Neither my orphanage director nor Kim Yul was the first to react to my request to manage this garden.
After deflecting Sylvia’s hammer, Estelle cried out in surprise, “Patriarch, you can’t do that! First, the clan shadow already has his duties. Hamustra wants him to stay in the library. The clan shadow has recently been away a lot, so Hamustra is already grumbling about it. Moving the clan shadow’s home permanently could send the wrong message to Hamustra.”
Sylvia was surprised. “Wait, what? Why are you now speaking like an advisor?”
“Well, I am an advisor. You’re the head steward. That is why you clean, cook, and serve tea.”
“If cleaning the house is the head steward’s job, then plucking you out of this garden seems like the first thing I should do...”
“The first thing you should do is clean yourself. You want me to do it for you?”
The two of them resumed measuring the best angle to cut off each other’s heads, but I interrupted them.
“The advisor’s note is worth considering. Someone I know well once said that when a Constellation harbors spite, a lot of bizarre things happen.”
The Guardian snorted from behind me, his arms crossed.
Estelle sighed, her chin resting in her hand. “Although Hamustra is no longer a Constellation…”
“He still needs attention and care. Even if this isn’t about preventing risks, I’m responsible for him. You’re right.” I nodded. “We’ll handle that. What’s the next issue?”
“I don’t know about the clan shadow, but the burden may be too much for the clan elder.”
Her tone was cautious. The orphanage director, who had been listening to our conversation without chiming in, agreed.
“Can I really do that?” he asked, his voice bearing the pressure he felt. “Gong-Ja, I’m weak. I don’t know any of these martial arts skills, like aura or reinforced aura, nor can I use magic. The only bladed tool I know how to handle is a kitchen knife.”
“To be honest, you can’t even use that well.”
The director smiled faintly, his voice becoming lighter. “True. I always found it difficult to use something sharp. Using the side of a spoon was about as much of a sharp-edged tool I could manage without feeling too burdened.”
“The rice you mixed and the apple you grated for me with the spoon were delicious.”
“Thank you. But that isn’t the skill needed to protect your home, is it?” the director asked. It wasn’t hard to hear the powerlessness in his voice.
He saw how violence worked.
The first flower planted in this world was a friend he couldn’t protect. I, the master of this world, was once a child the director had to protect, and I had many enemies. Even if I didn’t count the Constellations, Pillars, or Hunters from other worlds, many media outlets on the Tower’s first floor had joined forces and were out to get me.
As I had discussed with Anastasha, it was necessary for me to become the target of the media. The one point on which I agreed with the Tower master was that many people needed someone to point fingers at. The Tower master became that target, both by choice and need.
Still, seeing the Tower master like that kept breaking the hearts of the Mirage-Walking Princess and the other Pillars. Something like that had to be happening to the director, too. No matter how strongly he believed that one had to bear their own duties and responsibilities, could the heart of a father[1] who read harsh articles about me every morning truly be unaffected?
I decided to start with what I had to say.
“Director, I’m fine. It’s okay if you can’t use a sword. What I want from you isn’t violence.”
It was quite the opposite. I wanted him to stay away from it.
The director’s face eased a bit.
“I’ll make sure you never have to hold a sword.” I put my oath into action by first looking at Kim Yul. “Mr. Kim Yul.”
He was looking at me, too. Since he had killed his other self, he now saw the world in a different light from before.
“Can you protect the director and this garden?” I asked.
“I’ll do my best,” Kim Yul replied immediately as he looked down at the silver lily of the valley that had been him. “I’ll protect what should be protected.”
“Okay.”
I accepted his oath and picked up my holy sword.
Shiny.
I had been holding onto her since I got her from the Aegim Empire. When I embedded the sword into the center of the garden, light erupted.
[The Goddess of Protection has appeared!]
Hwia appeared, her wings made of light spreading wide. Like jingle bells swaying in the rusted sunset, the wings dyed the whole garden a pale crimson.
Even if the flowers were rotten, they were still flowers. The red light drenched the entire garden of blooming flowers, but they never lacked color, only brightness. The severity varied, but the colors of petals faded as pure white radiance coated them. The flowers existed not by shimmering, but through flickering.
“Hwia.”
“Yes, Hero.”
“I’d like to trust you with tending this garden, too. It would be good if you could assist Mr. Kim Yul.” I pointed at the man who had once summoned and wielded her. “Is that all right?”
Hwia gazed at her former partner, who had torn her into five pieces and sealed her away. Just like when she had first heard of Lefanta Aegim after being sealed in the sword, there was no hate in her gaze.
“Yes.” Only worry remained in her gaze as she skimmed over Kim Yul before turning back to me. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”