The Weight of a Name
A sliver of presence gathered in Glenn Zieghart's eyes.
"Kh—!"
Raon bit down on his lip until he tasted blood.
It feels like my flesh is being crushed.
Glenn had released only the faintest wisp of his aura — no more than a ladle of water scooped from a vast ocean — and yet Raon's heart felt as if it were being wrung in a fist. Cold sweat ran down his spine until his clothes clung to his back. If he hadn't been cultivating the Ring of Fire, he might have fainted on the spot.
So this is the martial artist they call the Northern Annihilation King...
To be overwhelmed by a glance alone... his power surpassed even Derus Robert. Raon couldn't lift his head.
"Say it again. Can you take responsibility for the words you just spoke?"
"L-Lord. Raon is still a child. He didn't know what he was saying."
"That's right! Young Master Raon has only ever lived in the Annex. He doesn't understand the name of Zieghart..."
Sylvia and Helen rushed to his side and dropped to their knees.
"Lord. He's only a child who knows nothing yet. Please withdraw your presence."
Denier Zieghart rose and stepped in, shielding them from the pressure.
"Lord Denier!"
"To look after even a brat like that... that's Lord Denier for you."
"His heart is even broader than his martial prowess."
The collateral family members heaped praise on Denier's words and actions.
"I am speaking."
"Ugh!"
"Kh...!"
Glenn's overbearing voice sent Denier and Sylvia stumbling back at the same time. They hadn't moved of their own will — Glenn had shoved them aside with his voice alone.
"I-I apologize."
Denier bowed his head. But Sylvia was different.
"F-Father..."
With a body that didn't even possess aura, she endured Glenn's presence and stepped toward Raon.
"Raon isn't in any condition to train yet..."
There was nothing in Sylvia's eyes but worry for him.
A sharp ache rang through his chest.
I don't know.
He couldn't tell whether this surge of emotion was pity for her, worry, or something else entirely. He only knew that he didn't want to see her like this. He wanted her to always smile — happily, the way she was meant to.
I was an assassin.
An assassin was a creature of the dark. Not life, but death was their familiar companion, and they never revealed themselves.
But not anymore.
He would no longer live as an assassin. Not as Raon the assassin, but as Raon Zieghart, he vowed to restore Sylvia to the place she belonged.
The moment the thought formed, a sound rang out — as if a single link of the iron chain around his neck had snapped free.
"I don't know."
Raon forced his head up. He did not look away from Glenn's oppressive gaze. Crushing the urge to shut his eyes, he continued.
"I wasn't raised in this Main House. I grew up in the Annex. I don't know how lofty Zieghart is, or how great a place it claims to be."
"R-Raon!"
Sylvia called out in alarm, but he didn't look back.
When Raon finished speaking, everyone held their breath and looked at Glenn.
One of Glenn's eyebrows lowered slightly.
"So you're saying you'll judge Zieghart's caliber by its basic training?"
"It's the only way someone like me can come to know Zieghart."
"Then I'll have to instruct the instructors to prepare thoroughly. Wouldn't want to disappoint you."
The flames that rose in Glenn's crimson eyes plunged the Audience Chamber into deathly silence.
"Kh..."
Raon couldn't hold out. He finally lowered his head. He was only twelve years old — a child who couldn't yet endure even a thousandth of Glenn's presence.
But he had not surrendered.
If he continued to refine the Ring of Fire and mastered a superior aura cultivation art, the day would come when he could stand before that man without flinching. Raon clenched his teeth, vowing to prove it not with words, but with action.
Someday.
After everyone had gone, silence settled over the Audience Chamber. Only Glenn and his butler, Roen, remained.
"Did you see that?"
"Yes. I saw it clearly."
Roen nodded firmly at Glenn's question.
"That boy is the real deal."
Unlike a moment ago, the corners of Glenn's mouth had lifted ever so slightly.
"A twelve-year-old who withstands my pressure and still speaks his mind. I've never seen one like him."
"Neither have I."
Roen tucked back a fallen strand of silver hair and smiled.
"Not just his looks — even his presence is the spitting image of you in your youth, my lord."
"Don't talk nonsense."
Glenn snorted as if dismissing the remark, but the corners of his mouth rose a little further, like a blade of grass caught in the wind.
"Do you intend to raise the difficulty of the basic training?"
"Too many ears heard what was said. I'll have to."
"Do you think Young Master Raon will be able to pass?"
"He'll struggle even to participate."
Glenn shook his head without hesitation.
"The elixir has improved his condition considerably, but his build and stamina are still poor. If he recovered a little more, perhaps. As he is now, it's impossible."
"Then why...?"
"I already told you. There is no discrimination among those who bear the name of Zieghart."
Roen hummed and clicked his tongue.
Still as dishonest as ever.
After decades at the man's side, Roen knew. Glenn hadn't summoned Raon in public to pressure him — he'd done it to show everyone that there would be no discrimination, and in doing so, to protect the boy. If Raon failed the training, Glenn would likely grant him an elixir, the way one slips a treat to a child one pretends to dislike.
Of course, even Glenn couldn't have predicted that Raon would step forward of his own accord.
"I like Young Master Raon's character, but there is one thing that concerns me."
"The children of the direct and collateral lines, I assume."
"Yes. They won't make a scene, but he'll draw far more attention than before. However small the amount, he withstood your presence, my lord. We should take precautions..."
"No. Just watch. There's no need to provoke them unnecessarily."
"Understood."
Despite having his own opinion, Roen nodded at once. To him, Glenn was no different from a god.
"My lord. May I ask one more thing?"
"What is it?"
"If, by some chance, Young Master Raon were to pass the basic training... what would you do?"
"Pass?"
Glenn rested his chin on his hand and recalled the aptitude ceremony from seven years ago.
The golden flame.
Whether by coincidence or some anomaly, Raon had ignited the golden flame — a power used only by the First Patriarch of Zieghart.
"It won't happen. But if, by one chance in ten thousand, it did..."
He rose from the throne with a faint chuckle.
The moment Raon returned to the Annex, he was dragged into Sylvia's room.
"Raon."
Sylvia gripped both of his shoulders tightly.
"Why on earth did you do that?"
"Mm..."
"Zieghart's training doesn't go easy on children. Your stamina as it is now can't endure it. You'll only get hurt."
Sylvia's voice sank. Her hands trembled with worry for him.
"I couldn't stand it."
"What?"
"I don't even know exactly what I was feeling when I did it."
Raon lowered his eyes. It was the truth. He'd lived twelve years with Sylvia and Helen, but his own emotions were still as pale as a pastel sky.
"But every time we go to the Main House and they look down on you, my chest gets tight. I wanted to say something."
He didn't want to lie to Sylvia and Helen, so he spoke from the heart.
"Ah..."
"Young Master Raon."
Sylvia's mouth fell open. Helen's eyes trembled.
Sylvia released his shoulders, closed her eyes slowly, then opened them again.
"Raon. I'm grateful that you think of me, but you're still young. You're at an age when you should still be clinging to your mother. You don't need to worry about me yet."
"But—"
"You wouldn't know it, but your mother's pretty strong. I can endure as much as I need to."
Sylvia bit her tongue to hold back the tears.
A child like this...
Raon was far too good a child for someone like her. Whether he'd sensed the atmosphere of the family or not, he never threw tantrums like other children, and even when his body hurt, he endured it alone. He was so kind and so gentle that she couldn't stand by and let him walk into hardship of his own accord.
"I'll go talk to your grandfather. If I ask him to postpone the training by just one year, even he..."
"I'll try. No — I can do it."
Raon shook his head. It was true that he'd stepped forward for Sylvia, but there was another reason as well. The basic training was a chance to openly train his body without having to worry about Sylvia and Helen watching. He couldn't throw away a stroke of luck that had come looking for him on its own.
"I mean it. I can do this. Trust me."
"Whether you can or can't isn't the point. The problem is that your body might get even worse."
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked into Sylvia's wavering gaze.
So that's what she meant.
They'd been looking at different things. He'd been talking about enduring the training. She'd been worrying about his health. The years he'd spent as an assassin, measuring everything by results alone, had left him unable to understand her heart.
"Then if my condition gets worse, I'll quit immediately."
He offered a new answer to ease her worry.
"You never even say anything when you're in pain! How am I supposed to trust you?"
"I promise."
Sylvia clutched her head and let out a long sigh.
"My lady. Why not try trusting Young Master Raon this once?"
"Helen, you know what kind of child Raon is..."
"The training is intense, that's true, but this year's head instructor has the sharpest eye in all of Zieghart. He'll know the young master's condition. He'll stop it before it gets too bad."
Sylvia sighed at Helen's words and looked down at Raon steadily.
"Raon. Can you really promise me? If anything feels even a little wrong with your body, you tell me immediately. Understand?"
"Yeah."
Raon nodded calmly.
"I'll trust you. Just this once."
"Thank you."
"That doesn't mean I can just sit still, though."
"What?"
"I'm going to the 5th Training Ground. I at least need to put in a word."
With that, she ran straight out of the room.
"Young Master Raon."
The instant Sylvia left, Helen dropped to her knees and met his eyes.
"You must not. You must not overdo it! If it's too hard, you quit immediately. Do you understand?"
"I know. How many times are you going to say that?"
"A few times isn't enough. Even a few dozen times wouldn't be enough. You have to remember that you're weaker than the other children, and you have to let go of your pride."
"Alright."
Helen was every bit as worried as Sylvia, so he simply nodded.
I'm sorry, but I'll never be the first to quit.
Even if his lungs burst and he died, he had no intention of stopping. The harder it got, the higher the Ring of Fire would rise — and the stronger it would make his body and mind.
Raon headed for the small garden behind the Annex.
"Coming back from the Main House, this place feels empty."
The Main House had wide training grounds, elegant gardens, and all manner of facilities. The Annex had nothing but a small garden and a lake. It was too small to train without Sylvia noticing, but it had a charm of its own.
Raon sat on a chair in the garden.
The training will be pretty brutal.
Just as Sylvia and Helen feared, his body was far from perfect. Cold still lingered in his mana circuits, his growth was delayed, and his stamina was lacking. Zieghart's training was infamous. Even the children's basic training would be overwhelming.
But he still carried the experience of a previous life that had walked through a hell far worse. With those memories, he would never break.
Now it really begins.
If mastering the Ring of Fire since his birth had been laying the foundation, the training that would begin next month was the groundwork for building the house itself. Only if that groundwork was packed solid could he one day raise a towering structure upon it.
"I'll show them."
He would achieve more than any of the direct line, and he would shut the mouths of every last person who had mocked them.
And that man. Derus Robert.
This family's affairs might delay his revenge a little, but his true target was Derus Robert, the Heavenly Sword Star. Until the day he tore off Derus's mask and took his head, he would never stop.
Raon gazed at the golden sun sinking below the western mountains, then closed his eyes and drew in mana.
The ring circling his heart began to spin with fierce, unrelenting force.