The Exile of the Heir

Departure from the Tower

Ryuji Sato left the Tower on the night after the Death of the Lady of the Tower. He packed a small travel bag and tried to leave quietly, believing he had to find a way to prevent the inherited curse from killing anyone else.

Mimi Sato and Zero intercepted him at the entrance. They urged him to remain with the family during their shared grief, but Ryuji insisted that he could not wait inside the place where his mother had died by his hand.

The rupture with Shun

Shun Sato confronted his son from the staircase. He ordered Ryuji back to his room and demanded that training resume the following morning. To Shun, the order was an attempt to keep Ryuji alive and continue preparing him for the Unbreakable Oath. To Ryuji, it confirmed that his father valued control and combat above grief, trust, or explanation.

Their argument exposed years of resentment. Ryuji called Shun a tyrant who demanded blind obedience. Shun answered that his rule had kept the household alive and claimed that Ryuji's actions had ended that survival. When Ryuji refused the order to return to his room, the voice within Shun's curse amplified his grief into accusation. Shun called his son a murderer and told him to leave.

Ryuji walked into the night rather than allow the household to hear him cry. The departure destroyed the last appearance of unity within the Sato family.

Shun's reversal

For a week Shun remained at Yumi's grave, almost refusing food and sleep. A curse-induced hallucination caused him to injure Haruka while believing she was attacking Mimi. After recognizing what he had done, he apologized to his daughters and began acting as head of the household again.

His first order was for Zero to find Ryuji. He refused to have the boy dragged home, understanding that forced confinement would turn pain into permanent hatred. Instead, Zero was to monitor him invisibly, protect him from the shadows, and report any threat.

Two years beyond the mountains

Zero found Ryuji at a worn inn serving the Adventurers' Guild on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Chiseido. For two years the butler followed without revealing himself.

Ryuji accepted dangerous solo quests, killed monsters, and built a formidable reputation around the guild. Achievement did not cure the exile's loneliness. He continued to look toward the distant Tower and carried both guilt over Yumi and grief over Shun's rejection.

The isolation ended after Ryuji entered the School for Gifted Children. He became King through the Battle of the Kings and formed close friendships with Sawano Torafuku, Yuki Hayami, and Nori Morita. Zero's reports told Shun that his son's genuine smile had finally returned.

End of the exile

The exile ended when the oath's mark announced Ryuji's maturity. Shun entered the school to retrieve him, revealed the debt, and challenged him to win freedom through combat. After Ryuji and his allies lost, Shun returned him to the Tower.

The physical exile was over, but reconciliation required the fuller disclosures recorded in The Terms Revealed. Ryuji's years away explain both his fierce attachment to his friends and his refusal to accept the Tower's secrecy without question.