The Catalyst of a Hero - 3
"Ah... Aaaagh...!!"
Her knees buckled. Collapsing onto the dirt, Sowol buried her face in trembling hands.
Why isn't Master here? Why do his tracks end here? Why... why?!
"M-Milady!!"
Chaos seized her thoughts, scattering them like dry leaves. She couldn't focus. She couldn't breathe. A suffocating dread swallowed her whole, cold and relentless.
Her master was gone.
Vanished without a trace.
And worst of all—perhaps... he was dead.
"Aaaaaagh!!"
Did the world even remember his final moments? What had she said the last time they spoke? What were her parting words to him?
"Ah... Aaaaaaaagh!! No! No, no, no!!"
She had told him she hated him.
To the man she cherished more than anyone in the world, she had spat that she despised him. And though she had been given a chance to take those words back, her foolish, stubborn pride had thrown it away.
No. No, this can't be real. This isn't what I wanted!
"Ah..."
Darkness crept over her vision. As the world spun and faded, Sowol lost consciousness and slumped forward. Catching her limp form in her arms, Lyla bit her lower lip until it bled.
"..."
When awareness slowly trickled back, a familiar ceiling met her gaze. She was back in her room. Clinging to a fragile, desperate hope, Sowol turned her head, half-expecting to see her master sitting beside her with his usual playful grin.
There was no one like that.
Reality, cruel and indifferent to her wishes, presented someone entirely different by her bedside.
"Ah. You're awake?"
"Senior Priest... Serin."
"High Priest, actually. Got promoted after the recent affair. But that's beside the point."
The woman, as strikingly beautiful as ever, closed the report in her hands and held it out toward Sowol. Sowol took the parchment with trembling, pallid fingers, her face gaunt with exhaustion.
"What... is this?"
"An investigation into what happened at Mount Wol-ah."
"How long... have I been unconscious?"
"Three days."
No wonder my body feels so hollow.
Sowol let her head sink. Yet the fact that she had slept for three days mattered little compared to the agonizing void beside her—the harsh truth that Lee Hyun was nowhere to be found.
"Why are you giving me this...?"
"Read it for yourself."
Sowol unfolded the report with listless hands. Its contents revealed nothing she hadn't already feared: the forces entrenched at Mount Wol-ah had been the elite of the elite within the Asura Cult. And Lee Hyun had single-handedly annihilated every last one of them.
"Lee Hyun's trail ends at the precipice," Serin murmured quietly. "The river below has a vicious current. If he fell, any trace of him would have been swept away."
"..."
"The Church has been sweeping downriver just in case... but there have been no reports. In the end, we haven't even found a body."
"I can't believe it. Not Master..."
Lee Hyun wielded bizarre artifacts and commanded unfathomable techniques. Sowol harbored a faint, desperate wish that he had simply vanished into thin air, soaring off on some impossible whim as he always seemed to do.
Noticing her longing expression, Serin pressed a hand to her face with a bitter sigh. "I know how strong Lee Hyun is. But the Asura Cult's garrison there was truly their finest."
Serin knew his power firsthand. Peerless swordsmanship, devastating magic, esoteric artifacts, and countless bizarre techniques—he was an enigma of martial might. Yet even so, the enemy had been far too numerous and far too deadly. It was an onslaught that even a man like Lee Hyun could scarcely have survived unscathed.
"...Haah."
Sowol gritted her teeth. A tempest of emotions tore through her chest. Regret clawed at her insides, sharp and agonizing. An obsessive longing for the mentor she might never see again scorched her heart. And the torment of their final exchange ripped her soul to shreds.
Her hollow eyes, brimming with a murky mixture of despair and grief, shifted toward Serin. Her fingers tightened around the bedsheets.
...No. Giving in to this right now is a luxury I can't afford.
There was no room for despair. No time to drown in regret. No excuse to wither away in anguish.
Suppressing the toxic emotions gnawing at her soul, she nurtured a single, blazing sentiment.
Those bastards... interfering at every turn...!
Sowol had pushed herself to master the Moonlight Sword Style not merely to earn Lee Hyun's praise. The Eastern Merchant Guild had enemies closing in from every shadow. It was because of those vile cultists that she had clung so desperately to her blade, sacrificing the precious time she could have spent beside her master.
And now, they were the reason he was gone.
No! Master would never perish so meaninglessly. He's only missing. That's all it is! We promised to meet again at the Academy, didn't we? Master would never break a promise to me!
Sowol forcibly excised the encroaching dread from her mind. Believing with every fiber of her being that he had somehow survived and escaped, her grip on the blankets hardened.
Watching the resolve rekindle in her eyes, Serin rose slowly from her seat and extended a hand.
"It seems our goals have finally aligned."
As a High Priest of the Church, Serin sought the eradication of heretical cults like the Asura Cult. And to Sowol, the Asura Cult was now an irreconcilable enemy—a sworn foe with whom she could never share the same sky.
Two people sharing the same target had found each other. There was only one path forward.
"...Are you asking me to fight alongside you?"
"Yes. In fact, I just finished speaking with Guild Head So. The entire Eastern Merchant Guild has resolved to wage war against the Asura Cult."
"...What must we do?"
"First, the Eastern Merchant Guild must become an official affiliate of the Church. Our Church commands continental influence; walking alongside us means your guild must expand to match our stride."
The Eastern Merchant Guild had to grow larger and far more formidable—worthy of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a behemoth like the Church. It would be no easy feat, but So Jung-yang and the members of the guild were prepared to pay that price.
"However, wealth and trade alone won't suffice," Serin continued.
"..."
"Strength. The Asura Cult is by far the most powerful heretic cult in existence. To stand against them, we need raw power."
Sowol looked down at her open palms. She possessed it.
Strength.
The strength bequeathed to her by Lee Hyun.
"...Can someone like me truly be of help?"
"Of course. You are Lee Hyun's disciple. Having learned so much from him, you are more than qualified." Serin reached out once more. "First, become a paladin. Hone the strength needed to purge the heretics. And ultimately... set your sights on the mantle of Saintess."
"Could I ever become a Saintess? All I know is how to wield a blade..."
She attended church, so she was not devoid of faith. But a Saintess? Surely such a title belonged to noble, pious maidens of unblemished grace.
"Well, it wouldn't be without precedent," Serin reasoned. "Jeanne, the Saintess of Salvation, was just a humble farm girl before she ascended."
"Is that so?"
"Besides, this generation currently lacks a candidate for Saintess... so there's a chance. And even if you don't attain that title, someone with your talent could easily rise to Cardinal."
Reaching such heights would grant her the authority to mobilize the Holy Knights at will and mercilessly purge the cultists. Sowol stared quietly into Serin's eyes before shifting her gaze to the outstretched hand.
"...Very well."
Sowol grasped Serin's hand firmly.
"I will never forgive the filth of the Asura Cult."
Having resolved to join the Church, Sowol went straight to So Jung-yang to announce her decision. Hearing her declaration, the merchant master fell into deep contemplation, but seeing the unwavering gravity in his daughter's eyes, he could not bring himself to dissuade her.
"The path you have chosen is fraught with peril," he said gently. "Must you truly walk it?"
"Yes, Father."
Sowol had never sounded more resolute. She had committed everything she was to exterminating the heretics. The Eastern Merchant Guild had already weathered multiple assaults from the cult, and joining hands with the Church was essential to their survival. Under ordinary circumstances, a guild head would rejoice at the prospect of his heir securing a high ecclesiastical office. But as a loving father who knew full well the blood and suffering such a path entailed, he could not simply smile.
"Is this because of Master Lee?"
"...I cannot deny it."
The heretics were vast in number, operating from the deepest shadows. Uprooting them required the continental reach of the Church. No matter how thoroughly she had inherited the Moonlight Sword Style from Lee Hyun, she could not fight the Asura Cult alone. Thus, she would use the Church as her instrument.
"Master made enemies of the Asura Cult," Sowol said softly. "Then isn't it only natural that his one and only disciple—the disciple he cherished and took pride in—stands against them as well?"
"Haah... I only wished for you to live an easier life."
"This is the life I desire."
"..."
"Instead of rotting in regret over losing him, withering away in his absence, and obsessing over a master who isn't by my side... I will march forward. I will fight for him."
Her eyes were burning with conviction. Realizing that no words could turn her back, So Jung-yang let out a heavy sigh.
"Then what are the steps you must take?"
"First, I will accompany High Priest Serin as a battle nun."
She had already discussed the details with Serin. She would enlist as a battle nun and fight the Church's enemies on the front lines. Once she accumulated sufficient merit, she would earn the rank of a paladin. From there, hunting heretics would be her sole purpose.
"High Priest Serin told me she plans to establish a new order of paladins soon. Joining that order is my first goal."
She would place herself in the vanguard, plunging into the fiercest battles to slaughter the Asura Cultists one by one. Sowol's hand tightened around the Crescent Moon Sword Lee Hyun had bestowed upon her.
"I know it isn't impossible. I hold the Moonlight Sword Style... the art Master passed down to me."
"I see... But Sowol, do you realize what this means? The path you wish to tread is the path of a hero."
"..."
"Though your motives may stem from personal devotion, you are choosing to uphold righteousness and crush evil underfoot. You cannot be blind to the fact that such a life makes you a hero. Are you prepared for the agonizing trials that will follow?"
"I know what it entails." A faint, radiant smile touched Sowol's lips as she nodded, her eyes gently closing. "And I am prepared."
"..."
"If fighting the heretics means walking the path of a hero, then Master was undoubtedly one as well. In that case, it is only right that I follow in his footsteps."
Serin had told her how Lee Hyun once joined hands with the Church to fight the cultists in the past. Why had he fought them? What grudge could he possibly have borne against heretics who performed human sacrifices? Serin had said there was no grand reason. No matter what wealth was offered or what comfortable compromises were laid before him, Lee Hyun had simply and silently cut the cultists down.
If that was true, then he was undeniably a hero.
Sowol opened her eyes. Not a single trace of confusion remained within their golden depths.
"After all... I am the hero's one and only disciple."