Chapter 223: Escape (5)

Baran returned home late at night after tending to all his guests.

“Baran!”

As soon as he stepped inside, someone called out his name.

It was the voice of Laura, the woman he was promised to marry.

Startled by her tone, Baran rushed into the house.

“What’s wrong?”

But Laura stood frozen in the room, her health seemingly intact. She was merely staring down at something, her hand covering her mouth in shock.

“…What’s the matter?”

Baran’s sigh of relief was short-lived. He quickly approached Laura, who was fixated on a small postcard.

“…This… was here when I got home.”

“…”

Baran had spent a long time helping Berg practice reading and writing. Although he still wasn’t completely fluent, he had reached a decent level. Laura, too, was literate.

The astonished Laura spoke first.

“…Baran, don’t be shocked.”

“What is it?”

She handed him the postcard.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t attend the wedding.”

The words froze Baran in place.

It felt as though Berg had returned to life and written those words himself. Baran felt a choking sensation in his throat, but it didn’t last long. No one knew better than Baran that Berg was dead.

Anger surged within him as he thought about who could have played such a cruel prank.

“...Which bastard…”

The postcard felt like an insult, a mockery of his bond with Berg. Their relationship wasn’t one to be trivialized or used for games. The memories of saving each other countless times on the brink of death weren’t so easily erased.

Bang!

Unable to contain his rage, Baran stormed out of the house, determined to find whoever was responsible.

“Captain Baran!!”

The moment he stepped outside, he saw a group of his subordinates approaching him. Each one carried a torch, their faces filled with urgency. Even Gale was running toward him, gasping for breath.

“…What’s going on?”

Baran’s anger was momentarily replaced by confusion as he asked.

Gale answered.

“…Lady Sien has disappeared.”

“……What?”

Baran frowned deeply, sensing this was just the beginning.

Gale continued hesitantly.

“…Lady Ner and Lady Arwin are gone too.”

***

I was hiding in Stockpin under the cover of night.

There was one last thing I had to do. However, I could feel that my time here was running out as chaos erupted in the village.

It seemed that Sien, Ner, and Arwin had left the territory with Flint’s help.

“…Damn.”

I clicked my tongue in frustration. The thought of parting weighed heavily on me. Deep down, I wanted to stay here a little longer. There was still so much I wanted to say to Adam Hyung.

But perhaps this was my bad habit—holding on to people when it was time to let go.

Maybe it was time to set them free.

“…”

I knew I would never return to this place. Nowhere else was my face as well-known as it was here.

And that meant one thing.

I would never see Adam Hyung, who would remain here forever.

This was the end.

“…Hyung.”

I stood before Adam Hyung’s gravestone, gazing down at the unmarked slab.

But now, I finally knew what words to inscribe on it. Perhaps it was because I had avenged him or because I was leaving in search of happiness. I wasn’t sure.

Still, the message I wanted to leave was simple. There was no need for complex explanations—that could wait until we met again.

“…”

I picked up a nearby rock.

-Scrape.

And with it, I began carving words into the blank gravestone, one letter at a time.

Once the inscription was complete, I tossed the rock aside and dusted off my hands.

“…”

I quietly looked at Adam Hyung’s gravestone before resting my hand on it. The cold stone felt strangely comforting. Thinking back, it had been quite some time since Hyung left my side.

I was probably around the same age now as Hyung was when he passed.

“…”

I knelt down on one knee in front of his grave, leaning my forehead against the cold stone.

This was my final farewell to Hyung.

As I opened my mouth to speak, my emotions, which I had been holding back, began to waver. Memories of meeting Hyung and all the moments we shared together came flooding back.

-“Want to try mercenary work with me?”

-“Hey! If you do it like that, you’ll get killed!”

-“Berg!”

“…Ha.”

I let out a soft laugh.

Slowly, I was releasing the hand I had held onto for so long—the hand of my savior, my steadfast friend, Adam Hyung.

A single tear rolled down my cheek.

It was the first tear I had shed since Hyung’s passing, as if the reality of his absence was finally sinking in.

Though I had agonized over what to say, our farewell, like always, was brief and bittersweet.

“…See you later.”

With that, I said my final goodbye to Adam Hyung.

I stood up and turned away.

It was time to go meet my wives.

****

“Haa... Haa...”

Baran sprinted through every corner of Stockpin, but he couldn’t find anyone—Sien, Ner, or Arwin. They had all vanished without a trace.

He was sinking into confusion. The fact that they had disappeared so suddenly was strange, but even stranger was that there wasn’t a single clue as to where they could have gone. It felt as though their disappearance had been meticulously planned.

Guilt began to overwhelm Baran.

What would Berg think if he saw him like this? Berg had entrusted his family to him, yet here he was, failing to protect a single one of them.

Baran ran through the village again, his desperation driving him forward. The Red Flames Mercenary group was already turning the village upside down in their search, but Baran refused to stop.

“There’s no sign of them!”

Every report came back the same. No one had found a single lead.

“...”

In this chaos, there was only one place Baran hadn’t searched yet—the cemetery. It had been temporarily closed to the public because of the overwhelming number of visitors paying their respects to Berg. Even without many hiding spots, it was the last place left to check.

Gale, standing nearby, seemed to have the same thought.

“...The graves—”

“—Let’s go,” Baran answered without hesitation.

Perhaps the three of them had gathered in front of Berg’s grave. It wasn’t unreasonable to think they might be there to mourn him together.

Baran reopened the restricted area. The flickering light of their torches illuminated the darkness of the cemetery as they stepped inside.

Though he felt guilty about disturbing the peace of his comrades’ resting place, Baran knew they would understand the urgency of his actions.

“...”

“...”

But when Gale and Baran reached Berg’s grave, they let out heavy sighs.

There was no one there.

“...”

Baran couldn’t bring himself to look directly at Berg’s gravestone. Instead, he muttered under his breath, almost as if making a promise.

“…I’ll find them soon.”

Of course, Berg wasn’t actually resting beneath this grave, but it felt as though his presence lingered, listening to Baran’s words.

Whoosh!

As the torchlight shifted, something caught Baran’s eye. Even in the darkness, the change was unmistakable.

It was something Baran had seen countless times, and his familiarity with it made the difference stand out.

The change was at Adam’s grave, right next to Berg’s.

“…Huh?”

Baran noticed it immediately, and Gale slowly approached the spot as well. Baran nearly dropped his torch in shock.

Adam’s gravestone, which had been blank just days ago, now bore a short inscription. It was undeniable; someone had engraved it during the brief time since he last checked.

“...This... this is…”

Gale fell to his knees in front of the grave, whispering in disbelief.

“…No… but…”

He kept shaking his head, as if trying to deny the reality of what he was seeing.

Baran glanced at Gale, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the postcard he had received earlier.

The words on it sounded different now. Before, it might have seemed like a cruel prank. But no one would defile Adam’s gravestone for a joke.

[I’m sorry I couldn’t attend the wedding.]

Baran read the message again, this time feeling a chill run down his spine.

Baran handed the postcard to Gale.

Gale’s expression deepened as he read the postcard, his face twisting with even greater emotion.

“...This... postcard… when…”

“I found it earlier,” Baran replied. “It was left at my house. I thought it was just a prank...”

Gale let out a shaky, hollow laugh, his face on the verge of tears.

For a while, he trembled, glancing back and forth between Adam’s gravestone and the postcard in his hand. Finally, he spoke.

“...This is Berg’s handwriting...”

“.....................”

Baran blinked slowly, a cold realization creeping over him.

Suddenly, everything seemed to fall into place.

Why Sien, Ner, and Arwin had seemed fine before their sudden disappearance.

Why they had vanished together.

Who had delivered the postcard?

Who had engraved Adam’s gravestone?

“How is this even possible…!” Gale’s voice grew louder, rising with disbelief.

But the “how” didn’t matter.

No matter how impossible it seemed, all the signs pointed to one undeniable truth.

Baran fell to his knees.

-Thud.

Come to think of it, he had never actually seen Berg’s body cremated.

“.................Is he alive...?”

He whispered the words, his voice barely audible.

Baran looked back at Adam’s gravestone, his gaze locked on the newly engraved words.

He read the simple inscription once more:

“My eternal brother. 

Adam, rests here.”

– – The End of The Chapter – –

 

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