Episode 195. The Helpers (5)
Decades ago, Benik Benar was on the verge of becoming a Six-Star. It was before the future visions had manifested, and for the first time in his life, he had set his sights on the Dark Shadow.
“There was a time when my face wasn’t this miserable.”
It was a hellish time for the Roinen family. The Roinen family’s children were dying one after another. Everyone knew that the reason for their deaths was the will of the Lilic Empire.
The only one who survived out of four children.
“That is the mother of the master right now. She is like a grandmother to the master.”
Leah Roinen. She was the weakest head of a family in history.
A dummy kept alive by the Lilic Empire to continue the lineage of the Assassin Sword Family. They deliberately made her succeed to the family.
“Then, the then Emperor Hamlet wanted to make her his empress.”
“Benik, have you ever seen the Emperor in person?”
“Is it only the former emperor?”
“yes?”
“I have seen the current emperor, Telmah, who was a child at the time. At that time, I personally escorted him to the palace for the wedding. I was the one who volunteered to be his escort.”
He volunteered to be an escort… It must have been possible because Benik wasn’t a black shadow at the time. However, it was surprising that Benik was so loyal to the head of the Roinen family.
“Could it be that you had a ‘secret oath’ with the previous head of the family?”
Then Benic smiled bitterly.
“You don’t have to make a pact to give your life.”
“…but.”
“I hope that one day, your ‘absolute object’ will appear for you as well.”
It is an absolute object.
Rubin nodded. It seemed like he knew what Lea Roinen meant to Benik. It was a relationship that he could understand without having to hear the details.
A feeling or affection that is not expressed through loyalty or respect.
In fact, it wasn’t uncommon. In the vastly spread family line of the Assassin’s Sword, marriages between collateral branches were permitted and quite common, as long as they weren’t close blood relatives.
“What happened at the palace?”
“First of all, the wedding was held with great splendid ceremony.”
The emperor’s wedding was unprecedentedly grand, but it was also shrouded in secrecy.
Even the kings of the seven kingdoms that were subject to Lilic could not figure out which family the second empress came from.
Until now, many of the empire’s history books have not properly revealed this part.
It was a natural thing. The revelation of the existence of the Assassin Swordsman was like the reveal of the dark shadow of the Lilic Empire.
“However, something happened while I was on my way to the palace for the wedding. There was an incident where I had to demonstrate my incompetence, and in the process, I was promoted to the 6th star.”
“So you’ve gained the ability to see the future.”
“But I didn’t know then what my special traits were… I found out after the wedding, while I was staying at the palace.”
Benik stayed in the palace for three years. During those three years, Leah Roinen became pregnant with Siren, her only connection to the Emperor.
“… … !”
It was the first time Rubin had learned that his mother’s birthplace was not the Roinen Manor, but the Imperial Palace.
‘I would like to ask more about my mother’s life in the palace, but I will have to put that off until later.’
The heart of this story is Benik’s ability to see the future, and that future itself.
“You said that the manifestation of the future is when you exchange weapons with your opponent. Did something like that happen in the palace?”
“There was someone who rushed at me with the intention of killing me.”
Benick added:
“Of course, it wasn’t a dangerous situation for me.”
Well, it was worth it. Even before ascending to the Black Shadow, it was at the point where he had reached 6 stars.
Anyone could have a life-or-death desire for him, but it was not easy to put him in danger.
Who would have pointed a weapon at Benik? The captain of the royal guard? The heads of the famous swordsmen? The great wizard?
“… I would have been in danger if I had faced opponents of that caliber. I was much weaker then than I am now.”
“I guess so. They must all be close to 7 stars.”
“… The one who rushed at me was the current emperor. Telmach Lilyk.”
Rubin’s eyes trembled involuntarily at the unexpected name.
One day, while staying at the palace as the empress’s escort, young Telmah pushed away his servants and secretly came to see Benik.
It was when Siren was just born. There was a seven year age difference, so Telmah was eight at the time.
“Funny enough, it was because of the sparring.”
Young Telmah, who was learning swordsmanship from the commander of the imperial knights, wanted to test his own skills.
However, he could not find a suitable opponent. The prince insisted on fighting with a real sword, and no one in the palace was willing to point a sword at him.
Then, in the end, the person he found was the empress’s bodyguard.
“At least until then… I wasn’t a monster. I didn’t have that much power.”
Benic laughed vainly.
In his memory, Telmah was just a prince who had just started learning swordsmanship. He was an arrogant and young prince who was obsessed with his sword.
He didn’t seem like someone who could become the most powerful person on earth, surpassing the previous emperors.
“But one thing was worth noting. The murderous intent to kill the other person. That was clear.”
The swordsmanship duel that day gave Benik a glimpse into the future.
A weapon filled with life. That night, when he stopped the young Telmah who suddenly rushed at him, he had a dream in which he saw a future related to Telmah.
At first, I didn’t know it was a future time. But I was sure that it was a very strange dream. As the dream continued, I felt a pain that felt like my heart was being grabbed.
Even though it was a dream about the prince, he thought it was not something to be simply ignored. So Benik left behind a drawing of the future poem that first appeared.
“Later, I realized exactly what the scene in my dream meant.”
Of course, it took countless fights to get there.
Leah took the young Siren back to the Roinen mansion.
Benik Benar, who escorted her to her family’s mansion, focused solely on the mission for a while, and in the process, he came to realize with certainty that he possessed the characteristics of a future city.
On days when I have a fight with an opponent I have a grudge against, the future always unfolds in my dreams.
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“However, I never dreamed of the person I killed.”
“…there is no future for the dead.”
After a while, Benik rummaged through his inner pocket. He was holding a piece of parchment in his hand, and handed it to Rubin.
“Is this the future you saw from Telmah?”
For a moment, Rubin realized that he had rudely mentioned the Emperor’s name, but Benik didn’t seem to care.
Rather, he seemed to be well aware that he had no reverence for the emperor.
“I drew it on paper and transferred it later.”
“… … !”
Rubin inhaled as soon as he unfolded the parchment.
“You’re surprised. Yes, that’s a scene from the war.”
A moment of war. That was the future of Telmah that Benik saw.
There were two armies engaged in a fierce battle. These were forces that Benik could not have been unaware of.
One is the imperial army led by the emperor.
The other one is none other than the Assassin Swordsman.
‘If things really are like this… does that mean war is inevitable in this life too?’
Unfortunately, Benik’s painting fails to capture the full picture of the battle: which army was victorious, who was killed.
In addition, there were subtle differences from the wars Rubin had experienced in the past. From the picture alone, it seemed that some of the Giants were fighting the Imperial Army for the Assassination Sword.
‘Just because you’re Benik doesn’t mean you know the specifics of the future.’
So I brought up another question.
“Benick. Why didn’t you let me look into your future?”
“… … .”
Instead of answering, Benik held out another piece of parchment. This one was rolled up. Rubin had a gut feeling that this was another future he needed to know.
“It has been 12 years since I saw the future from the Emperor.”
“Who were you dealing with back then?”
“Sonya Dorres.”
“Sonya Dorres?”
It was a name I had never heard before. It was a name I had never heard before from the assassination family, the swordsmanship family, or even the magician family.
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“I guess so.”
Benic laughed. His grotesque face became even more grotesque, but Rubin no longer feared him.
If you know the future, and if you witness the war with the Emperor.
Anyone who loved my grandmother, and anyone who protected my mother’s birth.
Then, Benic continued speaking.
“Sonya Dorres… . This is the alias that the Siren family used when they were living undercover with Killian.”
“… … !”
At that time, Benik had recaptured the Black Shadow for the third time. By then, his obsession with the Black Shadow had already become widely known.
“… A head of a household obsessed with black shadows. But he wasn’t an ‘old man’ until then.”
Rubin had not yet unrolled the parchment. Mother’s future, what did Benik see here?
Perhaps my regression had twisted my mother’s fate. That thought crossed my mind.
It was a good thing that I reached level 8 sooner than in my previous life, but there was no guarantee that it would continue like that until the end.
To Rubin, who hesitated to unfold his story, Benik continued his story.
“Actually, I have been sticking to the lower end of the dark shadow.”
“… So you did that on purpose. To cross swords with as many heads of households as possible.”
It was for the future of the Assassin’s Sword. To find out how the fate of the Assassin’s Sword will unfold.
Benic had to admit defeat and turn his reputation around. As a result, the Benar family, despite being a dark family, became an object of ridicule rather than respect.
And above all-
For a moment, Benik forgot that he had recently lost his nose and gestured in the air again.
“As far as I know, if you get kicked out of the Black Shadow, the Imperial Command will give you a difficult mission as if it was waiting for you.”
“That’s right. But there was nothing that threatened my life.”
“Then, all those scars on your body… were all done on purpose.”
Benic nodded. It was the first time he had revealed this to anyone. People thought his grotesque face was the result of his obsession with the Dark Shadow, but that wasn’t true.
As Rubin said, every time he was pushed out of the Dark Shadow, the Imperial Order gave him a difficult mission. It wasn’t difficult for Benik, but he needed to hide his realm.
Benic deliberately inflicted wounds on his body.
With only one eye and ear, he gave himself half the darkness and buried the hearing in one ear.
“Please tell me. How did you find out about my mother’s future?”
“At that time, I went to his city on purpose. It was my third time visiting Heukyeong, so my face was relatively clean.”
However, Siren did not see that clean face.
Benik, who had drawn his sword against the young Siren, was wearing a mask. This was because he needed to extract the killing power from the Siren in order to find out the future.
The raid was disguised.
“But I couldn’t help but be amazed by his level of skill. I was so amazed that I almost gave up one of my arms.”
“Anyway, I guess you got what you wanted.”
“Yes, even now, the Siren family probably doesn’t know that I was the one who attacked them that day. I came back right after we exchanged swords.”
If so, does Siren still not know about Benik’s characteristics? Has she not heard anything about the future that Benik saw, or the war with Telmah?
To that question, Benik’s answer followed.
“Yes, I don’t know, Siren.”
It was then. Since it was the answer he had been waiting for, Rubin immediately untied the part bound in the parchment.
With a clanging sound, my mother’s future unfolded in her hands.
“Then, keep silent forever, Benic. Whatever future I may come to know from now on.”
The future of the siren that appeared in my dream that day.
It was a battlefield. Siren was lying down, but thankfully she didn’t die.
The sky was filled with dark clouds, and the battlefield was littered with the corpses of the vassals and Roinecro.
but.
The damage suffered by Telmah’s army was also enormous. Grandbird’s large eyes were stained with blood, and thousands of soldiers were buried beneath them.
Who is winning this war?
How will this war end?
Benik wandered around the battlefield of his dreams with these questions in mind.
That was when.
In the middle of the battlefield.
There was a man standing opposite Telmah, holding in his hand a spirit weapon that could create frost.
Only later, decades after having this dream, did Benik realize that the man was none other than Rubin Roinen.
Rubin Roinen and his colleagues.
It was the moment when they faced Telmah’s army.
Then, Rubin’s powerful dark smoke exploded, as if tearing apart the dream. As soon as that moment passed, Benik’s dream also ended.
… so the future was left as a painting by Benic’s hands.
“Now I understand. Why Benic wasn’t surprised when he saw my soul weapon. It’s right here, in this picture.”
The man in Benik’s painting held a bloody frost in one hand and a weapon unknown to Rubin in the other.
“Yes, I just found out this time. The man I saw in my dream was Master Rubin.”
Rubin seemed to know why Benik refused to see his future.
Now I’m afraid of knowing the ending.
It was different from when I actively tried to find out Siren’s future. At that time, I was full of anxiety about the crisis that the Assassin Swordsman was facing. I had to confirm it.
However, when he discovered the true identity of the human who was opposing Telmach, he became afraid to proceed further. Rubin’s appearance felt like the only hope, and he began to hesitate.
What if such a hopeful scene turns into despair?
Rubin chuckled.
I can understand. I guess you’d rather gamble on my appearance facing Telmah.
“Okay, I won’t ask you to see my future.”
“… … .”
“Come to think of it, I think it would be a bit too trivial to look into the future. I’d be curious about other futures, but I think I’ll have to face the fight with Telmah myself.”
Rubin rolled up the parchment again. Then, suddenly, he wondered what kind of future Benik had seen from his mother before his return.
One thing is certain, the future has changed by returning. Just like the bloody frost in Rubin’s hand in this picture.
Even in Rubin’s previous life, he had never walked out to Telmah in place of the fallen Siren.
This painting by Benik.
It contains things that did not happen in a previous life.
And above all-
‘Who will be my colleagues who will protect me?’
Colleagues that didn’t exist in his previous life. From now on, Rubin had to create them one by one.
