The next morning.
Along the northern road out of Arku.
Three people were walking down the dirt road.
The cart was covered with all sorts of odds and ends.
Old sacks, broken crates, dry branches.
At a glance, it looked like nothing more than the load of a wandering merchant.
But the man pulling the cart
had a height and build that seemed twice that of an ordinary human.
The horns stretching from his forehead swayed their shadows each time he moved slowly.
Ahead of him walked a woman with red hair neatly tied back.
Chains at her ankles and waist brushed against one another, making a thin sound with every step.
And one more person.
A little off to the side, he was rapidly writing something on a sheet of paper.
Whether it was a list of the goods in the cart or their route of travel,
his hand moved far too familiarly.
The man who had been writing spoke.
“As far as I know… the Silver Moon Order is a resistance organization in Arku.”
“Why would they request something like this?”
“Who knows.”
The red-haired woman shrugged.
“What does it matter, Liber?”
“We get paid, and that’s the end of it.”
The huge man spoke in a low voice.
“Deposit.”
“Large.”
“That’s right, Brak.”
The woman laughed.
“If we get the rest, we can loaf around and eat well for a while.”
This time, Liber held up a sheet of paper.
“Ayla, but something feels strange.”
“The seal stamped here… it’s too sloppy. It feels like it was thrown together in a hurry.”
Ayla snorted.
“Not our problem.”
“If they’re paying a lot, there’s nothing to ask.”
Ayla glanced toward the cart as she spoke.
“I didn’t know the Silver Moon Order was this rich.”
“Rich enough that I’d like to keep them as clients.”
Brak muttered as if complaining.
“…Something to kill.”
“Is there nothing worth killing?”
“You just focus on moving the cart.”
Ayla waved her hand dismissively.
“Once we move it, the job’s done.”
Liber added cautiously.
“There probably won’t be any fighting.”
“We just have to put it in the right place.”
“…Though I don’t know if bandits or something will show up on the way.”
The corners of Brak’s mouth lifted ever so slightly.
“Bandits.”
“If they come.”
“I kill them.”
Ayla looked up at Brak once.
“Who would dare mess with a monster like this?”
“If there’s someone stupid enough to go after their own neck…”
The corner of her mouth rose.
“That would be fun in its own way.”
A gust of wind blew.
The dry grass along the edge of the dirt road all bent down at once,
then lifted their heads again.
At that moment—
beyond the low mound beside the road,
a gaze shifted.
There was no sound,
no footstep.
Only
the feeling that someone had steadied their breath
and was slowly following along with their pace.
The cartwheel rolled over a stone with a clatter,
and Brak’s horns flashed once in the sunlight.
Liber folded the paper and tucked it into his coat.
Ayla tugged once at her chain with a finger.
And yet,
the gaze did not disappear.
—
The previous day.
The Silver Moon Order’s meeting room.
Yoon was in the middle of writing something down
when the door opened and someone came in.
It was Maho.
As soon as he entered the room, he looked for Raen.
“You were here.”
Raen’s eyes widened.
“Maho…?”
Maho skipped anything like a greeting.
“Roan.”
“Can you sense his direction?”
Raen hesitated for a moment.
“…I can.”
“Roughly.”
“Then that’s enough.”
Maho said at once.
“We’re chasing him again.”
Raen spoke hurriedly.
“Maho, don’t do that… help Rangnan instead.”
“They said it’s serious.”
Maho did not even turn his head.
“That.”
“Is your business.”
“Handle it yourselves.”
Maho’s voice cut off coldly,
but the tips of his fingers were trembling faintly.
As though the lingering heat had not yet faded.
Seeing that,
Bido unconsciously gripped his necklace once.
The sensation of metal against his skin felt strangely sharp.
Rangnan said nothing.
Only his gaze, for a brief moment,
swept between Maho’s hand and Raen.
Maho’s gaze fixed on Raen again.
“You stay here. I’m going to find Roan.”
Raen’s face turned briefly sullen,
then he asked bluntly.
“…But you’re going alone?”
Raen took one step closer.
“Don’t you need me?”
“I—”
Maho looked Raen up and down once.
A short silence passed.
Maho’s eyes
wavered ever so slightly.
The Roan of now had become more dangerous.
And—
‘Can I protect Raen to the end against someone like that?’
Maho did not say the thought aloud.
Instead,
he cut it off in a firmer voice.
“No.”
“You just need to stay here.”
“Just tell me roughly the distance and direction.”
Raen’s lips jutted out.
At that moment, Maho’s gaze
moved to Rangnan.
Maho spoke as if giving a warning.
“Rangnan.”
“Whatever this is, don’t drag Raen into it.”
“If anything happens—”
His words stopped for a moment.
Maho clenched his teeth
and added in a low voice.
“Then I won’t know what I’ll do either.”
Heat lingered in the meeting room.
Raen grabbed Maho’s wrist,
then immediately let go and shouted.
“Ah, hot!”
Even while grimacing, Raen pulled Maho again.
“Don’t be like this.”
“Let’s go outside first.”
“I’ll tell you out there.”
Maho seemed to hesitate for a moment,
but in the end, he moved toward the door after Raen.
Raen and Maho left,
and the door closed.
The remaining air settled one beat late.
Bido stared at the closed door.
The direction Raen had gone
felt strangely distant.
—
The next day, at the same time.
Behind a tree, in the deep shadow.
Three people had hidden their presence as they looked down at the dirt road.
The three people pulling the cart.
On the surface, they looked like merchants hauling goods.
Miryeong drew in a breath,
then stopped at once.
She could already tell by the tip of her nose.
Between the earthy smell of a rainy day, a thin, acrid powdery scent was mixed in.
Oil and cloth, and…
the smell of a half-burned wick.
Miryeong spoke very softly.
“That’s it.”
“The smell of explosives is everywhere.”
Muryeong pressed the dirt with the tip of his foot.
The wheel tracks were steady.
They were not traces of something rushed,
but traces of something moved “carefully.”
Aslo narrowed his eyes.
“There’s a face I know.”
Before the “face,” Aslo recalled a sound.
The thin metallic ring
made when a chain was lightly flicked.
He had never faced her in person before.
And yet,
among the rumors of mercenaries,
he had heard that sound far too often.
When the red-haired woman turned her head,
sunlight flashed across one section of her chain.
A brief glimmer.
And following after it, a strangely light threat.
Miryeong noticed Aslo’s breath lowering.
Muryeong, too, silently wrapped his hand more tightly around the haft of his axe.
Without taking his eyes away,
Aslo rolled the name only in his mind.
‘Ayla.’
His gaze
fixed on the woman with her red hair neatly tied back.
All the while she walked, the woman was lightly flicking her chain with her finger out of habit.
Ayla seemed to sense their gaze and stopped for a moment,
then walked on again as though it were nothing.
That calmness made her even more dangerous.
Aslo felt the back of his neck turn cold.
He said in a low voice.
“Chain-wielder Ayla….”
“This may be harder than expected.”
Muryeong muttered as he looked at the huge man.
“An Urkan, is he?”
Aslo nodded.
“They’re mercenaries.”
“They look like a team.”
Miryeong indicated the top of the cart with her chin.
“It’s not a simple transport of supplies.”
“Look at the things they’ve covered up there.”
“They disguised it to avoid inspection.”
Aslo answered briefly.
“Right.”
“It will be difficult to avoid a fight.”
Aslo’s voice sank even lower.
“What matters to mercenaries is not the truth.”
“It’s gold.”
Miryeong steadied her breath and said,
“…Then let’s stop them.”
Aslo spoke quietly.
“That woman.”
“Be careful of Ayla’s chains.”
Miryeong glanced at Aslo.
“Do you know her?”
Aslo shook his head.
“I’ve never faced her directly.”
“But those who have seen her… all talked about the chains.”
Miryeong turned her gaze back toward the red-haired woman.
All the while she walked, the woman kept flicking the chain with her finger.
A light sound.
But that lightness was, if anything, ominous.
Muryeong said,
“I’ll take the Urkan.”
Aslo nodded.
“Good.”
Aslo’s gaze moved to the man beside them, looking over the records.
“And that man.”
“He looks ordinary on the outside… but there’s a high chance he’s the center of their movements.”
“He either commands them.”
“Or at the very least, he’s the one who reads the situation.”
Miryeong asked quietly,
“Then what do we do?”
Aslo summed it up briefly.
“We stop the cart first.”
“We don’t touch the explosives.”
“After that.”
“We subdue the three of them.”
“And obtain information about their client.”
Aslo was lost in thought for a moment,
then added in a low voice.
“If possible… let’s try talking to them first.”
Miryeong raised an eyebrow.
Aslo continued.
“I’m not trying to persuade them.”
“We buy time, and see if we can draw a name from their mouths.”
Muryeong silently gripped the haft of his axe.
“It would be nice if words worked.”
Miryeong let out a short breath.
“…All right.”
“Then I’ll go out first.”
Holding her breath,
Miryeong took one step out of the shadow.
Before fully revealing herself,
Miryeong raised two fingers.
Muryeong nodded
and tightened his grip further around the axe haft.
Miryeong divided her breath even more shallowly.
Then, she took one more step.