Chapter 60: Then I’ll Call You Grey
In the darkness, as Rast looked at the hopeful glint in the eyes of the little girl who resembled a young beast, he did not respond immediately.
As a result, the light in her eyes gradually dimmed.
“So it really is like that—”
“I heard from Grandpa Mayor that only those who accidentally awaken superpowers—like breathing fire or manipulating water—have a chance to be chosen by the Shoreguards.”
“But I don’t have any superpowers. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t use them.”
“Grandpa Mayor said that maybe the Shoreguards possess some kind of technology that helps people awaken their powers.”
A hint of disappointment entered her voice.
“But every time I tell Grandpa Mayor about my wish to awaken powers… the originally kind Grandpa Mayor would become stern and divert the conversation without giving me a chance to explain.”
“Even when I said I wanted to visit the lighthouse outside the town, to meet you and the others, Grandpa Mayor always solemnly rejected me with the excuse that I was too young and should wait until I grew older.”
“So strange…”
The little girl’s voice paused for a moment. “When Grandpa Mayor tells us bedtime stories and mentions being saved by the Shoreguards, his eyes always light up.”
“But whenever I talk about the same thing, his attitude does a complete one-eighty, as if he’s a different person.”
“So he said things like that, huh.”
Rast glanced at the little girl before him. “That old mayor really is a good man.”
“Why?”
She raised those numb eyes. “Just joining the Shoreguards, passing their test, pretending to be an orphan, putting on a tragic act to earn sympathy—no matter what method is used to get in doesn’t matter…”
“But once I join, I’ll be under the protection of the strongest people and be taken to the safest place in the world.”
Rast smiled.
He stood up, walked to the wooden table by the window, and lit the small oil lamp.
The wick caught fire, emitting a warm orange glow that lit up the space around it.
The light from the oil lamp drew a distinct line across the room—one side was illuminated, the other shrouded in complete darkness.
Perhaps because her eyes had already adapted to the darkness, the sudden brightness felt unbearably blinding.
The instant the lamp was lit, the little girl recoiled like a startled animal, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the harsh light as she stepped back into the shadows.
“How should I put it…”
Rast thought for a moment. “Anyone can make lofty promises and serve up empty dreams.”
“Like if a child told me they wanted to become the richest person in the world, I might casually go along with it and say ‘yeah yeah sure.’”
“But your wish… it isn’t just a fleeting desire fueled by a burst of enthusiasm, only to be forgotten in moments. Right?”
His voice echoed through the candlelight.
“Anyone can irresponsibly cheer on someone else’s dream.”
“But only those truly close to you will genuinely worry, truly consider things for your sake.”
“So even though the old mayor himself longed to be a Shoreguard… when you voiced that wish, he would rather harden his heart, make you unhappy, than casually support your dream.”
“Besides…”
“Do you really think the Shoreguards are just what you imagine them to be?”
Rast stared at the flickering flame. “Maybe they really do have the strongest humans.”
“But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. In this world, effort and reward, rights and responsibilities, have always come at an equal price.”
“You only want the protection of the strong, a life that’s safe, prosperous, and stable… but you’ve never once truly considered the weight and responsibility of those three words—『Shoreguards』.”
“Such thinking is a bit too arrogant.”
…
The little girl’s figure in the darkness swayed slightly.
She had heard what Rast said, but only grasped parts of it—unable to fully understand the meaning.
In her limited worldview, the human settlements scattered across the continent were like packs of wolves on the wild plains, and she was a lone cub drifting between them.
Some packs were weak, living day to day. When these were swallowed by stronger beasts of the wild, she was forced to wander again… like the town she once lived in that no longer existed, or Frostwater Town, which although still standing, offered her no true sense of safety.
Some wolf packs were strong, led by the fiercest alpha wolf, and therefore the safest place in the world—capable of shielding her from other beasts. So even hearing a few words from the mayor about the Shoreguards sparked her desire to join them.
Most packs, however, were closed-off and unwelcoming.
During her wandering, the girl learned to use camouflage—to act obedient, clever, understanding, and likable… because only then would these wolf packs accept a seemingly harmless stray cub.
The wild, the beasts that take lives, the wolf packs, and endless wandering… that was the world as she saw it.
She didn’t understand what Rast meant by “the weight of the word Shoreguard.”
But the girl, having seen the warmth and cruelty of countless people from a young age, keenly sensed the rejection and denial in Rast’s words.
So she quietly stood up and gave Rast a deep bow.
“Sorry to have said so much.”
“I’ll report everything I did to Grandpa Mayor. I wanted to steal from you… if that leads to me being exiled from Frostwater Town, then that’s the punishment I deserve.”
With a crisp yet numb voice, she said those words.
Then, the grey-haired girl used steps light enough not to disturb anyone, slipping along the edge of the shadowed room toward the door.
“Catch.”
Instinctively, she turned around. Something arced through the air and landed precisely in her hands.
It was a silver badge, its simple lines forming a coastline sheltered by wings.
It was the Shoreguard Wing Emblem—the one she had longed for, even to the point of sneaking into Rast’s room to steal.
She looked up at Rast, confused.
“In the end, it’s not really something valuable.”
“I can’t speak for Shiltina’s badge, but mine? If I give it away, then so be it.”
Rast’s calm voice came from behind her.
“And there’s no need to report anything to the old mayor… if Shiltina found out I was taking something out on a child, she’d probably laugh her head off.”
“As for that Wing Emblem, whether you sell it for silver or use it as a prop to trick the Shoreguard HQ into thinking you’re an orphan… I don’t care.”
“But just remember one thing.”
His voice rose with the howling night wind outside the window.
“What 『Shoreguard』 represents is not the safe and stable life you dream of.”
“It is a pair of shackles, a set of chains—perhaps even… a curse.”
“A curse that will follow you for life, clinging to your bones until the very end of your days.”
“Before you truly resolve to bear that curse, don’t lightly say the words ‘I want to become a Shoreguard.’”
…
The grey-haired little girl glanced at Rast and silently nodded.
She gripped the silver emblem tightly and walked step by step toward the outside.
Just as her figure was about to disappear past the doorway, Rast’s voice rang out again.
“By the way, do you have a name? ‘Xiao Hui’ isn’t your real name, is it?”
The girl paused slightly. “I don’t have a name. A wanderer doesn’t need one.”
“‘Xiao Hui’ is just what Grandpa Mayor called me because of my hair color. Then everyone else started calling me that too.”
Rast paused for a moment. “I see. That’s quite the coincidence then.”
“I had a friend who also forgot his name once. Someone else had to remind him of it before he got it back.”
A hint of amusement crept into his voice.
“It’s pitiful to not have a name. You don’t want to grow up and still be called ‘Xiao Hui,’ or be addressed as ‘hey,’ or ‘you,’ right?”
“Xiao Hui… GREY… Grey.”
“In that case.”
“From now on, I’ll call you—”
“『Grey』.”
Grey… huh?
The little girl silently repeated the name in her heart.
For some reason, as she mouthed it, a strange warmth surged inside her.
It made her think of the warm summer wind.
…
Rast stood at the doorway.
Only after Grey’s footsteps faded into the end of the corridor did he turn back toward the balcony at the rear of the room.
“Hey, Miss Shiltina.”
“The Ranger’s family code doesn’t include ‘eavesdropping on others,’ does it?”
As Rast spoke, the brown-haired girl stepped out from the balcony.
She appeared to have climbed over from the neighboring room’s balcony.
“Of course not.”
“But you, as a single man alone in a room with a little girl barely over ten? Naturally, I had to keep an eye out.”
At the moment, Shiltina wasn’t in her knight’s uniform, but instead wore a simple white home outfit and a skirt that barely reached her knees.
She looked at Rast, a faint smile in her eyes. “Luckily, under my watch, you didn’t do anything inappropriate.”
“If I had, it wouldn’t be ‘inappropriate’—it’d be perverted.”
Rast let out a bitter laugh.
He wasn’t surprised by Shiltina’s sudden appearance.
Grey’s intrusion earlier and their conversation might’ve been quiet, but it wasn’t enough to fool a near-fourth-stage 『War Chariot』 with innate intuition.
“She’s a child who’s suffered a lot.”
“Grey is a good name.”
Shiltina looked toward the door where Grey had disappeared, letting out a faint sigh.
“And for some reason…”
“She reminds me of you.”
She gave Rast a puzzled look.
She clearly sensed that during that conversation, not only was Grey’s disguise pulled away, even Rast’s mask had briefly fallen, revealing a glimpse of his true self.
But obviously, if Rast wouldn’t admit it, then she would never know the truth.
“Since it’s over, I’ll return to my room.”
Shiltina smoothed the chestnut strands tousled by the balcony breeze and turned to leave, but Rast stopped her.
“Wait.”
“I just need to confirm—you don’t have any lingering nightmares or traumatic memories that would serve as a mental vulnerability, right?”
Rast’s tone carried rare seriousness.
“If you do, tell me.”
“I can use hypnosis to erase those memories.”
Shiltina turned back and met Rast’s eyes. Within seconds, she understood the implication behind his words.
“You mean… what’s going to happen at midnight? You found the clue?”
“Yeah.”
Rast nodded. “It’s some kind of rule-based mental contamination. If we don’t return to the lighthouse outside town before midnight and stay in Frostwater, we’ll definitely be affected.”
“Your sequence specialization and Night Blade both focus on physical reinforcement. You lack defenses against mental and psychic attacks… having me erase those flaws via hypnosis is the simplest solution.”
“Like any ordinary person, I do have some deeply engraved memories. My mind is far from flawless.”
Shiltina smiled faintly. “I know you mean well, Rast.”
“But no matter how unbearable or painful they are, they’re still my past. They’re a part of who I am.”
She didn’t stop walking, heading straight for her room.
“To have the resolve and courage to overcome all hardship and despair—that is the justice of a Ranger. My justice.”
“And if I chose to avoid those memories, to run from that pain instead of facing it—then Shiltina Ingrit would cease to exist.”
“That’s… just like you.”
Rast sighed from behind.
“In that case, I’ll leave a mark for you in the Spirit Realm. If it comes to it, I’ll try to forcibly wake you.”
Shiltina didn’t stop. She simply nodded silently.
The girl knight’s figure, along with her fluttering brown hair, quickly vanished into the adjacent room.
Rast said nothing more, extinguished the oil lamp, and quietly lay back down.
Time passed, second by second, in the dark.
Click.
Click.
Until—
At the exact moment the wall clock’s hour hand struck midnight—
A thick, heavy white fog silently swallowed Frostwater Town whole, along with every living being inside it.