Inside the abandoned house, it was quiet for a while.
Miryeong sat leaning against the wall, her eyes closed,
and only after Erdin checked the presence outside by the door once more did he return inside.
Mendel cleared away the bowl of water left beside the spot where Bido had vomited,
silently wiping the wet traces from the floor.
Bido still sat there, unable to properly get up.
Her breathing had settled, but somewhere inside her body continued to churn.
Rangnan did not look at her for long.
As if he knew this was the kind of moment that would pull you in deeper the longer your gaze lingered,
he turned his head and swept his eyes over the faces in the room one by one.
“From the beginning.”
Rangnan spoke.
It was only a brief phrase,
but the moment it fell, the air seemed to fall into order.
Without even opening her eyes, Miryeong weakly flicked her finger.
“Adel.”
She said.
“One paladin followed us, and even a priest joined in.”
At those words, Muryeong narrowed his brow.
Erdin continued in her stead.
“The paladin said she was Adel of the Hartmann family.”
“She used a power presumed to be a domination-type Mirkin, and its range was wide.”
“The priest—”
Mendel took over.
“Seemed to use a Mirkin close to tracking.”
“It was probably a form that lets them know direction and distance. Enhancement-type, maybe?”
Rangnan nodded once.
It was a gesture that seemed to say no further questions were necessary.
Aslo stepped forward.
“They were chasing the box—no, that sword.”
Rangnan’s gaze lingered on the box for a moment.
The chains, the lock.
And what lay within.
Even without knowing exactly what it was,
its weight alone was enough.
“And.”
Rangnan opened his mouth again.
This time, Miryeong answered.
“Only on Bido… Mirkin didn’t work.”
The moment those words fell, the air in the room sank once more.
No one reacted loudly,
but it was a silence that said everyone was thinking the same thing.
Only then did Rangnan look at Bido.
Bido could not lift her gaze.
The feeling that she had accomplished something was already gone,
and what remained in its place was only the memory of a battlefield where she had struggled to breathe,
and her body’s reaction as it failed to accept that memory.
Rangnan spoke slowly.
“The fact that the Empire has moved does not simply mean someone troublesome is on our tail.”
He did not choose his words carefully.
Nor did he decorate his sentences.
It was the tone of a man who began with the conclusion.
“The fact that a paladin and a priest moved together means they have grasped something close to ‘certainty.’”
Muryeong let out a low breath.
With no trace of laughter on her face,
Melanie touched the chain wrapped around her waist once with her finger.
Rangnan swept his gaze over the walls of the abandoned house.
The age of this place, and the distance it offered for hiding.
And the fact that that distance could collapse at any moment.
“This is not a place to stay long.”
Rangnan said.
It was a decisive statement.
It was not an opinion, but a judgment.
Still with her eyes closed, Miryeong snorted.
“Well, of course. The smell is already a mess too.”
Erdin silently nodded.
Mendel, too, as if sensing the air around them,
slowly withdrew the sensation flowing at her fingertips.
Everyone already knew that this place was not “safe.”
Rangnan continued.
“From the moment we learned there was tracking, our options narrowed.”
His gaze shifted to Aslo.
“We can’t hide directly in our base.”
Aslo did not deny it.
After letting out a short breath, he nodded.
“If what they’re chasing is that sword.”
He said.
“Then where we enter will eventually be discovered too.”
Rangnan did not immediately respond to that.
Instead, he looked at the box again.
An object with its lid shut, saying nothing.
And yet it was an existence drawing in more than anyone else in this place.
“At first.”
Rangnan said slowly.
“It was merely a matter of moving it.”
At those words, Aslo’s eyes wavered ever so slightly.
It was the silence of a moment revisiting a judgment already agreed upon.
“We had no time,”
“and we believed the Empire’s gaze had not yet fixed on it precisely.”
Rangnan’s gaze rested on Aslo again.
“So we would pass it to Eunwoldan through Bido. That was the plan.”
Aslo did not turn his head.
“That’s right.”
It was a short answer.
“I did not expect the paladin to move this quickly.”
Rangnan did not deny those words.
“Our information was late.”
He said calmly.
“Or they moved too quietly.”
“But now it’s different.”
Rangnan’s voice lowered.
“Tracking has been confirmed, and a paladin and priest are moving at the same time.”
He looked at everyone in the room at once.
“This is no longer an object that will be finished with once we ‘move it according to plan.’”
A brief silence flowed.
Only then did Miryeong open her eyes.
Though her body still leaned against the wall, her gaze was clear.
“Then what now?”
“What exactly are we supposed to do?”
Rangnan did not answer immediately.
Instead, without taking his eyes off the box, he said,
“That is why.”
His words hung lightly in the room.
“Before we establish a countermeasure.”
Rangnan slowly lifted his head and looked at Bido.
“We first go over what this sword is.”
When Rangnan finished speaking,
the air in the room seemed to stop for a moment.
No one immediately opened their mouth.
Everyone knew an explanation would follow,
and it was a silence waiting for that.
In that gap—
Bido raised her head.
Very slowly.
Her body still would not obey her,
but her gaze was clear.
“Wait a moment.”
Her voice was not loud.
But it was clear enough to be heard.
Miryeong glanced at Bido,
and Erdin and Mendel turned their gazes at the same time.
Rangnan said nothing.
Nor did he urge her on or stop her.
Bido steadied her breath once,
then continued.
“What the sword is… I think I can hear that now.”
Her gaze lingered on the box for a moment,
then returned to Rangnan.
“But before that.”
Bido did not choose her words carefully.
She did not embellish them or speak around the point.
“Why was I made to carry it?”
The air in the room sank again.
Bido did not avert her eyes.
“If you knew from the beginning,”
“if you knew this was not just luggage.”
“Why me, of all people?”
There was no resentment in the question.
It was neither protest nor accusation.
Only—
the attitude that this could no longer be postponed.
“If I carried it without anyone knowing, I can understand.”
Bido said.
“But now, I don’t think that’s the case.”
She paused for a moment.
Her breath followed one beat late.
“If my moving with this was part of the plan.”
Bido added one final sentence.
“Then I think I should know the reason too.”
Miryeong said nothing,
and neither Erdin nor Mendel stepped in.
Aslo kept his head lowered,
not looking at Bido.
He did not look down at Bido, nor at the box.
For a moment, a very brief moment, he looked like a man lost in thought.
That silence did not last long.
But in that span, the air in the room changed completely.
Miryeong knew instinctively.
This was not a silence meant to choose words.
Depending on what was said now, this child’s position would be decided.
Rangnan opened his mouth.
“Sit down first.”
It could have sounded like an order,
but it was closer to telling her they should arrange their positions again.
Bido hesitated for a moment,
then moved her body toward the wall and sat down.
Seeing that, Rangnan continued speaking.
“What I am about to tell you,”
“is not everything.”
At those words,
Erdin swallowed a breath almost imperceptibly.
Mendel lowered her head slightly.
They were words already familiar.
“But.”
Rangnan’s gaze turned back to Bido.
“As for why you were there, I will not hide that.”
Those words sounded like a promise.
Aslo’s hand twitched very slightly atop his knee.
Rangnan turned his head toward the box.
“That sword is the first dragon weapon Haraya ever made.”
Miryeong’s eyes narrowed.
“The first?”
“Yes.”
Rangnan nodded.
“Long before the dragon weapons that remain now.”
He continued.
“There was a being whom Haraya followed.”
“Tiamar.”
When that name emerged,
the room fell quiet for a moment.
It was a name anyone of Haraya knew.
Not a legend,
but something closer to a root.
“It is her sword.”
Rangnan said briefly.
“It was a symbol, an oath… and also a weapon.”
Erdin asked in a low voice.
“Then why did they try to seal it?”
Rangnan did not answer at once.
“Tiamar knew of her own death.”
That single sentence replaced many explanations.
“And she left it as her will.”
“To seal this sword at the end of the world.”
Rangnan stopped speaking, then continued.
“There was a Haraya entrusted with that seal.”
“His name was Jao.”
The name was unfamiliar,
but Rangnan’s voice did not treat it lightly.
“Jao did not make it to the end.”
Miryeong asked,
“Did he die?”
“No.”
Rangnan’s answer was short.
“He was swallowed by the sword.”
The expression was ambiguous, but sufficient enough that no one needed to ask further.
“He lost his reason, and became unable to return to what he had been.”
“He wandered the continent. Covered in new blood every day, he became the blood demon.”
Aslo’s gaze very slowly fell to the floor.
Rangnan saw it, but did not stop speaking.
“That is why someone was needed to stop him.”
After a brief silence—
“That person was Aslo.”
The gazes in the room all moved at once.
Aslo did not lift his head.
“Jao died, and the sword was recovered.”
Rangnan stopped there.
“This is all I can say for now.”
He raised his head and looked at Bido.
“Why this sword began to move again.”
“Why the Empire calls it a holy relic.”
“Why you were the one holding it.”
Rangnan’s voice lowered.
“That is the next part of the story.”
Bido did not ask any further.
Only,
she knew clearly that this story would no longer continue without her.