Re:START/If {Book 1.0}
Chapter 35: Reese and Rabe 2 of 5 (Part 01)

A cloudless night sky, the echo of footsteps and laughter filled the moment of preparation. Although they would make the dangerous journey at sunrise, the soldiers gathered near the campfire and joked with each other intimately, as if there were no burdens in the look on their faces.

Standing near the city walls, outside the crowd Odo stared with his eyes flat at the clear night sky. The dim stars of winter appear, a glimpse of the faintly visible aurora and decorate the sky that feels graceful. Fiola who was standing next to the young man slightly felt astonished, glanced flatly and observed his expression that looked displeased at something.

Before asking him, suddenly the young man stopped leaning against the wall and took two steps forward. Slowly stretching his hands to the side while looking up at the cloudless night sky, he began to open his mouth tightly and speak.

“It falls with them, white granules that hide the purple darkness. On the way that awaits is suspicion due to ignorance, bringing pseudo-fear that looks real. Yep! Empathy will only bring doom, it's a trap for those with hearts .... Dolls don't talk, they don't even live. Their voices should not be heard, because they will not see us either.”

The second jolt of Fiola's eyeballs beamed hearing the arrangement of words, without knowing the reason behind why the young man had said it. Closer and standing beside him, the Huli Jing looked over from the side and momentarily smiled faintly. “Puitis is also this Master,” he said with a happy aura.

Glancing flatly, Odo felt like he was just saying what he should have said. At a glance the cornea of his blue eyes turned green, as if emitting a very faint mystical light. Smiling lightly, the young man replied, “Not really, I just want to say that's it.” Returning to his feet and going to the storage warehouse, the young man left the woman with the blackish brown hair.

Fiola was at a glance aware, what the young man was staring at earlier felt like he was not looking at her. The young man seemed to be staring at a distant place, not at this place or the present moment, but something different. Trying not to worry more about it, Fiola narrowed his gaze slightly with a wistful expression.

“You .... Always go faster than others .... For what sake did you do it so far?”

The question was asked directly to the young man. Looking at the footprints he left on the snow on the ground, Huli Jing smiled wryly when she realized that she would definitely follow the trail even though her body did not want to. It was not instinct, not passion or obligation, just a word of heart that made him do it and want to follow it.

On the night of the preparations there was nothing horrendous, it felt crowded and ordinary with the voices of the soldiers preparing and breaking the tension with laughter. Stopping near the warehouse, the black-haired youth looked towards the campfire where the people were gathered. There was a woman with a striking hair color among them, her hair redder than a blazing bonfire.

Together with his men who he had considered the colleague, the leader joined joking regardless of gender or status. At first glance Odo stared with envy because he could not get something like that. Turning his gaze away, he simply smiled and looked back towards the dim starry sky.

««»»

The sun begins to rise markedly from its visible rays at the end of the horizon, it is a sign for a new beginning for life. Not for whom, but for them it is an illusion to see birds flying high in the morning. So dashing and weird, to see something like that in winter.

At one end of the cliff from the snow-covered hill stood a purple-haired woman gazing towards the snow-covered white forest. The blank highlight seems to indicate something, a deep sadness and longing. Closing his eyes at a glance and reopening them, he gave a small smile as if forgetting that feeling. Changing rapidly like a sudden storm, a euphoric expression appeared on the face of the woman in a long black robe up to her ankles.

It has long pointed ears, pale skin and light purple loose hair. Its color symbolizes maturity, but for something to break down and begin to rot on its stalk like overripe fruit.

“Ah~ Ah~! Ah~!! The moment of awakening had been done since that day, this time was a new event about to begin! Out of the cycle! The spin of the old wheel will end, changing to a new beginning. Not for us or them! But for himself!”

The woman looked back, staring at the black-robed people like herself. The moment they opened the hood of the robe, it was all the same. Their faces, expressions even to their height and hair color, were all the same. Smiling simultaneously, they simultaneously said, “Ending has happened, now the beginning will begin! The Bearer has come!”

The birds in the forest that were supposed to hibernate again flapped their wings and flew from the nest, soaring high into the cold sky as if they knew the bad omen of those black-robed people. Amidst the silent atmosphere in the dawn, the robed women began to talk in turn.

“Remuneration has been done, it is time to execute the agreement.”

“This closed world will open, those who steal the throne will be overthrown from the throne from now on.”

“Takkan I let you run ...”

“Takkan!”

“Our goddess is the true ruler of this world ..”.

“But he abandoned the world for losing himself.”

“For the sake of waiting for him, he again touched this world.”

“Down you from the throne, greedy pigs!”

“Yes, you guys are just imitations to keep the system in place.”

“The original ruler has returned ...”

“Layaknya Izanagi and Izanami, they also Alpa and Omega. The meeting must take place. Not for good or for evil, just for them.”

“From our thousand created since that day, only eighty-seven remain.”

“We will not grudge.”

“We won't hate.”

“We will just do it and get rest.”

“Because that's why we exist.”

“Because that's why we exist.”

“For her. For the sake of both our parents. For our own sake .... Yep! We are the children of Korwa.”

The woman standing at the end of the cliff turned around, then said, “Come, we begin the final task of opening this era .... Who will survive will get the chair, I just pray that there will be no more victims among us.” He walked past his sisters, headed down the road to go down the hill and began to follow them in droves.

With the birds flying from the nest, the black-robed women began to descend the snow hill. With a definite purpose, clear direction and determination of steps without hesitation. It was not for the destruction of what they had always done, but for the sake of the Remuneration promised to them. A limited chair that only a few of them would get.

««»»

In the woods of Luke's territory, the mountainous area of Rockfield town in the northeast of the region. In the forest of cypress trees, there is a road large enough to be a trade route to enter the city. In addition to passing through the lush forest, the road also passes two elongated hills that seem to be a fortress from the sea breeze along the way.

In contrast to this function, the two real hills are the main headquarters of the remaining bandits since the Purge by the Landlord, Manquess Luke, a few years ago. Learning from their predecessors who were massacred at the time of the incident, the former mercenaries and the scum of the community chose to be passive by not making movements that harm Luke's territory clearly.

They hunch, start making transactions and build a regular group system. In contrast to the form of bandit groups before the Cleansing that tend to fragment, they began to create a hierarchy of power and become an organization that has a single head in the territory of Marquess Luke.

With the center of the leadership in the woods of Rockfield town, they made settlements of log buildings and cabin houses behind lush trees right on the hills. Those who used to be scattered in some force, since the Purge, the so-called garbage men united into a single group under the name Tox Tenebris.

It was the name of their leader as well as the name of the ruling bandit group on the dark side of the Felixia Kingdom. An outcast who leads other scum to survive in a new era where war is forbidden by law. The prosperity that was promised after the war they could not, ended up in a corner of peace and got the role of a villain who not all of them wanted to get the label.

At one of the cabin houses in their headquarters, the bandit leader exited the group. He was a forty-year-old man who had brown hair, golden eyes, and thick shaggy hair. Its stocky body was covered in a jacket of black bear leather, carrying a one-handed sword along with arrows and a bow on its back.

Taking a deep breath and exhaling it into white smoke that disappeared quickly, the short-haired man approached the woman with a sleepy face and sat down with her on top of the stairs of their house. Staring at him, the man momentarily melted his face and smiled happily to see the girl's child.

The demi-human sloth-type woman was Isla Tenebris, the wife of the man. Isla has long hair until her back is golden brown, looks young and has a facial expression that is always sleepy as a feature of her race. The child born among them does not inherit the characteristics of a Demi-human, pure human daughter who has the color of hair and eyes like her father.

“Uh~ Suigin not cold? What is here same papah~”

The man raised the girl, then grabbed her and began to kiss her cheek with anxiety. The child, who was not even two years old, only put on a sleepy expression like his mother, pushed his father's face and did not like the beard that pierced the face and made it it itchy.

“Honey, he will be angry with you again, loh .... Don't fad like that on Suigin.”

“Hmm, are you angry with papah?”

Tox raised his daughter up high, then stood up and stared intently at her. As if not caring about it, Suigin just put on a sleepy face and said nothing at all. Even so, as a father, the man knew that his son was not in a happy mood. He who had been with Isla for a long time who had a flat expression and was always sleepy little by little understood, he began to be able to read the look of the face that looked as if it was flat.

“Hahah, don't pout, dong.”

Sitting back down, the man lowered his daughter into the lap of the wife. Suigin immediately hugged her mother and immediately put her face between her warm leather jacket. Seeing that, the bandit leader who was known for his violent and ferocious nature smiled gently.

Staring at the cargo carriage with the corpse of the horse whose four legs were neatly cut off and splayed not far from the spot, the man narrowed his eyes slightly. A dry blood sample that was not from an animal was clearly visible on the wooden train, made him remember one of the sins he committed last night by scrapping the merchant who did not enter into a covenant with the bandit group under his control.

Seeing that, Tox understands that what they get is not from good things and will certainly have consequences. He formed a group and united the bandits after the Purge not because he wanted to be a leader and gain power, but only to survive. He who is a Native Overhoul has the capability to it, his ability and knowledge is also enough to unite people from the environment without regulations into a more regular sphere.

Putting on a slightly fretful face, the man had since recalled the incident three years ago when he first formed a group. The people who enter are not always kind and obedient, sometimes Tox must act decisively by making cruel selections and killing those who oppose his way of leading. Even now, there are still some people who do not like the way to lead who tend to be considered cowardly by some parties in the group.

“What's up, baby?” the wife asked when she saw her husband's grim face.

Slightly smiling faintly at the sound that felt very rare coming out, the man turned his head and immediately put away the uneasiness in his heart. At the new dawn coming under the clear sky, he softly said, “You better go in first, surely Suigin is also cold if outside continues.”

The man stood up, descending the steps of the cabin house to do his duty as the leader of the bandits. Seeing that, Isla as a wife understood that her husband did not like being a bandit and wanted to immediately give up the position of leader to leave the group.

Isla is not naive to encourage her husband to do that in a hurry, she knows very well the world inhabited by people who seem unfriendly or gentle to let them go. When the man stepped down from the position of leader, it is certain that their safety will not be guaranteed anymore.

“What ... you want to blackmail them again?” ask Isla.

“Memeras .., yes.” As his feet were covered in thick leather shoes, the man glanced coldly at his wife. The friendly and gentle face that had been seen was gone, changing with the rogue figure of the ruthless bandit leader. Sighing heavily for a moment, he said, “That's the right word. From that we live ..., from that our children can eat and we ourselves can sleep in a warm room. Please remember it carefully, Isla.”

“Until when ...? How long will you do something like this?” Clutching her daughter in a lap, the woman with golden hair put on an anxious face. His premonition said that something terrible was going to happen.

“Now, I myself do not know.”

“Is there no other way? Isn't that enough ...? If it is like this, surely someday such an incident of slaughter will happen again.”

Tox smiled lightly hearing that, making him a little happy to be feared that way. He did not think he could have a family like now, getting a wife like him and feared like the head of the family in general. Looking back, he relievedly said, “As usual you are so kind, Isla .... Although I am a bandit who slaughtered the people in your village and brought you from the Empire here, you are still ..”

“I am your wife .... Although not originally because of love, but now. This kid is proof. So please ..., don't push yourself. Don't be reckless anymore .... Please remember that now someone is waiting for you at home.”

“You know, I'm Native Overhoul .... I think only of myself, rationally and coldly. Don't think too much of me, nor will I bond with you any further than this.”

“Long ...”

“ ...!” The man gasped, ran out of words and began to smile happily because he had gotten a woman who could fully understand his nature.

“Basic liar ...”

“It is already in our nature .... Then, I go.”

“Be careful, Tox ...”

The man looked back forward and opened his right palm. A bright white light liquid appeared from above his palm, starting to spill until it hatched into the ground and made a puddle. The liquid was not really luminous, it came out from the pores of the man's hand and began to fill the place where it stood. Within seconds, the man's body went into the liquid like a thrown stone immersed in a deep puddle of water and disappeared rapidly with the liquid above the ground's surface.

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Elsewhere, a glowing white liquid came out from the pores of the snowy ground in the middle of the forest. It began to pool rapidly and melt the snow around it. Before a matter of two seconds, Tox appears on top of the search puddle. In front of him were seen several watchtowers built together with large trees, there were some colleagues who were on guard since last night.

Immediately running and climbing a tree, he approached one of his colleagues above the tower and asked, “Is there a strange gurgle?”

“Ouh, Boss ...” The man with the deer leather jacket turned his head, lowered his finger binoculars and replied, “No, the merchants who yesterday night were indeed not from a large group. It seemed like indeed no one had sent a missing persons request in the city. No signs of hunters or warriors coming ...”

Hearing that, the fellow who was on the other tree complained, “Hah! If only there were, we could profit again! Tch! Too bad!”

“Kolt! Boss told you we shouldn't overdo it! If those bastard knights come here we can finish!”

“Hah! What monastery are you, Loin! We are different than before! Our group can win against them!” said the man with the brown bear jacket on the other tree.

“You don't know the Sword Expert's horror! Your group used to never be attacked, ‘kan?!”

“Tch! Trouble ...! It's up to you!”

Seeing the debate, Tox just kept quiet and did not break up. Ideologically, the man appreciates dissent as long as it does not reach the level of negative physical action. Tox even made a cruel selection just because of a violent reaction of rejection from the part of the group that tranquilized him. Because of this, he was often called a coward for a bandit and at the same time was notoriously ruthless without feeling.

“Loin, binoculars ..”

Receiving finger binoculars from his companion, Tox looked down the main road of the trade route. The traces of looting they had done to the desperate merchants passing through the forest despite knowing it was dangerous were no longer left, completely clean with no trace at all. Looking up at the hill across the street to check the headquarters there, he felt something unnatural there.

The base on the next hill looks quieter than usual. Feeling anxious, the man took out a small glass from his pocket and sent a signal to their base there with the reflection of the sunlight that had started to rise. However, a response was not obtained and that made Tox even more suspicious. His strong instincts made the man break out in a cold sweat, stopping his binoculars and staring intently at the hill on the other side of the trade route road.

“What's up, Boss? Why sweat like that? Is there something strange at the base next door?” ask Loin wonder. The red-haired man whose age was not far from the Tox was a little surprised to see the expression of the leader.

“No response .... What are they doing? Not that the hill next door there is also a guard?” tox said as he returned to his eyes.

“Hah? None?” Kolt on a different tree comes crashing in, figuring out what his boss is saying is true or not.

As the two men looked through the scan and found out the irregularities, they found a group of people wandering among the trees on the next hill. They were not from the bandit group, wearing black robes and hooded. Observing him seriously, Tox was shocked to see one of his bandit colleagues at the adjoining headquarters being burned with the magic of one of the black-robed figures.

“Bo-Bos! Oh! They attacked the headquarters there!!” said Kolt who panicked first when he saw the incident with finger binoculars.As the man looked towards Tox, their leader put a face full of fear and kept looking at the hill next.

As if a dangerous signal was sent directly to Tox's brain, the inner bandit leader knew that punishment would soon come to them. For the man, such instinct is always right and he is very familiar with it because he has felt it several times. His head seemed to tingle, trembling and his breathing began to tighten.

“Bos! What's up!? What happened there?!” ask Loin to panic. Handing the finger binoculars over to the man, Tox immediately activated his ability and took out a bright white liquid from the palm.

“A—! They attacked the base next door!”

“We escaped, Loin ...”

“Hah!?” Loin was surprised, annoyed to hear such cowardly words. “Our group is under attack!! Why even run away! You leader don't say like, shit!” he pulled the Tox collar.

Turning his eyes away and putting on a face full of fear, the bandit leader said, “They. This is beyond our means, they ... judge .... We have to escape!”

“Hah! You wimps! Why we used to want to be united by people like you!” kolt said from the tree next to them. The comrades in the watchtowers around them also felt the same way, not liking such cowardly words.

“You why, Tox? Not like you just say that?”

Removing his comrade's hand from the collar and holding his shoulder, Tox stared in trepidation and said, “I suggest this to you because we are friends, they. No. .., not that! This is just the beginning ..., their arrival is just a sign.”

“What ... did you say?”

“I don't know either .... But, for sure this group is over. Punishment will come to us ..”

The expression on the man with golden eyes made Loin afraid. He knew that when his partner behaved like that there would be something terrible going on, the fact that he could escape the Purge also because of his partner's instinct. Gulped heavily, he brought his face closer and whispered, “Don't behave like that in front of them, explain it to me .... We will act later.”

“Ya ..., sorry ...”