"What is your wish?"
Before the Ink Star was complete, Shu asked out of nowhere. It was a question with no context, no preamble.
"My wish?"
"What Matyos wants to achieve, or what he wants to become."
Shu paused to choose her words, then added:
"Be honest with me."
"Hmm…."
Matyos stroked his smooth chin with a small hand.
A wish.
Something desired.
Something wanted.
What is it that I want?
He thought for a moment, but the answer turned out to be surprisingly simple.
It was something he had already known.
My wish is—
"Just… to live happily."
Happiness.
A wish neither grand nor extraordinary.
Something everyone harbors, yet almost no one easily grasps.
To leisurely enjoy the things he loved,
to eat warm food,
to share conversation with the people he cared for,
to fall asleep without a worry in the world,
and to live a life where tomorrow felt just a little worth looking forward to.
That was the whole of what he truly wanted.
"Not much to it, is there?"
Shu shook her head.
"No. Even so — it's a difficult wish."
A quiet smile spread across Shu's lips.
To a spirit who lived through eternity, wishes were a fleeting concept.
If she desired something, she could achieve it, and if not now, there was always more time — as much as she could ever need.
A hundred years from now, five hundred, a thousand — someday, without fail.
But humans were different.
A life of a hundred years at most.
Within that brief span, a wish was the sole driving force that held a life together.
They were fragile.
And at the same time, stronger than anyone.
Shu recalled an old friend.
*'I'm going to make sure that people who suffer don't have to suffer anymore!'*
Rosuka of the red hair.
A righteous hero.
He spoke of justice, aided the weak, and cut down evil.
Many were saved because of him.
And yet.
He himself had closed his eyes in agony.
*'…It has been a long time, Shu.'*
On the day before his final rest, he had come to find her.
The red hair had turned white, and the body that had once been like steel was now a withered old tree, creased with wrinkles.
The face that had always worn a bright, cheerful smile now carried worry and anxiety, sorrow and regret.
That face, which had always been smiling, was now full of grief and remorse.
In a trembling voice, he confessed the story of his life.
He had killed the man who killed his family,
killed the man who killed his friend,
killed the lord who had deceived him,
killed that lord's soldiers and knights.
He had killed every last person who had ever tried to kill him.
He had become the greatest murderer of his age.
He confessed that he had taken more lives than he had saved — that he had stolen more from the world than he had given back. He sought atonement.
His sword was stained red.
All of it, the blood of those he had cut down.
*'You asked me once, long ago, what my wish was.'*
The old hero looked at Shu with eyes brimming with tears.
*'Ah.'*
*'I should never have held such a foolish wish.'*
He wept as he spoke.
*'I should have lived within my means.'*
*'I have regrets. I want to go back. The people I cherished were right beside me — why did I never look back at them?'*
*'I will be forgotten. My deeds, my life, my very existence — all of it will be forgotten forever.'*
Shu listened to her old friend's childlike lament.
Rosuka covered his wrinkled face with his hands and wept.
*'I only wanted to live happily. That was all.'*
And so her friend died.
At the bottom of a filthy, damp forest floor.
Shu pulled her gaze away from the past and returned to the present.
"I pray that wish of yours comes true."
Shu said it to Matyos.
She wanted this boy to achieve the wish her old friend never could.
Matyos tilted his head to one side.
"I'm not sure exactly, but the wish and the Ink Star are connected somehow, right?"
"No. Not particularly. I was simply curious."
"So? Did you get your answer?"
Shu gave a prim little nod.
"Yes, quite enough. Then from here on, I'll help you claim your star."
*
Matyos sat cross-legged on the ground.
The water-haired spirit settled atop his thick crown of hair as though making a nest.
"You need to empty your mind. Leave nothing inside it. I'll help you."
"I already did that."
"No. There's still something left. Residue even you can't see."
"…That sounds difficult."
"That's why I'm here helping you."
Matyos groaned and grumbled, but followed Shu's instructions.
It was simply too difficult, though, and nothing went the way he wanted.
How much time had passed?
An hour went by, and he felt no progress whatsoever.
He couldn't even tell if this was the right path.
It felt like walking through a forest in the dead of night, not a single point of light, with no sense of direction.
Still, he didn't stop.
Even without being able to see ahead, he walked forward, trusting Shu.
He didn't know if the path was right, but he was clearly moving.
Believing there was an end he simply couldn't see yet.
And at last—
When he reached the deepest place within himself, a place untouched by any sensation—
There, he witnessed a star — black in its radiance, yet rising with brilliant clarity.
Matyos held his breath.
[You have acquired Ink Star — 1st Star]
[Magical power increases by 2]
[Skill, Meditation (冥想), acquired]
[Meditation: The act of entering a tranquil inner state. Mana cultivation efficiency increases by 50% while meditating]
Matyos's grey eyes opened slowly. The first thing he became aware of was another 'heartbeat' pulsing within him.
The ink-dark star that had been curled and dormant was trembling faintly, as though stretching itself awake.
"Phew…. I did it, Shu."
"…That's impossible."
"Hm?"
Shu's face had gone rigid.
An expression of undisguised shock.
What's gotten into her?
"…I'll be honest. I didn't expect this from you."
The reason followed immediately.
Matyos shot her a sulky look.
"How wonderfully honest of you. Deeply grateful."
"I'm not joking. I mean it. Because everyone else failed. Rosuka shared his gift freely with many people, asking nothing in return — but no one was ever able to form a star like Rosuka's."
Shu said it with a serious face, flapping both arms as she expressed her thoughts.
Hearing her words, he felt better.
So I've done something no one else managed to do?
"That significant?"
"That significant."
Shu nodded slowly.
Promising warriors had come to Rosuka seeking training, but none had ever grasped his secret art.
*'It seems my legacy simply cannot be passed on.'*
Rosuka had said it lightly, playfully — but his eyes had been sorrowful. His enemies had feared him so deeply they had erased him from history.
In this age, no one remembered him.
And yet he had left his words behind.
Hoping that someday, someone far in the future would read them.
Hoping to be remembered.
*'There is someone who remembers you, Rosuka.'*
The spirit, awakened from her long slumber, gazed quietly at Matyos.
A boy of only seventeen.
Matyos was not the kind of face that drew long stares at first glance.
But once your eyes settled on him, they were reluctant to leave.
His overall impression was not a strong one.
Even accounting for his age, his facial lines were delicate, almost feminine. He had the face of a small animal that needed protecting.
A young deer, or a rabbit.
Yet within the eyes of that small animal dwelled something that would not break under any pressure.
Courage, perhaps — or recklessness.
*'It was the same just a moment ago.'*
The incident in the Thorn Forest.
A desperate, life-or-death crisis with assassins closing in — there had been no way for him to survive.
Even if she had stepped in, it would have made no difference.
And yet he had found a strange way out and escaped.
*'At least I won't be bored from here on.'*
While Shu was thinking such thoughts, Matyos's body swayed.
Red blood trickled from his nose. His head spun.
His consciousness began to blur.
"Wh— why all of a sudden…."
"Because you poured every last bit of your strength and willpower into forming the star. Sleep well and you'll be fine."
No answer came. His vision clouded over as though wrapped in a hazy fog, and then he lost consciousness.
* * *
The next day, Matyos dragged himself up and attended the swordsmanship lecture.
He had rested too much and his body felt sluggish. Before he grew any lazier, he forced himself to move and reclaim his daily routine.
"Mati!"
Tiana, who had been sparring with Joi, spotted Matyos. Tears like fat drops rolled down from her green eyes.
She had been so worried when she heard Matyos had been attacked by assassins.
She had wanted to go to him immediately, but held back, afraid of disturbing his rest.
Tiana dashed over and threw her arms around him. The skin of Matyos, pressed against her after so long, was soft and warm.
"…Noona… I can't… breathe…."
Matyos let out a faint groan from within Tiana's embrace. His small limbs flailed weakly.
*'He's too adorable…!'*
Tiana hugged him even tighter.
She buried her nose in his thick ash-grey hair and inhaled deeply.
Matyos, having given up on resisting, surrendered himself to her with the eyes of a man who had accepted his fate.
"You're going to kill the kid."
Taibeon walked over, wiping sweat from his brow.
Tiana, having thoroughly enjoyed (?) her fill of Matyos, finally released him.
"Don't go around suffocating people, Noona. Don't you know your chest is a deadly weapon?"
"Are you jealous because you miss being held by your noona too? Come here, Taibeon. I'll give you a hug for old times' sake."
"…Are you being serious?"
Taibeon fixed his sister — who stood with both arms spread wide toward him — with a look of pure contempt and took a step back.
It might have been a blessing to anyone else, but to Taibeon, his own sister's body was nothing but unsettling.
Something in his very blood rejected it. Which was why he felt a strange, inexplicable pity for Matyos, who had just been subjected to her rubbing.
"What happened, Matyos? Who attacked you?"
"I don't know either. It seemed like someone who bore a grudge against my family."
Matyos kept the details to himself.
If he brought up the Black Moon Pact, Yuri's story would inevitably come with it. Yuri wouldn't want that.
"Do you remember the faces of the people who attacked you?"
Joi sidled over and asked the question as casually as if commenting on the weather.
I looked back into Joi's eyes.
"No, they were all wearing masks. I couldn't see anything."
"No distinguishing features? A cloak, a tattoo, anything like that?"
"It was too chaotic. I don't remember. I've forgotten."
"I see…."
Joi stared at Matyos for a long, steady moment, then looked away.
"You lot, enough chatting. This is lecture time."
Professor Vilhelmine gave our group a warning. The timing was just as the conversation was wrapping up. Was that her way of being considerate?
Matyos sparred with Taibeon. He lost. Losing was familiar.
He sat on a bench, drank cool water, and rested.
Shu perched on Matyos's shoulder.
"It's not that you lack talent in swordsmanship. Your body is simply very weak."
"What would make me stronger faster?"
"Nothing but training. You know that already. There are no shortcuts to becoming strong."
"…Still, it feels so slow. Did Rosuka not leave behind something like a swordsmanship manual?"
I asked on the off chance.
Shu, who had been Rosuka's friend, would know things I didn't.
"He didn't leave one. And even if he had, I wouldn't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because you wouldn't be able to replicate it anyway. It would only be a waste of time. Rosuka had no fixed swordsmanship style. He swung his sword according to his instincts in the moment."
"…A genius, then."
"There's a reason the demons erased Rosuka from history. Even those Archdemons were killed by him."
A genius.
Those blessed by the gods from birth, fundamentally different from others. Matyos lifted his gaze and watched Yuri, who was running yet another unbroken winning streak today.
Shu pointed at Yuri as she spoke.
"That girl — her talent is extraordinary. Had she been born in the same era as Rosuka, she would surely have become a swordsman who carved her name into history."
"You can see talent just like that?"
"I am a spirit. I can see the soul in ways you cannot."
This time Shu pointed toward Professor Vilhelmine, who was leaning against the wall in silence, quietly sucking on a candy.
"The talent of that woman with black hair and red eyes is also remarkable—"
Whoosh.
At that moment, Professor Vilhelmine pulled the candy from her mouth and turned to look directly this way.
Eyes red as blood fixed on me.
Then she began walking toward Matyos with long, deliberate strides.
Thud.
"…."
And she stood there, looking down at me in silence.