98 – 98. Relations
If one were to ask what “token of trust” means, it’s something almost everyone would know.
Roxer wondered if he misheard something or if the elder misspoke, as he observed Jane’s slightly blushing and stiff reaction.
‘Did she really mention a token of trust!?’
Roxer glanced subtly towards Jegang with an expression suggesting disbelief.
Jegang, with a seemingly natural expression, showed no reaction at all.
Then, Lica casually nudged Roxer’s back, providing a decisive piece of evidence.
“…The guy who once promised to marry me is now trying to engulf another family entirely.”
Utilizing the shadows, Lica whispered in his ear, a sign that she had already given up on Roxer.
Despite having resolved to leave after settling all words and actions she wanted with Roxer, she openly expressed jealousy.
Erin, too, hesitated with a slightly stiff expression, debating whether to grab onto Roxer’s clothes.
With just a single word, the elders understood the relationship between them and Roxer.
Following the formal procedure of acknowledging the end of their understanding, they proceeded with Jane’s official recognition ceremony for hours.
“Why does everything seem to resolve so smoothly?”
Roxer swallowed his doubts as he observed the proceedings.
Even the former head Jegang had tried to manipulate and control the children, especially Jane, so intricately.
It made him wonder if it was truly right for the elders, who held unquestionable power, to smoothly accept everything so easily.
Only the dazzling sight of Jane during the ceremony kept his curiosity at bay.
Before his curiosity could be satisfied, the succession ceremony of the head of the family was over.
“The former head of the family, Jegang, shall remain.”
Rokseo had no choice but to swallow his uneasiness.
After several hours, the family succession ceremony ended smoothly.
“What in the world are you scheming, elders?”
As the children left, Jegang, feeling something amiss in the overly smooth family inheritance ceremony, questioned them with a bright white flame as if to scrutinize.
Unlike him, who realized through Jain’s growth that he was chasing after something futile, giving up on resurrecting the dead through Jain’s succession.
The elders were so fixated on achieving immortality and escaping death that they were trying to persuade Jegang in any way possible to either use the relic brought by Jain for immortality again or reject Jain’s family succession to fulfill their own prophecies using the worshipers.
However, as things had ended too smoothly, Jegang confronted the elders.
“We have lived enough just by observing your actions.”
“Yes, having even regained the lost relic of our ancestors, what more is there to live for?”
“Enjoy the remaining years of your life to the fullest.”
“Don’t waste time teaching the children too much; go and enjoy, well, that’s right.”
However, the return was truly an unexpected response.
Jegang pondered whether he should simply believe the elders’ words or if the distorted teachings of the worshipers had somehow influenced them.
Finally, as a last resort, he made his move.
“Then I will personally annul the agreement made with the worshipers, along with the children who have taken over the future.”
This meant revealing and eliminating what the worshipers and the higher-ups had entrusted to him.
If that were the case, there might be issues with just pretending to clean up the mess, so he said they would handle it, or he would handle it alone.
However.
“Yes, do so.”
“It would be the right thing to correct our mistakes properly.”
“The young ones have come to know the truth.”
.
.
.
The elders spoke as if truly repenting for their wrongdoings.
At last, along with the sound of rising from their seats.
“We leave our wisdom here, so please take care of the children’s future a little longer.”
White flames bloomed and ascended, burning the space like a holy blaze, transcending into the sky.
Jegang, dumbfounded by the fact that the elders, who had existed since the previous head of the family, or perhaps even from a more distant era, had voluntarily stepped down.
Although the head of the family had changed, the position of the elders had never shifted, so in confusion, Jegang went to confirm what they had left behind.
“Did you really… really leave behind only the knowledge and power to prove the lineage and headship…?”
At the top of the Elder Council, they were entirely transformed into flames, burning brightly, leaving only white flames floating.
Just when Jegang wondered if things had truly ended like this.
[“Kahahahaha!!!! The deal is already done, Jegang!! Then we shall meet again someday, Kuna!!!!”]
The voice of the worshiper’s distorted scriptures echoed in the space, as if it would tear through the world.
Jegang was certain that there was a trade deal he didn’t know about, and he cursed.
“What in the world did you do to the elders?!”
But all that came back was a sinister laughter.
Although he didn’t sense anything peculiar at the sacred place of the elders, Jegang couldn’t shake off the unease.
“What on earth is happening…!”
Meanwhile, Roxer was provided lodging by the Changgeum Guild.
Choosing the top floor, Roxer absentmindedly gazed down at the vast grounds of the Changgeum Guild from the rooftop.
There was something alien yet familiar in the air that made him uncomfortable.
It felt like watching a former military unit being discharged as someone ran up behind Roxer.
“Roxer!”
“Jane?”
It was none other than Jane.
Since accepting Camilla as an artifact, her hair had grown longer unnoticed, accentuating her feminine beauty.
“So much has happened, hasn’t it?”
“Yeah. It has. By the way, do we need to inform the people from Camilla’s side?”
“Oh, that? They were actually asking for our child’s well-being.”
“…It all ended well.”
“Indeed.”
The two of them silently gazed at the city at night and the illuminated buildings of the Changgeum Guild.
“Roxer.”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
As Jane expressed her gratitude, Roxer waved it off nonchalantly.
“Really. Thank you, Roxer, so much that I can’t find the words to express it.”
Leaning against Roxer’s iron armrest, Jane beamed with a smile.
Seeing the beautiful woman like that, Roxer thought of making an oddly specific request and nodded.
“It was the right thing to do.”
“The right thing?”
At Roxer’s matter-of-fact response, Jane’s face lit up slightly.
It was surprising to hear him consider it a matter of course, knowing he must have gone through all kinds of struggles to help her break free from her family’s pressure.
‘Did Roxer…?’
Jane quickly turned her head to hide her blush.
“Isn’t it the duty of a party leader to retrieve a missing dealer?”
“…”
With a defeated expression, Jane turned her head back to look at Roxer.
Then, she handed him something.
“What’s this?”
“While you were unconscious from fighting with some Misteltainian or something, the head of the Hyeongcheon’s Fall Guild asked you to deliver this.”
A few days ago, Jane received five seals used in the afterworld, which the leader of the rebels had handed over.
Jane, who had been so busy that she had forgotten about it, was given what she had always kept close to her heart.
“I must be such a fool. I always carried this around, thinking I wanted to meet this person so badly, even though I had given up on the idea of meeting.”
Jane smiled broadly as she handed the seals over to Roxer.
As things were resolved at lightning speed, Roxer couldn’t help but wonder if things were going too smoothly.
“You know, Jane, I’ve been thinking about that.”
“About what?”
Roxer looked somewhat uneasy, as if something was bothering her, and gazed at Jane.
“The fact that things are going so well makes me anxious.”
Roxer recalled the terrifying monster she had seen when the mask of the hero had fallen during the test.
Although there was no reason for such thoughts to come to mind, Roxer, feeling that something was amiss, was slightly tense.
Normally, she would have welcomed a fight.
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However, strangely, she was reluctant to confront those monster-like beings.
Even though she had rushed in with all her might and defeated them.
“Right? But when I see you, those worries disappear.”
“Really?”
Jane chuckled slightly and her hair fluttered in the night breeze as she nodded at Roxer, who seemed a bit dejected.
“When I’m with you, strangely, those concerns vanish.”
In the twinkling light of the night sky, Jane seemed to sparkle somehow.
“So, I’ll make sure you don’t have such thoughts.”
“…”
The two looked at each other in silence.
“So, should we kiss, bite, and suck each other dry? Have twins, too.”
Just then, with a disappointed tone, Lika popped up from behind Jane.
With a dazed expression, Lika leaned against Jane’s back and gazed blankly up at the sky.
“Well, even so, Jane, when I look at that idiot, those worries disappear.”
At the end of her sentence, Lika swallowed back the urge to mention another worry.
Roxer silently watched her.
The woman who used to dress coolly like a man, smiling and acting confidently, now seemed to seduce him like a lady, with her beauty subtly shining.
The woman who used to obsessively cling and be jealous as if she would kill him every time, now seemed oddly reserved, dressed like a male bodyguard, leaning on another woman’s back.
The two of them, strangely fitting together.
Beneath the crescent moon, he smirked softly and then burst into laughter.
“hahahahaha!”
Taken aback by his sudden burst of laughter, Jane looked startled, and Lika stared at him as if he were crazy.
After laughing happily for a while, Roxer opened his mouth as if to explain.
“hahahaha… So, this was the reason I was anxious.”
As Roxer muttered to himself, the women looked at each other as if they couldn’t understand his meaning.
‘How did I end up feeling this way here.’
Rockser realized with a wry smile why he was afraid of fighting against the monstrous grip of the demon-like drink he had consumed.
“Well, we still have some time before bedtime.”
Rockser loosened up, flashing a meaningful smile.
“Just because we have time doesn’t mean you should be annoying. Stop before you get on my nerves.”
“Huh? What should we do now?”
Rockser, with a different attitude, simultaneously tousled the hair of the girls who followed him.
“Both seem to have gotten stronger, but we still need to train, right?”
“Man, you’re really crazy about this battle!!”
“Alright! I wanted to stretch properly for once too!”