Ch.171Hero (3)

Dawn of Falling Stars.

Beyond the frost-covered window, unseasonable for the time of year, light seeps through.

The scene originating from the windowsill creates a dim background.

The moon’s halo and starlight remain perfectly still without the slightest tremor.

Beneath them, only the boy possessed any vitality.

Tap, tap-

The spring breeze gently knocks on the window.

The brush tip soaked in the season draws paint across the night sky.

Blue hair settles quietly.

His eyes gaze only at the scenery outside the window.

“……”

Ruska was lost in thought.

Like winter lost in the false month.

His blinking eyelids mechanically capture the dense night sky.

With blurred focus, he was recalling a conversation from a few days ago.

None other than the casual exchange he had with his target.

-You’re admired by many people.

-Above all, to me… you’re someone I’m grateful for, and precious.

The voice represents a hint of affection.

As if confessing innocent feelings.

Ripples once again spread through the boy’s previously calm inner world.

Ruska was merely organizing his complicated thoughts.

Snowflakes bloom at the tips of his twitching fingers.

‘To me… sister comes first.’

His only family.

Beyond the boy’s winter, shadows undulate.

A dawn he could never escape.

-You should think about your sister.

-If you want her to be safe, it would be better to be loyal to the family.

-Wasn’t that the agreement when you followed your uncle from the beginning?

The adult’s voice is particularly detestable.

Truly, choice was taking the next step at the edge of a cliff.

Ruska remembers the message from his uncle.

The instruction to offer that person his sister cherishes as a sacrifice to the cultists.

Silence descends.

“I am….”

What remains in the holy night is an unheard confession.

The voice of stars calling to him.

The young lamb’s sins were submission and weakness.

Justice that strayed like a brief shooting star stirs his heart.

That’s why the boy couldn’t fall asleep as the night deepened.

From the chest pain that felt somehow lacking.

-Ruska.

-A hero isn’t just someone who accompanies miracles.

-If you can stand up even with trembling legs.

-The stars will give them their names.

A whisper reaching his ears.

The relationship between heroes and stars he once heard from his father.

The Winter Monarch was proud of his son.

Ruska’s fist clenches tightly.

-Become a star that guides others.

-Let the weak hide in your shadow, and the strong find direction in your light.

Words that had now become too distant.

Heroic tales that had embroidered his childhood with admiration.

The wandering knight, the magician of the red-light district, the adventurer of the earth… the boy who had found himself in all those stories.

However, for the lamb who had grown up too quickly, fairy tales no longer existed.

He had already stepped into the adult world.

It was all lies.

“Father.”

In this particularly empty night.

The boy who couldn’t resist reality simply suffers from the gap between ideals and reality.

After all, his life had not become the heroic tale he had dreamed of.

The inexplicable sense of loss fills his heart.

Nevertheless, if only his sister could be safe, it was a lament that didn’t matter.

Ruska crushes the snowflake he had created with his fingertips.

Meditation seeps through his lips.

“……What should I do?”

The boy’s dawn passed like that.

Ending with a firm resolution.

***

The next day.

Ruska made contact with the boy designated as the target.

The execution date had finally approached.

He had simply told Judas that there was somewhere they needed to go together.

Perhaps due to his characteristically slippery personality, he obediently followed despite being told to come along without explanation.

Or perhaps he trusted him as the brother of someone precious to him.

Either way, it was a regrettable judgment.

“Hey.”

Ruska turns around.

He promptly holds out something shiny.

“Wear this.”

“Hmm?”

The shining object was none other than a necklace.

A reddish necklace with a star-shaped jewel embedded in it.

Judas tilts his head.

“This is… a necklace?”

“Keep it on.”

“I’m not particularly pleased about receiving attention from men.”

“Stop talking nonsense. It’s for my sister’s sake.”

“Hmm… I don’t understand how wearing a necklace benefits the young lady.”

“When we made plans to meet, you promised not to question my words.”

“Of course I must follow! I was just curious!”

“…Fine.”

After a few sharp words, Judas puts on the necklace.

He didn’t even complain.

‘Half successful, I suppose.’

Ruska glances sideways.

What’s currently fastened around Judas’s neck is an artifact.

It was a device so intricate that it couldn’t be distinguished from an ordinary necklace with the naked eye.

Since it was sealed to prevent mana from leaking, there was no way its effects would be detected externally.

Now, with just a signal, the embedded magic would bind him.

“Keep walking.”

But Ruska failed to notice.

The fact that, for a moment, a smile had played across the snake’s face as he fiddled with the necklace.

The two boys’ steps pass through the academy district with complicated emotions.

A path that had already reached the outskirts of the academy.

“Hmm… we’re going quite deep.”

“Shut up.”

The recently sparse human presence due to the lockdown.

Now there wasn’t even a hint of people around.

Perhaps because of the suddenly gloomy atmosphere.

A subtle tension circulates between the two.

“…My legs are starting to hurt.”

“We’ve just arrived anyway.”

Suddenly, Ruska’s leading steps come to a halt.

A dead end at the end of a complex alleyway.

There, several shadows and a carriage were waiting.

The suspicious figures were all wearing robes, concealing their appearances.

Ruska recognizes them.

‘The Awl.’

The Venatti family’s… assassination unit directly under the Duke.

These were the murderers deployed for this operation.

If he neutralized Judas with the necklace, they would knock him unconscious and put him in the carriage.

They wouldn’t have expected visitors with Venatti credentials to commit kidnapping.

It was an operation both the cult and the Venatti family had rushed into without thinking.

Ruska turns around.

“A dead end…”

Perhaps sensing the subtle killing intent.

Judas also seemed to notice that the situation was unusual.

The boy looks around, shifting his gaze here and there.

After harboring a perplexed expression, he soon stares at Ruska who had led him here.

A faint echo spreads beyond the alley.

“…I never thought I’d fall into a trap.”

That voice held no resentment.

Just a calm realization.

Only a somewhat bitter smile lingered at the corners of the boy’s mouth.

Unable to endure such a moment, Ruska speaks.

Words that even to his own ears sounded like mere excuses.

“It can’t be helped.”

“……”

“I don’t expect you to understand, but I hope you won’t think too badly of me.”

“I’ve never particularly thought of you as a bad person, young master.”

“At least everything I’m about to do… it’s all for my sister’s sake.”

“The young lady must be reassured. Having such a devoted brother.”

“…I’ll listen to your sarcasm as much as you want.”

The robed figures standing at a distance approach one step at a time.

Eyes like those looking at prey caught in a trap.

Even with such monsters in the background, Ruska’s expression wasn’t visible at all.

Perhaps to prevent his resolve from wavering, he kept his head down.

Judas quietly observes the blue hair fluttering in the wind.

The assassins add a few words as they draw closer.

“So you brought him after all… Good work, young master.”

“The head of the family wants to see that pale guy, right?”

“Well… if we’re going to hand him over to those demon worshippers anyway, it doesn’t matter if he’s a bit damaged, right?”

“I want to go first! That pretty face has been bothering me, I want to tear it apart!”

“Yeah~ Let’s have some fun!”

Killing intent seeping out.

The suspicious figures narrow the distance, each drawing their swords.

Judas remained frozen, unable to resist.

Perhaps noticing the boy, Ruska moves to his side first.

“Judas Snakus.”

Tap, tap-

The blue-haired boy pats the snake’s shoulder.

Then whispers a few words into his ear.

So the suspicious figures couldn’t hear.

“I’m sorry for deceiving you.”

And.

“Please… take care of my sister.”

Snap-!

Ruska flicks his finger without hesitation.

The conclusion he had reached after staying up all night.

Immediately, the necklace wrapped around Judas’s neck begins to glow.

A bluish light envelops the boy in a hazy cloud.

Only then does its true form become visible.

-This is an item the businessman side cooperated with.

-An artifact that suppresses the wearer’s mana… more precisely, it should be called a restraint.

-Yes… put on the restraint, lure him to the promised location, and the family’s magicians will take action.

The necklace his uncle had handed over.

Unlike the one with a hexagonal jewel embedded in it, the snake’s necklace had a star shape embedded in it.

Additionally, the reddish coloring that had been applied as a disguise peels away.

The exposed interior was pure white.

“What is this…?”

Before anyone could realize.

The magic contained in the artifact swallowed the boy.

A brilliant flash fills the alleyway.

The next moment.

“……”

The snake vanished from the alley.

A medium-range teleportation spell.

The necklace had transported Judas to a safe zone.

All that remained were Ruska and the assassins who had become like dogs chasing chickens.

His tilted blue eyes display clear mockery.

The boy speaks as if relieved.

“What’s wrong?”

Traitors who had turned their backs on the family.

It was contempt directed at the dogs who had become his uncle’s pawns.

“Did you really think I would dance to your tune until the end?”

Ruska gripped his sword.

The blade carved from ice was pointing toward justice.

Behind the boy’s back, a faint light spreads.

Meanwhile.

The slitted eyes were watching all these scenes.

As if finding it insanely entertaining.