Part 8: Alright (1)

Aiden and the master rested while standing.

“It’s a shame.”

Aiden, having finished his pecan pie, glanced down at the cloth.

“What’s a shame? You sure ate it like you enjoyed it.”

“It’s just that… it’s not the same as eating it fresh at the shop. Storing it in cloth made it lose its crispiness.”

“…Forget it. I won’t say anything.”

“Did it suit your taste, Master?”

“It was a bit too rich for me, but half a slice was fine.”

The master begrudgingly admitted the taste was decent.

There was something strangely unpredictable about Aiden now that he had retired.

Was this a side of him that had always been buried beneath his cold rationality?

Or was this a trait that had emerged after becoming an ordinary person?

It was impossible to be sure.

Aiden himself probably didn’t know either.

“By the way, you said you followed me because you were worried?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t that a direct violation of your orders? You were supposed to stay away from both the Thieves Guild and me.”

“No. If anything, I was following my orders,” Aiden’s response was unexpected.

“How so?”

“One of the commandments in my orders was to make friends, wasn’t it?”

“That’s true.”

“Maybe… I want to be friends with you, Master.”

The word ‘friend’ sounded particularly foreign coming from Aiden’s lips.

Aiden had never had friends.

Assassination and training.

Assassination and training.

That had been the entirety of his routine.

Not that he had never had time to make friends—he simply hadn’t known how.

He had never been loved, so he never learned to love. And because he didn’t know how to love, he was never loved in return. It was a classic vicious cycle.

That was precisely why the master had ordered him to make friends.

People need people.

People need love.

“That’s bold of you. Trying to be friends with your former superior?”

“Is age really important when making friends?”

“Who told you that?”

“Mister Carl.”

“Of course it was him. He does seem like a good man.”

The master admitted it without hesitation.

Carl had told him that if he truly wanted Aiden to retire, he shouldn’t seek him out again.

He was a man with guts.

A man with insight.

“So, who are the friends you’ve made so far?”

“Mister Carl, Miss Lyra, Lucy, Cheese… and you, Master.”

“Wait, who’s Cheese?”

“The cat I introduced to you this morning.”

“Doesn’t including animals feel like cheating?”

The master let out a small chuckle.

“By my definition of friendship, that cat counts. It’s a friend—an animal friend.”

“And what exactly is your definition of a friend?”

“Someone… I can’t bring myself to ignore,” Aiden answered calmly.

Someone he wanted to overlook but couldn’t.

Someone he wanted to turn away from but wouldn’t.

To Aiden, that was a friend.

That was why he had saved Lucy.

Why he had saved Cheese.

And why he had come to save the master.

If Carl or Lyra were ever in danger, Aiden would readily step in to help them too.

“Do you like having friends? You used to be wary of getting close to people, fearing betrayal.”

“……”

“And you’ve been betrayed before, haven’t you?”

The master intentionally touched on an old wound.

Aiden had once given his heart to someone, only to be betrayed.

It had happened during the early days of his assassin training—

By the comrade he had been closest to.

“I won’t be betrayed now. And even if I am, I have the strength to deal with it.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. Living while trusting others… isn’t so bad,” Aiden smiled as he looked at the master.

“Do I seem more normal now?”

“If you’ve realized that much, then this game is over. Forget the orders. Live as you please from now on.”

“I’ll hold on to the orders a little longer. There are still things I haven’t figured out yet.”

A brief silence followed their long conversation.

For some reason, the master felt a bitter taste in his mouth.

He had wanted Aiden to become ordinary, but not quite this much.

Maybe, deep down…

He had been hoping Aiden wouldn’t be able to adapt and would come back.

I gave you a chance.

But you’re the one who threw it away.

Perhaps he had only given that order to ease his own conscience.

And now, he wondered if the Ego Dagger had been trying to call him out for it earlier.

“Do you regret making me retire?” for once, Aiden asked first.

“If you’d assigned this mission to me, everything would have gone smoothly.”

“It’d be a lie to say I have no regrets at all. Things will be tougher now, but I feel relieved inside.”

“Why?”

“Because I ruined you.”

The master’s voice was heavy.

He was the one who had shaped Aiden into someone who saw himself as nothing more than a cog in the machine.

Because of him, Aiden had lost his humanity.

The balance of the continent.

Peace.

Even if it had been for the greater good, that didn’t justify what had been done.

In that sense…

To the master, Aiden was his debt of conscience.

Forcing Aiden to retire had been his way of repaying that debt.

“Aren’t you angry at me?”

“……”

“Now that you’re living a normal life, you must have realized—just how much I put you through.”

“When I look back, it was a terrible time. Living in a world where you either kill or be killed.”

“Yeah. I was your nightmare. And yet, you still want me as a friend?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because, Master, I’m sure you had your own struggles too,” Aiden spoke in an even tone.

“This morning at the tavern, I had a customer. A merchant running a small trading company. He complained to me for an hour straight.”

“And what does that have to do with me?” the master tilted his head slightly.

“If running a small trading company is that exhausting, how much harder must it be to run the Thieves Guild? That thought crossed my mind.”

“……”

“And then I realized—I had never once considered your burdens before.”

“……”

“Knowing your personality, you must have never voiced your struggles to anyone. At most, maybe to the Ego Dagger?”

Aiden was speaking far more than before.

A whirlwind of words.

It was dizzying.

What was even more shocking was how precisely Aiden had grasped his inner turmoil.

The truth was, he had struggled.

There were countless things he had to sacrifice as the Rogue Master.

But all of that pain—

He had kept entirely to himself.

He had never—

Not even once—

Put it into words.

“If we were just superior and subordinate, I wouldn’t say this. But as friends, I can.”

“……”

“If I’m just a subordinate, I might not be able to say this. But as a friend, I can. That’s why… I want to be your friend, Master,” Aiden spoke from the heart.

As he continued speaking, his own thoughts became clearer—why he had started following the master in the first place.

Yes.

Aiden simply wanted to be friends with him.

Whenever he thought of the master…

At some point, he always remembered the wrinkled, folded mission order.

The one his master had prepared long ago to retire him but had never been able to bring himself to use.

A paper that held all the turmoil of a wavering heart.

That very paper spoke the truth.

That the master, in the end, was also just a person.

Now, Aiden wanted to face him not as a superior, but as a person—no, as a friend.

“Life sure has some surprises in store.”

The master shook his head in disbelief.

“A subordinate asking to be my friend? A subordinate trying to comfort me?”

“I never expected to change like this either. So… do you hate it?”

“And what if I do?”

“Then I’ll leave you behind and escape on my own.”

“You sneaky bastard, are you threatening me?”

“I only learned from the best.”

“Tch. Yeah, yeah, it’s all my karma. Who else can I blame?”

The master couldn’t bring himself to look Aiden in the eye.

There was something bubbling up inside his chest.

Because of that feeling…

His nose stung, and his eyes burned slightly.

It was surprising.

Hearing words like, ‘You’ve had it tough too, haven’t you?’ from someone else—

Even more surprising was that the person saying it was Aiden.

But why?

Why did simply having his hardships acknowledged…

Feel as if all those years of struggle were melting away?

Had suffering always been this light?

“Damn it. Looks like I have no choice but to be your friend, even if it kills me.”

“As long as you understand.”

“But first, shouldn’t we focus on getting out of this godforsaken place?”

“We’ll be out soon enough,” Aiden spoke with unwavering confidence.

*  *  *

Three moons hung in the sky of this strange place.

After walking for about ten more minutes, they finally encountered it.

A bizarre structure greeted them.

“This looks like…”

“A circus tent,” Aiden finished the master’s sentence.

Their gazes settled on the massive circus tent.

Its top formed a sharp triangle, while its base was shaped like a wide platter.

The sheer size of it rivaled that of a noble’s mansion—grand and imposing.

A crimson canopy billowed in the sandy winds, catching their attention.

After encountering so many grotesque monsters on the way here, a circus tent appearing out of nowhere hardly seemed shocking.

“There’s a strong presence inside. Likely the one in charge of this place.”

“That much is obvious.”

“Master, stay back. I’ll handle this.”

“Shouldn’t I at least pretend to help?”

“No need.”

“Even for you, taking on a dimensional keeper alone is reckless.”

“I can kill anything on this continent. But nothing can kill me.”

Aiden’s words were arrogant.

But they were also true.

For he was the Reaper.

Aiden stepped forward, leading the way into the circus tent, and the master followed closely behind.

The interior was no different from a regular circus tent.

A wide path led straight from the entrance to the central stage.

Around that stage, circular rows of seats formed the audience section.

Snap!

The crisp sound of fingers snapping echoed through the tent.

In that instant, the previously dark stage was suddenly flooded with bright light.

A clown stood in the center.

He wore a clown mask—

A mask with a fist-sized red nose and an unsettling grin that stretched almost to his ears.

He was dressed in loose, multicolored pants, his attire garish yet comical.

Aiden glanced at the master.

The master gave a small nod and stopped walking.

Aiden advanced alone toward the stage, facing the clown.

“Who would’ve thought? What a rare occasion! Visitors coming all the way here to watch my performance? And not just one, but two! I’m so touched, I might just cry!”

The clown, introducing himself as Pierre, exaggerated his emotions.

Aiden had assumed he was merely pretending to cry—

But Pierre was genuinely sobbing.

“So you’re the one behind all this. You’re also the one who sent that staff to the human realm, aren’t you?”

“H-how did you know?!”

“The carving on the staff’s head… It was a dead ringer for you.”

“Kyaa~ What sharp eyes! You deserve applause for that!”

Pierre clapped enthusiastically—

Clap! Clap! Clap!

From the moment they met, his antics had been incessant.

Exactly the kind of personality Aiden despised.

“Is this the Chaos Realm?”

“Hooh? So you know of the Chaos Realm? How much do you know?”

“Only the name. What exactly is this place?”

“If this is your first time here, you must have a lot of questions. But don’t worry, even if you don’t want to know what the Chaos Realm is… You’ll find out soon enough. Hohoho.”

“Tell me your goal.”

“My goal? Well… it’s simple,” Pierre grinned widely.

“I just wanted to share my world and my monsters with the humans. Let them enjoy the wonders I’ve created.”

“……”

“What other goal would a clown have besides making people laugh?”

“I’m not laughing.”

“Well, of course! The show hasn’t started yet.”

Aiden ignored Pierre’s nonsense.

“Tonight is your final performance.”
 

To be continued

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