The forest grew quiet again, but it was a different kind of stillness from before.
The silence after a threat had vanished always arrived a little late.
Only then did Miryeong slow her pace.
It was ever so slight,
but Bido could feel the rhythm of her steps falter.
“Haa…”
It was a short breath.
Less a sigh than the sound of releasing a breath she had been holding back.
“I’m dying here, seriously.”
Miryeong grumbled.
Erdin glanced at her as he passed by her side.
“You haven’t had a proper rest all night.”
“It’d be stranger if you weren’t exhausted.”
“My nose is stinging.”
Miryeong folded one ear once, then unfolded it as she spoke.
“I’m starting to hear sounds and smell scents that aren’t even there.”
Mendel walked in silence, scanning their surroundings.
“Still, there are no traces of pursuit.”
She spoke briefly.
“At least not right now.”
Miryeong nodded at those words.
And only then did she change direction.
“Just a little farther.”
“It’s the scouting outpost I mentioned last night.”
The forest grew denser and denser,
and what could once have been called a path had completely disappeared before long.
Even so, Miryeong’s steps did not stop.
After a while,
she stopped in front of a tree.
At a glance, it looked no different from any other tree.
The trunk, the moss, even the leaves swaying in the wind.
Miryeong lifted her head,
and gave a short whistle.
It was neither high nor long.
A brief note, short enough to vanish as though buried by the forest.
A moment later—
there was a very small movement behind the tree.
The piles of stone, as if they had always been there,
moved all at once as though following some rule, creating a single gap.
Erdin muttered under his breath.
“I still can’t get used to it, no matter how many times I see it.”
Without a word, Miryeong entered the gap first.
Bido hesitated for a moment, then followed after her.
The forest was still there, but the sensation underfoot had clearly changed.
The inside of the gap was narrower than expected.
After passing through a space just wide enough for one person,
the earth beneath their feet grew firm.
The smell of the forest and the texture of the wind also changed, ever so subtly.
“That’s far enough.”
A low voice came from ahead.
Bido instinctively stopped walking.
A person appeared from behind the rocks.
Dirt and moss clung to the black cloak,
and one hand was still pointed toward the rocks.
The air trembled lightly.
It was the lingering trace of Arkin.
“…Miryeong?”
The member said in a low voice.
Miryeong briefly raised a hand.
“Yeah, it’s me. Thanks for opening up.”
Only then, as if his tension had eased,
did the member’s shoulders lower slightly.
“Aslo is waiting inside.”
“…Is he?”
Miryeong said.
Only then did the member shift his gaze.
Toward Bido.
His gaze did not linger,
but the meaning within it was clear.
It was the look of someone weighing an unfamiliar presence.
Erdin stepped forward.
“She is Lord Aslo’s disciple.”
The member looked at Bido again for a moment.
At the box and the chains, and then at her face.
“…I see.”
It was a short reply.
“Come in.”
He said.
This time, the gap widened further.
And as Arkin acted once more, the rocks withdrew without making a sound.
There were several more people inside.
They held weapons, but did not aim them.
All of their gazes first turned to Miryeong,
then soon moved to Bido.
Welcome and wariness existed in the same space.
Miryeong sensed it, but offered no explanation.
“We’re going to Aslo.”
She said.
With that single sentence, the air of the outpost settled.
Only then did Bido realize.
This was not a safe place,
but a controlled one.
The inside beyond the entrance was quiet.
For the center of an outpost, it was an overly plain space.
One old table and a few chairs,
weapons propped against the wall.
And—
one person.
Aslo was standing beside the table.
His blond hair was half tied back,
and his longsword was slung across his back as usual.
He did not look surprised or pleased to see the group enter.
It was the demeanor of someone who had already known.
“You’re here.”
His words were brief.
Miryeong shrugged.
“So you were here.”
“Yes.”
Aslo answered.
At that, Miryeong asked nothing more.
Because she knew no explanation was necessary.
Bido stood one step behind.
Aslo looked at her.
His gaze was not long, but he did not avoid her either.
Bido did not open her mouth.
There were many things she wanted to ask,
but she could feel that now was not the time.
Aslo spoke first.
“The Empire moved faster than expected.”
Spreading a map over the table,
he pointed to several locations with his finger.
“The route we were using to move Bido.”
“They struck it precisely.”
Erdin let out a low breath.
“So we were caught off guard.”
“Yes.”
Aslo nodded.
“That is why Rangnan returned to the main base.”
“We need to restructure the situation.”
He stopped speaking for a moment.
The motion of closing and opening his eyes was so natural
that it was hard to tell whether he was drowsy or thinking.
“I was waiting here.”
“Lord Rangnan’s judgment was correct.”
There was no detailed explanation accompanying those words.
Miryeong looked at him and said,
“A holy knight and a priest attached themselves to us.”
Aslo’s eyes narrowed for the briefest instant.
“It must have been Mirkin.”
“Yeah.”
Miryeong answered.
“We nearly got caught by the holy knight.”
“We got away thanks to Bido.”
This time, Aslo did not answer immediately.
Then he shifted his gaze back to Bido.
“The holy knight’s Mirkin didn’t affect Bido.”
Miryeong said, looking at Bido.
Bido felt that gaze, but did not lift her head.
Aslo said nothing.
Only,
that silence remained in the air like the heaviest words in the room.
Aslo did not fold the map.
Instead,
with his finger still paused in place, he said,
“There was Mirkin that tracked as well?”
At those words, Miryeong nodded.
“Yeah. I think it can probably measure direction and distance.”
“It was only chasing that chained box.”
“Then staying here is not an option.”
Aslo replied.
Aslo swept his gaze once over the inside of the outpost.
The members, the weapons, the passage.
It was safe, but there were many eyes.
“We will not speak at length here.”
He said.
“Especially not about the box.”
Erdin let out a breath as though he understood.
Aslo nodded.
“And Bido is here as well.”
At those words,
the surrounding gazes gathered on Bido for a very brief moment.
Bido said nothing.
She already knew that she alone was the stranger in this place.
Miryeong crossed her arms.
“Then Rangnan?”
“I will summon him.”
Aslo said.
“This is a matter that requires judgment.”
He called the nearest member.
Then, in a low voice, he gave a simple order.
“Relay the situation to Lord Rangnan.”
“We will move separately.”
The member did not ask why.
He lowered his head briefly and left.
Aslo turned back toward the group and spoke.
“A short distance from this outpost, there is an abandoned dwelling.”
“It is far from people’s eyes, and a place we can leave immediately if necessary.”
At those words, Miryeong immediately turned in that direction.
“Ah, there. Good. I can’t hold out here any longer.”
Only then did her shoulders sink visibly.
They moved in silence.
Once they left the outpost,
the air of the forest changed again.
But this time, it felt closer to concealment than vigilance.
Not long after,
a collapsed wall and a house with its roof half caved in came into view.
It was an abandoned house.
Aslo entered first.
Then, after checking the surroundings, he nodded.
“This is it.”
As soon as Miryeong stepped inside, she leaned her back against the wall and sank down.
“Finally, a little…”
Her words trailed off.
Then she closed her eyes as she was.
She was not completely asleep,
but it looked as if she had withdrawn her senses, if only for a moment.
Aslo looked at the box.
Then at Bido.
“From now on,”
he said.
“we talk about the box.”
Aslo stood before the box.
The chains were wrapped around it in several layers.
The lock, too, was not simple.
It was a structure designed to be opened, not broken by force.
He paused his hand for a moment.
It was less like confirmation,
and more like resolve.
Then,
he slowly unlocked it and began undoing the chains.
The sound of metal coming undone while still interlocked was quieter than expected.
His hands moved as though trying not to wake
something that had long been asleep.
When the last chain touched the floor,
Aslo opened the lid.
Inside the box was a rough-looking longsword.
It was about the same length as Bido’s longsword.
But its center of gravity was entirely different.
The blade was plain,
and it did not feel like ordinary metal.
There was almost no ornamentation.
Even so, it seized the eye to a strange degree.
At that moment—
Miryeong, who had been leaning against the wall, raised herself.
Her gaze had changed.
Her face, still marked with fatigue, seemed to awaken in an instant.
“…Wait, that.”
She approached the box.
Her body was not yet fully awake,
but her gaze was precise.
“Its form resembles a Haraya dragon weapon.”
Erdin also looked at the sword.
He tilted his head for a moment.
“It is different from Lord Muryeong’s dragon weapon.”
Aslo said,
“That is correct.”
It was a short, definitive answer.
“This is a dragon weapon.”
Miryeong’s gaze moved to him.
“The Haraya made it?”
“They did.”
Aslo nodded.
And,
after a moment of silence, he continued.
“Long ago, it was a weapon they tried to seal at the end of the world.”
At those words,
the air in the room changed subtly.
Erdin let out a low breath.
“Why is something like that… here?”
Miryeong was thinking the same.
“And.”
“Why was it entrusted to Bido?”
Aslo did not answer.
Instead, he shifted his gaze to Bido.
That gaze did not linger.
“You will learn the reason once Lord Rangnan arrives.”
Bido said nothing.
She simply looked at the sword, then felt her hand tighten without realizing it.
She still did not know why.
Then—
Miryeong’s ears slowly rose, and the tip of her nose moved.
“…Ah.”
Miryeong’s ears stood fully upright.
Then the tip of her nose gave one brief twitch.
“They’re coming. From far away. They’re headed this way.”
Aslo immediately asked,
“The holy knight?”
Miryeong nodded.
“Slow. But not stopping.”
Those words meant
the pursuit was still continuing.
—
The other side of the forest.
The holy knight’s party was moving without haste.
But they had not changed direction even once.
The priest spoke in a low voice.
“The target is fixed.”
“Both distance and direction are being maintained.”
Adel nodded at those words.
“I’ll go first.”
He lowered his stance,
and with sword in hand, threw himself toward the forest.
Trees split, and roots snapped.
The forest could not stop his speed.
—
“He’s approaching quickly. Probably the holy knight alone.”
Miryeong lifted her head as she spoke.
Aslo closed the lid again.
“There is no time.”
He said.
“We cannot avoid him.”
“We buy time until Lord Rangnan arrives.”
The sword went back into the box.
But its presence
had already emerged outside.