episode_0008

Rinde and I returned to the mansion and sat facing each other at the dining table.

“What do you plan to do?”

On the table, there were steaming hot potatoes, milk, and boiled eggs, but no one reached for a fork.

“…”

Rinde couldn’t answer immediately.

“I was planning to ask you later, but… why did you come to this city?”

The reason people gather in the Labyrinth City is simple.

It’s because through the mana stones that come out of the Labyrinth, anyone can earn money.

However, Rinde didn’t seem like the type to come just for money.

“I need mana stones. I’ve wanted to come to the Labyrinth City for a long time, but access has only been allowed recently…”

“What do you plan to use the mana stones for?”

“To use in a large-scale ritual…”

“What kind of ritual?”

“To find… the Eboni tribe. To be able to survey the entire continent, we need a lot of mana stones…”

“You want to survey the entire continent? To find the Eboni tribe?”

“Yes.”

“Are you planning to establish a country with the Eboni tribe?”

“I haven’t thought that far. I just… want to gather my kin.”

“Hmm… It’s fortunate that I found out now.”

“How so?”

“If you were really planning something like that…”

I picked up a fork and stabbed the potato deeply.

“I might have had to kill you.”

“…Me?”

Rinde looked at me with a puzzled expression, realizing the meaning of my words a beat late.

“If you had done something like that, it would have surely caused chaos at the Tower. It would have attracted a lot of attention.”

“T-That’s…”

“Undoubtedly, someone aiming for the Eboni tribe would have appeared too.”

“…”

“You must know as well. What our Eboni tribe went through in the past. Oh… by the way, how old are you?”

“Well… I’m not exactly sure…”

“Give me an estimate.”

“Oh, I’m a little over fifty…”

“I am five hundred and twenty-seven.”

“…!”

Our Eboni tribe has a long lifespan.

Eboni first appeared in this world approximately five hundred years ago.

And I have never heard of an Eboni dying of old age yet.

“I’ve closely observed what happened at Batori Castle.”

“B-Batori…!”

The massacre incident at Batori Castle.

A famous story that occurred about three hundred years ago.

Until then, all of us Eboni lived in the same village.

To put it simply, unless something special happened, we couldn’t leave that village.

We were all heroes from another world that the goddess had summoned at great cost.

Or should I say, foreign laborers brought in at a high price?

Anyway, the Batori noble family, deeply connected to the temple faction, managed the village where we lived.

We were adapting and living in this world in various ways, but everything changed after that incident three hundred years ago.

In short, the lady of the Batori family at that time went mad with immortality and killed most of us Eboni.

She believed there was a secret in our blood related to immortality, so she drank our blood or bathed in it.

“My neck.”

I lightly tapped my neck with the fork.

“Yes?”

“A hole was pierced in this neck, and a small pipe was inserted. So that blood could be drawn out anytime.”

“Eek…!”

“The more one possesses, the more they fear losing. That’s what wealthy old folks say.”

There is a long history of schemes to sacrifice others to overcome death.

When the Batori incident was exposed to the world and only a few of us Eboni survived, many people came looking for us.

And among those who survived that hell, there were plenty of relentless individuals asking us where the blood left by Batori was.

At that time, I got so fed up that I bit off the ears of those nobles or lords and cut them off.

“…This story isn’t important. Anyway, what matters is the talk. You must not draw attention as an Ebonykin. Did your parents not teach you that? What’s the name of the person among your parents who is an Ebonykin?”

“Sangcheol.”

“Sangcheol… Yu Sangcheol?”

“Oh, do you know him?”

“How can you not know the names of the surviving Ebonykin in Batori?”

“Oh…”

He was a guy with strong attachment and nostalgia for his hometown to the extent of sticking to the names used in Korea.

“Still, he got married. I didn’t hear any news since we drifted apart after that incident… How’s Sangcheol doing these days?”

“…He passed away.”

“…How did it happen?”

“He… he did it himself…”

“Did he leave any last words?”

“He said he was going back to his hometown…”

“…What a fool.”

Dragged into this world against his will, there’s no guarantee that going back means death.

He was someone who held on to the idea of returning to his homeland even at Batori Castle.

But still, like that…

“Sigh… Let me know where he was buried later.”

“Okay…”

“Anyway, things turned out this way… Oh, right. Anyway, Krisha is looking for you, saying she’ll come here to find you?”

“W-what?! Why…!”

“Well, because your purpose is dangerous. I told you earlier. We Ebonykin must not attract attention.”

“But now that the Batori incident…”

“Just because it’s not happening again, who guarantees that?”

“That’s…”

Three hundred years have passed since the massacre at Batori Castle.

Yet.

If you forget.

It keeps coming back.

The things that happened back then.

“…”

“…”

A brief awkward silence settled between them.

“Oh, my father… He never considered this world as his homeland…”

“…So?”

“If we had more of our kind… maybe things would have been different… maybe he wouldn’t have gone back…”

“So you wanted to increase our kind? Are you in your right mind?”

I furrowed my brow.

“We are the weak ones. In a weak position, some may be tempted. It’s a damn nuisance. So hiding is the right thing to do. No matter how frustrating it is, hide, don’t stand out.”

“I-if we become stronger… by increasing our numbers…!”

“What?”

“I mean, if we multiply… and join forces…!”

“I can’t listen to this anymore.”

I dropped the fork and stood up.

“I’m going to tell them you’re here right now. Go back to Brigallo. Krisha probably came to take you.”

“N-no! I won’t go back!”

“…”

I glared at her.

Though Linde always seemed timid, there was no sign of backing down.

She’s being troublesome.

I swept the table between us.

“Ack!”

As Linde screamed in surprise, I lunged forward and tackled her, knocking her over.

“Listen to me.”

“N-no!”

In that moment, a strong impact hit my stomach, and my vision flipped.

“…!?”

What just happened?

Did I fly backward?

Shaking my head, I regained consciousness.

Linde sat hunched over, reaching out towards me.

On her palm, a light-made magical rune was slowly disappearing.

Magic.

So she was a witch.

And one who had cut off a dragon’s breath.

I underestimated her.

“I-I am! I’m going to gather a lot of magic stones here and take them! Then I’ll find all our kind in the world! And… and…!”

“Just because of that, Sangcheol won’t come back!”

“I know that! But still! Still!!”

A single tear rolled down Linde’s cheek.

Yet her gaze felt stronger than ever.

“I won’t give up like you!”

A powerful storm emanated from Linde’s body.

It wasn’t really wind blowing.

Tremendous magic, simple mana that hadn’t even formed into a spell, possessed physical force and raged.

“H-Hey! Wait…!”

Magic began to converge around her.

Whatever it is, it’s certain that extremely dangerous magic is coming.

I frantically rummaged through my pockets and threw what I found into the air.

A fist-sized pouch flew and struck Rinde’s face.

“Ouch!”

With a thud, Rinde spat blood and fell backward.

Simultaneously, the surging magic lost its way and shot upward like a fountain.

Filled with intense heat and power, it emitted light, piercing through the ceiling.

It was as if a dragon soaring into the sky.

The column of heat and light continued for a few seconds before disappearing.

“…”

In the chaotic mess of the dining room, I stood dazed for a moment.

Then I turned my head towards where Rinde had fallen.

Rinde lay on the ground, bleeding from her nose, tears mixing with blood, her face a mess of wounds.

I got up and walked over to her, looking down at her.

“…Sigh.”

Her delicate face was now a mess of blood, tears, and injuries.

“Waaah! Why… why is this happening to me?! My mother… my mother died before me… Father too, after Mother died, he changed…”

Was that how it happened…

Evonix have short lifespans.

Even though Rinde was over fifty, in this world, a normal human would die at that age naturally.

The reason I don’t get married is because of that.

Wives, children, they will all die before me.

Even with Evonix blood, my lifespan might be longer, but still not as long as purebloods.

This fact has already been proven by long-lived races like elves.

“You know…”

I sat down next to Rinde.

“At your age, you should be more mature.”

“…”

Rinde couldn’t say anything, only sobbing.

“Sigh… Do you have somewhere to go back to?”

She shook her head.

Her father and mother were dead.

Her mother’s relatives are probably old or already dead.

“…If you promise not to do anything reckless, you can stay at my place.”

“…”

“If Sangcheol sees your face, he won’t refuse.”

“See my face? There are no pictures…”

“Heh.”

I chuckled unintentionally.

“Ahaha, hahaha!”

Of the Evonix who survived in Batori Castle, there were only seven left.

But they all survived only by a thread, their minds all affected.

We scattered to forget as much as possible about that day.

Talking about Sangcheol and our hometown while imprisoned next to him was the best way to hold onto sanity.

Where did you serve in the military, where did you graduate from university, and what was your profession?

…Until then, I remembered most of those things.

Now, I can’t even remember my original name.

My age of 527 is probably wrong.

It’s likely more than that.

Guard Captain Marco, whom I taught swordsmanship in his puppy days, is now bigger than me.

Rebart from the Inn Guild ran away from home when he didn’t want to study, sneaking into this mansion for the first time we met.

Most of the adventurers who jointly owned this mansion retired due to old age.

“Haha, ha… sigh…”

Suddenly, everything felt desolate.

How long has it been since I felt this way…

“My nose is bleeding. Wipe my face.”

I handed Rinde the crumpled cloth beside me.

“Thank… you…”

Rinde wiped her face with it.

Now I noticed it wasn’t just any cloth, but the coin purse I threw earlier.

Coins that had fallen near Rinde’s head were also visible.

As I reached out to pick them up, someone stepped on my hand before I could touch the coins.