Yujin woke up to the sound of something being dragged across the floor outside his room.
He remembered fainting while training in the Master's library, and it seemed the Master—or one of his servants—had moved him back to his bed.
"…At least I feel a bit better."
The lingering sensation of that soul-crushing lethality, the way his strength had vanished until he was reduced to crawling on the floor, was still fresh in his mind. Now that his usual senses had returned, he felt like a blind man seeing light for the first time. He shifted his limbs slowly, checking to ensure his motor control was fully restored.
"Still, I never imagined it would be that intense."
Staring at the ceiling, Yujin fell into silent reflection. He had underestimated the training, only to be besieged by something beyond his expectations. From the body-eating Decay to that mocking skeleton performing its victory dance... the memory of that taunting pile of bones made his eyes narrow, but he couldn't deny its effectiveness. Perhaps the Master had designed it that way on purpose.
While he hadn't reached his current level through instinct alone, this trial had hammered home the vital importance of the physical foundation.
Peering out the window, he saw Buldrokkas'tee outside, training as usual by dragging massive iron chains. Kalaisha was perched on a chair nearby, idly drinking milk.
"Can't just sit around."
To pass the gate the Master had set, he needed advice from someone who had already cleared it. Yujin dressed quickly and hopped out the window, dropping to the ground outside.
"…Is it physically impossible for you to use a door like a normal person?"
"This way is faster. Why bother with a door?"
Kalaisha looked at him with a look of pure exhaustion, but Yujin paid her no mind.
"Sigh... there isn't a single sane person in this mansion," she muttered. Buldrokk, currently sprinting while kicking a massive iron ball attached to a chain, glanced over briefly before returning to his grueling regimen.
Not wanting to interrupt his focus, Yujin sat down beside Kalaisha and watched. After a moment, the girl spoke up.
"I heard you went through that madness with the Master."
"…It wasn't 'madness.' It was training."
"Is that what you call it? Dragging a person to the brink of death and telling them to just survive?"
Kalaisha looked back and forth between Buldrokk and Yujin, shaking her head.
"Maybe for you two it works, but not for me."
"Are you giving up without even trying?"
"Is there a reason I should do it?"
Yujin felt he might have stepped over a line and moved to apologize, but Kalaisha forestalled him by handing him a carton of milk she'd pulled from nowhere.
"I'm not like you guys. I'm a coward, and I hate fighting. Sometimes, that makes me feel sorry toward the Master."
Because I know I can never meet his expectations.
Kalaisha's gaze dropped, her eyes fixed on Buldrokk's moving silhouette.
"That's why I put my faith in Buldrokk. I thought he was different from me."
"You wanted him to carry the burden for you?"
"No, I was more selfish than that. I decided I wasn't good enough, so I just dumped everything on him."
She had stopped moving forward. She had decided she didn't want to do anything anymore.
"The Master must have hated that choice. Why else would he kick me out and tell me to go capture a criminal?"
Tarkan—the Knight of the Royal Court whom Yujin had fought with his life on the line.
"I had to fight him, but I didn't want to. So I kept missing him, failing every time..."
Kalaisha had begun to hate herself. Tarkan grew more cunning and sadistic; every time he used civilians as shields to escape, Kalaisha had hesitated, unable to use her power, and let him slip away.
"Maybe that's why I liked you all from the moment I saw you."
People who lived lives so different from her own.
Theresia, who threw everything away to save the children; Yujin, who fought while prepared for death; and Theresis, who didn't hesitate to level his blade against dozens of mercenaries. They all fought with their own ironclad resolve. Kalaisha had been mesmerized by that radiant brilliance.
"With that kind of power... why do you do this? Why do you hurt innocent people?"
Faced with absolute evil and overwhelming strength, his eyes had never wavered. The moment she saw that, Kalaisha knew. The person her Master had been searching for was right here.
"Yujin, you see yourself as a sinner, don't you?"
"Kalaisha, you—"
"It's almost ridiculous. Calling yourself a sinner because you couldn't save everyone, or because you killed a man who deserved to die."
This was the first time—well, the second—that the usually flippant Kalaisha had shown such a serious side. The first had been when they discussed the Royal Court. That same strange, hazy aura was radiating from her again.
"You fear death too much."
And yet, it wasn't his own death he feared, but the death of others. That was why she held the boy in such high regard.
Yujin considered her words. Death. It wasn't a word to be taken lightly, but in this land, death seemed to have lost its weight. This wasn't the world he came from; life there hadn't been lived so close to the grave.
Did those subconscious memories still linger within him? Kalaisha seemed to see right through him.
"Do you think death in this place is something trivial?"
"Hah. It's not like you're wrong. If a Sarkaz drops dead in the gutter, most people would look at them like a dead insect."
"…Don't speak like that."
"Isn't it the truth?"
"Even if it is, we shouldn't be the ones to say it."
Yujin's face was etched with a clear, simmering anger.
"A person's death shouldn't be trivial. The value of sacrifice shouldn't be cheap. The moment those two things become meaningless... nothing in this world has value anymore."
Kalaisha couldn't help but let out a cynical laugh.
Has the world we stand in ever had any value?
The word "sacrifice" had become the exclusive property of fools. Death was just Originium dust scattering in the wind. And meanwhile, every nation tore at each other like wolves for their own interests. Wasn't this entire world just a place that ignored the dying for the sake of profit?
"What do you even gain by sacrificing yourself?"
"Does something have to yield a profit to be considered valuable?"
Lunatic.
When she first saw him, she thought he was a hero. When she heard Theresia's worries, she hadn't understood. But hearing him now, it sounded like a borderline mental illness.
Their conversation had reached an impasse. Kalaisha looked at him and knew—this was a person who would never walk the same path she did. A sudden, unprovoked surge of loathing washed over her.
She knew, better than anyone, that the loathing was actually directed at herself. A Nachzehrer who hated war and was a coward. A brat who was only taken in by the King because of luck. Someone who stayed in her room waiting for death.
She knew all the labels she gave herself were true.
"Seriously..."
As Kalaisha kicked at the dirt in frustration, Yujin suddenly grabbed both her cheeks, forcing her to look at him.
"Hey, stop with the brooding for a second. So what if you're a coward? What if you hate war? Do you think we're the type of people to ditch you just because of that?"
He wasn't sure how the conversation had turned into this, but Yujin couldn't stand seeing Kalaisha act this way. Self-loathing, cynicism—her malice was spiraling inward.
"Should we go ask the Master right now? Ask him if he'd throw you away because you're a 'coward'? Even if he did, do you think we wouldn't throw a fit and stop him?"
They hadn't known each other long, but Yujin already considered Kalaisha a true friend, just like Theresia and Theresis.
"If you hadn't intervened, I would've died in that factory. And even if the weight of death and sacrifice is trivial in this world, you don't treat it that way. Why are you lying to yourself?"
"…I'm a coward."
"So? If we were on the verge of death, would you turn your back and run?"
Run away and leave Buldrokk and Yujin to die. Because she's a coward. Because she hates war. She could make all the excuses she wanted.
But if those two were actually fighting for their lives...
Kalaisha realized she wouldn't be able to run. She would rather die with them on that battlefield. The bond, however brief, had already grown too heavy to ignore.
"You're the only one judging yourself. So what if you like to slack off? Even if I fought you right now, I'm not sure I could beat you."
Tarkan, that criminal—he only ran because he was terrified of Kalaisha. If he'd seen a chance of winning, he would have fought. But he ran, which meant he saw no path to victory against her.
"You couldn't catch him because of the civilians. Fine. But if you were someone who viewed life as trivial, you wouldn't have cared if they died; you would have just crushed Tarkan and been done with it."
The fact that she couldn't kill Tarkan because he used civilians as shields meant she valued those lives more than the mission.
"I'm still a bit annoyed you didn't help me, but let's call it even since you saved my life and introduced me to the Master."
Standing with the sun behind him, Yujin gave her a bright smile, his hands still on her cheeks.
A Hero.
She had once asked the Master what a hero was. He had told her: A hero is one who stands tall and alone amidst the world's torrent. Someone who changes the world, saves the forsaken, and performs miracles to protect everyone. Someone who doesn't see themselves as a hero, even while everyone else does.
Before her stood a young hero who hadn't yet achieved legends or myths, but whose heart was already there.
His black hair, his platinum eyes that shone brilliantly even in the sunlight...
For a split second, Kalaisha's heart hammered against her ribs. Flustered and with ears turning beet-red, she lashed out with her Arts.
"Whoa!?"
"Go—Go away!"
"Hey! I'm trying to be nice, what the hell—?!"
Kalaisha chased a fleeing Yujin with invisible bursts of wind.
"I said get lost—!"
"You're the one chasing me!"
It was a typical morning in the mansion.