By Zephyria =======
Silver had been kidnapped by a giant of a man. Without even a moment to grieve his mother’s death, he learned knife-throwing from a contract killer and was taught the trick of sleeping with one eye open. Within two months of his abduction, he had reached the level of sleeping with both eyes open. A year later, he had mapped out the structure of the contract killing industry.
The contract killers were merely tools. The core was the one paying the money. Once he grasped this relationship, Silver steadily accumulated murderous intent toward that core. If not for that bastard, his mother and his lover, Uncle, wouldn’t have died. He wouldn’t have tumbled from the stepson of a wealthy merchant to a gutter rat of the slums.
This was why the core was at the top of his revenge list. Compared to him, what Wolf had done was relatively light. Wolf had only killed one person, Black Weasel; he hadn’t destroyed Silver and his entire family.
For a month before being washed up on Pirate Island, Silver tracked the core. After three years of digging into the existence of himself and his biological father yielded no answers, he shifted his focus back to revenge. He wandered through dead ends, fake information, and the back alleys of the docks. He found a clue relatively quickly.
The wealthy merchant had a half-brother. As long as the elder brother married and had no children, the half-brother was the sole heir to inherit everything. He currently resided in Atania with their father, who was also Atanian.
Inheritance. A motive as clear as a light in the darkness.
Without hesitation, Silver boarded a ship bound for Atania. And then, a shipwreck. When he opened his eyes, he was on Pirate Island. Dammit!
The tedious autumn rainy season was coming to an end. The pirate ship would set sail within ten days at the latest. He would definitely leave then. Goodbye, King Stuffy Field Mouse.
After eliminating the core, it would be Wolf’s turn. Since Black Weasel had provided the cause, Silver planned to end it by blowing off the guy’s fingers or ears. Though, once he actually saw him, his emotions might flare up and he might just cut his throat.
Suddenly, a foul stench brushed the tip of his nose.
“Die!”
Something leaped out from the left. A greatsword lunged toward his abdomen. Silver stepped back exactly half a pace.
The blade grazed his belt. The belt, severed diagonally, fell to the ground. Simultaneously, the attacker came to a dead stop. Before anyone knew it, hot blood surged violently from a dagger embedded in the carotid artery. Only after enough blood had poured out to fill three or four wine glasses did the attacker slump over. In that instant, Silver’s eyes widened, and he hurriedly reached out.
“No!”
He was a beat too late. The attacker’s head brushed Silver’s fingertips and slammed into the ground. The severed belt pouch was pinned under the head. Silver pushed the corpse aside and picked up the pouch.
“Starry eyes!”
Inside the pouch, the mantis fairy was crumpled. One leg was bent, both wings were folded, and the torso was half-crushed. Even those black eyes that always sparkled had turned a dull brown.
“Starry eyes! Starry eyes!”
His precious friend didn’t budge in Silver’s palm. A weak sound leaked from the tiny mouth.
〔I… broken… Pruru…〕
“Starry eyes!”
〔Auto-recovery… one day… close to a warm place…〕
“I’m sorry! It’s my fault!”
Tears poured out before he could stop them. An overwhelming sense of self-reproach surged over him. If only he had listened when Starry eyes told him not to go. If only he had stepped back one more pace when he was attacked.
Don’t leave. You are my only family.
If you leave too, I have nothing left. You are the only being in the world who remembers me. If you disappear, I become nothing.
“Silver! What happened!”
The sound of the kitchen door slamming open echoed from behind. Silver snapped back to his senses. This was no time to be sobbing. He had to move Starry eyes to a warm place as quickly as possible. As he scrambled to stand, he faltered.
The pouch he had tossed aside while taking out Starry eyes was rolling in the mud. A few silver coins, jerky, and a glass bottle broken in half scattered on the ground caught his eye. Everything was covered in muddy water. Every single thing. Even the pills Silver had to swallow every week.
Stuffy Field Mouse grabbed Silver’s shoulder. He said something, but Silver couldn’t hear it properly. The half-melted pills washed away with the muddy water.
Thunder struck in the distance. Silver sat slumped in front of the corpse pouring hot blood from its neck.
“Silver, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Wolf shook Silver’s shoulder. Silver didn’t respond. He simply stared blankly at something while cradling the crushed mantis fairy in both hands. Where his gaze landed, an old belt pouch, a broken glass bottle, silver coins, and a few pieces of jerky lay in a mess. He also saw dozens of something submerged in the muddy water.
Is that fish food? Did he make friends with the fish in the mountain ponds too?
“Are you hurt? Calm down, Silver. Your bug friend… yeah, it’s unfortunate. But…”
Before the sentence could end, Silver bolted upright. His movement was so fast he was like a spring. In the next moment, Wolf doubted his own eyes.
What the…?
Silver, who had been right in front of him a moment ago, was running far away. Every time Wolf blinked, Silver grew smaller and smaller. From the size of a pinky finger to a pea, and finally to a tiny dot. Wolf froze completely at the absurd sight. What is this?! Did wings grow on his legs?
Then, he suddenly remembered. Byeoruki’s explanation.
〔Second, speed. Capable of acceleration that makes visual tracking difficult over short distances.〕
It was this much?
In the meantime, Silver had vanished from sight. Wolf stood up, dusting off his knees.
“That’s impressive, but…”
Silver, where did he go?
* * *
Late at night.
Silver didn’t move from in front of the brazier. He only stared at the mantis fairy resting in his palm.
The place Silver had headed to was none other than the recruits’ quarters. Since he had only recently recovered from his fever, it was a natural choice. Failing to anticipate that obvious choice, Wolf had committed the foolish act of filling his stomach at the kitchen and then wandering around the nearby mountains and hills in the pouring rain. After returning to the quarters in vain, he found Silver wailing while clutching the mantis fairy.
Even after Wolf arrived at the recruits’ quarters, Silver sobbed for the time it took two candles to burn down before he finally calmed down. After that, there was only silence.
Wolf sat on the edge of the bed, watching Silver. He had been in that state until late at night. It was shocking enough that an adult—and not just any person, but a Thunder—was shedding tears because a bug friend was hurt, but the atmosphere, as if he were wearing all the storm clouds in the world, left Wolf speechless.
That mantis fairy looks beyond saving, no matter how I look at it.
Half the torso was crushed. If it were an ordinary insect, it would be dead already. If he said that warming it by a fire wouldn’t help since it wasn’t a common cold… a dagger would probably fly at him. If he suggested giving up and making food for the mountain pond fish friends together… a dagger would probably spin through the air.
“Why don’t you eat something?”
He threw out the words he had repeated dozens of times. Beside Silver was a lunch basket containing bread. Wolf had stepped out for a moment to grab it from the kitchen.
Silver remained silent. Wolf interlaced his fingers and hung his head low. He felt like he was talking to a wall. By the way.
What is this?
Dammit, seriously, what is this!
Am I crazy? Or is Silver under a spell? Which one of us is wrong!
Wolf squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. Then he slowly raised his head to look at Silver. Hoping that this time would be different, though such expectations usually missed the mark.
Silver’s face was bare. He had thrown off the human-skin mask while sobbing. That part was a natural action. The problem was.
Why that face!
It was the face Wolf had caught a glimpse of last night. The flawlessly beautiful face that had appeared and disappeared suddenly in the darkness. However, this time, it didn’t disappear as time passed. It remained just as it was. As if the burn scars had been a curtain all along, and someone had pulled it aside.
It was perfect. It looked good. It was almost enchanting.
But it was eerie!
Is this a reward? Did the skeleton wraith give Silver a transformation ability—for example, the ability to change his face as he pleased? If so, both that beautiful face and the face covered in burn scars could be fakes.
Wolf blinked and rubbed his chin. He had never imagined he would have such a bizarre experience in his life. He had even intentionally left the quarters to get food from the kitchen, thinking the hallucinations might vanish if he got soaked in the rain, but Silver’s face did not change.
He was dying to ask about this strange phenomenon. However, it is polite to choose one’s words carefully in front of someone in deep sorrow… Wait, that’s Atanian etiquette.
He felt pathetic for having mocked Red Eagle, asking if he ‘couldn’t shake off the Atanian stench.’ Fine, fuck it, he’d charge in the Stohl way. Waiting until late at night was enough courtesy even by Atanian standards. But what should he ask?
100 – Hell’s Execution Order