CHAPTER 204

'A reward…'

Jin let out a relieved sigh in his mind. Although he did anticipate it, hearing it with his own two ears felt completely different.

"Firstly, go get the horses that ran away. I won't be walking across this barren land at this age."

"Yes, ma'am."

Jin quickly moved his feet to seek out the horses. With the hoofprints still on the sand, finding them was not so hard.

Thankfully, they didn't go too far, and Jin found them quenching their thirst at a pond.

The day ended as soon as he dragged the horses back to Vanessa. 

"Well done. Sit here."

A small fire burned brightly in front of her. Oil sizzled on the dried meat and fish that she stuck onto a stick.

She also had three barrels of wine with her. She opened two of them and filled two steel goblets.

'So she initially filled up the carriage with wine? She prepared this even after speaking like I'd fail for sure.'

Jin smiled and bowed.

"You as well. I didn't think you'd prepare such a great table."

"Well, you treated me in Tikan."

Clang!

They gave their cheers.

The knights' wine was strong, but their resistant bodies refused to fall to inebriety. Yet, even among a variety of wines, Vanessa's concoction was especially toxic. As soon as Jin drank it, his inherent antidote reacted to it. 

'It's stronger than the jewelled wine that I had before getting the Heart of Light.'

Vanessa shocked Jin by chugging the entire goblet and proceeding to empty out a barrel. He tried to match her pace, but towards the end, he left her to herself.

She looked as if she were about to cry.

"Do you recall when I said our time in Tikan reminded me of something?"

"Yes, I do."

"I remembered my younger sibling. I'm this old, but in my memory, he's as young as you, which makes me forget how old I am."

She spoke calmly. 

Jin only thought she looked sad, but it had been so long since her brother's death. Instead of sadness, she felt bitter and lonely.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm telling you this."

"Do I look like him?"

"Not at all. He didn't look as fine as you, nor was he strong. He was special to me, but in every other aspect. He was just a normal kid, and we weren't from any royal family."

Vanessa cleared her throat after a refreshing last sip and took out a cigarette. She lit it with the campfire in the middle and took a deep breath. As she exhaled, the smoke covered her face.

"On the other hand, I've had an immense potential since birth. Just like you Runcandels. As I prepared to become a knight of the Schucheron Kingdom, I got into a little scuffle at 17. I beat the hell out of one of the capital's knights."

"The knight must've been startled."

"He visited his hometown during his leave. I didn't know until he left with a nosebleed. The one witness, the bar owner, told me afterwards."

"The King must've been shocked as well."

"Damn right. They didn't think an intoxicated knight would provoke a civilian girl. How could they even let that happen to a knight?"

She lit another to smoke.

"The next day, the knight killed the bar owner. Then, he began to kill off the few relatives I had. The King sentenced me for crimes I didn't even commit, and even sent out troops. They couldn't afford to taint the Royal Guard's name."

Vanessa hadn't been as strong as she was now. Back then, she was just a 17-year-old girl with potential.

"So I tried to run, but I made that decision too late. My brother got caught, and I had to go to the castle without any weapons."

Her brother lay unconscious in the castle's front yard then, whip marks decorating his body. The knights told Vanessa to take off her clothes and crawl to the castle. 

Jin's fists shook as he listened to her story, but Vanessa shook her head.

"Thankfully, I never had to comply with such conditions. At that moment, I heard a booming roar… and fire balls began to rain from the sky. A fire dragon had ambushed the castle."

In a split second, the fire dragon destroyed the castle and killed many in the process.

Ironically, the only one who fought the dragon was Vanessa.

"Absolutely insane. During the commotion, prisoners of the castle and the Royal Guards escaped. My brother didn't die immediately from the dragon, so I had no choice but to fight."

Due to that fight, Vanessa unlocked her potential. She unleashed her strength, and inconceivable power emerged from her every move.

"I picked up a sword from a dead knight to protect myself—the one that kidnapped my brother—and that sight looked pretty entertaining to the dragon. I kept swinging the sword furiously with my brother in my arms."

However, going against the power of a fire dragon was impossible.

The dragon took her brother away and intentionally left her alive.

"After burning down the rest of the village, he told me to come to the Ante Mountains if I wanted him back. And so I went."

Yet her brother had already died. 

"That dragon didn't even confront me. Just left me there and flew away. He just wanted to see me hopeless. He figured that it was more fun than burning down villages."

"…Did you remain in the Ante Mountains after that moment?"

"Yep. I didn't think of looking for him at all. It was too tiring."

Jin also began to drink as much as Vanessa was.

She had never left the mountains until she met Cyron.

Every single dragon who passed, she killed. Every human who passed, she killed. It was pretty rare for a human to come, but when they did, some of them gave her a challenge.

All of whom either had their grievances with the fire dragon or simply came to face her. 

"I slowly descended into insanity. No, I was already insane. Over a hundred dragons died, and the fire dragon still hadn't appeared. Fifteen years later, your father, Lord Cyron, visited me."

He was the first one to take her down.

"The day after he defeated me, he caught the fire dragon and its babies. Apparently, they were related to Kelliark Zipfel's Kadun. So, Kadun came as well, saying that he'd protect his kind. What do you think happened?"

"Father killed all of them, and Kadun fleed with an injury."

"Lord Cyron only helped so that Kadun couldn't interfere. Killing off the other ones was completely up to me."

Revenge exacted by Vanessa's hands.

In the end, she killed them all. However, before she killed the culprit, she asked him what his motive was over and over again.

"As mentioned before, he just killed my brother because he thought it'd be funny. My disappointment and depression were entertaining to him. He'd probably accepted his fate, so he tried to piss me off until the end."

"Ha."

"After that, Lord Cyron made me his knight. Wearing the black helmet, I went through situations that made my youth feel like nothing. As I got used to the lifestyle, I slowly transitioned into a proper knight."

Jin didn't answer and continued to refill her goblet.

"If you become the strongest, just like your father, give your subordinates the opportunity for revenge. It is crucial."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Remember, do not let some civilians sway you. They die too swiftly and depend on us too much. And when you become hopeless some day…"

Vanessa paused for a moment to look into Jin's eyes.

"It's not because you lost to a stronger blade, but because you share the tragedies of regular people. Your father and I faced the same conflicts and became monsters. Now, I don't feel a thing when I think of my brother."

As the fire crackled away, a long silence ensued.

She opened the last barrel. 

"Listen to your father whenever you get the chance."

"I'll make sure to do so."

Did transcending humanity mean to forget one's emotions? Jin thought of his team back at Tikan.

"That's enough advising… so take this."

Vanessa handed a folded piece of paper.

It was a map. A very accurate representation of some place he knew.

And seeing the empty areas on it, he knew it was incomplete. Some areas were also smudged and hard to read. 

"A map of the Black Sea. Go to the place marked in red. It doesn't matter if you go alone or with your team, but it'll be hard to get through the toxic gases."

"Is this my reward?"

Jin never knew there was a map of the Black Sea. The previous Dark Knights created a map over the generations, and that had still been a work in progress. 

"As soon as Lord Cyron created the map, he gave it to me. He told me to give it to whoever among the siblings seemed worthy. In a sense, this is another mission, not a reward."

"I presume you wouldn't tell me what lies in this area?"

Vanessa shook her head.

"Why would I withhold the obvious? There are monsters in the red-marked area. Kill them. They're the ones that the Witch, Helluram, raised many years ago."

Jin's eyes widened.