Ed frowned as he sat on the rough rattling seat. Every time the wheels rolled over the uneven road, the vibrations traveled straight through his body.
It had already been a month since he had entrusted the orphanage to Donna and continued his life on the road in a carriage.
The carriage had been moving in the exact opposite direction of Grintania for the past month.
No matter how many times he had ridden in a carriage before, he never got used to the discomfort. It was a torment, especially for Ed, who knew what cars were.
No matter how advanced magic is, they won’t be able to invent cars anytime soon.
Ed quickly gave up on the thought.
His destination was a rural village even farther from the capital than Avgenil.
There was only one reason Ed endured the hardship of transferring from one carriage to another.
He was on his way to save a child he knew.
Calix.
A boy destined to become the saint of the cult known as the Red Moon in the future.
After saving Versilia, Ed no longer hesitated when it came to changing the future.
If he could prevent a tragedy before it happened, he wanted to do so. No matter what it took.
More than anything, he wanted to rescue that child from suffering.
Calix was an abandoned child in his village.
Born with eyes of different colors, he had to live under the scornful gaze of those who believed he was a cursed child.
Fortunately, his parents had not abandoned him. However, his father had enlisted in the war on the southern coast to earn money but never returned.
His mother was caught by the schemes of a dark guild. She became addicted to drugs and eventually fell into prostitution.
Once both his parents were gone, the villagers unleashed their long-held contempt and violence upon Calix as if they had been waiting for the opportunity.
The only reason Calix couldn’t leave that wretched village was because of his younger sister.
However, in the end, even his mother succumbed to her drug addiction and died, and the dark guild kidnapped his younger sister.
Later, when he desperately started searching for her, he heard horrifying news. His sister had been sold into slavery and hadn’t even lasted a few days before she died.
Overcome with despair and rage, Calix awakened at that moment the cursed power of his red eyes.
Ed was on his way to Chebneil, the village where Calix was staying. He was determined to change that fate.
Upon arriving in Chebneil, Ed didn’t rush to find the boy right away. Instead, he gathered information about the village first.
After questioning the locals, he quickly realized that this place was, for all intents and purposes, abandoned. Even the baron responsible for overseeing the village had completely neglected it.
And in that absence of authority, crime had taken root.
Drugs were rampant, human trafficking and prostitution had become the norm, and corruption ran deep.
In this place where darkness had taken root, the influence of a Dark Guild was absolute.
Naturally, the child Ed had come to take away was trapped under that very influence.
And not just in one way. He was entangled in all of it: drugs, prostitution, and human trafficking.
Fortunately, Ed knew who Calix’s mother was and the kind of life she had lived.
With that knowledge, he made his way toward the red-light district.
A street bathed in red light.
The sharp scent of alcohol and incense mingled in the air, stinging his nose, while the low sultry laughter of passersby brushed against his ears.
The lanterns by the windows cast faint flickering shadows, and the figures behind them reached out, enticing the men walking down the street.
Ed was no exception.
The prostitutes were drawn to his handsome appearance. They fixed their gleaming eyes on him with interest.
“Hey, handsome, come play with me. I’ll make it worth your while. I’m really good at what I do.”
Ed didn’t avoid them; instead, he approached and asked if they knew a prostitute named Orhela.
Some shook their heads in disappointment, while others grew even more persistent, seductively urging him to come inside.
Ed brushed them off and ventured deeper into the street.
At some point, the air took on a rotten stench, and the red lights grew dimmer.
The men who had prowled the streets with aggressive energy had also vanished without a trace.
It was there that Ed spotted a woman.
A woman with coarse, yellow hair.
When he stopped in front of her, she widened her eyes and looked up at him.
“You must be new here. I can give you a good deal…”
Weary of the constant advances, Ed got straight to the point.
“Is there a woman named Orhela here?”
“…I’m sure I’ve never seen you before. Have you been here before?”
Her reaction confirmed Ed’s suspicion. Orhela worked at this place.
“Go inside and head to the eighth room.”
“I’d like to see her face first.”
“….…”
The blonde woman hesitated for a moment. She sensed something off in his words.
Ed responded with a gentle smile.
“Please.”
He wasn’t sure whether he should be grateful that his good looks worked in moments like these… But fortunately, before his smile could turn into a bitter one, the woman finally spoke.
“…Actually, Orhela didn’t come to work today.”
The moment Ed heard those words, a sense of unease crept over him. Was he too late? Without realizing it, his hand tightened around the woman’s shoulder.
“When did she stop coming to work?”
“T-Today. You came on the very day she disappeared without a word…”
“Where does she live? Tell me. Now.”
At his urgent demand, the woman stammered out an address. Without hesitation, Ed turned on his heel.
“H-Hey! You can’t just leave like that!”
“I changed my mind. I’ll come back another time.”
The blonde woman let out a disbelieving scoff.
“You do know we’re under the Blood Fangs’s protection, right? If you end up on their blacklist, you’ll never be allowed back here.”
Ed didn’t answer and simply walked away. He had no intention of ever returning anyway.
He hurried toward the location the woman had given him.
The sun was setting, and darkness was beginning to creep in.
Moving quickly through the narrow alleys of the shantytown, Ed scanned his surroundings.
At last, he arrived in front of the rundown house the woman had described.
That was when he spotted a man dressed in dark clothing standing guard at the door.
The man made no effort to conceal his face as if he had no intention of hiding the fact that this was an abduction.
Ed had arrived at the exact moment when the Dark Guild, having learned of Calix’s mother’s death, was taking away his younger sister.
Thankfully, he wasn’t too late.
He didn’t waste time thinking about the consequences of provoking the Dark Guild.
Without slowing his pace, Ed closed the distance and swung his fist straight at the man’s face.
Thud.
With a sound far too unsettling to be a mere punch, the man’s body was flung sideways and crashed to the ground.
Whether he had lost consciousness or not, he remained motionless where he fell.
Ed drew his Stellion from his waist.
At that moment, the door creaked open, revealing another man dressed in black. In his grip was a young girl with brown hair.
Without hesitation, Ed swung his sword.
Though his Heavenly Swirl Star had yet to be unsealed, preventing him from using the true Ascal-style swordsmanship, the fundamental techniques were already ingrained in his body.
He hadn’t spent a year doing nothing but practicing that breathing technique.
Even though it had no Stella, the blade traced a dark arc through the air and grazed the man’s neck.
Without even closing his eyes, his head and body got separated and both collapsed to the floor.
Blood pooled, staining the ground.
Just as the brown-haired girl was about to scream, Ed swiftly covered her eyes with his palm, blocking her view. Then he quietly led her inside.
When Ed removed his hand, the girl took a step back and pressed herself against the wall with her eyes filled with fear. Her small, trembling hands covered her mouth.
Ed refrained from doing anything else that might frighten her further and instead turned his head, searching for Calix.
Soon, his gaze landed on a boy with messy red hair, lying collapsed near the passage close to the door.
Did he still have some consciousness left? Sensing movement, Calix weakly opened his eyes and struggled to lift his head.
Their eyes met.
One pair gleamed a bright red, the other a vibrant yellow.
But Ed’s gaze didn’t linger on the multicolored eyes for long. He had already known about them.
Instead, his attention was drawn to the marks of violence that even the boy’s tattered clothes couldn’t conceal.
Bruises, deep and dark, spread across his body. The painfully clear wounds spoke of a cruel past.
As Ed silently took in the sight of those injuries, Calix noticed his younger sister trembling behind him.
Calix turned back to Ed and asked in a weak voice,
“Who… are you…?”
“I’m someone who’s meant to show you that you still have hope.”
“What… does that mean…?”
“If you truly wish for it, there is hope you can grasp.”
Ed got down on one knee and extended his hand to him.
“Will you come with me?”
A hand stretched out as if it were the very hope Calix could seize.
Calix looked at Ed. His gaze wavered as countless emotions flickered through his eyes.
“What about… those people?”
“They’re all dead.”
“Did you kill them?”
“I did.”
One person was still unconscious, but Ed had no intention of letting him live.
“What will you do with us if we go with you?”
“You can do whatever you want. I’ll just be watching.”
Calix let out a quiet breath, as if deep in thought, before finally reaching out and taking Ed’s hand. His cold skin met Ed’s.
When Ed pulled him to his feet, he met Calix’s gaze directly.
In response, Calix cautiously lifted his hair which was long enough to cover his eyes.
“Even knowing this… will you still take me with you?”
It seemed like he thought Ed hadn’t properly seen his multicolored eyes.
Red and yellow. It was a combination of colors that felt somehow ominous.
But Ed simply let out a small chuckle, gently ruffled his hair, and pulled something out from his coat.
A pair of monocles with a yellow tint.
Ed placed them over Calix’s red eye. He was hoping he would no longer see it as a weakness.
“It’s a gift.”
And in that moment, as Ed placed the monocle on him—
Calix found himself momentarily breathless.
Did Ed really know about these eyes that even he himself couldn’t understand?
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