The Immortal Had a Guardian Spirit Chapter 23

His curious, casual glance shifted urgently to a frantic search for the source of the commotion.

His wide-open eyes clearly reflected the gate spewing monsters near the city gate. That alone was reason enough to move, but—

“…Damn it!”

Even though it was clearly a distant location, his eyes had briefly met Diddy’s.

If he turned back and went down, it would be too late. Gritting his teeth, Raven immediately leaped off the cliff. It was a dizzying height—one from which a normal person would not even be able to piece together their bones if they fell—but that was no problem for him.

“Brother!”

[Guardian Spirit ??? answers the call.]

A black-haired, green-eyed man appeared at once, caught Raven securely, and vanished. Thanks to that, Raven landed safely on the ground. He spat out the blood that had surged up in his throat, then immediately ran forward, leaping to knee a monster that was about to attack a person, and summoned the guardian spirit again.

“I’ll leave the people to you.”

Swoosh!!

As if to prove his acceptance, the surrounding monsters were all cut down in unison. After confirming that much, Raven moved toward the gate without looking back.

He passed by the panicking people and Eckhart, who was holding Diddy in his arms. Through the pouring blood and flying flesh, his unwavering steps continued straight ahead. His strange green eyes, glowing clearly with a hint of demonic energy, were fixed straight on the gate—so obviously that anyone could see it.

He alone moved against the tide of evacuating people, a truly alien sight. Eckhart’s gaze was drawn to Raven as if spellbound for a moment, but then he came to his senses and urgently called out to the man.

“…Captain! Don’t go in! The people in charge of the gate will be here soon! There’s no need to risk your life on a gamble like this!”

“…”

Does he expect me to know when that “soon” is and just wait around?

Even in this very moment as I hear those words, the gate is diligently spewing out energy, trying to create yet another gate somewhere else in this world.

That was why Raven gave no reply and simply entered the gate.

∞ ∞ ∞

Eckhart was flustered.

The fact that Raven had suddenly summoned a suspicious entity assumed to be a guardian spirit was disconcerting, and the current situation where that suspicious entity was slicing through the monsters that occasionally leaked out as if they were vegetables was also disconcerting, but above all, the fact that Raven had gone into the gate sent him into a panic.

“What on earth are you trying to do!”

Why, and with what confidence, did he go in there alone?! The gate personnel would be here in just a little while anyway!

“And you’re not even in perfect condition!”

On the way here, Eckhart had seen that stalker—that aspiring assassin kid—glancing at Raven’s leg. He had also smelled the blood that reached his nose whenever Raven moved. Even little Diddy seemed to have noticed, so there was no way Eckhart hadn’t.

The captain—Raven—had injured his leg.

“To jump into a gate in that state!”

Is he out of his mind?!

What should I do?! Should I just wait here for the gate personnel to arrive as planned? But what if the captain dies before they get here?

Raven was a suspicious man in many ways. All his stories about the past ended with him killing someone, and he was a stranger of unknown identity whom Eckhart hadn’t even had time to build trust with since they’d only met recently.

But the sight of him rushing over here without hesitation, and the scent of blood that had brushed past him, lingered in Eckhart’s memory. After tearing at his hair with the hand not holding Diddy, he finally clicked his tongue softly and handed the child over to a soldier guarding the gate.

“?”

“I’ll be back in a bit, so please watch the kid for me.”

“Huh? In this situation, what… Wait, by ‘back there,’ you mean… the gate?!”

“Yes, yes. If it looks like I’m dead, just hand him over to his guardian. He’s probably in the capital. The kid came to the capital to meet his guardian too.”

“Wai— Excuse me—!!”

Ignoring the urgent voice calling after him, he advanced toward the gate.

The guardian spirit sensed Eckhart’s approach, but made no move to stop him. After all, very soon—

Thud!

“Ugh?!”

“…What?”

—the kid would come out.

Someone fell from above, right in front of Eckhart as he was about to leap into the gate. Eckhart deftly stepped onto the person’s chest, rode them like a board as he slid a little across the ground, then looked down at the one beneath his feet and made a subtle expression.

“Why are you here?”

“Ca, Captain…?”

Long black hair reaching past his waist, and those unmistakable, strange green eyes.

It was Raven. He looked so pristine that it was impossible to believe he had just gone into the gate alone and come back out. Eckhart’s face was a tangle of relief and confusion.

‘I’m glad he got out safely, but…’

How did he come out so fast?

Did he run away because he couldn’t handle it alone after all? Surely he didn’t get hurt in that short time, did he?

‘…Wait a minute.’

If he ran away, doesn’t that mean the gate is still open?!

Eckhart, who had been scanning Raven for injuries with his eyes, froze. He hastily raised his head to look behind Raven. Seeing the gate still open behind him, he thought again that the man must be out of his mind—but that impression vanished without a trace when he saw that the gate had been neatly closed.

“What? Why is it gone?”

“What is?”

“The gate… Surely you didn’t close it?!”

“So what if I did?”

“What the hell!”

He closed the gate alone? And that quickly?!

Raven’s irritated scolding about the cursing didn’t reach him. Eckhart quickly raised his hand and grasped Raven’s leg—the one still pressing down on his chest. More precisely, he felt around the area that he assumed was injured.

“Your injury—is it alright… No, you don’t have one?!”

“…I don’t, so take your hand off.”

“Don’t have one! Then your skill really is no joke! How has this never been known until now?!”

“I said take your hand off.”

“Whoa, now that I see it up close, your leg muscles are incredible!”

“…”

If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it. He had known that the captain was skilled, but he had no idea it was to this extent.

He could feel the leg muscles beneath his hand anew. Muscles as hard as stone, clearly honed through real combat.

‘Unless it’s a really well-honed blade, it probably wouldn’t even pierce that.’

And even if someone somehow managed to stab him, it would probably be hard to pull out again with ordinary strength.

Outwardly, he just looked a bit agile—rather than a warrior, he seemed like an ordinary build, closer to a scholar. But beneath his clothes, these muscles were hidden.

‘This… I have to secure him!’

He had closed a gate alone, and very quickly at that, right in front of everyone.

With such clear witnesses, there was no denying his ability. If a man of this caliber joined the mercenary band—even if the band only had two members—the Mercenary Guild wouldn’t be able to easily disband them. That meant he could prolong the existence of the mercenary band with just this one person.

Eckhart, his chin trembling as he looked at Raven, spoke again.

“Captain, I really mean this with absolute sincerity, but…”

“No.”

“With complete seriousness, staking everything I have—well, maybe not everything, but almost everything—I want to ask you…”

“I said no.”

“Please join the mercenary band!”

“…”

Does he even listen to what people say?

What happened to the story about me killing good people?

Raven, who had been looking down at him with a pitying gaze while he foolishly held onto his leg, quietly put strength into his foot.

“I refuse.”

“Ugh, cough! Captain, I can’t breathe…! Besides, you have great strength too—you’re perfect for a mercenary… Ugh!”

…It’s probably faster to just ignore him.

Raven pressed down with his foot once more to shut Eckhart up, then stepped back with a disgusted face. As soon as he moved, Eckhart shot up as if to grab him, but the guardian spirit, who had approached unnoticed, stomped on his chest again and pushed him back down.

“Ugh! What is this—!”

“…”

“…I, I’ll stay lying down quietly.”

Judging by those dull gray eyes that seemed to have lost their color, he appeared to be blind—yet his gaze was fixed precisely on this direction, which made it even creepier.

Eckhart was about to protest, but when he spotted the guardian spirit’s lips, hardened and stiff, carrying a killing intent, he obediently folded his hands over his stomach. The guardian spirit stared down at him with a cold face, then slowly removed his foot as a warning. Eckhart, still lying down, rolled his eyes around, then began muttering quietly.

He hadn’t promised to shut his mouth, after all.

There was no way he could easily give up on a matter that concerned the survival of the mercenary band.

“Still, Captain…”

“I’m not your captain.”

“It’s not just anything—it’s the position of captain! Are you really going to refuse? An opportunity like this comes once in a lifetime, if that…”

“If that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity comes around, give it to someone better when you find them later.”

“I don’t want to. If you won’t take it, I will.”

“Then you take it.”

“I don’t want to. I’m giving it to you.”

“…Should I just knock him out?”

Raven, so dumbfounded that he reflexively blurted out his inner thoughts, let out a dry, exasperated laugh.

He should ignore this, but for some reason, it was hard to. The answers just popped out before he could think. Maybe it was because the guy was so cheeky.

…Though why that cheeky look of his carried a hint of desperation, he couldn’t tell. But he had no obligation to care.

‘More than that… knocked out, yeah knocked out…’

Now that he’d said it out loud, actually doing it didn’t seem like a bad idea.

It was a little concerning that the temporary guardian who was supposed to take Diddy to his real guardian would be out of commission, but from the look of things, he seemed to have handed the kid off to the gatekeeper properly.

Just as Raven narrowed his eyes and sized up the other man, Eckhart, sensing the threat, raised both hands and shouted urgently.

“D-don’t keep trying to use force against me! I won’t go down easily! I may not look it, but I’ve been called a prospective warrior!”

It was quite amusing, seeing him lying down with only his hands raised, but Raven focused on something else instead. One eyebrow twitched slightly, as if he’d heard something unexpected.

“…You?”

This guy is already on the verge of becoming a warrior?

Well, his skills did seem decent enough. Judging by his appearance, if he played his cards right, he might even step into the realm of a warrior before turning thirty.

“That’s a bit surprising…”

“What do you mean surprising, that hurts—”

“If you have that kind of skill, why are you so fixated on me?”

Isn’t there no need to cling to me like this?

“You could find someone else. Considering the reputation and history of ‘Lopty,’ and the existence of a capable captain, recruiting members shouldn’t be that difficult.”

If he kept trying to recruit people, someone would eventually join. No matter how faded Lopty’s name might be, the fame of the Mercenary King didn’t just disappear.

…That’s what he had thought.

Eckhart’s eyes widened in surprise, as if he’d heard something astonishing. After a brief silence, a self-deprecating mutter flowed out between them.

“Faded isn’t the whole story…”

“?”

“Well… no matter how urgent it is, I don’t want to just let any riffraff in. Like you said, it’s still called ‘Lopty.'”

“…”

“With that in mind, have you by any chance changed your mind about joining Lopty now…”

It was obvious he was hiding something… but that wasn’t important right now.

‘It seems more people have arrived too.’

Raven had sensed new gazes added to the astonished stares that had been following him since he left the gate. He let out a deep sigh.

“Get up first. How long are you going to stay lying down?”

“I think my ribs are broken… When the guardian spirit stomped on me, it really hurt.”

“…”

“If you became the captain, I think I’d feel better…”

Raven silently approached and raised his foot. Eckhart, horrified, scrambled to his feet in a flash.

“How heartless, Captain!”

“…In the capital.”

If he let this go on, the whining would start all over again.

He’d already wasted enough time, and there was no reason to drag this out any further. After all, adding one meaningless promise to a guy he’d forget anyway wasn’t that hard.

So Raven opened his mouth and said something he rarely said.

“If, after I finish all my business in the capital, your feelings haven’t changed.”

And if you still remember me by then.

“Even if I can’t become a member or a captain, I’ll at least give you support equivalent to that.”

“!”

“Good enough?”

Maybe it was because he was lying to a guy whose words and actions were so transparent, or maybe it was because he’d glimpsed the man’s earnestness, or perhaps because it was the first proper lie he’d told in ten years. Either way, meeting his eyes was hard. Raven turned his head slightly.

Eckhart, who had been staring blankly as if processing what he’d just heard, gradually filled with joy. Overjoyed, he spread both arms wide and lunged at Raven, as if forgetting his pain.

“I love you! Captain!”

“I told you, I’m not your captain. Get off.”

“Captain!”