MDBC 01

 Chapter 01

1. The Settlement of Drifting

Everyone needs a home.

For some, a home can be a person, a song, or even the fleeting moment they once saw starlight pass by.

What comes to mind right before you die—that is what home is.

In that sense, my home had always been my disciples.

I wanted to protect them, raise them properly, and one day close my eyes while still by their side.

But I never expected to die at forty.

“Cough… hack….”

The ground was littered with corpses and bloodstains.

There were at least a hundred bodies in front of me. Monsters and humans alike. Blood overflowing from the corpses soaked the dirt black.

As the invaders rampaged, the city had become a ruin, and the other masters who fought them had already fallen.

Amid the screams, I stood with my sword drawn.

My entire body felt like it was breaking, but I could not run. With buildings collapsing all around, only the structure behind me still stood intact.

Inside that building were my disciples.

My disciples.

They were still children. The youngest was five, the oldest barely eighteen, but to me they were all kids.

Even in this hellscape, they were fighting desperately. The children screamed as they struggled against the enemy with everything they had.

My first disciple, barely an adult, continued casting spells even while vomiting blood.

His body was covered in wounds.

Twelve-year-old Cesare was crying while trying to stop the bleeding of a fallen teacher. He was the most timid and gentle among my disciples.

He must have wanted to run. He must have wanted to hide.

The others were the same. None of them hid. Like their masters, they were doing everything they could to protect our home.

With their small bodies, they endured the storm together.

—GROOOOAAAR!

In front of me stood a massive dragon. Each breath released thick, acrid smoke.

Then flames burst from its maw.

Its fiery breath became a wave of destruction that poured toward me.

The surroundings brightened. Heated. It had enough power and range to burn down an entire small village in an instant.

Dodging would have been easy. But behind me were my disciples. As their teacher, I could not show them a retreating back.

The only thing I could show them was my back protecting them.

—Slash!

I burned all my mana into my sword. My body screamed in protest. Blood burst from my mouth.

The storm of blade energy split the flames in two. The inferno scattered into sparks.

In that moment, I leapt onto the dragon’s head. I struck down repeatedly with my sword. My blood and the dragon’s blood scattered everywhere.

No one was allowed to touch even a single hair on my disciples’ heads.

—THUD…

The slashed dragon collapsed. But it wasn’t over.

A voice, laced with pain, came from ahead.

“So, Balanus really is different.”

A man stood there. He had led countless humans and monsters here.

He was strong. One of my comrades had died trying to cut off his arm. Even while bleeding all over his body, the invader did not stop fighting.

My situation was not much different. Blood leaking from my side soaked my body hotly.

I raised my sword to face him. Through the sacrifices of many, the tide of battle had turned in our favor. His subordinates had already fallen by the dozens.

And yet he showed neither rage nor despair.

“I should have come sooner.”

He muttered, half regret, half satisfaction. An incomprehensible expression.

There was no time left to ask who he was or why he was doing this. Neither he nor I had that luxury.

The wind blew. The man charged.

Behind me was our home, our lives, my disciples.

No one could be allowed to invade it.

—SHHK!

The wind roared.

My sword swept horizontally across his neck, and a crimson mist exploded into the air. Through it, I heard his voice.

“Still… I’ve cut the trunk. Someday the roots and new shoots as well….”

With a heavy sound, he collapsed.

I had barely managed to sever his head, but he had struck back at the last moment.

—SPURT!

Blood poured from the long wound across my chest and abdomen. One wrong movement and my organs would spill out.

I collapsed.

At least there were no enemies left. That was fortunate.

Strangely, relief came before fear of death.

As silence spread, the voices of the children became clear.

“Master!”

“Master Deian!”

“Quick, get a healer!”

My disciples rushed toward me. All of them were young faces. All of them were crying.

They were all safe. That was enough. If even one had died, I could never forgive myself.

I tried to speak, but no strength remained.

Ah… I wanted to call each of their names.

I could only smile faintly.

How could I leave these children behind?

To soothe their crying faces, I forced out words.

“Someday… I will return home.”

Yes. Someday.

If there was a next life, I wanted to return here again—to our home.

The wind stopped.

* * *

Dust, darkness, and the scent of long years filled the air.

I opened my eyes.

Or thought I did—but there was only darkness. Even when I closed and opened them again, nothing changed.

…What is going on?

Strange. I had just been fighting invaders and died, hadn’t I?

Touching my neck, I felt the Balanus necklace.

Was I really not dead? Had I been healed and saved?

As confusion filled me, I realized I was inside something narrow, like a long box.

Odd. If I had been treated, I shouldn’t be here.

And I could feel no blood energy in my body. My mana was faint.

Still, at least I seemed healed.

I pushed upward against the ceiling. It opened surprisingly easily.

Darkness still surrounded me.

Feeling around, I found stairs. Going up, I opened a door—and moonlight poured in.

I turned around in shock.

It was a familiar underground cemetery. The lid of the coffin I had been in was open.

Had I been resurrected?

My body had no wounds.

I decided I needed to find my disciples.

I left the cemetery and stepped outside.

The night sky was peaceful, as if no tragedy had ever occurred.

I hurried forward.

What had happened to the children after my death? Were they safe?

As I walked into the city, something felt wrong.

The atmosphere had changed.

Drunk people roamed the residential streets, noisy even at night. Shops I had never seen before lined the roads. A foul smell lingered everywhere.

At the end of the street stood our house.

But when I approached, loud voices poured from inside.

Not children’s voices.

Drunk shouting, profanity.

My heart sank when I saw a dried flower wreath hanging on the entrance.

A symbol of a brothel.

What… happened?

My trembling hand opened the door.

Inside was the home I had never once allowed anyone to invade.

But the first floor was filled with tables and drunken customers.

The house my second disciple had carefully maintained was gone.

A man vomiting on the floor, another scolding him, staff moving around.

I staggered forward.

Where are the children?

A staff member approached and looked me up and down.

“Already coming to a place like this? First time?”

I walked past him and went upstairs.

Smoke filled the second floor. Debauchery everywhere.

Then I saw a mirror.

And in it, I saw myself.

But it wasn’t me.

I should have been a forty-year-old man.

Not a young man who had barely shed his boyishness.

Why… am I young?

What is happening?

A staff member followed me upstairs.

“Looking for someone special?”

“This is the residence of Balanus.”

He looked confused.

“Balanus? That name… hasn’t been here for fifteen years. What are you talking about?”