“This is the first official request handed down by the Council.”
“Escort support for the delegation headed to the Duchy of Carmen.”
“We’ll discuss the details once we return.”
Raymond’s voice remained low to the end.
As if he did not wish to disturb the air before the grave, his words fell with care.
Yun closed her eyes for a moment.
With the same expression she had worn standing before the grave just moments ago,
she steadied her breath very briefly, then answered in a low voice.
“Fine. Understood.”
Beside her, Rangnan spoke curtly.
“Let’s head back.”
No one said anything more.
One by one, the group turned and began walking down the hill.
Bido followed after them as well.
But every few steps, he found himself looking back.
The freshly covered earthen grave remained quietly atop the hill.
Though he had been standing before it only moments ago, it already seemed far away.
That distance felt strangely clear.
A gust of wind passed, and the sound of dry grass brushing together trembled softly.
Bido walked without taking his eyes from it.
The fact that Kallen remained in that place seemed to grow clearer with every step he took.
It was when they had nearly descended the hill.
Without realizing it, Bido gripped the necklace hanging around his neck.
A cold sensation dug into his palm.
His lips moved ever so slightly.
‘It’s not over.’
The soundless words circled only within his heart.
Bido tightened his grip and walked forward without looking back again.
Soon, when they returned to the protected zone,
the inside was already beginning to move.
There were people carrying water, and members checking the condition of the wounded.
Raymond led Yun and Rangnan to a tent set up in one corner of the protected zone.
Inside were a simple table and a few chairs.
Yun sat down and broke the seal on the document.
As she unfolded the paper and scanned its contents, her eyes gradually sank.
Raymond spoke first.
“We’re not trying to wage war. We’re trying to prepare.”
He chose his words for a moment.
“What the Empire showed this time wasn’t normal.”
“They shook the city, created a pretext, and in the end pushed in their forces.”
“If they come the same way next time, Arku’s strength alone won’t be enough to hold out.”
Yun spoke without taking her eyes from the document.
“True. The Duchy of Carmen won’t take this lightly either.”
“They have no reason to welcome Arku falling into the Empire’s hands.”
Rangnan asked briefly.
“How far does our responsibility go?”
Raymond looked at him and answered.
“As written in the document. Escort support for the delegation headed to the Duchy of Carmen.”
“The delegation must arrive. The evidence, and the witnesses too.”
He paused for a beat, then added while looking at Yun.
“It won’t be a bad proposal for you either.”
“This will be your first official mission as the temporary public security cooperation unit.”
Yun slowly folded the document.
“Understood. We’ll have to think about whom to send.”
Raymond nodded.
“Decide by sunset tomorrow.”
“The letter to Carmen is already being prepared.”
Yun answered shortly as well.
“I’ll let you know as soon as the personnel are decided.”
When Raymond left the tent, silence settled inside for a while.
The weight of the document that had just been delivered seemed to remain on the table.
Yun slowly folded the document in her hand and set it down.
Rangnan stood across from her without saying anything for a moment.
Yun was the first to speak.
“We can’t send too many.”
Rangnan asked briefly.
“You’re thinking around five?”
“Yes. The delegation’s main party will have guards as well,”
“but the ones who actually move on the road will be us.”
“And if we empty this place too much, our strength here will waver.”
Rangnan nodded.
“Muryeong will have to stay.”
“I think so too.”
Yun placed her fingertips on the document, as if organizing her thoughts.
“Miryeong has to go.”
Rangnan agreed at once.
“She can detect danger first on the road. And her combat strength is more than sufficient.”
“On top of that, she can hold out even if we encounter knight-class forces.”
Yun added.
After thinking for a moment, Rangnan spoke again.
“We’ll need Ed too.”
Yun raised her eyes.
“If we consider signaling during travel, coordination, and retrieval, we can’t leave him out.”
“Escorting a delegation isn’t something you can do just by being good at fighting.”
“Wollyeon.”
This time, Yun continued first.
“With a heavy crossbow, she can cut enemies down from a distance first.”
“She’ll also be useful against those who aim for our rear or harass us from afar.”
Rangnan looked outside the tent for a moment, then said quietly.
“It would be better to attach Jincheong too.”
Yun immediately nodded.
“Yes. We need someone who can read the road and find ambushes first.”
“For this mission, arriving is more important than fighting.”
When the conversation reached that point, the inside of the tent grew quiet again.
Several people had already fallen naturally into place.
But the final position remained all the heavier.
Yun slowly opened her mouth.
“We must be careful with the last spot.”
Rangnan let out a short breath.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he said,
“Bido.”
Yun did not answer immediately.
She looked at Rangnan’s face for a moment, then asked very slowly.
“You mean to put that child in the delegation?”
Rangnan’s expression was calm,
but there was no wavering in him, as though he had already finished thinking it through.
“I thought the timing was just right.”
Yun’s brows moved ever so slightly.
Rangnan continued in a low voice.
“The Empire found out. That Bido has the blood of the moon.”
The air inside the tent sank for a moment.
Yun slowly curled the fingers she had placed atop the document.
“Then shouldn’t we hide him all the more?”
“If hiding him would end it, I would have done that too.”
Rangnan let out a short breath.
“What they’re after now isn’t just the sword. It’s Bido himself.”
“If we leave him in this city, the target stays fixed here.”
Yun did not immediately retort.
But she did not readily accept it either.
“Sending him outside the city may be even more dangerous.”
“The road is more exposed, and even the delegation could be revealed.”
“That’s why it has to be the delegation.”
Rangnan’s answer was short and clear.
“The delegation will be the most heavily protected group anyway.”
“There are documents, there are witnesses, and it’s an official procession put forward by the Republic itself.”
“If they target Bido, it’s better to keep him within a framework we can protect.”
Yun lowered her gaze, then raised it again.
“Bido is someone to be protected. To include him among the escort personnel is still—”
“That child isn’t baggage that only needs protection.”
Rangnan cut off Yun’s words.
“Bido can stop Mirkin.”
“That means removing one of the greatest variables on the road.”
“Whether the Empire sends shadows, or attaches other paladins or priests,”
“Bido can keep that threat in check.”
Yun’s silence grew a little longer.
It was not that she had been unaware of that fact.
But knowing it and raising it as a reason for an actual mission were two different matters.
“It sounds as though you intend to trust that ability and push the child forward.”
“I’m not saying we should push him forward.”
Rangnan shook his head.
“Miryeong will be attached to him, Ed will coordinate, and Wollyeon and Jincheong will watch the outside.”
“Bido will be within that. But if they truly stab at us with Mirkin,”
“then Bido has to be there.”
Yun pressed down on the edge of the document with her fingertips.
It was a habit that appeared whenever her thoughts deepened.
“Leaving him behind is dangerous, and taking him is dangerous… Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
Rangnan did not yield an inch.
“That’s why we have to move while we can.”
“Arku is not a city that can hide Bido to the end right now.”
“The Duchy of Carmen would be better. At the very least, it’s not a place they can reach as directly as here.”
Yun did not speak right away.
Instead, she listened for a moment to the sounds outside the tent.
Not far away, people’s footsteps came and went,
and the day in the protected zone was already moving again.
After listening to those sounds, Yun asked in a low voice.
“Does Bido himself know?”
“Not yet.”
“Then this will require persuasion. For that child, and for the others as well.”
Rangnan gave a short nod.
“That’s why I’m telling you first, Yun.”
Yun was silent for a long while.
Only the fingertips resting on the document moved ever so slightly.
There were clear reasons to oppose it.
Bido was still young, and he was only just becoming an even larger target.
Putting that child on the road with the delegation was undoubtedly dangerous.
But Yun could not bring herself to say that leaving him behind would be safer.
At the end of the silence inside the tent, Yun opened her mouth quietly.
“Very well.”
A short breath followed that one sentence.
“Then we’ll have to tell the child directly now.”
Rangnan did not answer.
He merely turned his gaze toward the outside of the tent.
Outside, the day in the protected zone was already moving again.
The sound of footsteps coming and going, low voices, even the sound of water being carried.
Even on a day when they had just buried someone and returned, the time of the living did not stop.
And somewhere within it stood Bido, still knowing nothing.