EP.269 A Story from Afar. Outside the Stage
A master of Qigong uses Qigong even when walking. When their foot touches the ground, they pull it and move their body forward. This is because gripping the ground with Qigong allows them to move their body faster and stronger.
In that sense, Hughes did not act like a master of Qigong. His footsteps were endlessly light, his demeanor frivolous. He did not emit a strong enough aura to warrant caution, making it seem as though one might forget his presence at any moment.
However, the peculiar sense of ease unique to him disguised even that as the eccentricity of the strong.
The man called Hughes, who was difficult to understand, spotted Tirkanjaka and approached with a quick, skipping step.
"Tir!"
Perplexed, Tirkanjaka called out to him.
[Hugh? Why are you here instead of there?]
"I came to see you, Tir."
[Hmm?!]
Flashing a natural smile at the slightly flustered Tirkanjaka, he turned to look at Shay with a frivolous attitude.
"I asked Tir for a favor. To get the laborers here out. If the laborers get out and scatter, we can shake off any pursuit when we secretly slip out among them!"
He explained excitedly, like a child hungry for praise. Having heard the whole story, Shay nodded but felt a sense of incongruity.
His face, actions, tone, and mannerisms were undoubtedly his. Yet, he was different.
Tap, tap. The feeling of a small iron bead striking her chest. The bizarre sixth sense brought to her by over a dozen deaths pulled at her arm. Shay moved following the intuition that suddenly came upon her.
"Miss Shay!"
Shay replied abruptly, like someone waking from a sleep.
"Uh, yeah."
"Why are you drawing your sword...?"
"Huh?"
Shay looked at Cheon-ang, half-drawn, and flinched. She realized what she had been about to do.
Surely, if he hadn't pointed it out, she would have swung Cheon-ang and severed his right arm.
An old memory came to mind. She had tried to cut off his right arm and dwelled on it for days. Recalling that memory, Shay sheathed Cheon-ang as if nothing had happened.
"Ah, this. Don't mind it. It's just a habit."
"That's a very unique habit. Well, there are people who can't feel at ease unless they're holding a sword."
He smiled softly, taking over Shay's words.
As expected, something is different. Even though she realized it intuitively, Shay tried hard to suppress her sense of incongruity. In the first place, Hughes was terribly suspicious from their very first meeting, and that suspiciousness hadn't faded even after getting to know him.
Hughes was the kind of person for whom no strange action would be out of place. It would never happen, but if Yuk Jang-seong suddenly appeared wanting to surrender, Shay would first suspect that he had done something. Caring about it means losing...
[...How strange.]
And Tirkanjaka, too, felt a similar sense of incongruity and placed her hand on her chest. A faint, slender pulse felt beneath her thin skin. Usually, it would flutter and beat joyfully just from him approaching, but today, there was no sign of it.
Could it be that her feelings had already changed? Perhaps. The human heart is like a reed.
Concealing her disappointment, Tirkanjaka called out to him.
[Hugh. You should have called me. If you had, I would have come to find you.]
"How dare I tell the Ancestor to come and go."
[Though you usually do it so well.]
"I just felt like coming out to meet you today."
It was definitely strange. His voice, gestures, and face were clearly his, but there was an incongruity in his behavior. And Tirkanjaka, who had fought countless things over a long period of time, trusted her intuition quite well.
Tirkanjaka subtly brought it up.
[By the way, Hugh. Isn't it about time you slowly returned the card you received from me?]
"My card? What card?"
[You don't even remember the card you gave me?]
"Well, it's not just one or two cards. There are so many kinds."
Ace of Hearts. The heart, blood, or life. Tir had not forgotten, and he surely must be the same.
Her suspicion of him gradually took shape. Now, she raised a finger with a smile as cold as ice.
[Enough. Take it back yourself.]
"Where did you put it?"
Nowhere else but inside her body.
He asked back with an innocent smile. His pure and soft smile felt terribly sickening. Tirkanjaka clenched her fist. The darkness, sympathizing with its master's emotions, surged wildly.
Even at the clear hostility, 'he' was not flustered. As if the inevitable had arrived, 'she'—no, Hilde, who had been disguised as Hughes—erased the smile from her lips and murmured softly.
"Hmm. It's not working out well~. Well, to say I copied him perfectly, I don't know that much about him."
The face was clearly the same as his, but the gestures gradually became softer and more graceful. Even in the smallest movement, there was a technique mixed in that ordinary people would find hard to notice.
When a familiar face took unfamiliar actions, Tirkanjaka felt an instinctive revulsion. As if reflecting her uncomfortable mood, the Black Knights revealed their menacing appearances. She, hidden in the darkness, growled like a beast.
[What did you do to Hugh?]
"Huh? What did I do to him? The question is backwards. 'What did he do to me?' would be a more appropriate question."
Even in the face of the Ancestor's wrath, Hilde was perfectly calm without a hint of fear. She wasn't pretending not to be afraid; she truly felt no fear.
Was it a lack of knowledge? Not that either. Rather, she saw as much as she knew, understanding her opponent's capabilities better than anyone.
Was it a lack of emotion? Not at all. An actor needs richer emotions than anyone. One who does not understand emotions cannot act.
Yet being able to remain calm is the privilege of one who has lost themselves. Only those abandoned by fate and having lost themselves become warriors who know no fear.
Tirkanjaka felt a strange sense of déjà vu. That attitude of not showing even a bit of fear in front of the Ancestor was familiar.
[The Holy Sword Squad...?]
However, the stray thought was momentary, and Tirkanjaka denied her conjecture.
[No, it's different. Those bastards are stiff to a sickening degree, but you are a bit different.]
"Thank you. For praising me, this little girl doesn't know what to do with herself."
[I mean you are sickeningly slippery.]
Tirkanjaka brushed off her arm and stepped forward. Before she knew it, Hilde was surrounded by darkness. If Tirkanjaka only had the will, she would be swept away by the darkness and drowned regardless of her abilities.
[You haven't answered me yet. Lowly wretch, if you don't open your mouth right now, I will kill you myself. I will drain all your blood and leave only a handful, and with that speck of blood, you will suffer for eternity.]
"Can you really do that?"
Hilde cupped his face with her hands, smiled a fresh smile, and tilted her head.
"This face, can you treat it so harshly?"
Of course. Tirkanjaka, with a cold heart, is not swayed by emotions. If she recognized that they were a different being despite having the same face, she could deal with it rationally.
She had always done so and was confident she would do the same this time, but Tirkanjaka found herself momentarily speechless. Her hostility abruptly caught on the speed bump in her mind.
"You're hesitating~. How cute. As expected, you also received something from him?"
And Hilde caught that fleeting emotion. The corners of her eyes also sank.
"The reason Ancestor Tirkanjaka followed here. It's not a political move. If it were a political move, you would have made your intentions known so both sides could understand. Personal revenge? That's not it either. The target wasn't clear. Then the remaining possibility. The possibility that you followed along purely, without a clear purpose. It was only a hypothesis, but that was the right answer. Then the conclusion is that the invasion of Gunguk was purely his idea."
Enraged by the fact that she had handed over information and a weakness to the enemy, Tir reached out her hand. The Black Knights stepped forward, and swords and spears made of shadows were thrust at her.
[You've crossed the line by a mile. Do you not value your life?]
Even so, Hilde was still relaxed. She lightly tapped the shadow spear aimed at her neck and gave a wicked smile.
"But you don't actually carry out the attack~. Is it hard to attack this face? Just how precious of a thing did you receive from him?"
[Kugh...]
"Hehe. It's obvious. As expected, everyone here received something from him and followed him all the way to Gunguk..."
Sensing a presence, Hilde stopped mid-sentence and fell to the ground. It was a violent movement, more like pulling the floor toward her than simply falling. Immediately after, an invisible sword slash swept through the spot where she had just been.
"Tch."
The air shimmered, and Shay's figure, hidden by a mirage, appeared. Shay clicked her tongue at the failure of her certain-kill surprise attack.
Hilde, who had pressed her body to the floor before springing up, said.
"Oh my? You don't hold back, do you? Even looking at your ally's face?"
"Face? Tch, what's so great about that?"
"...Hmm. Serious? Is it a lot of experience, or are you naturally lacking in affection? Considering your age, it's probably the latter... right? It's a question~."
"Could you not decide my personality on your own?"
Shay grumbled.
Shay had experienced all sorts of things over several loops. There were times when yesterday's friend became tomorrow's enemy. She had been betrayed countless times. Or, there were memories of once being the best of comrades, only for them to twist their faces viciously and charge at her to kill her just one loop later.
To Shay, who had killed the same person multiple times, a mere stranger with the same face couldn't evoke any sentiment.
Having roughly grasped the opponent's strength, Shay drew Cheon-ang and Ji-jan and displayed clear hostility.
"If you want to leave any last words, hurry up and say them. To me, or to Tirkanjaka. We're a bit busy right now, you know?"
"I didn't come to fight. An acquaintance introduced me, you see. He told me to meet you."
"He? You mean Hughes?"
"Yeah. He said if it's you, Shay, you might be able to find what I've forgotten."
"If you lost something, go find a fence. Or think of it as a donation and forget about it."
"I already did. Because of that, I'm in this state now."
Hilde chuckled. As Shay frowned at her attitude, which showed no hostility at all, Hilde cleared her throat and changed her face. Hughes's face and voice gradually disappeared, shifting into a more feminine form.
"My name is Hilde. The one named as such."
Hilde, having completely shed Hughes's outer appearance, spoke to Shay.
"Shay. I have a request for you. If you grant my request, I will also give you one piece of information you wish to know."