In any case, now that he had barely managed to clear the surroundings, this was one of the few moments they could talk, so it was better to do it now. The spirit guardian lowered his gaze.
[I am…]
The spirit guardian hated Death. Before, now, and probably in the future too. And not just because of the actions that sought to force him to reveal his identity.
[I was a hero without honor.]
Death was the one who had taken everything from him.
…Yes, everything. Because of that, he had become a powerless being who could only sit and watch.
[Despite having occupied the place coveted by those ‘hero candidates’ who were never acknowledged.]
Fame built upon sins is still fame, and glory accumulated illegitimately is still glory. Karma and achievements write the same character.
The spirit guardian, stripped of all that, was nothing more than a mere mortal.
And to top it off, the intermediary of that tragedy was none other than the child he loved most.
The story of his past was bitter and had nothing to be proud of, so what did Death gain by digging into those old wounds?
‘What are you plotting, Death?’
The spirit guardian’s face grew cold.
But his trip down memory lane was brief. With a slight click of his tongue, he spat out the bitterness and refocused on the present.
Death’s intention, not being urgent, could be dealt with later. For now, he had to focus on the clue he had revealed.
‘With the information he has gathered from our conversations, this should be enough for him to figure it out.’
A hero without honor from the Mythical Era, when heroes and demon lords still existed.
That was all the information he could offer. Adding it to everything they had accumulated over time, Raven should be able to deduce it.
And just as expected, Raven widened his eyes.
“You’re going to say it… so clearly?”
[……I have no alternative.]
The consequence of losing the bet with Death was that the end of his days was set, and that end would not be rest, but eternal suffering.
While he wished for the child to win his bet against Death, the spirit guardian had no choice but to help him.
[Because I am your spirit guardian.]
“…….”
Then why?
Why must it be ‘my’ spirit guardian? Raven frowned at that incomprehensible answer.
“…If you wanted to earn my trust, you should have told me something else.”
[…….]
“Well, I get it. Thanks.”
Even though it was very important and necessary information, what Raven truly wanted was to know why the spirit guardian was so devoted to him.
…But even if he asked, he knew he wouldn’t get an answer.
He was used to it.
Besides, the goal of this conversation had always been to obtain clues about the ‘spirit guardian’s name.’
Raven set aside the unanswered questions and redirected his thoughts.
Or at least, he tried to, until…
[……My time.]
The spirit guardian spoke again.
[It flows together with yours.]
“……”
[When your time stops, mine will stop too.]
Words that shattered the premise that the time of the dead does not flow. But Raven reacted with indifference.
“I thought you’d say something weird… but well, that’s logical.”
[…….]
“You’re my ‘spiritual fragment’, after all.”
There was a moment of silence as if the spirit guardian had been left speechless. Then, he tried to explain again.
[I didn’t mean it quite like that…]
“I know. You just wanted to tell me you won’t harm me.”
But that wasn’t really an answer.
And he knew it too.
Those words only avoided touching the real core of the matter.
Still, now that they had barely managed to reconcile, Raven decided not to press it.
Instead, he let out a small smile and changed the subject.
“No need to worry about things like that.”
[…….]
“More importantly… you said you occupied a place that unrecognized heroes coveted, right?”
The conversation, which had been meandering, returned to its original point.
Knowing that insisting wouldn’t bring useful answers, Raven focused his mind on the clue he had obtained.
The situation was strange, but he couldn’t waste such a valuable hint.
‘……Was he perhaps an officially recognized hero?’
Normally, people aspire to the highest positions. If it was a place coveted by unrecognized heroes, it had to be the highest, a nationally acknowledged position, not something from just any organization.
And yet, he was stripped of his honor. That narrowed the possibilities greatly.
‘Maybe I’ll find it faster than I thought.’
He had feared it would turn out to be one of the countless forgotten heroes of the Mythical Era, but now the search range had drastically shrunk. If he couldn’t deduce it himself, he would just have to ask an information network.
Just as he was thinking that…
“Cough—.”
[……!]
“Uh… cough, why…?”
Suddenly, Raven grabbed his chest and collapsed to his knees.
It felt like someone was crushing his heart, and he began to cough up blood uncontrollably.
More than pain, he felt confusion at his own condition, and his eyes opened wide as he tilted his head to spit out the blood.
Naturally, the spirit guardian who was watching all of it stood up in alarm.
‘……Why?’
He hadn’t intervened directly, so why this sudden reaction?
Had he said too much?
Had he lent him his vision for too long?
Or perhaps…?
“Well.”
“……”
“I said I’d only give you one clue.”
──Was it forbidden to add even a single comment to the clue?
A chilling aura spread in the air.
The spirit guardian placed his hand on the hilt of his sword and turned only his eyes to glare menacingly at the intruder.
“……This is my space, Death.”
“There is no place in this world I cannot go. Much less the space of a mere spirit.”
“……”
He gripped the sword tightly.
The spirit guardian clenched his teeth in silence. Death, seeing that, curved his lips slightly.
“What’s wrong? Would you like to cut me down?”
“……Of course not.”
The difference between Death and the spirit guardian was like that between the sky and the earth.
If the spirit guardian had been stronger than Death, there would already be countless immortals roaming the land.
The spirit guardian knew very well that he couldn’t even graze a single hair of Death.
And more importantly.
“That’s right. You should watch your behavior. Your sins aren’t yours alone, are they?”
“……”
The hand, having lost its strength, slid from the sword hilt.
Death chuckled softly, mockingly, as he crossed his arms and leaned casually, watching the spirit guardian with a curious gaze.
“Then why don’t you try giving me an excuse?”
An excuse for having broken the rules of the bet.
“You gave that brat two clues.”
[He was a hero without honor.]
[Despite having occupied a position coveted by ‘hero candidates’ who were never recognized.]
“Thanks to that, he significantly reduced the list of people to investigate. You may think you merely added a clarification to the original hint, but the fact that he could make use of that information makes it a second clue.”
“……”
“Do you have anything to say about that?”
The spirit guardian didn’t immediately open his mouth.
He simply stared fixedly at Death.
‘Why does he want to hear an excuse now?’
If a rule had been broken, it was broken. Death wasn’t known for showing leniency in these matters.
This could only mean one thing…
‘There’s a way out.’
An opportunity to reinterpret the situation. If there were no room for interpretation, Death wouldn’t even allow this conversation.
Quickly organizing his thoughts, the spirit guardian glanced briefly at Raven, who looked half-dead, and finally spoke.
“The criteria for ‘one hint’ was ambiguous. It wasn’t clear whether I could add related comments to the given hint, or to what extent.”
“Then you should’ve refrained from saying more, to be safe.”
“It wouldn’t have been appropriate to ‘hold back’ in a bet where life and the soul after death are at stake.
Isn’t my role to fight to the utmost without breaking the rules?”
An unreadable smile appeared on Death’s lips. It wasn’t a pleasant smile, and the spirit guardian frowned slightly as he continued:
With each word, his thoughts became clearer.
“Moreover, the price for breaking that rule was never explicitly stated.
In fact, it wasn’t even mentioned that there would be consequences.”
The boy’s current condition was arbitrarily imposed. Thus, the lack of precision was the fault of the convener, not the participant.
“There’s no reason that boy should suffer for your negligence.”
“……”
“Cancel it now.”
The spirit guardian bared his teeth as he said it.
“……That ‘boy’, you say…”
The green eyes, filled with bloodlust, were intense.
Death, watching him, let out a laugh.
“You are quite stubborn.”
“……He didn’t even have the chance to become an adult. He’s still just a boy.”
An experiment molded to depend on affection could never have grown into a decent adult.
And even if he had experienced more relationships or life, he was doomed from the start, having borne a curse that made him impossible to remember.
It was all Death’s fault.
The spirit guardian glared fiercely.
“Don’t change the subject. Withdraw your power now.”
“……Well, I do have some fondness for that brat too.”
After all, the bet was meant to induce Raven to discover the spirit guardian’s identity. It wasn’t a problem if he got closer to the truth.
Whether Raven won or lost the bet, Death wouldn’t lose anything.
So he smiled generously.
“I’ll let it slide this time. Otherwise, you’d probably make a scene.”
“……”
“And like you said, it was partly my mistake.”
He snapped his fingers.
***
The pain disappeared as if it had never existed.
Though he thought he was used to all kinds of pain, apparently not.
How embarrassing to collapse, unable to bear it.
‘……Or maybe I had actually died and they revived me.’
He wasn’t sure. In that chaotic state, it was impossible to tell.
What kind of disaster was this now?
He wiped the blood from his mouth and pressed his chest, searching for any remaining trace of the vanished pain.
Then Raven lifted his head and called into the empty air.
“Ancestor, do you know anything about this?”
[…….]
“Hyung?”
[……The spirit guardian ??? apologizes.]
So you did know something.
It seemed the spirit guardian had intervened somehow to make the pain disappear.
And judging by the circumstances, it was easy to guess the cause…
“……I get it.”
Before the pain started, they had been discussing hints. And when they reached a certain conclusion, the hemorrhaging began.
“The problem was that you added words to the hint. It must have been treated as if you gave two clues.”
[The spirit guardian ??? smiles bitterly at the child’s sharpness.]
“And how did you fix it?”
Did you find a loophole and argue with Death?
After all, the rules of the bet had been established verbally and were full of gaps.
……Well, as long as it’s resolved.
“It won’t happen again, right? It’s not just been postponed, has it?”
[The spirit guardian ??? assures it’s resolved.]
“Then it’s fine.”
Raven stood up and took a few steps before pausing and lifting his gaze. After a brief pause, a mischievous smile curved his lips.
“You didn’t do something behind the scenes to solve it, did you…?”
[The spirit guardian ??? firmly denies it.]
“Just kidding. I told you, I don’t doubt you about those things.”
He let out a low chuckle.
Then he looked up at the slanted moon and resumed walking.
“Anyway… I have all the information about your name now. All that’s left is to find it.”
Getting here had been turbulent.
Would finding it be just as hard?
With a cynical thought, he muttered to himself:
“First, I’ll take the kid to the capital, and then I’ll move through the information network.”
[The spirit guardian ??? reminds him not to forget the elf’s medicinal herb.]
“Don’t worry. I won’t forget. I’ll place the request before leaving.”
The smell of blood grew stronger.
He quickened his pace and soon found several corpses brutally mutilated. He immediately approached.
“This is…”
Upon examining the wounds, his expression turned icy.
“They weren’t killed by monsters.”
Nor by wild beasts.
It was a deliberate slaughter, as if someone intelligent had destroyed the bodies to erase all traces.
“And besides… those combat marks…”
He frowned deeply.
“They’re very similar to the way I use my weapons.”