The door of the inn opened quietly.
Lina stepped inside.
She had already taken off her silver armor,
and was dressed neatly, like a traveler.
But from her gait and posture alone, anyone could tell who she was.
Adel was standing by the window.
His gaze, which had been looking down toward the streets of Schia, shifted to Lina.
“I report.”
Lina spoke without embellishment.
“The target has been confirmed.”
Adel’s gaze did not move.
“A black-haired girl.”
“She was carrying a sword presumed to be a sacred relic.”
At that moment,
Adel’s brow moved ever so slightly.
It would have been hard to say his expression had changed.
Only, in that brief instant, the air grew a little heavier.
Adel looked at Lina without saying a word.
She did not avert her eyes.
“Hongryeon died in battle.”
This time, Adel’s gaze dropped for a moment.
Only for a single beat.
“So that is how it happened.”
His voice was low.
“Something unavoidable has occurred.”
Adel asked nothing more.
He did not press for the details of the battle, nor did he demand judgment.
For to a knight, the manner of a battle mattered more than its outcome.
Lina waited through that silence.
After a moment, Adel spoke again.
“Was his honor preserved?”
It was a short question.
Lina nodded.
“He did not let go of his sword until the end.”
Only then did Adel withdraw his gaze.
Turning his eyes back out the window, he said quietly,
“Then that is enough.”
The inside of the inn grew quiet once more.
From outside came the mingled voices and footsteps of people.
But those sounds could not enter this room.
Adel was still looking out the window.
A black-haired girl.
Those words did not easily leave his mind.
Adel’s hand slowly moved toward the greatsword on his back,
then stopped.
It was not yet the time.
Without taking his eyes from the window, Adel asked,
“So, what is the situation?”
After thinking for a moment, Lina answered calmly.
“They know of us now as well.”
Adel’s head tilted ever so slightly.
“So they will not be able to move immediately.”
Adel accepted those words in silence.
“The same goes for us, then.”
It was a low murmur.
For a knight to move in Schia
was something that would stand out at once.
Lina did not deny that point.
“...We need only wait.”
Adel’s gaze shifted to Lina.
“Your reason?”
Lina answered concisely.
“Based on the information, they are staying here while raising funds.”
“And now that they know of our presence—”
Lina paused briefly, then continued.
“it will be difficult for them to move lightly.”
Adel considered the meaning of those words.
The Silver Moon Order was not merely a group fleeing.
But to remain in one place required a price.
Time, resources.
And,
tension.
“In the end, they will be the ones to tire first.”
There was certainty in Lina’s words.
Adel fell silent again.
He, too, knew that conclusion was not wrong.
But he did not like it.
Because simply waiting was,
for a knight,
the most uncomfortable choice.
Adel slowly exhaled.
“It seems there is no helping it.”
Those words were agreement, not satisfaction.
Lina said nothing more.
Because she knew this was not a moment that called for persuasion.
From outside the inn, the faint sound of someone laughing as they passed by drifted in.
Adel looked out the window again.
The waiting had already begun.
Lina paused to steady her breath, as though choosing her words.
“...It is not as if there are no variables.”
Adel’s gaze returned to Lina.
“On the contrary, they may move sooner than expected.”
Adel’s brow moved ever so slightly.
“What do you mean?”
Lina answered briefly.
“The white weasel.”
Adel understood at once.
“I confirmed his grudge over Hongryeon’s death.”
Lina did not explain further.
It was already a matter that required no unnecessary ornamentation.
After a moment of silence, Adel said quietly,
“I wonder. The Silver Moon Order is not a group that moves on emotion.”
It was a firm judgment.
“Especially not so immature as to let rage of that degree collapse the situation.”
It was a knight’s assessment,
and a conclusion drawn from experience.
Lina did not answer.
She neither nodded
nor denied it.
She simply lowered her gaze for a moment.
And she recalled the eyes she had faced on the hill.
That gaze that had glared at her while grinding its teeth as if they would shatter.
It was anger,
but it was not clouded,
and it was killing intent, but it was not disordered.
Lina said nothing.
Because she knew that the moment she put that memory into words,
it would no longer be a “report,” but a “warning.”
Adel accepted Lina’s silence as it was.
“Then all the more reason to wait.”
Those words were a brief decision.
Lina bowed her head.
The wait had already become a choice that could not be undone,
and she knew as well that this choice would end up testing someone’s anger.
—
Only low voices passed through the room where the Silver Moon Order was staying.
“Those knights won’t be able to move right away either.”
Erdin spoke carefully.
Mendel nodded.
“Yes. They’re certainly watching us.”
“But for a holy knight to move in this city would be a burden for them as well.”
A brief silence passed.
Aslo looked at Rangnan.
“What will we do?”
His voice was low.
“At this rate, it will become difficult to raise any more funds.”
Mendel continued.
“They will wait. For us to move.”
No one refuted those words.
It was a stagnation unlike usual.
Miryeong was also present,
but she was not joining the conversation now.
The sight of her standing there in silence felt even heavier.
Bido quietly watched the scene.
Everyone pretended not to look at Miryeong,
but no one failed to keep her in their sight.
Rangnan slowly opened his mouth.
“We leave this place.”
Every gaze in the room gathered at once.
“However,”
“not immediately.”
Muryeong asked at once,
“Where to?”
“To the Silver Moon Order.”
Mendel’s eyes widened.
“Then you mean to draw the Empire to our main base?”
Rangnan shook his head.
“No.”
“We shake them off.”
Muryeong’s gaze sharpened.
“How?”
Instead of answering, Rangnan looked at Bido.
At that gaze, Bido’s shoulders stiffened slightly.
“The Empire is not chasing us.”
Rangnan continued.
“They are chasing that sword.”
Bido’s breath stopped for a moment.
Rangnan quietly added his certainty.
“And as long as Bido does not part with that sword—”
“they cannot follow.”
Only then did Miryeong lift her head.
And she added briefly,
“That’s because of Bido’s Mirkin.”
Miryeong’s voice was low, but certain.
“I understand now.”
“Why the tracking was cut off, then started again.”
At that moment, a scene flashed through Bido’s mind.
When they had arrived in this city,
the moment the sword had been taken from her in the middle of the marketplace.
That brief time when she had let it leave her hand.
Rangnan nodded.
“That’s right.”
Muryeong continued,
“If we move, they will move too.”
“Losing them will not be easy.”
Rangnan was silent for a moment.
Then he spoke again.
“That is why we are not leaving immediately.”
Aslo quietly took up the thought.
“The night of the full moon.”
Rangnan answered briefly,
“Yes.”
Words vanished from the room again.
Bido stood there without knowing what premise lay beneath that silence.
The night of the full moon.
Those words passed between them like a decision,
but she felt as though she alone had been left behind.
Perhaps sensing Bido’s gaze, Miryeong turned her head.
“...You look like you don’t understand.”
Miryeong let out a short breath and continued.
“On the night of the full moon, Mirkin loses its power.”
Bido’s eyes widened slightly.
Erdin followed naturally.
“Instead, Arkin grows stronger.”
“Far more than usual.”
Muryeong summarized briefly.
“On that night, we can take the advantage.”
Only then did Bido begin to piece the fragments together little by little.
Aslo added in a low voice,
“It is still dangerous for you to keep restraining that holy knight’s Mirkin.”
He was speaking while looking at Bido.
“But,”
“on the night of the full moon—”
Aslo cut himself off and shook his head.
“there will be no need to worry about it.”
Before she knew it, Bido had clenched her fist tightly.
That night was both an opportunity and a test.
“How long remains?”
At Muryeong’s question, Rangnan answered briefly,
“About two days.”
Erdin reacted immediately.
“That’s tight, considering our funds.”
“We’ll have to be careful with our spending.”
Rangnan nodded.
“Until then, we stay inside the city as much as possible.”
“Refrain from individual activities.”
It was closer to confirmation than an order.
Miryeong said nothing.
With a rigid expression, she was picturing that female knight, Lina, in her mind.
Silver armor, calm eyes,
the posture with which she had raised her sword.
Without realizing it, Bido pulled at the strap of the sword on her back.
The sensation at her fingertips became a little clearer.
Two days.
It was a short time,
and a long time.
And that night was drawing near.
As for whether she would truly be able to stand on that night, she still had no answer.