The Awakening of Inverse Attributes: An Old Adventurer and Young Heroes - Afternoon at the Azure Abyss River — Shadows Engraved by the Emblem

Pushing open the door to the Blaze branch of the Iron Ring Alliance, the scent of weapon oil and parchment reached Filren Kazaar's nose. Morning light slanted through the windows, illuminating a bundle of request notices pinned to the first-floor bulletin board. Filren passed by without stopping and climbed the stairs to the second floor without hesitation. What happened last night still lingered deep in his chest. The darkness of the South District. The swarm of black-winged moths. And that quiet exchange that continued until dawn at the branch shrine. What had he answered when Ernard asked him to take the escort job? "After the report is finished." He'd left those words—neither a refusal nor an acceptance—and walked out the door. Nothing more, nothing less. But as he walked the night streets afterward, he'd been aware of himself staring at the back of his right hand the entire time. A blade of darkness. He hadn't even felt like testing whether it would appear again. He proceeded down the second-floor corridor and knocked on the branch commander's door. "Come in." Opening the door, Gordel Bahn sat with his arms crossed behind his desk. Gray hair, broad shoulders, his left sleeve hanging empty. The one-armed former Gold-rank adventurer tapped his fingertips on the desk the moment Filren entered the room—a gesture that seemed less like rushing for a report and more like waiting for something. Filren gave a concise account of last night's events. The abnormal concentration of black-winged moths in the South District, his rendezvous with Ernard Serivil, the holy maiden candidate from the Dawn Temple, the progression of combat. Classified by the name of elemental force, the fact that dark-attribute monsters had gathered in one location at more than ten times their normal density. Gordel didn't interrupt. When Filren finished, he finally uncrossed his arms and sighed. "The same thing is happening in the northeast." "The outer edge of Ashgreen Forest?" "Not just the edge—three times in the past five days. Each time, monster sightings concentrate between midnight and dawn. South and northeast simultaneously—the question is whether this can be written off as coincidental attribute divergence." Filren fell silent. Attribute divergence had indeed become frequent in various regions recently, but its occurrence was fundamentally chaotic. Monsters bearing a specific attribute gathering in one region, causing climate shifts or distortions in the earth's veins—but that was supposed to be a phenomenon entirely divorced from regularity. "I'll check the outer edge of Ashgreen Forest today. I'll cross-reference records while I'm at it." "Mm. Will the holy maiden candidate accompany you?" Filren paused for a moment. "That's how it will be." Gordel said nothing. He simply stared at Filren with one eye. Filren had a rough idea of what that gaze contained, but judged there was no need to address it. As he was leaving, Filren turned back with his hand on the door. "Regarding my retirement notice—" "Ah, that." Gordel began rummaging through his desk drawer. After a moment, he looked up with a furrowed brow. "The seal was chipped. I can't accept it today." "The seal should be the same one I used yesterday." "It's chipped. Look carefully." Filren tried to peer into the drawer, but Gordel quickly closed it. "Bring it again next time." Filren closed the door quietly in response. The moment he stepped into the corridor, he let out a small breath. (The seal is chipped, huh.) Twenty years of acquaintance. Filren could tell the difference between Gordel's face when he was genuinely troubled and his face when he was making excuses. Today was the latter. As for why he would do such a thing—Filren wasn't entirely ignorant, but thinking about it led his feelings in a somewhat troublesome direction. As he descended the stairs, Filren shelved that thought. Stepping outside, wind from the Jade-Depth River swept through the street. Standing before the Dawn Temple Blaze branch shrine—a small shrine within Blaze city that oversaw purification and healing of the holy attribute—was Ernard. Her silver-white long hair swayed in the wind. Instead of the white ceremonial robes of the Dawn Temple, she'd changed into light gray outdoor clothes that looked easy to move in. Her face was refreshingly clear compared to last night, but the azure attribute mark on her forehead still glowed quietly as always. Seeing Filren's figure, Ernard's expression softened slightly. "Good morning. Did your report to Commander Gordel finish without incident?" "It did. Apparently abnormal monster appearances continue at the outer edge of Ashgreen Forest in the northeast as well. We're going to check there today." Ernard pulled out parchment for record-keeping and a Dawn Temple-style elemental force reaction meter—a measuring device with attribute reaction runes carved into a small crystal plate—from her bag and showed them. "I'll record the attribute reactions with this meter. Since it follows the Dawn Temple's measurement method, I can guarantee some level of accuracy." "The 'some level' part concerns me a bit." "...To be precise, this measurement method is designed with purification work as a prerequisite. For pure observation, there's a possibility of slight errors." Filren was silent for a moment. "In other words, the design makes you want to purify while measuring." "...If you could understand it that way." Ernard answered with a straight face. Her seriousness was somehow amusing. Filren moved only the corner of his mouth and urged her to continue. --- The road running north along the Jade-Depth River still had foot traffic in the morning. Cargo wagons tramped on the stone pavement, and merchants hurried toward the riverside market. The river water was a greenish blue—the origin of the name Jade-Depth River—and its depth shifted with the light. Today was cloudy, and the water surface was nearly lead-colored. The two walked side by side, conducting interviews with residents along the way. They searched for those with monster sightings, recording locations and times. Filren arranged his questions based on experience, while Ernard wrote on parchment. The first three interviews went smoothly. Residents spoke readily once they saw Filren's Silver-rank adventurer's proof. The problem came at the fourth. When a resident asked "What attribute is that black moth-like monster?" Ernard pointed her meter at them. The crystal plate glowed faintly. Ernard tried to seriously read the light's pattern, but soon her face became troubled. "...The meter is requesting purification." "What about what you said earlier?" "In theory, pure observation should be possible, but in actual fieldwork...the meter's design seems to prioritize purification no matter what." "Can't you measure without purifying?" "I've trained for ten years with the procedure of purifying monsters first, then measuring, so...reversing that order is somehow..." The resident looked at the two of them with confusion. Filren directly confirmed with the resident: "It's dark attribute, right?" The answer came back: "Yeah, it had completely black wings and tons of scales." Ernard wrote in neat characters on the parchment: "Dark attribute—confirmed." Later, when Filren asked about traces of magic circles, one resident testified: "I saw something like burn marks on the ground near the forest entrance." When Filren tried to ask Ernard to decipher the magic circle, Ernard paused for a moment. "...The Dawn Temple curriculum doesn't include magic circle decryption." Filren was silent for a while. "Magic circle decryption isn't part of a holy maiden candidate's training?" "Purification formulas, ceremonial rites, and elemental force transmission methods are the focus. References to aggressive spell systems are kept to a minimum for ethical reasons." "So you can't even read what the circle is for." "...I cannot." Ernard answered with a straight face. There was that expression again. So serious it made him want to laugh. Filren placed a hand lightly to his forehead. "If only one of you could do it." "I'll think of the next step." Ernard answered immediately. No sign of discouragement, just facing forward. Filren said "Please do" and returned to the records. --- A little past noon, they sat down on the stone steps of the Jade-Depth River. The bustle of the midday market reached them from a distance. The river flowed gently, and a single small sailing ship could be seen heading upstream. Filren opened the bundle he'd brought. Leftovers from breakfast at the inn "Soot Lamp Yurte." Smoked river fish—a dried version of Yurte's signature dish, made from Jade-Depth River fish slowly smoked with salt and fragrant wood. The drying process concentrated the umami, making it perfect for travel food. When he offered some to Ernard, she politely shook her head. "I couldn't. I appreciate the kindness, but—" "Don't be modest. Once we enter Ashgreen Forest, there won't be time for lunch." "That's true, but..." Ernard's gaze flickered toward the smoked fish. Filren offered it again without a word. Ernard said quietly "...Then, just a little" and accepted. She took a bite and her expression changed to one of mild surprise. "It's delicious." "It's Yurte's specialty. The dried version brings out the ingredient's flavor better than the smoked fish stew." Ernard ate quietly. Facing the river, she closed her parchment and simply looked at the water surface. In her profile, something closer to her natural sixteen-year-old self appeared rather than the trained holy maiden candidate atmosphere. After a while, Ernard spoke. "We didn't have time like this at the Dawn Temple." "Time like this?" "Time to just sit and do nothing. We always had to be doing something—the next training, a ceremony, reading, something—so there was never a moment of rest." Her tone was matter-of-fact. She wasn't appealing for sympathy or seeking understanding. Simply stating facts in that manner. "If there were ten candidates, we'd all take breaks at the same time. But I was...always on the outside of the group. I have almost no memory of sharing sweets with someone, or having trivial conversations, things like that." Filren listened while looking at the river. He felt there was no need to say anything, so he remained silent. Even after finishing her story, Ernard's expression didn't change. Not a sad face. Just a quiet recognition that this had been her ten years. That very fact made the depth of her isolation felt all the more. Filren watched the river for a while. He could hear the small sound of water eroding stone. "I started thinking about retirement about three years ago." Ernard turned her face slightly toward him. "Not from the time of the attribute wars. More recent than that. The old campsites from back then still appear in my dreams sometimes. There was a night when three members of my unit fell. I was the only one still standing. I still don't know why I survived." There was no wavering in his voice. He spoke like he was simply laying out facts. "After that, the word 'retirement' was always in a corner of my mind. If I quit once, I wouldn't have to go to the next night camp. I wouldn't have to hold a sword next to someone again. I thought that while continuing for twenty years anyway." "...Why did you keep going?" Filren paused. "I don't know." He answered honestly. Ernard received that answer quietly, as if she understood that not knowing was closer to truth than a lie. The two faced the same direction and watched the river for a while. Their manner of speaking held the same temperature. Not making light of their own wounds, but not hiding them either. For the first time, it created an equal ground between them. --- In the afternoon, they resumed their investigation. As they approached the outer edge of

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Episode 3

Name: The Awakening of Inverse Attributes: An Old Adventurer and Young Heroes
Author: Novelia

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