Chapter 80

After Kairon left for the Magic Tower, Abelin’s hospital room.

Abelin felt grateful to Riana, who promised to stay by her side in Kairon’s place.

However, apart from that gratitude…

‘Why? I don’t know why, but I feel awkward and uncomfortable.’

The main issue was that Abelin needed more rest.

Basically, Abelin had to lie in bed and sleep endlessly to recover, and the caregiver had to quietly stay by her side.

Abelin closed her eyes to sleep more, and Riana silently watched over her.

But to Abelin, that very situation felt awkward and uncomfortable.

Well, it was understandable…

Feeling the pressure, Abelin slightly opened one eye to gauge Riana’s mood.

Then, noticing Riana staring straight at her, she quickly closed her eyes again.

“Abelin unnie, you’re not sleeping, are you?”

“…Mmm.”

“Why aren’t you sleeping? You need to sleep more to recover quickly.”

“But sleeping all day is tiring. It’s not easy to force yourself to sleep when you’re not even tired.”

The excuse that she wasn’t tired was just that—an excuse.

The medicine prescribed three times a day at the hospital had a sleep-inducing effect, and her weakened body often felt drowsy.

But now, she couldn’t sleep for some reason.

Abelin herself didn’t know why, but there was one clear difference from before.

‘It’s weird. When Kairon was by my side, I fell asleep so easily.’

In a way, it would be natural to feel more tense with Kairon, a man, by her side, but Abelin somehow felt much more at ease both physically and mentally when Kairon was there watching over her.

She thought she had grown close to Riana, having gone through tough times together and talking comfortably.

But even though the caregiver had changed—from the enemy-like Kairon to the cute and warm Riana—Abelin felt even less comfortable, which was strange.

“Then, do you want to talk, unnie?”

“Sure. Tell me more stories. It’s boring just lying here.”

“Hmm, what should we talk about? Tell me about your life in the Vanguard. You’ve heard a lot about my life, right? Just complaining about training, training, and more training at the Magic Tower.”

“Well, honestly, the Vanguard isn’t that different. It’s just training, training, and more training. Does that make me sound like I’m complaining too?”

“Sounds like nothing’s changed from before, huh? It was the same back then. But there was one unit that didn’t train seriously back then.”

“Which one was that?”

“Who do you think? There was one unit that didn’t need to bond or do joint training.”

“Ah…!”

Abelin realized which unit Riana was talking about.

“The solo unit, right?”

“Yep. It was Kairon oppa. He was a one-man unit. He could’ve trained on his own, but he didn’t. The other unit leaders weren’t happy seeing Kairon oppa relaxing, but they couldn’t say it out loud.”

“That makes sense. When I joined the Vanguard, Kairon was already the leader of the Black Iron Vanguard, but I fought alongside him several times and thought the same thing. If he had just roamed freely on his own, it might’ve been more beneficial for the Vanguard.”

“Right. My dad said the same thing. It would’ve been more efficient for Kairon oppa to act alone to quickly eliminate demons. But there was a reason Kairon oppa decided to form a unit.”

“What was the reason?”

“Well…”

Abelin noticed Riana’s expression darken slightly.

“It wasn’t a good thing, was it?”

“No. It was when demons with completely new appearances appeared. Kairon oppa adapted quickly and hunted them down as usual, but the other members couldn’t. They couldn’t properly respond to the new demons’ traits and fell more than usual. At that time…”

Riana shook her head.

“So many members lost their lives. Many of my friends too. As you know, unnie, Kairon oppa is cheerful and likable, so there wasn’t anyone in the Vanguard who wasn’t close to him.”

“So that means…”

“All the people who died were close and precious to Kairon oppa. At that time, Kairon oppa fell into deep sorrow for a while. Then, during a meal at our house, he told my dad he wanted to form a unit. Not an attacking unit, but a defending one.”

“So that’s how the Black Iron Vanguard came to be.”

“Right. Kairon oppa did a lot of research when forming the Black Iron Vanguard. He had always been an attacking spear, but now he had to be a defending shield. He even studied tactics and equipment to reduce casualties as much as possible. He didn’t even come to our house for dinner for a while. He should’ve taken a break, but he kept researching. Thanks to the tactics and equipment he developed and shared with the Vanguard, the number of casualties gradually decreased. The tactics the Vanguard uses now were created by my dad and Kairon oppa together.”

“You know much more about the Vanguard than I do, Riana. If you join the Vanguard later, you could become a unit leader right away, huh?”

“Hehe, that’s my goal. I came to learn magic to help my dad, Kairon oppa, and everyone in the Vanguard. But…”

Riana’s expression darkened again.

“It doesn’t seem to be going well, though.”

“That’s not true, Riana. You’ve grown, haven’t you? And Lady Rostia promised to personally guide you. Only good things are ahead, right?”

“Sniff, unnie. Thank you for saying that…!”

“Th-thank you… Ah.”

Riana sniffled and naturally hugged Abelin tightly.

Abelin didn’t know how it came to this, but she hugged Riana back and patted her back.

Soon, Riana regained her composure and smiled brightly, urging Abelin to continue the conversation.

“Unnie, tell me about the Vanguard too. I ended up telling you a bunch of old stories from when I was in Cressnig. What unit are you in?”

“The unit I command is called the Silver Guards. The name’s a bit unnecessarily grand, isn’t it?”

“Compared to the Black Iron Vanguard that Kairon oppa commands, it’s a more refined name. By the way, ‘Guards’ implies protecting someone very important, right? So that person is…”

“Ahaha…”

Riana’s eyes sparkled as she caught the meaning behind Abelin’s embarrassed laugh.

“It’s you, unnie! It totally suits you!”

“Suits me? It’s just a needlessly grand name. I didn’t name it. The unit members came up with it on their own.”

“The fact that others gave you that name means something. If you weren’t shining, they wouldn’t have done that. You’re much more amazing than you think, unnie.”

“Hey, hey. Why are you suddenly boosting me like this? It’s embarrassing.”

“But unnie.”

Riana tilted her head and asked.

“No matter how much you try to hide it, your noble and dignified aura always shines through. How do you even try to hide it?”

“…So?”

“Yeah. I can see you trying to act casual, but no matter how much you try to hide it, it just doesn’t work.”

“…Sigh.”

Abelin let out a deep, sincere sigh.

“This might be rude, but I’m curious.”

“What are you curious about, Riana?”

“Unnie. Where are you really from?”

“…Isn’t it against Vanguard rules to ask that?”

“Technically, I’m not in the Vanguard. And I just asked out of curiosity. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Maybe when we get closer, you’ll tell me. But I just want to ask one more thing.”

“Haha, you’re full of questions. Alright, go ahead. I can’t tell you where I’m from, but if it’s something I can answer, I will.”

“Then promise me one thing. Promise you won’t dislike me for asking.”

“How could I dislike you? I can feel how much you respect me. How could I dislike you?”

“Still, promise me. Okay? Please?”

“What are you going to ask… Alright. I promise I won’t dislike you.”

“Really? Thank you! Then here’s my question. Ahem…!”

Riana straightened her posture and even cleared her throat, as if preparing for something serious.

“Abelin unnie.”

“Yes, I’m listening.”

“Do you like him?”

“Like who?”

“You know.”

Riana looked at Abelin with a serious expression, different from before.

“Do you like Kairon oppa?”