Ch.85Prayer, I beseech thee

# 1.

The Guardian of the Empire, Balkan.

An indomitable guardian who never retreats, always showing only his steadfast back.

The man who had withstood countless demons without shedding a single drop of blood,

“…Ian.”

Shed tears while honoring his comrade who had saved him before vanishing into nothingness.

It was a tremendous shock to the mercenaries who were watching Balkan.

And rightfully so—wasn’t the man before them the hero of <Light>, Balkan Gardner?

The hero who had always walked on flower paths unlike themselves who wallowed in the mud, now experiencing the same despair and frustration as them.

“I know!! There’s no need to blame the Black Wolf!! Ian died because I was weak, because I was this incompetent and foolish!!”

Even the way he found fault in himself rather than blaming the overwhelmingly powerful enemy,

“Because I’m such an idiot…!! Because I’m weak, so weak that I can’t even take revenge as I wish!! That’s why I need you all!!”

The way he humbled himself while desperately asking for help.

“The pain of losing a comrade… we mercenaries know it best, don’t we?”

It was a pain and sorrow that resonated deeply with the mercenaries.

“…Damn it, I’ll help.”

“…I’ll pitch in too.”

“Yeah, it’s not like it’s free, he’s paying us, right?”

“Well, you’ve given us face, it’d be rude to refuse, Mr. Golden Dragon.”

Rumble, rumble.

In the end, most of the mercenaries approached Balkan, offering their help.

“Stop crying and get up.”

“…I…”

“No more words, just get up. The only time you’re allowed to shed tears is after you’ve completed your revenge.”

“…!!”

Balkan’s eyes sparkled once more.

The most irritable mercenary, looking somewhat embarrassed, rubbed his nose and extended his hand.

“Let’s go, Mr. Hero. For revenge.”

The heated gazes exchanged between men.

Balkan grabbed that hand firmly and rose to his feet with a determined expression.

“You are truly real men.”

Whoosh!

A warm embrace!

“H-hmph, you’re quite impressive… I guess.”

Awkward acknowledgment!

Just watching it made one’s heart burn—the strong friendship between men!

“…Crazy bastards.”

“Yes, Captain?”

“Nothing. Let’s go back, Dalan.”

“Yes, Captain.”

At any rate, having discovered <Light>’s movements,

‘The rest of the Light members must be sane, right?’

Nahan returned to the hideout where his members were gathered to plan their next move.

# 2.

Crash!

A glass plate shattered in the large, silent room with blackout curtains.

The untouched snacks that had been on it rolled beside the glass fragments.

The cause was Light’s Marine Blue.

“Why did he…!!”

Three days had passed since Ian’s death, but she still couldn’t escape the shock.

No,

“Be quiet, Marine.”

“You shut up, Selena.”

“…Try me.”

“Both of you, please stop… please.”

The women of Light still couldn’t escape the shock.

Asha perched on a chair,

Marine slumped on the bed,

Selena sitting in the corner.

After Ian’s death, they had begun blaming each other for failing to protect him.

“If you want.”

“Go ahead and try.”

“Please!! Both of you, please…!!”

Just as the atmosphere was about to explode, the door opened and Balkan returned.

“That’s enough.”

He immediately assessed the situation and tried to calm them down, but Selena still kept her edge.

“What if I don’t?”

“…Selena.”

“Shut up. The one who killed the priest was—”

Whoosh.

Balkan silently embraced Selena.

“You’re right, it’s my fault.”

He truly believed that.

Regardless of how it happened, the fact remained that Ian had thrown away his life to protect him.

“Blame me if you want, hit me if you want. If that doesn’t satisfy your anger, you can expel me from Light or strip me of my hero title. But…”

Numerous documents fell from Balkan’s tightly clenched hand.

They were signatures from countless mercenaries, gathered for the subjugation of the <Black Wolf>.

When the three women realized what they were, Balkan added, swallowing his tears:

“Until I complete Ian’s revenge, I want to remain here as a member of Light.”

What a foolish man.

No.

Balkan, the foolish man.

Unlike the women who could hide their true feelings, Balkan’s words were always sincere.

“…Balkan, you idiot.”

Thump, thump.

Thud.

Selena swung her fists at Balkan, who truly believed it was his fault.

“That’s not it…”

“…I’m sorry, Selena. I’m truly sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean.”

Only Balkan didn’t know.

The women of Light weren’t sharply turning against each other because they truly blamed one another.

Rather,

“It’s not your fault, you idiot…”

Because each of them considered themselves the greatest contributor to Ian’s death,

“Not because of you…”

They were blaming each other to avoid facing their uncomfortable truth.

“It’s because of me.”

“…Selena.”

“Being overconfident in my ability to assess the situation, I noticed the priest’s intervention too late…”

She finally burst into tears that she had been holding back.

Seeing Selena like this, Marine, who had been wearing an angry expression, followed suit.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re right that you’re too weak to do anything. When a situation befalls Light, responding immediately is my job.”

She was composed.

Though she had grown quite thin from not having eaten properly for days, let alone her favorite snacks,

“Ian’s death is mostly my fault for not being able to do anything against the Black Wolf.”

Marine’s expression as she said this was clearer than ever before.

“……”

Asha simply remained silent.

While everyone was claiming it was their fault, only she kept her mouth shut.

It was too heavy for her.

Although her teammates were blaming themselves, she was ultimately the leader of Light.

“……”

The guilt she felt was incomparably greater than that of the other Light members.

But Asha didn’t remain still.

She carefully moved her thin body to pick up the papers Balkan had dropped, and examined the documents with her still expressionless face.

Flutter, flutter.

Rustle…

The sound of turning pages in the silence.

The team members who had been frozen for a long time gradually gathered around Asha.

When all team members were finally seated at the round table, Asha muttered briefly.

“For now… for now, let’s not cry. We’ll finish crying on the day we complete our revenge.”

Her voice carried a coldness that went beyond indifference to the point of being concerning.

Understanding her feelings, her teammates finally regained their composure and nodded.

Until Light’s subjugation of the Black Wolf,

**[Bad Ending 10 – “Dissolution of Light” has been prevented.]**

One week remaining.

# 3.

Nahan was perplexed.

**[Bad Ending 10 – “Dissolution of Light” has been prevented.]**

A bad ending had been prevented without him doing anything.

“Why suddenly…?”

This had happened before.

When he had scolded his members to clean the house properly, they had misinterpreted his words and prevented a bad ending by cleaning up trash.

“…Did I order something?”

He thought about it briefly but couldn’t recall anything.

The last order he had given was “Take the day off and rest well today.”

These people followed even the strangest orders to the letter, so they wouldn’t have acted on their own.

“Hmm…”

After pondering the cause for a while, Nahan finally came up with a reasonable answer.

“Thinking about it won’t change anything, so I might as well just accept it and enjoy it.”

They always work hard, so it’s fine to have a freebie like this.

With that thought, Nahan shifted his gaze to the newly appeared system window.

**[You have prevented 10 Bad Endings!]**

**[All restricted abilities will now be unlocked!]**

“…Sweet.”

This was the moment he had been waiting for since his possession—regaining all of Black Wolf’s abilities.

He immediately pushed the system window aside and was about to check the system window containing Black Wolf’s information—

“Oh Lord.”

‘Holy shit, you scared me!’

Nahan barely swallowed the curse that was about to escape and turned his head toward the door.

Standing there was a dark-haired young man with a faint smile.

Pretending he had been stretching, Nahan naturally met his eyes.

“What is it, Pedro?”

“Well…”

Taking this as permission, Pedro walked in naturally and knelt before me, clasping his hands.

“I have a prayer to offer.”

“Report.”

“A prayer, my Lord.”

Eyes flashing ominously.

“…Fine, go ahead.”

“Yes, my Lord. Ahem, ahem. Since the Lord has permitted, please come in, sister.”

“Heeeek…!!”

No sooner had Pedro finished speaking than Yuria slunk in through the open door.

“Hek, heek…”

On her knees with hands clasped in prayer, slinking forward.

“Just… a moment…!! Please… wait…!!”

“…A posture of atonement. Very pleasing to see.”

“Thank… you…!! Senior Punisher…!!”

These lunatics.

After catching her breath from whatever antics she had pulled just to get to my room, Yuria finally spoke with a bright face.

“We’ve been discovered by Light.”

“? What do you—”

CRASH!!!

“Come out, Black Wolf!!! We’ve come to avenge our friend, Ian Red!!!!”

…I really want to go home.