Chapter 203: Inevitability (2)
The man did not hesitate.
BOOM!
The dirt beneath his feet caved in.
His body, which had been chasing the middle-aged man, suddenly changed direction.
And he threw himself straight off the cliff.
WHOOOOOSH!
The violent wind whipped his clothes wildly.
Below him, the boy's small body was falling rapidly.
The man reached out.
And at that moment—
another scene overlapped with what lay before him.
Crimson flames.
A small body burning away.
A hand reaching toward him.
A hand he had never managed to grasp.
The man's eyes trembled.
This time.
His fingertips drew closer.
And then—
Grab!
At last, their hands met.
The man seized the boy's arm.
He immediately pulled the child toward himself and held him tightly against his chest.
“Ah...!”
The boy instinctively grabbed the man's clothes.
The man caught hold of a tree root jutting out from the cliffside.
Creak!
The thick root bent under their weight.
Then he kicked off the rock face.
Tap!
Their bodies shot upward.
After stepping against the cliff several times, the man finally landed back on the mountain path.
He looked over the boy in his arms.
A few small scratches.
That was all.
“Mister....”
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No. I'm okay.”
Only then did the man's expression soften.
“Good.”
He pulled the boy a little closer.
“I'm glad.”
The boy struggled awkwardly in his arms.
“But you're hugging me too tightly.”
"..."
The strength in the man's arms loosened.
“Sorry.”
The boy looked down the mountain road.
The middle-aged man was already gone.
“That man got away....”
“It doesn't matter.”
“You don't have to catch him?”
The man gave a faint laugh.
“It's obvious where he's going.”
When they returned to the village, the boy's mother ran over and pulled her son into her arms.
The man watched the mother and child embracing for a moment before turning toward the warriors lying on the ground.
He pointed at one who looked relatively unharmed.
“You.”
“Y-Yes?”
The warrior jolted upright.
The man took a small wooden token from inside his robe.
A symbol of the Righteous Alliance was engraved in the center of the black token.
He tossed it to the warrior.
“Take this to the branch office.”
The warrior caught it in confusion.
“T-To the branch office?”
“Yes. Show it directly to the branch chief.”
The warrior looked between the token and the man.
His face was full of questions.
But he did not dare speak carelessly.
Until moments ago, he had thought the man was merely some nameless wandering martial artist.
Yet the man had defeated all of them without even drawing his sword.
By now, the warrior understood that this was not someone he could casually defy.
“Um... whose name should I say I received it from?”
“No need.”
“Pardon?”
“Just show the branch chief that token.”
The man paused briefly before adding,
“And tell him to be here before sunset.”
The warrior's expression stiffened.
“And if... he doesn't come?”
The man glanced down the mountain.
“Then I'll go find him myself.”
"...!"
The warrior hurriedly bowed.
“U-Understood.”
He climbed onto a horse.
A moment later, urgent hoofbeats carried him out of the village.
The sun was just about to disappear behind the mountain.
Thud-thud-thud-thud!
Hoofbeats echoed from beyond the mountain road again.
This time, it wasn't only one or two horses.
The villagers stopped what they were doing and looked toward the road.
A short while later—
dozens of riders appeared in a cloud of dust.
Every one of them wore the martial robes of the Righteous Alliance.
Because of what had happened earlier, tension immediately appeared on the villagers' faces.
But the man showed no reaction as he watched them approach.
The horses soon stopped at the village entrance.
The middle-aged martial artist at the front dismounted immediately.
He was the chief of the Righteous Alliance branch overseeing this region.
The moment he spotted the man, his expression visibly hardened.
A short while later—
the branch chief approached and cupped his fists deeply.
“I did not realize someone from the Main Alliance had come.”
The surrounding warriors exchanged glances.
The expressions of the men who had attacked the stranger earlier also stiffened.
The man didn't even look at them.
Instead, his gaze moved behind the branch chief.
Two warriors were dragging forward the bound middle-aged man.
He looked completely different from when he had fled.
His clothes were covered in dirt.
Several silver notes were sticking out from his disheveled robes.
The man asked,
“Where did you catch him?”
“At his estate.”
“His estate?”
“Yes. When we arrived, he was gathering gold, silver, and banknotes in preparation to flee.”
The man's eyes rested on the silver notes protruding from the man's clothes.
“So he went there after all.”
The middle-aged man could only lower his head in silence.
The man immediately looked back at the branch chief.
“Did you know they were using the Righteous Alliance's name to extort grain and valuables from nearby mountain villages?”
The branch chief's expression hardened.
“...I did not.”
“Have you found out how long it has been going on?”
“According to what we confirmed at the estate, at least several years.”
“Several years....”
The man's cold voice turned toward the branch chief.
“This is your jurisdiction.”
“...It is.”
“And yet you knew nothing all this time.”
The branch chief made no excuses.
He lowered his head.
“It was my failure.”
The man quietly watched him.
“Then you'll take responsibility.”
The branch chief's shoulders stiffened.
The man continued.
“Investigate everyone who colluded with them.”
“Yes.”
“And verify every sack of grain and every item of property they took.”
His gaze moved toward the gathered villagers.
“Anything whose owner can be identified gets returned.”
“It will be done.”
The man looked back at the branch chief.
“And once this matter is settled, step down from your duties at the branch.”
"..."
“Return to the Main Alliance and submit yourself to investigation.”
The branch chief looked down at the wooden token in his hand.
Then he bowed deeply.
“I will obey.”
The middle-aged man's face went completely rigid.
It seemed only now that he was beginning to understand that everything he had relied upon was collapsing one piece at a time.
He desperately leaned forward.
“G-Great Hero! Please wait....”
Still restrained by the warriors, he bowed toward the man.
“I was wrong. Please spare me just this once!”
The man silently looked down at him.
“I'll never do anything like this again. I'll return everything I took. So please....”
“Didn't you say something different earlier?”
The man's mouth stopped moving.
The man continued slowly.
“I seem to remember you saying the Righteous Alliance had your back.”
“T-That was....”
The man glanced behind him.
Dozens of Righteous Alliance warriors stood there.
“Looks like you were telling the truth after all.”
“...Pardon?”
The middle-aged man stared blankly.
The man jerked his chin toward the warriors behind him.
“The Righteous Alliance really is behind you now.”
"...!"
All color drained from the man's face.
He turned his head and saw the Righteous Alliance warriors.
This time, they were not there to protect him.
They were there to take him away.
The man spoke briefly.
“Take him.”
“Yes.”
The warriors immediately grabbed both of his arms.
“Great Hero! Wait! Please, just once...!”
His desperate cries continued, but the man no longer looked at him.
A short while later—
the horses carrying the Righteous Alliance warriors disappeared beyond the mountain road.
And from that day onward, the estate's years of abuse against the nearby slash-and-burn villages finally came to an end.
The next morning—
the man prepared to leave the village.
A physician had visited the boy's mother.
The stolen grain had been returned.
And the Righteous Alliance had begun investigating the damage suffered by the surrounding mountain villages as well.
The boy followed the man all the way to the village entrance.
“You're leaving already?”
“I've been here for ten days.”
“Still....”
The boy looked disappointed.
The man took a small token from inside his robe.
This one was a simple wooden token without any particular symbol.
“Take this.”
“What's this?”
“You may have a use for it later.”
The boy turned it around in his hands.
“Is it expensive?”
“Don't even think about selling it.”
“I won't!”
The man's lips curved slightly.
“You said you wanted to learn martial arts, didn't you?”
The boy's eyes lit up.
“Can I learn too?”
“If you want to.”
“Even someone like me?”
The man quietly looked at him.
A long time ago—
the face of a boy from Event Hall, who had barely even held a sword before, surfaced in his memory.
“If someone wants to learn, who has the right to stop them?”
“Really?”
“It'll be difficult.”
The boy nodded vigorously.
“I can do it.”
“Good.”
The man gently patted his head.
“Once your mother gets better, come down from the mountain.”
“Where should I go?”
“The Righteous Alliance.”
The boy looked down at the token in his hand.
“Do I show them this?”
