CHAPTER 99…………………………..
Amid the frozen silence, Adem added bitterly,
“You’ve all been very kind to me, even when I could barely open my eyes. I know that.”
“No, Adem!”
The first to come to his senses was Yannick.
“What do you mean, we’ve been kind? We’re only in business thanks to you!”
“Y-yeah, that’s right!”
Someone else chimed in.
“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t even know which spices were the high-quality ones!”
“You remember that idiot who bought damp saffron last time and got scammed?”
It was true — the Atheist Guild owed much of its success in Girgaia, and even the small ship it owned, to Adem.
Adem had a sharp eye and was a skilled negotiator. Most of all, he could see through deceit in an instant. Yannick muttered, his face pale,
“I’m sorry, Adem….”
But Adem said nothing. In the end, Nicholas sighed, grabbed him by the arm, and led him to his room.
Even as the guildmaster, Nicholas knew he couldn’t plead with Adem in front of others.
“This isn’t about Yannick, is it?”
At that, Adem, who had been fumbling for a chair, gave a faint, embarrassed smile.
“I can’t fool you, Nick. No, it’s not just because of Yannick. Though… I’ll admit, the timing’s a bit earlier than I planned.”
“Ugh.”
Nicholas shot him a look as he leaned on his cane toward the chair.
“The door’s locked. You can open your eyes.”
“…”
At that, the man hunched his shoulders.
“I’m used to it now.”
He sat down, finding the chair with practiced ease.
He wasn’t truly blind — and yet he’d somehow grown accustomed to keeping his eyes shut.
If only it weren’t for those damned eyes, he’d be a remarkable man.
Instead of saying that, Nicholas just muttered,
“Damn fool.”
“…”
“Is it because of the Saint?”
The man didn’t answer. But both of them knew that silence was an answer.
Nicholas knew the story — how Adem had been branded a demon worshiper and ruined because of it.
The timing had been too neat. From the moment the proposal came from the harbor official, Nicholas had sensed something off…
“Was it them who framed you as a demon worshiper…?”
“No.”
The man’s denial was firm — rare for him, and quick enough to cut Nicholas off mid-sentence.
“Truly not? You haven’t gone near the capital in two years.”
The Atheist Guild hadn’t prospered from the start.
There had been times when their salt dissolved in the rain before they could sell it, or when they brought goods that fetched no decent price because of bad intel.
But ever since Adem joined them, they’d flourished. He knew the roads, knew which regions valued which goods.
Still, there was one strange thing — every merchant seeking fortune had to pass through the Imperial Capital.
Yet Adem refused to go anywhere near it.
For most merchants, sticking to familiar routes wasn’t unusual.
But for the Atheist Guild, it made no sense — they weren’t bound to any single trade route.
And still, Adem avoided the capital at all costs.
Last year, when news spread that the Imperial Knights were buying up resin, Nicholas had suggested heading there — but Adem had flatly refused, selling their stock cheaply to a middleman instead.
Incredibly, they hadn’t lost a coin. When the middleman reached the capital, the knights had already finished their purchases.
The middleman took the loss, and Nicholas’s guild stayed untouched. Everyone praised Adem for his “instinct.” Nicholas had told himself it was just coincidence.
“It was coincidence,” Adem said now.
This one isn’t, though. Nicholas sniffed, shaking his head at the man.
“…Where will you go?”
If he’d made up his mind, Nicholas knew better than to stop him. The man smiled faintly.
“I think I’ll visit my brother. He mentioned the Wasteland of Ice the other day — made me think it’s about time I checked in.”
“Ah, your brother.”
Since he’d left, they’d exchanged only a few letters through Nicholas’s guild. He’d never once come in person — not that Adem seemed eager to see him, either.
Still, this wasn’t the time to pry. Nicholas simply sighed.
“At least help us sell the saffron before you go, won’t you?”
“…”
“Yannick and I are heading to Saruin, but the others are returning to Foldenbach. If the pepper we left at the docks gets damp, we’re doomed.”
Finally, Adem nodded.
“Of course. I’ll be heading that way anyway.”
“Good, then…”
Nicholas was about to ask if he wanted another drink, but Adem shook his head before he could.
“I’ll rest for the night.”
Nicholas didn’t stop him. After all, Adem had only ever worked for the guild to repay the debt of having been saved by Nicholas.
Now, after more than two years, Adem had paid that debt many times over. Nicholas had no grounds to keep him.
“Still, Adem, if you ever want to come back to this trade, promise you’ll do it with us again, alright?”
“Yes.”
The door shut softly, leaving a trace of regret behind.
Feeling strangely light, the man opened his eyes.
They were red and clouded.
The room was dark — candles were expensive, and since one of the two men in this room pretended to be blind, Nicholas had seen no reason to light any.
An ordinary person would’ve struggled to move in such darkness, but Adem rose easily and went to the washbasin. The inn’s servant had filled it earlier.
He washed quietly and wiped his face with a cloth. Beneath the dirt he usually smeared on, a strikingly handsome face appeared — one that would turn heads just walking down the street. A long scar ran vertically across his lips.
His room was on the third floor, converted from an attic, with a low ceiling.
But it was also the tallest building nearby, and from the dormer window, he had a clear view of Girgaia.
In the darkness, he opened the window. In the distance, the Governor’s Mansion stood — the seat of the man who ruled in the Sage’s stead.
And there, now, was likely…
…his wife.
The man — Lahan — covered his face with one hand and bowed his head beneath the window.
Two years earlier.
He didn’t know how he’d survived the waves. All he remembered was the boundless sea of nothingness and the cold wind that wrapped around him.
The sea during the typhoon had been pitch-dark, and he’d lost consciousness almost immediately.
In a way, that had been a mercy — no time for fear or regret.
But when he awoke, damnably, he was still alive.
“I’m returning to confirm something urgent. If you need help, come to the Norwich estate.”
Nicholas had told him that Akim Norwich had saved him.
But that meant nothing to him. It moved him not at all.
Now, of all times, they reached out — the family that had abandoned him the moment he was born?
Ridiculous.
He wanted to die. He always had. Ever since the expedition, really — he’d felt he had no right to live.
Those who’d lost good people through their own foolish choices carried that kind of self-loathing. But his was deeper than most.
The one good thing he’d ever had in his life — his wife.
It would be a lie to say he didn’t want her back. Akim’s letter meant nothing emotionally, but it was useful.
He decided to use it to reclaim his wife.
Branded a demon worshiper or not, he had survived — surely there was still a way.
And as for the fallen Duke of Lacheise —
He didn’t believe the duke would stay fallen. She would surely take revenge on her brother.
Then I’ll find her, he’d thought.
But then came the news that shook the continent — the Saint had awakened.
The Saint appeared, and all the people of the continent received her blessing.
She was taken to the Holy Capital, and after a hundred days, she awoke. The people gave thanks for God’s grace and praised that Eridrahan truly existed.
The young emperor declared Lahan Norwich a demon worshiper — and publicly announced that the man still lived, to hunt him down as a heretic.
He also began to court Eryss Ahen.
Lahan was thrown into turmoil. He had once sworn to give her everything good in the world.
But now… he had become nothing but a hindrance to her.
The Emperor showered her with luxuries Lahan had never even known existed.
He built a beautiful temple within the Imperial City as her sanctuary, and the entire empire sang her praise.
Could Lahan have ever done such things for her?
…No. It was impossible.
