C266 – Embers (3)
Anne was about to raise her hand to slap Jin, but Miu grabbed her by the shoulder.
“Anne, I told you we’re leaving.” Her tone conveyed an order.
Ana understood very well that going against Miu’s word in such situations would do her no good. The two seemed so close that they ignored the ranks between them, but the chain of command was quite clear between the two.
“Tsk!”
Ana quickly stepped back.
Miu seems to be smarter than I expected.
Hitting Jin or trying to pick a fight with him right now would be foolish.
The fact that both of them understood little about Jin’s abilities was a problem in itself, but above all, Cyron had declared the immediate start of the flagbearer appointment ceremony following Jin’s recovery.
What would happen if Jin got injured or delayed?
It would be disobedience to Cyron’s orders. In fact, in the past, Miu and Anne had once sent Jin on an excessive mission intended to kill him just before Cyron offered the banquet, so they had more reasons to monitor his actions.
Miu gritted her teeth. She was actually angrier than Ana, but her resolution to stay out of Jin’s cunning plans was stronger.
“I can’t say I congratulate you. Go on and go to father.”
“I will. See you, sisters.”
“And as for you, Emma Neiltrow. It’s better if you refrain from doing things you’ll regret. This will be the first and last warning.”
Miu and Anne passed by Jin and continued walking.
The Tona twins’ dropped jaws lowered even more.
Are those psychopaths really struggling to deal with Jin?
What did I just witness?
It was followed by Emma’s struggle to contain the laughter that erupted like fireworks from the depths of her heart.
“Brothers, at this rate, your jaws might fall off.”
“Oh, right. We’ll close them.”
“Thank you!”
The Tona twins took turns hugging Jin after a moment of hesitation.
Both of them understood that Miu and Anne had been humiliated thanks to Jin, and that was something they had only dreamed of experiencing.
“And how have you been, brothers?” Jin asked, gently pushing the Tona twins away from him.
This reminds me of the day I cut them in the mirages in the Great Desert.
Although he didn’t want to admit it, Jin felt something akin to brotherhood with them. Although it was nothing compared to what he shared with Luna and Yonah, it was probably all those years they spent together at Stormcastle, despite all their problems back then.
It seemed quite adorable to Jin how they attentively watched his reaction.
“Well, you know. We’ve been fine, except for the fact that Miu and Anne have been fuck… I mean, giving us a hard time.”
“I thought we wouldn’t see you alive again, Jin. I’m so glad.”
“Me too!”
“Really? I’m not as glad to see you.” Jin’s cold response made the Tona twins shrink and hunch their shoulders.
“Oh.”
“Oh. I see. I’m sorry. We must have rushed ahead.” 𝑖𝘦.𝑐𝘰𝘮
Jin had a reason to say this. “But let’s try to get along little by little from now on. It’s not like I hate both of you.”
He needed to get the message across to Emma.
No matter who the target was, she must never try to use them without his permission. And he encouraged her to show clearer signs of loyalty. Emma, being the cunning woman she was, immediately tilted her head in acknowledgment of Jin’s intentions.
On the other hand, the Tona twins felt moved by the way Jin mentioned getting along and nodded enthusiastically.
“Now we bid farewell, twelfth flagbearer, sir.”
“You can still call me young master Jin, Emma.”
“Alright, young master Jin. Please pay me a visit if you ever crave a good tea. I’ll have a precious tea prepared for you that can’t be found outside the Garden of Swords.”
She was inviting him to visit to gain insider information about the clan. Her offer pleased Jin. He looked Emma in the eyes.
“I suppose I’ll come in a few days. I hope you have some tea leaves that satisfy my taste.”
Emma and the Tona twins departed, and the servants lurking nearby dispersed to their respective places as well. The guardian knights saluted Jin and walked away.
Now that Jin was a flagbearer, his rank was officially higher than that of ordinary guardian knights.
Cyron’s office was in the main building.
But Jin planned to stop by another place before heading to the main building. The underground sacred chambers of the innermost cloister of the Garden of Swords.
The crypts.
‘Paying my respects to the heroes who have safeguarded the Runcandel clan is the first thing I must do before meeting with father.’
Of course, he truly believed in this, but there were two main reasons why he decided to descend to the crypts first.
Firstly, Cyron didn’t order him to go directly to him.
Secondly, not a single person among his siblings had gone down to the crypts right after completing their lives as provisional flagbearers.
The second reason was the key point.
The mere fact that I’m heading to the crypts before anything else could make some elders favorably disposed towards me.
Many of the elders considered ceremonial conduct of utmost importance and were sensitive to history and tradition.
For now, the Garden of Swords was the bastion of Jin’s enemies. To defeat Joshua in the throne, Jin needed friendly forces, and many of them.
This simple action could please some of the elders; therefore, there was no reason not to visit the crypts.
I didn’t have access to the crypts as a cadet, but now things had changed.
More eyes followed Jin as he walked out of the hallway and headed towards the inner cloister. But he didn’t cross paths with any more of his siblings and reached the crypts without much trouble.
Stone tombs filled the completely dark underground mausoleum.
‘That reminds me. Out of all these tombs, Temar’s isn’t here. A pact…’
The Runcandels made a humiliating pact against the Zipples after Temar Runcandel’s death.
The demands were simple. Never venerate the ancestors of sword-wielding magicians and never wield magic again.
That’s why the Zipples always told Jin how he had broken the pact.
I’ve seen them keep talking about breaking the pact, but the Zipples still haven’t done anything to the Runcandels even after my story was revealed to the world.
What that implied was clear.
They felt uncomfortable striking the Runcandels, and there was only one reason behind it: Cyron Runcandel. The presence of the sole Knight of Genesis (or Divine Star Knight) in the world.
Without him, the Zipples would never fear waging a war against the Runcandels. In other words, as long as Cyron was present, the Zipples would probably maintain their current attitude.
I was quite worried that they might immediately initiate a large-scale war, but now, it’s clear. There won’t be any full-blown war soon.
With these thoughts in mind, he was paying his respects to the stone tombs.
Then he felt movement outside the crypts. Someone had just entered the crypts.
“Hello, father.”
It was Cyron. He had been sitting in his office, but when he felt Jin regain consciousness, he also descended to the crypts to speak with his son.
Outside the crypts, the flagbearers and guardian knights were already preparing the appointment ceremony by order of Cyron.
“What a disappointment.”
That was the first thing Cyron said.
Disappointment.
Jin had heard this word countless times in his past life, but this was the first time he heard it in his current life. But Cyron didn’t seem to want to reprimand Jin. It was the kind of lighthearted joke that any father and son would exchange.
Thanks to the lighthearted tone, Jin felt relieved and managed to respond. “Is it because I woke up too late?”
“What I gave you before was your last chance to prove your worth to everyone. You should have used everything you had to create a better result.”
But what Cyron said wasn’t necessarily true.
After Jin withstood the sword strike, reflecting all of Cyron’s mastery as a swordsman, everyone in the Garden of Swords was impressed beyond their expectations.
However, Cyron thought it wasn’t enough.
To be precise, it wasn’t Jin’s training or growth that he was reproaching since he himself wasn’t superior to Jin in his own nineteen years.
“Do you think I should have used Shadow Energy?”
Jin hadn’t used a single trace of Shadow Energy when receiving Cyron’s attack. He only used his aura and the energy of the Legends’ lightning.
If he had used Shadow Energy, the results would have been very different. Of course, he would still fall short of stopping and launching a counterattack against Cyron’s movement, but he certainly wouldn’t have fainted because of it.
So, what was the reason he refrained from using Shadow Energy? Jin simply didn’t want to show all his cards to his enemies from the start.
‘Right now, except for Luna, everyone is my enemy.’
Those enemies knew that Jin was the contractor of Solderet and a Magical Swordsman wielding tremendous power beyond his age.
But they didn’t know exactly how strong Jin really was. And as in most battles, one gained more advantage with every card the enemy didn’t know.
That’s why my father’s opinion is that I should have also used the power of shadows, so I could have impressed them with a more dominant display.
Cyron didn’t answer. He merely kept his eyes closed in front of the stone tombs.
A long silence followed.
Jin didn’t find the silence uncomfortable.
He only found it interesting that his father didn’t reprimand him or give him orders. Instead, he gave him his opinion.
That’s how much his father respected his decision as well.
“My dear youngest son.”
“Yes, father?”
“Appointing you as a flagbearer is a great loss for the Runcandels.”
Jin tilted his head instead of responding.
“I will watch to see if you can make up for that loss.”
“I will keep that in mind,” Jin said.
“As for me…” Cyron spoke as he turned around, “There isn’t much time left. The knighthood appointment ceremony will begin in an hour, so be present by then.”
Cyron exited the crypts before Jin could say anything.
He could only think of one thing as he watched his father walk away.
Doesn’t father have much time left?
What does that mean?
Is it an illness? Those things couldn’t harm the body of a Divine Star Knight. Old age? That didn’t make sense for Cyron at this moment.
His mind went blank.
It wasn’t a passing phrase. But since Cyron didn’t seem to want to discuss it in detail, it meant Jin couldn’t inquire further about it.
Although Jin didn’t know the reason why Cyron didn’t have much time left, he knew what his father had meant.
To become patriarch before my father’s time runs out. And he also told me that he wouldn’t give me any more chances or direct help.
His father’s back as he left the crypt seemed lonely for some reason. It was the first time Jin felt something like that for Cyron, something that not even his siblings had felt yet.
The only ones who had felt something like that for Cyron were the previous generation of black knights who fought alongside him, and Rosa in her youth.
Jin clarified many of his thoughts while in the crypts. Before leaving, he created embers with mana and lit the candles inside the crypts.
Then he headed to the gallery of flagbearers.
––
𝑖.𝘤ℴ𝘮