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279. Engagement Ep – Sleepwalking

“Our mom~ runs like this~ on a nighttime walk~.”

In a gloomy, eerie empty lot, there were three children. Ray passed the tune for a moment, following the blood-red alleyway, then stopped in the middle.

Two jewelry shops.

The {Tracking Skill} pointed out these two stores for Ran and Anne. Wasn’t Ran the older sister? Ray stepped into the shop on the right. It was a shop that primarily sold jewelry made of leather, like bracelets.

“Welcome.”

However, rather than focusing on selling, the workshop took up most of the space in the shop.

Ray directly asked the woman with dark hair who had set down a thread to greet the customer.

“Are you Ran Abiker?”

“Yes. Were you referred?”

Ray paused for a moment.

It was a process of determining who he was before lying. If he knew her name on a first encounter and had a reason to visit…

Ray bowed slightly.

“…What brings you here?”

“I came to convey bad news. Do you know a merchant named ‘Vernon’? He has passed away.”

“Excuse me?? Uncle Vern, is it?”

Vernon was the merchant who had come to Abrival Castle alongside the sisters Ran and Anne. He reportedly established his merchant group under the patronage of Count Brina, in exchange for doing smuggling work in the marquisate.

Upon arriving in the marquisate and discovering this fact, Vernon fled with his fellow merchants, only to be pursued and killed by knights.

No, he was dead. They were already no longer of this world.

Ray pushed a chair away from the cramped workbench and sat down. With an expression that meant he needed to verify something, he asked,

“I’m sorry, but I need to confirm if you are indeed Ran Abiker. I’m Yuan, assigned to distribute the estate of the late Mr. Vernon. Nice to meet you. May I see your identification? You’re a free citizen, right?”

“Oh… yes. Just a moment.”

Ran Abiker flitted into the back of the workshop and rustled around before returning with a document. However, it wasn’t a formally issued ID…

“It’s a marriage certificate.”

“Isn’t that sufficient?”

“You said you were a free citizen. Isn’t there a government-issued ID?”

Ray asked, frowning as if finding the matter troublesome. Ran looked quite flustered.

“U-uh, no. I must have lost it.”

“Well… I see. I suppose this will have to do for now.”

Ray emphasized ‘now’ and gazed at the marriage certificate in his hand. It was naturally issued by the church, and Ray’s eyes widened.

“You got married at twelve?”

“Yes, I got married a bit early.”

It seemed more than a bit… Ray followed up with more questions.

“Here it only states the name ‘Ran.’ Why did you omit your surname, Ran Abiker?”

“Th-that…”

Ran faltered in her words. Seemingly flustered, she narrowed her eyes and asked defensively,

“Why do I have to prove my identity to you? Can we talk about Uncle Vernon instead?”

– Clatter.

“I didn’t intend to say this much… but not only am I in charge of distributing Mr. Vernon’s estate, but I am also tasked with investigating those around him. Tell me, why did you omit your surname?”

Ray placed the insignia of Baron Albasete on the table. Although it was merely for access to the baronial residence and had nothing to do with Vernon, it was quite effective.

Ran flinched, shrinking back. Hesitating, she said,

“…Our tribe was attacked by the Cross Church. In fact, I’m not a free citizen. I only married a free citizen.”

“Were you trying to hide your identity by marrying so early?”

“N-no! My mother went missing when I was little… My younger sibling and I had nowhere to go, so I married early as a common-law wife without any intention behind it. I omitted the surname just in case something went wrong.”

“I’d like to hear more. I have some knowledge too. You’re from the ‘Ice Island,’ correct?”

“Yes.”

“How did you escape? It can’t have been easy to slip through the Cross Church’s encirclement. Moreover, I heard one can’t sail from Ice Island…”

“I ran on foot. While we couldn’t set sail, it seemed the sea froze over, and we could cross. My father, a Great Warrior, fought the Holy Knights… My mother fled with my younger sibling and me.”

Ran glanced at the axe in the corner of the workshop. A feathered axe. Ray had a good idea whose it was.

“…So, why is it that your mother, who fled with you, went missing? Did she return to the Ice Island?”

“No. She hid us in a village, went back to Ice Island, and found my father’s axe. She went missing after bringing us to the capital.”

“Your mother must have had a hard time. With two small children… But if you don’t mind me asking, you said she’s missing. Are you sure about that?”

Ran’s eyes hardened.

“What are you implying?”

“I’m just wondering if she really went missing. I apologize for the presumption, but didn’t she abandon you and your sibling? As an adult, you can understand, can’t you?”

“No!”

Ran roared.

“It can’t be! I understand as a parent. If there’s nothing to feed my child, I’d even carve off my own flesh to feed them. If there’s nothing to dress them with, I’d rather go naked myself! There’s absolutely no way…”

Ray flinched at Ran’s explosive reaction. Yet at the same time, he felt confused.

How could a woman raising a child alone go missing in the capital?

One could assume that life had been tough and she fled leaving her children behind, but it was rather strange for a grown adult to vehemently declare, ‘Absolutely! No way!’

Ray remained silent until Ran’s emotions settled. And as he noticed the mixture of anger within her flustered demeanor, he became convinced.

Ray quietly asked,

“You know the reason your mother went missing, don’t you?”

Ran bit her lip. Slowly shaking her head, she seemed to have something to say. Hesitant, Ray spoke courteously.

“I apologize. I’m not here to distribute Mr. Vernon’s estate. I’m not Yuan either. I am…”

Ray apologized. He disclosed that he was a Swordmaster and confessed he had come to capture the Evil God Malpas. He felt he could communicate with this woman.

The smell of burning metal.

From outside, the sound of raindrops began to transform into a heavy downpour. Ray sat back down, and silence ensued. Eventually, Ran murmured,

“Malpas…”

Ran stood up and turned away.

She unbuttoned her top. As the garment fell, her dark, ebony hair swayed, covering her pale waist. Only when Ran grasped her hair did her contoured back become revealed. There, was…

A red crow tattoo.

Against the backdrop of a bloody battlefield, the red crow perched on a colossal sword, its head held high with arrogance. Such a tattoo.

Ran adjusted her collar and spoke.

“My mother was a priestess serving Lord Malhas. My sister Anne and I were to inherit that. My mother… she didn’t go missing. The day after she made us into her followers, she left on her own… I didn’t understand why until now. I heard my mother’s prayers.”

Ran unveiled her past.

Some time later, a thunderclap and the boy singing in the alley returned drenched in rain.

“Mom. I’m back… Mom? Why are you crying?”

When he asked, Ran was no longer a follower of Malhas. No longer would she wander through the southern market plagued by sleepwalking, but realizing her long-awaited mother would never return, she embraced her son.

Ray was next door.

*

Getting wet in the rain, Ray was heading back to the mansion. He could take a carriage, but he didn’t feel like it.

Ran and Anne.

The lives they led sounded harsh. Twelve years old. In the prime of being loved, they lost their parents, and now lived huddled together with a stranger they barely knew, their lives dulled and rounded off, just like everyone else.

In previous cycles, Ran and Anne had wanted to capture monsters.

They had entered the merchant group made by Vernon, wanting to experience the life of a warrior they couldn’t enjoy. But just before reaching Abrival Castle, they were attacked and killed by the Old Phantom Fox.

Their unfortunate lives only changed after we hunted down the Old Phantom Fox. They safely reached Abrival Castle, searching for someone to face the trial of a Great Warrior together, and in the 14th cycle, which they couldn’t remember, they met Leo and Lena and hunted the Spirit Reindeer.

Presumably, they were freed from their shackles then. Just as Sir Corin had been, their wishes were fulfilled.

But unlike Sir Corin, who was far gone and invisible, Ran and Anne were bound to the Evil God Malpas.

A body freed from shackles.

Malpas must have been delighted. The daughters of a priestess he had discarded suddenly became something of great value. This was why Baron Arpen Albasete hadn’t even participated in the war.

Unintentional, perhaps, but Malpas had stayed close to the king, fearing he might swap bodies with either Ran or Anne.

“Well, the last cycle helped out.”

The connections missed in the previous cycle were filled in. Malpas, who suddenly appeared at the fortress Toridom, borrowed the body of a warrior from the ‘Abiker’ tribe. One who had a crow feather tattoo.

From this, Ray learned that Malpas could control his followers’ bodies. Connecting that with the sleepwalking both Ran and Anne suffered from hadn’t been difficult. The real question was how to resolve it.

Would Malpas kill the two sisters to prevent them from using their bodies?

That could happen. However, the ‘Achievement of Innocent Murder’ was a headache.

The more innocent lives he took, the more the misfortune accumulated. If that Achievement piled up, it could cause problems later, so he decided to seek out Ran and Anne first.

If necessary, he could send someone else to kill them, but since Ran had been growing suspicious of her mother, it was truly fortunate. With her help, the discussion with Anne concluded as well. They wouldn’t serve Malhas any longer.

“Is this… my share done concerning them?”

While he might have been processing something that could backfire critically and approached that with such intent, Ray didn’t feel pleasantly about it.

It was all just the path laid out by the Divine… just like my desire to resurrect my mother, it was a sequence of ‘inevitable choices.’

The end was predetermined. No matter what I do. Even if I try to twist things, it’s a set process.

Suddenly, Ray felt he understood what the ‘shackles’ were. The thin, cold thread that Rev felt was binding him to the world. The reason he could feel this was likely because of

‘Minseo.’

Only he hadn’t been bound to this world. Although he casually referred to himself as a ‘Player’, because of him, time was repeating and changing.

Ray stepped into the Dexter family mansion, wondering if one day he would have the chance to apologize face to face. But as he did…

“What’s this?”

Was it the drizzle that set the mood this way? Noel Dexter, Leira Ainar, Dehorman, Elson, and Yuan were all gathered in one place.

“Ray! Come here! Do you know what happened while you were gone? It’s unbelievable! I can’t believe it…”

Leira, clearly furious, huffed as she spoke.

“A piglet of a pig named Count Brina showed up and left.”