Black Badger

“You really know nothing about the world, do you?”

“Thanks for putting that so gently.”

I gave him a bitter smile.

The look on Rei’s face made it painfully obvious what he was thinking: What kind of guy even is this?

If it had been Gale, he would have scolded me, saying that I somehow looked perfectly normal and then acted unbelievably stupid in the strangest places.

Something I had realized on the way here was that Rei was a gentleman in a very different way from the priests.

Not that he seemed particularly interested in being thought of as refined.

Still, even if he had been dressed in rags, I would have known he wasn’t a commoner.

Keeping the bitter smile on my face, I said,

“Judging by your reaction, you’re a noble?”

Rei stared at me.

Then he gestured for me to sit on the half-rotten wooden chair.

“I don’t even know how much I need to explain to you.”

“Do you really need to explain it in detail? To a commoner like me, all nobles are the same anyway.”

I had never been taught anything about the imperial family or noble houses.

The priests had never told me such things. I didn’t know whether it was because they themselves didn’t know, or because they deliberately chose not to tell me. Probably the former. Gale, the famous mercenary, had actually known far more about those kinds of matters.

But he had never tried to explain them to me.

He only listened silently to the stories brought by merchants and bards who visited the temple, then muttered to himself afterward.

Why was that...?

Even if I’m curious now, I can’t ask anymore.

Rei let out a small sigh.

“That’s not exactly wrong, but the commoners living in the Imperial Capital all know who’s who. Though judging by you, it doesn’t seem to be that way outside the capital.”

“Maybe I’m just exceptionally rustic.”

“If you grew up in a temple, that’s understandable enough. Even the priests of the Grand Temple are ignorant of what happens outside the temple walls.”

That really does sound like something a noble would say.

Rei sat on the straw bed, then frowned as if thinking something over before staring down at the inn’s floor.

The wooden floorboards were so rotten that every step we took made an unpleasant creaking sound.

The knight, sitting there with one leg crossed as he stared at the pitch-black wood, finally said,

“If he were an ordinary noble, I’d tell you everything—his name, title, family crest, history, political views, even his strange habits. But with this person... it might actually be better not to tell you.”

“Really?”

I didn’t think too deeply about it.

If Rei said so, then that was probably how it was.

There was something else I was more curious about.

“By the way, Rei.”

“What?”

“Aren’t you going home?”

Rei’s expression turned strange.

He turned his head and stared at me.

“I paid for this inn room.”

“I know. I’ll repay you somehow later. And I’m not telling you to leave.”

“Then what?”

“You said you have a house in the Imperial Capital. I’m asking why you’re not going there to sleep.”

“Hahaha!”

Rei burst out laughing.

The white-haired man clutched his stomach and rolled across the bed.

I just stood there, dumbfounded, watching him shake with laughter.

What?

What part of that was so funny?

I was so baffled I couldn’t even ask.

Only after quite a while did Rei finally get himself under control and sit back up.

He had laughed so hard there were tears in his eyes.

When I gave him a sullen look, he grinned as if that was funny too.

“You’re seriously hilarious.”

“What did I say wrong this time?”

“You didn’t say anything wrong.”

“Then why were you laughing like that?”

“Because the way you asked, ‘Didn’t you say you have a house in the Imperial Capital?’ was funny. Sorry. I wasn’t laughing at you. My relationship with my family is bad, so until I take # Nоvеlight # the entrance exam, I plan to keep it a secret that I’ve come back. You’ll help me, right?”

“...Well, sure.”

I still didn’t understand why that question had been funny.

But I didn’t bother asking again.

And so, until the day of the entrance exam, I stayed at the inn with him.

Since I had no money, I had no intention of going to restaurants, but Rei dragged me all over the city every time.

Even when I reminded him that he had said he didn’t want his family to know he had arrived in the Imperial Capital, it had no effect.

Though thanks to that, I did get to try foods I had never tasted in my life before.

As we wandered from tavern to tavern, we also heard that the mercenary unit was looking for me.

Of course, I wasn’t foolish enough to get caught by them.

We spent the time in relative peace.

Nothing special happened until the day of the exam.

And then, when that day finally came—

Together with Rei, I carried my sword and went to take the entrance exam.

It was the first time in my life I had ever stepped into the Imperial Palace.

The exam was held in the mounted tournament arena behind the enormous palace.

Nominally, it was a proving ground where even commoners could freely participate, a battlefield for the truly skilled.

But that was only the official explanation.

Until the previous year, commoner swordsmen hadn’t even been allowed to set foot inside the Palace grounds.

If you weren’t from the Imperial Capital, it was difficult just to enter the city itself.

And even after entering the capital, you had to slip money to someone just to get into the Palace. Even then, most either failed to get in or were thrown out after entering.

When Rei heard that at the tavern, he had been so shocked that he swore he would get me into the Palace no matter what, even if he had to wave around gold bars.

I had begged him desperately not to do that.

But both Rei’s firm resolve and my desperate pleas ended up being completely unnecessary.

Because suddenly, the exam started being held the way it was originally intended.

“Next.”

I only learned the reason for that change much later.

How could I possibly have known that one of the examiners I met after that long wait was the very one who had led that change?

And of all people, he looked the most ill-mannered among those sitting there with expressions of deadly boredom.

Hair like pale blond bordering on white.

Purple eyes mixed with confidence and arrogance.

“Hah.”

The purple-eyed man seated in the stands let out a mocking snort the moment I stepped forward.

“Another child of the World Tree.”

That was my first meeting with Kysis.

***

“It’s gotten way too late.”

“No!”

I was glancing at the clock, feeling guilty, when Ami cried out.

“Don’t stop here! How can you do this, Hildeng!”

She shot upright and grabbed my arm.

Then she looked up at me with wide, desperate eyes.

“At least tell us up to the part where you join....”

“This mission of ours is pretty long, isn’t it? I’ll continue tonight.”

“Why are you always broke?”

Yun asked, sounding genuinely baffled.

That’s your impression after listening to a past story this long?

I had been smiling as I soothed my senior, but then I lifted my head and stared flatly at my mentor.

Carefully lifting the wilted Ami, I set her on top of her sleeping bag before answering.

“The moment this mission ends, I can pay back part of it, can’t I? It’s not that I can’t earn money—I just never intended to.” 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

“That’s not what I meant.”

“You’re not still selling used stuff these days too, are you~?”

“Not to that extent.... And since I returned to work this time, I’ve got more breathing room.”

“This mission gives us some extra time, so it feels like we could probably do some scientist quests too.”

Kai blocked me with a hand as I was casually heading toward the power switch.

He made me sit back down, then walked over to the switch himself and added,

“I actually brought a specimen collection kit for that reason. If you’re interested, I’ll show you how to use it.”

Ah.

How had I forgotten about that option for a moment?

When I brightened and thanked him, the blue-eyed man gave me a quiet smile.

Then he turned off the lights.

The station interior fell silent in an instant.

Once the voices stopped, the midnight air settled quickly.

Since we weren’t outside the Core, there was no need to stand watch, and like field workers through and through, we all fell asleep quickly.

Once again, it was sleep without any dreams I could remember.

Kyle didn’t appear this time either.

But this time, I was glad of that.

I didn’t want to dream of Kyle during a mission.

If Kyle had appeared in my dream, I definitely would have talked in my sleep and woken every single senior whose ears were sharp as ghosts.

And then in the morning I would have had to face all of them studying my face closely.

But fortunately, it seemed I had slept quietly this time.

We all woke around the same time and moved by train in sleepy silence.

After boarding the train, fully prepared for departure, everyone shut themselves away in their own compartments.

Once we left the Core, it became difficult to have any time alone.

So while traveling by train, everyone treated it as personal time.

Ricardo said he usually read a book or slept during times like this.

Kai drew.

Sophia slept or listened to music.

Ami said she usually lay down and looked out the window.

Yun said he just did whatever he felt like.

Last time, I had read a book.

This time, I spent the hours until lunch staring out the window.

The train was scheduled to run for ten hours, and since no problems arose in the middle of the journey, we peacefully gathered in the dining car around lunchtime.

I was enthusiastically piling croissants onto my plate when someone approached from behind.

Turning only my head, I looked down at Ami.

“I wanna hear the next part.”

“That one’s not very good.”

Sophia approached too, pointing at the croissant.

“They bought it from a supermarket and let it sit around forever.”

“Really? It’s still pretty edible though.”

There was butter and jam too.

And when I opened the freezer, there was bacon, smoked duck, and even smoked salmon.

Maybe because I had been telling old stories, everything tasted better than usual.

After happily loading up my plate with all sorts of things, I sat down at the table.

As I ate the croissant with deep satisfaction, the seniors gradually came out one by one and sat beside me.

Ricardo appeared last, looked at my plate, and let out a disbelieving laugh.

“You’re not even heating up the croissant....”

“It isn’t cold.”

“If you’re going to talk, do it now.”

Yun said absentmindedly as he picked up some smoked salmon.

“By evening, the train will be entering a section with a lot of Creatures.”

Sure enough, this area was close to wasteland.

If I turned my gaze beyond the stained train window, all I could see was endless wasteland and flocks of birds circling overhead. The mountains draped in the distance felt more like scenery, and there wasn’t a single four-legged beast in sight.

I couldn’t sense any monsters nearby either.

I swallowed the croissant and nodded.

“As you guessed, the Empire really was gathering the children of the World Tree. But ordinary swordsmen hated them.”

Kysis was no different.

Until he met me, Kyle, and Rei, it seemed he believed the children of the World Tree were simply people who had gambled everything because they wanted power.

The fact that they had survived earned his respect, but that was all.

People who tried to overwhelm opponents through absorption rather than the sword.

In truth, many children of the World Tree really did take that attitude, so it wasn’t strange for him to think that way, but...

***

“So you plan to use absorption too?”

Kysis asked with a crooked smile.

“Well, His Majesty the Emperor, whom I revere beyond measure, has said that children of the World Tree using absorption is as natural as mages using magic, so I have no right to stop you.”

I stared with my mouth slightly open.

But before I could even answer, the platinum-blond man rose from his seat.

Then he gripped the sword at his waist.

“I can, however, make you realize how useless absorption is.”

This guy really has no intention of listening to anyone.

“Knight Commander, am I taking this one too?”

Then why even ask the question?

You ask, then decide the answer yourself.

I hope I never have to see him again after today.

That was the very first thought I ever had about Kysis.