Ch.161Golden Thread

Crazy brat. In this situation, the only one who could be called a brat was himself. Seo-rin couldn’t hide his bewildered expression as he belatedly reacted to the Emperor’s words.

He had just heard an unexpected verbal assault. And from the highest person in the Empire, no less. Because of this, he couldn’t grasp how to respond. If it had been anyone other than the Emperor, Seo-rin would have drawn his sword without hesitation.

At that moment, the Emperor rubbed his face and spoke. His expression looked extremely tired.

“I apologize. Those words weren’t directed at you. It’s just, a little…”

“…”

“There’s an irritating fellow watching from above.”

The place the Emperor pointed to was the ceiling of the room, where golden threads were slowly descending. As if there was something up there. Only then did Seo-rin nod.

If the verbal assault wasn’t directed at him, then he didn’t need to worry about it. The problem was what came before. Seo-rin frowned as he recalled the shocking content he had heard.

“So, Your Majesty, are you saying that everything I’ve experienced was someone’s intention?”

“Threads specially crafted by the world tend to stand out. They’re shinier and stronger than others. Yes, Seo-rin, you were a thread created out of necessity.”

The Emperor said this while pulling out a particularly shiny thread from inside the loom to show him. Seo-rin didn’t know what it was. However, he somehow knew it was an object closely connected to himself.

The Emperor continued softly.

“A protagonist’s adversary must be as special as the protagonist. So trials were given, and special items that allow one to grow stronger quickly were brought and scattered throughout this world… Even if it meant imitation.”

“This is… hard to believe.”

“Whether you believe it or not doesn’t matter. He simply wanted it. For you to notice the secrets of this world and control everything with a new deterrent force.”

Seo-rin closed his mouth. If what the Emperor said was true, it meant that everything that had happened to him was orchestrated according to someone’s intentions. How many people could believe that the annihilation of their tribe and the deaths of their comrades were intended from the beginning?

Seo-rin opened his firmly closed mouth to ask a question.

“What… what are you? Who are you to know such facts…”

“One blessed by the wind, Emperor of the Karma Empire, child born on the day stars fell, one who has reached the end of the story, once the protagonist of this world… and now, I play the role of an observer.”

The Emperor spoke calmly. The words that once described him. The voice that flowed from his lips slowly dispersed. To Seo-rin, the Emperor looked extremely hollow.

“One chapter. One era is coming to an end. It has always been the Blue Wing that decorates that end. Seo-rin, this time that role has passed to you.”

“… What am I supposed to do?”

“Subjugate the reincarnators and continue your activities as a Blue Wing. That’s all.”

***

It started the day after his private audience with the Emperor. Seo-rin could see golden threads hanging behind every person he encountered. The golden threads hung loosely, extending into the sky, becoming more transparent as they reached their ends.

He couldn’t exert any physical force on them, and no one except him could even perceive them.

In Seo-rin’s office.

Seo-rin sat across from Karnok, drinking tea.

“You look quite shocked. How was it?”

At Karnok’s question, Seo-rin put down his teacup. The tea, touched by his slight breath, instantly cooled with frost settling on it.

“What do you want to hear?”

“Just. How did you feel? Some who return after meeting the Emperor simply disappear. It must have been quite shocking.”

“That won’t happen to me… but…”

“But?”

“I don’t like it.”

Seo-rin glared at the golden threads hanging behind Karnok and himself. It felt as if his entire life was being negated. Even the fact that he was sitting here talking with Karnok was someone’s intention, and this made Seo-rin feel both powerless and angry.

Karnok stood up and said:

“We should start preparing for war soon. According to rumors, there are reincarnators behind Sun Tail.”

“Are you, Captain Karnok, not bothered by this at all?”

“How could I not be?”

“Then why…”

“If I don’t do it, someone else will have to bear this burden. So I move forward, inevitably. Sephiroth was the same, Kaimond was the same, and the previous captains and vice-captains were probably the same…”

After Karnok left the office.

Left alone, Seo-rin rubbed his face. A deep sigh escaped his lips.

***

In the early dawn, when everyone was asleep, the Karma Empire’s declaration of war was delivered to the Sun Tail Kingdom. Simultaneously, the empire’s gates opened, and numerous troops poured out.

Some observers watching this remarked that it seemed like excessive troop deployment. Indeed, it was. The Karma Empire mobilized an excessive number of troops, making it hard to believe they were preparing for a war with a small kingdom.

This meant they left only the absolute minimum forces to protect the capital. As if staking the empire’s survival on it, the Emperor used his resources and troops without reservation.

Even the empire’s pride, the knights, were deployed. Only a very small number of knights remained in the capital.

The dawn air was very cold. Seo-rin, riding on horseback, blankly stared at the white breath dispersing from his mouth. His gaze turned to the troops marching across the vast plain.

The golden threads hanging above their heads swayed slowly, like wheat in a golden field.

“It feels strange somehow.”

“This is my first war…”

At Theo and Flora’s words, Seo-rin tightened his grip on the reins. It was a peaceful era with the empire holding hegemony. How many people had experienced war? Most of those present were likely from a generation that had never experienced war.

Seo-rin slowly mulled over the memories of war that had flowed in from the reincarnators.

The Karma Empire’s troops marched without stopping. Since not everyone could ride horses, their pace was very slow, but they steadily advanced toward Sun Tail.

And so, after a month of marching.

Finally, the Karma Empire’s troops reached the desert region of Sun Tail. A month had passed since the empire’s declaration of war. It would have been enough time for Sun Tail to prepare for war.

Indeed, beyond the golden-glittering desert, troops that appeared to be Sun Tail’s soldiers were forming ranks.

-What is that?

-Aren’t those monsters?

-That rumor was true. That reincarnators and Sun Tail are working together…

-They look like chewed-up meat…

Sun Tail’s forces weren’t just humans. From grotesquely shaped monsters to decayed corpses, and even the magic stone soldiers they were known to have developed, all were mobilized.

After facing each other across the vast desert for a long time, the order to charge was given from the Karma Empire’s side.

“All troops!!! Charge!!!”

Numerous soldiers began to charge. From behind the rushing soldiers, Seo-rin noticed that the golden threads were being cut. Only those close to death had their fate disappear.

Just as Seo-rin was about to open his mouth to shout.

The soldier at the very front, who was charging forward, disappeared with an explosion.

BOOM-!

After the first explosion, a series of explosions occurred. The brave vanguard soldiers were all blown away. The subsequent blast wave scattered the terrible smell of gunpowder and the pungent smell of blood throughout the world.

-Don’t stop!

The empire’s soldiers truly didn’t stop. Even though they realized there were bombs ahead, they continued their charge. After several more explosions.

The waiting Sun Tail forces poured forward with a battle cry. The enemy’s advance meant that all prepared traps had been exhausted.

Watching this, the Wind Knights charged. The knight commander, wrapped in a gale, took the lead, and his subordinates followed.

Part of the seemingly evenly matched front line collapsed. It was the empire’s knights breaking through. Starting with the Wind Knights, other knight orders also gradually moved to collapse the enemy’s formation.

The overwhelming difference in power split the army in two.

The empire’s knights displayed their tremendous divine authority, bringing the war’s momentum to the empire’s side.

Just when it seemed Sun Tail’s forces were about to crumble. The knights’ rapid advance was halted. Sun Tail had also deployed their kingdom’s knights.

As power clashed with power, a fierce storm arose. A hazy sandstorm covered the battlefield, obscuring vision.

In the midst of this.

A small number of Blue Wings, including Seo-rin, drew their swords.