Those with the blood of gold chase after things that shine. Always.
* * *
Zeppelin Gold watched the warriors of the plains swarming toward him like a tide of steel.
‘If there is ever danger, always run away.’
When the youngest left the Black Archipelago, his parents had handed him countless treasures. The Sun Orb , which could temporarily transform him into a giant through the power of spirits; the Blue Blessing , which could preserve his life even under a rain of arrows. They had spared nothing, gifting him every conceivable item to escape a crisis. These were artifacts that even the capital of the Red Bank could not easily obtain.
‘You are weak, brother, but you are not foolish.’
‘If it’s dangerous, don’t fight. Just run.’
.
.
.
‘War is more terrible than you can imagine.’
‘Let me be clear.’
‘Don’t make Mother cry, Zeppelin.’
Zeppelin’s siblings had each added their own warnings as they watched their parents hand over those precious items. Though they spoke with mischief in their voices, Zeppelin knew they said those things because they were worried about their young, frail brother. On the surface, they were cold capitalists and rational nobles, but Zeppelin knew they were people who cherished their family more than anything.
‘My child, it is alright even if you do not succeed.’
Thwack! A spearhead punched through his ankle.
A scream tore from his throat, fueled by a pain unlike anything he had ever known in his life.
‘I won’t scold you even if you lose everything you have. It’s fine if you squander everything you’ve grasped, so long as you hold onto your life. Even if the world is a gutter, survive somehow and come back home.’
Zeppelin remembered his mother’s warm touch.
He remembered his brothers and sisters, men and women of few words who subtly looked after him. He remembered his father, who claimed to be uninterested but never spared any support from behind the scenes, knowing exactly what Zeppelin was studying. Returning to them was a matter of duty. Zeppelin had received more love than he deserved, and he had to repay that affection. To give back as much as one received—that was the maxim of the Gold family.
“Look at me—!”
However, he could no longer fulfill that duty.
“More! More of you, come at me!”
The pain felt as if his very brain were being incinerated.
The demons sprinting across the plains climbed onto Zeppelin’s enlarged body. The immense power and size granted by the treasures were useless before the warriors of the plains. A massive body was merely a massive target, and the bloodthirsty warriors from the Great Land had already hunted true giants hundreds of times. Zeppelin’s body was being dismantled alive. Like common prey.
“Look at me!”
As his flesh was stripped and his bones exposed, Zeppelin grew even larger. Blue smoke billowed out, channeling mystical power into his frame. But even within a powerful shell, Zeppelin’s essence was that of a coward. A coward who had never fought a single battle in his life. A coward who couldn’t even move his body properly, unable to throw a single straight punch. Zeppelin’s movements were nothing more than a desperate, frantic struggle.
“Look at me, I said!”
A struggle to draw in even one more enemy.
A frantic effort to attract every eye until the very end.
“Waaaaaaagh!”
He roared, a ridiculous, guttural sound.
The luxurious garments that had once draped Zeppelin’s body were now torn to bloody shreds. His exposed skin was drenched in crimson, and muscle and bone peeked through the gouged flesh. The naked giant thrashed and struggled without pause. Look at me, please look at me, he cried out in his heart.
‘Go, quickly. Go.’
Lord Caravan , deceived by his clumsy lie, would do his best to move forward. He would run toward his goal without looking back.
Forward, further forward.
To the place where he must go.
‘Go forth, my Lord.’
Fortunately, the lie had held. If someone from the Heavenly Empire had been there, Zeppelin Gold’s deception would have been exposed instantly. Thinking about it now, it was a truly flimsy lie. The Eternal Ember . How could the Gold family possess one of the rarest treasures on the continent, something only the Emperor and the 1st Prince of the Heavenly Empire could own? And even if the Gold family did have it, there was no way it would have been given to a troublesome youngest son like him… absolutely not.
‘Don’t look back, my Lord.’
Lord Caravan had believed his words without suspicion. It was a strange thing. For such a suspicious man to be fooled by such an obvious lie. If it had been the Arhan that Zeppelin knew, he would have asked, ‘How did you get such a treasure?’ or ‘By what principle does the resurrection proceed?’ It was probably because the situation was urgent. Impatience tended to cloud one’s judgment…
‘Thank you.’
No, in truth, Zeppelin knew.
It wasn’t that Lord Caravan couldn’t doubt his words. He chose not to. Because through the twists and turns of their journey to this unfamiliar Southern Continent, they had become friends. Zeppelin knew. Lord Caravan seemed like a suspicious and cold human, but he was a man of deep affection and warmth. While he doubted everything in the world, he could not bring himself to apply that same yardstick of suspicion to his own people. Yes, Lord Caravan was that kind of person…
‘Thank you so much, my friend.’
If he hadn’t lied—if he had spoken honestly—Lord Caravan would never have left him behind. He would have looked after his incompetent friend without abandonment. And then, if they had finally reached the port and boarded a ship? Even in the roughest seas, Lord Caravan would have pushed himself to ensure everyone survived. In Zeppelin’s view, that was impossible. This was the place for his exit. It was time for the talentless character to step aside so that the protagonist on the stage could shine.
‘I hope you find out about my death late. Since you are a warm person, you might be shaken by my passing. But I hope that one day, when you do find out, you will cry for me for just a moment.’
Looking back, they were truly brilliant times.
Perhaps the moments from the village on the outskirts of the Iron Kingdom to the time spent in the Southern Continent were the most valuable in Zeppelin’s life. He was a man who always spoke of a shining future but failed repeatedly. A man who knew nothing of success had finally seen a landscape where dreams became reality; he had seen success and tasted recognition. He had experienced firsthand how joyful it was to shine alongside the things he chased.
‘It’s a shame.’
He wanted to taste it just a little more.
He wanted to stay in these sparkling moments longer. Helping his friend, saving the lives of more people, seeing smiles bloom on the faces of those in sorrow, carving his name into the corner of a building, seeing everyone look at him with surprised eyes and offer praise…
Zeppelin, Zeppelin. He wanted to hear everyone shouting his name and smiling brightly again. On a dark night, sitting around a fire lit in the middle of a city, he wanted to clink glasses until the golden beer sloshed over, dancing and singing. He wanted to crack silly jokes and burst into loud laughter, throwing away all worries to hold a party. A very, very big party.
A party where everyone could shine.
“Raise your head, descendant of gold.”
He had been immersed in a sweet fantasy for a moment.
Zeppelin heard a voice calling to him.
Soon, mockery erupted from the surroundings.
“O Sun That Never Sets , he cannot raise his head. He will likely have to live with his head bowed for the rest of his life. We smashed his neck to suit such a weakling.”
“You made him pay the price, then.”
“Yes, we did.”
He couldn’t even twitch a finger. Right now, Zeppelin’s entire body was so broken it was a miracle he was still breathing. The warriors of the plains had severed every muscle and ligament in Zeppelin’s body and shattered his bones. After making it impossible for him to move by his own will, they refused to grant him death. Peaceful rest could not be granted to one who dared to insult the Sun That Never Sets.
“Make him raise his head.”
An ominous voice rang out.
Someone grabbed Zeppelin’s limp hair and yanked it up. With a surge of terrible pain, Zeppelin’s head was tilted back. A cracked groan escaped his mouth—the sound of air escaping a punctured balloon. As he gasped, Zeppelin saw the Descendant of Khan . A Swordmaster whose eyes seemed to hold a smoldering flame.
“Paltry descendant of gold, I have seen your tricks.”
“…”
“I am dying of curiosity. Even Rhapsody and Gold … why did the Great Five Families struggle so much to save the ‘Last Caravan’?”
The Descendant of Khan drew his sword from his waist.
A sharp shring of the blade’s resonance echoed.
“I know that everything you did was to save the Descendant of Steel . But no matter how much I think about it, I cannot understand. Do you have a reason to save the Caravan?”
“…”
“Did you receive some promise from the Caravan? Or did you hear something from him? If you speak honestly, I will spare your pathetic life.”
The sharp tip of the sword drew close to Zeppelin’s throat.
“Not just spare you. I will give you all the glory that can be taken from the Southern Continent, which will be scorched from now on. Furthermore, I will purchase all the supplies needed for our war through you. How about it? Isn’t it sweet?”
As the sword drew closer, the face of the Descendant of Khan leaned in.
“This is an opportunity, descendant of gold. Take our hand. In the Great Land, there is more than enough gold prepared for you.”
The voice flowing from the Descendant of Khan’s mouth was incredibly sweet. The words of the Descendant of Khan, one of the Six Masters and a Great Warrior of God, carried immense weight. The words he spoke would surely be kept. And if he accepted the proposal, Zeppelin Gold would achieve success incomparable to anything in the Southern Continent. A new legend would be written. He would achieve a truly great success. But…
“…I refuse.”
But that doesn’t shine.
“In a world… burned to ashes… what use is gold? To an old man… shipwrecked on a sailboat… in the middle of a vast, infinite ocean… what is needed… a bowl of soup… or jewels and gold?”
“…”
“In a world… that doesn’t shine… gold loses its light.”
Those with the blood of gold always chase after things that shine.
“The blood of gold… chases what shines.”
Zeppelin had seen light in Lord Caravan. He was certain that the world Caravan spoke of, the path he walked toward, would shine. That was why he wanted to walk together. He wanted to see Lord Caravan shine even more than he did now; he wanted to see his village shine brilliantly, and he wanted to enjoy even a small light together. But he couldn’t. If so, he must at least ensure that the sparkle does not disappear.
“…As expected, one cannot have a conversation with a damn Gold.”
Zeppelin remembered the Gold maxim.
“Lock him up somewhere. Take good care of him so he doesn’t die.”
Give if you want.
And if you have given, take.
“It’s been famous for a long time—that the descendants of gold offer astronomical ransoms for their kin…”
At this moment, Zeppelin wanted the shining thing he chased to endure. That was not something Zeppelin could achieve himself. Zeppelin was weak, he had nothing, and his life was now flickering out. To achieve what he wanted, he had to give what he had. And at this moment, there was only one thing Zeppelin could give. His life. A currency with no monetary value, but one that could powerfully provoke someone on an archipelago located on the other side of the world.
“…Wait!”
Though a descendant of the Great Five Families, he was a man who had never held a sword, a late-born child who was a troublesome youngest son. If one were to put a price on his life, most would price it cheaply. However, his kin, who shared the same blood as Zeppelin, would never do so. Zeppelin Gold placed his own life on the scales.
“Warriors, save him!”
“We—we cannot save him!”
“He didn’t just bite his tongue. It seems he was holding one of the treasures in his mouth and broke it; he used a treasure that goes beyond physical death and annihilates the soul. This is something no one can stop…”
If that death was not merely the separation of body and soul to depart for the spiritual world, but a complete death where even the soul crumbled and vanished from existence, it would be even more so.
‘I’m sorry, Mother. Father. Brothers, sisters. Matriarch, and my people…’
The treasure, Eternal Night .
A treasure with the power to permanently annihilate spiritual beings that have no physical body. The Eternal Night that exploded in Zeppelin’s mouth was scattering his soul and body like sand. In that surreal sensation, Zeppelin felt as if he were falling asleep. He felt himself falling into a deep, very deep and comfortable dream.
‘Ah…’
And Zeppelin thought:
If this were not death, but a long sleep…
Then, after everything was over, he hoped someone would wake him up. A world where there is no terrible war, where innocent people do not die unfairly, and where people who laugh joyfully can dance and sing to their heart’s content. A world where being weak and cowardly is not a flaw—when such a world comes, he hoped someone would wake him up…
“…”
And so, Zeppelin’s life ended.
* * *
“Damn it…”
The Descendant of Khan looked at Zeppelin Gold’s corpse, which had crumbled like sand. Bloody Gold. The fellow who reeked of the unpleasant saltiness of the sea had interfered until the very end. As soon as he confirmed Zeppelin Gold’s death, the Descendant of Khan shouted.
“We are leaving this place!”
“Pardon? But there are those who escaped…”
“Ignore them! They must have gone far enough by now.”
“Still, I will try to pursue them, if you just give me permission—”
“—No, we withdraw immediately!”
A descendant of Gold had died here.
Furthermore, that death was no ordinary death; it was a complete death where even the soul was annihilated, vanishing from this world forever. This fact would soon reach her ears.
And.
“Get as far away from the sea as possible, immediately.”
The Master of the Sea would soon appear.
One of the Six Masters.
A Swordmaster who had existed since the Age of War.
* * *
“Ah.”
There was a child who sparkled.
“Ahhh.”
Though he was a child with many shortcomings, there was a child who always shone purely. There was a child who had a sparkle that could not be hidden by anything. Because that sparkle was beautiful, she wanted to do many things for him. As that child became an adult and grew old, she wanted to watch from behind as he truly found his own happiness. That was the joy of her twilight years. A small but not insignificant joy.
“…Prepare for departure, children.”
“Is something the matter, Matriarch?”
The small, sparkling child was the most precious and beautiful treasure among all the things possessed by the woman who had everything in the world.
And that treasure had disappeared.
In the twilight of her life, the woman had lost the thing that sparkled.
“Someone stole my treasure.”
The blood of gold flows in the woman’s body.
“…They had better have enough gold prepared.”
Those with the blood of gold chase after things that shine.
“Otherwise, I will take everything they have.”
Always.
