Joining (3)

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I have no intention of stopping this long amusement. Because I was this kind of person. Even though I’ve done quite a bit of self-reflection, the answer hasn’t changed. I’m a hopeless masochistic pervert. And unfortunately, that’s an eternal truth. You can tell just by the fact that I’m chasing pleasure with a trapdoor spider on my wrist right now.

• Keolkeong, keolkeong…

Looking out the window with hazy eyes, intoxicated by the poison, I see a huge fortress wall. At first, I thought I was seeing things. I even suspected that the poison was causing hallucinations.

But it wasn’t. That huge wall… a thick and massive fortress wall that rivals the Elves’ barrier existed as reality.

“It’s Parnium. It’s just like the Elves’ wall.”

“To plaster that much Parnium on a wall… it must have cost a fortune.”

Clearly, the fortress wall was just a rough cross-section of piled-up stones without any patterns, but the sunlight peeking through the gray falling snow, and the fog filled with the essence of dawn, added a natural pattern.

“It’s the same sunlight… no, the light is weaker than other places, but it feels particularly intense.”

Majestic.

This was the sunlight falling on the northernmost part of the Empire.

“Welcome to Leas, the city where the dawn dwells.”

Wise Seo says. I expressed my strong agreement with his words. Where the dawn dwells. There couldn’t be a more fitting expression.

“But enduring until this beautiful dawn arrives is not an easy task. This place is the northernmost part of the Empire… a cursed land beyond, where Demons reside. This place, Leas, is a true fortress wall. If you don’t want it to collapse, you need the resolve that comes with it.”

As he said, this place seemed more like a fortress than a city. It was still just a fortress wall, but I couldn’t feel any vitality beyond this thick wall. As I got closer, only the war-like atmosphere stimulated my body.

“Am I too late?”

I felt a bit late because I was dealing with the spider. Even if I told the coachman to trust me and dash, it was just a distant story for him. It was hard to get up to speed in a shrunken state.

Of course, we were the last ones. Shuriel was the last of the three agents to arrive.

It wasn’t like starting early meant arriving first, but while others were preparing, Shuriel and I were… well. I couldn’t bear to say it, we were enjoying perverted sex, so I couldn’t help but be aware of it.

• Kkieeek!

Just as I was feeling self-loathing from the embarrassment, and my body was about to heat up again from that self-loathing, the carriage stopped. The carriage, which stopped not far from the fortress gate, rolled a couple more times before coming to a complete stop.

“We’ve arrived.”

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Hard work? I should be repaying you.”

Wise Seo looked at me as if I was very admirable. He often lowered his head and trembled, thinking it was a side effect of using magic non-stop.

“Ah… yes. Well, thank you. Are you coming with us?”

I didn’t want to reveal the truth, so I quickly changed the subject.

“I have to go to my master right away, so I can’t accompany you.”

“Doesn’t the Frontier Count come to the temple?”

The place we were gathering was the temple. It was a temple that followed the rules of the Holy Willow Society. I thought the Frontier Count would be there too, but it seems that’s not the case.

“Hmm.”

Wise Seo nodded. He thought it was a reasonable question. He let out a deep sigh that felt like it had been building up for a long time and opened his mouth.

“The North has been at war for a long time. With monsters and Demons.”

“Does that spider that appeared this time count too?”

“Besides that, many more bastards cross over from beyond the Leas barrier. Nasty bastards.”

“Pawin and Prukaise should be there. Didn’t they help?”

There are agents who arrived earlier.

I asked this, and Shuriel answered.

“Protecting the barrier is the Frontier Count’s unique duty. No one should interfere.”

“Why?”

“The barrier is the Frontier Count. Interfering will only get in the way.”

“Huh?”

“You’ll understand when you see it. Let’s go.”

Shuriel said that and got out of the carriage. Towards the rough fortress gate that could be seen in the distance.

Wise Seo smiled contentedly, as if he liked Shuriel’s behavior.

“I’m glad she seems to know etiquette.”

What is this about?

I smiled bitterly and said.

“It seems like I’m the only one who doesn’t know.”

“I’m not good at talking, so it’s not easy to explain. You’ll meet him soon anyway, so I hope you can wait a little longer.”

Is it that he can’t say it, not that he doesn’t want to?

I nodded.

• Keolkeong.

I opened the door and got out of the carriage. Shuriel was already far away. She didn’t seem to be planning on waiting for me.

“Has an agent of Rusellini visited this place?”

“Well, I don’t know. Nobles often have secret meetings. Whatever it may be.”

It’s not his opinion.

Wise Seo denied, drawing a line.

“I understand. Let’s get going too.”

---

Have you ever had a vision where all things move according to your will? When you raise your arm, a tree rises, and when you take a step, the world shakes… This vision, which she had since she was a child, has not left her even now that she is an adult, and it tormented her.

Skadia Curseil Leas. She sat in a dark room, in a wheelchair, feeling the flames of the fireplace intensely, and closed her eyes.

When she closes her eyes, she can see it.

The vision from her childhood.

It was a power that was too much for a human body to bear, so she often woke up from her sleep. Not waking up startled like a nightmare, but her eyes opened on their own in a collapsing world. It was like her nature and spirit became one. It wasn’t pleasant.

• Knock knock.

Then, she heard a knock. Leas, who was feeling a sense of floating as she was consumed by the vision, pushed the broken world aside and said in a deeply sunken voice.

“Come in.”

• Kkieeek.

The one who opened the door and came in was Wise Seo, a giant knight clad in gray armor from head to toe.

“Ah, Wise Seo. My sword, my feet, my eyes. You came faster than I thought.”

“Umm. I can only apologize for not returning sooner.”

“It’s okay. Let’s move our seats.”

“Understood.”

• Kkirik.

Wise Seo, who turned around and grabbed the handle of the wheelchair, naturally headed to the terrace. Leas took in the increasingly cold air and exhaled a pure white breath.

“Wise Seo.”

“Speak, -hasoseo.”

“Shall we go outside for the first time in a while?”

“Yes? Go out, -isiyeo?”

Wise Seo frowned and asked back. How could someone who had trouble moving in a wheelchair go outside?

“You suffered a lot when you went out before.”

Wise Seo said with a troubled expression. It was only the other day that she caught a cold after going out because she wanted to see flowers. He couldn’t help but worry when he thought about his master suffering from a high fever at that time.

“That flower blooms once every seven years, Wise Seo. A cold is a trivial matter.”

“Is this matter worth seven years too?”

But if Leas asked, he would eventually grant it. Wise Seo and Leas both knew it. However, it had to be a reason that they could both understand.

Leas said to the stubborn but loyal knight.

“We can’t just stay still when a guest has arrived, can we?”

She could tell without looking. The agent of Rushellini and the magician of Lecante had come. The moment they crossed the fortress gate… a lightning-like pain struck her head.

‘It wasn’t this strong even when Pluton invaded the city.’

While Leas was recalling that feeling, Wise Seo said.

“There is no need for master to move. Just like the agents of Angrid and Prukaise did, they will come directly.”

“Uhh. No. Wise Seo. Can you put your hand in my pocket? There will be a wad of paper.”

“Master. How dare I-“

“Call me Skadia. Not master.”

“Ahem. Skadia.”

“Are you going to act like a greenhorn at your age? It’s okay, take it out quickly.”

Wise Seo sighed deeply and put his hand into the pocket attached to his pants.

“Um, um… yes, there. Right there.”

Leas giggled as she felt the rough touch brushing against her thigh. It was because she could feel the effort to avoid touching her skin as much as possible.

“Kkeueung.”

Wise Seo, who had admirably completed his mission without succumbing to his master’s mischievous pranks, looked at the paper he had taken out of his pocket.

“A letter?”

After checking the recipient and sender, Wise Seo asked back as if to say, “What is this?”

“What is this?”

“Read it. It’s related to the matter of going out.”

The letter… had the names of Shuriel Rusellini and Skadia Curseil Leas written on it.

Wise Seo raised his eyes slightly and looked at his master’s intentions, but Leas was just smiling brightly.

• Jjieeik!

Wise Seo tore off the sloppy seal that seemed to have been reattached and slowly read the contents. Then, he said with surprised eyes.

“You wrote a letter of recommendation for a noble title?”

“Yeah.”

“Did you go through discussions?”

“No. It’s my decision.”

“Kkeueung….”

Looking at the date, it was quite a while ago, so it was meaningless to argue. Wise Seo, who didn’t want to have a pointless argument with his master, immediately brought up the next topic.

“Are you going out right away?”

“Yeah. I should see the person I picked myself, shouldn’t I?”

• Deureureuk.

The wheels of the wheelchair roll. Before leaving the terrace, Leas took in the frozen land visible beyond the railing.

She heard that in ancient times, there was a green meadow in this land too. She doesn’t know how long ago it was… it’s like a myth passed down through generations. And whoever melts this frozen land will save the North, or so they say.

She doesn’t care much about the story now, but she sometimes thinks about it. What the North would look like if the snow melted.

“Hey, Wise Seo.”

It must be beautiful.

“Can we win?”

However, she probably won’t be able to see it.

“…….”

Kkirik kkirik. The sound of the wheelchair wheels rolling continues for a moment, and Wise Seo, who paused for a few seconds, opens his mouth.

“Do you regret it?”

“This is the Frontier Count’s duty-no. It’s fate. You know that too, right? How the previous Frontier Counts met their end.”

“Curseil-nim was a wonderful person.”

“Yeah. I have to become a wonderful person like my father too. So, cheer up.”

“….”

Haha, she laughs. Leas patted Wise Seo with the same smile as always.

“Let’s go quickly. I’ll catch a cold if I stay outside like this for too long.”

• Kkirik.

After moving for a long time, they arrived at a dead end. There should have been a door where they were, but there was nothing. But Wise Seo stood in front of it and silently waited for his master’s actions.

• Jiing…

At that moment, a blue light began to swirl in Leas’s eyes. At the same time, Mana gathered. Leas, sensing the Mana that surrounded her body-no, the entire city-reached out her hand.

“Open.”

With that one word.

The firmly built wall began to crack.

• Jjeojeojeok…

It wasn’t just the wall that cracked. The entire fortress split in half.

However, the split fortress returned to normal as if nothing had happened as soon as Leas went out. It moved like a single organism.

“Euheu. It’s cold outside after all.”

“Are you really not thinking of making a door? It’s not good to use your strength every time you go out.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s better than moving the entire fortress wall, right?”