The whole world seemed to be soaked in the rain. The rain, which had been falling for two days straight, dampened the earth and weighed heavily on the cloak draped over Ail’s head, pulling it down. Sitting on his horse, Ail felt the cold, humid air of the rainy season and the persistent ache in his right shoulder, still not fully healed.

Four days after leaving Karileum, Ail and his group arrived at Clozium, where they sent a letter to a merchant named Homan, whom Leysha had agreed to contact. While waiting for a reply, they had traveled as far as the Rengetti region. Yesterday afternoon, Homan confirmed that he would let them know once Ruth and his group arrived in Rengetti. This meant they could wait quietly, but Ail couldn’t resist moving in the rain, leading the soldiers and mercenaries from Clozium. He had heard news that the Red Scorpion, an assassin group, was trailing them.

The Red Scorpions were the largest and most infamous assassin group on the Leman continent. Their methods of contact and assassination were unknown, and even their base and exact size were shrouded in mystery. The only information available was that they were an assassin group made up of desert dwellers, and anyone they pursued would never survive. What made them even more notorious was the fact that they killed anyone who had seen their faces, regardless of age or gender.

Thinking that the Red Scorpions were after Ruth and his group, Ail could no longer stay calm. Though relieved to hear that Ruth was still alive, it was only a temporary reprieve. He needed to find out why the Red Scorpions were chasing them, which was why he was moving on this rainy day, intending to find Homan himself.

The mountain path was completely muddy due to the rain, and the horses struggled to gain speed, constantly sinking into the earth.

“Your Highness, would it be better to rest for a while somewhere else?”

Kamiel, who had followed Ail by mistake, asked cautiously. He had intended to confess his sins to Ail upon hearing the news of Ruth, but was stopped by Jessie, and so had followed Ail instead. Having heard about the wound Ruth had inflicted on Ail’s right shoulder, he was especially concerned about Ail’s condition. However, Ail seemed to brush off the concern with indifference.

“That’s fine.”

In a calm voice, Ail responded, continuing to push forward. The number of knights allowed to enter foreign lands was limited to twenty, so twenty of Jessie’s soldiers and about fifty mercenaries from Clozium were following Ail. Right behind him, Jessie and Kamiel silently observed Ail’s condition as they rode.

They were close to Rengetti now. Aside from the mercenaries, they had hired a guide who was familiar with Clozium’s geography and internal affairs, and he had shown them the quickest route to Rengetti. Homan’s mansion was located to the south of Rengetti, but Ail had entered from the northern region and planned to cut through the mountains for the shortest route.

The rain made everything more exhausting, and everyone trembled from the cold, hastening their movement. It was then, when they had passed about halfway through the mountain, that they heard a sound in the distance. A high-pitched, shrill sound that was more like a piercing scream than a flute. The horses, startled by the noise, reared and panicked. After calming the horses, Ail looked at the guide, who was now pale.

“It’s the Red Scorpions.”

“What?”

“We need to leave here quickly. That sound is the flute the Red Scorpions use when they track their targets. This mountain is their hunting ground. They’ll kill anyone they find.”

The guide’s face was filled with anxiety, and Ail’s face turned pale as well. It wasn’t because he was worried for his own safety. If the Red Scorpions were after someone, it could only be Ruth.

Ruth was somewhere in this mountain, being hunted by the Red Scorpions. Ail couldn’t afford to waste time now. He needed to confirm that Ruth was alive and save him.

“West. We’re going west.”

He said, pointing in the direction the sound had come from. The mercenaries behind him shuddered. In an instant, the group scattered, muttering among themselves, unwilling to follow Ail’s command. Ail was familiar with the Red Scorpions and had anticipated some resistance, but not to this extent.

“We’re not going anywhere near the Red Scorpions. You didn’t say anything about fighting them.”

The leader of the older mercenaries shouted, his voice full of tension. It was clear that he was terrified of their presence.

“The contract clearly states that for one month, you are to guard me and follow my orders. Whether the enemy is the Red Scorpions or the Emperor’s army, it makes no difference.”

“I’m doing this to survive, not to die. I won’t throw my men to the Red Scorpions as fodder.”

At the captain’s calm and serious voice, Ail locked eyes with him. His red hair, dripping like blood from the rain, and his brilliant golden eyes began to gleam fiercely. A regal, commanding aura radiated from him, exuding the dignity and solemnity of a leader. The mercenaries, who had initially thought of him as just a noble young boy from Karileum, now straightened their backs and stiffened, sensing the tension in the air.

He was a born leader. Even if he hadn’t fully realized it yet, he knew how to dominate others.

Slowly, Ail turned his gaze to the mercenaries, looking at them one by one, and declared each word clearly.

“Once you make a contract, you fulfill it. Anyone who strays will pay the price. The one you follow now is not the captain, but me.”

Ail’s voice rang through the forest, where the gloomy rain fell. His low, deep voice cut through the tension in the air, silencing the murmurs. After scanning the mercenaries once more, he turned his attention back to the direction of the sound and pulled on the reins.

“Kamiel, Jessie, you two lead the mercenaries and soldiers and follow me. Split up and charge from both sides.”

With that, Ail broke into a swift gallop. Seeing this, Kamiel and Jessie quickly divided the group and began following him.

Ail hunched forward on his horse, gripping the reins, praying for the first time in his life as he sped toward the supernatural threat ahead.

Please, let him be safe. At least until I get there, please let him be alive. Let him live.

He prayed desperately.

***

With the annoying sound of the flute, a group of men began to follow behind. Ruth, riding his horse, glanced back to count the number of pursuers and bit his lip. Around twenty were following them, but his instinct told him something was wrong. The flute had come from the forest above them. This meant others were lying in wait in the woods. It seemed they had set them free only to track them down.

He had no idea how many assassins were lurking in the forest. The knowledge that they were being watched, with no idea where they might strike from, only heightened his anxiety. It felt as though he were fighting against unseen forces.

“There are more of them, I think. What do we do?”

Kasha, noticing the same, shouted, but knowing the situation didn’t help.

“We need to get out of this mountain. Don’t look back, just run!”

Ruth shouted and kicked his horse hard. Kasha and the boy followed, leaning forward and urging their horses faster.

Then, suddenly, the sharp sound of wind cut through the air, and Ruth’s horse began to stagger. As Ruth pulled on the reins, another shrill cry rang out, and his horse screamed and collapsed to the ground. Ruth barely managed to push himself up, and saw a silver, sharp object lodged in his horse’s thigh and leg. It was a large throwing star, with three sharp serrated edges on the outside, about the size of a palm.

“Ruth!”

Kasha, realizing that Ruth had fallen off his horse, turned to go back to him, but just then, his horse’s front legs collapsed, and he too was thrown to the ground. As Ruth tried to go to him, a large spear fell in front of him. Spinning around, he saw one of the riders in the distance spinning a long rope. At the end of the rope was a sharp, curved hook. As he hesitated in surprise, the hook flew toward him, its sharp curve making it seem like it was meant to catch an animal. The sight of it sent a chill down his spine. Now he understood why the Red Scorpions were called human hunters.

Swinging his sword to knock the hook aside, Ruth immediately saw another hook flying toward Kasha. The large hook, cutting through the rain, landed on Kasha’s left shoulder.

“Kasha!”

As Ruth called his name, the men who had approached stopped and began pulling the rope. Seeing Kasha being dragged across the ground, Ruth rushed to him and cut the rope with his sword.

Blood poured from Kasha’s shoulder, dripping with the rain, sticky and red. Ruth tried to pull the hook out, but the ends were curved in a way that made it impossible without causing more harm. He could feel that pulling it out would tear his flesh.

In a moment of helplessness, Ruth looked at Kasha with despair in his eyes. Kasha, grabbing his hand, shook his head.

“It’s useless. You should run.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The target is me. So you need to run. Go… hurry… run.”

With his pale face and murmured words, Ruth shook his head. He couldn’t leave him now, not after everything they had gone through. He didn’t know why they were being hunted or why Kasha had to die, but he couldn’t just hand his life over to them.

“No… I can’t leave you.”

“I came out knowing I was going to die. This death wasn’t what I wanted, but it doesn’t matter. Go… you go…”

In a moment of distraction, an arrow flew. The arrow, flying in a long arc, struck Ruth in the left shoulder. The impact sent him tumbling forward, but he quickly got back up and turned to face them. The boy who had been running ahead now turned back and came charging toward him. The assassins, no longer using weapons, slowly closed the distance.

Pulling the arrow from his left shoulder with his right hand, Ruth gripped his sword tightly, glaring at the approaching enemies. The flute echoed through the forest, and the desert men with dark skin were closing in. He had known that many desert people had entered Clozium and that most of them were mercenaries or assassins, but now, he was sure of it. They were the Red Scorpions. Ruth had heard of them but had never seen them before. Karileum didn’t allow interaction with desert tribes, so the Red Scorpions couldn’t operate there. But Clozium was different. Many of the common people in Clozium were desert dwellers, and almost a third of them had mixed blood with desert tribes. The purer-blooded ones were almost indistinguishable from full-blooded desert people. Clozium was the perfect place for them to operate.

While Ruth was watching them, a boy riding a horse came running and dismounted in front of Kasha, helping him to stand while holding a sword. It was admirable to keep his loyalty, but Kasha wished the boy would leave. His comrades were already dead, and he didn’t want to take the boy’s life too.

Kasha, struggling to get up without removing the hook lodged in his shoulder, spoke softly to the boy.
“Leave. Ride down the mountain and don’t look back.”

“No. The contract isn’t finished yet.”

“I’m canceling it. Leave. Your comrades are all dead, so the contract is void.”

“As a mercenary, I’m prepared for this much. I’m still young and inexperienced, but I understand that once a contract is made, it must be fulfilled. I don’t want to turn my back and run from the ones who killed my comrades. Even if I die, I will fight honorably.”

By now, the desert men who had dismounted had surrounded the three of them. Several men with large swords, one with an axe, and others with whips with blades at the ends, as well as some holding ropes with hooks, had appeared. They were like butchers—people who kill, cut apart, and tear flesh.

The rain had started to slowly stop and only a drizzle is felt. A breath of cold air came out as white mist. Trembling slightly, Ruth looked at them with clear eyes and laughed bitterly. It was absurd that even in this moment, he was thinking of Ail. He thought he had resigned and become indifferent, but now, as death approached, it wasn’t his mother’s face, nor his siblings or friends’ faces, that came to mind. It was only the look in Ail’s eyes the last time they met.

If only he could see him just one more time, just once…

If he was going to die like this anyway, he wished he had at least said “I loved you.” Even if he was rejected coldly, or if he ended up being mocked, it would have been better to say it once.

No matter how many times he told himself it was useless to regret, the lament still escaped. His chest felt tight, like it would never disappear. He would not say that he wouldn’t return to him even after dying. He shouldn’t have left him with scars when he left last time.

The layers of regret hit his chest. A cruel person. A ruthless person. But still, the person he wanted to see.

Remembering Ail’s face again with deep sorrow, Ruth dodged a man with an axe and aimed for his belly with his sword. The man quickly retreated and swung the axe again. As Ruth stepped back to avoid it, a whip with a blade flew at him, and the three blades cut across his chest. Blood began to flow as his shirt tore open.

Without time to check the wound, Ruth barely blocked a large sword coming at him from the side. His eyes widened as the man with the axe lunged at him again. As he tried to dodge by pulling his sword to the side and lowering his body, he lost his balance and fell forward.

It felt like the end. Fighting them with an injured body was impossible. Even though he was a skilled swordsman, he was wounded, and the young mercenary boy and Kasha wouldn’t be much help. There was too great a difference in size and strength. But, still determined to hold out until the end, Ruth gripped his sword again to strike at the approaching man’s legs.

That’s when it happened.

A whistling sound filled the air, and the man with the axe stopped in his tracks. The axe dropped to the ground next to Ruth’s leg. Looking up, Ruth saw an arrow with white feathers piercing the man’s neck. He widened his eyes in shock, then looked in the direction the arrow came from.

Before he could confirm, another arrow flew and pierced the throat of a man holding a large sword.

All the desert men turned to look in the direction the arrows had come from. But even in that moment, arrows continued to fly, piercing their hearts and necks. From the speed of the arrows, they seemed to be shot from a great distance. The accuracy, the daring to aim for the neck from such a distance, spoke of an extraordinary confidence and skill.

Ruth recognized the feathers on the arrow. Despite the rain soaking them, he could still make out the shape of the feathers, and he knew the man shooting the arrows, aiming to pierce the necks, not the body.

It was him…