After leaving the Black Fire Inn, Geloman pulled out the liquor he had tucked inside his coat.

“Ugh, you’re drinking that nasty stuff again?”

Charles made a disgusted face.

“Want some?”

“No! Can’t you see my face? Ugh, I tried it once before and thought my insides were going to burn up. How do Heroes even drink something like that?”

“You’re saying that now?”

Geloman took a swig, then tucked the bottle away again. He looked at Charles.

“I’m going to make contact. Help out if anything’s needed.”

“Ahem. Ren... you mean?”

Charles’s expression turned awkward. It was less because he held anything against Ren and more because of how he himself had acted at the inn earlier. Charles still wasn’t ready to face Ren properly. To settle his agitated heart, he decided he needed a drink first.

“He said he has no intention of going to the festival.”

“Understood, Captain!”

Charles answered on purpose with extra vigor.

“Don’t forget what Giselle said.”

“Yes, sir!”

Charles snapped a salute, and Geloman left.

Charles grumbled to himself.

What Giselle had said was, “Kids are impossible to predict, so protect Ren well and keep watch on him.”

Protect him, watch him, what was the difference? The wording was a little different, sure, but he had no idea why those two words had to be said together.

Still, when something that dull was delivered as an order, it was hard not to feel the tension slip a little. More than anything, Charles was the kind of person who was optimistic and bright enough not to carry even a grain of worry that a mission might go wrong. He made a lot of noise and acted skittish as though he were timid, but deep down, by nature, he was a carefree man.

Maybe that was why he had managed to follow Heroes from battlefield to battlefield without losing his mind.

“He said he wasn’t going to the festival, so... today should be fine. Kids sleep a lot, anyway.”

Muttering to himself, Charles suddenly started running while yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Aaaaargh!”

To cut off the budding feelings of love, Charles decided he first needed a drink.

Without forgetting the mission, he also told the knights who had come with them to make patrol rounds. What he meant was that they should stand guard around the inn where Ren was staying, too, and keep a close eye on it, but there was no way the knights, who didn’t know the exact details of the mission, would catch the hidden meaning.

And so the people guarding the Black Fire Inn scattered.

After the festival wound down without much disturbance, and even the long-awaited fireworks dissolved into smoke in the night, a single traveler with their hood pulled low over their face left Tempesto Village from the Black Fire Inn.

Charles, who had been drinking between the knights and the lodging where Ren was staying, enjoyed himself, then came back to the Black Fire Inn late at night and slept on the first floor.

By the time Geloman returned from making contact, it was early morning.

And for some reason, Temar, who had left the evening before, was with him.

***

After parting ways with Charles outside the inn, Geloman headed for the outskirts of Tempesto Village.

While waiting to make contact, he surveyed the village here and there as part of the mission.

The royal castle had been highly sensitive to the contents of the prophecy that had been spreading little by little. Other kingdoms were lurking around too because of that somewhat childish but powerful prophecy that said whoever claimed the treasure would rule the world. The assumption was that, with a high degree of probability, the treasure was located inside the Kingdom of Setoran, where the prophecy had descended. They still had not interpreted it precisely, but in [N O V E L I G H T] context, the meaning probably did not differ much from “find the treasure and you can rule the world.”

The reason Geloman had come all the way down to Tempesto Village was partly to hurry Temar along, but also to search for that treasure. He had not been able to tell Temar that because of the attack on Giselle.

Giselle. Though his physical constitution and abilities far surpassed those of an ordinary person, among the Seven Stars he was the weakest. Rather than go out onto battlefields, he stayed by the king’s side guarding him and serving fully in the role of strategist. Quick to assess situations and sharp of mind, Giselle had a complete grasp of the Heroes’ personalities and habits, which often made him invaluable when drawing up missions or issuing orders.

The one who devised the commands given to the Seven Stars, and who in practice served as the king’s strategist, Giselle was stronger than the kingdom’s finest knights. But because his place was that of the mind, he always moved with an escort. Cautious by nature, Giselle never let down his guard, and even while trusting in his own considerable abilities, he still demanded layers upon layers of security and protection.

Because of that, there should have been no way for him to be attacked inside the royal castle.

And yet Giselle had been attacked.

Geloman drove his sword deep into the ground at the edge of the village and spread out his energy. A dense brown aura surged over the earth and scattered.

Geloman recalled the day Giselle had been attacked.

It had happened just after Geloman returned from the borderlands.

The main palace at the heart of the royal castle shone as bright as midday even late at night. Before he even stepped inside, Geloman sensed the disordered atmosphere.

A servant who recognized the giant Geloman at once bowed deeply and abruptly spoke.

“Lord Giselle has been attacked.”

“Where is he?”

“He’s in the innermost room.”

“The innermost room” referred to the inner chamber connected to the king’s room.

“The culprit?”

“We still haven’t identified them. Lord Giselle’s treatment was only just completed.”

Geloman gave a nod and moved at once. He headed straight for the king’s inner chamber. Knights and attendants hurrying through the royal castle quickly stepped aside for him.

Without so much as a footstep, only the clatter of his armor rang out.

The attendants carrying away bloodstained cloths lowered their heads at the sight of Geloman. The guards standing before the king’s chamber door with spears in hand moved aside. Outside the royal castle, torches were rising and beginning to move quietly. Sensing every trace around him, Geloman finally entered the king’s chamber.

“Geloman!”

“Your Majesty.”

Geloman removed his helmet and bent one knee. His enormous body paid the king the utmost respect.

His blue eyes landed on the carpet, where bloodstains still not yet cleaned away remained.

“Get up, quickly.”

The king raised Geloman with a thin hand.

A frail king. The one served by the seven Heroes.

“Giselle was attacked.”

The king spoke with a deathly pale face.

“The ministers are waiting outside... his life isn’t in danger, is it?”

“It shouldn’t be.”

Geloman answered without even looking at Giselle.

Heroes did not die easily from just anything. If it was a simple attack, then yes.

Relieved by Geloman’s heavy answer, the king let out a breath.

“I shouldn’t have left Giselle behind alone.”

“...”

Geloman did not bother replying.

“But because of the prophecy, there was no choice. Ordinary people could never find a treasure like that.”

As if making excuses to himself, the king muttered and gestured for Geloman to come closer.

Giselle was lying on the bed, his face pale.

“They say there’s no real problem, but he still won’t wake up.”

The king bit his nail.

“With security that tight, how could anyone attack a Hero like Giselle? At this rate, the kingdom will...”

“...”

Geloman passed by the king and approached Giselle.

He took Giselle’s hand and let his energy flow into him. A muted brown light ran from Geloman’s hand into Giselle.

Not long after, Giselle’s eyelids fluttered.

His exposed eyes fixed on Geloman. There was not the slightest trace of panic in them. They looked as though he had expected something like this.

“Giselle!”

The king hurriedly called his name and grabbed the bed.

“Your Majesty.”

Giselle’s calm gaze turned toward the king. His eyes seemed to convey unspoken words. The king, who had been so flustered he was nearly gasping, seemed to steady himself a little under that look.

Giselle opened his mouth in a detached voice.

“There is... a spy.”

“Anyone come to mind?”

Giselle did not answer Geloman’s question. Geloman nodded as if he understood.

“Could it be the Kingdom of Niato?”

the king asked in an uneasy voice.

“We’ll have to watch and see.”

Speaking carefully, Giselle added,

“It may even be one of us.”

“What do you mean, Giselle?”

The Seven Stars had always been together. They had no reason, nothing at all, to betray one another. They served only the king, and without hesitation they drenched themselves in blood for the peace of the Kingdom of Setoran. No treatment they received could rust away their honor or convictions. So Giselle’s words could not stand.

Meeting that gaze, solid as stone, Giselle went on.

“There are many prophecies that remain unresolved. Prophecies that can be interpreted in more than one way.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“One of us betrayed us.”

“Giselle, what are you saying? One of you betrayed us...”

The king looked back and forth between Geloman and Giselle, his face full of confusion.

“The weakest poison.”

“...”

“‘The weakest poison’? That’s nothing to ordinary people, but it’s deadly to you, isn’t it...” 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

It referred to a nameless weed. The weakest poison was nothing more than an ordinary plant, but when eaten together with an herb called jenas, for some reason it was fatal to Heroes. Vomiting blood was only the beginning; they would be bedridden for days and even suffer difficulty breathing. To the seven Heroes, it was poison in every sense.

“Only we know that.”

“Betrayal is impossible.”

“And yet I was attacked. By means of something only we know.”

“Someone could have overheard a careless word.”

At Geloman’s reply, Giselle nodded.

Then he pushed himself upright.

For someone who had just been attacked, his movements were unnervingly clean.