The children, shackled at their bony ankles and sobbing quietly, shrank back in even greater terror when a full-grown adult burst through the door. A few were so startled they stopped crying altogether.

Rain stood in the doorway for a moment, staring blankly at the roughly twenty children. Then he noticed their frightened eyes drifting to the weapon in his hand and quickly stowed the sword back into its bracelet form.

“It’s all right. I’m not a bad person. I came to rescue you.”

He whispered in a trembling voice and took one step toward them. He wanted to sound steady and reassuring, but his emotions kept surging and his voice kept cracking.

“You’re safe now. You’ll be out of here soon. So…”

Rain approached the child closest to the door, lowered himself carefully onto one knee, and brought himself down to their level. Something hot and thick jabbed at the back of his throat. He took a slow breath and steadied himself.

“So, you can relax now.”

Over the pale, fragile faces of the children gripped by fear, a memory from the distant past overlapped.

No, was it really that distant? It was this vivid. This raw, like it happened just yesterday. He would probably never forget it for the rest of his life. Maybe not even after death.

A small boy, frozen with terror, unable even to cry, huddled trembling in a cold corner.

A woman came to him after beating the demons who tormented him senseless right before his eyes. She swept her bangs back with a bloodied hand and walked toward him.

[Are you all right?]

She knelt on one knee then, willingly meeting the child at eye level. Just like Rain was doing now.

[I’m sorry if I frightened you. I’m not a bad person. I came to save you. I’m sorry it took so long.]

Someone who owed no apology apologized. The very person who just pulled a child from the grip of monsters was the one saying sorry. With eyes that looked genuinely, desperately remorseful.

[You’re safe now. You’ll be able to leave here. So you can relax.]

She pulled the small, filthy, nameless child into her arms without hesitation. But before she did, she remembered to wipe the blood from her hand on her cloak. Seemingly afraid it might transfer to the child.

For a long time, Rain didn’t understand what she did that day. Why bother wiping away the blood before picking up the child?

The child was dirty either way. A little blood would have made no difference. The one who should have felt sorry about touching someone in such a state of filth was not her.

Now he thought he understood, a little. Why his old teacher fretted and agonized so deeply over that grimy child.

Looking at the children before him, fragile enough to shatter, made humble by the dust on them, seeing his past self layered over their faces, Rain finally grasped, even if only a little, what Mirha Elapha felt eleven years ago.

The more he understood, the more he missed her.

Bang! A sudden noise erupted from the direction of the door. Rain’s expression shifted and he sprang to his feet. The children screamed in fright.

Two thugs appeared. Each held a bloodied dagger. Rain’s eyes hardened. He turned his back to the children and changed the bracelet into a sword.

Then a faint pressure tugged at the hem of his pants. Rain glanced down. The child who met his eyes earlier was gripping his trousers with a small hand and whispering in a thin voice.

“Sir knight, please run. Those men are dangerous…”

The child’s eyes, darting toward the thugs, were full of terror. The hands clinging desperately to Rain and the hunched shoulders were all trembling like aspen leaves in a bitter wind.

Rain recognized it immediately. How could he not? He was like that once. When he looked at the demons who tormented him, crushed him, reduced him to something less than human, his reaction was exactly that.

Rain’s eyes went cold as ice. But the voice he used to soothe the child was gentle.

“Thank you for worrying about me.”

He whispered. At the same time, he carefully reached out and slowly peeled the child’s bony fingers from his trousers. His touch was as tender as his quiet voice.

“But you don’t need to worry.”

Because I’m going to kill those bastards today. Rain swallowed the rest and smiled.

The principle when dealing with criminals was capture. They needed to be alive for interrogation, to extract information, and to face a proper trial in court.

Rain decided, for the first time, to abandon that principle. He had no desire to give those monsters the chance of a fair trial. He had no interest in the judgment of the law. He simply wanted retribution.

When he reported back to the order later, he could always claim the fight was too fierce and he had no choice but to defend himself.

He would probably face disciplinary action for “unnecessary killing” regardless, but it would amount to nothing more than a few days of confinement.

The order held the protection of life as its highest principle, but at its core it was still a military organization. Capture was the rule, yet it had enough flexibility to quietly permit lethal force when circumstances left no other option.

Rain intended to make full use of that flexibility today. Not in the name of justice. He was blinded by hatred.

The thugs charged. Rain charged back, and the three of them collided in the middle.

Facing two opponents at once made it a precarious fight. But Rain was a prodigy who joined the order later than most and still received his formal knighthood at the same age as everyone else, seventeen.

Even with blades flying at him from both sides, his breathing stayed even and he moved like water.

He ducked under one blade and deflected the other with his sword, then drove his elbow into one man’s stomach while still low, temporarily winding him, before straightening and bringing the sword down on his head.

“Ugh…!”

One thug reeled from the consecutive blows, dazed with pain, and Rain turned his full attention to the other. The longsword knocked the dagger aside with ease, and Rain raised his blade high, aiming for a vital point.

“Ugh.”

The thug lost his weapon and threw a desperate bare-fisted punch. Rain snapped his head to the side and dodged it. His balance wavered for just a moment, and the thug seized the opening and launched a flurry of kicks.

A kick connected with Rain’s shin and he rolled across the floor. Even so, he didn’t let go of the sword hilt. He planted his hand against the ground and pushed himself back up, then reached out toward the thug, who now had a gun instead of a blade.

“Gck!”

Without any physical contact, the thug let out a strangled groan and clutched his own throat, like something was choking him. The gun dropped from his hand.

“Ugh… ngh…!”

The thug thrashed. His face slowly drained to blue and foam gathered at the corners of his mouth. The frantic clawing at his own throat grew weaker by the moment.

Rain stared the man down and slowly tightened his grip on the air. There was nothing in his mind now but the will to kill. No other feeling.

Then urgent footsteps rang out. And from the corridor, someone called his name in desperation.

“Rain? Rain!”

It was Taniel’s voice. Rain’s eyes wavered, and the strength left his hand.

The moment Rain withdrew his killing intent, the choked thug collapsed to the floor with a ragged cough. In that same window, the other thug, recovered from the earlier blow, let out a savage roar and came at Rain.

“You freak, die!”

Rain flinched and spun around. Before he could raise his weapon, someone struck the thug hard from behind.

Thwack!

“Rain! Are you all right?”

Taniel knocked the thug out cold and came running toward him, breathless. The tension drained from Rain’s body. He answered in a calm voice.

“Yes, Senior. I’m fine.”

The ones who were not fine were the thug Rain choked and the thug Taniel knocked out with her sword. The first was still coughing on the floor. The second was out cold and not moving at all.

“Let me see.”

Even after Rain said he was fine, Taniel wasn’t reassured. She came toward him with a worried look, stowed her sword back into its bracelet form, took his arm lightly, and brought her face close.

She tilted her head this way and that, checking him carefully for any injuries. Standing before Taniel as she scrutinized him, Rain couldn’t contain his pounding heart and felt his cheeks flush a deep red.

“Senior, I really am fine.”

Rain dropped his gaze and murmured as calmly as he could manage. His cheeks burned, flushed the color of apples. With Taniel’s face so close, he was careful even about how he breathed.

“…Right, you do look fine.”

Taniel held him still and swept her gaze over his face, neck, and upper body before finally relaxing and stepping back. Rain felt relief and reluctance at the same time.

The security officers and the remaining knights, having fully secured the ship, appeared one after another. They approached the children, who were huddled tight with wide, round eyes watching everything.