Crown of Thorns

“Find him and bring him to me right now.”

When rumors circulated that the Son of Heaven had moved, a ray of light had penetrated into the hearts of those who were full of despair. Everyone began to trust the rumors as if they had already turned out to be true. Now, they’re starting to believe that all this was the doing of the witch and that there was a warrior who could kill that witch. When one or two people believed, it increased to five or six, which then increased to ten. It simply stopped being transmitted as mere rumors and turned into a fact. And everyone joined forces to find soldiers and to protect those who were believed to be the warrior.

The knights were also aware of the rumor. The fact that those with bright hair and particularly bright eyes were being killed. And that, under the orders of the Emperor, many were checking every nook and cranny, taking anyone who seemed to have brilliant features to the palace.

As such, Evan couldn’t help but know about it, too.

“Commander!”

As Evan entered the tent screaming, Yohan looked at him with a still frown.

“What’s wrong?”

“Have you known all this time?”

Yohan’s eyes shook for a moment. Evan spoke again as if he had not missed it.

“You knew. That’s why you…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He jerked his head around and tried to lie down again, but Evan strode towards him and put his arms on the bed, leaning his upper body forward. Yohan made a sour face, perhaps annoyed at Evan’s actions. Evan was different from any other trainee, and especially his relationship with Yohan was beyond description. Maybe it felt like that because of how close those two people were. As if they were family.

Evan looked at Yohan and saw his face crumpled. He asked again, raising his upper body.

“He’s looking for the Light—the Son of Heaven. I think I am that Light. What do you think?”

Evan seemed to have chosen to ask outright. Instead of answering, Yohan smiled and asked Evan back.

“So? What do you intend to do?”

Evan’s face was perplexed, perhaps because he didn’t expect to be asked such a question like this.

“Well, I…”

Looking at Evan like that, Yohan lifted the corners of his lips even more. He threw something at Evan with a smile. When Evan, who had been taken in a daze, looked at it with questioning eyes, pointing his jaw at it, Yohan said.

“Wear it all over your face. I’ve felt it for a long time, but you stand out too much.”

Looking at what was given to him, Evan stretched out the object that was in his hand. It was a thin cloth. But when he looked closely, it wasn’t just a piece of cloth. It was sewn so that one could wear it around their head. It seemed to be a decorative cloth designed to cover half of the hair and face.

Yohan opened his mouth as he watched Evan fidgeting with the cloth.

“Wait.”

“…Yes?”

“It’s not the time yet. You just have to wait quietly.”

“What does that mean?”

“Nothing you need to know. If you have time to play like this, then go train more. Light? I don’t know how a man who can’t even handle light be so conceited.”

Evan’s face hardened. He soon curled his lips, bowed his head, and left the tent. Yohan was right. No matter how bright, he could do nothing with how he currently was. He couldn’t even be sure if he is able to protect his own body. That’s why Yohan wanted to keep him by his side and watch him closely. Evan won’t be able to do it alone if the enemy comes.

Maybe the time is a little different from what the witch thinks it is. I didn’t exactly know what he was thinking about protecting Evan. However, I only knew that he thought he was their only hope, just like I did. One would not know what his intentions were unless one asked him directly—through Evan, how does he want to change the world, what were his plans, and what would happen when the “time” came?

I came out of the tent and chased after Evan. And as he passed by, the trainees gathered around and regarded him closely. Their glances were unusual, and I overheard them sneaking up and whispering. They seemed to have heard the rumor.

“Evan’s the brightest I’ve ever seen.”

“That’s right. What’s a color brighter than white?”

“Does that even exist?”

“And it always feels a little brighter around Evan, isn’t it? Am I mistaken?”

“Hm, I’ve never seen it, so I don’t know. But aren’t you too relaxed? You were even looking toward him when you were fighting.”

“Didn’t you know? He likes Evan a lot. He often looks worried that Evan’s going to get hurt.”

“Hey, what are you… That’s nonsense…”

There was a burst of laughter. Upon realizing that he was caught staring at Evan, the child’s face turned red. Then the boys began to tease him when they saw him make such faces.

“You think you’re any different? You said that you kept seeing Evan strangely!”

“When did I ever!”

“And you, too, have been chasing Evan around!”

“That’s…that’s because Evan is strong and cool! Honestly, who wouldn’t fall for Evan when they see him swing a sword?”

“That’s true. Should I say that it’s kind of intriguing? No, is it mysterious? It’s definitely the same sword and the same movement, but it’s strangely different coming from him. It’s like it’s shining.”

“See? I’m not the only one who thinks that. Evan is the warrior the Son of Heaven is looking for, ‘Light’ was it? Something like that?”

The trainees were again troubled with serious faces. It seemed to be the same for both the young and older men.

Realizing that I didn’t have to worry so much, I headed to the tent where Evan was staying. He sat on the floor, closed his eyes, and still felt the Light. Unlike the training grounds, this tent was only temporary, so there was no room for practice. It was going to continue until this was over, and until they returned to Yohan’s private residence.

I glanced at the breaking light around him. It was brilliant and beautiful. The little group of invisible light showed off its figure, glistening like the most precious jewels in the world. They fell on Evan’s bright hair, slipped on his nose, stayed on his long, large fingers, and passed over his rich eyelashes.

After looking at him for so long, his bright eyelashes trembled, and his dark eyes opened. They were as transparent as glass beads. When he blinked a couple of times, his eyes, which I could see only a little bit of between his fluttering eyelashes, were opened round. I couldn’t take my eyes off them, so I stared at his irises only. I could fully understand the minds of the trainees who said they couldn’t take their eyes off Evan because he was such a beautiful and mysterious man.

“…when.”

I came to my senses at Evan’s sudden voice. I was surprised, but he was only talking to himself.

“When will I be what I want?”

He seemed upset that he could not handle the Light at will. It could have been frustrating because he’s been in the same place for quite a while. I wanted to tell him not to be impatient, that it’s okay, and that he’s doing well, but I felt sorry that I couldn’t.

I stroked Evan’s long shadow behind his back. This was all I could do.

*

Yohan, the knights, and the trainees did not stop the hunt for monsters. In fact, when the monsters started their invasion, they managed to put a stop to them. And they did such a good job that the monsters quickly ran away from them after putting up a good fight. And when they chased them around, they almost became hunters. The more they won, the higher their morale became, and the more powerful the people of the province became in order to aid them in hunting monsters.

Evan had also fought hard. However, the only difference was that Yohan was fighting in the front, not by his side. And that Evan’s bright hair and half his face were covered with a thin cloth. The knights and trainees already knew Evan’s original hair color, but there was no big problem because the rest of the people did not see Evan’s face except for the few locals who kept following him and fighting alongside them.

Most of all, very few people thought that the person rumored to be the Light would be the trainee that was right in front of them. That is because rumors were supposed to be exaggerated. They imagined that the Light and the warrior would, at a glance, look different from an ordinary human being.

Because of this, both the Son of Heaven and the witches in search of the said warrior were confused. The number of innocent people they dragged and killed was reduced. There were many people who had bright hair and eyes, if not as much as Evan. It was fortunate for Evan. At least it’s going to take them some time to get interested in the people fighting monsters outside.

When Yohan took the lead, Evan fought in his own way. But it wasn’t very good. He still sported big and small wounds. Evan seemed a little relaxed, as Yohan said. At one point, he would suddenly be in danger, as if he were deliberately creating a close call situation. It was a strange thing even though I thought it would be hard to do it on purpose.

I had no choice but to help him little by little each time. However, Evan had one or two wounds on his body. His face was distorted quite painfully. It was a pity that I couldn’t do anything more to help him.

Today, as usual, the knights were wiping out the monsters that had come all the way to the front of the village. There were a bit too many people fighting with the monsters. If this place had collapsed, the monsters would reach the center of the village, where the women and children were gathered. So except for the sounds of fighting, the road was very quiet.

As people were coming to help, more so than usual, the knights’ behavior was restricted. Originally, they would have rushed head-on into the fight and have wrapped it up by now, but this time around, they only blocked the monsters’ way or stopped their attacks by limiting their radius of action.

So they fought far apart or in a way that helped the people of the province deal with them together.

Evan chose to fight far away. As he was only a trainee, he was not officially recognized as a knight. But his skills did not fall back by much, so there was no problem with him breaking formation. I was worried about his frequent mistakes, so I was sticking to him and helping him little by little.

Another monster approached Evan’s back as he was dealing with another. Seeing that there were minor wounds on the monster’s arms and legs, it seemed that someone else had been fighting with it. But for some reason, there was no one around.

Evan tried to look behind his back, rolling his eyes wide as he noticed that the second monster had already gotten closer to him. But the monster in front of him did not let go of his sword, so he could not easily pull himself out.

He eventually abandoned the sword and backed away. Then he took two daggers out of his waistband, held them, and faced the other monster that was rushing in. He quickly moved his long, hard legs, kicked the monster, buried one dagger inside it, and then fell back between the two monsters. He wouldn’t get a big wound from this, but his plan seemed to be; either look for a chance to get his sword back from the monster or join the fight with someone else.

I also kept watching, only for the monster to throw away Evan’s sword. As soon as the monster threw away the sword, I was going to carefully direct it near Evan. But somehow, the monster didn’t let go of the sword, and my wonder grew.

As Evan was busy fending off one monster, the other one took advantage of the gap in his attention, throwing the sword toward his back. The sword that was thrown by the monster was very fast. And by the time Evan noticed and tried to avoid it, it had already been too late. I received the sword without hesitation by blowing a shadow. And I tried to keep it contained in me somehow, but I couldn’t bear its speed and strength.

Eventually, the sword, flying at a terrifying speed, tore off my shadow and penetrated through it to get to Evan, who was standing behind me. That was the last scene I saw.

“Huck! Kugh!”

When I opened my eyes, I could only see the dark. It was the tower of the witch. I repeatedly coughed at the pain of the blow. Then blood flowed from my lips. The dripping blood soaked my body and clothes.

The shadow fell to pieces. The Darkness that was connected to me was scattered and forced back in. It became a sharp dagger and made my whole body a wreck. My uncontrollably shaking body made me cough up blood and vomit.

I lay down on the floor. It was painful and uncomfortable. Breathless and with a blurred vision, I felt like I was going to die, but I’m not going to die, so I’ll probably wake up a little later. It didn’t matter.

But what I was worried about was Evan, whom I couldn’t watch over. I couldn’t completely absorb the impact of the hit, so it would have hurt Evan a lot, too. It would make for a big threat to him if he was hit while surrounded by monsters like that.

I have to go and protect him.

“…x!”

I seemed to hear Evan’s voice, coming from a very far away place.

“…Nyx!”

Evan’s voice, which had been engraved deep into my memory, seemed to have come to mind when it heard my earnest wish.

“…Evan…”

As I was glad to hear Evan’s voice, I let go of the leash of consciousness.

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