Chapter 13: You Had It All Planned
The Villain.
To track the Death God Faith, what was needed was money and manpower.
Up until now there had been no concern about finances thanks to Father providing funds, but things were different now.
There was no grounds.
‘You see, Father—in about 2 years, the Undead King will be resurrected and the end times will begin. To stop that, I need money and people—could you spare some?’
—There was no way I could say that.
Self-sufficiency.
I would have to obtain it myself.
In that sense, this would help.
Jjalang—
I finally found the key in the other pocket.
It looked like an ordinary key at a glance, but I could feel the magical energy radiating from it.
A key with a magical lock added.
It was the same reward Raword received in the game when he killed Karma.
If one chose [Unlock the Safe with the Key], the items obtainable from the safe were the gold bars Karma had spent a lifetime accumulating, along with the organization's ledger and roster.
Find that safe, and money would be no problem.
The issue was how to get into the hideout.
There was the option of going in through the front door and sweeping everything clean—just as Raword had done in the game.
However, killing off all the guild members would mean losing usable manpower.
Having carried out assassination contracts, they were personnel specialized in covert operations.
There was no better piece on the board for tracking the Death God Faith's trail.
And if need be, they would be perfect to cut loose or use and discard.
It would be a waste not to make use of them.
"Hmm."
Alternatively, there was the option of making use of Lucia.
Lucia could come and go from the hideout without raising any suspicion.
I could even have her bring the contents of the safe.
But even if I was her sponsor, Lucia and I had only met once.
In terms of favorability, it would be close to zero.
Whether she would take my words at face value—
"Uooo!"
Startled by the sudden shout, I snapped my head around to find Esther surrounded by soldiers.
"Wh, wha—?"
She looked around at the soldiers with the wide eyes of a cornered rabbit.
"You saved us! Academy student!"
One soldier grabbed both of Esther's hands tightly.
"If you hadn't come, we would all be dead! Thank you so much...! Kh, khk...."
"N, no... I only did as my sponsor told me to...."
Esther shot me a look asking for help.
But as her head turned toward me, the soldiers' gazes followed.
"Third Young Master... I apologize for doubting you."
One of the soldiers bowed deeply, and as if on cue, the others offered respectful greetings as well.
"Young Master...! We survived because of the student you brought with you...!"
"We are truly in your debt!"
The attitude had changed so dramatically it was hard to believe these were the same men who had been sneering at me before.
Just as the urge to mock them back was bubbling up—
Dudududu!
The sound of hoofbeats rang out, and heads turned naturally in the direction it came from.
Squinting to focus, I could see figures approaching with the Hasgard family banner flying.
"Father! Over here! I heard a loud explosion in this area!"
Diar Hasgard called out to Father.
"Roman... Daywin... they have to be safe...."
"Don't worry, Father. Ev, everything will be fine! They've probably just gotten lost."
The eldest seemed to be deliberately raising his voice to reassure Father.
Despite the thoroughly stiff expression on his face.
They rode with soldiers in tow.
To Diar's left was Father.
To his right was Mother.
Unlike the 2 men with worried expressions, Mother's face was one of pure irritation.
"Ugh."
I hadn't expected Mother to come as well.
A chill ran through my entire body.
The lady of the Hasgard household had a large battle axe strapped to her back and was clad in Armor.
The typical image one would have of a countess was someone a decade or so younger than the head of the family and of a slight build, but that assumption had been shattered the moment I found myself inhabiting the youngest son of the Hasgard family.
My mother was a woman of nearly 180cm in height with a powerful frame.
An impression perfectly suited to the word 'warrior.'
Father's taste was simply beyond my comprehension.
Or conversely—perhaps it was Mother who had a taste for Father, and he had ended up married because of it.
Perhaps he had been caught.
"Diar."
"Yes, Mother."
The lady of the Hasgard household called to her eldest son without looking away from the path ahead.
"Do not let your unease show. There are many eyes."
"...Forgive me."
"This is a Subjugation Campaign, not a battlefield. Nothing will have happened."
"But...."
"A Hasgard man dies on the battlefield. I have never raised sons weak enough to die in a place like this."
"...Yes, Mother."
A short while later, Father dismounted as he drew near and called out.
"Excuse me!"
Being somewhat flustered, Father appeared to have taken me for a member of the Holy Knights Order.
"By any chance, in this vicinity, have you seen a marking like this...."
He pointed to the emblem of 2 crossed spears engraved on his rounded Armor as he asked, but quickly realized there was no need.
"...Daywin?"
He had recognized me at last.
And grabbed my shoulder.
Grabbed it tightly enough to hurt.
Looking at his trembling pupils, Diar and Mother also dismounted.
"Daywin! Are you unharmed!"
Diar came running over with surprising agility, his heavy Armor clanking.
"Daywin, are you injured anywhere? And what is this white Armor...."
My eldest brother and Father ran their hands over my body, checking my condition.
They examined me as thoroughly as an airport security search.
While I was shaking off the hands reaching all over me, my eyes met Mother's.
"......"
She withdrew her gaze without a word.
Mother too surely had a mountain of questions she wanted to ask.
A moment later, she asked only 1 thing.
"Where is Roman?"
"My brother is...."
"I'm unharmed!"
Right on cue, Roman raised his hand and approached.
"Roman! Th, there's blood on your chest—!"
The eldest brother and Father fussed over Roman just as they had with me, checking his condition.
"I'm fine. Healed up clean thanks to the student the youngest brought along! Hahaha!"
Roman recounted everything that had happened after we separated—the appearance of the assassins, and my joining the fight—like tales of great heroism, one detail at a time.
It was around when that story was drawing to a close.
"Roman, Daywin."
Mother's cold voice settled low.
"We need to talk."
We flinched and froze.
“We need to talk.”
“Come sit down for a moment.”
Sentences with a kind of magic to them—ones that inevitably put any son raised by a strict mother on edge.
A shadow fell over Roman's face, which had been beaming with a bright smile just moments before.
He trudged over with a sullen look like a soldier returning from a lost battle.
"Y, you called for us, Mother."
Roman snapped to attention.
I stood stiffly beside him.
"Roman."
"Yes!"
"I hear the goblin activity was unusually suspicious."
"Yes, that is correct."
"Why did you not retreat immediately?"
"That's...."
"I have always said retreat is just as important as advance."
"Well, I was thinking of retreating. But...."
"Pathetic. You were thinking of it? I was prepared to hear you out if you had a reason for not retreating—but is all you have to say excuses?"
One of Mother's eyebrows arched sharply.
"If it had been you alone—fine. You could have assessed the situation and chosen to engage or retreat accordingly. But what of the soldiers under your command? Your father trusted you and put those men in your hands. Yet your arrogance and indecision drove everyone into the jaws of death."
"...I have no excuse."
At some point Roman's gaze had come to rest only at his own feet.
"The worst of it is that your careless judgment nearly cost you your own life as well. Had your younger brother not come, would you not already be a cold corpse?"
That final line was the heart of it.
The reason Mother was angry was neither Roman's arrogance nor his indecision.
She simply had not shown it the way Father and Diar had.
Only I, having begun a 2nd life, knew Mother's true heart.
A past life now changed beyond recognition.
After Roman's death, Mother had suffered illness of the mind and passed away.
"Daywin."
And then it was my turn.
"Ugh, hk. Yes."
I couldn't help but imagine what arrow would come flying at me.
I swallowed a dry lump.
Cheolsseok—!
Mother brought her hand down on my back with a full swing.
"Keugh!"
Her hand came before her words.
"Do not do reckless things."
I was wearing Armor capable of deflecting even the fastest daggers—yet somehow, Mother's hand still stung.
***
Karma... lost.
Lucia, who had tailed Karma to the Subjugation Campaign, had watched everything in secret.
The guild members driving the goblin horde to converge with Roman's forces.
Daywin intervening mid-way and razing the forest to the ground.
The confrontation between Karma and Daywin.
She had watched it all with a clenched heart.
—”Did Lucia come too?”
And Daywin had said those words.
The moment he saw Karma's face, he had said them clearly.
He knew everything.
Daywin knew who Lucia had been working under.
He had known every detail of her circumstances.
Lucia naturally recalled their first meeting.
—”I want you to focus on your studies.”
It had been the same then.
Though it was their first time meeting, he had eyes that seemed to see straight through to her core.
—”You mean it's not that you can't quit?”
Those eyes—as though knowing everything, about to suddenly reach into her life—she had disliked them.
A noble who had been born with parents, wealth, and status. All of it.
—I'll have to deal with them one by one anyway.
She also recalled him saying something like that offhandedly.
One by one.
Deal with them one by one.
At the time she hadn't been able to understand his intent.
And yet—Karma was dead.
Daywin Hasgard had killed him.
"Deal with them" means...
He had been planning to kill Karma from that point on?
So that's what he meant....
To say otherwise—the fact that Daywin knew Karma's face was far too unnatural.
He had clearly done his investigating in advance.
Then was their meeting at the Subjugation Campaign a coincidence?
—”Something feels ominous. It could be a trap.”
Those were Lucia's own words.
A trap.
At the time she had said it carelessly in an attempt to stop Karma, but mulling it over, it wasn't impossible.
Rather—hadn't Daywin been waiting for Karma?
Not the prey, but the hunter.
You had it all planned.
Just as he had with Raword.
Just as he had with Esther.
If only a young shoot could bloom beautifully, he would do anything to make it so.
Become sunlight, become water, become soil.
Does he have some kind of order to it.
Had such salvation come to me as well.
Could I dare to hope for a life different from before.
I too could be saved...
"Shh, don't turn around. Listen."
The sudden voice brought reality crashing back.
"It's me, Lucia."
A masked assassin had come up behind her.
"I hadn't heard you were coming—I don't know what happened, but for now... I'm glad you're safe."
The guild's assassin smoothly raised a bow and trained it on the Hasgard family.
"Lucia... Karma is dead. Killed by that monster of a bastard... we can't just go back like this."
The nocked arrow swept across the Hasgard family members one by one.
"Those bastards. They think it's all over and are about to throw a celebration. They don't know we're hiding."
Gulp.
The assassin swallowed and continued.
"Lucia, get ready for when I shoot. When the arrow lands, you charge in during the opening. They'll definitely panic, so in that gap you should be able to cut at least 1 more throat."
"...Lucia doesn't know."
"What?"
"So what changes?"
"We have to take revenge!"
The assassin kept his voice as low as possible while fuming.
"We're the dogs Karma raised...! Even with our master dead, we have to stay loyal to the end... to the very end...!"
Those words stirred through Lucia's mind.
Dogs.
Was there any name more fitting?
She had been trained from childhood.
She had learned to move as the master said, to hunt, to obey.
The master had provided a place to live, and she had eaten whatever was given.
When told to bite, she bit.
When she resisted, she was beaten.
"...Dogs."
"I'm not going after the one in the white Armor. No point anyway. But if I hit one of the others at this range, it'll be fatal. A family member's death will cause far greater pain than being struck by an arrow...."
The word family naturally made Lucia think of her siblings.
The reason she had lived as Karma's dog without complaint all this time had been to protect her siblings.
She had lived for something precious.
"I know you wanted to leave the guild. Going to the Academy of all places—like it doesn't suit you... you wanted to live an ordinary life, didn't you? But... we are what we are. This is no time to hesitate. Our hands are dirty either way."
"I'm not hesitating. As you said—I am a dog. Lucia is loyal to her master."
"Good. Then I'll shoot."
The moment the assassin drew the bowstring back with a tense face—
Chwak!
Lucia swung her sword.
A Single Sweep that passed in an instant.
Lucia's blade sliced through the assassin's throat.
"Kheueok... Lu, Lucia... why...."
"I told you."
Dark crimson bloodstains covered half of Lucia's face.
"Lucia is loyal to her master."