Ch.9Omens of Civil War (5)

Ivan is a knight. Though he knows he can no longer be called a knight, he still considered himself one.

A knight is one who upholds honor and pride.

Ivan had lost his honor but not his pride, and though he had lost his right eye, one eye remained. Thus, Ivan was half a knight, and though one-eyed, he could still see light with his remaining eye.

Because he was not blind. And because he was a knight.

‘…Damn brat.’

Ivan had seen the radiance Najin created, and understood its value. It was an immense possibility. It was a brilliant light that shouldn’t be buried in this underground city, a flame that someone from the upper town would surely try to stamp out if they noticed it.

The radiance Najin possessed.

The potential Najin had shown.

It was something that shouldn’t emerge from this city where heretics who were treated like the cursed ones of Camlann had fallen.

So Ivan agonized.

What echoed in his ears was the conversation he had with Offen at last night’s drinking session. Kill him, or try to raise him. To be honest, killing would be the right choice.

The latter was a gamble. If it failed, it was obvious that not only Najin but his own head would be cut off. In Ivan’s standards, that was clearly an act of “crossing the line.”

Throb.

His lost right eye ached.

People should live as they are given. If one doesn’t know their place and crosses the line, they’ll only end up miserable. Ivan knew this better than anyone.

“Gouge out his eye.”

“Confiscate the masterpiece and drop him.”

“You are no longer a Knight of Atanga, Ivan.”

“You’re just a filthy heretic who dared reach for the stars.”

Because he had reached for something beyond his grasp and lost everything. Because he had been cast down into the underground where neither light nor stars could be seen.

‘I should kill him.’

People should live according to their place.

So it would be right to kill Najin, who would clearly become a risk factor, or at least make it so he could no longer hold a sword.

As the ruler of the underground city, that’s what he would say.

But as a knight, he offered a different answer.

Ivan, who as a knight once dreamed of reaching the pinnacle, once wished to hang his own star in the night sky. The knight who gazed at the high heavens and chased after stars tells him that before his eyes lies the dream he had missed.

The knight asks if he will trample that dream with his dirty feet. Ivan couldn’t answer that question.

“……”

Ivan remained silent.

After the silence, Ivan let out a long breath.

“I’m going crazy, really.”

……Ivan was a knight.

Still, he wanted to be a knight.

Ivan made his decision.

2.

“I’m going crazy, really.”

Ivan let out a hollow laugh.

Najin felt the pressure that had been choking him disappear. The atmosphere had changed in an instant. Ivan before him was letting out a chuckle as if in disbelief.

“Why did you have to have that, why did you have to show that…”

He ran his palm over his face.

With a long sigh, Ivan looked at Najin. Eyes filled with hesitation. After some time had passed, Ivan opened his mouth as if having made a decision.

“Najin.”

“…What?”

Breathless, Najin couldn’t answer properly.

Knowing he had nearly died, Najin’s gaze toward Ivan was filled with fear. At the same time, there was also curiosity about the light that had dwelled in his sword.

Eyes mixed with curiosity and fear.

Meeting that gaze, Ivan said:

“Today I’m going to infiltrate Offen and Horse’s territory. I’ll be away for a short time, two days, or a long time, three to four days…”

Ivan unfastened the sword at his waist.

The two swords he always carried. One was a knight’s sword brought from the upper town, and the other was a masterpiece created by the underground city’s blacksmith, Old Man Hogel.

Of these, Ivan handed Hogel’s masterpiece to Najin. Najin took the sword without understanding why.

“During that time, you guard my place. If anyone gives you trouble while I’m gone, cut them down with that. The fact that I’ve entrusted you with that sword is proof that you’re my proxy.”

That’s what Ivan said as he handed over the sword.

“And.”

Ivan curled up the corner of his mouth.

“When I return, I’ll teach you how to handle sword energy.”

What he had been putting off all this time.

Najin blinked at Ivan’s words that he would teach him that.

“You look like you don’t believe me at all.”

“Didn’t I almost die just now? Honestly, I’m afraid you might kill me under the pretext of teaching me.”

“Hey, do I look like such a brute to you?”

Najin nodded.

Ivan smiled bitterly. Well, I can’t deny that.

“You may not believe it, but I wasn’t planning to kill you. I was thinking of maybe giving you another scar on your shoulder if you didn’t react there.”

“You’re a complete trash.”

“There’s a greater purpose behind it, you damn brat.”

Seeing Najin still looking at him with suspicious eyes, Ivan let out a long breath.

“Well, it’s natural that you can’t trust me. So, I’ll stake something you can believe in.”

“What?”

“What else? The heaviest thing I can stake.”

The remaining sword at his waist.

Though the emblem of Atanga had been erased, it was the sword that symbolized Ivan as a knight, like his other half. The moment he placed his hand on the hilt, Ivan’s demeanor changed.

“I swear on the pride of Ivan, Knight of Atanga.”

Not as One-eyed Ivan, the ruler of the underground city.

But as Ivan, Knight of Atanga, he spoke.

“This is a deal, Najin.”

A proposal and deal offered with the acknowledgment that the other party stands as an equal.

“From now on, I’m going to invest in you. Not just stopping at drawing out sword energy, I’ll teach you everything I have.”

The radiance you just showed.

I’ll stake everything I have on that light.

“So, you must climb higher than me.”

Not just stopping at Sword Expert.

Reach the next level.

Reach where I couldn’t reach.

“Climb up, and help me reclaim what I left in that damn upper town. I mean become strong enough to negotiate with the upper town.”

“…What did you leave in the upper town?”

“Honor.”

What a knight should have along with pride.

“The title of Knight of Atanga, and the honor of once having been a knight who chased after stars.”

He extended his hand to Najin.

Without adding any further words, that gesture was the proposal Ivan was offering.

“……”

Najin hesitated for a moment.

At the end of his hesitation, he grasped the hand Ivan had extended. Ivan, who pulled Najin up with a jerk, smiled.

“From today, you are my squire.”

Squire, an apprentice knight.

“The squire of Ivan, Knight of Atanga.”

3.

Ivan’s office.

In place of the absent Ivan, Najin was guarding the office. Sitting in the chair where Ivan usually sat, Najin muttered blankly.

“What is this.”

Tap tap. Tapping the table with his index finger, Najin tilted his head. He couldn’t understand what was happening.

‘What is this, really.’

What came to mind was what had happened a few hours ago.

Najin reflected on his duel with Ivan. Come to think of it, it was a bit strange that he had asked for a duel in the first place.

‘And unlike usual, he even brought an iron sword.’

Iron sword and physical enhancement with mana. Not stopping there, he even used sword energy in the end. When Ivan swung his sword wrapped in sword energy, Najin truly sensed death.

‘And then…’

His body moved on its own.

Reflexively, instinctively, his body moved and light gathered on the blade. Even though Najin was ignorant about mana and sword energy, he wasn’t unaware of what had formed on his sword in that fleeting moment.

‘Light. Mana. A fragment of sword energy.’

Evidence of a warrior who has reached the level of Expert.

So had he reached the level of Expert? That didn’t seem right. Najin gripped the sword placed on the table and clenched his fist tightly.

The sword energy didn’t emerge. Tsk. Clicking his tongue, Najin recalled the moment when light had dwelled in the sword.

Something had pushed him from behind, and the feeling of weakness in his body when the light formed. He tried to recall that series of actions performed by instinct… but he couldn’t understand how it had been possible.

“It feels like I was dreaming.”

But the pain remaining in his palm and body. That dull pain proved that he hadn’t been dreaming.

So did I really draw out sword energy?

How, without even learning mana cultivation methods? In this underground city, the only ones who could answer that would be Ivan and Offen, but unfortunately, both had left for Horse’s territory.

“…I’ll ask when they return, I guess.”

Because now he could ask.

Before leaving, Ivan had clearly said. When he returns from Horse’s territory, he would tell him everything about sword energy and mana. That was knowledge Najin had craved for years.

Craved, wanted to learn, but Ivan had never taught him. Saying it was too early for him, avoiding answers, and warning him to stop when he asked deeply.

“When I return, I’ll teach you. How to handle sword energy.”

Ivan had suddenly said he would teach him about those things. Najin couldn’t understand Ivan’s thoughts, who seemed to want to kill him one moment, then completely changed his attitude the next…

But one thing he could understand.

‘That Ivan is sincere.’

That he would teach him sword energy.

He could be certain that Ivan hadn’t spoken those words lightly.

“I swear on the pride of Ivan, Knight of Atanga.”

Because Ivan had staked his pride on it.

The words Ivan had spoken along with Atanga and pride were always kept.

‘Without a single exception.’

That was the weight of Atanga, the weight of Ivan’s words as a knight, and the weight of the past that the one-eyed knight had not yet abandoned. Of course, Najin didn’t know that much. He just knew that when Ivan mentioned Atanga, it was somehow kept.

‘Anyway, what’s important is…’

That he could learn from now on.

‘Learn what?’

With a slight smile, Najin muttered.

“Mana, sword energy, proper swordsmanship.”

What he would be able to learn from now on.

Those were special things that couldn’t be obtained in this underground city. Things that had been placed outside the line Ivan had drawn, things he couldn’t dare to covet.

And, they were…

Also things that appeared in the fairy tale book Najin always carried. In the descriptions of King Arthur and the knights who followed Arthur, “brilliant sword energy” was never missing. Recalling that description, Najin smiled.

Though the stars were still not visible.

He felt a little closer to the stars.

“The squire of Ivan, Knight of Atanga.”

A knight’s squire, an apprentice knight.

Not Ivan’s hound, but a squire.

Savoring the resonance created by that word, Najin caressed the sword placed on the table.

It was quite a nice resonance.

* * *

“Ivan took the bait.”

Underground tunnel connected to the mining site.

In the office located at the deepest part of the tunnel, Earth Spider Horse opened his mouth. It wasn’t a soliloquy. There was someone listening to his voice.

“Give me what you promised.”

“I’ll give it to you without you nagging.”

A woman sitting on Horse’s desk. She snickered and threw a drug packet in front of Horse. Horse tore the packet with trembling hands and poured the contents into his mouth.

Only then did the trembling in his hands stop.

Horse took a deep breath and glared at the woman looking down at him. A madwoman whose thoughts were impossible to understand. Glaring at her, Horse said:

“What are you planning to do from now on?”

“Why do you need to know? You don’t need to know. Just do what you’re told well.”

She rested her chin on her hand and snickered.

“By the way, your first leg, Arnold, ran away. Did you tell him to?”

“…I wasn’t involved.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter. We’ve lured Ivan out anyway.”

“What are you going to do with Arnold?”

“What else? Since he broke the rules…”

She extended her hand and pointed to a corner of the office. There were Horse’s organization members slumped in iron cages.

“He’ll end up like them.”

The woman flicked her hand.

A buzzing sound echoed. Immediately, the body of one organization member began to swell. Watching this, Horse silently closed his eyes.

Blood and flesh splattering.

Ah, aah… weak moans echoing.

Amidst the noises echoing in the office, Horse gritted his teeth.