It was an item found on the castle’s rooftop.
[The Split Royal Bow]
A pixelated image matching the description appeared on the screen.
The character Hilde picked it up immediately. Ricardo, hands in his pockets, watched the character descend the castle walls.
Wearing a hood low over his head, Hilde returned to the place where the game had begun.
Shu, who rarely showed excitement, said brightly,
“If you take this and place it in front of the statue and pray, the statue moves.”
Was that really something to get so thrilled about?
Ricardo watched the character approach the statue with mild indifference.
Gradually, a sense of futility began to creep in. What the hell was he doing here in this bright-blue rookie’s house? He had planned to go home and chain-smoke until he fell asleep.
But the character kept moving busily, heedless of his mood. A statue of a woman with her eyes covered by cloth, hands clasped in prayer.
The character Hilde set the bow down beneath it and prayed.
Then the pixel screen shook up and down.
“Wow.”
Shu exclaimed as she saw the floor beneath the statue open.
“It’s really there.”
An entrance had appeared on the ground.
The character descended through the newly opened passage.
The background shifted to a gray staircase. The cheerful, airy BGM grew sorrowful and grand.
The stairs ended quickly, and a temple appeared. Inside the temple stood rows of statues of unnamed figures. At the end of the line of statues was an altar. Upon it lay an open book.
Ricardo watched the screen, wondering what any of this was supposed to mean.
Shu moved the character toward the altar.
The character Hilde clicked on the book.
The book zoomed in.
A sentence written at the upper-left corner caught his eye.
[When your successor points a blade at your blood kin]
“They said they couldn’t solve this part,” Shu murmured to herself, eyes on the screen.
“They think something will appear if you enter the answer, but no one’s ever managed to solve it.”
“Where do you enter it?”
Ricardo knelt down on one knee beside her.
“Where do you write the answer?”
“You know it?”
Shu looked up at him, eyes wide.
“How do you know?”
Because the rookie told me.
He didn’t say the words that rose to his throat.
Ricardo silently took the controller from her hands. Ignoring her sharp, curious gaze, he moved the controller and entered the numbers. No need to look it up online—he knew the exact date.
The day Yehyeon ended the First War.
The day Hilde’s sword killed his own kin.
When he entered the date beside the sentence, letters began to appear on the book’s pages.
Shu gasped.
“Amazing.”
Ricardo followed the words as they appeared, reading them aloud in his head.
He expected something trivial.
That indifferent thought vanished with the first line.
As he read, everything else fell away—the incoming call, the message from the Personnel Director asking for a meeting, even his earlier conversation with Ska.
The first sentence seized his full attention.
[Hilde, when you came back alive, I wasn’t happy.]
It was written in someone’s handwriting.
[Because I thought you’d finally chosen to side with your kind. I thought it was over, and I prayed in the corner of the lab.
But you—pulling the grenade shrapnel out of your arm—showed us the way to escape.
Even when we looked at you with doubtful eyes...
You lifted the fallen researchers, opened the emergency exit, and said,
“I’ll hold them off. Run.”
Those who had never once doubted you, and those who didn’t care what choice you made, all ran for the exit.
I stayed until the very end. You picked me up when I’d lost my senses, smiling that tired smile, clutching your beloved sword, drenched in blood.
I still can’t believe that was the last time I saw you.]
Ricardo realized then that the game had been made to deliver this message.
Whoever the writer was, they had created this game as its title said—a letter to Hilde. And the sender, it seemed, was not a creature but a human being.
Someone Hildebert had saved.
[I was such a fool.
Just like they said, I didn’t understand reality. People feared you and prepared for the coming disaster, but I didn’t agree with them. I couldn’t understand the rulers who turned their blades on you out of fear, nor you, who were sometimes unbearably frightening.
‘We’ve lived peacefully so far, so what’s the problem? You worry too much.’]
Beside him, Shu muttered, “What is all this supposed to mean?”
But Ricardo couldn’t answer.
He didn’t move a finger, reading the letter word by word. He couldn’t bring himself to look away from the screen.
[They all say you’re dead...
That, like them, even your body couldn’t be found—that you turned to ash and scattered on the wind.
Four months ago, Nori died. The only one who still believed you’d come back.
Hilde, if you really did fade away into the wind, at least take him with you—he who stayed loyal until the very end.
Wherever you go, take him. He waited for you until his last breath.
And I’ll keep waiting for you too.
If you know how much I want to repent before you, please come back alive. Come back and curse me to my face as I kneel before you.
If that’s not allowed, then at least live happily with your kind where you are.
I finally understand how much you loved them, how much you suffered.
I only learned afterward that on the night before the disaster, you cried without stopping.]
A fierce emotion struck Ricardo’s chest.
He couldn’t name it. Before he could even try, a few short lines appeared at the end.
[The world will bury your name.
The thought of that is unbearable, so I’m making this game to remember you.
If any of the details are wrong, I’m sorry.
I can’t ask you anymore.
There were still so many questions I wanted to ask...
I thought I’d be able to keep asking you forever.
I’m so sorry, Hildebert.
Sorry.]
That was how the letter ended.
No more words appeared.
The screen stopped moving. The BGM went silent.
Likewise, the Badgers forgot how to move—they just stared at the screen for a long time.
Then the green-eyed man abruptly turned and reached for his phone.
Ricardo tapped on the missed call and redialed—but the other side didn’t answer.
***
Of course he didn’t.
So that’s it, huh. The line’s really gone dead now.
He wasn’t surprised, but the heaviness in his chest deepened. He started to call Ska instead.
But an AI voice answered immediately: “Unable to answer due to meeting in progress.”
He gave up on the idea of calling.
Climbing the stairs, I drew Noel’s sword. Since he could heal fast, I’d strike just hard enough to slow him down.
Go for the ankles!
Go, little strike!
Slash!
Blood burst out. The blow cut both of the senior’s ankles just deep enough before fading.
Jonathan Kudo toppled forward.
I quickly sheathed my sword and rushed to him.
“Wait—”
But when I saw him crawling forward, dragging himself by his arms while leaving trails of blood, I froze.
“Sunbaenim...”
That desperate?
He couldn’t even walk, yet he clawed his way up, dragging his body along the floor, unable to wait for his wounds to heal.
Watching him struggle to rise, my heart turned cold.
Those with shallower mental scars usually snapped out of illusions once they felt physical pain.
But Kudo showed no sign of regaining his senses.
He and this creature were the worst possible match.
‘How about picking up the sword again?’
A woman’s voice echoed through the air—coming from the flower shop.
‘You always wanted to hold it again, didn’t you?’
Still, his pace slowed.
Thanks to that, I managed to catch him. I tackled him at the top of the stairs.
Thud!
We rolled across the third floor, limbs tangled. I tried to knock him out, but it wasn’t easy.
If I drew my weapon, neither of us would leave in one piece.
Thinking fast, I pressed him down with my elbow and dug into my pocket.
Maybe calling Ju or Yehyeon would work. Hearing a superior’s voice might snap him out of it.
As I pulled out my phone, a gust brushed my cheek.
Whack!
Kudo’s elbow struck my arm, sending the phone flying.
...My phone.
The one Yehyeon had bought me after the Colosseum incident. It clattered down the stairs, bouncing farther and farther away with a lonely sound.
I’d really liked that phone.
Feeling a wave of regret, I raised my hand to chop at his neck.
At the same moment, Kudo’s right foot slammed into my stomach.
“Ugh.”
A heavy shock knocked the wind out of me.
I staggered backward, catching myself on the steps before I could tumble.
The moment he pushed me aside, Kudo started walking toward the fourth floor.
As I stood, the peaceful suburb dissolved, replaced by a battlefield.
‘Jonathan Kudo? That’s a unique name.’
‘Half-blood, huh~?’
Soldiers crouched in a trench.
Their voices were familiar.
‘Yeah. Japanese and British.’
‘Oh, so you’re from England? I’m American.’
‘Italian~.’
It was Ska, Ricardo, and Jonathan Kudo.
‘I’m Chinese. Studied in England for a long time though.’
‘Mexico.’
Two others whose names I didn’t know. The clatter of guns and the rumble of tanks filled the air as they spoke.
They were talking about what they’d been doing when the First War broke out.
I clenched my teeth.
Next time I catch him, I’ll drag him down the stairs again.
I grabbed his coat and threw us both down.
Thud, thud!
‘I got married a year ago.’
I heard Kudo’s low voice as we rolled.
‘No kids yet....’
“Let go.”
“No.”
We crashed down to the second floor together. Kudo cried, trying desperately to climb back up the stairs.
Ignoring the pain coursing through me, I focused on subduing him—pressing his legs down hard, raising my arm to knock him unconscious.
If I didn’t do it now, he’d fight back again.
I’d go for the neck.
But as I tensed my arm, a voice stopped me cold.
‘Hide Hilde!’
A voice I knew well.
‘Father Mar—hide the boy, hurry! It’s an attack!’
‘Healers, move!’
‘Hilde! Get inside!’
‘I don’t want to!’
God.
Even after all this time, why ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) did remembering that moment still make cold sweat run down my back?
‘I can fight too!’
Thunk.
A sharp pain burned through my leg.
Kudo had drawn my sword and stabbed me in the thigh. The blade had gone in cleanly—too cleanly. It wouldn’t come out without force.
That same kind of wound again.
The spreading pain, the damp warmth soaking my pants.
I looked down at the blood and laughed faintly.
“Come to think of it, there’s another way.”
I muttered while watching my senior, still crying endlessly.
“The dream’s voice always goes for the easier prey.”
Until now, it had targeted my senior, who carried deeper trauma.
But now that I was wounded, things would change. The stage itself would shift. Just like when the creature targeted Sara Perry and we saw her desires—just like when it targeted Kudo and we both saw his past.
Now, the prey had changed.
Act Two: closed. Kudo’s past was over. Soon, Act Three would begin—with mine.
Shameful regrets and desires.
I didn’t want to show them. I tried to steel myself.
“If you come to your senses, I’ll be counting on you.”
I gave a bitter smile as the scenery changed.
“With one leg like this, it should be easier for you to take charge.”
And please pretend you didn’t see whatever past you glimpse.
I wasn’t sure if the words ever left my lips.
Because in the next instant, the ruined building, the stairs, and my senior were all gone—
Replaced by a colossal World Tree.
I was half-dazed by the sight.
A golden World Tree.
Its roots were covered by the corpse of the dragon I had just slain.
