episode_0186

000

“Cain!”

A rough male voice called the youth’s name.

When Cain quietly turned around, he saw a group of noble young masters of similar age with their lips raised in a smirk, looking at Cain.

A despicable smile, a wooden club in hand.

It was obvious to everyone around that they had not called Cain over for a good purpose.

The Imperial Military Academy, originally a place where the sons of Imperial nobles gained experience and knowledge to become officers in the Imperial Army, was not a place Cain, an orphan without even noble status, let alone parents, could attend.

The reason Cain was able to enter the Military Academy was because he had gained a patron.

The commander of the Imperial Army’s local garrison, who had lost his teacher and once again become a true `orphan`, entered the army with revenge in his heart, and to provide for his family.

It was thanks to her favor that Cain was sponsored and came to the Military Academy.

Cain was 17 years old. It had been two years since he joined the Imperial Army, and half a year since he came to the Military Academy.

Not only he, but also Uni, Tiara, and Lisa joined the Imperial Army, but he was the only one who came to the Military Academy.

In this lonely place where he knew no one, Cain was not having very comfortable days.

Cain glanced at the male students who had called him over with contemptuous eyes, but soon answered.

“Yes. Senior.”

“What’s with that look… You haven’t forgotten your place, have you?”

Among the male students, a boy who seemed to be the leader… `Pettis` approached with a swaggering attitude and raised Cain’s chin with a club.

“You came into this Pettis-sama’s squad as the lowest member. Then you should consider that position an honor and do all the menial tasks for the squad, shouldn’t you?”

Pettis was the eldest son of the `Steria` ducal family, one of the most influential families in the Empire, and his father, the head of the Steria family, had traditionally served as the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Army.

Of course, no one could raise their voice against him even in the Military Academy, and even the teachers were tolerating his atrocities.

As he said, Cain had completed half a year of basic training and was assigned to Pettis’s squad.

Trainee assignments were made by the squad leader’s choice, and there was no particular reason for accepting Cain, who was from a commoner background.

It was simply because this human being called `Pettis` was intoxicated with power and status, and Cain, a commoner, was a perfect punching bag that no one around would particularly say anything about no matter what happened to him.

Cain, with the perfect combination of being a member of the Black Horse Clan, a commoner, and an orphan, was a perfect prey.

“Pettis~ Let’s go to the room quickly~ Okay~?”

And, clinging to Pettis’s back was a woman with a flamboyant hair color.

Blonde hair that was definitely dyed, and red eyes with upturned corners.

Beautifully balanced features and flashy accessories adorning her entire body.

She wore a heavily modified, revealing Military Academy uniform that barely crossed the line of what was permissible, and had a private sword on her waist.

“Sorry, Hyutina. I’m just giving this guy a little guidance as a senior.”

Pettis’s fiancée, Hyutina Flareless, was also a daughter of an Imperial ducal family.

She was the only woman in Pettis’s squad, and she herself was a powerful witch and swordswoman of the 1st class mage.

If you look at pure skill alone, she is probably higher than Pettis.

“Hehe, Cain. You better listen to Pettis. No matter how much you are favored by my sister.”

“…I will keep that in mind.”

The person she was referring to was the commander of the local garrison who was sponsoring Cain.

Hyutina seemed to be somewhat wary of her, who had given up the position of the next head of the family to her younger sibling because she disliked the power struggles within the family and had gone down to the provinces.

“Well. That’s it, Cain. You know there’s an inspection of the squad’s garrison room tomorrow, right? I don’t remember when the last time it was cleaned was… but make sure it’s clean so there are no problems.”

“… …”

After hearing his words, Cain stared into Pettis’s eyes for a moment, then closed his eyes.

“Yes. Senior.”

“Good. I like that you understand quickly.”

Pettis said that and patted Cain’s head, then slowly walked to his room with his cronies and fiancée.

Cain followed that figure with his eyes-

[Aren’t you going to cut him?]

A voice flowed into his ears.

“Don’t say stupid things. He’s the eldest son of a ducal family. He has a terrible personality, but his skills are solid… and above all, if I, a commoner, injure him, everyone will be killed through guilt by association.”

[Hmph… Then. Are you thinking of disguising it as an `accident` `again`?]

A voice like the whisper of a demon.

It was the voice of Cain’s magic sword, `Pandora`.

“… …”

Cain ignored the words as if he didn’t feel they were worth answering, and headed to the squad’s garrison room as instructed.

It’s called the squad’s garrison room, but he had never seen it used for strategy meetings or anything like that.

It was a multi-purpose room. Among other things, it was mostly used as a place for Pettis and his subordinates to drag in female students they liked and demand sexual relations.

Of course, Cain’s role was to stand guard outside the garrison room every time.

“Damn… the smell.”

Cain frowned at the stench that hit him as soon as he opened the door.

He could tell that they had been using this place until just now.

The desks and chairs were in a mess, and the windows were covered in dust.

And in the trash can were used and discarded tissues, condoms, and other such filth.

“… …”

Cain began to clean up those things one by one.

He returned the items to their original positions, tidied up the messy objects, opened the windows, swept the floor, and even mopped it without fail.

After confirming that the squad’s garrison room was clean, the last thing Cain tried to clean up was the trash that came out while cleaning, and the pile of Pettis’s garbage that smelled like it would rot his nose.

[Aren’t you going to throw that away?]

“I have a use for it. I don’t want to take care of this kind of thing either, but.”

As Cain said that, he somehow blocked the smell and tried not to reveal the contents, using a spare uniform cloak as a wrapping cloth, put the used condoms inside, and then used ice magic to freeze the inside solid.

“…I guess this will do…”

[Don’t let it touch my body, even by accident. It feels like it will rot from there.]

“I know.”

After saying that, Cain left the garrison room.

001

When Cain returned to his dormitory room, Lilim, who was sitting quietly on the bed with her knees bent, opened her eyes.

Five years had already passed since he met her, but her body had not grown at all since they first met.

He was able to bring her here by pretending to everyone around that she was his one and only younger sister.

No, to be precise, Cain was thinking of leaving her in the local garrison with Uni and the other children, just like his other family members.

Because she emitted a determination that even Cain, whose personality had become a little cold after losing Abel, felt chills down his spine, and refused to be separated from him.

“Lilim. What were you doing?”

“I was thinking about how I could get Cain-nim to hug me.”

He shouldn’t have asked.

Cain thought that as he put Pandora down, and Pandora also changed into a human form and looked at Lilim.

“That’s easy. Seduce him.”

Lilim tilted her head for a moment, looking at Pandora who was saying that as if it were obvious.

“Seduce… you mean to charm.”

“Yeah, for example…”

As Pandora said that and slightly lowered the fabric of the chest part of the dress she was wearing, Cain blushed and turned his head away.

“See. Easy, right?”

“…Cain-nim.”

And, Lilim also slightly lowered the chest of the clothes she was wearing, but Cain sighed when he saw that.

“…Why is this. It’s the first time I’ve felt this much anger towards Cain-nim…”

“I guess it’s impossible with your childish body. Unless you’re a succubus with overflowing sex appeal.”

Pandora giggled and teased Lilim like that, and Cain told her not to say stupid things and put the black bundle into a small box with freezing magic on it.

“More than that. Lilim. If you’re tired of being in this room all day, you can always go back to where the children are. There’s no point in being here, you can’t hear good things anyway.”

Cain knew that Lilim was receiving the same looks that he was receiving.

Not going out of the room was her own will, but sometimes when she went out with Cain, she could hear people whispering around her.

Cain always felt sorry for Lilim. If he hadn’t applied to a place like the Military Academy to gain a higher position in the Empire, she wouldn’t have insisted on following him.

But, Cain had a good reason for that.

Abel. Albert Caldearis. The existence that was his brother and friend.

The one who killed him was `Lucius Caldearis`.

He was the current crown prince of the kingdom, and the man who would become the next king.

To be exact, Lucius hired assassins to kill his own younger brother, but it was no different.

No matter what happens, no matter what the cost, he will complete Abel’s revenge.

For that, he had to climb to an even higher position.

“…I will not leave Cain-nim’s side. I’ve been separated for 5000 years.”

“…The scale is too big.”

Cain scratched his head and answered her words.

He didn’t know if the 5000 years that Lilim always mentioned was real, or just a kind of exaggeration.

But, he knew that he was feeling relieved about Lilim staying by his side somewhere.

Cain quietly admitted that and went to sleep early for another day tomorrow.

002

Several days passed since then.

On this day when the squad leaders of each squad and the teachers of the Military Academy gathered for a regular meeting.

Pettis had no choice but to sit in his seat with a flushed face.

“Why didn’t you report that the trolls were coming out to the outskirts of the forest like this, Pettis.”

Most of the teachers couldn’t criticize him, but it was different if it was someone from the same family.

When Pettis’s uncle, a teacher at the Military Academy, pressed him, Pettis couldn’t even make an excuse.

“Th, that’s…”

“Surely the Troll Forest was your responsibility. They will soon enter the breeding season and become fierce. If they come out to the outside of the forest, it could harm the nearby residents. If there is a situation where there are casualties, Pettis. I have no choice but to hold you, the squad leader, responsible.”

“Kuh, ugh…”

In the end, Pettis made a painful face as if he had swallowed bitter medicine, and clenched his fist so hard that it looked like he would bleed.

“Prepare the squad and set out immediately to resolve the situation.”

Looking at him with contemptuous eyes, the teacher ordered Pettis.

Immediately after the meeting ended, Pettis kicked his seat and walked down the hallway at a speed that was almost running.

The students and teachers around him looked at Pettis’s face and turned their heads away without making eye contact, as if trying to escape from his anger.

Soon, he headed to his squad’s garrison room. And as soon as he saw Cain, who was still standing guard in front of it, he immediately ran over and grabbed his collar.

“Hey, you!!! What the hell is going on!”

“…What are you talking about.”

Compared to Pettis, who raised his voice full of anger, Cain spoke while maintaining his composure.

“Why didn’t you report it! That the Troll Forest was like that!”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about…”

After hearing Cain’s answer, Pettis pushed him against the wall and brought his face so close that it seemed like their noses would touch, and shouted.

“Don’t play dumb! The patrol of the Troll Forest was the task I entrusted to you!!”

“Foisted. You mean. The patrol that originally had to be done by a group of 4 to me…”

“Shut up! You commoner trash!! Even so, it’s your responsibility for not reporting it!”

Cutting off Cain’s words, Pettis raised his voice loudly, and people gathered around to watch Pettis, but-

Cain sighed as he looked at Pettis.

“This bastard!”

“I reported it. I definitely did.”

Just as his fist was about to go up, Cain answered, and Pettis stopped as if he had been petrified.

“…What?”

“I always tried to report it verbally, but you were always with women, so I submitted it as a report. Surely, you even stamped it with the squad leader’s seal.”

“… …”

At those words, Pettis closed his mouth and started rolling his eyes around. Only after hearing Cain’s words did something seem to come to his mind.

Come to think of it, this guy was always annoyingly submitting documents saying they were reports, so he just stamped them roughly.

“I thought you had some kind of plan… But could it be that you had no plan at all?”

“Shut up!”

At Cain’s mocking words, Pettis’s fist, which had stopped, swung and hit Cain’s face.

With that impact, Cain fell away from Pettis, and screams rose from some of the students around him.

“Damn it…. Damn it!”

“…Could it be that you were planning to make it my responsibility? A noble descendant saying that you can’t operate the squad without the help of commoner trash… Is that what you were going to report to the higher-ups.”

As Cain staggered and tried to stand up, wiping the blood flowing from his burst lip with the back of his hand, Pettis raised his fist once again.

“Pettis!”

At that time, a voice calling him and stopping him.

When Pettis turned around, Hyutina was standing there looking at Pettis and Cain with an angry face.

“…It doesn’t change anything even if you take it out on him. Right now, think about what you have to do first.”

“Damn it!”

Hyutina, who was still better than Pettis in terms of skill, stopped Pettis, and Pettis kicked the door of the garrison room as if he couldn’t control his anger and went inside.

“You bastards! Do you have time to fuck in this situation!? Prepare to set out right now!”

Hearing the voice coming from inside, Hyutina sighed and threw a handkerchief at Cain.

“… …”

“This time, Pettis is 100% at fault. As his fiancée, I apologize.”

Cain silently accepted the handkerchief and returned it to Hyutina without using it.

“It’s not 100%. Wasn’t your role originally to control him? His little uncle also seems to have put you in the same squad hoping for that.”

“… …”

You are also responsible for not doing that.

Hyutina stared at Cain, who was saying that, for a moment, then bowed her head.

“You. Were you like that to my sister too?”

“Your sister basically doesn’t make mistakes. Neither does she neglect her duties.”

“…Okay. Sorry. You’re right, I’m also responsible.”

Hyutina said that, then wiped the corner of Cain’s mouth with the returned handkerchief and used recovery magic to heal the wound.

After that, she went inside the garrison room without saying anything to Cain.

[That woman, she seems to have better ability to assess the situation than I thought.]

“Even so, she’s a woman who’s been intoxicated by the fact that Pettis and his cronies are praising her. There’s no room for sympathy.”

Cain also said that and went inside the garrison room.

It was a horrible sight to see Pettis, who was hopping mad, beating his subordinates.

003

If you ride a horse for an hour from the Imperial Military Academy, you will see a dark forest where the power of lush nature dominates the earth.

`Troll Forest`.

This place, where man-eating monsters called trolls have been based since ancient times, is where the Troll Queen reigns at the top of the ecosystem.

Trolls, who are 2 to 3 times the size of humans, are humanoid monsters with agility that is more nimble than humans, and strength that is several times that of humans.

In addition, their intelligence was close to that of humans, so even though they formed a barbaric society, they hunted humans who carelessly entered the forest and sometimes appeared in nearby villages.

There is a story that their origins are humans who followed the Demon God in the past, so their physical structure was similar to humans, but their reproductive power and speed of evolution were different from humans.

If there was such a dangerous place inside the Imperial territory, it would be natural to burn the forest and drive out the trolls.

Trolls cultivated rare plants that humans could not cultivate in various places in the forest, and those plants were ingredients that could be used to make the top-grade recovery medicine `Elixir` in the Empire, which had a relatively barren environment compared to the Kingdom.

Therefore, the Troll Forest, designated as a kind of natural protected area, was regularly visited by Imperial Military Academy students to find out how much the troll’s territory had expanded, and when it expanded more than necessary, they installed barrier stones that could temporarily drive away the trolls.

It was possible to reduce the activity range of the trolls again just by doing that, so they were maintaining the balance that could be called coexistence with the trolls.

Standing in front of the Troll Forest, Pettis cursed.

The concentration of magical power felt unusual. The trolls’ range of activity was already close to the border of the forest.

“I brought the barrier stones… but I don’t know where the trolls are hiding.”

Trolls in the forest moved in extraordinary ways, almost as if they were flying.

If it was Pettis or Hyutina, who were elites of the Imperial Military Academy, they would have no problem fighting one on one.

The remaining two cronies were not skilled enough to do that, and there was no guarantee that the opponent would attack them one on one.

“…Wh, what should we do, boss.”

When one of the cronies said that, Pettis stared at the forest for a moment, then turned to look at Cain, who was quietly pulling a horse loaded with luggage from behind.

“Hey. You go ahead. A little bit apart.”

“Wait, Pettis…”

Cain looked at Pettis with a cold expression, and Hyutina, who heard Pettis’s words, tried to say something.

Pettis continued with a bitter smile.

“Trolls are cunning, you know. They prioritize attacking lone enemies. Don’t worry. We’ll make sure you don’t die from behind. If you die, we’ll be in danger too.”

In other words, he was telling him to be bait.

“… …”

“What, you don’t like it? I think it’s a role that suits you, the lowest member here?”

At his words, Cain closed his mouth for a moment, then raised his head and answered.

“It’s close to the troll’s breeding season right now. The male trolls are running away in fear of the females. The female trolls absorb all the energy of the males after mating, kill them, and eat them. But by doing so, they can give birth to more and stronger trolls in the next generation.”

“…Are you suddenly imitating a biology class?”

Pettis said as if he was talking nonsense, but Cain continued.

“Trolls identify each other’s location by smell. Males give off the smell of males, and females give off the smell of females. And surprisingly, that smell is said to be very similar to that of humans of each gender.”

“…I heard all of that in school. So?”

Hyutina also said as if she didn’t know what Cain was trying to say, and Cain looked at Hyutina and said.

“If we get help from Hyutina-yang, we can all move through the forest without being detected by the trolls.”

“Wa, wait. What are you talking about!?”

Hyutina was also shocked, but Pettis was also surprised.

“You bastard… what are you saying to my fiancée!”

“I haven’t even talked about the specific method yet… It’s about releasing pheromones. The ones mixed in with sweat or bodily fluids. Of course, just dripping sweat is useless. Only sexually aroused-”

The next moment, Pettis approached Cain and drew his sword.

“If you say any more than that, I’ll cut your tongue off.”

“Tell me if you have another way. By the way, the bait operation that the boss mentioned earlier is almost meaningless with the trolls’ excellent sense of smell.”

As Cain refused to back down, Pettis was about to swing his sword.

But the next moment, a chain-like blade flew in and blocked Pettis’s sword.

It was Hyutina’s private sword.

“Hyutina!?”

“…Okay. I guess that’s the only way? But… I’m not perverted enough to get excited in this situation.”

“…This.”

What Cain said and handed over was an aphrodisiac – a type of love potion.

Pettis and the others knew very well what that was.

It was something they had prepared to force themselves on other female students when they refused to come to the garrison room.

“…From the beginning, was this what you were planning?”

Hyutina looked at Cain and asked, but Cain just shrugged his shoulders.

“I prepared it because I needed it. That’s all.”

“He, hey Hyutina. You don’t have to drink that. Let’s go back to school once and bring back a suitable bitch-”

The next moment, Hyutina drank the love potion without even listening to Pettis.

“… Kuh…”

The fast-acting love potion seemed to have a great effect, as Hyutina curled up her body and her face turned red immediately.

“Hoo… Hoo…”

She was breathing deeply and low, but she was staggering as if she couldn’t support her body, and Pettis ran over and grabbed her.

“He, hey! Hyutina! Are you okay!?”

“I’m…okay… I didn’t know it would be this strong…”

Pettis looked at his fiancée and swallowed hard, but then shouted at the two cronies who were looking at Hyutina to turn their heads away.

“…You… made my fiancée look like this. I’ll see you when we get back…!”

Then he threatened Cain with angry eyes.

The reason he wasn’t dealing with it right now was that Hyutina, who could be said to be the strongest person in this place, had taken the drug and couldn’t fight, so he needed even one more person’s strength.

Just in case something happens.

“Let’s install the barrier stones and go back quickly! Before Hyutina’s drug wears off!”

Pettis said that and got angry, then led Hyutina into the forest.

[Hmph. So far, it’s all according to plan.]

“…I told you. I prepared it because I needed it.”

Cain lightly dismissed Pandora’s words and headed into the forest following Pettis.

Now, he was almost there.

004

Pettis carried Hyutina, who couldn’t walk properly, on his back and went around the outskirts of the forest, installing barrier stones.

As expected, there were troll fields even around the outskirts, and rare plants were being cultivated.

However, thanks to Hyutina, who was scattering female pheromones around due to the effects of the love potion, the male trolls did not approach to protect themselves, and the female trolls did not approach to prevent overlapping hunting areas.

If they finished installing the barrier stones in the last place like this, they could return to the Military Academy safely.

Pettis’s head was full of thoughts of reporting what happened when he returned to the Military Academy, and punishing Cain by falsely accusing him of noble harassment or something.

“…Wait.”

While installing the last barrier stone, Cain, who was watching the surroundings, said that, and the group turned to look at him.

“…Something’s wrong.”

“…What is it again?”

Cain said that and looked at the group and said.

“I’ll go look ahead for a moment.”

“He, hey! That bastard…!”

“Leave him alone. If he runs into a troll, he’ll just die on his own.”

“… …”

Only Hyutina looked at Cain as if she was worried for a moment, but then lowered her head again because she was fidgeting due to the effects of the drug.

Her underwear was already wet.

She wanted to go back quickly, take a shower, and go to bed.

She was in a state where her judgment was clouded by only that thought.

She couldn’t point out Cain’s sudden deviation.

And that was the ultimate goal that Cain was aiming for.

The next moment, something sticky dripped onto the men’s heads.

The white, smelly thing fell with a thud and soaked Pettis’s and the cronies’ heads and shoulders.

“Wh, what is this!?”

“Uwooook…!”

The cronies couldn’t stand the smell and threw up, and Pettis couldn’t control his expression due to the unpleasant feeling.

“Bo, boss…. Is this…. Semen, maybe?”

“Semen? Whose….”

The next moment, a vibration that shook the ground rang out.

“What…”

The vibration sound was getting closer and closer. The moment the group realized it was footsteps, their faces turned pale.

“Troll, it’s a troll! It’s a female troll! It came because it smelled this!”

The cronies noticed that and turned around to run away in a panic.

“Yo, you idiots! Don’t scatter!”

But, it seemed like it was already too late, as a huge woman who appeared through the forest stretched out her hand from the darkness and picked up one of the male students who was trying to escape.

“A, aaaaack! Kkwaaaaaack!!”

The body of the screaming male student was crushed by the teeth, and it could be seen that it was being torn off like jerky.

“H, hiik!”

And, the other male student who looked at that scene sat down in his place and soiled himself.

“Shit…! Shit!”

Pettis drew his sword and tried to run towards the troll, but.

The next moment, he completely lost his will to fight when he saw another female troll appear from the forest and grab the male student who was sitting down.

He dropped his sword, took a step back, and turned his body away in unbearable fear.

“Wa, wait… Pettis!”

At that time, a voice calling him.

He could see Hyutina leaning against a tree, unable to properly support her body due to the effects of the love potion.

If he took her with him, his chances of escaping in the forest, which were already low, would definitely be caught.

Pettis’s pupils shook violently, and Pettis, who had turned to look at her once, turned his head away again.

“Pettis…?”

“So, sorry. Hyutina. Sorry…. I’m really sorry… I, I have to live…. I’m, the eldest son of a ducal family….”

Hyutina’s face was once again dyed with despair.

I became like this for you guys.

And you’re abandoning me?

“Th, this is all because of that guy. That dirty Black Horse Clan commoner bastard…. Because he left his post…!”

At Pettis’s words, Hyutina staggered and tried to follow him, but the drug was preventing even that.

“So, blame that guy! Got it!”

“Wa, wait, Pettis!”

The next moment Pettis, who turned his back on her desperate voice and tried to run towards the exit-

His body was cut in half. From the top.

A huge mouth that popped out of the darkness swallowed him from the head.

“──”

Hyutina felt her head go blank at the sight of her fiancée turning into a lump of meat in front of her eyes.

It was a relationship that her parents had arranged, but she thought it wasn’t bad to be praised by him in various ways.

She thought that’s what noble marriages were like anyway.

“Aaaaaaaaaaa!!!”

Hyutina’s thinking collapsed when she thought up to that point.

No matter how hard she tried to think calmly, it was impossible.

Her body was not normal, and there were three deaths around her tearing apart their prey.

She couldn’t pretend to be a female troll in this situation where she could see with her own eyes, unless it was in a place where she couldn’t see.

It was over. Everything.

Where, what went wrong?

At the moment when a voice crying like a child echoed in the forest without even making that judgment.

“Swallow it! Pandora!”

From the sky, a torrent of black magic like a black beast fell like lightning.

And cut down the troll that was closest to her.

The troll, whose body was cut in half, died on the spot while spewing blood, and collapsed on the spot, spilling out the lumps of meat that used to be Pettis from its stomach.

[RKEEIEE!!]

When the trolls, who let out a bizarre scream because their kin had been murdered, tried to grab the person who was emitting black magic at the same time.

He rotated his body and created a storm of black blades, crushing the two trolls at the same time.

This time, the trolls became pieces of meat.

“Ca, Cain…”

The one who revealed himself from the black whirlwind was the person who was suspected of creating this situation.

Cain approached Hyutina with a large sword on his back and lifted her body onto his shoulder.

And, he ran through the forest at a high speed and left the place.

“You…. From the beginning, you were planning to do this….”

“I did what was necessary. I’ve been saying that since earlier.”

“Necessary… thing…. Why, did you save me…”

She asked Cain with her consciousness gradually fading.

“Because you’re useful.”

005

“…I understand. You had a hard time. And, I read the report on Pettis’s past atrocities as well…. He, he was a noble, but he repeatedly committed acts that were not suitable for a noble position. His death can be said to be his own responsibility.”

The next day, Cain, who returned to the Military Academy and submitted a report, was almost put on trial by a military court, but Pettis’s little uncle took Cain’s situation into consideration and was able to escape it.

Of course, the head of the main family – Pettis’s parents – could have opposed that, but the story would be different if the same ducal family blocked it.

“Hyutina-yang. What you said is true, right?”

“Yes. Pettis… tried to abandon me, who was attacked by trolls, and ran away, but died. It was Cain who saved me. He has skill, the ability to assess the situation. He also has the power to create strategies. I think he’s a much more suitable person for the position of squad leader than Pettis.”

“…I guess you were very disappointed in that guy who was your fiancé…. I understand. I’ll have to talk to the other teachers as well.”

After saying that, Cain and Hyutina came out of his office.

“…I guess this is it. Cain.”

“Of course. I’m just grateful. Hyutina-nim.”

“…You can call me Hyutina. Anyway, if I have this seal, I’m yours.”

Cain sees Hyutina showing him around her neck.

There, a top-level subjugation magic seal called `Seal of Dominance` was engraved.

That night after escaping the Troll Forest, it was unexpected even for Cain that the effects of the love potion did not disappear even after time passed.

It seemed that the original way to use that drug was to neutralize it and use it, so Cain, who judged that his body temperature wasn’t going down and he was sweating profusely, and it was dangerous to continue like this.

In order to remove the effects of the drug from her body…. He had even reached the point of having sexual relations with her.

She was the second person he had carved this on.

“…Through the seal, I can feel my sister’s presence. You-”

“It was a mutual agreement. It was.”

“…Hmph. So with this, both of the Flareless’s daughters are under your control. What is your purpose?”

Cain looked at the Empire – the Emperor’s emblem – hanging on the wall of the Military Academy at her words.

“… …”

“Don’t tell me-”

“Haha, don’t be silly.”

Cain said that and parted ways with Hyutina and returned to his room.

[Domination feels good, doesn’t it? Cain. Because you can savor the feeling of your power increasing.]

“…Yes. But, it’s not enough. I need a little more. I need great power. The throne of the Kingdom. In order for my sword to reach there, this is not enough.”

Cain’s eyes burned with black darkness.

The flames in his jet-black eyes were burning while devouring revenge and ambition.

Soon, it would burn even him himself.

Now, there is no Pettis squad. Only Cain squad will be newly created.

The fact that the first squad to have a commoner as the squad leader showed the highest scores in the Imperial Military Academy and the squad leader graduated at the top of his class.

It was the first and last time in the history of the Empire.

The end of the Empire was slowly approaching.