money?”

“Achievement and his money?”

“That guy, no way…”

The Light Wind members finally realized what was going on and their faces stiffened.

“Damn it… Why did I join this?”

Martha bit her lip and glared at Rimmer.

“Yawn.”

Runaan just yawned indifferently and blinked her eyes.

“…That’s how the Light Wind is going to run.”

It looked like Rimmer finally managed to snap out of it, since he wasn’t saying ‘my money’ anymore.
However, his face turned even more pale than before.

“So… Since we have thirty-three members in total, we will split into three groups.
The first team’s leader is Martha Zieghart, and the second team’s leader is Runaan Sullion.
I’ll leave the third team’s leader spot empty for now, and Raon Zieghart will command the members as the vice-squad leader.
You shall treat him with respect in official events from now on.”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

“I’ll assign the teams now.
The first team will be Setrai, Yanden…”

Rimmer sounded like he was dying as he called the names of every single member.

“Who is going to fill the vacant third team leader spot?”

“It’s reserved for the foolish guy that is going to join soon.”

Since everyone knew who he was talking about, they just nodded.

“I ’ll tell you about your first mission with the Light Wind.
From today onward, you shall…”

Rimmer licked his lips and examined the swordsmen below the platform.
They were waiting for him to continue, swallowing hard.

“Rest.”

“What?”

“R-Rest?”

“Are we really resting when the squad has just been created? What do you mean?”

Because what Rimmer told them wasn’t to rest for the time being, but just to flat out rest, the eyes of the swordsmen widened as they jumped at him.

“What else would it mean? It means that you will rest.”

Rimmer shook his head with cloudy eyes that had lost half of his soul.
He still couldn’t get over the shock of losing all his money.

“Hah…”

Raon narrowed his eyes at the sight of him.


‘It’s rather inconvenient to not have him here.’

Things were getting annoying because Burren, who should’ve been grabbing Rimmer by his collar, wasn ’t there anymore.
It was surprising how he came to miss Burren.

That’s how the world works.
You don’t know how precious someone is until they’re gone.

‘Huh?’

Since it was unbelievable that Wrath had just said that, Raon’s eyes widened as he stared at the bracelet.

Actually, not having those shitty eyes around isn’t exactly a big deal, but the world is pretty much drowning in sorrow because the great King of Essence has disappeared.
The world might even end soon enough…

Raon thought he was saying something nice for once, but he was just bragging about himself.

However, Wrath said ‘world’ this time, instead of Devildom.
It looked like something happened to the demon kings of Devildom—taking into account what happened with Sloth, as well.

“I don’t even know anymore.
Do whatever you want.”

Rimmer laid down on the platform and exposed his belly.

“Arrgh!”

“You damn elf…”

“Why did I even do that?!”

Their clenched fists were trembling as they looked at Rimmer’s blank eyes.

“Haa…”

Raon sighed and walked up to Rimmer.

“By rest, you mean that we are going to have a mission soon enough, so we should prepare ourselves, right?

“Yes, right.
That’s what I meant.
I knew the vice-leader would understand me.”

Rimmer nodded blankly.

“I’ll translate the squad leader’s statement.
Rest doesn’t mean that you should just rest.
He’s telling you to prepare yourselves for the upcoming mission.
We should decide on the signal to use between us, as well as readjust our strategies and tactics, such as sword formations.”

The swordsmen took a step back at hearing Raon’s voice.

“But what’s wrong with the squad leader?”

“Is he sick or something?”

“The squad leader lost money yesterday at the casino…”

“Hey! Stop!”

As Raon started to tell them the truth, Rimmer grabbed his shoulder.
His face was still pale, but his hand was still powerful.

“S-Strange rumors can spread if you misspeak, so please be more careful about it…”

“I see.”

Raon nodded, then looked at the swordsmen once again.

“The squad leader lost his ‘entire fortune’ at the casino yesterday, which is why he is in a bad condition today.
I’ll take command for now.
We will start with the basic signals.
Change yourselves into your training outfits, then come back here.”

“Ah…”

“I knew it…”

“I guess he’s been mild recently.”

“Tsk.”

The swordsmen threw scornful glances at Rimmer, who was hiding behind Raon, before heading to the changing room.

“Squad leader.”

Raon turned around and bowed slightly at Rimmer.

“In order to avoid strange rumors from spreading by misspeaking, I spoke honestly about the entire truth.”

“Argh…”

His jaw dropped to the ground in amazement.

“B-But how did you find out about the fact that I lost everything in the casino yesterday? You left before me, right?”

“A dung fly wouldn’t just pass by dung.
It’s obvious.”

“Who are you calling a dung fly?”

Rimmer’s shoulders trembled furiously.
Dung fly was the exact same thing that Glenn had called him last time.

‘Y-You damn inhuman grandfather and grandson, you are forming a duo!’

* * *

There was a separate building to the west of the Central Martial Palace.
Although it had been dusty for a long time because no one had been around to manage it, people were visiting it for once.

“It’s been a really long time since we’ve been here.”

The butler, Tias—who had been raising Burren instead of Karoon since he was a child—smiled gently while cleaning the fireplace.

“……”

Burren didn’t say anything, just staring at the pillar to his right.
There was a child’s graffiti under the pillar.
It was a drawing of a man, a woman, and a small boy holding hands with each other.

“That drawing…”

Tias narrowed his eyes.
It was the graffiti Burren had made in his childhood, and it was the ideal family that he had imagined in the past.

Burren caressed the graffiti, his eyes completely different from those of the smiling boy in the drawing.

The pigment’s particles, smeared with dust, bitterly fell from the graffiti.
The boy inside the drawing disappeared at some point, and the man and woman—who weren’t holding hands anymore—were the only ones remaining.

“Tias.”


Burren raised his head.
His green eyes, which usually looked as warm as the wind, had turned as gloomy as ash.

“I want to be alone.
You should return and rest.”

He spoke, then entered the completely dark room without even cleaning or lighting the room.

“Young master…”

Tias bit his lip.
He’d been watching over him since childhood, but it was his first time witnessing such emptiness in his eyes.
He looked like he had lost his goal in life.

‘It’s even worse than when he lost to the young master Raon back then.’

He became even more passionate back then, as he said that he would take revenge, but now his eyes looked completely dead—like burned-out firewood.

‘There are nineteen days remaining.’

A novice swordsman that wasn’t chosen during the Selection Ceremony had twenty days to decide on their affiliation after the ceremony.

‘We don’t have much time.’

He wanted Burren to overcome his current emotions by himself, but that might prove difficult, since being acknowledged by Karoon was his primary goal in life.

‘I have to ask for help if he can’t overcome it by himself.’

He was unable to make Burren stand.
There was only one person that had the ability to do that.

‘Even if it takes my life…’

Tias made his decision and kept cleaning up the separate building.

* * *

One week had passed since the Selection Ceremony.

Raon had renovated the hand signal system between the swordsmen and adjusted the sword formation’s stability for thirty-three people to fight together in the meantime.

Since the swordsmen also realized that the time for the real mission was approaching, they added fresh fuel to the group training and personal training.

Slam!

As Raon and the swordsmen were taking a rest after daybreak training, the training ground’s door burst open.
It was Rimmer’s doing.
Not only had he arrived on time, but he was also wearing a stylish black and red uniform as he walked up onto the platform.

“It’s nice and boring, since the guy that keeps picking a fight with me every single time isn’t here anymore.”

Rimmer licked his lips, looking at the door that was shaking so hard it looked like it would break.
Since the Light Wind members were aware of who he was talking about, their expressions turned slightly grim.

“Well, I’m not here to talk about that.”

With his signature hand clap, he gathered the swordsmen’s attention.

“Since the hand signals and sword formations are pretty much complete, you shall start making personal preparations.”

“Personal preparations?”

“We are training every day, though.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

Rimmer shook his head intensely.

“What I mean is that you should get your personal equipment as Zieghart’s swordsmen, rather than using low-quality supplies.
You should start using your personal swords and uniforms.”

He smoothed down the Zieghart uniform that he was wearing.

“First of all, the uniform is custom made.
You should personally visit the Dazzling Radiance Squad to place your order.
The first order is free, so include as many options as you can.”

Rimmer tapped on the second sword around his waist.
It was the noted sword he used to slay the Blood Raving Demon, rather than the supply sword that he usually used.

“Same goes for your swords.
If you have a sword that you were gifted or inherited, but you couldn’t use so far, you can use that one.
Otherwise, you can make a new one.
Use your own means to prepare it during the remaining waiting period.”

“Yes!”

The Light Wind members’ majestic response echoed throughout the training ground.

“I can finally use my Dark Phoenix.”

“Haa, I’m so excited that I can fight with the Cloudy Blade of Brilliance.”

“My main weapon, Super Genocider, wants to taste blood…”

Apparently, most of the swordsmen already had a weapon in mind, since they were grinning while calling their swords by stupid names.

“Hmm…”

“Come this way, vice-squad leader.”

As Raon was pondering about how to make his uniform, Rimmer gestured at him with his hand.

“Someone has contacted you.”

“Who would that…?”

“That old man asked me to bring you to him.”

One person came to Raon’s mind after Rimmer mentioned an old man.
That stubborn old man Vulcan, who was staying next to the extremely hot kiln while he learned the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.
Raon remembered the sublime eyes of the man that had reached the peak of blacksmithing.

“Are you talking about Sir Vulcan?”

“Yes, that old man.”

Rimmer smiled gently and nodded.

“He said it was time to keep his promise.”

____

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