#06. Kiriyan Masis

"Master."

"What is it?"

"Deputy master Sir Aurelio wants to see you."

"Let him in."

The wooden door covered by deep sunset opened slowly. I saw the face of Aurelio standing behind the door.

"…Aurelio."

"Sir. A former master of Ensis Knights, Sir Rorens Selion has come."

The moment I heard his report, I felt the emptiness filling a corner of my heart. I averted my eyes to the outside of the window.

The whole world was dyed red. A rose on grass was moving gently by the evening wind, and ducks were swimming peacefully in a row as though they were the owner of the pond.

"Go."

With a short and clipped shout, I picked up my sword. Aurelio followed me wordlessly.

‎

People living extraordinary lives often find others living ordinary ones either enviable or sorry, and I was the one on the side of 'enviable', so to speak. Had anyone asked, I would have said it was because there had been no social relationship at all in my life, unlike others. And when I said relationship, it was not something with aristocrats involving disgusting bribery, but something like a normal friendship. I had lost my parents and lover as a child. And after enlisting in Ensis Knights, I had had to put up with an extreme amount of beatings and verbal abuses just because I was a commoner. As a result, those days had built in me a frosty face and personality, which had mostly acted like a defensive wall that pushes away the people approaching me. Thanks to that, for over 30 years I had been a living proof of some saint's saying, 'The world is eternal loneliness'. If God had ever existed and it had condemned me to live like this, it should have been something enough to be called a 'bad taste' in itself.

And that horrid loneliness had melted down at the back of my mind and built up the emotion by the name of 'hatred' before I knew it. Though I had heard some convenient sentimentalism from Rose, 'There's no other way to deal with hatred but to forget it --' back when I had been drunk, and although I also thought it made sense, I personally believed it was not what anyone is capable of. It might have been mere self-justification, but the thoughts like 'I'm just a human being' had made it impossible to forget the emotions like hatred.

"It's been a long time. We've met before, haven't we?"

Rorens Selion. With the eyes containing lots of feelings, I looked at him putting his hands in his pockets and smiling leisurely in front of me. The person who had seeded and grown my ever-lasting hatred. The same red eyes and hairs that almost seemed to leap over all those years pulled the old memory out of my head. In those days, I had been nothing but an ordinary and delicate boy who would have liked to read only if she had not gone missing, but he had grown me. Of course, that was only when you see the result, and no one could tell whether the duels he had set up against my will back when I had been an apprentice knight had been intended that way, but still he had driven me into the corner and made me feel the adage 'More pain, more gain', and those times had inarguably made the present me.

"Rorens, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Aurelio spitted the cold welcome with expressionless face. He had been with Ensis Knights for such a long time, so it was only natural for him to know Rorens. However, the emotion that slightly appeared in his eyes looking at his former superior was not obviously a good one. So to speak, they must not have been on friendly terms to shake hands and how-have-you-been each other.

"You are here too, Aurelio. You haven't changed a bit."

Rorens was still smiling, and Aurelio ended up frowning at it.

"Are you still twisted, Rorens."

"Twisted? Don't you think that's quite disrespectful to your old boss?"

"…You haven't changed a bit, either."

He was looking at Aurelio's face getting stiffer like it was fun, but soon turned his face towards me. His bright red eyes looked like those of a devil, and almost seemed to see through the bottom of my heart. They spoke to me.

"Sir Kiriyan Masis."

"You are still a handsome ass. Are you not getting older at all?"

"Funny joke. Look at you, the first commoner master of a palace knightage. You've definitely climbed your way up. I'm so happy for you."

"I don't wanna listen to that kind of shit from you."

I was sick of being swayed by him one way or the other. There was not any single sign of attack from his posture as he had not even drawn his sword yet, but the indescribable feeling was pressing down my whole body. My palms broke out in a sweat.

"What brings you here, Rorens?"

With frosty blue-eyes, Aurelio gazed at him as if he would freeze him if he could. It was the first time for me to see that side of Aurelio since I had become the master of Ensis Knights. Though always quiet, discreet and centered, he was about to go out of his orbit by the dangerous man smiling like a child in front of him. I could feel it, and I had to be surprised again that the cause of his shaking emotion was the fear for that very man, Rorens Selion.

"Ah, of course I came to reunite with my beloved past for the first time in a long time… well, that wouldn't explain that broken door, would it?"

"Rorens Selion. I remember that you didn't ever shoot the breeze, beat around the bush."

That was Aurelio's own way to say, 'shut up and tell me what you want already'. At that moment, I was almost deluded that a group of red lights shot towards Aurelio's body.

"Hup!"

Before anyone knew it, Aurelio was blocking the red-eyed guy with his sword held horizontally. However, it did not last long. Like a lie, Rorens' sword broke through Aurelio's and slashed it into two pieces, and dropped directly onto his head.

"Stop!"

I drew my sword as fast as I could and ran into Rorens. However, my effort to protect Ensis Knights' deputy master only went in vain.

"…Please excuse me."

Right above Aurelio's head, Rorens stopped his sword and withdrew. I made a wry smile looking at my sword that did not even reach anywhere near Aurelio. I believed I had finally built a swordsmanship I could protect someone with after all those years, but that belief was destroyed by only one single blow from the former master of Ensis Knights that reappeared in front of me.

"Amazing speed, everyone. Different from the rotten knightage that you were before."

"Did you show your noble face just to see how much we've got better?"

"…I'm here to reclaim what I lost."

He raised the tip of his twisted lips. It felt as if I was having an irrevocable talking with a devil.

"Just what are you bullshitting about? What you lost?"

"There must be a girl who came here a few days ago?"

"…!"

Like destiny, I felt every piece of puzzle finally ended up returning to their places. Handsome face. Tall and red- haired man. The name left in the memo. All the evidence gathered up until now had been pointing to this man in front of me. I closed my eyes.

"I don't have a damn clue."

"…"

At that instant, the looks on every knight's faces except mine and Aurelio's changed for a second. The looks giving away something we were desperate to hide. And it was such a naiveté to hope that Rorens would not notice it.

"Huh, so funny. I'm sure there must be a reason for this lame lie? And of course, you must have the bravery to take the consequences, too."

"I don't follow. Do you even know how many girls are visiting here every day?"

"Sir Kiriyan Masis. I'm not as patient as you think. Do you really want to mess with me?"

That was when Rorens' ever-smiling face changed. My hands reacted to his murderous feeling unconsciously. Both of us were already holding swords towards each other. Enormous pressure swept my body.

However, it was kind of familiar for me. I managed to recall the past when I had been an apprentice knight. My swordsmanship had clearly become incomparable since then, but I could not still find a hole to crack in from his posture. Just how strong is this man? The extreme tension I had not felt in a while awoke all nerves in my body.

"If you really want that girl, explain who she is first. Who the hell is the girl from a few days ago?"

At that moment, his face jumped at me suddenly. His red eyes filled my whole eyesight. It really did.

*Clash*

His heavy sword conveyed electricity through my hand. I thought I had blocked it, but it kept twisting up around my sword and towards my wrist, leaving no time to feel a pain.

'Left. Between torso and arm. Right knee.'

Unlike the duel with him several years ago, I opened my eyes as big as I could and tried to catch his movement. Only when I activated my brain to its maximum, and only when my body followed its order, then I would be able to have my fight against him. Rorens' sword was agile and soft, and unbelievably powerful at the same time. While arduously blocking and avoiding the white lights tailing his sword, I saw a hole flashed.

'…!'

Was I distracted by it? I instinctively dodged him, but the cloth covering my forearm was cut off clearly. And again, the hole. I pushed my sword into it, which was almost like an invisible black dot on the bottom of an utter white ceramic. At the same time, his sword plunged on top of my head at sonic speed. However, I did not block nor avoid it.

"…You really make me surprised."

When his dangerous sword that

had broken Aurelio's one in half was about to hit my head, he withdrew it on his own and stepped back. There was a thin streak of blood on his neck. It was in a heartbeat. If I had misjudged the situation or my sword had been just a little bit slower, his sword would have undoubtedly cut my body in half, just like Aurelio's sword. It never had mercy, and that was his attitude towards the sword fight. What does it take to confront such an attitude? I had to swallow the same and give my all out.

"Sir Kiriyan. You practiced so hard. I nearly died."

"…"

I looked at him without any response. He was putting his sword down, but still I could not predict his attack range. What did he come here for? I already knew it. He came and fearlessly broke the main gate of Palmasion just to get Stacey back in his hands again.

And the meaning of that was very simple. Given he did not infiltrate or used any red herring in the first place, he must have had confidence that he could accomplish his objective by this way. And if needed, he would even defeat the whole knightage single-handedly and end up taking Stacey.

'This guy is the real criminal of Cellen arson incident. Given his ability, all those traces of the perfect crime are explainable.'

However, another question was still left in my head and getting on my nerve during that tense confrontation. What did Rorens need her for? No, what did he need 'channeling' for? The time to mull over the answer to it was not allowed by Rorens.

"Then, how about this, Sir Kiriyan?"

Suddenly, Rorens snatched the sword from the knight at the nearest. There was not even time to resist it. Before anyone knew it, in his hands were two swords shining diabolically.

"…!"

"I won't go easy on you, from now on."

It was like a devil's mouth coming closer to devour me. The feeling of standing right in front of a massive black hole. And the immense murderous feeling I had felt back in the day came over me again.

'I will end it by this one.'

I struggled to keep myself together. Had I dragged this out, I would not have stood any chance against his dual wield. I felt it instinctively. Closing my eyes, I put my sword into the sheath again. Propping it up with my left hand, I firmly grabbed the hilt with my right hand.

"…"

I had all my nerves focused on this moment. His first attack was after my left shoulder, and second one was towards my thigh. He also seemed to know the intention behind my move. When I opened my eyes again, he was brandishing his swords without his usual smile on his face. The edge of his sword was already about to penetrate my shoulder joint.

"Iaijutsu(quick-drawing)!"

Aurelio's voice, which was like an echo from very far distance hit my ears. Iaijutsu. It is a drastic, combative move to end the duel only by the execution of sword drawing. The swordsmanship that completely relies on speed. That means, one has to wait and hold back until the opponent comes to the closest, and then draw the sword at the exact moment. Only one chance. On Aurelio's shout, I drew my sword swiftly.

'Now!'

At that moment, what I could not possibly believe happened in front of my eyes. His first sword flew into my shoulder as it should, and the second one veered to block my attack at the same time. Improvised, but unbelievably solid defense like a wall. His eyes shone like a gem.

"Sir Kiriyan!"

"Aurelio! Stop right there!"

Blood started gushing out of my shoulder, and Aurelio ran towards me. I had to raise my hand to stop him. The duel was not yet finished. Anything could happen while we were still tangled up.

"Well, I'm being a bad guy again." Rorens said in a low key, seeing Aurelio stop a few steps away.

"…"

"How longer should I play this role? I don't wanna live my life like a villain, you know."

"…Before that, Rorens Selion."

"…?"

"This situation reminds me of the past."

"What are you talking about?"

"I mean… the duel we had when I was an apprentice knight." I barely continued in the serious pain. My whole body felt like it was shocked from electricity.

"You have too good memory, Sir Kiriyan. I bet it was not a pleasant time for you."

"You are not killing me this time, either. Just what the hell is the reason?"

The only part he had stabbed with his sword was just my shoulder. He could have slit my throat instead. And right this moment as well, he could kill me with a snap of his fingers.

"I must've told you before. I'm not lunatic enough to enjoy things like a murder. But if you keep lying, I have no choice."

"Rorens. I wonder if you remember what I told you before, too."

"What? Sorry, but my memory is just as poor as my patience."

"Then I'll tell you again. The reason why I've become a knight is to protect people around me with my own hands. Beat me if you want to take her."

As soon as I finished talking, I suddenly lunged towards him.

"Wh, What the hell?"

"You must know this. The moment you get careless, you are over."

Lowering my body, I forcefully hit his belly with my bleeding shoulder. The moment his upper body was bent over from the impact, I got mine back up fast. I put his head in between my thighs, fixed his arms behind his back so that he could not use them. It was in a blink of an eye. Given it was a risky winning move in the desperate moment, it could not have played out in any better way. I jumped low just like that, and crushed his face onto the ground with my bodyweight.

"Pedigree…"

A voice like a sigh came from somewhere. I let out the short breaths that I had been holding back.

Got his face slammed into the ground heavily, Rorens did not move. It was only natural given his head had directly taken the impact.

This is the end, I thought.

‎

𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘴𝘰

𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 a𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸,

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘴 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘣𝘦𝘢r𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘭onger to 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

‎

𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘩𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

𝘈𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘭, 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶,

𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘫𝘶𝘴t 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵.

‎

…𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭?

‎

"…Dhalia."

I opened the door of an old house that had become too wide for me now. Looking at her face and getting the pent-up emptiness off of me was the only pleasure that kept me living.

"Kiriyan, are you done?"

She smiled at me with a bit pale face. She had a naturally weak body. Her smile looked as if it would die out like a mayfly, so I could not face it straight. Beating the dust from all those pushes and shoves at a crowded market off my clothes, I bent my steps to a bathroom. Dhalia liked a cuddle after I finished my work and took a shower. Looking at her back running to a kitchen to make me sandwiches and warm cream soup, I was dimly realizing that I had started feeling the emotion that I had never felt even from my deceased parents.

The reason I kept on living.

The love she had been giving me was the only thing that gave the meaning for my existence.

‎

One day, Dhalia said some silly things when I came back from selling some sundries at the market.

"Kiriyan, show me how you laugh."

"…?"

"You are good looking when you smile."

…Don't blurt out embarrassing things like that! Blushed, I almost ran away from her innocent smile. What the hell was with her? I scrambled to get to the bathroom and opened a tap. I felt I really needed to cool off my face with cold water.

'You are good looking when you smile.'

Her words, which might not have had a special meaning, sent me to my past for a while. Although I was still a young child, 'laughing' had been something very far from me since I had been even younger. After I had lost my parents, the only thing left to me was the horrid memory of being dominated by hollowness. With the lack of the love and affection that I had deserved as a boy, my past had only left me the cynicism, which was not nearly a thing for anyone my age. It was like I had become a little pessimist who snorts at everything in the world. So, I could not even imagine what 'laughing out loud' would be.

After filling hot water in a bathtub and relieving all of my fatigue until the water cooled down, I walked up to a mirror. Dhalia's words had messed my head up so strangely, so I tried to make a smile though I could not even remember when I had done it last. I already knew the deep-navy eyes looking at myself in the mirror would not go well with a smile at all, so it was really embarrassing and sweaty 'training'.

"Ha, Ha, Ha."

"Hu, Hu, Hu."

Darn. It would never work. That was not any different than being confused in front of a complex machine without any user manual. The more I practiced, the stiffer my face became. I glared at my dumb face showing no improvement at all, but soon lowered my head and sighed.

"Damn it. What the hell am I even doing here?"

I walked out of the bathroom grumbling. And to top it all off, I slipped over a big carrot which was rolling around in front of the door and flew in the air. Tsk, this is the worst.

"Hehehe, you are so funny, Kiriyan."

Watching me clutching the back of my head, she laughed with a book in her hands. There was steaming soup ready on a table already.

"W, what's so funny?! My head hurts like hell…"

I sat up and saw her laugh. The smile that appeared at the corner of my lips before I knew it was really awkward, but strangely, I could not stop it.

‎

𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟i𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑎 𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚.

𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑠ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑟𝑎𝑤𝑛

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑧𝑧𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑡o𝑜 ℎap𝑝𝑦,

𝑀𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢r 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑒

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑏e𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 had cr𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒d wo𝑢𝑙𝑑 suddenly 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟.

𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐼 𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑎𝑦

𝐼 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 h𝑎𝑣e 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟.

‎

𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑦 𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠.

‎

𝑇ℎ𝑒r𝑒, 𝑎𝑟e 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙?

𝐼'𝑣e 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝐼'𝑚 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎nd 𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑡ear𝑠 by 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡r𝑎𝑐e 𝘧r𝘰𝘮 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 t𝑜 𝑡𝑖𝑚e.

I'm trying 𝑡o be well, because 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑑𝑒𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

𝑆𝑜, 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠.

𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑓 𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛g 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒n𝑒𝑑.

𝐼 ℎ𝑜p𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑚𝑒, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑛ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝i𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝 𝑑𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 wℎ𝑖𝑡e𝑛e𝑠s b𝑙ac𝑘.

𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑛e𝑟v𝑜𝑢𝑠, a𝑛x𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒v𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑖d 𝑏𝑒𝑐a𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑓 y𝑜𝑢

𝐵𝑢t 𝑡ℎ𝑒 only moment 𝐼 was ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑦 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒

𝑊𝑎𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦ou 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 s𝑚i𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒.

‎

𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑤.

𝐼𝑛 𝑎 long 𝑠𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑢𝑝 from 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑒r.

𝑆𝑜, 𝐼'𝑚 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔.

𝐵𝑒c𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑎n𝑑 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 i𝑛 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠.

𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠e 𝑟𝑒𝑠t 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑒,

𝐼 sℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑛𝑒𝑥𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑦o𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎe 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 gifted 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒.

‎

A glimmer of light flickered before my eyes.

"Sir Kiriyan." It was Aurelio. I blankly stared up at a ceiling.

It seems like I get to know a lot of things that I don't want to these days, I mumbled. It must have been the hunch of a detective. Although there was nothing in my sight, I could feel that I was in the ward inside the palace medical center. A faint chemical smell wafting into my nose was proving it.

And that premise was drawing another conclusion. One more uncomfortable truth, but the truth that had turned into reality and had to be dealt with immediately.

"Master." Aurelio called me again, so I turned my face towards his voice. And… Huh?

"Aa, Sir Kiriyan! You've finally recovered! You don't even know how much I was worried ----!!!"

Rose was smiling foolishly, breaking the calm atmosphere of the ward single-handedly. Why the hell are you here?! I suddenly started feeling a serious pain from the wound on my shoulder. This is bad! I gotta get out of here as fast as I ca…

"Sir Kiriyan, I prepared this chrysanthemum necklace for you ----."

"Don't hold a funeral! I'm not dead!"

Rose ran into me to hang that chrysant… whatchamacallit around my neck, so I snatched it and threw it into a rubbish bin. Nice shot.

"Argh! What the hell do you think you are doing? I made it day and night over the whole of last week!"

"Pshaw! I don't give a crap about your story."

I tried to get out of the bed and walk out of the room. However, I had to realize soon that my whole body was wrapped up by bandages… What is this? I can't even get up! Do you think I'm a cocoon or something?!

"Don't… tell me that you've done this!"

Rose seemed to be appreciating my ridiculous struggle. He roughly pressed my body with one hand.

"It's time to rest, Sir Kiriyan. You can't even move a single finger with those wounds --."

"Shoot! How on earth can you be this strong?!"

While still complaining, I stopped squirming and lay straight on the bed. The whole body hurt so badly, from head to toe. Aurelio started reporting after short silence.

"Stacey was taken by Rorens Selion."

"…"

Our lives are so ruthless that our hopes rarely become a reality, whereas anything that can go wrong always goes wrong. Well, otherwise, people like pessimists would not even exist in this world. But regardless, I might have wanted the report that Stacey was still under our protection. I closed my eyes.

"It's a relief that there was no casualty. Luckily Rorens didn't go on a rampage, but if he did…"

I knew why he did not finish his sentence. The answer was 'annihilation of Ensis Knights'. Though I felt a strong aversion to the word 'relief', it was only a natural conclusion given that Rorens had beaten the knightage's master and deputy master all by himself. In the end, I couldn't protect people around me this time, either. I felt shame and self-loathing at the same time.

"Sir Kiriyan. I've got another news to report…"

"What is it?"

"Emperor Razen of Cheheran empire has been murdered."

"…!"

"There's so much unverified info, but that's what the world knows for now. Actually, the signs of armed uprisings have been observed in several regions of empire."

"Who's the heir to the throne?"

"We don't know yet."

Emperor Razen was the dictator of Cheheran empire. He did not appoint anyone as the next emperor, and did not plan to do so in the first place. It was like the foundation of a stone tower built up step by step vanished entirely. History had already proved so many times that the dictatorship with an absence of a dictator is supposed to collapse of itself.

"Do you understand what it means?"

"...It could begin war." Aurelio said with a serious face. The equilibrium was breaking. If a lion disappears, wolves and bears naturally fight to be the next apex predator. And to be the one, they have to pay their blood.

"By the way, there's something odd."

"…Something odd?"

"The origin of that information. Seems like there's no way to find it. Even our informants in each country didn't have a clue."

"What?"

"Both Zenoa and Croa seemed to obtain the information recently. That only leaves ourselves and Cheheran, but why would Cheheran go out of their way and proclaim their emperor's death?"

"…Right. That's what you mean."

Unless Cheheran had been a bunch of idiots, they must not have done the silly 'advertisement' almost like 'Now our emperor is gone! Our territory's first come, first served!' to accelerate their end. They would obviously rather keep a lid on it. Then, the only remaining possibility was the assassin themselves, with the purpose of the empire's fall.

"But before that, is it even possible to go through The 'Mikael Sepavile' and assassinate Razen?"

"That's what everyone wants to know. He is unaccounted for right now. What we can say for sure at this point is that he had been in the royal palace before that information spread out."

Mikael Sepavile, the master of Cheheran's vanguard Shadow Pain, was literally the 'shadow' of Razen. The world's best swordsman guarding the emperor at the closest, could he really have been breached by anyone?

"Another… perfect criminal."

I mumbled unconsciously, and stared at Rose standing next to the bed. Though my head was filled with a lump of tangled threads, his did not seem to be much different than mine. He looked to be thinking something intently.

"What do you think that hard?"

"Yes? Ah, it's nothing --."

"Even the likes of you feel something over Cheheran's fall, huh?"

"Hey, of course! If Cheheran falls, we won't be able to import their specialty, peanuts! Aaaaah, what am I supposed to eat from now on --."

"…Now I'm an idiot to expect something from you."

I gazed at him, who was writing the dissertation about the excellence of peanuts in front of the serious patient wrapped up with bandages. I wanted to believe all things were just my delusion. And even if the truth at the end of the road is heart-breaking, I hope you would not fall into that vicious cycle. I hope we could remain as we are forever, laugh as the masters of two knightages in this small, weak kingdom, Perriun. I called him.

"…Rose Selion."

"…"

His innocent eyes penetrated me. The eyes that exactly looked like another pair of red eyes, except for their colors. That golden-eyed man lifted his finger and pointed at himself soon.

"Sir Kiriyan. You believe in me, don't you?"

"…I do."

Towards that absurd innocence which did not even belong in reality, I answered from the bottom of my heart. I felt that I of all people should do so. I could have judged lots of things, but I did not judge anything.

"Thanks. And wipe your tears." He smiled.

"What?"

I did not know what he meant at first, but I could touch falling tears when I brought hands to my eyes. A while after Rose had left the room, I could notice the reason behind those tears and made a bitter smile. It appeared that I had dreamt when I had passed out. Although I had suffered it for so long, the pain in my heart had only got more acute over time and I could never get used to it the way I did to any other external pain, so I must have got weak from it and shed tears again. The emotion 'sadness' does not have a color, so others cannot see whether it is full or empty… so it's something you have to carry alone. The world always asks us to be stronger, but those who actually get stronger are few. As always, I do the dance of a weakling in the incomplete memory with her. Alone, with no one to console me, I do the dance of the time I can never go back to. I fixed my eyes back at the ceiling. The sad melody I had used to hum back in the past came out of my lips and flooded.

‎

𝘏𝘰𝘸

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘰ul𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵 t𝘰 be 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘵 be

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘤𝘳𝘺 before I 𝘤a𝘯 s𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯

‎

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 p𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘸i𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺

𝘛𝘩𝘦re 𝘮𝘶𝘴t 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘵

𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯g 𝘮𝘺s𝘦𝘭𝘧

𝘐 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘵e𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺,

𝘓𝘰𝘯gi𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘥.

‎

"Sir Kiriyan Masis, do you know why I've come back to you? After all the time since I left Ensis Knights, why would I make my appearance again? Can you guess the reason?"

A distant voice reached my ears while my vision was getting faint. Pedigree. Also known as 'double arm face buster' or 'double underhook face buster', it is a critical maneuver where a performer bends their opponent forward, places the opponent's head between their legs, grabs the opponent's arms above the back and then kneels to force the opponent's face into the ground. With their arms locked to their back, there is no way for the opponent to stop the performer from delivering the full-force drop on their face, which often breaks not only their nasal bones but also their whole skull permanently. But was it the limit of the improvised move? It had been in an instant that Rorens had stood back up somehow and pointed his two swords at my back. My body had actually been drained long before by the excessive bleeding from the shoulder.

"Rorens."

Blood regurgitated. Not to the extent that I had to throw it up, but it got stuck in my throat and mixed with my voice.

"…Just what are you planning?"

"Damn. Now it's me who's being questioned, huh?"

"Don't be evasive. You are…"

"Ah, ah." Rorens cut me off. "Right. You were quite a smart detective. Did you know everything from the beginning?"

"I've just seen what happened around me recently. That's all."

"Well, sorry. Not what I'm aware of."

"Shoot! Don't play dumb with me!"

His brazen attitude made me enraged. Channeling, the illusory 'ritual' that I did not even know where to start asking about kept running around in my head. And finally, that imaginary word which I thought did not even exist came out of his mouth.

"Do you want to know? As to channeling."

"…"

"Well, it's not a big deal anymore. And you wouldn't be able to understand even if I explain."

His shoulders seemed to shrug behind me.

"After one pass away, their soul goes out of the body immediately. That soul still keeps the memory and personality of whom it belonged to, and is never able to return to the body it came out of. Ancient scholars found out that all those souls, without exception, instinctively head to a 'dot' independent of spacetime and disappear through it. Until that point, it is unmeasurably short moment that they still remain on this side of the world."

"…"

I could not understand one bit of what he was saying. Let alone 'understand', I was hardly able to believe it at face value. He continued like he had seen through my mind.

"I don't know anything deeper, either. I'm not a spirit medium myself to begin with, so there's no way to verify that. Just think of it as an ancient magic or something."

"…"

"That point which sucks the spirits doesn't react to anything else but to spirit, and goes by the name of 'Heaven's Door'. Even in ancient books, one could only find conjectures about Heaven's Door. The only fact they figured out was, when the spirits reach to that singularity, they completely disappear from the material world as if they crossed over an event horizon of a black hole. Once they enter Heaven's Door, they lose all the memories and personalities from the past lives and come out fresh, and go into a baby in womb. This is the spirit circulation theory presented by the ancient scholars."

"…I didn't know your second career was Ancient Study Analyst." As he had predicted, I still could not understand anything. I ended up making a silly joke.

"I'm a human being in this world as well. It was hard enough for me to believe, so I needed to study it in my own way. It seems a spirit medium can reach Heaven's Door in the spirit circulation theory. The idea is before a soul returns to the material world in a clear state, they drag out the soul with their spiritual power. In other words, the spirit pulled out by channeling is meant to preserve the memory and personality from its past lifetime."

"…Right. Is that what you are after?"

"You've caught up quickly this time."

At the same time he said it, his fist smashed my back. The impact ran through my spine like it would crumble the bones all over. Not even be able to scream, I fell headlong to the ground.

"It's a price for your curiosity."

"…In the past, and now... you are still a crazy asshole." Struggling, I spitted the swear word by word. Rorens did not react to it. Instead, he came up in front of me and squatted down.

"Kiriyan. You asked me a while ago, right? The reason why I reappear in front of you. The reason why you and I, who didn't have any reason to see each other ever again, end up facing each other now."

"…The reason… my butt..."

"Stacey is mine. I'll be looking forward to the next time we meet."

I hated to concede defeat, but swallowed the thorn that he had spitted out. I called him last time.

"You know the person called Rose Selion, don't you?"

He stopped dead in his tracks.

"Are you talking about the master of Hellon Knights?"

"…He's not just the master of Hellon Knights to you, am I wrong?"

"…Ha, you've got some serious look on your face."

Trying to catch my heavy breath, I got back on my feet. It might have been the only time I could get rid of this uncomfortable feeling that had been dwelling at the back of my mind for so long. Also, both Rorens and I were not the type to take a detour to the destination.

"What's your relationship with Rose. No, just who the hell are you? Are you Rorens Selion, or Rose Selion?"

He laughed so loudly at my question.

"Hahaha, are you comparing me with that imposter? You're hurting my pride."

"Imposter…?"

"Hmm. Sir Kiriyan. It's time over. If you wanna know, just figure it out yourself. That's the rule to live by."

Just like that, he turned away. With no more strength left in my legs, I leaned against the wall next to me. Cold temperature of the wall started cooling down my mind. I saw Aurelio command the knights blocking Rorens to step aside. A wise call. He was not the opponent we could stop any further. Dragging my legs that felt a lot heavier than normal, I left that place thinking hazily that I might have heard of his last words at some point in my childhood.

Go to Rose.

My heart, which was getting colder and colder, was sending only one order to my head endlessly.

‎

Chapter #07 right after a break.

Background Music: Kiriyan's guitar play.

‎

Kiriyan: By the way, is Rose Rorens or not after all?

Rose: Just figure it out yourself. That's the rule to live by ---.

Kiriyan: Enough with that shit! Don't you think that this novel is too back-and-forth to read? The stories are all separated out!

Rose: I told you, why don't you just reread it from the beginning and find out yours…

*𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘨!* (gunshot)

Kiriyan: W… What was that just now? Something passed just an inch over my head!

Guillermo: Hey busters. Why are you the only two hogging all spotlights? Why did I disappear at some point?!

Rose: Kkyaaaaaaaaaaaa! (flee away)

Kiriyan: Oops… Duke Guillermo. Did you finish the jobs with the knight chronicles? I thought it would take a year, at least.

Guillermo: *𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘵* Easy as pie, piece of cake. It's just our regular yearly task.

Kiriyan: By the way, what are they? I mean, that dark circles under your eyes.

Guillermo: Are you curious? If you become my underling one day, you'll get these too in no time…*𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩*

Kiriyan: Anyway, I could notice your uncanny deeds in the middle of the story. I almost overlooked it.

Guillermo: Well, I would expect nothing less from our Mr. Detective. But you've got to know what you shouldn't have known. Die, Kiriyan.

Kiriyan: Ah! Duke! Wait a moment!

Guillermo: Are you gonna leave a will?

Kiriyan: You must know it, right? I mean, whether Rose is Rorens or not?

Guillermo: …You really don't know? Are you serious?

Kiriyan: Ha, ha… so, when will you make your appearance again?

Guillermo: Sooner or later… *𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩* my astonishing reversal drama to shock and fear everyone… is getting ready… (keep mumbling)

Aurelio: …What's wrong with him?

Kiriyan: Argh! I don't know! Anyhow, Aurelio, why the heck am I hospitalized? I remember I went to Rose at the end of the chapter.

Aurelio: Don't you know? Sir Rose carried you on his shoulder all the way to the hospital. Said you tumbled down the stairs…

Kiriyan: That piece of shit… never stops his BS…

Rose: Aaaaaa, barging in my office and wielding a sword with a scary face is way more BS!!!!

Kiriyan: Shut up! I will cut you in half someday!

Rose: What is this outrageous remark?! CUT, YOUR, ONLY, FRIEND, IN, HALF? Aaaa, I'm just no more than a pathetic and delicate boy…boohoo…

Aurelio: …Are you thinking 'I don't understand these two at all' by any chance? Just go back to page 1…

Mikael: (comes out of nowhere) What the hell is this… this excessively irresponsible and carefree novel…

Writer: I don't know either… I'm so tired… let's finish it already… *𝘴𝘰𝘣*