When Kaze reached the temporary camp and lifted the flap of a certain tent, Alyssa was wearing round-framed glasses and flipping through a thick book. Her dark brown hair was tied messily behind her head, and she seemed not to have noticed Kaze’s arrival.
“Damn… it records up to here again, and there’s nothing else…” She slammed the somewhat aged book shut, raising a cloud of dust. “Cough, cough… who?!”
“Alyssa, it’s me.” Kaze stood at the entrance, his tall figure nearly blocking the entire opening. “There’s an urgent matter. Can I come in and talk?”
Alyssa wiped the dust from her face with her sleeve and said irritably, “What urgent matter? Did you find Kol’s bunch of slacking bastards?”
Kaze did not answer. He simply walked silently into the tent and straightened the crooked oil lamp with one hand. The light illuminated his sweat-drenched face and mud-covered leather armor.
Alyssa’s eyebrows rose. “What is so urgent that you look like you just crawled out of a goblin nest?”
“There is a problem in the western forest. Kol’s group has probably gone missing.” Kaze sat directly on the ground. The greatsword produced a dull thud when he set it down. “Over there, we saw trees that looked as if they had been cut through in one swing by a giant axe. We even found axe marks gouged into the rock wall.”
“You mean… Kol’s people were killed?”
Alyssa’s expression grew solemn as she continued. “Wait… who does ‘we’ refer to? Tell me the full sequence of events.”
And so Kaze explained in detail how he had encountered Ileil and Gro on the road and then the investigation that followed.
……
“What scheme is that guy Gro cooking up? He even wants to hide this from the princess’s people…” Alyssa held her forehead. “I just sent the princess’s people away, and now this happens.”
“Alyssa, you’re smarter than I am.” Kaze’s expression was serious. He looked into Alyssa’s turbid blue eyes and spoke in a low voice. “Do you have any idea why Gro doesn’t want the princess’s side to know about Kol’s disappearance?”
“I can’t read minds.” Alyssa paused, thought for a moment, and answered, “Probably because Gro suspects there is a spy among the princess’s group. Ileil’s witch identity is especially sensitive, so he must have discovered something to make such a judgment.”
Kaze remained silent for a while before hesitating to speak.
“Then do you know the specific circumstances of two years ago—when Ileil became a witch?”
Alyssa half-turned, narrowing her blue eyes as if trying to see through Kaze’s intentions.
“Why are you suddenly asking this?”
“Ever since Ileil came out of the witch’s fire last time, some strange rumors have been spreading everywhere.” Kaze spoke softly. “They all say that in the ‘Black Edge’ mercenary group, that silver-haired, golden-eyed girl is a human weapon deliberately cultivated by ‘Black Edge.’ She escaped the witch’s flames unscathed and even dared to use force to threaten the princess during morning training…”
“Ha—where the hell did these bullshit rumors come from?” Alyssa wore an incredulous expression. “Where did you hear them? You didn’t make them up yourself, did you? How come I never heard anyone chatting about it in front of me?”
“Talking gossip in front of you would be strange.” Kaze curled his lip. Alyssa was famous for her hot temper; few in the group dared speak to her. Plus, she usually tinkered with strange things in her workshop when she had free time, so it was perfectly normal that she had not heard these rumors.
“Never mind, no time to waste.” Alyssa fell silent for a moment, then pulled a yellowed sheepskin scroll from a nearby drawer and tossed it into Kaze’s hands.
“Since you already know that Ileil turned from a man into a witch, there’s no harm letting you know more of the truth—”
Kaze unrolled the sheepskin. It contained a sloppily written task report from the heretic subjugation operation two years ago.
“At that time in Aurean, you should have still been in Aressto.” Alyssa stuffed some small items from beside her into a satchel while speaking to Kaze. “Gro’s plan was to have Ileil pretend to contact the heretics and lure them out. But the intelligence leaked. The heretics set an ambush in advance, and Ileil was captured. I followed Gro to rescue her. I had never seen Gro that anxious before, not like after Ileil disappeared that day.”
“As for the result after Ileil was captured, it is exactly as you see—”
She did not continue. She simply walked to Kaze’s side and pointed at a few lines at the end of the report.
Kaze looked at the report in his hands with a complicated expression, his pupils shrinking slightly.
‘Target successfully rescued, but body severely mutated. Gender characteristics irreversible.’
‘Leader’s right hand tendon ruptured, excessive blood loss, requires emergency treatment.’
‘Heretic stronghold burned, but core members escaped.’
Kaze slowly rolled up the sheepskin scroll. It felt as if a stone were pressing on his chest.
“So the next time you hear those rumors, explain properly for your master. Understood?”
“……Yes.” Kaze answered. Alyssa had already neatly prepared her travel gear.
“Since you understand, let’s set out.”
……..
The black feather scattered into the air like ash the moment Ileil touched it.
But the bone-deep memory continued to surge in the girl’s mind—Gro’s back as he counted the money pouch and left, the heretics’ bony fingers, the agony of twisting bones. Every frame was painfully clear and nauseating.
Ileil half-knelt before the dead tree, her fingers digging deep into the soil.
“So that’s how it is……”
The girl murmured to herself. The burning pain in her right eye gradually faded, but the flames of rage in her chest burned fiercer, nearly devouring her consciousness.
—Gro had not only killed her father but had sold her soul to the heretics.
Ileil slowly stood up. Her silver hair fluttered in the night wind. The mud fell from her fingertips, revealing a palm pinched bloody.
“……. “
Ileil did not fly into a hysterical rage, nor did she collapse in tears. She simply drew her short sword in silence and stabbed the blade fiercely into the tree trunk where the black feather had been.
—She would carve this hatred into her marrow.
…….
“Ya, what a coincidence. Didn’t expect to run into you again, kid.”
The man’s voice came from behind. It was Gro. He greeted Ileil with feigned surprise.
Gro took a few steps closer. The sound of his shoe heels crunching fallen leaves was especially clear. He stopped behind Ileil, his gaze sweeping over the disturbed soil and peeled bark on the ground.
“What’s wrong, kid? You don’t look too good. What happened?”
Ileil did not turn around. She simply sheathed her short sword, her voice calm to the point of being terrifying. “Nothing happened.”
“Really?” Gro narrowed his eyes slightly and asked calmly, “But you seem not in good condition when you stood up.”
Ileil finally turned. Her golden pupils looked somewhat terrifying under the moonlight. “Maybe because I’ve been too tired lately.”
Gro noticed Ileil’s abnormality.
Ileil’s expression was far too calm—abnormally so. Normally she would at least retort with a cold face or ignore him outright. But now…
“We should head back.” Ileil took the lead and brushed past him. “We’ll wait for Kaze and Alyssa’s arrival. There’s nothing here.”
Gro did not move. He simply stared at her back. “Ileil.”
“……. “
She stopped but did not turn around.
“You really… saw nothing?”
The noisy night wind scraped across the treetops, raising a burst of grating static. Ileil’s silver hair lifted in the wind, covering the side of her face.
“Nothing…… I swear.”
Her voice was very light, almost melting into the wind.
“Just recalled some…… past matters.”