Zieghart’s audience chamber.
Glenn’s icy gaze was directed at Rimmer, who was standing under the platform.
“Why did you come again today?”
“Pfft!”
Rimmer, who had been silently staring at Glenn, burst into laughter. He then pretended to cover his mouth, but that was actually an act. Anyone that saw his cheeky face would be filled with the desire to beat him up.
“You…”
“I need to apologize first.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’ve been mistaken about the head of house.”
“What?”
“I didn’t expect you to secretly give orders to the Shadow Agents. What an amazing love for your grandson.”
The Shadow Agents were the best information group under direct control of the head of house, who only acted under special circumstances.
“How did you…”
Glenn’s voice trembled slightly, truly a rare thing to be heard.
“Tsk, tsk. I’ve been around for a while. Of course I have my own source of information.”
Rimmer shrugged his shoulders, but it was obvious who leaked the information.
“Haa. Roenn…”
Glenn sighed and looked at Roenn, who was standing on his left side. Roenn shook his hand, a gesture that suggested that he didn’t know anything about it, but he couldn’t hide the corners of his lips as they rose up into the shape of a crescent moon.
“Isn’t he amazing? How did he even get the idea of participating in the auction by earning from the gambling house? Who did he even learn that from?”
It was clearly obvious who he learned it from. It must’ve been the red-haired elf babbling in front of Glenn.
“Moreover, he stole the item and even mocked the Balkar princess as revenge for losing the auction. He is really interesting.”
Rimmer laughed frivolously, saying that he did a really great job at raising his student.
“We are not sure about the stealing part.”
“Pfft. It’s pretty much certain, since the Shadow Agents are 90% sure.”
“You even knew that?”
Glenn briefly clicked his tongue. It seemed Roenn had told Rimmer pretty much everything. Apparently, they got even closer than before after spending time together recently.
“But even the Shadow Agents don’t know how Raon stole the black butterfly. He really is incredible.”
“Are you that happy about your student’s theft?”
“But the first punch came from the Balkar princess, and then she kept doing it! Putting up with it wouldn’t be worthy of Zieghart. Raon’s revenge was perfectly fair.”
“That’s true.”
Glenn nodded in agreement. He would’ve been angry if Raon had just put up with the way she kept picking a fight.
“He won’t get any penalty in his exam either, since he didn’t personally disclose his identity as a member of Zieghart. He has great luck on top of his outstanding abilities.”
Rimmer clapped his hands, saying “That’s my student!”
“Ahem. He certainly has that.”
Glenn nodded, an awkward expression on his face from his attempt at holding back his smile.
“It’s also amazing that he obtained Kuberad’s possessed sword and saved Owen’s third prince. We will benefit from it greatly when we trade with Owen later.”
“Actually, Raon has always been pretty special, even from before. He didn’t even cry when he first saw me, and when I checked his body using my aura, he smiled… Hmph!”
Upon noticing that Rimmer was grinning, Glenn stopped speaking and forced the rising corners of his lips back down.
“What a shame. I thought I’d see your smile for the first time in a long time.”
“Silence.”
“Anyway, he is a lot more active than when he was here. I’m looking forward to hearing from him in the future.”
“I’m sorry, but that won’t happen. I’ve already called the Shadow Agents back.”
“What? Why?”
“I sent the Shadow Agents to prevent Karoon or Balder’s from taking action. Since Raon has already arrived in Habun Castle, they aren’t needed anymore.”
Glenn closed his eyes and rested his chin on his hands, as if he didn’t care about something like his grandson.
“Ah, so you must’ve asked the Habun Castle to give you reports.”
Rimmer nodded, as if he already knew everything.
“Roenn!”
“I-I really didn’t tell him this time!”
Roenn violently shook his head, facing Glenn’s threatening gaze.
“Pfft. It’s pretty obvious. Since the head of house loves his grandson so much, what else would you do? You must’ve contacted the Habun castellan to request a regular report around every two weeks.”
“Hmm…”
Glenn secretly bit his lip.
‘He knows me too well.’
Probably because they’d been together for such a long time, Rimmer knew everything about him.
“Ah, I like Raon, too. However, I admit my defeat in that aspect. I have to admit the truth in the saying, a grandfather’s love for his grandson is matchless. You are really amazing.”
“……”
“That’s why you should stop acting all dignified once Raon returns! Call him here to say ‘my beloved grandson, you did a great job. I was really happy hearing the news from you. Let this grandpa hug you.’ It will resolve the misunderstanding, make the head of house happy, make me happy, and also make Sylvia happy for everyone to live happily ever after… huff!”
Rimmer felt the audience chamber’s atmosphere grow ice cold, zipping his lips.
“Ah, I forgot I had an appointment. I need to g…”
He was trying to slip out the door, but he couldn’t touch the ground with his feet. Glenn’s shapeless aura was holding him in the air.
“H-head of house? This joke is going too fa…”
“Haaa.”
Glenn exhaled deeply and stood up. He bobbed his finger and Rimmer was pulled towards him in the air, like a needle attached by a string.
“It seems I didn’t educate you enough last time.”
His red eyes glowed fiercely.
“I’ll make sure to engrave it in your body today.”
“Aaaah!”
* * *
Raon left the Habun Castle, following Radin. He slowly raised his head.
He could see an aloof mountain, which looked like a white painting under the silver sky.
‘That’s the Stallin mountain.’
The mountain, which was high enough to reach the sky, was the Stallin mountain. It was where the endless hordes of monsters were rumored to appear.
‘And…’
He looked to the right next. The writhing black sea. The northern sea was there, with endless tidal waves rising up like tall walls.
“Isn’t that fascinating?”
“Indeed.”
Just as Radin said, it was a majestic sight of nature. His heart pounded, wanting to keep watching it.
“You will get bored soon enough. No, you will want to break it. Come this way.”
He smiled and took the lead. Instead of approaching the northern sea, he walked towards the Stallin mountain.
“Since anything can pop out at any moment, stay alert.”
“Ugh, I’m not sure whether I’m trembling because of the cold or fear. It looks dangerous everywhere…”
Dorian was stuck to Raon as he trembled. The trembling was so intense that it was heating them up.
“I don’t sense anything for now.”
“R-really?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, that’s a relief.”
Dorian’s hand stopped trembling. It seemed he trusted him more than the scouting party.
“Hey, recruits! Come this way!”
Radin called for them, and Raon and Dorian ran ahead.
“What do you think this is?”
Radin pointed at a big footprint under the mountain path. It was a huge footprint, around the length of an adult man’s arm.
“Eek! I-isn’t this a troll? It’s so huge!”
Dorian swallowed, looking at the footprint.
“How about you?”
Radin looked at Raon.
“It’s not a troll, at least.”
Raon looked at the footprint with indifferent eyes.
‘There’s no way it’s a troll.’
A troll’s footprint was even bigger and deeper. And the footprint wasn’t from a bipedal, but a quadrupedal animal.
‘A quadrupedal monster or animal around here would be…’
He reviewed the contents of the book Judiel gave him and figured out what left the footprint.
“It’s a Kari mountain goat.”
“Huh?”
“Gasp!”
“Wh-what did you just say…?”
Radin and the scouts looked back at Raon with wide eyes. Their laughing eyes were now filled with confusion.
“I said it’s a Kari mountain goat. You know, the black mountain goat with big feet and three horns?”
“Uh…”
Since they didn’t expect him to give the correct answer on his first attempt, the scouts couldn’t hide their surprise.
“Th-then, can you tell me when this footprint was made?”
Radin swallowed, pointing at the footprint once again.
“Let me see.”
Raon knelt down, checking the footprint. Examining how much the snow had been pressed and the snow in the surrounding area, he could roughly tell the time.
“Considering the footprint isn’t too hard, it hasn’t been twelve hours yet. We can catch it if we head to the west.”
“Uh, um…”
“Huh!”
The scouts’ lips parted, and Radin laughed bitterly as he came up to Raon.
“You were a mercenary, right?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know who taught you, but they must’ve been a good teacher.”
He said he wanted to test them a bit more and walked around the mountain. Despite moving silently in a low posture, they were pretty fast.
“Sh-shouldn’t we be moving a bit more slowly?”
“It’s fine. The commander personally cleared up all the monsters in this area three days ago.”
Even though he said that most of the monsters were dead, the scouts’ eyes kept moving restlessly.
“There’s one over here.”
Radin stopped in front of an angled tree that was buried under the snow. He pointed at the almost ripped off part around the center, then turned around.
“What do you think this is?”
“T-troll! It must be a troll!”
Dorian’s brain wasn’t functioning properly. He kept saying it was a troll with aimless eyes.
“It’s the mark of a bearwolf.”
Raon, on the other hand, responded immediately.
“Huh?”
“Wh-why do you think so?”
“Bearwolves mark their territory by scratching boulders or trees with their thick, strong claws. However…”
Raon shook his head, looking at the mark on the tree.
“This one must already be dead.”
“H-how do you know that?”
“They refresh their marks periodically. Considering that it’s an old mark, it must already be dead.”
Radin and the scouts fell silent. They were just looking at Raon with surprised eyes and trembling chins.
“Didn’t you say you were testing our scouting abilities?”
Raon smiled widely and opened his hand.
“You can ask a proper question now.”
* * *
* * *
Gulp.
Radin swallowed dry saliva, looking at Raon’s back.
‘Who the hell is this guy?’
Those that joined the Habun Castle’s scouting party had to go through a hazing.
Even though it was hazing, it wasn’t about getting punched or being yelled at.
The scout party’s hazing was just slightly provocative advice, teaching them how dangerous the place was and how worthless the knowledge they learned from books was when it came down to actual battle.
‘It works all the time.’
Not only the soldiers, but also the knights and swordsmen. Everyone had felt powerless during their first hazing.
‘However…’
Radin patiently bit his lip and looked at Raon as he answered the question about the monster’s mark.
‘He’s different.’
Questions about monsters, the mark’s direction, location, date, and even the time the battle took place. He never failed to answer the questions.
He felt like he was looking at a scout that had grown up alongside him, rather than a newbie that had just come to Habun Castle.
‘Even the guys that have been here for five years don’t know how old the tracks are…’
Even though he was a mercenary, he was still young. He couldn’t understand what kind of life he had been living to have that much experience.
‘And he is way too relaxed.’
No matter how much experience he had in battles, they were currently at Habun Castle, which was called the northern hell.
There was no way he wasn’t aware of the rumor that even veterans would run away from that place, yet Raon’s eyes were too composed.
The people with those eyes were one of the two cases.
They were either crazy, or confident.
“Recruit.”
Radin stepped forward with shining eyes.
“What do you think this is?”
He pointed at an almost unnoticeably small mark, which looked like a hole bored by an awl.
‘There’s no way he knows.’
Most people would think it was a wind hole, but it wasn’t. It was a snow lion’s mark, one that had dagger-like claws under its feet.
The mark was confusing enough for people who had lived in Habun Castle for a long time, so there was no way a newbie would know about it.
“It’s from a snow lion.”
And Raon gave the correct answer, as if he were laughing at his thoughts.
“Huh? A-are you sure about that? It could be just a wind hole.”
“I’m sure.”
He tried putting his finger in the hole, then shook his head.
“If it was a wind hole, the inside would have a circular shape. A snow lion’s mark has a sharp end. They might look similar, but they are different.”
“Huh…”
“Judging from the mark, it must’ve been around a day ever since it passed through. It went towards the north.”
Radin sniffed his nose with a bewildered expression on his face.
It was the correct answer. A perfect answer at that.
‘Where did this bastard even come from?’
* * *
Raon closed his eyes and opened up his aura perception. He even used the Perception of the Snow Flower to check his surroundings.
After he answered the question about the snow lion, Radin murmured ‘y-you can do whatever you want’ and left him alone to drive Dorian into a corner.
Because of that, Dorian was about to cry as he got dragged around by the scouts. He looked at Raon pitifully, asking for help, but Raon ignored him.
Whir!
The Blade of Requiem told him that it would scout and spread thin ghastly energy to the back and the west. Thanks to that, Raon only needed to focus on the front and to the east.
‘You are really helpful. Thank you.’
Whir!
The Blade of Requiem shook its blade, saying it was nothing.
A-ahem!
Wrath, who’d been enjoying the snow field’s cold scent, cleared his throat and turned around.
That’s not how you scout.
‘What?’
Th-that’s not how you use your aura perception, either.
He spoke bluntly, looking at Raon and the Blade of Requiem checking the surrounding presences.
‘That’s okay. I just need to work harder.’
The King of Essence used to live in a place like this, an intersection of a mountain covered in snow and an ice-cold ocean. There’s a better way to open your aura perception when it’s filled with snow like this.
‘Hmm…’
Raon licked his lips and the Blade of Requiem resonated, telling him it would work even harder.
‘The Blade of Requiem is also telling me it has a way.’
U-ugh. Th-The King of Essence is on a whole different level from an insignificant creature like that! You will get to experience your senses in an entirely different dimension if you accept the King of Essence’s teachings.
The blue frost crawled up from Wrath. It seemed he was begging to teach him.
‘This is earlier than I thought.’
It had only been two days since the fish took the bait, yet it was already time to pull the rod.
‘Well, I guess I can try.’
Raon nonchalantly looked back at Wrath.
That’s a great choice! Once you realize my greatness, you won’t be satisfied by that insignificant creature’s ghastly energy anymore!
Wrath smiled and pushed his face onto him.
It was a big, splashing fish.
