When night passed and morning arrived, a great commotion broke out in Rohaiden, the City of Abundance.
“They’re all dead… They’re all dead!”
“Call the guards, hurry!”
The reason was that two corpses had been found in a hidden area of the Red Rose Inn, while dozens of grown men had died during the night.
“They’re moving around busily from first thing in the morning.”
Wirn watched the scene from a hill outside the city with Night Crow.
The first witness screamed, and not long afterward, the city guards came pouring toward the scene.
Then they recoiled in horror at the traces Wirn and Night Crow had left behind.
“The chances of us being discovered….”
“That won’t happen.”
Could they possibly realize who had done it?
Wirn had no such concern at all.
They were too busy searching for the evidence Wirn and Crow of Darkness had left behind.
Documents showing that the men concealing their identities had come under orders from the Empire, along with rings proving that they were knights, drew all their attention.
“There’s more than enough evidence to show that the Empire was behind it. Of course, they’ll deny that too… but one thing’s certain. Their plan has gone off track.”
Normally, those pieces of evidence could not have been revealed.
However, Wirn had once been an Imperial Hound, and he knew how to activate the Brand.
That was why he had been able to carefully draw out the various pieces of evidence they had carelessly left behind.
‘Good thing they weren’t meticulous bastards.’
These were the kinds of things that should originally have been disposed of entirely, but they had not done so.
They had been confident no one would ever attack them.
‘Well. If you think about it, they weren’t exactly wrong.’
It was arrogant, but not unreasonable.
Their lodging had been secured in secret, and although they had been drinking, every one of them knew how to wield a sword.
The problem was that their opponent had been Wirn, an Imperial Hound.
And on top of that, Crow of Darkness, a seasoned veteran of the assassination world, had been with him.
There was no way they could have survived.
Rustle.
With those thoughts, Wirn turned his head behind him.
“What’s your name?”
For the first time, he asked her name.
Even in his previous life, he had never heard her real name.
She had died before that could happen.
“…”
At Wirn’s question, her lips moved hesitantly.
Fake names used to conceal her identity were one thing, but she had never once revealed her true name.
“Isabushi. My name is Isabushi.”
“Isabushi?”
To Wirn, it was quite an unusual name.
“I came from far away.”
“Hmm.”
But he did not pry.
Even if it were a false name, it did not matter.
Rustle.
Instead of continuing the discussion about her name, Wirn took a sheet of paper from inside his clothes and handed it to her.
“This is where your brother is. I drew the route inside as well, so use it when you rescue him.”
“…”
Isabushi stared blankly at the paper Wirn held out.
“Do you doubt me?”
“No.”
She shook her head at the question that followed.
She had questioned his actions.
However, she did not think he was lying to her.
He had said he could swear on his Circle if she wanted.
“I won’t forget this favor.”
So she expressed her gratitude.
He had chosen to make a deal with her by helping her rescue her brother rather than taking him hostage.
“The contract isn’t over yet.”
“What?”
“The condition was to bring the Empire down completely, remember? You don’t seriously think what happened yesterday is enough to destroy the Empire, do you?”
At his answer, Isabushi stared at him in disbelief.
She had not realized he had meant that seriously.
No.
More precisely, she had thought he had been speaking metaphorically about what they had to do yesterday.
“…All right.”
But she did not complain that it was an unfair contract.
“If that’s what you want, I’ll do it.”
She simply said she would do as he wished.
“That’s more like it.”
Wirn smiled at her unhesitating answer.
“Then go on. There’s nothing more to see here anyway.”
He straightened his bent knees, raised both hands toward the sky, and stretched.
“…?”
Isabushi tilted her head at the sight.
“We never decided how I’m supposed to meet you when I come back.”
Since the contract was not over, she had assumed she would continue following Wirn.
To her, that was only natural.
“Just make a living on your own. If you do that, we’ll naturally meet again.”
“What…?”
His answer only doubled Isabushi’s bewilderment.
In all her life, she had never met a client who treated her like this.
“So make sure you rescue your brother first. Looks like the next part can’t move forward until then.”
“…All right.”
But what else could she do?
In their contractual relationship, Wirn was the one holding the upper hand.
In the end, she had no choice but to do as he said.
It was also true that she had to rescue her brother before she could help Wirn.
“Then I’ll be on my way. You shouldn’t stay here too long either.”
―HUM!
As soon as Wirn finished speaking, he set his Circle spinning.
Rustle….
The Darkness spread far away gathered around the tips of Wirn’s feet.
Tap!
With that, Wirn stepped past her and headed away.
“…”
Isabushi stared blankly at him.
Then she checked the paper he had given her.
Rustle.
Like Wirn, she quietly left the area as well.
***
Wirn left Rohaiden, the City of Abundance.
Then he set out on the journey back to the Daylin Family.
‘I haven’t been here in a long time either.’
But he did not return immediately.
Unlike when he had come, he stopped at a place that had absolutely nothing to do with the route back to the family.
“Snake Gorge….”
It was a gorge shaped exactly like a snake crawling along the ground.
“Still looks as eerie as ever.”
There was not a person in sight.
Not even a single ant.
But Wirn liked this place.
‘Thanks to that, no one comes here.’
Almost no one deliberately entered this gorge.
Even in his previous life, Wirn had never encountered another person here, so he could be certain of that.
Tap!
Wirn stopped in the middle of Snake Gorge.
Then he raised his head.
The rock walls on both sides stretched upward as though they intended to cover the sky, giving the place a truly imposing presence.
“The moon….”
Was it because the gorge was so secluded?
The moon above those walls shone clearly in Wirn’s eyes.
Looking at it brought back old memories for a moment.
There had been a time when he would spend short periods here after finishing missions.
‘I tried all sorts of things to break the Restriction.’
He could not say those had been good times.
He had come here to remove the leash the Emperor of the Empire had placed around his neck.
To break it, Wirn had tried all manner of things, beginning with stabbing himself with a blade.
‘And every single one failed.’
Yet despite all that, the Restriction never disappeared.
Instead, as though mocking Wirn, its power only grew stronger with each passing day.
Rustle.
Wirn stopped reminiscing and took the Subspace Pouch out from his robe.
Then he placed the stone inside it onto his palm.
‘Derius’s Stone.’
Derius’s Stone.
A stone containing the aura of a great mage, and one of the items that had allowed the Empire to advance its magic.
‘And now it’s in my hands.’
But not anymore.
Wirn had snatched away the very thing the Empire was supposed to obtain.
―HUM….
Wirn poured mana into Derius’s Stone.
Then the letters hidden inside the otherwise ordinary-looking stone revealed themselves.
‘The Emperor used this to tighten the leash around my neck.’
He knew those letters existed as well.
Of course he did.
Those damned things had been engraved into his body, strengthening the Restriction magic.
Even stripping away his skin had not made the letters disappear.
That was how powerful Derius’s Stone was.
‘Now it’s the opposite. I’ll use this to choke him instead.’
It was nothing short of an ironic fate.
This was a situation he could never have imagined in his previous life.
He had seized the Empire’s objective before they could and could now use it however he wished.
―HUUUM!
That was precisely why Wirn needed even greater power.
He had to complete his revenge.
HUM!
Wirn continued pouring mana into the stone.
The letters that had been glowing faintly now appeared in midair.
HUM… HUUUM!
At that moment, the Mark practically drooled at the letters.
It too was being drawn in by their energy.
“Want to eat them?”
It was like a chick pestering its mother to regurgitate food for it.
A smile appeared on Wirn’s lips at the sight.
“Well, what a shame.”
The thing had never expressed its desires this intensely before.
Rustle!
And this time, Wirn’s Darkness was one step faster, swallowing the letters first.
―HUUUM!
As Darkness swallowed the letters, the Mark on the back of his hand expressed its fury.
It shone at Wirn, who had snatched away its food.
“What do you want me to do about it?”
But Wirn was not frightened.
Nor did he spit the letters back out.
He had realized that although the Mark could devour other things, it could not devour him.
“Haa….”
So he ignored it and sat cross-legged on the ground.
Rustle!
Then he spread Darkness in every direction.
‘I’ll empty everything out!’
He spread it.
Then spread it farther.
As though it would continue forever, he filled the gorge with darkness.
Even in broad daylight, the very center of the gorge became as dark as night.
Using his single Circle and every one of his senses, Wirn drew out even the smallest handful of Darkness lurking at the very bottom of his Circle.
“Ugh….”
Once he had transformed the center of the gorge into a world of darkness, pain surged through his Circle, now completely drained of mana.
Even so, Wirn did not withdraw the Darkness.
“Arhen Invert. Durian Hermain….”
Instead, in that state, he recited the incantation that had once bound him.
Crackle… crackle!
At that moment, Derius’s energy burst from the letters swallowed by the darkness.
…RUMBLE!
Lightning flickered through the darkness Wirn had spread.
…!
And Derius’s power began to flow into his completely emptied Circle.