Raechia's days were peaceful.
Countless people laughed and chatted as they enjoyed the beginning of autumn.
In contrast, Raechia's nights were gradually being dyed in blood.
Fierce battles broke out everywhere, and people were wounded and killed.
.
In that ominous atmosphere, I visited the Guild and carefully asked Grandma Sujin.
"Grandma. There is still a chance, is there not?"
It had already been two weeks since Andrea attacked Adoocenum first.
September, when we should ordinarily have been preparing for the bountiful Harvest Festival, had only grown more uneasy.
At night, battles between the Brave Brothers and Adoocenum erupted in every direction.
I felt the path to saving Andrea growing farther away.
At this rate, the Council would not even consider listening, no matter what proposal I made.
Even the information I had received after painfully asking Grandma Sujin for a favor would become meaningless.
"That depends on how you look at it."
Was that why?
Anxiously tapping the table, I brightened at Grandma Sujin's answer.
"What do you mean, it depends? Is there another way?"
"The condition remains the same. Saving Andrea must benefit Raechia more than killing him. Or, conversely, killing him must be more harmful than saving him."
The warm, gentle gaze that had always looked upon me like a real grandson chilled.
As though telling me that the adult world was this cold and frightening, and that it was still too soon for me to set foot in it.
"In that sense, Andrea drew too much attention. It would have been different if he had crouched as still as a dead mouse...."
"Has he already been recognized as a risk?"
"At the very least, the Council members will see him that way."
"Hmm...."
I let out a groan like a sigh.
I resented Andrea for running wild without knowing how much I wanted to save him.
And I resented myself, too, for being forced to watch him helplessly.
As though to comfort me, Grandma Sujin removed the hairpin she had worn in her hair and set it down.
"If you want to save Andrea, you will have to raise the stakes higher than before."
"I... have nothing more to offer. Ah, perhaps Paradise Island—"
"Wealth will not balance the scales. Raechia is prosperous even now. It would be nice to have, but wealth is too trivial to trade for the city's order. Even if it is Starlight Silk."
"Then what in the world..."
"What does Raechia, with its abundant finances and the continent's strongest navy, lack?"
I hesitated for a moment.
What did Raechia lack?
Was there even such a thing?
Watching me merely blink, Grandma Sujin gave a light sigh.
"You fool, I gave you a hint with the navy. Of course it is an army."
"Uh... I cannot give them an army."
"Even if you gave them one, they could not accept it, you brat. There are circumstances."
"Then what?"
"Instead, you can become an individual as strong as an army, can you not?"
An exclamation escaped me.
I did not know what those circumstances were, but that was not the important issue now.
What mattered was that Raechia had something it lacked, and that I could provide it.
Of course, it was a task close to impossible, but it was the only path open to me now.
It was said that even a master would find it hard to defeat three seasoned Martial Artists at once.
But in this mysterious world, a Martial Artist capable of facing a thousand alone occasionally emerged.
The Sword Saint had been one, and so had his adversaries.
I could become one too.
I had to.
To become something beyond a mere swordsman, so that I could protect those precious to me.
Having hardened my resolve, I looked at Grandma Sujin firmly and nodded.
"I understand."
"You speak well. If it were someone else, I would call it the bravado of a greenhorn... Ha."
In truth, Grandma Sujin was right.
Who was I, really?
In the end, I was a greenhorn among greenhorns, a child who had never killed anyone even once.
Still, I knew.
The Sword Saint's memories of surviving a lifetime in carnage, and my experience of meeting the elder in the Starwind Flower field.
Those two things, more precious than any treasure in the world, whispered to me.
That Karma was not far away now that it had joined with my efforts.
That it might come to me soon—perhaps even tomorrow.
So now was the time to grow firm, rather than impatient.
As Grandma Sujin looked into my resolute eyes, she suddenly asked.
"Child, I will ask you as Grandma, not as the Guild Master. Must you fight?"
"Yes."
"You have only been friends with Andrea for a few months. It cannot be a relationship weighty enough to stake your life on, can it?"
It was a reasonable question.
But I could not agree.
There were people not worth protecting even after knowing them for a hundred years.
On the other hand, there were people worth staking one's life on after knowing them for only a day.
Andrea was such a person to me.
My first friend, and a friend who would willingly stake his life for me.
He was prepared to die alone, without asking for help, to protect me. So I would protect him too.
What more needs to be said?
With all those thoughts, I gave a single answer.
"Because he is my friend. Grandma, you have someone like that too, do you not? Someone you absolutely want to protect?"
My parents, friends, teacher, and even my colleagues at the Adventurer's Guild.
I wanted to protect everyone within my reach.
The single sword in my hand might be far too small and weak for that.
But I did not want to run away with words such as, 'It is dangerous,' or, 'There is no point even if I try.'
I had already done that until I was sick of it.
It could be the delusion of a child who knew nothing of the world.
Adventurers were people who dreamed.
Rather than let my heart wither and die without dreams or hope, I would choose to die while dreaming.
Perhaps I should call it fortunate.
It seemed that my feelings had reached Grandma Sujin as well.
"A wise answer to a foolish question."
With a faint smile, Grandma Sujin handed me the jade hairpin she had pulled from her own hair.
"Take it. Show this to an official, and you will not be treated lightly."
"What is this...?"
"Will. The will left behind by those who have guarded this land since long ago."
I did not fully understand what she meant, but I understood that it was important.
I carefully placed the hairpin Grandma Sujin had given me inside my clothing, and then she pulled a sword from beneath the table and held it out to me.
I received it respectfully and drew it halfway.
The bright blue edge stung my eyes.
"Despite the name, a Pirate Blade is what the Archipelago people use on horseback. Their land tactics are to ride while shooting bows, then finish with the blade."
As I listened to Grandma Sujin's explanation, my eyes trembled as I looked at the sword.
Because it was poor?
No, not at all.
Rather, it was because the sword was too good, because it suited me perfectly.
"That sort of weapon is too short for you and too greatly curved. So I tried making one that kept only the characteristics of a Pirate Blade."
Amazingly, the sword closely resembled the one the Sword Saint had used.
Its blade was fully 120 centimeters long and far less curved than a Pirate Blade.
It even had a narrow edge angle and an asymmetrical hexagonal cross-section.
Grandma Sujin had made the sword that suited me best simply through the sharpness of her eye.
Moved, I looked at her. Perhaps embarrassed by my expression,
"Ahem, you need not look at me like that. If you have lived for around four hundred years, you should at least be able to do this much."
"I should be grateful that you have watched me that carefully."
"I said enough. More importantly, Johan, you saw it too, so you know. That is a real blade. A real blade—"
"Kills people. Yes, I know that well."
No matter what anyone said, martial arts were skills for killing people.
Weapons were tools for killing people.
I had never killed anyone even once, but the memories of the Sword Saint, who had cut down countless people, were within me.
Naturally, I knew that weight, and I had made my resolve.
At my firm voice, Grandma Sujin wore an expression I could not tell was a smile or tears, then spoke briefly.
"Midnight on Saturday, in Subura. I hear that the decisive battle will be fought there."
I bowed deeply to Grandma Sujin as I answered.
"Thank you."
Leaving Grandma Sujin with those brief words of thanks, I rose and left the Guild.
To prepare for the day that would decide one of two things.
Whether to die or live.
Whether to kill or save.
***
Sujin watched Johan's receding back and sighed.
"If possible, I would have liked to keep him close for another ten years, teach him this and that, and then let him experience real combat...."
To her, Johan seemed far too young. So young that he looked like a child.
Humans always seemed that way to long-lived Fairies.
But the reason Johan, who was nearing adulthood, looked even younger was
"Affection is frightening."
Could it be because it was an exceptional bond?
Sujin murmured, feeling anew the weight of a bond.
As someone emerged from the darkness, he responded to her words.
"How long has it been since we had a newcomer like him? Of course you would want to keep him close."
"Aldo."
"I will go too."
"You were sick of Subura. Will you go back there again?"
Aldo scratched his cheek at the awkward question, then answered in a reluctant voice.
"I still hate it. But what can I do? I rather like that kid. I don't want to see him die."
"He is a strange child. He can even make a rogue like you take his side."
"A rogue? I've lived properly for more than twenty years."
"Only twenty years."
"This is why I can't talk to Fairies."
Twenty years was not so long to a Fairy.
Sujin likely still vividly remembered Aldo, who had just emerged from Subura, unstable and hostile to everything in the world.
Cursing a Fairy's sense of time anew, Aldo grumbled.
"So, Guild Master, are you not going to do anything?"
"I should. This time, for certain."
"Uh, exactly what do you mean?"
"I intend to tell the old people of the Council that Johan is my heir."
The 'perhaps' Sujin had felt while watching Johan had now become a certainty.
His innate talent, temperament, and desire to improve—nothing was lacking.
The next Guardian of Raechia was Johan. It had to be Johan.
The Fairy, nearing the end of her life, thought of the boy who had left and made a cold, sharp resolve.
That she would see it through, no matter what she had to do or whom she had to fight.
As he watched Sujin, Aldo scratched his head and slipped away.
His face was as resolute as hers.
Watching the door Johan and Aldo had gone through, Sujin murmured.
"Become a star. You must shine so brightly that greedy old people have no choice but to covet you. That is how you will live."
The advice she could not give Johan echoed and scattered beyond the door.
As though hoping that the uneasy future would change.
***
I wrote my will.
It was not easy.
I did not know how many times I hesitated as I wrote on the paper with a quill.
The possibility that I might die suddenly felt real.
When I thought of the people who would be left behind after I was gone, it felt as though my heart might tear apart.
Even so, I wrote.
After struggling to press down each letter, one by one, I placed the completed will in my desk drawer.
I also told my teacher, Anna, and my friends at the dojo that I would not be coming for a while.
I told the people at the Adventurer's Guild the same.
Saturday came after I finished so many things.
Having hardened my resolve as a Martial Artist heading to the battlefield, I left home.
With the sword Grandma Sujin had given me strapped at my waist.
As I walked through Raechia's night streets, bright as day even at night, many thoughts came to me.
Andrea's head mounted on a pike, which I had glimpsed in the Sword Saint's memories.
The pride that said I could not run after speaking so boldly, and the fear that wanted to run away immediately.
The thoughts that surged one after another reached a single question.
Why.
Why was I determined to join this fight?
The answer was simple.
'I simply cannot bear it.'
In my dreams, I—the Sword Saint Johan—had lost my parents.
Helplessly, without being able to do anything, I had lost part of myself.
The parents I had now could die too.
Anyone, anywhere, could die.
Unless someone ended this filthy fight, that was what would happen.
The overflowing violence would eventually shatter the everyday lives of ordinary people.
The Council was not moving.
They intended to gain justification to sweep away Subura and the criminal organizations in one stroke.
They were instead waiting for someone's death and suffering.
I did not like any of it, and I could not bear it either.
Neither innocent people being hurt and dying, nor standing by and watching it happen.
That was reason enough to fight.
After putting my feelings in order, I rounded an alley on a path I had taken once before.
"Where are you going alone with a sword at your waist at this late hour, my disciple?"
"We promised to adventure together, and now you're betraying us?"
"Not every fight is an adventure, you brat. And kid, when you're doing something dangerous, you should call the adults too."
They were bonds that my change had forged, though not over much time.
At the boisterous cries of people who said they would walk a dangerous path with me, I smiled.
I was happy to have become someone whom others wanted to protect at the risk of their lives.
Because it felt as though I was walking a path different from the Sword Saint, who had walked through winter alone all his life.
I smiled as brightly as a spring flower.