The Immortal Had a Guardian Spirit Chapter 22

Death, displeased that Raven was finding a sanctuary, had designated him as the next soul to reap. In the end, it had been his own fault for letting himself grow attached to someone.

“What?! Was that a murder threat?!”

“No, I mean… thank you.”

“How on earth do you interpret that as an expression of gratitude?”

“I don’t know.”

So he’d have to part ways with them the moment they arrived at the capital.

If this guy also vanished from his sight, he’d forget about me before long. As it had always been, he could simply return to being a connection that had never existed from the start.

Raven had no intention of repeating the same mistake.

“…I’m still curious about your story, Captain… but do you have any intention of telling me more about what happened with that person…?”

“Of course not.”

…He was the first person who had made him beg Death. The first fool who had made him kneel before Death, the first madman who had made him cling to Death’s pant leg.

Please don’t do this. Can’t you reap his soul yourself? Why must it be my hand, and why, of all people, must it be him?

He remembered begging in tears.

“It’s not exactly a good memory.”

Raven even vividly remembered what Death had said back then.

Pretending to be affectionate, Death had cupped his cheeks with both hands, lifted his head, and said with a smile.

[This is the price of your immortality.]

[…!]

[Fulfill the contract, ■■.]

It was a fleeting connection.

The fool who, every day upon waking, would smile and invite the stranger beside him to share a meal.

The madman who cut down some loudmouthed human who had pointed a sword at him, claiming he was an ominous wretch who needed to be killed.

The idiot who said he’d earn trust and created a weakness for himself to hand over, and who had never once abandoned or betrayed him.

…Into the heart of the one who had done so much for him, Raven had been forced to drive his sword.

“…More importantly, aren’t you going to sleep? It’s night.”

“Ah, was I allowed to sleep? I feel like you’d ditch me the moment I fell asleep.”

“I hadn’t thought of that. That’s not a bad idea.”

Changing the subject, Raven smirked and retorted.

It was a joke, but as it happened, his most persistent stalker, Dan, was dozing off, and the mercenary in front of him didn’t seem heartless enough to abandon a kid, so maybe he really could just leave the two of them behind.

…Honestly, it might actually be okay to try it. Just as he was debating whether to knock the man in front of him out cold, Eckhart put on a wronged expression.

“I built the fire and grilled the meat for you. Aren’t you being a bit too harsh?”

“Well…”

“Or is it because of your guest?”

“…!”

In that instant, the line of Raven’s mouth stiffened rigidly.

It was only a moment, but Eckhart, who had clearly caught the sight, murmured calmly as if he’d expected it.

“As I thought, it seems the guest wasn’t one you invited, Captain.”

“…Right. And I suppose he’s not a guest you invited either, is he?”

He’d planned to sort this out quietly by himself.

But as expected, this guy is subtly sharp. Would this count as asking for trouble, or what?

Raven quietly turned his head to look at a certain spot. Eckhart’s gaze also shifted to the same place.

“So, who the hell are you?”

“…I apologize for the intrusion.”

Confirming he’d been discovered, the figure cautiously emerged from behind the tree.

“We are slave liberation activists. I knew I was being rude, but I had no other means of making contact with you, Mr. Raven, so I had no choice but to commit this discourtesy.”

“It was about me… why me?”

“We wish to recruit you.”

“What…? You too? No, why?”

A look of bewildered curiosity rose on Raven’s face.

Eckhart, he could understand, since he’d seen things firsthand. But what does that group know about me? In the first place, I shouldn’t have done anything to cross paths with them…

Ah, no way.

“…Did you see me while you were tracking Dan?”

The only recent event that could have created a point of contact with slave liberation activists was the incident involving Dan.

An escaped slave. If the activists had moved to raid the slave trader and ensure the safety of those who fled immediately afterward, it was entirely possible they had followed Dan’s trail and spotted him.

Come to think of it, he had felt eyes on him back then. Considering they had disappeared when he’d helped Dan and met his sister, they must have left reassured at that time.

He didn’t know whether to call it fortunate or unfortunate that they hadn’t seen him kill her.

“Yes, that’s correct. Our leader strongly desires to bring you in as a comrade after seeing you then, Mr. Raven.”

“I appreciate the favorable assessment, but—”

“For your reference, in case you aren’t aware, the Guild Masters are looking for you. If you agree to join our ranks, we promise not only silence on that matter, but support beyond that.”

…It seemed it was unfortunate.

He would have preferred it if they had witnessed him killing Dan’s sister and rushed at him, calling him trash.

Did they think being polite in speech was all it took? At the veiled threat, Raven’s brow twitched.

“‘Guild Masters’?”

“Yes. The Awakener Guild Master, the Combatant Guild Master, the Fragment Soul Master Guild Master, the Sorcerer Guild Master. Nearly all of the most prominent figures are searching for you.”

…He felt like he’d just heard the names of guilds that shouldn’t exist anymore.

Why was the name of a group he’d annihilated, killing every last one, being mentioned here? The sensation of personally twisting the neck of that guild master was still vivid in his hands.

His lips twisted involuntarily.

“…The Fragment Soul Master Guild Master, huh. Now that’s a bit interesting.”

“Then—”

“But I refuse.”

He’d already seen the wanted poster.

The big shots are looking for me? So what?

He’d been curious who was searching for him so desperately, and thanks to this, his curiosity was satisfied, so he’d let the earlier veiled threat slide. Considering how deeply unpleasant he’d found it, from their perspective, they should be grateful for just that much.

“I’ve clearly refused, so you’ll leave quietly, right? Making an enemy of me can’t be your goal.”

“…I apologize for the disturbance late at night.”

Seeming not entirely clueless, the figure backed down without protest despite his dissatisfied expression, and silence settled once more.

In the quiet, Eckhart awkwardly shifted his eyes and scratched his head.

“Guild Masters… so you were an even bigger shot than I thought.”

“So, you’re not going to sleep?”

“Captain, what about you? Aren’t you going to sleep?”

You must be tired.

Just as every time before, he smoothly followed the abruptly shifted topic and studied Raven.

“From what I’ve seen, you haven’t rested at all either…”

“I don’t have to sleep.”

“There’s no one like that.”

“I’m right here.”

For Raven, sleep wasn’t a necessity but a choice.

It was simply something he did or didn’t do according to preference. Meaning, he didn’t particularly need to sleep.

“So leave the night watch to me and go get some sleep. That way I can ditch you.”

“Your jokes really do sound like serious statements.”

“…”

“…Captain?”

That was a joke, right? You’re not serious, are you?

Afraid of waking the child, Eckhart, unable to raise his voice and grumbling quietly, suddenly let out a deep sigh and sat down across from Raven.

“From the looks of it, Captain, you don’t seem like you’ll be able to sleep tonight…”

“…”

“How about telling me an old story?”

“…In situations like this, isn’t it usually the other person who offers to tell one?”

He almost glossed over it, it was said so shamelessly.

“As I told you last time, I’m curious about your stories, Captain.”

“…You’re annoyingly persistent, aren’t you?”

“I am quite persistent, yes.”

“I don’t get it.”

What could you possibly want to know my stories for?

Ah, maybe. Raven, who had been looking at Eckhart crookedly, suddenly pulled his lips up into a smirk.

“What, are you curious about my relationship with the Guild Masters? Planning to report me after all?”

“I told you I wouldn’t. I’ve already handed you a weakness of mine. Why would you say something so scary?”

“…Right, you did.”

Distracted by the appearance of guilds he’d thought were gone, he’d briefly forgotten.

Expression vanished from Raven’s face for a moment. Silently tilting his head up to look at the sky, he soon smiled faintly, like a sigh.

“Nice weather.”

He’s a guy I’ll part with anyway, someone who’ll forget cleanly. It probably wouldn’t matter what I tell him.

So this was just a whim.

“Where should I start?”

“…!”

Because he’d unexpectedly heard the name of a guild again, because it was a tie that would be severed anyway, because the star-filled sky was so beautiful.

And so, Raven, having let his guard down, began to speak towards the fool who said anything would be fine.

∞ ∞ ∞

The moon that had lit the night hid away, and the sun revealed itself.

Following that, Eckhart, who had packed up and resumed their journey, chased after Raven with haggard eyes. It wasn’t simply because he’d stayed up all night.

“What kind of stories…”

“As I recall, I only told heartwarming stories.”

“Heartwarming they certainly were. The problem is they all ended with ‘but I killed them’!”

Stories about receiving help, stories about giving help, stories about altruistic people. Raven had certainly only told heartwarming stories.

But then why did every story end with him killing those very people?

“Are you some kind of legendary mass murderer? You really don’t look like one.”

“Think whatever you like.”

Leaving Eckhart, who was agonizing over whether he should be wary or not, Raven walked on with an indifferent face. He could feel Dan’s gaze watching him from afar.

That guy probably heard everything too. At some point during the storytelling through the night, that intense stare had started again. It wasn’t hard to figure out that its owner was a Fragment Soul.

“Isn’t there a story where you didn’t kill them?”

“Hmm…”

“…Was that question really something you had to think about?”

“…Fifteen years? No, maybe about twenty years ago. I once saved some children. I taught them the sword.”

It must have been an illegal fighting arena that forced children barely ten years old into life-or-death matches.

They weren’t victims of a Gate, but he’d saved them because they were ‘children.’ Even if they hadn’t been ‘children,’ he probably wouldn’t have been able to pass it by out of disgust, but anyway.

‘By now, they’d have had more than enough time to grow into creepy adults.’

They were children with nowhere to go, rescued from a harsh environment, so he didn’t know how they’d grown up. Unable to take them all with him, he’d left them at a place that claimed it would do anything for money, along with a huge pile of mana stones.

‘It was an option I chose because they didn’t seem to be rotten to the core.’

In the first place, there were few places willing to take in children brimming with killing intent, and the arena was located in such a shady area that, under the circumstances, there hadn’t been anything resembling a good option.

Still, he’d revealed he was a sorcerer and secured a promise to take full responsibility for raising the kids well until adulthood, so they probably wouldn’t have directly harmed the children.

‘It’s widely known that making promises with a sorcerer isn’t something you do lightly, and if you do, you absolutely have to keep them…’

On top of that, he’d personally taught them swordsmanship, telling them to just kill anyone who mistreated them.

He’d prepared every defense he could within his means, so for the most part, they should be alright.

‘Of course, that’s only “for the most part.”‘

What he could prevent as a sorcerer was limited to direct harm, the swordsmanship lessons had been brief, and in the end, they were physically immature minors, so he didn’t know what had become of them. Perhaps they’d died before reaching adulthood.

Even as he thought of this dryly, it was obvious that saying it out loud would cause another ruckus, so Raven swallowed the rest of his words and continued.

“If they’d honed it well, they might have become quite useful by now.”

“The list of candidates for the mercenary corps just grew. …No, wait, twenty years ago, did you say? Just how old are you, Captain?!”

“Older than you’d think.”

He chuckled and looked down at Didi, who was sitting quietly in his arms.

…The issue that had been postponed because the child had fallen asleep during the small commotion now surfaced.

“But the problem is it’s difficult to get past the city gates because of the wanted poster.”

“Ah…! How could I ask my benefactor to take such a risk! If you’ll just escort me to the vicinity of the gates, I’ll manage the rest myself.”

“Leave getting her inside to me, Captain.”

“Alright, then.”

After parting with these two, he’d have to sneak over the walls to get in. As for Dan… he could figure it out himself.

Having gotten his answer, Raven diligently quickened his pace towards the city gates that had begun to appear in the distance.

.

.

.

“Thank you for everything, Mr. Raven. I will never forget this kindness!”

“Sure.”

“It was a short journey, but I enjoyed it, Captain. Don’t worry, I’ll take full responsibility for delivering this child safely to her guardian.”

“…”

“Why won’t you respond to my words?!”

“I’ve gotten sick of hearing your voice the entire journey here… Anyway, I got it, so hurry up and get lost.”

When they had nearly arrived, on a cliff with a clear view of the city gates, Raven handed Didi over to Eckhart and waved his hand dismissively with somewhat cold eyes. Eckhart, who held Didi with a surprisingly secure grip, seemed about to whine for a moment, but the moment Raven clenched his fist, he tactfully scurried away in an instant.

“W-well then, I’ll really be going now.”

“…”

“Ah, but Captain.”

“What now.”

“When will you be joining our mercenary corps—”

“I said I’m not.”

“Yessir.”

Did this guy really just kick him to the curb?

No, that’s not right. This might be the last time they see each other, so there’s no need to be harsh. If he were alone, maybe, but he’s also carrying a child.

Forcing his clenched fist to relax, Raven nodded his head to signal him to get going.

Eckhart, who had bowed in farewell, glanced sideways at Dan, who looked like he was going to follow Raven, then wordlessly turned his back and descended. Raven watched the two of them approach the city gates from the edge of the cliff.

‘…Alright then, shall I get going too?’

He could kill time somewhere decent and climb over the walls at night.

Raven turned cleanly around.

However, before he could even fully leave the cliff—

“KYAAAHH!!”

A sharp scream piercing the eardrums seized his ankle.

“I-it’s a Gate!”

“…!”

At the following shout, Raven’s head whipped around.