It began with a headline in a newsletter that arrived out of the blue one day.
< [Breaking News] Calex Winterwald, Dramatic Return After 5 Years! >
People's reactions were explosive.
"Oh my god!"
"Are you telling me that Duke Winterwald, the one who's been MIA for five years, is back?"
The sole heir to the Northern Duchy.
The lord of endless winter.
Calex Winterwald had returned.
He, who had been missing for a whole five years!
< The Prodigal Son of Winterwald Returns: Where Was He for the Last 5 Years? >
< Calex Winterwald, "I'm not obligated to explain every single detail. And who the hell taught you to shove a recording magic-ma-jig in the face of a guy who just got better? @#%@$…" Click 'See More' after age verification. >
"Hey! Don't click 'See More.' It's magic phishing."
"Whoa! Almost had my magic info phished."
"Another special edition's hitting the streets!"
The entire empire was in an uproar.
Even the trashiest tabloids were going nuts printing special editions, burning through expensive magic.
Everyone was going crazy for any news about Calex Winterwald.
And so…
< [Advertisement] Looking for runaway father. >
Stuff like that was obviously buried.
"Wow. After being completely silent all this time, where on earth was he found?"
"The Southern Labyrinth! They say he was found there, collapsed and bleeding from the head."
"What? The Southern Labyrinth? The one that was discovered a few weeks ago?"
"Yeah. Looking at this… they say it was larger in scale than predicted."
The voices of the people grew louder.
'Labyrinths' were like monster caves that appeared irregularly on the continent.
If left unattended, monsters would overflow and devastate the surroundings.
Therefore, when a labyrinth appeared, it had to be subjugated, and this task was usually undertaken by the four ducal families of the Etherion Empire.
"To summarize, Duke Winterwald, who had been missing for five years, was suddenly found collapsed in a monster labyrinth in the South…"
A guy cleaning some old farm tools grumbled, looking sour.
"Doesn't that seem kinda weird? You'd think the Summerains would've sent their own squad to deal with the Southern Labyrinth."
"That's true. For Duke Winterwald to get involved in something down South himself? And he got hurt, too, so he must've been in a real brawl..."
The families guarding the east, west, south, and north of the empire were predetermined.
Winterwald in the north, Summerain in the south, Bloomsbury in the east, and Longfall in the west.
Each family dealt with the labyrinths that appeared in their assigned region. And they received rewards from the imperial family for this.
"Bottom line, even if Duke Winterwald wipes out all the monsters in the South, the Summerains are the ones who win. What gives?"
Moreover, since the two duchies were not on good terms, Calex's actions this time were even more questionable.
"Stashed some gold down South, maybe...?"
"More than that."
Then, someone who had been listening quietly asked.
"What the heck was Duke Winterwald up to for five years?"
People looked at each other and shrugged.
"Who knows?"
My name is Ririn Balt.
Today, I turned eight years old, and I'm crying more bitterly than ever.
"Waaaah!"
It was a dark night inside an old cabin.
The wind blowing outside rattled the window menacingly.
I plugged my ears tightly and buried my face in the table.
"Daddy, waaaah! Why aren't you home...?"
There was a fancy cake sitting there, looking sad.
Unfortunately, the candles weren't lit.
Because Dad, who went to work in the morning, hadn't returned, even though the night was deep.
"Ta-da! It's our Ririn's 8th birthday cake!"
"Dad, it's 5 AM right now… I'm still sleepy…"
"I know, I know. But take a look at the cake and go back to sleep! Dad made it himself with Mrs. Marsha from the bakery, you know?"
"Haaaawn."
"Dad has to go out early because something very important came up. I'll finish work quickly and come back in a flash, so let's have a fun birthday party together in the evening! Okay? Happy birthday, my little one!"
But he didn't! He didn't!
'Did I get jinxed for not appreciating Dad's cake?'
With this silly 'main character' party hat on, I cried harder than ever.
"Boohoo…"
My three-year-old little brother, Theo, was staring at me with sad, puppy-dog eyes.
Theo was a baby we found abandoned in the forest a month ago when Dad and I went for a walk, and we brought him home.
For some reason, he still couldn't even say short words.
They said he was fine, physically, so maybe it was the trauma of being abandoned. Or maybe he just hadn't learned to talk yet.
"Uwah."
His little hand was patting my face, trying to wipe away my tears. But I didn't have the energy to take care of Theo right now.
It was a pitch-black night where even the moon had hidden itself.
The chilling wind was still knocking on the window, and in the distance, the sound of hungry wild animals crying could be heard.
I just knew.
'Dad won't come back.'
Just like that. He was gone. Forever.
'He left because it was too hard to take care of me and Theo...'
It felt like a knife twisting in my heart.
If not that, could he have had an accident on his way back?
"That's even scarier… Daddy…"
Still crying my eyes out, I grabbed a sketchbook and scribbled some messy words. In the midst of panic, it was almost an unconscious action.
Because I remembered Mr. Bill from the general store saying he tracked down his deadbeat relative like this.
I'd ask for help getting it posted tomorrow...
"Sniffle."
Through my tears, I figured a drawing would help, too.
I was digging through the drawer for colored pencils, my face all red and puffy from crying, when I found it.
"Sniffle, sniff… huh?"
A small box caught my hand.
My crying stopped for a moment.
'This is… the one Dad showed me a few years ago.'
I carefully took out the box and held it.
Then, Dad's voice, super clear in my head, like I'd just heard it, popped into my mind.
"Ririn, sweetie. Only open this box if it's a real emergency. And don't ever give it to anyone."
"What's an emergency?"
"Hmm. Probably won't happen, but if Dad's not around and you're in deep trouble... or, I dunno, if you feel like being a total boss and showing off some invisible power. You get me?"
"That last part's kinda weird, huh?"
"Haha, you don't know what power is yet, do you? My cute daughter. Smooooch."
'Emergency!'
As soon as I recalled those words, I opened the box without hesitation.
Inside it was…
'This is… a ring?'
This super fancy-looking ring had some kind of crest carved into it.
I looked closer at the design, and my eyes bugged out.
"Huh? This snowflake crest is…"
It felt kinda familiar, and then, the second I picked it up...
This weird feeling squeezed my whole body. My eyelids felt super heavy, like they were moving in slow motion.
Blink, blink.
My vision cleared up from all the crying, and I could see the ring's design better.
And at the same time, I got this major creepy feeling, like a shiver down my spine.
"Wait... was this the ring from my dream?"
In fact, I had a secret that I hadn't even told Dad.
It was that, since my 6th birthday, I had been having special dreams.
Dreams that showed the future.
The first dream was super random.
I heard pages turning, like cha-cha-chak, and then there were these random, blurry scenes.
I was standing in front of these huge, fancy buildings I'd never seen before.
A fountain with a baby angel sculpted on it was very impressive, but the problem was that the angel-shaped fountain was actually sculpted months after I had the dream.
'I totally freaked out when I saw a picture of that statue in the newsletter!'
Stuff like that kept happening, and finally, I realized I was seeing the future in my dreams.
'It's just random scenes with no connection... and I usually forget them when I wake up.'
So, I didn't tell Dad, but lately, my dreams have been getting clearer.
"Ah… I remember."
I blinked, kinda dazed, and mumbled.
I looked back down at the cold metal in my hand.
'This ring... it's the one that guy who died in my dream was wearing on his thumb.'
Calex Winterwald.
He was one of the most famous people in the empire, to the point that even I, who had never been out of this backwater village, knew his name.
'I heard he was, like, super powerful...'
Honestly, I didn't know much about him.
Every time I tried to read news about him out loud to practice reading, Dad would freak out and grab all the newsletters.
But the weird thing was, in my dream, Calex Winterwald was this total bad guy, not like his reputation now.
He even got taken down by the good guys for doing something bad...
'Hold on, hold on.'
My eyes were darting around like crazy.
I mean, that's all fine, but why would Dad...
Why did our sweet, kind, and totally reliable Dad have this ring?
It's super shiny, so it's gotta be real, right...?
'No way… no way!'
Realization struck like lightning.
I couldn't overcome the shock and covered my mouth with my hand.
Clunk.
The Winterwald crest ring fell out of my hand and rolled until it bumped into Theo's high chair.
There's only one person who could have that ring.
"No... way..."
My jaw totally dropped.
"Dad was the villain Duke Winterwald?!"
'Wait... he kinda looks like him, doesn't he?'
Yep.
I thought I was just some dirt-poor nobody, but I was actually a secret rich kid!
Even if I was gonna get my head chopped off soon!
