It was not long after Sien learned the Faceless Stance from the Thief Master.
Two Night Hawks of the family appeared before Sien, each coincidentally carrying a letter in its beak.
“Two at once…”
Soon, the baptism ceremony for the two children would be held.
A star has fallen.
The letters contained incredibly brief sentences. One was sent under the name of the Family Head Laila, and the other under the name of the family’s Consigliere (the wisest one), Luna.
As Sien swallowed the papers with a rapidly darkening expression, the two Night Hawks perched on his shoulders finally took flight with a flutter. Along with the powerful beating of their wings, a few fallen feathers sank toward the bottom of the night sky.
“Ah, please do not misunderstand.”
Right then, a sly man’s voice echoed. It came along with the sound of waves surging beyond the black and dark horizon.
“I didn’t see anything. Neither the Night Hawks in the sky nor the scrolls tied to their feet.”
“Right, you shouldn’t have seen anything.”
“Then shall we get back to what we were doing?”
The man wearing a Jester mask feigned innocence and snapped his fingers.
Crackle!
At the same time, blue sparks flickered from his fingertips.
The fastest attack magic in the world, Lightning Bolt.
However, by the time the bolt shot forward, Sien had already leaped and kicked off the ground.
It was a high-speed movement that narrowed the distance like a flash by exploding the aura in his legs. Narrowly evading the Lightning Bolt, the distance was closed. Then, Sien’s movement, which had been as fast as a flash, became as heavy as a bull, as nimble as an eagle, and suddenly as sharp as a venomous snake.
It was a sight as if he were endlessly layering a myriad of masks.
Flash, Bull (Ochs), Double-headed Eagle, Venomous Snake (Serpenti Velenosi). The movements Sien performed previously had their own names and faces. But not anymore.
Because only one name and one face existed in this stance.
“Wow, that is truly incredible.”
It was the Faceless Stance.
“To be honest, it’s so excellent that it doesn’t seem like there’s anything left to teach.”
Before he realized it, the Kingslayer held in Sien’s hand was pointed toward the face of the Faceless One.
“Surely you aren’t saying this is the end?”
“Hmm, what should I do? I’ve already revealed all my secrets.”
Despite the sharp blade held right before his eyes, the Faceless One replied nonchalantly.
“By the way, you called it the Faceless Stance, but seeing it again like this, it seems more like a ‘Stance of Many Faces’.”
“Perhaps it is.”
At Sien’s question, the Faceless One replied with a meaningful smile.
“But not having something doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t exist.”
It was a passing remark, like flowing water, but Sien was not one to miss its meaning.
“That’s an interesting Sword Verse.”
“Well, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Sword Verse, the poem of the sword. A form of enlightenment obtained by one who has mastered a single swordsmanship to its limit.
“Unfortunately, the sword of a mere thief doesn’t have such grand things as ‘Verse’ or ‘Enlightenment’.”
—And not having something doesn’t necessarily mean it doesn’t exist.
“…I suppose so.”
It was the same as the family’s 9th Sword Verse, which once asked how many legs a Kraken had when a human has two, an octopus has eight, and a squid has ten. At first glance, it was impossible to grasp what it even meant. To be honest, nothing had particularly changed regarding his understanding of the 9th Sword Verse.
However, the ‘enlightenment’ of the Faceless Stance was different. He had already grasped enough clues and held the thread in his hand.
“It is more than enough.”
“To think the petty tricks of a mere fence could actually help the Master of the Star and Dagger, it is a peerless honor.”
The Thief Master’s real face, hidden behind the Jester mask, snickered.
“I pray that my humble petty tricks continue to be useful to you in the future.”
“No, who said this was the end?”
Sien asked back, findng it absurd.
“It’s been terrible working with you, and we shall meet again.”
“Hmm, this is why they say you shouldn’t just sign contracts blindly.”
“But since you already signed it, what can you do? I have to get my money’s worth for the tuition.”
“Wow. You aren’t even holding a sword, yet you’re a total highwayman…”
Stopping mid-sentence, the Thief Master glanced at the blade held in Sien’s hand and added.
“No, looking again, you are even holding a sword.”
The voice was no longer that of the sly man from a moment ago; it was a cold and dignified woman’s voice. The Jester mask that had been covering her face had also vanished.
“Then I shall gladly look forward to the day we cut each other again.”
Saying so, the Master of the Veneto Thieves’ Guild, Monica, bowed her head. Her attitude was now perfectly polite, without a trace of the previous joking manner.
“—As a side note, I swear before the Master of the Star and Dagger that I saw nothing and heard nothing tonight.”
Even if he pretended not to notice, she was someone who knew the proper etiquette required before those who walk the night.
“I know, so don’t worry too much.”
Sien, who knew this, replied with a bitter smile.
“Go.”
After putting a period on the lessons that had lasted several weeks, there was only one place for Sien to go upon leaving Veneto.
The land of those who walk the night, the Duchy of the Night Walker family.
However, Sien’s footsteps as he rode the fastest horse he could find were heavier than ever before.
Back when the past Sien had completed his baptism at the age of 13, he was the only survivor among the children of that generation.
The baptism ceremony to be held around this time this year, when Sien turned fifteen, was different.
—The day a new walker of the night is born, and for Sien, the day he gets a younger sibling for the first time.
That was the entirety of the events of that year that Sien remembered.
But on that day, two Night Hawks arrived for Sien while he was being taught by the Thief Master.
One was the news that the baptism ceremony Sien remembered would be held as scheduled. But the other letter was different.
“I have never even heard news of a star falling this year.”
No, it wasn’t that he hadn’t heard of it; it simply hadn’t existed in the first place. No matter how much the inexperienced Sien of that time was preoccupied with just surviving under his mother Laila, he wouldn’t have overlooked a matter as significant as a star falling.
This was clearly an event that did not exist in the past Sien remembered.
“Fate has changed.”
Just as his Big Brother, Vigo, who should have died, survived and became part of the family.
And for the people of the Night Walker family, a falling star meant only one thing.
The death of one who walks the night.
***
“Go.”
“You arrived sooner than I thought.”
When Sien returned to the mansion in the Duchy, Laila, who had arrived a few steps ahead, greeted him calmly.
“I heard that a star has fallen.”
“Yes, it is a truly regrettable matter.”
Laila replied with a bitter smile. Her voice was seemingly calm, but it was different from how she looked when she didn’t even blink as the children of the night who failed the baptism died. It wasn’t the cold voice that felt devoid of any emotion like back then.
“Who died? Surely not…”
The first thing that flashed through his mind was the existence of his Big Brother, Vigo, who had not survived in the past.
“It’s Abel.”
However, the name that came out of Laila’s mouth was entirely unexpected.
“Big Brother Abel…?”
It wasn’t a face or name he didn’t know.
He wasn’t a High Master or a Master. He was an assassin of the family who had been baptized several generations before Sien and Vigo and was active as a Made Man.
“He was destined to lose his life during the examination to become a Master.”
The slow-witted one of the family who had been baptized at a very late age, became a Made Man at a late age, and died in an unfortunate accident while taking the exam to become a Master at a late age.
That was the walker of the night named Abel that Sien remembered.
“That was an event that should have happened three years from now at the earliest.”
But his death had been moved up by three years, unlike what Sien remembered.
The shocking part didn’t end there.
“I heard he lost his life while performing a mission in the Holy Empire.”
“Did he die at the hands of the Empire’s people?”
“Yes, he was murdered.”
Even the cause of death was different.
“Fate has changed…”
He didn’t die while taking the exam to become a Master; he was literally murdered.
“My eyes and ears planted in the Empire whisper that he fell to the sword of the Duke of Grandel family.”
Even up to this point, it was shocking enough. However, even that was nothing compared to the words Laila spoke next.
“To the ‘Lucifer Stance’ performed by the third son of the Duke’s family, Oscar Grandel.”
“!”
The Lucifer Stance.
A forbidden sword style that one wouldn’t dare mention in the Holy Empire, and the name of a demon standing at the opposite end of the Seraph Michael.
It was a sword that, unlike Sword Demon Oswald, did not suit the Sword Saint who would later master the Stance of the Four Archangels—especially the Stance of Michael—at all.
***
The people of the Night Walker family also bleed.
What surprised Sien wasn’t the fact that the family’s assassins bled. If anything, Sien was someone who had seen the blood of his family members to a horrific degree.
Even more so when the opponent was the strongest knight family the Holy Empire boasted, the people of the Duke of Grandel family.
That was why on that day five years ago, when the people of the Duke of Grandel family visited the land of those who walk the night.
To eliminate future troubles, Sien and Laila had thoroughly crushed and broken the sword of Oscar, who was praised as the continent’s greatest prodigy of swordsmanship.
No matter how much talent for swordsmanship he had, it was not a trial a mere twelve-year-old brat could handle.
But the sword that should have been broken and shattered was not.
No, far from being broken, he had far surpassed the growth rate Sien remembered and had brought down a star from the night sky.
“What on earth happened?”
Suddenly, he remembered when he tried to draw out the power dwelling in the Spear of Destiny.
A horrific sense of helplessness where he couldn’t even move a finger. The sight of the future that would come to Sien, which would not change and from which he could not turn his head, no matter how much he struggled.
‘Do you really believe the fate coming for you will change because of something like that?’
Fate is fate because it cannot be overcome. It is fate because it does not change.
Those words circled in Sien’s head like a curse.
It was exactly as said.
“………. Nothing has changed.”
He thought it had changed. No, it did change. In the worst form Sien could imagine.
After thinking that, he soon burst into laughter.
“To think something like this is the worst I can imagine?”
It was a ridiculous thought.
“Please survive and preserve your life, Family Head.”
The truly most horrific worst he could imagine hadn’t even started yet.
“When the baptismal sacrament is held, many family members will gather.”
“I suppose so.”
Sien, having steeled his resolve, spoke.
It was rare for the people of the Night Walker family to congregate. Unless it was a major event like the baptismal sacrament where new family members are born.
“Are you planning to take the [Make one’s Bone] test?”
Laila asked, as if it wasn’t particularly surprising.
“With your current self, it’s surely something you can pass with ease.”
The Make one’s Bone test. A ritual to become a Made Man who is somewhat proficient in the nine sword styles of the Night Walker family.
“No.”
However, Sien shook his head.
He recalled the faces of the walkers of the night who would gather at the family when the baptism ceremony was held.
The day the powerhouses of the Night Walker family gather. It was preposterous to waste such a rare opportunity just to become something like a Made Man who could only perform the basics of the nine sword styles.
“Please prepare the Confirmation.”
At Sien’s words, Laila, who rarely lost her composure, silently caught her breath.
One who is somewhat proficient in the nine sword styles and can utilize them in the right place is called a “Made Man”.
Furthermore, one who is proficient in all nine sword styles and has perfectly mastered one of them is called a “Master”.
—The Confirmation referred to the examination one must take to become that Master.