“Hey—”
Miryeong’s voice rang out.
Bido raised her head at the sound.
Through the people on the outskirts of Seuchia,
three familiar figures were walking toward her.
Miryeong was in front,
Erdin half a step behind her,
and Melanie, as always, followed after them with a somewhat relaxed gait.
As soon as Miryeong drew near, she looked Bido over.
From her feet to her shoulders, it was a brief, swift glance.
“Is your body all right now?”
she asked.
Bido hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“Yes. I’m all right now.”
The next instant,
Melanie screamed.
“Aaagh—!”
Because Miryeong’s hand had stabbed precisely into Melanie’s side.
There hadn’t been much force behind it, but the spot was bad.
“Such an overreaction.”
Miryeong said as if it were nothing.
“Honestly, why are humans so frail?”
Melanie clutched her side and grimaced.
“That’s because you people are monsters—”
Miryeong cut her off.
“Look at her.”
She gestured at Bido with her chin.
“She’s already training like nothing happened.”
“Maybe because she’s half Haraya?”
Bido looked briefly flustered, then gave a small laugh.
“It’s not really training.”
The laugh did not last long.
It was closer to an expression meant to brush things off lightly.
Erdin watched her quietly for a moment before speaking.
“I’m glad you seem well, Lady Bido.”
His gaze moved away from Bido and swept their surroundings.
The people passing through the outskirts,
the path leading toward the forest,
and the space where places to stay and places to leave were mingled together.
“Lord Rangnan.”
Erdin continued.
“If we intend to remain here any longer, we’ll need funds.”
Miryeong tilted her head.
“Remain?”
“Or,”
Erdin added,
“wherever we decide to go.”
When Erdin finished speaking, a brief silence passed over the clearing.
No one answered immediately,
but everyone was looking in the same direction.
Then Aslo opened his mouth.
“There’s a place where I used to take work.”
His words were short,
and he added no further explanation.
It was as if he had taken out a single option that had been decided on long ago.
Miryeong reacted at once.
“Ah, again with the damned money, money, money.”
She shook her head and clicked her tongue.
“Just when you think you can catch your breath, the talk always turns to money.”
Melanie cut in with a laugh.
“Well, even breathing costs money.”
Miryeong’s eyes narrowed.
“You stay out of this.”
“Why? It’s realistic.”
Before their argument could continue,
Bido quietly opened her mouth.
“I want to… help too.”
Her voice was small, but clear.
It was sudden,
and so everyone’s eyes gathered on her at once.
Miryeong looked at Bido first.
“You?”
Bido nodded.
“Rather than just being a burden…”
“If there’s something I can do, I want to do it with you.”
Erdin did not immediately object.
Aslo did not add anything either.
Instead,
Rangnan slowly lifted his head.
“You’ll have to.”
Bido looked toward him.
Rangnan continued briefly.
“There’s nothing better than actual experience.”
He did not explain further.
But those words
did not simply mean, “Try doing the work.”
Miryeong furrowed her brow.
“Hm…”
Rangnan looked at Bido.
“You can’t learn anything by only avoiding things.”
At those words, Bido clenched and unclenched her hand.
She did not take back what she had said.
“I won’t push myself too hard.”
At that, Melanie laughed.
“You know that’s the most dangerous thing to say, right?”
Miryeong let out a sigh.
“I’m so sick of this team.”
Even so, she did not immediately turn away.
Aslo spoke again.
“Then let’s prepare.”
With that one sentence, the matter was settled.
Soon after, the group began walking back into Seuchia.
The more structures there were, the more people appeared.
Those carrying packs,
those wearing weapons,
and eyes that belonged nowhere all mingled together.
At the front, Miryeong and Erdin were leading the way,
and Aslo walked just behind them.
Rangnan silently observed their surroundings,
while Melanie followed the flow with leisurely steps.
Bido was walking a little behind.
She was matching their pace,
but her awareness was not ahead of her—it was within herself.
Rangnan’s words came back to her.
Only when necessary.
Don’t force it out.
Regulating her breath,
Bido very shallowly—
as if merely checking,
touched her Mirkin.
She did not put strength into her body,
nor did she grip a sword.
It was only enough to feel the flow slightly.
The corners of her eyes grew faintly hot.
That was when it happened.
“Aaagh—!”
A sharp scream burst out beside her.
Bido flinched and raised her head.
At the edge of the road, an old man bent at the waist was pointing his hand straight at her.
The old man’s eyes were wide, and his finger trembled.
“It’s the Empire!”
the old man shouted.
“It’s an Imperial bastard!”
“She’s come to take me!”
At that sound, the gazes around them all converged at once.
“Here he goes again.”
Someone muttered in a low voice.
“That old man’s at it again.”
Though people grumbled,
they still looked in the direction the old man was pointing.
And—
they saw Bido’s eyes.
Irises stained red.
No further explanation was needed to recognize what that meant.
The sound of metal scraping rang out.
Reflexively, several hands went to sword hilts.
In a brief instant, the air of the street changed visibly.
“What are you people?”
a man in front asked in a low voice.
His voice was rough,
and one foot had already stepped back.
“What are you doing in the middle of the city?”
His gaze did not leave Bido.
Only then did Bido realize what she had been doing.
“Ah—”
She hurriedly drew down her Mirkin.
The heat in her eyes subsided, and her vision returned to normal.
“N-no.”
Bido stammered in panic.
“That’s not, it’s not like that—”
At that moment, Aslo stepped forward.
One step.
Exactly that much.
“Enough.”
It was a short word.
The people’s gazes naturally shifted to him.
And a brief silence followed.
Then someone said,
“…Aslo?”
Another person narrowed his eyes and looked at him.
“That Aslo?”
The hands that had been gripping weapons visibly loosened.
In the meantime,
the old man shouted again.
“It’s an Imperial bastard!”
“I saw it! I saw it!”
“Those eyes! Those eyes!”
“It’s Mirkin!”
Sigh-laden voices drifted from the surroundings.
“Ah, that old man’s always like that.”
“He has a fit whenever he sees Mirkin.”
“Don’t bother dealing with him.”
Even so,
several gazes still remained on Bido.
One of them asked Aslo,
“But why are you here?”
Aslo briefly looked back at his companions.
Miryeong’s stiff expression,
Bido’s frozen hands,
Rangnan’s still gaze.
Then he looked back at the people.
“We’re staying here for a short while.”
It was a plain, brief answer.
Then,
from among the crowd, someone tossed out casually,
“Keep your daughter under control.”
The air stopped for an instant.
Aslo’s gaze slowly turned in that direction.
There was no force in his eyes,
nor was his posture threatening.
He simply
looked precisely toward the direction the voice had come from.
The man who had spoken flinched.
Instinctively, he took a step back, then soon averted his gaze.
Aslo looked away without staring any longer.
“Sorry.”
He continued briefly.
“I’ll make sure she’s careful.”
That was enough.
Aslo turned his body.
“Let’s go.”
The group began walking again.
They cut through the people and moved forward as if nothing had happened.
But the gazes felt on their backs did not fall away easily.
The sensation of them pausing for a moment,
then clinging on again.
The old man’s voice did not grow distant.
“It’s an Imperial bastard—!”
“I told you, I saw it!”
“Those eyes… those eyes…!”
His cries broke off like a fit, then continued again.
People did not answer him,
but they did not completely ignore him either.
Bido walked with her head lowered.
Strength had entered her hands.
Then Aslo spoke in a low voice.
“It’s all right.”
His voice was directed forward as he walked.
“They weren’t startled for no reason.”
Bido raised her head.
“That was—”
Aslo continued.
“That is how Mirkin is perceived.”
“You need to know that too.”
He did not slow his pace.
Bido regulated her breathing and listened.
“When you see another Mirkin, you should be that wary as well.”
His voice was calm and precise.
“That’s how dangerous a power it is.”
Bido did not answer.
Instead,
she breathed in a little more carefully.
Aslo’s words were not comfort.
Nor were they an excuse.
He had simply told her the truth.
Bido walked without saying anything.
The old man’s voice gradually grew farther away,
but it did not disappear completely.
The people’s gazes were the same.
Somewhere behind her,
it felt as though there were still eyes watching her.
Bido looked down at her hand.
A hand no different from usual, as if nothing had happened.
Only the fact remained
that until just a moment ago,
she had been drawing something out from within it.
Only when necessary.
Rangnan’s words came back to her again.
Bido understood the meaning of those words a little late.
Necessary
did not mean when she wanted it,
but when she was ready to bear it.
And for now—
she was not yet sufficiently prepared.
Bido raised her head.
Looking at Aslo’s back as he walked ahead,
she regulated her breathing once more and matched her steps.
Their destination was not far.
And in this city,
it felt as though the way she would be seen had already been decided.
Bido no longer slowed her steps.