MTM 31

Snap.

“……!”

A hand suddenly reached out from behind and grabbed Zed’s shoulder. When he quickly turned his head, he saw an old man wearing a black eyepatch over one eye. The man raised his hand to his lips to tell him to be quiet. The old man silently pointed toward a small wooden door. He seemed to have come out from there.

“…….”

Zed hesitated for a moment. But as the footsteps of the holy knight came closer and closer, he finally followed the old man.

“Hm? Did I hear it wrong?”

The holy knight mumbled to himself when he saw the empty alley, and then he started walking again.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

Clack.

As Zed stepped inside, the old man immediately locked the door. They pressed their ears close to it and held their breath for a while. When no sound came from beyond the door, the old man lifted his head.

“He’s gone.”

“Thank yo…”

Zed, who let out a small sigh of relief and tried to express his thanks, flinched when he felt something damp touch his shoulder. When he turned his head, a foal lifted its nose toward him and neighed softly. The foal bared its pink gums and seemed to be smiling.

Zed stroked the foal’s neck and looked around carefully.

“This place…”

It was a large stable. The dim, windowless space was filled with the smell of straw and wet soil. The horses inside the wooden stalls stared at Zed with eyes gleaming in the dark, as if they were curious about the stranger’s visit.

Click.

The old man brought out a lamp and lit it. As Zed turned his head toward the light, he gasped.

‘His eyes…’

The old man not only wore a black eyepatch over one eye, but the other was also completely white.

“It’s not gone completely yet.”

As if he knew exactly what Zed was thinking, the old man held the foal’s mane that reached his waist and walked forward.

“As long as there’s light, I can still see faintly.”

Zed quietly followed the old man. The foal, as if familiar with the place, walked in step with him. The horses inside the stalls snorted or shook their heads whenever the foal passed by. They seemed to be playing rather than warning.

“It’s dangerous to wander the streets at this hour. If someone looks even slightly suspicious, they all get taken to the cathedral.”

The old man, who had been walking in silence, spoke to Zed.

“Since when did the cathedral start being used as a prison?”

Zed only meant it as a joke, but the old man stopped walking.

“Three years ago. Since the time that man stopped appearing.”

“…….”

Zed’s expression became noticeably rigid. But because the old man couldn’t see it, he continued speaking casually while he started walking again.

“The Seventh Prince of the Regnovar Empire, and the Heir of Light of the Carseon Kingdom.”

The Heir of Light? It was absurd. Zed couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.

“After that man stopped coming to Belnok, there were no more royals who offered holy power. Some people took advantage of that absence. They imitated Ares Carseon and offered fake holy power.”

Even before Ares Carseon disappeared, there had been cases of false holy power. Many greedy and corrupt people only wrapped themselves in its shell. But after Ares Carseon vanished, their numbers increased, and eventually they enthroned a new high priest who served as their puppet.

Belnok changed. Surveillance and guard patrols increased, and they tried to control the entire city. There was an uprising by those who resisted. But the spark of civil strife soon died out, and all of them were imprisoned. Since then, no one mentioned that incident again. The city’s security became stricter than before, to stop anyone from plotting rebellion in advance.

After listening to the old man’s story, Zed let out a hollow laugh.

Three years ago, after he left the Regnovar Empire, he had never set foot in Belnok again. He never imagined that the city had turned into such a closed and controlled place.

‘A high priest with false holy power…’

This city had been protected from the world’s corruption by the holy power that flowed from the remains of priests. So even if the new high priest had no holy power, there would be no great danger. As far as Zed knew, the strict surveillance was not only because of rebellion.

“If you go down the path on the left, there’s a stream. At this hour, even the holy knights don’t patrol there, so you’d better move through that way.”

The old man, who had already reached the entrance of the stable, pointed to the left as he spoke.

“Thank you. Sir, do you know where I can get a copy of the continental bulletin?”

“Bulletin?”

The old man tilted his head once, and then he lifted a bundle of papers piled on a wooden barrel beside the stable and handed it to Zed.

“There’s plenty of newsletters here. Take one if you need it.”

“Thank you. I should repay…”

Zed, who was holding the bundle in his arms, tried to take a gold coin from his pocket. But before he could hand it over, the old man refused.

“No need. I’ve done what I had to do.”

“What you had to do?”

“There was only light there, that’s all.”

The old man said those incomprehensible words and turned back the way he came with the foal. Zed stood there until the swaying lamp disappeared from sight.

˚ʚ♡ɞ˚

When Zed returned to the inn, the clerk was sweeping up broken dishes on the floor of the dining hall. It seemed that there had been a small commotion.

“Hey, you’re back early.”

The innkeeper Jackson, who had just come out to the counter, recognized Zed.

“What happened?”

When Zed stepped closer to the counter, he saw traces of blood. Signs that a fight had broken out. Jackson shrugged, as if it was nothing serious, and spoke.

“The holy knight apprentices got into an argument. One of them must have a weak head for alcohol, he completely lost it after one mug of beer.”

“Ah, alcohol wasn’t the real problem.”

The clerk, who had finished sweeping up the broken dishes, threw in the comment as he passed. Jackson hummed, then looked at Zed and asked quietly.

“You’re a mercenary, right?”

Since Zed had entered Belnok safely, he had no reason to hide it, and being taken for a mercenary was nothing new to him, so he answered that he was.

Then Jackson lowered his voice further, telling him not to misunderstand.

“One of them was from a mercenary group. I don’t know how it came out, but anyway, someone called him a savage brute who kills for money. I guess he did something to deserve that. The moment he heard it, he jumped up…”

“Ah, anyone who can listen to that without reacting isn’t human.”

The clerk, who came out again with a wet rag, said and started wiping the floor.

“Ahem. Anyway, that’s the kind of common fight it was, that’s all!”

Jackson, apparently displeased with the clerk, pursed his lips and shouted. To be honest, Zed thought the same.

“How about the door repair?”

“Oh! After you left, I called a repairman, and it’s all fixed. Ha, I’d been wondering when I’d get that done, so it’s a relief that it was taken care of fast, right?”

Jackson laughed heartily, pleased that he had repaired the door with Zed’s money. Then he added that Zed could come down to the dining hall for breakfast in the morning.

“Oh, and your companion, the fairy, or was it Harto? I was worried since he hurt his foot, but he looked fine earlier…”

“Did he tell you his name?”

Zed asked before Jackson could finish his sentence. It sounded less like a question and more like a demand. If it wasn’t his imagination, even his eyes looked cold.

“Huh? Oh… sometimes even guests who stay a day or two exchange names if necessary. Ahem, I’m Jackson.”

“……”

When Jackson extended his hand to greet him, Zed reluctantly shook it. Jackson already knew Zed’s name from Harto.

“Then I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Sure. You must be tired from the long journey, so get some rest.”

Jackson quickly noticed the sudden chill in the air and sent him upstairs. Zed, who had nothing more to say, briefly nodded and went up to the second floor.

Creak.

“Harto?”

The room was dark. Harto was lying on the bed, probably asleep. Zed hung his coat on the hanger so he wouldn’t wake him and took the bundle of papers into the bathroom.

He sat on the edge of the tub and searched through them. By luck, he found one newsletter published that very day. He looked through the corners for any news about Night Rage, but there was nothing. After checking carefully once more, Zed searched through the rest to see if there were any other editions, and then he noticed something sticking out between the pages.

“This…”

When he grasped the dark thing and slowly pulled it out, it was a bird’s feather. He remembered flock of crows that had attacked him.

‘Light cannot hide in shadow.’

‘There was only light there, that’s all.’

“…The Heir of Light.”

Zed murmured briefly. A black feather settled slowly on the pile of scattered papers.