Chapter 875

"Have you found any traces of Nahan?"

As the question was posed, the once gentle expressions on the faces of the two men vanished simultaneously. It was Nathan Zuckerman who, with an impassive face, opened his mouth to respond.

"Yes. Based on the information relayed by Deputy Commander Wand, we searched the desert areas near three sectors. And today, at a place called 'Entrance of the Sunset,' we found this."

What Nathan pulled out from his bosom was a dirty piece of cloth. It appeared to be part of a garment, now so blackened with discoloration that its original color was indiscernible. Kishiar's red eye, not hidden by his bandages, narrowed sharply and scrutinized the object meticulously.

"It smells of dried blood. Is it not one but two pieces of cloth stuck together?"

"Yes. One seems to be part of a sleeve of a shirt, and the other, a bandage that was attached to it. Both were soaked in blood and sand."

"What did Kanna say about it?"

"She asserted it belonged to that person. However, there was hardly any new information to glean, making it unclear what might have happened to him."

"I see... I guess so."

Kanna Wand had earned recognition on the night known as 'Hail Night,' successfully leading the Cavalry with Ever and safely evacuating many non-Awakener individuals. Among them were Kiolle da Diarca and the Crown Prince. However, despite her achievements, she could not rejoice, as she had failed to properly manage the prisoner Hosanna.

This was the case not only for Kanna but also for every member who had directly or indirectly contributed to Hosanna's escape that day. While Kishiar was unable to meet them, the gravity of the incident was too severe to delay disciplinary actions.

Issues must be addressed at the moment they arise. Delaying makes moving forward much more difficult. In this case, he believed there was a significant risk of the members' morale and motivation deteriorating and becoming corrupted.

Therefore, Kishiar, bedridden, dealt with the disciplinary actions through written orders. His method was straightforward. He asked those who had admitted their faults to write down their wrongdoings and what they thought could be done to prevent a recurrence of such incidents.

The focus was not on punishment for the crimes committed but on finding solutions. He did not expect the members to understand the significance of this immediately, but that was irrelevant. As expected, the members interpreted it as 'write the punishment you think you deserve.' After reading their papers, clumsily filled with their thoughts on the heaviest penalties and their painstakingly written solutions, Kishiar made some deductions and additions before sending them back.

In the case of Kanna Wand, her original proposed punishment included a ten-year forfeiture of her salary, demotion from her Deputy Commander position, and taking lifelong responsibility for the issues caused by Hosanna.

Kishiar accepted the lifelong responsibility and reduced the salary forfeiture to one year, but he did not agree to remove her from the Deputy Commander position.

Since then, Kanna had not rested for a moment, continually working hard. Thanks to her efforts in thoroughly investigating and organizing the events of Hail Night, the Cavalry remained stable even in the absence of their Commander and his assistant.

Without her, no one would have understood the bizarre circumstances behind the deaths of the sage and Diemon discovered after Hail Night.

A cold smile briefly lingered on Kishiar's lips as he thought about their deaths.

'Truly a death befitting each of them.'

Until the very end, the sage, who had clung to hope and thought to escape by brainwashing a Cavalry member or another, met a miserable death at the hands of the Diemon he had exploited. Consumed by revenge and greed, Diemon, whose body had aged rapidly due to ability overload, withered away even further, dying unnoticed in an instant.

The one who dreamt of obtaining everything through his brainwashing ability, and the copyist who, having stolen that power, dreamt of his own success.

Kishiar surmised that similar events must have occurred in the 'previous game.'

"It's highly likely that the Diemon in that game succeeded because he chose not to fully absorb the true sage's power, stopping at an inferior copy."

Yuder had mentioned that the sage he met in the previous game possessed not a perfect brainwashing ability, but rather one that could merely alter people's moods. If it was an inferior copy, it made sense that he could only use it to that extent.

That brief moment of choice spared Diemon's life, and the future Yuder had feared was thus altered.

Why and how did such a difference arise? While uncertain, considering Yuder's story and the information Kanna deciphered, it was possible to speculate where the variables in this game began.

"Perhaps... it was all due to Yuder."

Long ago, Yuder went to the East to search for the missing Devran and met Nahan for the first time - an encounter that never happened in the previous game. As a result of this meeting, the existence of Nahan and the Star of Nagran was revealed much earlier to the Cavalry, changing the sage's movements to be quicker and bolder than before.

Unlike the previous game, the real sage on the Crown Prince's and Duke Diarca's side used Diemon's ability to perfectly copy the power of a young Awakener. His goal was to attack the Sun Palace, where the Emperor resided, to make a significant impression on Duke Diarca.

As a result, Diemon realized that his ability was not just inferior copying; with a price, he could perfectly acquire them.

Was it too speculative to think that this experience influenced his life-deciding choice in this game? Kishiar concluded that it probably wasn't.

With this, the greater enemy of the future Yuder feared was no longer a concern. However, since Nahan, who should have died in the previous game, disappeared, and the strange cracks appeared much earlier than Yuder remembered, it couldn't be said that everything turned out well.

Knowing this, Yuder must have struggled on the day of the hailstorm, sparing no effort to reduce the variables, even at the expense of his own body.

"..."

Kishiar could not fully comprehend the weight of the future Yuder knew. How could he claim to understand the resolve to prevent a repetition of the past, a determination so fierce that even injuries that shattered his entire body seemed inconsequential?

Yet, whenever Kishiar's greed for Yuder's safety inevitably grew, he recalled a dream he once had.

Petals fluttering under a blue sky. In stark contrast, the bloodied body of a prisoner, unable to move.

The eyes revealed beneath the helmet of a soldier dragging the prisoner like an animal, and the face reflected in the blade.

In that horribly disfigured face, a single eye, still dark as night, revealed the identity of the prisoner to Kishiar like a bolt of lightning.

Every time he recalled that dream, Kishiar became acutely aware of the trivial weight of his own greed. This realization deepened after he learned Yuder's secret.

"Hmm..."

In the midst of these thoughts, Yuder slightly furrowed his brow and made a sound. Kishiar immediately straightened his posture and banished the thoughts he had been dwelling on.

'Darn it. Did my deep contemplation inadvertently get transmitted?'

The fact that emotions could unintentionally be conveyed to the other due to their connection was inconvenient at times. After Yuder had once caught a glimpse of the emotions Kishiar thought he had perfectly concealed, Kishiar made an effort not to dwell on negative emotions for long.

Yuder was indifferent to the pain in his own body but sensitive to the emotions Kishiar felt.

'Anyway... The discovery of what is presumed to be Nahan's clothes and bandages is hardly good news for us.'

Yuder speculated that Nahan was not dead but had been transported somewhere by Hosanna's last ability. Kishiar, considering this possibility as a priority, had ordered Kanna to investigate.

The place where Hosanna died was a grim sight, soaked with burst blood and bodily fluids. Undeterred, Kanna entered the cavity left behind multiple times, using her ability to extract information.

The scarce information she managed to glean was related to the last words mumbled by Hosanna.

In his final moments, Hosanna reminisced about a certain Southerner he had met in his youth. There had been a peculiar person who asked him to convey a message: if his young master ever wanted to visit the South, he should come to a specific place. Hosanna suspected that this person might have been related to Nahan's mother, but he never told Nahan and kept silent for a long time.

Facing death, he thought of the quickest way to reach that place and used his teleportation ability on Nahan.

The desert between the South and the Empire. Towards one of the midlands where Hosanna had crossed as a child with the caravan.