“Welcome.”
Inside the McLean family’s mansion, Dioner and Ares stepped in. There stood Hayun, dressed neatly in a suit.
“Hmm.”
Dioner’s brow furrowed slightly as he looked at Hayun. To hide it, he scratched his forehead, pretending it was itchy.
Having grown up seeing only neatly dressed nuns in the cathedral, Dioner was a rather conservative person who couldn’t comprehend why a woman would wear trousers.
“……”
Seeing this, Ares barely managed to suppress a sigh. Though he thought he was hiding it, Hayun had already noticed that Dioner was uncomfortable.
“Have you eaten?”
“Not yet, but it’s okay. The soldiers are waiting at the accommodation, so I’ll eat with them.”
His answer reflected the unreserved demeanor of a commander among his subordinates, but it stemmed from his personal desire to not stay with the McLean family for long.
From the demand to bring Ares along to the trousers Hayun was wearing, the impression Dioner had of the McLean family was the worst of the worst.
“Understood. Then let’s get straight to the discussion.”
Without any hesitation, Hayun instructed the maids of the mansion to bring tea and light snacks, but Dioner declined those too.
Ultimately, the three of them sat around a table with nothing on it and started conversing.
Dioner asked bluntly, “I heard you saw the wanted person when the light of Nirva vanished two weeks ago.”
“Rin, yes. After all, she’s an Aios classmate.”
Rustle. Another comment that provoked Dioner’s feelings slipped out.
“Aios.”
Silently chewing over the name Aios, Dioner felt an exasperating annoyance at the endless connections this academy had.
“Haha…”
Ares awkwardly chuckled and exchanged a glance with Hayun, silently urging her to tone down the provocation against Dioner.
He was the one who would take the brunt of it.
But Hayun continued to speak with the same smile. “Thanks to that, I was able to recognize Rin. You would have figured it out right away too, Ares.”
“……Hah.”
Ultimately, a hot sigh, which he had been holding back, slipped out involuntarily. Dioner slightly lowered his head and glared at Ares, but Hayun merely wore her artificial smile.
“By the way, I have something I’m curious about before we start.”
“What… what are you so curious about?”
Dioner replied wearily, and Hayun posed a somewhat unexpected question.
“I’ve heard the numbers of the paladins. You brought quite a large army with you.”
“It could be seen as an expedition to save the continent.”
His response was tinged with impatience, and Hayun nodded satisfactorily.
“Indeed. You must have had quite the difficulty getting to Nirva; how’s your morale and condition?”
Why on earth is she asking this?
With that expression resting his chin on his hand, Dioner pondered, but Ares interjected to prevent the atmosphere from getting too serious.
“Yes, our paladins train daily, so this distance isn’t a big issue.”
“That’s a relief.”
“R-relief…?”
For the first time, Ares displayed a somewhat bewildered expression, but Hayun waved it off, dismissing it as nothing significant.
“Then let me explain the situation when I saw Rin.”
Finally, Dioner, who was eager to hear the information he wanted, adjusted his posture and began to listen.
However, the content itself turned out to be quite trivial.
It ended with the information that Rin was standing on top of the clock tower recently built in Nirva.
The amount of information was almost enough to feel empty.
There was already a possibility that Rin had fled outside the city, and if that were the case, this expedition would inevitably fail.
Dioner wanted to express his irritation but was forced to swallow it down due to the growing influence and reputation of the McLean family.
During the past three years of chasing Rin across six expeditions, no one had provided this much information.
Ultimately, the two paladins departed the mansion with heavy steps. At the last entrance, Ares cautiously asked Dioner.
“Can I talk to the head of the family for a moment?”
“What? Do you think this is personal time?”
Dioner expressed all his accumulated frustration, having no intention of allowing time for his classmates to reminisce. However, Ares skillfully replied.
“It seems there’s something being hidden. It’s suspicious that they asked about our strength. I’ll investigate.”
“……”
“To ensure the success of this expedition, we need more information, don’t we?”
After a moment of contemplation, Dioner met Ares’ gaze and, frowning, nodded.
“Bring back any information you can.”
“Understood.”
Dioner stepped outside the McLean family’s premises. Ares approached Hayun, who was seeing him off.
“What’s wrong?”
“Forget it. No need for manners.”
Understanding it as an attempt to engage in casual conversation, Hayun shrugged and asked back.
“Why?”
She shrugged off her previously artificial smile and returned to her usual cold demeanor, making one wonder if they were even the same person.
“What about Tana? I heard she’s working with you?”
Intending to lighten the mood by changing the subject, Hayun, however, felt repulsed.
“Why do you ask that?”
“……”
“Hah, I locked myself away because I didn’t want to see you. To Tana, you’re a dark history.”
Having previously followed Ares around like a shadow, Tana had no desire to see Ares after becoming an adult.
By now, she would probably be kicking her blankets in frustration, recalling her past self, right?
The words “That’s the same for you, isn’t it?” hovered on the tip of Ares’ tongue but were swallowed back down.
However, it seemed Hayun could read his expression, outright showing her annoyance as she crossed her arms.
“I pretended to like you because of my uncle.”
“Yeah, you said so.”
Having heard explanations about it before, Ares felt no particular surprise. He had brought up the past in hopes of smoothing the conversation, but it only soured the mood further.
Ultimately, Ares gave up on coaxing for an answer and asked directly instead.
“Is that really all you know about Rin?”
“Do you think I’m hiding Rin?”
“No?”
“……”
With a twisted smirk, Hayun shot back at Ares’ blunt approach.
“I don’t really know.”
Though she didn’t say “no,” she couldn’t say “yes” either.
Ares was convinced.
She definitely knew something more about Rin.
“I’ll be on my way.”
Bang.
But with that, Hayun immediately turned and went back into the mansion. Ares, who stood at the door, clenched his fists and turned away.
Even saying he was on the same side wouldn’t lead to trust due to her wariness.
‘And it’s not like there’s only this moment in time.’
Having realized Hayun was hiding something, he would ask Dioner to keep visiting the McLean family during their stay in Nirva.
There would be many opportunities to talk.
Thinking that, Ares changed his course.
He approached Dioner, who was leaning against the wall outside the mansion. Dioner urged him to report immediately.
“Did you find anything?”
“I didn’t discover anything, but my suspicion has deepened. It seems like the McLean family is hiding something.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
In order to make contact with Rin, a smooth relationship with the McLean family was necessary. Ares explained this, but Dioner shook his head.
“No, enough.”
“Excuse me?”
“Why on earth do we have to wait? They’re hiding a wanted person that the entire continent is searching for. We could just uproot their family, right?”
“B-but if we touch the McLean family like that, the repercussions will be severe! And we don’t have certainty yet!”
“Did you hear what I just said properly? They’re hiding someone the whole continent is after. It wouldn’t be a problem to stir up a family that’s on the brink of ruin and is just beginning to recover.”
This was an undeniably accurate statement.
Ares never expected Dioner to come out like this.
It hadn’t crossed his mind, and he hadn’t anticipated the narrow-minded boldness of a commander like Dioner.
“Then let’s prepare the paladins right away. We’ll rush into the McLean family. Right now, that arrogant head of the family wouldn’t expect it.”
“……”
“Ares, if you’re thinking of letting her off just because she’s an Aios classmate, I’ll behead you right now.”
Dioner applied heavy pressure.
In reality, someone of Dioner’s level posed no real threat to Ares, so he didn’t feel too burdened.
Instead, Ares began to succumb to self-loathing.
‘I messed up.’
He wanted to do well.
Just like Daniel McLean had done before, he wanted to skillfully resolve the incident and be of help.
But he failed.
He hadn’t expected his superior to act so boldly. To storm in on the McLean family right in the heart of the big city Nirva.
‘Damn!’
Clenching his fists and biting his lip, Ares regretted ruining this so badly and pondered how to smooth things over.
Suddenly…
“Eh?”
The world went dark.
It wasn’t like the sun was getting covered by clouds.
Darkness engulfed, swallowing all the light in Nirva.
The entire city became chaotic in an instant. Voices of citizens echoed here and there, but perhaps due to having experienced it once before, it didn’t escalate into a dangerous uproar.
Instead, Dioner started jumping around in confusion, moving his head frantically.
“It’s him! He’s still in Nirva! Ares! Go to the knights right away…!”
As he was about to give a command, something felt off. Ares was staring blankly at the pitch-black sky above.
“What’s wrong, what are you looking at…!?”
When Dioner looked up to align with Ares’ gaze, he couldn’t help but be astonished.
“T-That’s!”
A flowing black robe and long, straight black hair.
Those melancholic eyes, looking at something, were as beautiful as jewels.
Rin had appeared in the sky of Nirva.
