Maya had joined the White Whale Mercenary Group for one reason. That was revenge.
Her tribe, the Ancestor-Worshipping Tribe, had been destroyed by the command-type erroders.
The souls of her ancestors had prophesied that if she followed Jun, she would encounter those eroders.
And now—
Maya had finally found a clue about that very force.
I don’t know if they’re exactly the same ones from back then.
Chances were, they probably weren’t.
But judging from how the ancestral spirits were furiously sending her signals, they couldn’t be completely unrelated either.
At last, she had obtained a lead for her revenge.
That alone made Maya curl into a cold smile.
‘It’ll still take some time, but that’s okay.’
She hadn’t yet grown strong enough to kill them.
She would need more time before she could.
After joining the White Whale Mercenary Group, she had learned composure.
She didn’t know when it would be, but she continued to prepare diligently for her revenge.
***
The castle garden, which would later be used for the banquet, was being meticulously maintained.
Beautiful, nameless flowers, various sculptures, and even tables not yet set with food adorned the space.
Aiden, looking around here and there, couldn’t hide his admiration for the scenery.
But where is the person Sir Aden mentioned?
After wandering around for quite a while, Aiden finally spotted a man in one corner of the garden, tossing hay into an iron-barred pen.
“Greetings.”
“Hmm?”
At Aiden’s greeting, the man who had been tossing hay for some time finally turned around.
His face was barely visible under the wide-brimmed straw hat he wore.
Still, from a quick glance, Aiden could see a flash of short, brilliant golden hair.
“I’ve come with a message from Sir Aden.”
“Ah… so that’s what this is. Thank you, young man.”
The man stared at the letter for a moment, then tucked it into his coat and straightened up as he turned.
“Are you raising something here?”
“Yes. They’re called snow rabbits. Would you like to take a look?”
Naturally curious, Aiden stepped closer without hesitation.
Inside, he saw snow rabbits hopping around adorably.
Whether they were playing or not, they clutched hay in their mouths as they bounced about.
“They’re really cute.”
“Aren’t they? I’d never seen them before coming here.”
“Is that so?”
Aiden had assumed he was the palace’s animal keeper, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.
“Animals have a certain talent for calming the human heart just by being there. And once they’ve given you their trust, they won’t change. Unless you do first.”
“That’s true… I think I can understand that.”
“You know a thing or two. What do you say? Would you like to sit over there and have some tea?”
Though he really wanted to hurry back and meet the Altas Adventurer Party, Aiden didn’t refuse.
They said age brought loneliness, and the man before him seemed like someone who might feel that.
When Aiden took a seat, the man returned shortly from a nearby table with tea and a plate of cookies.
“Were you invited here as well?”
“Yes, I’m with the White Whale Mercenary Group.”
Hearing the pride in Aiden’s voice, the man smiled beneath the brim of his hat.
“Sounds like a satisfying life.”
“It is. I’ve found the kind of adventures I dreamed of… and companions to share them with.”
“Companions, huh? When I was younger, I admired the heroes in books, too. Stories where people understood each other without saying a word and faced powerful foes together. Quite inspiring, don’t you think?”
Aiden felt a deep sense of kinship with the man’s words.
“Did you dream of such a journey?”
“I did. Though, of course, it was just a childhood dream. Reality tends to be different.”
“That’s true, but… not always.”
“I see. So you trust your companions.”
“Yes. They’re the most reliable people in the world.”
Aiden had naturally thought of Jun.
The mage who always made wise choices, no matter the danger that approached.
He was the first person Aiden had ever truly considered a companion.
He had also been the benefactor who helped expand the tightly shut world Aiden had lived in.
“Interesting. Would you be willing to share your journey with me?”
At the man’s question, Aiden gladly accepted.
He had always read other people’s stories in books, and now, he wanted to tell his own to someone directly.
“Well, it all started when I had just joined a mercenary group. There was a senior member already in the group who approached me first…”
Once the dam broke, Aiden spoke as naturally as water flowing downstream.
The man listened closely to Aiden’s words, occasionally adding small interjections and sounds of admiration.
It was quite an interesting story.
Surviving the Black Forest, the Goblin Lord, and then the corrupted Queen of the Forest.
And as they talked of this and that, time passed quickly.
“I wonder if I’ve kept you too long.”
“Not at all. I truly enjoyed it.”
And indeed, his expression showed complete satisfaction.
“You truly have been living an adventurer’s life.”
“Yes. Someday, I want to reach the level 9 field with my senior.”
“With the potential you and your companions possess, I believe you’ll achieve it. I’ll be rooting for you.”
“Thank you.”
As the sun slowly began to set—
Aiden, who had been gazing at the sunset, suddenly jumped to his feet.
“Oh! I’m sorry. It’s about time my senior will be waiting for me.”
“No need to apologize. I should be the one thanking you for spending time with someone like me. Take care.”
“Yes! Goodbye, then!”
After Aiden left,
The man who was left alone looked down at his now-cold teacup.
As he quietly bit into a cookie and brought the cup to his lips—
“What’s this? You’re actually eating the cookies for once?”
At some point, the Sword Soul had appeared in the garden.
“Must be a sign I’m getting old like you, brother.”
“Didn’t you used to say only the weak ate those?”
“Then I suppose I’ve gotten weak.”
“Is that so? So, how was it? Meeting your grown-up son?”
“I can’t help but feel truly regretful. Had I known he would grow up to be so remarkable, I would have defied the nobles’ opposition to the very end.”
The Sword Soul looked at the Emperor who genuinely seemed filled with regret.
But the Sword Soul knew very well.
Even if they could go back in time, the Emperor still wouldn’t have been able to bring that young man into the imperial family.
The opposition from those foolish aristocrats was simply too fierce.
As the world knows, the Emperor’s authority was immense.
However, there was one circumstance in which the Emperor could lose ground to the nobles when it came to legitimacy.
That was the rule left behind by the first Emperor.
Because of that, even the current Emperor who was known for his relatively gentle disposition had no way to bring Aiden into the imperial family.
For the countless nobles who protect the imperial household would never approve of it.
How ironic. The power of the imperial family is immense thanks to the first Emperor’s grace, yet they’re bound by his rules.
Meanwhile, the Emperor gazed in the direction Aiden had gone.
“Was it really the right thing to give that child his freedom?”
“A bird leaving its cage is, in the end, the bird’s choice. That is what freedom means.”
“And when something goes wrong, the world calls it neglect.”
“To ignore those in need of help is indeed neglect. But to leave those who aren’t in need alone, that I call freedom.”
“I see…”
Then, did that child truly need his help?
The Emperor shook his head.
The boy would need his companions’ help more than his.
That’s the kind of child he had become.
***
The next morning.
So today is the day of the banquet.
Fittingly, the last to arrive was the Sun Church, and interestingly enough, like the name of their order, they reached the old castle just as the sun began to rise.
“May the light of the heavens guide you. Greetings.”
They were a group of ten priests. They arrived just as the morning banquet was about to begin.
Unusually, they had been invited not for any activity in the Blackout, but for their actions above ground. Specifically, their participation in the purification of Merdein.
Merdein had once been a prosperous trading city, destroyed some fifty years ago by a Dimension Reversal in Silent City.
Due to its remarkable geographical advantage, the Empire had, in more recent times, begun efforts to purify Merdein.
And among those efforts, the Sun Church had played the most prominent role.
“Oh, Bishop Entrias. It’s been a while.”
“You still look well, Sword Soul. That is truly fortunate.”
An elderly woman exchanged greetings with Aden.
He naturally introduced Jun and the others who stood beside him.
“We’ve heard of your reputation, as a matter of fact. You’ve accomplished something truly significant.”
“The honor is mine. I’m Jun, the leader of the White Whale Mercenary Group.”
“I may be lacking, but I serve as Bishop of the Sun Church. My name is Entrias.”
Entrias naturally took Jun’s hand and offered a second greeting.
“Thanks to your heroic efforts, countless lives were saved.”
“Mm… thank you for seeing it in such a good light.”
Jun who was never particularly comfortable with people like her offered an awkward smile.
Though they spoke of him in such terms, Jun knew it had all been incidental. Just the byproducts of doing whatever he could to survive, moment by moment.
It had never been the result of some noble sense of mission, as they seemed to believe.
“Oh, Eleanor. There you are. I’d heard news of you. I’m truly glad to see you here. The gods must have watched over you.”
And in much the same way, Eleanor also gave an awkward smile.
“Oh, it’s been a while, Bishop Entrias.”
For Eleanor who, despite being a priestess herself, tended to have a rather rough way of speaking….Entrias as a devout cleric who always used gentle graceful words was an uncomfortable presence in many ways.
“Let us give thanks to the gods for bringing us all together.”
When the nine priests who had accompanied her suddenly began to pray, the atmosphere instantly grew reverent and solemn.
“You haven’t changed a bit.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Ahem, nothing at all.”
Even Aden looked at them with a slightly tired expression, and before long, all the attendees had gathered at the outdoor banquet hall.
“Are you the White Whale Mercenaries? I never imagined I’d see you in person like this.”
The one who spoke to Jun was another attendee. It was the Blackguard Knight Commander, Tairdin.
Yesterday, he had seemed busy, caught up in some sort of meeting, and Jun hadn’t had the chance to meet him.
But now, perhaps because the meeting had concluded overnight, he looked far more at ease than he had the day before.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Jun.”
“I heard you performed just as impressively as I was told.”
“And who told you that, if I may ask?”
Who could he be referring to?
“Bernard.”
“Ah!”
Bernard. The former bounty hunter from the Blackguard, who had once been ambushed and defeated by Weyrnain in the Witch’s Forest.
Jun had heard that after leaving the order of knights, Bernard had lost his honor and was even struck by someone in disgrace.
Surprisingly, though, it seemed he had remained in contact with the knight commander all along.
“So you remember him. I heard you saved his life once.”
“It just happened that way, nothing more.”
“The process matters, sure, but in the end, results are what count most in this world. Allow me to thank you albeit belatedly.”
To be honest, Jun hadn’t expected the commander of the Blackguard to go so far as to bow his head in gratitude.
After all, knights were famously proud and known for their high noses.
Perhaps noticing Jun’s gaze, Taerdin let out a hearty laugh.
“Not all knights are so stiff and haughty. We’re human too. What’s wrong with being a little easygoing?”
“I apologize.”
“No need for that. It’s a common enough prejudice.”
Since each of them belonged to a formidable faction, Jun had braced himself for some measure of power struggle. But the banquet unfolded in a surprisingly warm and pleasant atmosphere.
Now that I think about it, they all operate in completely different fields.
Mercenary companies, knight orders, adventuring parties, and religious orders. And then there was the Sword Soul, whose hobby was traveling to remote regions.
Since each group specialized in a different domain, there wasn’t much room for conflict.
Most surprising of all was the Sword Sage, who turned out to be a master networker, moving through the crowd and striking up conversations with all sorts of people.
But… the princes are nowhere to be seen. Is it because of Prince Javier’s incident?
It seemed there was much to discuss on that front.
At that moment—
“Everyone, show your respect.”
At the words of a Heavenly Dragon Knight, who was serving as the host of the banquet, everyone promptly dropped to one knee.
The Emperor. The most important figure and host of the evening finally appeared with his face concealed behind a veil.
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