Three days later.
The two children, cast into the world under the name ‘Tool,’ arrived in a quiet rural village wearing the cover identities the Organization had prepared for them.
“Rynel, we’re really here.
Look—there. That’s the village!”
Aira clasped both hands behind her back and spun once around the square as she called out.
Her toes lightly stepped on pale pink petals.
A smile spread across her face, like she’d come on a picnic.
Rynel gave a small laugh and turned his head.
“···Yeah.
It’s starting to feel real.”
“Right? We really look like actual adventurers!”
Aira twirled again, beaming.
For a while, the two of them looked around, captivated by the village scenery.
Just for that brief moment, they seemed like ordinary kids.
“We’re not here to play.”
One sentence cut straight through their excitement.
The voice was quiet, and the warmth in the air cooled—like a layer had been stripped away the instant it landed.
It was Ivela.
She was already at their side.
Her eyes swept the square without a word—
the few passing pedestrians, the street stalls, even the temple visible in the distance.
There was no emotion in that gaze.
No hesitation at facing the unknown.
“Don’t forget.
We came to gather information on this village.”
Ivela spoke in a low, crisp tone.
“Everything you say and do here—every bit of it—is part of the mission.”
Her eyes drifted slowly to the back of Rynel’s neck.
Her voice dropped even lower.
“If you forget, even for a moment···”
She stopped, then looked straight at him.
“Your body will remember the price first.”
Ivela’s tone stayed calm to the end.
It wasn’t meant to scare him, and there was no emotion in her warning.
It sounded like a truth she’d repeated countless times—dry, precise.
Rynel let out a small breath and smiled bitterly.
“···So you’re saying don’t loosen up too much?”
Aira lowered her head.
The corners of her mouth fell, and a brief flicker of disappointment passed through her eyes.
“Tch. It was just a second···
Is that really so wrong?”
She drew in a small breath, then nodded.
Her eyes were the kind that swallowed feelings down.
The square was quiet.
Cherry blossoms seemed past their peak—pale pink petals had settled in stillness across the ground.
The village was slow and sparse, and that calm felt almost too perfect.
Rynel stared at the square and muttered low.
“But here··· it feels like nothing’s going to happen.
What kind of information are we supposed to get in a place like this?”
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“Villages like this are the most dangerous.”
Ivela answered shortly, turning her head only slightly.
What she saw wasn’t scenery.
It was people’s gestures, their eyes, the way they walked.
Who hesitated where, and what they avoided.
Her eyes didn’t miss small cracks.
“On the surface, it’s quiet.
But ‘quiet’ can also mean something’s being hidden.”
She didn’t admire the view or indulge the mood.
Even now, the mission was still moving—written on her face.
“···The Temple of Mercy.”
Aira spoke carefully.
She lowered her voice, mindful of the surroundings, tension hooked in her eyes.
Ivela’s gaze shifted to a stone building at one edge of the square.
Small, unobtrusive.
A worn religious emblem was carved into the outer wall, faded by time,
and at the entrance someone was handing out charity meals to beggars.
“Right. That temple is our target.”
Ivela said evenly.
“Officially, it’s a charitable temple devoted to the God of Mercy.
A respectable face that welcomes outsiders.”
She paused, then added more quietly.
“But according to the intel, there are traces of forbidden spell documents being exchanged inside.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“That document has been marked ‘priority investigation’ even within the Organization.
It’s not a simple banned text.
It’s dangerous—and important enough that there’s an order to secure it.”
“Slapping the name ‘Mercy’ on the front,
and dealing with taboo inside?”
Rynel let out a short scoff.
“The odds are high they’re acting righteous outside while hiding something within.”
Ivela’s voice didn’t waver.
A posture of delivering fixed information—
a voice with no emotion in it.
“Our job is simple.”
She continued.
“Get inside the temple and mingle with the faithful.
We have reports that some of them are trying to make contact with outside adventurers.
Shake them a little. Draw out suspicious words or objects.”
“···We’re supposed to hand over what we learn,
without knowing whose hands it goes to—or how it’ll be used?”
Aira asked quietly.
A faint resistance lived in her eyes.
“Don’t ask pointless questions.”
Ivela didn’t even look at her—only her lips moved.
“We’re pieces on a chessboard.”
The words were flat,
natural like repeated conditioning.
“When an order comes down, we just carry it out.”
And then, the last line.
“Don’t get dragged around by unnecessary feelings.
That’s the most dangerous thing.”
“Fine··· whatever.”
Aira gave a small laugh.
“At least we’re outside now.
It’s way better than a cramped wall.
And now we can do something with our own hands.
See it ourselves. Move ourselves.”
Her words stopped for a moment.
A small but unmistakable expectation sat in her eyes.
But—
“The restraint on your neck won’t allow that.”
After saying it, Ivela turned away with a face that carried no emotion.
She walked off without another word.
Aira’s smile vanished.
Rynel followed in silence.
◇
The three of them crossed the square and headed to the Adventurers’ Guild.
The building was old stonework,
but bright lights burned at the entrance,
and armed people came and went in ones and twos.
Walking without a word, Aira drew in a quiet breath.
Tension spread across her skin.
Ivela pushed the door open with a stride far too confident to call it “infiltration.”
“We’re here to register as new adventurers.”
Polite. Unshaking.
The man at the counter lifted his head.
Behind Ivela, Rynel and Aira stood side by side in his view.
Aira’s fingertips trembled slightly.
The receptionist took the documents Ivela handed over and opened them.
“···These kids—there’s no record at all in the identity check.
There’s no registered information anywhere within the kingdom.”
“They’re from an outer protected zone.
The related documents are here.”
Ivela calmly offered an envelope.
The receptionist carefully unfolded the papers and read.
His fingers tracked a few lines,
then he keyed something into a terminal.
A magical engraving glimmered darkly.
‘Verified – Protected Subject, Special Zone’
Red letters surfaced over the display.
“···Right. I see.
Then registration shouldn’t be a problem.”
But a strange hesitation clung to the end of his voice.
As he organized the papers, he looked at the two children again.
A face that wanted to ask something—
but in the end, he said nothing and stood.
“New adventurers begin at the trainee stage, starting from E-rank.”
He took two metal badges from a box.
Palm-sized bronze badges.
Their surfaces carried a shallow engraving of ‘E’
and the Adventurers’ Guild emblem.
“Thank you for waiting.
Registration is complete.”
Rynel dipped his head slightly as he accepted the badge.
His eyes were calm, but a familiar resignation seemed to seep through.
Aira bowed briefly and said in a whisper-like voice,
“···Thank you.”
Small, but clear.
A steady breath tucked into the end of the words.
The three of them left the guild.
In that moment,
two children who had not existed in the world
were “recorded.”
A short, quiet instant.
But for someone, it was the kind of beginning that couldn’t be undone.
◇
As the sun tilted
and the western sky turned red—
they moved deeper into the village.
Their destination was a safehouse inn the Organization had prepared in advance.
On the surface, it looked like an ordinary, quiet inn,
but for them it was temporary lodging for mission execution.
When they entered the room, Ivela closed the door softly.
“Remember.
This isn’t rest. It’s only a waiting space for the mission.”
Rynel narrowed his eyes.
He already knew what she was going to say.
Ivela looked at the two of them,
then spoke flatly, like reading a checklist.
“Trying to look good to the guild or villagers is fine.
But it can’t come before the mission.”
No scolding, no comfort.
Just a reassertion of rules.
“Don’t entertain useless thoughts.
Where you belong right now—
don’t forget that.”
Time passed quietly.
Dusk slipped away, and darkness filled the room.
The lights were out.
Three beds sat in silence.
Rynel lay on the bed by the window, staring at the wall.
His eyes were closed, but his mind was awake.
Aira had turned her back, clutching the blanket tight.
Her fingertips trembled slightly, and her lips were pressed shut.
She said nothing,
but her expression alone showed she was holding something back.
Ivela sat on the bed near the door, in the corner of the room.
No blanket. A dagger rested across her knees.
Her back faced the door, and her gaze dropped low.
She opened her eyes quietly.
A gaze that didn’t loosen—
even in the dark.
Without a sound, Ivela rose.
She moved toward the door, stepping lightly.
She took the handle and pushed slowly.
There was no creak.
She’d memorized the points where sound would happen long ago.
Cold night air slipped in.
Ivela headed behind the inn, toward a collapsed shed.
Walking through the dark as if it were familiar ground, she pulled a small metal whistle from her waist.
She brought it to her lips, then blew once with a short, sharp breath.
No sound came out.
But what she was calling
didn’t need sound.
After a moment—
a tawny owl glided down onto a distant beam.
Ivela carefully took out a small note.
Then she wrapped it slowly around the owl’s ankle.
Inside was a single line.
“Registration complete. Monitoring movements. No anomalies.”
She murmured quietly.
“···Go.”
One flap of wings.
Without noise, without a trace, the owl vanished into the dark.
Ivela stared up at the sky for a while.
Then let out a very small breath.
When she turned back toward the inn,
her footsteps were even quieter than when she’d left.
◇
The room was still dark.
Only the three beds held their places in silence.
Rynel lay on the window-side bed, staring at the wall, regulating his breathing.
His eyes were closed, but his mind didn’t rest at all.
Aira lay turned away, hugging the blanket.
Her fingertips trembled faintly, and tension clung to her tightly shut lips.
Ivela opened the door and slipped inside.
Her steps were more careful now—
not a single trace of presence leaking out.
She went straight to her bed and sat.
The dagger returned to her knees,
and her gaze angled toward the door again.
She closed her eyes quietly, but—
she knew.
Rynel’s breathing had become subtly shallower than before.
He wasn’t asleep.
He was only keeping his eyes closed,
quietly counting Ivela’s movements.
In that silence,
the night of the three of them sank even deeper···
