Ch.119Winter’s Legacy (1)

That memory was the first light I ever showed.

The responsibility that bound me.

Perhaps resembling a fragment of a regretted past, it was atonement as I stepped toward the shackles once more.

At the same time, it was the first memory that soothed my terrible loneliness.

“From today… I will give you a name.”

The blood-covered hand extended.

The floor was soaked with melting flesh, but the winter raging between us made even that pain forgettable.

The narrowed gap was filled with alcohol to replace the enormous sense of loss.

I close my eyes as if intoxicated by such memories.

“Your name is.”

I didn’t believe in God.

Yet if there was a reason to speak of hope I didn’t believe in.

“Neria… Neria Lightny.”

Because I couldn’t pass by you who was covered in scars.

Under the pretext of meager kindness, perhaps I wanted forgiveness for myself.

After all, I grew up as an adult full of deception and lies.

Clinging to the fading sleeve of childhood, I could only pull up the corners of my mouth as if I knew nothing.

So what I wanted to say was…

“We are family now.”

To the most painful star.

Thank you for finding my fallen life.

***

“Let’s not call our vice-captain by… such a name.”

A cold killing intent colors the surroundings.

Shadows spread instantly in all directions, carrying substantial pressure.

Rumble-!

The ground trembles as if in fear.

The mana in the area is suppressed.

The brilliant decorations adorning the battlefield shake, and the guards standing nearby lose consciousness and collapse.

Despite being a simple release of power, the landfill scene becomes chaotic.

I stood at the center of the confusion.

“Kuk, cough…!”

“Can’t… breathe…”

“……”

Breath roughly blocked.

Even the royal guards beside me were no different.

Each had turned pale and stiff.

Beyond that, Injustice and Distrust had already fallen to their knees, and only Unknown, the highest-ranking among them, maintained an upright posture.

Of course, even he had a nosebleed dripping onto the floor.

A clear demonstration of the difference in power.

“My… you’re reacting quite intensely.”

“Would you like something more intense?”

“I’ll politely decline. I’d like to live a long life, you see.”

“You’re truly terrible at lying.”

In the turbid situation, only the snake and the monarch remained calm.

We were simply glaring at each other.

Not a hint of wavering showed in either of our gazes.

As I revealed my intimidation with a pitch-black storm, the old man leaning back leisurely on his throne spoke.

Despite facing the character of death, his head remained unbowed.

It was truly a nauseating dignity.

“It’s getting difficult to endure. Won’t you withdraw it?”

“Yet your expression remains quite relaxed.”

“At my age… perhaps you should learn some respect for the elderly?”

“Sometimes there are adults who aren’t worthy of respect.”

“You certainly have a way with words.”

“How about you keep your mouth shut?”

However.

The old man was laughing as if he was enjoying himself.

He was vicious.

From the beginning, he never cared about that child; it was nothing more than words thrown to provoke me.

It was a moment that reconfirmed my disgust for his tongue.

The old man retorted easily.

“Don’t be so sensitive.”

“……”

“I was genuinely curious. It’s been 4 years since the war, hasn’t it? As someone who kept that child by their side for 10 years, I think it’s a reasonable question.”

“To use the expression ‘kept’… you have no right.”

I withdrew it.

You have no right to speak such words.

Your act of ‘keeping’ that child was nothing more than tossing her like a chess piece between blood and tears.

The value contained in the character of ‘keeping’ was not so ugly.

For an adult to have kept something.

A kind of taming or extension.

It’s the act of giving your own paint to another and taking responsibility for that colored hue.

Like the golden wheat field the Little Prince gifted to the fox.

I speak with a sunken voice.

“I mean don’t cross the line.”

“I clearly said I was just curious about her well-being, yet you so easily judge others’ sincerity.”

“Was it sincere?”

“Of course not.”

Tsk tsk.

The old man laughs unpleasantly.

Like a viper coiling.

“But you know? It’s foolish to have certainty about others.”

“……”

“Humans don’t have the ability to read minds. Who knows if the person you trusted yesterday might suddenly turn on you with a knife the next day? That’s why you should have faith, but not certainty.”

To whom was he speaking?

The old man, with his focus blurred, muttered with a glib smile.

“Sometimes there exists discord that even God cannot resolve.”

A meaningless phrase brushing past my ears.

For what reason?

The worn rosary around the old man’s neck seemed to shine for a moment.

I coldly rebuff the sudden sermon.

“Are you trying to give worthless advice?”

“It’s advice I’m offering sincerely. I quite like you, you know.”

“That’s a statement I neither want to have certainty in nor faith in.”

“That’s regrettable.”

A glib response returns.

After a brief exchange of distrustful glances, the precarious atmosphere falls silent once more.

The weight in the stillness deepens with tension.

As we continued our dangerous standoff.

Suddenly.

Boom-!

A noise from nearby breaks the silence.

A familiar flow of mana.

‘This mana… so it ended up like that after all.’

I wanted to keep it hidden as much as possible.

I let out a bitter sigh.

Getting upset now would be like crying over spilled milk.

As I waited for the continuing commotion with mixed feelings, the gatekeeper standing outside the audience chamber suddenly knocked urgently.

A panicked voice was heard from beyond the door before it was cut off.

-En, enemy attack! Someone has infiltrated the castle… gack!

An eerie warning.

Not long after, the door guarding the interior fell with a thunderous sound.

Dust swirled following the blazing explosion.

CRASH-!!

The gate scattering into pieces.

Through the dust rising like fog, dozens of shadows walked in.

They were all wearing pure white robes.

A cold wind blows in.

The corridor they passed through was littered with the bodies of guards and gatekeepers.

The intruders enter, leaving crimson traces behind them.

“Master.”

The girl at the very front.

As she loosens the robe pulled down to cover her face, hidden silver hair cascades brilliantly.

Transparent eyes reach out a hand toward me.

“I’ve come to escort you.”

“…Miss Neria.”

It was none other than the vice-captain.

At the same time, she was also the protagonist of the argument between me and the old man until just now.

“What brings you here?”

“I received a report that Master had headed to the kingdom. Concerned, I followed you with a small number of personnel.”

“I see.”

“If I’ve overstepped my bounds, I’ll accept punishment…”

“I’m fine.”

I greet the girl with a complicated smile.

Her eyes are so deeply hidden they’re almost invisible.

But she was simply waiting for her master’s response.

The atmosphere, though subtle, was strangely tense.

“I was thinking of returning anyway.”

I could not help but take that hand.

***

We returned to headquarters.

Since we had already finished the necessary conversation, we were able to leave without hesitation.

The monarch didn’t seem particularly inclined to stop us either.

For all his asking after her well-being and probing, he didn’t say anything special upon meeting Neria.

He simply bid farewell, saying he’d see us again later.

He remained a person whose true intentions were unknown.

‘How tiresome.’

The return journey wasn’t difficult.

Since most of the available executives had been gathered, Rena, who was among the main forces, was also present.

Thanks to her, we were able to return conveniently through a portal.

A fatigue I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Dealing with a snake-like person had made me sensitive in many ways.

I took a moment to organize my thoughts.

‘Of all things.’

In truth.

I had hoped this matter wouldn’t reach Neria’s ears.

It was still a wound she hadn’t overcome.

I thought telling her would only make her worry unnecessarily.

It was a choice made out of consideration for her position, but after failing, all that remained was an awkward atmosphere.

I hold an unnecessary silence.

“Master. Are you alright?”

Neria asks carefully, as if gauging my mood.

I answer with my usual smile.

“Of course.”

“I will take separate measures against the kingdom. Such rudeness is unacceptable, and I plan to strengthen our defenses to prevent it from happening again.”

“…Are you alright, Miss Neria?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the monarch. You ended up meeting him again after 4 years.”

“Ah.”

The girl unconsciously hesitates to answer.

But as if she had anticipated the question, she quickly erases her tension and adds calmness.

It was a response typical of her.

“There’s no problem. It’s now a distant memory.”

Outwardly, an indifferent tone and expression.

The cold atmosphere didn’t deviate much from usual, but having spent a long time by her side, I could tell.

The fact that she was forcibly pretending to be calm.

Her silver eyes were trembling.

So faintly that even she might not have noticed.

“……”

I silently gaze at her.

Neria Lightny.

The first connection I made in this world, and the first member who has stayed by my side the longest.

A girl once called Disloyalty as part of the monarch’s royal guard.

And.

…In the original work, she was also the first trigger for the world’s destruction.

Unnecessary thoughts entangle complexly.

The conversation didn’t continue any further.

Only silence flowed.

Perhaps because of the memories of the past creeping up, both people needed a bit of reminiscence.

Anyway, the tumultuous day seemed to be ending like that.

Scratch scratch-.

That night.

Even at a time pointing to dawn, Neria and I were still staying in the captain’s office.

We were in the process of handling recent backlogged work.

“……”

It was particularly difficult to concentrate today.

Even while moving the pen, my mind seemed to be elsewhere.

Perhaps it was because of the lingering random thoughts.

The monarch.

After encountering a figure I had left in the past, memories kept flickering.

I thought four years was quite a distant time.

But when I recalled it again, the moments came back as vividly as yesterday.

Random thoughts growing larger, linking one after another.

I finally organize the documents I was processing to one side.

“…Miss Neria.”

A name suddenly called.

The girl who was also working nearby answers.

“You called, Master.”

She seemed to have a lot on her mind as well.

Normally, the documents would be showing the bottom by now, but she had barely reached halfway.

Beyond her transparent pupils, there was still a tremor.

Well.

Even if she denied it, it would be difficult to be truly indifferent.

There was too much complicated past entangled.

I put down my pen and say.

“Do you have a moment?”

“No problem. Is there something you need?”

“It’s nothing special… I just wanted to have a short conversation.”

“By conversation, you mean…?”

“In a case like today, it would be about old times. I have a lot of thoughts because of what happened in the kingdom… and there’s only one person with whom I can share those memories.”

“I’m fine with it… as long as you’re with me, Master, whatever it may be.”

“That’s kind of you.”

The silver-haired girl hesitates momentarily but then nods.

I respond to her unwavering loyalty with a smile.

The words I murmur contain memories from long ago.

“Hehe… where should we begin?”

It started in winter.

It was the memory of when I first found meaning in this world.