'...It seems the guardian spirit has returned.'

Already?

It's earlier than expected.

...First of all, the child will be surprised, so it's better to tell him in advance. I calmly opened my mouth.

"From now on, I will bleed, oh—."

"......?!"

Ah, it's late.

"Cough, cough!"

Blood spilled onto the floor.

Raven, who was throwing up blood and bowing in front of Dan, who was restless with a bewildered face, stumbled while inadvertently applying strength to his legs to straighten his back. Immediately, Dan stretched out his arms to support him, but there was a person who reached out faster than him.

"[...And now that I think about it, your leg is also injured.]"

"Cough... Ah, ancestor."

"[Not ancestor, but brother.]"

"Yes, brother."

When the guardian spirit appeared in response to Raven's call, the monster's teeth were already in contact with Raven's legs. It didn't stop there and kept the agar tightly closed to chew what had entered its mouth, so it was inevitable that even if he cut it right away, injuries would occur.

Not only the legs but also all over the body were full of wounds caused by sharp teeth, and the green eyes that looked at the messy state of the body sank darkly.

'If only I had called a little earlier.'

Then at least there wouldn't have been any unnecessary injuries.

It is really frustrating to know that there is a big difference between the guardian spirit going down in response to the call and intervening at will even though he did not call.

He wouldn't have been so daft for no reason.

'... Is he starting to be on guard again? Or is he... grumpy?'

The squinted eyes scanned Raven.

On the other hand, Raven, who was unaware of this, staggered and leaned on the guardian's arm, spitting blood several more times and raising his head.

The gray eyes, with disappointment and embarrassment, fumbled where the hem would be.

"I was going to tell you not to panic... but it was too late."

"..."

"It's nothing, so you don't have to bother."

... the blood is dripping from his chin, and he believes it. Dan, who was staring at him, quietly wrote the word "jaw" on his palm.

"Jaw...? Oh, sorry. It must have been ugly."

Raven casually wiped his chin and mouth. It was a reaction that contrasted with Dan, whose eyes were shaking anxiously.

Of course, this is not because of illness or injury, but because it is compensation for having the Guardian Spirit involved with the royalties. The timing wasn't perfect, but there was nothing strange about it.

Therefore, he clapped the guardian's arm in an enviable light manner to calm the surprised Dan.

"Are you done cleaning up?"

"[Yeah. No more monsters around]"

The guardian's arm, which was supporting the swaying body, was smoothly released. Instead, the fingertips are directed to the legs.

He said, sitting on one knee, examining the most seriously injured area.

"[What's the herb of the fairy family?]"

"Huh?"

He doesn't think it hurt that much, but is it enough to find herbs?

Raven lowers his hand and feels the wound. The wound does not seem to be very light, as there is a lot of wet liquid on the fingertips.

He laughed as he thought he could see the fierce eyes of the guardian spirit toward Dan even if he doesn't see it.

"Don't you think it'll draw too much attention to ignore it?"

"[... Baby, I'm not worried about it now and saying it-]"

"I know, I know."

He can't see anything at all, so he roughly responds and hits the ground with the tip of his injured leg standing up. Every time he does that, the injured area rang out, and he has a sense of where and how much he's hurt, Raven pondered, ignoring the gaze of the guardian spirit that struck him with a tingling sensation.

"It's a relief that it doesn't touch people's eyes..."

He'll need to change the bandage frequently to move around like this. Even if he leaves it unattended, blood will seep out of the bandage and onto his clothes, so he can't be lazy and be quite bothered.

'That's why you need the elf's herb.'

Certainly, herbs raised by the world's most friendly species and handed over directly by their head of state are effective for the flesh where time has stopped...

What's the point? He shrugged lightly.

"The herb ran out a long time ago."

"[... I think it's better to stop by the fairy's territory as soon as you're done with the 'errand']"

A careful touch scanned the wound.

Raven, who hesitated due to worries that touched him so clearly, slipped his injured leg back and turned the topic around.

"I'll have to help this kid before that."

"[... Who's that?]

"I understand you don't like him, but don't be too much. It's a child like me. Like I'm a child in the eyes of ancestor."

"[Not ancestor...]"

"Yes, brother."

If you look at it, he really hates that name.

Well, he understand that he doesn't like old-looking names like "Senior" because he died in his early 20s before he reached my 30s. He patted Dan on the shoulder and smiled softly.

"So can you lend me your eyes again?"

"[... Are you trying to go right away?]"

"There's nothing more to do if you're here. I think he's in an urgent situation, too."

"[I think it's better to take a break then go.]"

The guardian angel reached out to wipe away the drops of blood on his chin. Raven chuckled at the silent question about whether he had just coughed up blood.

"You already know what I'm going to answer, but don't say anything else. Please lend me your eyes."

"[...Yeah, I happened to be out too long.]"

It would be better for the soul, which only adds to its karma momentarily, to go away and provide only a minimal amount of karma by lending its eyes.

Because he can't break his stubbornness anyway.

That was the end of the brief war of words.

As soon as the words finished, light and color disappeared from the guardian angel's eyes. At the same time, a green light appeared in Raven's gray eyes as if a light had been turned on.

The guardian angel, with light gray eyes, lightly touched the area around his eyes with his fingertips and smiled bitterly.

"[Thank God it was after the gate was closed.]"

If it was before the gate closed, things would have been much more complicated.

However, he could do nothing to worry about the child who did not spare his body, so the guardian angel said what he always said, even though he knew it was meaningless.

"[You can do whatever you want...]"

"..."

"[But don't get hurt.]"

"..."

Raven, who was able to see the world again, quietly raised his head and saw his guardian spirit.

Because the eyes were given to him, they were unrecognizable and only traces of their existence remained: dull gray eyes without color or light.

Raven knew the color of his eyes clearly from the mirror, but he suddenly realized that he had never actually seen his eye color. Raven stared at the guardian spirit for a moment, then curled the corners of his mouth and waved his hands.

"Okay, go home now. You've had a hard time with me. You should quickly go back and rest."

"[...I don't really remember having a rough time, but it's okay.]"

Even at this time, karma is accumulating so getting back is a priority. Instead of saying anything else, the guardian angel immediately disappeared.

'Okay.'

Upon confirming that his appearance had disappeared, Raven calmly fell away from Dan. Then came a bloody cough.

"Cough-."

Luckily, the amount wasn't that big.

'Is it because an emergency solution was made in the middle?'

The price for the guardian spirit's intervention in royalties is usually paid immediately after the guardian spirit is sent back, but if it appears that the body cannot bear the price and will die, it is Payment will be made after urgent settlement has been made within a reasonable amount of time. This is exactly the case.

'Previously, it was possible to receive it all at once without intermediary payments.'

It seems like he has become a lot weaker after 10 years of competing.

Since physical time doesn't change, it must be a mental problem. Because mental strength affects the strength of the soul.

'...However, I'm happy that I can recover from other people's karma.'

The Guardian Spirit is both a part of Raven and a stranger.

Initially, the cost of tampering with royalties was the responsibility of the custodian himself. However, perhaps because of the peculiarity of being 'part of Raven', that karma belonged to Raven.

Because of this, every time he received help from her guardian angel, he would vomit blood and feel uncomfortable, but Raven didn't care because he was able to recover thanks to the 'other people's karma mitigation factor'. 

Actually, he wouldn't care if he didn't recover.

Anyway.

Raven, who spit out blood in his mouth, gently lifts the corners of her mouth. The owner of the gaze, which had been felt all the time, was seen in his sight.

Wow, with wide-open eyes.

"This is not an infectious disease or anything, so there is nothing to be anxious about."

"......─."

It's not that, but I saw it because it was so alien to throw up blood with a nonchalant face and deal with it afterward.

Is he being sensitive if he feels a strange sense of discomfort even when he doesn't even assume that he's worried?

What is the person doing? Is it an infectious disease or a chronic illness? Dan's fingertips twitched because there was a lot he wanted to say, but Raven, who had no way of knowing what Dan was thinking, got straight to the point with a drawn smile.

"Okay, now it's time to keep your promise, right?"

"......."

"Explain."

******

No one noticed, but there was someone who watched him from afar.

"... at last."

The man clearly witnessed the whole thing, from Raven closing the gate to rescuing a mean human being and standing in front of him, secretly curled his lips.

When he was tired of boredom while wandering around looking for Master, accidentally learned that there was an illegal slave trader nearby who was selling the empire's people, so I went to see and was interested in an escaped slave, but he never expected to get such luck.

"I didn't see you when I looked for you."

Nothing had changed from before, it seemed like the siblings who were looking for him had even joined hands, but instead of knowing that, he was just running around without knowing that there was a bounty for him. Does he know that there are other views besides mine right now?

For a moment, the man, who realized that the main reason for his gaze lies in the dirty human child, cut off his nerves and focused on the being he missed completely.

"It's been 10 years."

The persistent gaze follows Raven's every move. Without taking his eyes off Raven for a moment, he recited low. A voice that was clear to be dark red if there was a color in the voice rang out.

"I found you, Father."

Oh, now he doesn't like these names.

So, Master. Regardless, he grinned, freely muttering a name that the current Raven would find horrifying.

*****

There's no time to stand around and talk. Dan started explaining late after he left first.

There was nothing to explain from the start. Since Raven had defeated most of them, just asking was enough.

Dan just scribbled it on his palm.

-Please save my sister.

"......Okay."

It was a short sentence with the entire content cut out, but Raven immediately grasped the situation with just that.

A request within the expected scope. He tied a bandage around the affected area to prevent bloodshed from causing unnecessary trouble, nodded indifferently, and busily chased after Dan.

...Not long after walking, he stopped― and frowned.

"This direction..."

"?"

"...Nothing."

Probably just a coincidence, Raven shook his head urging Dan to go quickly, Dan also followed, running towards his sister again, while glancing back at Raven.

Honestly, the urgent and disappointing side was this side, so he asked for help.

'... it's suspicious.'

A man named Raven was quite strange.

You can see dark hair that goes down to the waist, and eyes with a unique green color that looks rugged but gives off a strange feeling. Pale skin is a bonus.

Looking at the overall impression, it seems that he's only in his early to mid-20s at the best.

'It's really suspicious.'

Too young and beautiful to go around catching monsters alone, and yet it's an atmosphere that flips widely across various age groups.

The time I spent looking at him was short but not long but I was sure something was wrong.

'The same thing happened to the anonymous man who suddenly appeared.'

Dan slowly narrowed the gap between his eyes.

"Is he not human?"