Metal clashed once more.
A brief screech of friction rang out,
and the two of them stepped back at the same time.
Aseullo settled his stance.
His breathing was not disturbed.
He lowered the tip of his sword,
then slowly turned around.
And he saw Bido.
“Bido.”
At that single word,
the man standing opposite him raised his head.
“Bido?”
The man was larger than Aseullo.
Broad shoulders and thick arms.
A giant gripping a metal staff beneath a bushy beard.
At a glance, his face looked fierce.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at Bido.
A moment of silence passed.
The next instant,
his eyes opened wide.
“…No way.”
The metal staff fell to the floor with a dull thud.
He strode over just like that,
approaching almost at a run.
Before Bido could react,
two enormous hands seized both her shoulders.
“Bido!”
And lightly lifted her up.
“When did you get this big! You’ve become a proper young lady!”
A hearty laugh burst out in the middle of the training ground.
“Have you forgotten your Uncle Gareun already?”
Bido’s feet swayed briefly in the air.
Her gaze naturally rose.
The smile visible through the beard.
The thick hands.
The body heat that did not feel unfamiliar.
Somewhere,
at the edge of her memory, it was a face she had seen before.
“Ah… well—”
Gareun looked down at Bido and nodded.
“That’s right. You used to laugh so much when you were little. Then you grew up beside that blunt fellow.”
“Your mother used to be here—”
At those words, Bido’s shoulders stiffened ever so slightly.
Miryeong’s gaze cut sharply across him.
“Gareun.”
The brief voice severed his words.
Gareun flinched and turned his head.
He gave a dry cough.
“…Hm.”
He carefully set Bido down.
“Ahem. You’ve grown very well, Bido.”
His voice was different from a moment ago.
It was still low,
but the tone was more composed.
Gareun’s gaze went to Bido’s back.
And rested on the sword she was carrying.
“Then.”
He picked up the staff again.
“Shall we have a look?”
Aseullo looked at Bido.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he spoke shortly.
“Take up your sword.”
At Aseullo’s words,
sweat gathered in Bido’s palm.
The sensation of the sword strap pressing against her back became distinct.
Gareun waited without erasing the smile from his face.
The end of his staff lightly scraped the sand, making a small sound.
Even the breathing around the training ground became clear.
Bido reached out her hand,
then, in the end, stopped once.
That simple action of taking hold of the sword
felt strangely more difficult than anything right now.
Bido let out a short breath.
Gareun rested the staff lightly on his shoulder and said with a smile,
“Go on.”
It was not urging.
His tone was closer to waiting.
Bido barely managed to extend her hand.
The moment she gripped the hilt—
nothing happened.
The air did not split,
nor was there any sensation of pressure crushing her body.
She slowly drew the sword.
The blade caught the light.
Gareun narrowed his eyes and said,
“Bido, don’t be nervous.”
At those words,
Bido tried to steady her breathing.
Slowly,
she drew it down inward.
And slowly let Idrin flow.
And Mirkin.
She did not force it upward.
She only groped for the sensation gathering at her fingertips.
A faint tremor passed through the hand that held the sword.
The next instant,
Bido’s eyes were dyed red.
Very faintly.
Gareun’s eyebrows twitched.
“Hm?”
Aseullo said briefly,
“I’ll explain later.”
Then he fixed his gaze on Gareun.
“Begin.”
The sounds of the training ground seemed to cease for a moment, leaving silence.
A brief stillness.
Bido moved first.
Her hesitation did not last long.
One step.
And then she erased the distance at once.
Glintless Slash.
The sword cut low as Bido drove in along a straight line.
Gareun’s eyes narrowed.
The metal staff lifted briefly.
Clang—
A heavy sound rang out.
“Ho.”
The corner of Gareun’s mouth rose ever so slightly.
Bido did not stop.
She let the force that had rebounded flow through her and twisted her body.
The sword traced its path again.
Flow of Blue Light.
Its speed was alive.
Gareun did not move, merely blocking each strike.
The staff was receiving the sword with precision.
The second,
the third.
Bido’s breathing grew shorter little by little.
And then—
it led into a motion that drove down from above.
At that moment.
The sensation carried by the sword changed.
Before she knew it, Idrin had been drawn up more deeply.
The sword responded, heavy.
The night of the rampage.
The sensation of that night brushed past her.
The light of the full moon.
The smell of iron and blood,
the sensation of cutting through flesh,
someone’s scream—all of it surfaced at once.
‘Again.’
That thought choked her throat in an instant.
Her wrist froze,
and the strength drained from her hand.
And so the sword stopped halfway.
Bido’s breath cut off,
then escaped belatedly in a rough gasp.
Silence settled a beat late.
Aseullo narrowed his eyes without a word,
and Gareun’s eyes wavered.
“Hm?”
Bido’s hand trembled.
But she moved again.
She forced the flow to connect.
She tried to cut down once more.
The second strike came halfway down—
and stopped.
This time, it was clear.
Bido’s body had stiffened.
“…Ugh.”
Her head lowered.
Strangely, no strength would enter her hand.
Gareun lowered his staff.
“Bido?”
His voice was low.
Aseullo and Miryeong said nothing.
They only watched.
Bido clenched her teeth.
She tried to steady her breathing.
Slowly.
She raised her sword again and took her stance.
But the trembling in her fingertips had not yet gone away.
Without lowering his staff completely,
Gareun said in a low voice,
“The fundamentals are alive.”
Gareun let out a short breath.
“Aseullo.”
His gaze shifted briefly to the side.
“You taught her well.”
Aseullo did not answer.
Gareun’s gaze returned to Bido.
“But.”
The end of the staff touched the ground.
“Her hand stops first.”
At that moment.
A low voice overlapped his words.
“Fear shows itself first in the hands.”
The air of the training ground cooled by the faintest degree.
Bido raised her head.
In the direction the voice had come from.
A woman stood at the entrance to the passage.
She was a Haraya.
Her ears were long,
and the tip of her nose protruded softly, moist.
But what drew the eye first was her hair.
A blue light resembling the leaves of a forest.
Neither dark nor pale, the color swayed quietly beneath the lamplight.
Her attire was neat.
There were almost no ornaments.
It was simply plain and solid.
The wildness unique to the Haraya could not be felt from her.
Instead—
there was a composed aura.
Aseullo lowered his head first.
“Lady Yun.”
Miryeong and Gareun also lowered their heads at the same time.
It was a brief, unmistakable courtesy.
Miryeong said,
“It’s been a while, Yun.”
The woman tilted her head slightly.
“Yes, Miryeong. I hope you have been well.”
Her voice was low and even.
It carried no excessive emotion.
She slowly began to walk.
The sound of her feet touching the floor could scarcely be heard.
Bido still stood holding her sword.
Her red-dyed eyes
slowly followed the woman.
Yun did not stop.
Quietly,
yet without hesitation.
She walked into the center of the training ground.
“Lady Bido. I have heard about you from Rangnan.”
When those words ended,
Bido’s eyes slowly returned to their original color.
The red aura subsided.
Idrin and Mirkin sank down quietly.
A little strength left her hand.
“Ah… hello.”
Yun lowered her head ever so slightly.
“Release your tension.”
Her voice was low but firm.
“This is not a place of trial.”
For a moment, her gaze went to Bido’s hand.
“At least, not today.”
Yun’s gaze remained there.
“But the reason your sword stopped—”
This time, Yun met Bido’s eyes directly.
“You know it yourself, do you not?”
The training ground was quiet.
Bido could not open her mouth.
She tried to steady her breath,
but no words came out.
She did not avert her eyes.
She simply could not answer.
A moment of silence passed.
Yun let that silence be.
Then she said softly,
“It is all right.”
Her voice did not change.
“Fear is not something shameful.”
Gareun looked at Bido upon hearing those words.
His large hand loosened a little more around the staff.
“…Bido.”
A subtle worry mingled with the blunt voice.
He tried to take a step closer.
“Gareun.”
Aseullo’s voice stopped him short.
Gareun faltered.
“…Hm.”
Gareun said nothing more.
Miryeong watched Bido with her arms crossed.
A short sigh flowed out.
There was frustration mixed into it,
but no impatience.
Bido said nothing.
She slowly looked down at her sword.
She gripped the hilt once more, then let it go.
Then she turned around and hung the sword back on her back.
A very faint metallic sound rang out.
The air of the training ground settled again.
Then.
A low, deep bell rang.
Once.
And a brief aftersound.
As the bell spread, the breath of the training ground sank all at once.
Bido rubbed her sweat-damp palm against her trousers.
Somewhere, metal struck metal.
For some reason, her heart grew hurried.
That was all.
Miryeong tilted her head.
“Ah. A summons?”
Yun nodded.
Her gaze turned to Bido.
“Lady Bido, you should come as well.”
Yun paused for a moment, then added,
“We need you, Lady Bido.”
The words were quiet,
but they were not light.
Bido gave no answer.
But her feet were already moving.