ice cream girl?
‘I said I would do it myself. I don’t usually meddle in other people’s family matters.’
-Hmm, from what I see, the ice cream girl can’t solve it alone.
‘Then she would ask for help. Even if she doesn’t ask for help, ...’
Raon nodded. In her deeply sunken eyes, a red light flashed.
‘There is a way to solve it.’
***
Runaan returned to the accommodation and placed the squirrel-shaped ice cream on the table that Raon had given her.
“Hmm.”
After thinking for a moment, she took out the bead ice cream box hidden under the bed. It was ice cream that her mother had bought, not given by her brother.
Hwaaah.
When she opened the lid, cold air flowed out, cooling her face tired from training.
She thought she wouldn’t be able to eat ice cream anymore. Because even seeing it would remind her of her brother.
But Raon had erased the shadow of her brother that had been binding her head and heart.
Her brother was no longer scary, and the ice cream was no longer hateful.
‘No.’
But Runaan didn’t touch the ice cream and closed the lid again.
‘I have to eat it tomorrow.’
She pushed the ice cream box under the bed, deciding to eat it with Raon tomorrow.
Runaan smiled faintly while looking at the red-eyed squirrel on the table.
***
Raon returned to the annex after finishing cleaning the training ground instead of Rimer who had disappeared somewhere.
Hwaaah!
When he was taking off his sweat-soaked training clothes, Las suddenly popped out.
-I didn’t say it earlier, though.
Las spewed a cool gaze from within a flame made of ice.
-You killed a human, didn’t you.
“What?”
-You don’t have the ability to break that pathetic magician’s illusion yet. No matter how much you know it’s an orc, it looked like a human. It’s not something a greenhorn who hasn’t even fought in real combat can do to cut it decisively.
“It was easy.”
Raon waved his hand and pushed Las who came in front of him.
-What?
“Because my sense value is high, I felt on my skin that it wasn’t a human. Killing a monster is not difficult.”
-Gah. Sense?
“Yeah. Magic can deceive appearance, but it can’t hide the temperament.”
-Kuu, sense...
When he let out a calm breath, Las let out a groan. He had completely fallen for it.
‘I can’t tell him about my past life or the Ring of Fire.’
He couldn’t give even a small piece of information to Las, who had a clear enemy.
-Even if that’s the case, there’s no hesitation in killing. What is your true identity? How could you have such mental strength at that age?
Las muttered that it was impossible. It seemed he was surprised that someone had strong mental strength from the beginning rather than becoming overwhelmingly powerful later.
“What are you doing by figuring it out.”
-Kuu, truly, there’s not a single place where this guy is likable.
“I’m not here to be liked by you.”
Raon flicked his finger at Las.
“Every time you talk, it’s cold. Shut your mouth and give me the bet reward.”
-This is scam. I didn’t know you’d be such a ruthless human.
“I didn’t say to start the bet. You did. The king becomes a bit of a loser again.”
-L-loser...
Las’ voice trembled as if he had heard the word ‘loser’ for the first time in his life.
“Is this 3 wins in a row? The lord of the demon realm is nothing special.”
-Shut up! This king, with just the power of the main body...
“That guy’s main body. Main body. When are you going to find it. And this has nothing to do with the main body ability.”
-Kuuu...
Las’ blue ice surged greatly, and the sound of biting foam came from his mouth. It seemed he couldn’t come to his senses after being mocked in the shock of defeat.
-This is scam no matter how you think about it. Scam!
When the guy tried his last desperate move, a message appeared in front of his eyes.
You have won the bet with Wrath.
◈ [Property 1]
◈ [Property 2]