Chapter 29
“Because There’s No Reason”
“Senior!”
I suddenly stood up and grabbed Roitz’s sleeve just as he was trying to climb up onto the bank. Because of that, we both tumbled back into the water.
Roitz ran both hands through his wet black hair.
A sigh escaped through his hands as they brushed across his face.
“Have you been well? When did you come back?”
I didn’t expect our reunion to happen like this—soaked and standing in the middle of a stream—but somehow, where we were and what state we were in didn’t matter much.
I was just so glad to see him.
There were so many things I wanted to say and ask.
“Are you here to watch the races? I think you’ve gotten taller since I last saw you.”
Maybe I was talking too much, but considering this was two years’ worth of conversation coming out at once, it really wasn’t all that much.
“Oh, and I wrote it in a letter too, but I’m joining early. I haven’t decided which Order I’ll go to yet, but I’m officially a knight starting this year.”
I kept chattering away. Meanwhile, Roitz didn’t respond—just stared at me with a hardened gaze.
“Hello? Senior?”
Had he taken a vow of silence after finishing the two-year expedition?
Just then, Roitz looked like he was about to say something.
Even though I had more to say, I waited patiently for his reply. I figured I should give him a chance to talk too.
“I see.”
But… that wasn’t quite the reaction I’d been expecting.
If it were the Roitz I remembered, he’d probably say something like, “Serdin, you’re amazing,” or “You’re definitely coming to Elce, right, Serdin?”
Maybe he’d ruffle my hair, or smile while tidying up the already messy strands.
Something more… expressive.
But instead, I got a plain “I see” and that indifferent expression. It felt so flat. Too flat.
“That’s it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Can’t you react a little more?”
Maybe if he just said my name, it wouldn’t feel so bland.
“You didn’t forget my name, did you?”
“…”
“I’m Serdin Bibi, remember? And I’m officially a knight now!”
“I see.”
“Still that’s it?”
“Then what else should I say?”
“You could ask where I’m going…”
To that, Roitz replied in the same dry tone.
“I already know it won’t be Elce.”
Well… that was true.
I had told him more than once that Elce wasn’t an option.
But still…
Roitz stood up and looked down at me.
Bathed in backlight, I looked up at him and asked,
“Why didn’t you reply to my letters?”
I was honestly curious.
Every time I opened the mailbox over the past two years, I had wondered.
Was he just really busy? Did I write the address wrong?
But other people had sent letters to the same address without issues.
Roitz turned back to me. Standing in the sunlight, casting a shadow on the water, he finally gave me the answer I’d waited two years for.
“Because I didn’t have a reason to reply.”
That wasn’t quite the answer I expected.
I wasn’t imagining something specific, but this was… different.
He didn’t have a reason to reply?
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t have a reason to explain that either.”
“What…?”
As the sun brightened, the shadow in Roitz’s gaze deepened as he looked down at me.
His face was cloaked in shadow as he spoke.
“We’re not senior and junior at Yudelln anymore. We’re not comrades in the same Order either.”
He was right.
He was, but…
“I have no reason to be kind to you.”
“…”
“I told you before. I don’t care what people who aren’t connected to me think.”
With that, Roitz turned and climbed up onto the bank in one motion.
I remained seated in the water as he walked away.
A chill wind blew through my soaked fingers.
I kept staring at his back.
Under the blazing sun, Roitz walked away without ever looking back.
“Se-Serdin. What happened? Are you okay?”
“You said you went to get water but came back soaking wet.”
“Oh no, Serdin! Did you really go all the way to the Zen River?”
My friends were horrified at the sight of me, now the most drenched person at the racetrack.
But I didn’t explain anything. I was lost in thought.
“I told you. I don’t care what people who aren’t connected to me think.”
Roitz had said that once before—back when he left a strong first impression on me as a standoffish freeloader.
“Back then, it didn’t matter if I annoyed him, because I thought we wouldn’t have any connection.”
So now… did he see me as someone unrelated to him?
“Serdin, shouldn’t you dry your clothes first?”
“The sun will dry them…”
I answered Lysha half-heartedly.
Mina handed me a jacket. Haerel wrung the water out of my soaked hair.
“That look Roitz gave me earlier—it was cold.”
Like he was looking at a stranger.
In the original story, Roitz was known to be cold and indifferent.
When I actually met him, I thought he was a bit different from the way he was portrayed.
So maybe now, I was finally meeting the Roitz as he truly was in the story.
That must be it…
Then why does it feel so strange?
I recalled what Roitz had said again—that he didn’t care about people who weren’t connected to him.
Then…
“How do you connect with someone?”
“Connect? With a person? What are you talking about?”
“I mean, how do you reconnect with someone you’re not anything to anymore?”
Even I wasn’t sure what I was asking.
It was a strange question, but my friends thought about it seriously.
Lysha folded her arms and answered with a thoughtful, sentimental look.
“You’d have to find a thread to tie the relationship again.”
“A thread?”
“Like some moment or catalyst that can link you two again.”
It was surprisingly good advice for such a sentimental line.
“Wait, Serdin, did you really fall into the water with that senior?”
Haerel asked with a slight grin. How did he know?
He was pointing somewhere.
In that direction, Roitz stood talking with Enia and Simon.
The two seniors were smiling and chatting happily—only Roitz looked serious.
As I watched him, I recalled what Lysha had said.
A moment or catalyst to reconnect…?
Then I had to talk to him again, right?
Just then, another race round ended.
People started to leave, and Roitz and the other seniors were among them.
“Guys, I’m heading out first! Lysha, thanks for the advice!”
“Serdin, what about food?”
“Eat without me!”
I dashed out of the racetrack.
Cool wind brushed against my skin as Haerel’s voice faded behind me.
“But Serdin, the water…?! Ack, ack!”
‘Where is he?’
Evening approached, and the racetrack was about to close.
It was a perfect day, so the place had been packed with people.
Finding Roitz in this crowd was no easy task.
“Did you see a tall guy with black hair? Soaking wet…?”
I described him in detail, asking everyone.
Because of the sudden encounter, I hadn’t had time to think of what to say.
But I just felt this strange urgency to see him again.
‘I waited two years for Roitz to come back—why am I so desperate now?’
Maybe it was because the way he looked at me… was nothing like what I imagined.
‘I thought he’d be someone I’d only see a few times before cutting ties… but now I’m panicking.’
Even I found it weird.
But what mattered now was finding him and hearing what he had to say.
“I saw him heading toward Melrn Street.”
After running around nonstop, I finally got a lead.
Melrn Street—that was where the Elce Order’s headquarters were located.
‘So he was heading to Elce…’
I hurried that way.
The fastest route was through Jedilak Street beside the old marketplace.
I crossed a bridge and entered the run-down Jedilak area.
It was a place with a lot of shady rumors—I’d never stepped foot here before.
‘If I just cross that wall at the end of the street, I’ll reach Melrn.’
Like in every city, just one wall away could mean a completely different world.
And this was no exception. Beyond the wall was lively and well-kept.
But Jedilak, though right next to it, had a very different atmosphere.
The whole street smelled unpleasant.
Now that evening had fallen, it was dark—no lamps, no light.
‘People do live here…’
Some peered out from windows. Others sat hunched in alleyways.
Still, something about it felt eerie and cold.
But I didn’t slow down. I had to find Roitz quickly.
‘Just over that wall… once I find Roitz…’
But then—suddenly, a scream came from the far side of Jedilak.
‘What was that?’
I turned immediately. A young, thin man had fallen on his rear, staring at something.
“Aagh! G-Get away!”
In front of him was something black—a monster in the form of a giant beetle, a Class-5 creature.
Even if it only had the strength of a wild dog or boar, to a regular citizen on the street, it was terrifying.
“Excuse me.”
I rushed over and grabbed the stick from the man’s trembling hand.
Without stopping, I charged at the monster.
I raised the stick high above my head.
There were so many things I wanted to tell Roitz when I saw him.
Like how I’d practiced every little thing he’d taught me for the past two years.
This was one of them too.
Channeling sword energy through something that wasn’t a sword—two years ago, I couldn’t do it. Now, I could.
Whoosh—
A crimson blade aura wrapped around the long stick as it sliced through the air.
