Ch.176Sisters

Seo-erin woke up around late lunchtime. She had slept in later than usual, despite having had proper sleep the previous night. The first thing she felt upon rising from bed was confusion.

The air felt the same as always, yet somehow empty. Her younger sister’s scent in the room was quite faint, indicating that she had left the room quite some time ago.

“Seiran?”

Did she wake up first? Usually she clings to me and refuses to leave my side.

Seo-erin thought nothing of it as she changed her clothes. As usual, she donned the Blue Wing uniform and equipped her weapons. She typically carried five swords: the Flame Dragon Sword, the Ice Dragon Sword, Muramasa, the Mage Killer, and the Void Cutter.

However, one of those five swords was missing.

“Hmm…”

Muramasa was nowhere to be found. Not anywhere in the room. It wasn’t stored in the subspace through the Void Cutter either. It had simply vanished.

Seo-erin closed her eyes and spread her detection field, Aseon. Wind flowed from the girl’s body, enveloping the Blue Wing headquarters. The wind continued to expand its range without stopping.

It took only a few seconds for Aseon’s range to spread throughout the entire Imperial territory. Yet Seo-erin frowned despite her vast detection field. Neither Muramasa nor her sister could be found anywhere within her detection range.

Her sister had disappeared. Along with Muramasa, her weapon.

Seo-erin immediately left her quarters and went to find Karnok. He was sitting in his office organizing documents.

“Commander Karnok.”

“Seo-erin. What brings you here at this hour?”

Seo-erin had barged in without even knocking. Though Karnok was quite surprised, he maintained his composure outwardly and set aside the documents he had been holding.

“My sister has disappeared. She didn’t leave a note. Please help me find anyone who might know her whereabouts from early this morning until now. She’s not even detectable within my sensing field…”

“…That shouldn’t be difficult. Wait a moment.”

Karnok immediately summoned all Blue Wing members who were resting. It was a direct order from the commander. No one dared refuse. Karnok then asked the assembled members about Seiran’s whereabouts.

“First, I apologize for interrupting your rest. I called you here to ask if anyone has seen Seiran from early this morning until now. If you have, please speak up immediately.”

“Seiran… isn’t that the Vice Commander’s sister’s name?”

“That’s right. The Vice Commander’s sister has disappeared. Does anyone know of her whereabouts?”

“Well…”

“The last time I saw her was when she was with the Vice Commander…”

Most gave similar answers. Both the timing and location of the sightings matched. Everyone had last seen her during the evening hours when she was with Seo-erin. Given the situation, Karnok had no choice but to dismiss the members.

“Thank you all for your cooperation. You may return to your rest now.”

While most members left, a few remained until the end—those who had built deeper friendships with Seo-erin: Reynard, Theo, and Flora.

“Should we file for leave right away?”

Theo asked. As always, he wore a refreshing smile. He looked quite reliable. With the help of Theo, the fastest member in Blue Wing, finding her sister would be considerably easier.

Seo-erin slightly raised the corners of her lips.

“This isn’t just a simple case of running away, is it? Is your missing sword related to your sister’s disappearance?”

Flora asked. Among all the Blue Wing members, only she had noticed that one of Seo-erin’s swords was missing. Seo-erin nodded.

“I may not be of much help, but I’ll assist as much as I can.”

He was always a reliable senior. Although her rank was now higher than his, he was still one of the people she could trust completely. Seo-erin nodded in gratitude.

“Thank you.”

The four of them immediately filled out leave request forms on the spot. With the commander present, his authorization—the highest authority within Blue Wing headquarters—bypassed all the complicated intermediate processes.

“I’d like to mobilize all resting members, but I can’t deploy them for personal matters. Instead, I’ll give you a generous leave period. That’s the best I can do.”

“That’s more than enough.”

With those words, Seo-erin’s group immediately left the Blue Wing headquarters. Standing on the large avenue, Seo-erin closed her eyes and sniffed the air.

“What are you doing?”

“Tracking my sister’s scent.”

“Is that even possible…?”

There’s nothing surprising about it. Since it was an ability she had possessed since birth, Seo-erin disregarded others’ reactions.

“This way…”

Seo-erin headed toward a small park located behind the Blue Wing headquarters. Walking without hesitation, she stopped in the center of the park.

“This is…”

“The grass has died and turned black.”

Traces of sorcery. Seo-erin could sense her sister’s presence most strongly in this place. But where? Where had her sister disappeared to after this?

Seo-erin’s sharp gaze quickly scanned the surroundings.

Unfortunately, Seiran’s trail ended here. Both her scent mixed in the wind and the faint footprints had vanished.

“She must have used sorcery to move.”

“Really? Where could she have gone?”

In response to Flora’s question, Seo-erin first thought of her homeland. Perhaps her sister had returned there. After all, she herself occasionally felt a subtle longing for her homeland.

Her sister possessed remarkable abilities. With sorcery capable of traveling long distances, she would have moved forward without hesitation, regardless of her destination. Seo-erin pondered for a moment.

“She might have visited our homeland…”

“Really? Should we wait then?”

“…”

Waiting doesn’t suit her temperament. Seo-erin silently looked up at the sky. In that state, she asked Flora a question.

“What’s the maximum duration for leave?”

“Probably a week? I think that’s the maximum if extended… Don’t tell me you’re planning to go there?”

“A week is sufficient time.”

“Shall we depart right away?”

Seo-erin turned her head toward the question. It was Theo who had asked. As if ready to leave immediately, he was lightly stretching his body. Flora beside him was doing the same.

Only Reynard seemed hesitant.

“I’m sorry. I can’t be away for that long.”

“That’s fine.”

Not everyone has abundant time. Everyone has their own life to live. In the end, only the three of them decided to leave the Empire. Reynard said:

“I’ll inform the commander. I hope you find your sister and return safely.”

There would be no need to return to headquarters. They would be back in the Empire within a week. Seo-erin nodded and turned around. At the same moment, a fierce storm arose beneath her feet, and Seo-erin’s figure vanished.

The same happened with Flora and Theo. Almost simultaneously, the two disappeared, leaving only crackling lightning and slowly scattering black petals in their place.

Since they weren’t going to fight a reincarnator, there was no need to conserve energy. Seo-erin ran at full speed from the start, wrapped in wind. Her feet rarely touched the ground.

Following the wind rushing through the void, blue lightning and clusters of black petals approached rapidly. Their speed was overwhelmingly faster than riding horses. The three quickly left the Imperial territory and crossed the border.

“Tell me if you get tired. I’ll lend you my sword.”

They were moving at such speed that the scenery stretched into lines. In this state, only Seo-erin could speak, as Flora and Theo had no such luxury.

The two were already struggling just to keep up with Seo-erin’s pace. The moment they opened their mouths, their mana control would falter and their speed would drastically decrease.

Noticing this belatedly, Seo-erin spread her wind widely to envelop the two. It was the power of the wind spirit, clearing the path and pushing them from behind. Only then did their faces show some relief.

“Seo-erin. If we go to your homeland and your sister isn’t there… what will you do?”

“What else…”

I’ll search the entire world if I have to. Seo-erin swallowed the rest of her words.

It was on the third day after leaving the Empire that Seo-erin’s group arrived at the snow-covered mountain range. Standing at the summit, Seo-erin looked down through the fierce blizzard. Beyond the mountain lay a vast white snowfield.

Whooosh!

The fierce wind began to split. Centered on Seo-erin, the blizzard parted to the left and right as if avoiding her. Seo-erin said:

“Let’s go.”

The moment she kicked off the ground, a white storm whirled around. Seo-erin descended onto the white snowfield with her two friends. The range of Seo-erin’s detection field, Aseon, was incredibly vast. As soon as they arrived at the snowfield, her expanded field covered the entire area, searching for Seiran’s whereabouts.

‘Seiran…’

She couldn’t sense her sister’s presence even in their homeland. Then where on earth could she have gone?

Seo-erin silently moved forward. The trio advanced resolutely across the white snowfield.