Astro (4)
“That reminds me, this is unexpected.”
“Yes?”
“You recognizing me, I mean. I heard beastmen are usually indifferent to other races.”
“Well… It’s not entirely wrong. Foxes are the worst.”
“Oh?”
The man struck up a conversation naturally.
Irene frowned slightly for a moment before responding in a hesitant voice.
“I learned about you from my master.”
“And by master, you mean…?”
“Swordsmanship. He took care of me like a parent since I was young, and he was your ardent supporter.”
“That makes me feel embarrassed, haha!”
“He was quite persistent about it.”
The girl remembers it vividly.
A wheat field rippling in the remnants of the wind. The earth was swept in gold, as if proving its richness.
An old man with white hair stands in the nostalgic scenery.
-Didn't I tell you, Irene?
-A sword must always contain a righteous light.
-Just like the Red Swordmaster... You must become someone who breaks easily but doesn't waver, falls easily but doesn't stay down.
-Find your star.
At that time, she just brushed it off as nagging.
“I heard your name every time I was being lectured.”
“I apologize for that.”
“Now that I'm face to face with the subject of those lectures… it's strange, and fascinating.”
“Hmm!”
The Swordmaster nodded as if he understood.
Their conversation was short and fragmented.
Irene, who had been silent for a while, soon asked the question she found most difficult to believe.
It was a direct hit.
“But I heard you died two years ago.”
“...”
“What happened?”
“...”
Does he not intend to tell her?
The Swordmaster kept his mouth shut.
The cheerful atmosphere that had been present just moments ago disappeared, and a chilly silence enveloped them.
The air instantly cooled.
‘Did I make a mistake?’
Judging from his reaction, it didn’t seem like a pleasant story.
Maybe it would have been better to ask more indirectly.
As the tense girl broke out in a cold sweat, a soft laugh rang out after a while.
“Pfft… Haha!”
“...”
“Sorry! You looked so serious that I wanted to play a little prank!”
The icy vigilance dissipated.
The Swordmaster was smiling as if nothing had happened. He looked just like a middle-aged man.
Should she call it friendly?
Or should she call it eerie?
He leaned back in his chair and continued the conversation naturally.
“Actually, there’s not much to tell.”
“...”
“I just put too much faith in the name of justice and paid a small price.”
His tone was playful, but his words were quite pointed.
A fleeting emotion flickered in his cloudy pupils.
However, his voice remained calm and collected as he spoke.
“I was originally destined to die. Meaninglessly, just like the records in history.”
The fall of a brilliant star.
But even in such despair, there was someone who reached out.
“The Boss took me in.”
“That shady person…?”
“It was truly a miracle. Since then, I've been living my life loyal to him.”
The Swordmaster smiled faintly.
It was playful, as before, but it was by no means a lighthearted smile.
It was a worn expression that only an adult could make.
“The same goes for the others. Every single one of them owes their lives to the Boss.”
“All those people…?”
The members who served the boy like fanatics.
Their faith, which had seemed eerie, seemed to have a reason behind it.
“Pitiful orphans, wrongly accused death row inmates, damn cat groomers… and even a fallen star.”
They were nothing but street junk.
“He did not turn us away.”
The world abandoned them.
Their hearts were broken, their will withered, and hope lost its meaning.
As they were dying like that.
A golden snake found them.
“This is the reason for our faith.”
“...”
“Especially the child who holds the position of Vice-Commander is special. I understand her obsession with him.”
“If you know anything that happened…”
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that, as I wasn’t directly involved.”
“I see.”
“Anyway.”
The man lightly wrapped up the conversation.
The Swordmaster shook off his serious demeanor and left a few final words.
“Forming a bond means ‘taming’.”
Those are the words he always says.
Things that are not tamed have no inherent color.
Only those who are tamed by something can encounter a meaningful landscape.
A dazzling, blooming gold.
“I pray that such a moment will come to you as well.”
“...”
Bonding, and taming.
She had definitely heard those words before, but they were still sentences whose meaning she couldn't grasp.
It was as if she was caught in an unsolvable question.
No appropriate answer came to mind.
The fox, frozen in place for a while, finally nodded her head quietly.
***
A hectic day passed by in a flash.
It would soon be evening, and she had to get back in time for the dormitory curfew.
The fox was saying a short goodbye to her siblings.
“Sister… are you leaving already?”
“Can’t you just stay here with us? The teachers are all nice…”
“Sob…”
The children whined with disappointment.
Irene put on a bittersweet smile and soothed the young foxes.
“I have something I need to do.”
“Do you really have to go…?”
“I made a promise. Didn't I tell you before that you shouldn't break a promise you made with a friend?”
“Yes…”
A dejected answer came back.
Of course, the children didn't really think about throwing a tantrum or clinging to her.
They knew how much their sister sacrificed to protect them.
Their childhood was stripped of its innocence too early.
Having lived under oppression for so long, it was as if the world had forced them to be this way.
To forget their childhood in their childhood.
To become adults, worn down before their time.
“...I'll come back when it’s vacation.”
The girl forces a smile.
As she turns her back, the boy next to her intervenes.
His half-closed eyes gleamed mischievously.
“My, my~ Wonderful foxes like you wouldn’t be sad over something like this, would they?”
His hand deftly rummaged through his pocket.
The next moment, countless chocolates and candies poured out of the small space, one after another. Like he was performing magic.
The boy handed a handful to each of the children.
With a slight wink.
“This is a present from me.”
“Sob, thank you…”
“Yes… Thank you.”
“Heh heh, don't mention it.”
The boy grins.
As expected, he was adept at handling children. His characteristically light tone lightened the mood.
Perhaps it was out of consideration for Irene.
‘Just what…’
The fox stares at the snake with complicated eyes.
Inside, the voice she had just heard, the recurring question, replayed in her mind.
‘Why… is he being so nice to me?’
Come to think of it, it had been like this from the beginning.
He saved her from that hellish cage and kept her siblings safe.
It had always made her feel uneasy and indebted.
But he had never once done anything bad to her.
On the contrary, he seemed to treat her preciously.
‘It’s strange.’
Humans were despicable creatures.
They exploited the kindness of others, deceived them, and eventually took everything away.
She had paid too high a price to learn this fact.
-I'm sorry, Irene.
-I wanted to stay by your side forever.
The day she finally lost her master.
The girl swore.
She would never trust a human again.
No matter what kind of sweet talk they used, she would scoff and mock them.
However.
“It’s time to go back, Miss Irene.”
“...Yeah.”
“Don’t be too disappointed. You can always come back and visit whenever you want, even if it’s not vacation.”
“...”
She didn’t know what to do.
As she looked at his half-closed eyes, always bright and welcoming even as she stubbornly pushed him away.
The solid wall she had built around herself seemed to shake.
This overwhelming kindness was a first for her.
Perhaps it was because of the past two years she had spent clinging desperately to survival.
She even felt like she had become weak.
Irene shook off her complicated thoughts and parted her lips nonchalantly.
“...I trust your people will take good care of the children.”
“Of course. Actually, I wanted to send them to an orphanage run by Astro… but as you know, it’s a time when we have to be careful about being seen.”
“An orphanage? You’re doing that too?”
“It’s on a small scale.”
“Still, that’s amazing…”
The fox’s quiet response.
The boy seemed to stiffen for a moment, but he quickly responded calmly.
“I just… didn’t want the children to be alone.”
The snake’s lips curved up subtly.
“The loneliness of childhood… it leaves a lifelong scar.”
His voice was calm and collected.
He was smiling as usual, but his expression seemed somehow sad.
As if it hinted at a distant past.
“...?”
“Now, now~ Shall we stop with the idle chatter?”
As the unfamiliar atmosphere made the fox tilt her head in wonder.
The snake walked ahead toward the exit.
The golden figure greeted the passing members, exchanged jokes, and promised to see them again.
“...”
Irene, who had been standing there blankly, started to move her feet.
Following the lingering image of the snake.
***
Meanwhile.
In a building whose exact location was unknown.
In a space where only darkness and silence resided, several cloaked figures were gathered.
They exuded a dangerous aura at a glance, standing around a round table, facing each other.
“It’s soon.”
The robe at the very center muttered.
They didn’t specify what it was, but their comrades silently nodded in agreement.
“We bowed our heads for a while… but now is the time to take root again.”
In the center of the pitch-black round table, there was a golden pattern.
A picture reminiscent of an upside-down tree.
There was only one group that wore such a wicked emblem.
The continent’s largest group of dark mages, Baob.
The heretical group, which had been quiet for the past few years, was stirring once more.
“Today, exactly two years ago. We killed the ‘Red Swordmaster’ who had been such a nuisance to us.”
Although there had been some casualties, it was a satisfactory result.
Now that there was no one strong enough to control them on the continent, it was time to carry out His will.
“I hear that some fine students have entered Galimar Academy.”
The Summoner who controls dragons.
The Empire’s First Princess, hailed as an unparalleled genius.
The twin brother and sister of the Vanity family.
And the head of the Snakus family, who appeared like a comet.
“They’ll all make fine sacrifices to offer to Him.”
-Clang!!
Behind the robe, there was a giant iron cage.
Something huge, trapped inside, was thrashing about. A grotesque sculpture with human flesh stuck all over it.
It screamed as if driven mad by slaughter.
-Kieeeeek!!
It was a noise that seemed to pierce through their eardrums, but the robed figures didn’t even flinch.
Instead, they burst into manic laughter.
“Everyone, get ready.”
Their eyes gleamed with desire.
They could already envision the landscape of the continent engulfed in blood and flames.
Their shoulders trembled with a chilling thrill.
“It’s time for us to reveal ourselves to the world once more.”
Take root, you wicked trees.
“All for the sake of the Origin of All Things, our master… the Demon God.”
““For Him.””
In the space filled with only darkness and silence.
Danger was taking root.
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