“……”
As the night grew darker.
After finishing the strategy meeting about the direction with the others at the hotel, I went up to the rooftop, where Sen was blankly staring at the night sky.
In fact, it looked more like a sloped roof than a rooftop, and it seemed like I could fall off if I wasn’t careful.
Seeing her sitting still like a cat, I quietly sat beside her.
“What’s wrong? The request was completed, right?”
Sen had confirmed the location of Heaven Len’s hotel and how long he would stay there earlier in the afternoon.
Thanks to that, I was able to confirm that he would only be in Bethel until tomorrow morning, and if that’s the case, the deal Mikael mentioned would specifically take place either tonight or at dawn.
“I have something I want to ask again.”
“A request? Are you talking about the assignment?”
“…..Well, you could see it that way.”
She called it a request, but Sen had never actually asked me for anything. Without even mentioning it, it felt like just hanging on.
It felt formal, stuck in the framework of a request to solve something, so I took back my words.
“No, it’s not a request.”
Sen’s expression, which had been a little happy looking at me, suddenly darkened.
“If it’s not a request, I won’t accept it.”
“What’s the reward? What do you want?”
“……”
As expected.
Seeing Sen seal her lips with a look that seemed like she hadn’t thought about that part, I felt a pang of sympathy.
“If we don’t move as a request, then we won’t be the Chokugen Faction, right?”
“……!”
Usually, Sen acted like it didn’t bother her, but I could feel the great anxiety that had built up within her.
The Chokugen Faction, which she had been with her whole life, had disappeared.
No matter how harshly they acted or how inhumane the demands were, to her, the Chokugen Faction was like her parents.
It was as if her parents suddenly cast her out.
Without any information, they just threw her away.
I felt like I had suddenly been left alone in the world, and that was why she was forcing herself to mimic the Chokugen Faction.
“Is it really that important to stay in the Chokugen Faction? This might be your chance to live your own life, to leave the Chokugen Faction.”
“What is my own life?”
Sen jumped up, clenching her fist and glaring at me.
“I am the Chokugen Faction. I have been part of the Chokugen Faction since I was little. Live my own life? Those and the leader are my everything.”
The girl honed into a dagger for assassination expressed her emotions fiercely while still remaining remarkably calm.
As if she didn’t know any other way to express her feelings.
“You speak at length for someone who has only lived for 18 years.”
“It’s 17 years; I’m one year younger.”
“What? You were the younger sibling?”
Wait, did she lie about her age to enroll?
With an annoyed look, Sen subtly avoided eye contact and tried to step down from the roof, but I grabbed her wrist.
“Our conversation isn’t over. Those your age always think they’ve lived their entire lives. You haven’t even lived half.”
“……”
“Are you really going to keep living while relying on something? Is that really all there is to you, Sen? Defining yourself by someone else?”
“Shut up.”
“Who said you have to change right away? Do you think the knots that have twisted inside you for 17 years can just be untied easily? But you need to start one by one. You know you need that.”
I used to think of her simply as a link to the Chokugen Faction. A tool I could easily rely upon for difficult tasks.
Yeah, that’s what I thought, but as we spent time together, my thoughts changed.
This girl was, after all, just a child.
Especially, I felt a surprising commonality between Sen and Michelle.
Sen was the daughter of the Chokugen Faction, a back organization.
Michelle Portren was the daughter of Mikael Portren, a member of the Tudogs.
Both of them knew their parents were wrong, yet they couldn’t let go of their hands.
But I could tell her firmly.
“How long are you going to keep acting spoiled? The time will come when you need to gain independence from your parents.”
“……”
“As I just said, you can’t untie all the bonds right away. But you have to start.”
Sen was smart enough to know that.
However, it was probably just fear.
Everyone feels that way.
Everyone has different circumstances, but the moment comes when you have to leave your parents’ nest and spread your wings.
“There’s a large part of you that’s still relying on the Chokugen Faction. Try lightening that burden little by little onto something else.”
“Lighten it?”
I nodded slightly towards Sen, who looked up at me.
“Don’t cling to the Chokugen Faction; find and feel what you like and dislike, and that’s how you will find yourself. Then, naturally, you will drift away from the Chokugen Faction.”
“Find myself, you say?”
“Doesn’t that sound fun?”
Thinking that I would enjoy experiencing various things, I smiled, and Sen tightly clenched her fist and nodded slightly.
“In that sense, this is my request.”
“A request…”
Maybe she didn’t like the sound of it, or something felt off because Sen’s expression darkened again.
I hastily changed my words.
“If not a request… how about a mission? Think of it as a promise between friends? Something like that?”
“A mission… That sounds good.”
Did we move from a request to a mission?
I didn’t know if this was good or not, but from the perspective of trying to create change, I could see it was a good thing.
I hastily continued speaking, fearing she might suddenly refuse.
“Tonight, protect Michelle Portren. I don’t think there will be any major issues, but you never know.”
“Michelle…?”
She looked confused.
“Yes, just in case, I’m giving you this mission. And you also have a debt to repay.”
“Debt?”
“That exists.”
“A mission… it’s complicated…”
Seeing Sen making a peculiar expression, I chuckled softly, sensing that she felt it was different from a request for money.
“That’s life, kiddo. It’s strange for the Chokugen Faction to tie everything to money and goods.”
“……We’re only a year apart.”
Seeing her pout made me feel a slight change preparing within her, bursting into hearty laughter.
*
In the late dawn.
It could be said that the city of Bethel was wrapped in a tranquil silence, as if it were asleep.
In such a late hour, the front gate of the Portren family opened cautiously, and Mikael emerged wearing a coat with a hat along with several servants.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at his cautious demeanor, like a robber sneaking out of the house.
“Come out confidently; it’s your own home, after all.”
Startled expressions on their faces.
The servants instinctively hugged the bags they were holding tightly, though I didn’t know what was inside, but it seemed to be the items for today’s deal with Heaven Len.
“Daniel McLean, you ultimately ignored my warning.”
Mikael Portren stepped forward slowly.
His eyes were bubbling with transparent fury.
“Didn’t I tell you? It’s for Michelle.”
“Didn’t I say that if you mentioned Michelle in front of me again, I would kill you?”
He handed his hat to a servant and threw off his coat.
His muscles began to ripple as if alive.
“It would be better to take it from me now. If I see you in this state, Hainy will execute you on the spot.”
“Before that, everyone will die by my hand.”
His voice echoed like it was coming from a cave.
Starting from his gray hair, it began to grow longer and grayish fur started to sprout all over his body.
Thickening fingernails and toenails.
Fiercely sharpened teeth.
I had thought he would have inherited the powers of the magical beasts in the Forest of the Demon Realm because he was also a Tudogs.
“You’ve chosen a more troublesome one than I expected.”
“You’re speaking as if you know something.”
“Moon Werewolf. It’s the primal species of the werewolves that roam outside.”
“……!”
Seeing his eyes flicker as he became a werewolf, I could tell that he was astonished by what I said.
“How do you know that?”
“I can at least gather herbs for your daughter.”
“…..It’s already too late.”
What was important was not just that.
About ten servants also began to grow their fur increasingly and stood behind their master as werewolves.
“Whoa, all of them?”
This was a bit unexpected, but I didn’t care.
Mikael growled at me, drawing his sword.
“I’ll kill you, devour your corpse, and then head to meet Heaven Len. The Inspector will have no choice but to be tormented by countless nobles tomorrow.”
“Even if you go to the trading place now, you won’t meet him.”
I didn’t know where the trading place was.
“Heaven Len won’t show up.”
Aside from Sen and Michelle, there was one girl who was also gaining independence from her parents.
*
A luxurious hotel that many tourists sought even in Bethel.
Even though check-out was tomorrow morning, Heaven Len had already returned the keys ahead of time and packed all his belongings, leaving the hotel with his two guards.
He was planning to leave this pesky Bethel right after concluding the deal with Mikael Portren.
Although the presence of the royal inspector Hainy bothered him, he was able to make a more beneficial deal by adding the condition of taking care of her.
“Ke ke ke.”
Heaven Len smiled as he imagined the items that would soon be in his hands, but someone was standing at the entrance of the hotel garden.
A girl with cold features and black bobbed hair.
She wore a charm similar to a pouch she made herself around her waist, and she was also one of the reasons Heaven Len wanted to leave Bethel as soon as possible.
“Hayun?”
The daughter borne from his younger brother and a pitiful girl brought from the East.
He had made good use of her until now, but she was the child he would discard mercilessly the moment she rebelled.
“Uncle, where are you going at this late hour?”
Maybe it was due to the enmity in Hayun’s low voice. The family guards took a step forward.
“Get lost, you useless girl who can’t even do her job. Your mother used her perfect beauty to hook my brother, and yet you can’t even keep a single commoner for yourself.”
“My father and mother loved each other.”
“I don’t want to waste my time chatting with a worthless girl. But I’ll commend you for not calling yourselves the Ren family regardless of where you go.”
As Heaven Len tried to brush past her, Hayun lifted the sword from the sheath she was holding and blocked his path.
“If you go now, you will be arrested by the royal inspector.”
“Ha ha, you talk nonsense. So you came here to protect me?”
“No, not you.”
Slowly drawing her sword, Heaven Len became surprised and immediately stepped back, and his guards also instinctively drew their swords.
“It’s not for you; it’s to do what my parents should have done, with the name ‘Ren’ that I have somewhat been tied to.”
“……”
“Uncle, which family ends their ties without even seeing each other’s faces, just through communication?”
Hayun’s voice echoed coldly, filled with quiet calm.
“You don’t realize that when you’re caught up in fear or confusion, you can’t even unleash half of your skills. That’s a big problem for a swordsman.”
“But conversely, if you figure out how to control those feelings, you can at least be the strongest swordsman among the students in the Academy.”
There’s one thing people tend to underestimate.
It’s the difference between knowing something alone and hearing that from someone.
Hayun knew too.
She understood that her weak heart could also sway her sword. If she could control it, she’d become a greater swordsman.
But hearing it directly was different.
A swordsman at a level incomparable to hers had spoken these words.
If she could just grasp that.
If she could find peace of mind, the sword would be sharpened even more.
Those words filled the girl’s heart with certainty.
A certainty that it was possible.
And today, it was time to act on that certainty.
“Hayun Ren, the eldest daughter of Herbert Ren and Yunlan Ren.”
Striking a pose suitable for a painting, Hayun declared.
“Today, I will discard my family name.”
