Black Badger

How long had the fire begun to burn inside him?

Kyle no longer knew a life that did not involve carrying flames. He lived each moment alongside a raging inferno. At some point, he had grown accustomed to the heat that warmed his insides. The absence of fire felt strange.

So whenever his anger threatened to subside, he threw more firewood onto it. Because he could not forgive himself for letting the desire for revenge cool.

Even as he followed the Emperor’s orders, he carved into his mind, over and over, the faces of the tribespeople who had fallen by that same hand.

He remembered his parents who had passed on, and the teacher who had died, pierced by an enemy’s blade.

These were stories he could not tell Rei Renyr, the third son of a count’s household.

‘Sometimes you glance at me and look like you’re about to say something, then stop.’

‘It’s nothing.’

‘Don’t give me that. You were obviously about to talk about those people up there.’

Rei disliked the way Kyle would open his mouth only to close it again.

Still, he could not openly voice his displeasure. He was not so naïve as to be unaware of the difference in status between himself and Kyle.

He could not very well demand to know why Kyle spoke so freely with Hildebert but not in front of him.

‘What is it with you two this time?’

Whenever that happened, the one who stepped in to mediate was always Hildebert.

‘Honestly, I know you two like each other a lot. Stop sulking over nothing and just spar or something.’

And just like that, the awkward tension would vanish as if it had never been there.

Hildebert was someone who possessed that kind of talent. His unknotted personality put those around him at ease.

Of course, that did not mean Rei and he were not close friends. Just as Hildebert said, they were inseparable companions.

There was simply one topic they were careful around.

A topic so enormous that it sometimes caused problems.

‘Still, hey—what kind of noble voluntarily comes to the western division?’

When drunk, Rei would sometimes grumble like that.

‘I’m pretty rebellious too, you know. I might not go as far as Hilde does, but you should trust me a little sometimes.’

It was not that Kyle distrusted Rei.

He simply knew that Rei was not as free as Hildebert.

‘What would you do if I started a rebellion?’

When Kyle once tossed out the question half as a joke, Hildebert answered immediately.

‘I’d stand by your side.’

A man who had lost everything precious.

‘But if you’re going to do that, you should at least pretend you cut ties with Rei a few months beforehand. You do know that, right?’

Hilde said that if it were not for Rei, he would never have set foot in the imperial capital.

‘You know too, don’t you? No matter what Rei says, he can’t completely hate his family.’

Because Hildebert spoke like that, Rei would sometimes shrink back.

In truth, Rei Renyr himself was displaying a friendship that would make those around them gasp.

After all, there was someone at his side who would set his own body ablaze without a shred of hesitation to help avenge him. It was understandable that Rei would feel guilty on his own.

Hildebert had been in that position for quite a long time.

Unlike Kyle, who had a tribe, and Rei, who had a family, Hildebert lived like a dried leaf from the World Tree, swaying in the wind.

As Kysis had said, for a long while the only things Hildebert held onto were Kyle and Rei.

And so he was the one who carefully balanced the weight between the two of them.

The Emperor, knowing this, promoted Kyle to the position of Knight Commander just a little earlier.

He must have known that if he held onto Kyle, he could securely hold onto Hildebert as well.

Unable to let go of those yellow eyes, the Emperor did not sweep away the rebellious-looking conquered subject. Instead, he used their friendship as a fine anchor.

Those were the days when they believed they could not possibly grow any closer.

‘Kyle.’

The change in their relationship was brought about by an unforeseen incident.

‘I’m sorry.’

Due to the Count’s indecisiveness and the reckless words of the Count’s eldest son, the entire household was branded with false charges of treason.

At that time, they ran desperately to save House Renyr. Kyle even went so far as to request an audience with the Emperor first, for the very first time. To the one he could not stop hating, even after pressing his lips in a vow of loyalty.

He heard that Hildebert had also been running himself ragged.

Since he encountered the Emperor far more often, he must have submitted petitions all the more frequently.

As for that, Hildebert never spoke in detail.

In any case, what mattered was that the incident caused him and Rei to grow rapidly closer.

‘How have you been living all this time?’

After everything was over, Rei came to see him and said that.

‘I’m sorry for all the complaining. I never understood what you were carrying inside you.’

‘Just drink the infused liquor.’

That was the answer Kyle gave at the time.

Those feelings were not something one could make others understand unless they were placed in a similar situation.

‘Let’s talk after we’ve emptied a few cups.’

That was how their bond deepened.

When one large, transparent wall disappeared, they finally came to understand each other.

After that, whenever he and Rei met, they would pour out the emotions they had kept inside.

Rei was—

“Commander.”

Valdez opened the door and entered.

“Please drink some water.”

“What about Nabarate?”

Kyle came back to himself.

As he brushed his black hair back and murmured the question, Valdez held out the water before answering.

Kyle took it silently and drank. After setting the empty glass down on the bedside table, he habitually checked for Hildebert’s presence.

Still inside the Core.

Just as he had heard, it seemed he was overwhelmed by his clash with the Elders.

Even before he awoke, Kyle had placed a fair amount of trust in the humans who fed information to their kin. One of them in particular possessed tremendous intelligence-gathering ability, and Kyle, along with the rest of the command, treasured him greatly.

It would be good if he could avoid being caught to the very end.

He had heard that Black Badger had begun a full-scale hunt for spies.

It would be impossible to remain completely safe, but if their key informant was not exposed until the end....

Once again, the voice of a diligent subordinate cut through his train of thought.

“He is still under treatment, but it seems he will have difficulty moving for now.”

Valdez adjusted his glasses and let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry. I really don’t have much talent when it comes to healing....”

“That’s enough. Don’t think I don’t know you’re doing your best.”

Kyle rose from the bed and gave Valdez’s shoulder a light tap.

After loosening his body in the way he always did, he walked out of the bedroom.

Morning air that tickled his nose.

Judging by the absence of people lined up outside the room, nothing special must have happened overnight.

Then again, the Badgers had not come out of the Core lately. Even though he had expected they would not be able to push it to the end, igniting the teleportation array seeds they had planted near headquarters had still been worth it.

Things would stay quiet for a while.

Cecil had gone berserk and Nabarate had been gravely injured, extinguishing one flame of hope not long ago. But before much time passed, another hope had flared to life.

That was why Kyle was not impatient.

“Any unusual developments overnight?”

“None. It was quiet. This afternoon, supplies should be delivered from the Core. Since the Badgers are in an uproar internally, surveillance outside the Core has loosened. We plan to use this opportunity to replenish supplies as much as possible.”

“I see. I should check the ledgers too.”

“Please rest today.”

As Kyle walked out of the building and spoke, Valdez ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) immediately replied.

Kyle did not answer and pushed the door open.

The mage moved in close at his side.

“I said rest. If you don’t take a day off today either, Sir Seth will definitely kill me. Ever since last week, he’s been hounding me nonstop, saying I need to make sure my commander rests. No matter how much I argue back that I am urging you to rest, he refuses to listen!”

“Alright, alright.”

Kyle waved his hand.

Unless he gave a definite answer that he would not touch work today, it looked like Valdez would continue spiraling like this.

In truth, Kyle himself was starting to feel the need for a change of air. So he accepted his subordinate’s demand. After eating breakfast, he completed the training quota he had set for himself, then slowly went to rest.

Only once Kyle entered his room did Valdez finally wear a satisfied smile.

Seth, the loyal subordinate who had served him even before he rose to the position of Knight Commander in the Empire, came all the way to the bedroom to see with his own eyes that Kyle was truly lying down with the intent to rest.

“You’re excessive.”

“It was the Commander who emphasized the importance of rest.”

Seth did not yield a single word.

“You said the humans would be quiet for a while. Use this opportunity to catch up on sleep.”

“I slept enough for a lifetime back then.”

After replying as if to himself, Kyle dismissed Seth with a wave.

He ignored the unspoken retort of ‘That doesn’t count as sleep,’ and the moment the door closed, he opened the window and sprawled out on the bed.

Then he stared fixedly out the window.

The most pressing issue, the shortage of supplies, seemed like it would be resolved starting from this period.

Kyle rather liked those who risked their lives to come out of the Core. Unlike the information brokers inside Center Core, these people moved not by conviction but by money. After gathering goods to trade, they would gamble their lives and dash outside the Core.

They usually used supply trains.

The farther a Core was from Center Core, the weaker Black Badger’s influence became. And in any Core, there were always those desperate to earn money. Smugglers living in Core 5 bribed those who controlled the supply trains.

Originally, supply trains rarely ran through Core 5. The depots outside Core 5 were almost no longer in use. However, back when a powerful Elder had controlled Core 5, the depots had been active, so the rails and trains still remained intact.

It was a mutually beneficial deal. The smugglers returned with resources obtainable only outside the Core and sold them at high prices, while they quietly gathered things that could only be obtained inside the Core.

To avoid attracting the attention of the Elders or Black Badger, the volume of goods moving back and forth was strictly controlled.

Of course, there were countless ways things could go wrong, but luck had followed them every time. Thanks to that, there had been no problems with the supply line so far.

Supplies were extremely important.

No matter what choice they made....

‘Kyle.’

A memory from the past suddenly surfaced.

‘Please, just don’t be the one to start it first.’

Hildebert was begging him.

A memory from before the war. More precisely, from several months before he led his subordinates to attack the laboratory. It was from the time when arguments with Hildebert had escalated to the point that Kyle had begun avoiding even facing him.

He avoided talking to Hildebert, and Hildebert struggled desperately to talk to him.

The one who kept coming to ask him to trust him, one day even went so far as to kneel. Kyle, enraged, had hauled Hildebert back to his feet.

‘What do you think you’re doing!’

‘I thought this might get across how desperate I am.’

‘Desperation isn’t the problem. If anything, I’m the one who wants to kneel. Maybe then you’d come to your senses.’

‘Kyle.’

Hildebert called his name in a voice that sounded as though it might shatter at any moment.

‘Kyle. If you truly can’t trust me....’

There was no way he could trust him.

When the final, final moment arrived, humans would change their minds. They did not have the resolve to truly perish together. Kyle knew that well. Hadn’t he been the same?

Back when the Empire and the tribe fought a war over each other’s lands.

Kyle had resolved that if defeat came, he would rather die clutching the enemy commander’s head.

Until nearly the very end, there was no fear or hesitation in that resolve.

He would fight to the end on the battlefield, just like his father.

Even with that determination, hadn’t he ultimately knelt?

Kyle was still convinced that if he had pushed it to the very end, the enemy would have done the same. Hildebert had been deceived by their bluff.

‘Do you know how much Adam liked you?’

On the day he finished preparing to strike the humans.

Knowing Hildebert well, and knowing just as well how to scrape at his insides, Kyle had said that to the Hildebert who came to beg him.

‘Aren’t you ashamed to face that child?’

The violently trembling golden eyes from that day still surfaced from time to time.

Contrary to Kyle’s desperate wish, Hildebert did not collapse in the end.

‘I’ve lost too much now. I’ve become a coward who guards his own body.’

That was how Hildebert replied.

‘If only more could survive....’

Kyle felt the wind seeping in through the open window.

He had always been sensitive to the scent of the wind. He could uncannily tell changes in the weather and surroundings just by its smell.

As a child, it had taken quite a long time to grow accustomed to the scent of the wind that swept through the imperial capital.

It was no different right after dimensional transfer. Earth was a suffocating place. Skyscrapers and roads packed with people. Exhaust fumes and fine smoke that strangled the breath.

Sometimes he wondered.

If he, like Hilde, had cast aside pride and everything else and begged—what would have happened?

Would Hilde have changed his mind?

It was true that he had felt at ease because Rei had supported his hand.

He had entertained the complacent thought that Hilde would eventually follow Rei and his decision.

Because Kyle knew well how much Hildebert cared for them.

And besides, a knight raised among priests suffered loneliness more than most.

So even at the final moment....

He....

‘What about Rei?’

The answer that came back to the question he had asked the moment he awoke.

‘Who killed him?’

When the war against humans finally began, Kyle would sometimes think—

I have Rei, and Rei has me. You must be quite lonely.

He now regretted having thought that.

“His revenge belongs solely to me.”

Kyle muttered in a low voice.

“It is wholly mine.”