Book 17 Chapter 6

Chapter 104

She Who Died as a Human, Beyond Faint Love and Farewell (2)

Kies, the best archer on the continent, was born to a poor hunter. His father was what you would call human trash, enjoying indiscriminately assaulting his wife and son every day while drunk. His mother left him in that wretched hut when Kies was seven years old. Even at that young age, Kies neither resented nor hated his mother. He was merely grateful to her for enduring until then. Instead, the resentment and hatred for the lack of motherly love, which every child yearns for, naturally turned towards his father during his childhood.

- "Why are you looking at me like that, you bastard? You're just like your whore mother, a piece of trash who knows no gratitude and only schemes to stab me in the back!"

From around the age of ten, when Kies gained enough strength to draw a bow, his father took him along on hunts. Teaching him how to hunt with a bow wasn't out of a sense of paternal duty, but rather with the intention of making Kies take over all the money-making once he grew up. When Kies failed a hunt, violence ensued in proportion to it. Kies grew strong quickly, solely "to survive."

- "You useless bastard, didn't I tell you reindeer antlers are expensive right now? What am I supposed to do with a broken one! I can't even drink three bottles of alcohol when I could drink ten!"

A childhood marked solely by violence and curses, without a single shred of love or affection, was surely crushing Kies's spirit. Kies sometimes felt impulsive murderous intent towards his father, but he desperately endured based on the morals his mother had taught him. However, if things continued this way, it wouldn't be strange for the boy's heart to be completely stained with darkness and eventually turn towards evil.

- "What's your name?"

The light that shone into a world where only darkness was visible was truly a destiny that could only be described as a coincidence.

- "You're amazing at archery! But you're not part of any archery school?"

It was one day when he went bison hunting. Next to his own arrow, which he thought had pierced the heart of the bison he had hunted alone, an arrow with a 'goose feather' was stuck in parallel. At that time, Kies didn't know much about how to use magic, so it was natural that he found it difficult to understand this arrow that seemed to dance in an invisible trajectory.

- "I'm Aena. I'm the problem child of the [Jeol-gok Archery School] that dominates the eastern part of this empire! Nice to meet you!"

The mysterious girl who introduced herself as a problem child continued to be intertwined with the boy's life thereafter. They repeatedly encountered each other during the joyless years of hunting to earn money for his father's alcohol, and each time she spoke to Kies in a friendly manner. By the time they felt they had opened up to each other, she even taught Kies how to use magic and the archery techniques of the [Jeol-gok Archery School].

- "Is this okay? It's fine~ I'm a problem child, after all. But your hair color is so pretty. The color of new foliage! Isn't it the best color for a hunter? It'll be a camouflage, easy to blend into the grass!"

From a certain point, Kies felt a feeling of 'excitement' settling in his heart as he prepared to go hunting. Such a heartwarming flutter shouldn't exist in a life filled only with despair and resentment. The fork in their destiny appeared the moment the boy and girl met, both with bruises all over their faces and bodies.

- "Kies, why don't we leave?"

- "Leave? Where to?"

- "Anywhere! We can be anything. We're good with bows, after all! How about, since we're at it, traveling around and becoming legendary monster hunters? Mercenaries who specialize in that kind of work supposedly earn a lot of money!"

The resonance of "leaving together" came to Kies, who had grown up his entire life under a violent father, as an overwhelmingly dazzling tremor. Being together was what mattered. With Aena, he felt like he could go anywhere, no matter where it was or even if there was no guaranteed future.

- "Hey, those are them. They say those two are unbelievably skilled archers. They can even take down high-ranking monsters with just a few arrows."

- "No way. It must be a rumor."

- "If that were just a rumor, how would those two have reached platinum rank in just five years?"

Five years later. The boy and girl had grown up into a young man and woman, and had become joint leaders of a 'monster hunting mercenary group' with members under their command. They kindly taught archery to young archers who dreamed of monster hunting, thus building up their reputation.

- "Kies, how long are you going to make me wait?"

- "?"

- "When are you going to ask me to marry you?!"

- "???"

- "Look at my chest. I had the right one removed because it was inconvenient, and I still have the left one. Do you really not know why? To bear and raise children! I'll have exactly three, no more, no less, raise them, and then I'll cut this one off too. And then I'll just focus on hunting."

Unlike the calm and composed Kies, Aena was passionate and straightforward in everything.

- "I… no, I…"

- "Why, are you afraid of becoming like your dad? Don't worry! If you ever get drunk and try to hit me or the kids, I'll beat you up instead, Kies."

Wasn't it said that women become more beautiful when they are in love? But who would have known that the beauty of their blossoming youth would actually turn into poison? A young noble harbored lust upon seeing Aena's beauty. He was even clever enough to cunningly set a trap, rather than blindly rushing into error out of pure desire.

- "They say a monster appeared in this noble's territory? We received a request to subjugate it. The reward is generous!"

- "But didn't you and sister notify the mercenary guild yesterday that you were temporarily retiring? Leave it to us."

- "Jack, you idiot! This is our last chance to secure a hefty wedding fund, so why would we leave it to you? We're going to take care of this one ourselves."

The noble invited them to his mansion and treated them with utmost hospitality, while secretly having his servants steal Kies's arrows.

- "Tisria, the First Prince, also wishes to observe this monster hunt. Would that be alright?"

- "We don't know what kind of monster it is, so it could be dangerous."

- "His escort knights will be with him, so you don't need to worry. Of course, it's an unreasonable request, so I'll double the reward."

Naively, they believed him. Unlike the noble's panicked claims, the monster was not strong at all, so they succeeded in defeating it without difficulty. It was when the ten monster hunters were chuckling, thinking, "The noble was just a coward," and "We got lucky."

- "There they are! They're all accomplices! Capture them all!"

Suddenly, soldiers from the Tisria Grand Duke's family rushed in and threw ropes at the hunters! Arrested without knowing why, they soon learned that Kies was being accused of "attempted assassination of the First Prince." Kies's arrow had accurately pierced the First Prince Tisria's abdomen, and the Prince was now hovering between life and death.

- "This is unjust! We were in the middle of a monster hunt at that time! How could we possibly snipe the First Prince! And if we had, we would have fled!"

Their protests were not accepted. The young noble called Aena aside.

- "I'll tell you one way to survive. You just have to take all the blame and officially die on paper."

- "…?"

- "Of course, you won't actually die. Since everything happened in my territory, if I execute just you, I can prevent your comrades from being taken to the Imperial Court."

As all civilized nations were required to observe monogamy by the edict of the Holy See, the noble intended to secretly take Aena as his concubine. This is because nobles traditionally never marry beneath their status to expand their family's influence. Aena accepted the offer. Exactly half of it.

- "I planned this alone. For a large sum of money. These fools were too stupid to conspire with me. They have nothing to do with it. I tried to pin it on Kies, but since that would become a more serious crime if it went to court, I'll just confess my guilt."

By confessing her guilt directly to Tisria, the Elector, instead of the young noble, she transferred the authority for punishment to the Elector. The Elector, whose beloved son had been injured, never forgave these insolent mercenaries. By the Elector's authority, Aena, who had confessed her guilt, was executed in the first trial… and Kies, who had stood as a witness to prevent this, had his tongue cut out for perjury.

- "Brother Kies, while you were being dragged to the execution grounds, Sister Aena… *sob*…"

In that situation, where not only Kies's life but also the lives of his other comrades could not be guaranteed against the Elector's fiery wrath, the dragon race appeared. Dragons, acting on the command of the hydro dragon Yeriserika, who could foresee the future, revealed the true nature of this incident. The young noble who had fabricated the crime was executed, and all members of his family lost their noble status. Duke Tisria, who had disregarded the legal system, was made to hand over his title to his younger brother and then exiled.

- "…"

Kies was released along with his comrades, but his heart had already died when Aena died. The reason he wandered this world alive was simply because he couldn't die back then. Kies disbanded the monster hunter group and embarked on a nomadic life. If he wasn't drunk, if he didn't forget reality with alcohol, Aena's smile would resurface, making precise aiming utterly impossible.

- "Spare me, I was wrong. Please, even if you kill me, spare my family."

Kies eventually found the exiled Duke and was on the verge of killing him, but he stopped. He himself was already dead. The moment Aena died, he lost even a single ray of light in his life, which was tantamount to death. What would change if he killed this guy here?

- "I see the pain festering within your soul. It is all my fault. Blame me."

A few years later, the hydro dragon Yeriserika called Kies.

- "Take this. This is a bow made from a branch of the World Tree."

- "…"

- "Are you thinking that since you're soon to die, there's no meaning in any master archer receiving it? Don't say that. This will be the clue to a new destiny."

- "…?"

- "Look at this, Kies."

Yeriserika pointed to the World Tree's lake. The legendary lake, clearer than any other and said to allow one to see to its deepest surface, suddenly became dirty with countless sediments. Yeriserika said.

- "Can you change this back to its former state, make it clean again?"

- "…?"

- "It's impossible. To make this water itself clean again… However, there is a way."

As new water was supplied to the lake, the water dirtied by sediments began to overflow out of the lake. Slowly, after a long time, the lake began to regain its former clarity.

- "You will also meet them. Companions who will push out the pain and suffering festering deep within your soul, making it clear again… So take that bow."

It was his first encounter with Serwebon of Baekchang Archery. However, after receiving that bow, his life did not change miraculously at all. He merely caught the Emperor's eye and became the imperial archer of Hwanghasamuseong, a position everyone envied, but Kies was simply tempted by the offer to taste all the alcohol in the Imperial Palace.

- "Are you Kies?"

Then one day, a white-haired warrior came to find him.

- "I am currently gathering a hero party. The hydro dragon Yeriserika recommended you, so I've come to meet you."

The demon realm front… There… could he just die pulling his bow, without forgetting or remembering Aena, that is, without any thoughts at all?

'If that were possible, I'd have nothing more to wish for. The expensive alcohols in the Imperial Palace were all just the same old alcohol, offering no new solace.'

It was with such a desperate desire to find a place to die that Kies joined the hero party.

[Hehehe, what are you doing? You should at least greet me sweetly and say you're glad to see me again.]

The Aena who reappeared before Kies, who had certainly been like that, perfectly retained her appearance from life, to the extent that he had no choice but to believe it was her. Aena had even cut off her right breast entirely because it interfered with drawing a bow, and she even possessed that distinctive trait. However, the eyes glaring at Kies… eyes with no emotion, only simmering resentment, were something he had never seen before.

[Ah, you said your tongue was pulled out because of 'that incident' and you can't speak, right? Oh dear, how pitiful.]

Between the speechless Kies and the silent Aena, it was a boy who talked incessantly. About ten years old… Kies could detect the highly advanced magic controlling that body, and the magic's true form was visible as a snake, so the enemy must be an incredibly powerful sorcerer.

[This Aena has told me your sad love story every night, with me lying on her lap, so I know it well.]

"…!"

[How that noble bastard, lusting after this Aena's beauty, trapped you two.]

That incident was something no one other than the parties involved dared to mention.

'This bastard…!'

Kies shot an arrow in his rage… but that arrow was intercepted in mid-air by an arrow Aena shot.

[I simply cannot understand. Are you an animal? After what happened, why are you fighting on *their* side?]

"…?"

[I'm asking if you have any reason to be part of that hypocritical group called the hero party and dedicate yourself to the world.]

"…!"

[I'll make you one offer you can't refuse. Kill the brat in your party, take the rosary tied to his arm, and bring it to me.]

"…"

[Then I'll let you enjoy the honeymoon life you never had. With this lovely Aena, right here. I am currently in <Simila>. I'll wait there for exactly three days.]