episode_0096

“Nothing above the boundary!”

“No more!”

“What do you think, nothing special happened, right?”

“Welcome, Prince. It’s strangely…awkwardly quiet.”

“Phew. Fortunately or unfortunately…”

Endymian, who had climbed up onto the fortress’ fence, looked at the scene before him with a worried sigh.

The ground just outside the fortress was strewn with blood and flesh, as if a monster attack had occurred just a moment ago. The corpses of strange monsters were visible here and there, but they gradually turned to ashes and disappeared. It was a common sight in the central continent to see monsters disappear.

It had been almost a week since the saints’ party came like the wind and fled like a storm. The tornado that had struck the fortress at that time surprisingly… gradually dissipated, leaving only very minor damage. Contrary to the excitement of the people, nothing much happened except a few flags that had been broken and the women’s laundry that had been blown away.

The prince, who realized that it was some kind of prank, gnashed his teeth and thought about chasing her, but stopped due to the persuasion of those around him. After that, he gnashed his teeth and decided to wait for the time when the saint would pass through the central continent again.

So, a few days passed, and a huge variable occurred.

“Prince, what on earth was that attack yesterday? Without any warning…”

“Well, without any warning…you…didn’t you feel it?”

“Huh?”

“Hmm…no way…”

Leaving his adjutant bewildered, Endymian looked back at the scene before him with a face filled with fatigue and worry, lost in thought.

Clearly, the beginning was a sudden shaking of the ground and a strange sound spreading from the sky. Endimian, who was the first to sense it, immediately asked his subordinates around him, “What was that shaking just now?”, but most of them were just bewildered. Only a very small number of people, after sensing the vibration, tilted their heads and asked around like Endimian.

However, they had no time to flounder in doubt. Ding ding ding. The fortress bell rang urgently. It was a bell that only rang when there was an enemy attack. At the guards’ excited ringing, Endymian quickly climbed up onto the fence.

And then I was shocked. A considerable number of monsters suddenly appeared and knocked on the fortress gate, leaving only corpses beneath the fortress.

‘Don’t panic! Block the entrance! What’s the watchtower doing on the fence! Shoot an arrow, quickly!’

Prince Endymian was a man of great age, as expected from a man who had been on the battlefield for a long time. He was the quickest to regain his composure and command his troops among those in the settlement.

And, he screamed and swung his sword all night long to fend off the oncoming monsters.

Time passed by without a trace, and the soldiers who had been struggling all night, firing arrows and throwing spears, soon saw their numbers dwindling and the monsters retreating, and sat down in relief.

Endymian wanted to shout at them not to let their guard down, but he was also quite tired, so he stopped and just watched outside the fence. Together with his adjutant.

“Prince, is it related to the last tornado? A large-scale monster attack… Isn’t it on a different level from the monsters that have been wandering around recently?”

“Umm…”

Prince Endymian did not answer. His tired face showed a hint of worry. He absentmindedly touched his chin, lost in thought.

Actually, there were some parts that I could guess. There was a letter about the appointment ceremony of the knight escort of the saint, and there were things I heard from my father in person.

It was difficult to say out loud because it was top secret information that was difficult to reveal to one’s adjutants or ordinary soldiers.

‘Father, why on earth did you approve such a shabby plan? No matter how strong the Saintess is against the power of the Demons… isn’t it too much of a gamble to travel the continent with a small group of people to rule out omens?’

‘Are you telling me to expose such an important mission to so many people? Speak rationally, my son. The more information that can negatively affect so many people, the more it should be shared by only a few. You are my son and a prince of a country, so I can tell you in detail, but originally, this information should only be shared by a very small number of people. What would happen if you spread the rumor outside that there is a possibility of the Demon King’s resurrection? How much chaos would the people who barely regained peace fall into? And what would happen to the Northern Kingdom?’

His father, King Teius di Regnum Alcrea of the Kingdom of Alcrea, chose to explain calmly and at length rather than nag his son. It was an approach he adopted after reading Endymian’s cleverness that matched his impudence.

And Endymian, who understood the meaning of his father’s words with his clear mind, was unable to raise a strong objection.

‘I will not hide the fact that I am as worried as you. However, for now, I have no choice but to trust in the skills of Marquis Rashford, who has served the kingdom for a long time, no… Guildmaster Rashford. Do you think there are many people who are loyal to the kingdom while freely handling such great adventurers?’

‘A high-level adventurer… Don’t you think that by giving such skilled people a chance to demonstrate their skills, you will be able to solidify your own position?’

‘Why don’t you know? But… if you help the saint until the end, and use your subordinates to save the continent from crisis… that’s an achievement that deserves to be called a hero. But… Guildmaster Rashford is not such a sloppy man. He is a person who shows humility by giving his achievements to his subordinates and the kingdom, and chooses to solidify his position behind the scenes. His personal grudges are also resolved. You know that too. The biggest reason why that man asked for the position of Senior Adventurer.’

Yes. Guildmaster Rashford had his own ambition. It was an ambition to gather, recruit, and train great talents from all over the world, ultimately to have them make great contributions in the war against the Demon King, and gain great wealth and fame. On the surface, it was for the kingdom, but in reality, it was to solidify his own ambition and position.

He once held the great title of Marquis, but his honor was ruined by a certain incident, and he later poured his fortune into becoming the head of a strange organization called the Adventurer’s Guild. This was a manly ambition.

‘That’s why…it’s so suspicious. Especially…the way he seems to be trying to get involved with the saint.’

Endymian had never met Guildmaster Rashford that many times. Only three times at most. But every time he did, he felt he couldn’t fathom the depth of the man’s hidden ambitions. So he was always on guard.

‘More than anything… why did it have to be that bastard’s subordinate… damn it…’

Endymian remembered again the humiliation of not long ago.

The saint I met again after the ordination ceremony.

The intention to refuse.

A giant symbol suddenly appears in the sky.

The arrival of a great whirlwind.

And… I remembered again the sight of that guy, the escort knight, holding the saint in his arms and running away.

‘How dare you… even I, with whom I only shook hands, come into such close contact!’

Even as the people living in the tornado were in an uproar, Endymian watched the saints and their group fleeing until the very end.

And I saw. The sight of that dirty bastard running away with the saint in his arms. And the sight of the saint being carried away obediently with her arms around the man’s neck, lost in thought(?) by the man who was trying to rob her.

‘Someday… someday I will return here. Then…’

Yes. The saints’ party was going to pass through the Northern Kingdom, the Western Mountains, and definitely return to this central continent. If so, then that moment was the last chance. It was the golden opportunity to make up for the failures and humiliations they had suffered so far.

‘I will definitely…avenge this humiliation, you knight!’

It was the first prince of Endymian who gritted his teeth and expressed his twisted jealousy towards the clear sky.

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Again, on the northern beaches of the Northern Kingdom.

Leaving the commotion of last night behind, the three men were moving busily. In the end, the Schwenheiser brothers gave in to Berzef’s argument. It was an argument full of optimism and positive outlook, but the brothers had no clear logic or argument.

‘Let’s say that the senior and the saintess are incredibly capable and solve the problem in the east in an instant.’

This was the conclusion the three reached after discussing all night. In an instant, the night disappeared, and as the sun rose in the east, the Schwenheiser brothers screamed and rushed to adjust the magical devices they had installed. These magical devices, which they had painstakingly installed, were expensive, and if they were not carefully adjusted in time, they would be useless.

Due to this, the condition of the two brothers, who had dark circles under their eyes due to staying up all night and were moving slowly, got so bad that Elsadus was making pointless jokes to his friend.

“If it breaks, I’ll put it in front of you, Belzeph. Is that okay?”

Berzeph T. Strauss, a friend of the two and also a high-ranking adventurer from the Southern Kingdom, was sitting alone in his own chair, unlike the two who were moving around busily, maintaining an unprofessional attitude. Observation. It was an attitude befitting of someone who had neither the knowledge nor the ability to handle magic tools. He snickered and kindly answered his friend’s ridiculous words.

“Oh, oh… Even if I’m the one who’s taking on the role of the water supplier, don’t you think this is some serious profiteering, Els?”

“When else would you let me be the watering pot, you idiot?”

“Haa… My sensitivity is at rock bottom.”

“Sensitivity and self-esteem, what do you need in a time like this? All you need is reality.”

“Is it okay to ask what that reality is?”

“Can’t you even estimate your wealth?”

Unlike Belzef, who answered kindly, Elsudus Schwenheiser, who started a fight first and showed a sad expression, his younger brother Elderis smiled bitterly. Despite showing such a twisted side, Elsudus was more easily convinced by Belzef’s logic than Elderis himself.

Although he didn’t show it on the outside, Elsa had a deep trust in the people around him. Especially that little bratty senior.

‘For someone so small to have risen to this position… means that he must have incredible talent that cannot be ignored. So, Elderis, you too… try not to judge people by their appearance. Even if they are not of noble birth like us… there are extraordinary people all over the continent.’

‘Uh… At least I don’t think he’s as picky as my brother. I mean…’

‘Hey, be quiet. Hey!’

Perhaps, this is what Elsudas whispered to Senior Glenn after meeting him for the first time. When they first met, Elsudas had been talking to him in a sarcastic tone, saying, “What are you doing here, little brat? Go back to your mommy right now,” showing his own concern(?), but when Glenn asked, “Do you look like a little brat who needs to go back to his mommy?” and made a fist-shaped hole in a large tree nearby, he immediately shut his mouth.

However, unlike Elsudus, who simply kept his mouth shut, Elderis and Estil, who were there, opened their mouths wide in surprise. Belzeph exclaimed, “Wow…” and touched his chin.

“What are you standing there blankly for, little brother? In that case, bring me some reagent bottles from inside the tent.”

“Oh, yeah!”

Elderis, who had been lost in thought for a moment, came to his senses at his brother’s call and went inside the tent. There was nothing much inside the tent except for three beddings, a few magical tools, and daily necessities placed inside the tent.

Elderis, who was about to leave after collecting a few vials of medicine, suddenly felt a change and stopped in his tracks.

“Oh, oh…this is…”

It was a portable mailbox that the Schwenheiser brothers had brought for emergency communication.

It looked like nothing more than a small wooden box on the outside, but its functionality was excellent. It was an incredible item that automatically summoned mail to this side when mail was placed in the mailbox installed in the room of the Elsudas and Elderis brothers in Mirvius Academy through a magic circle engraved in detail on the bottom.

Of course, since it was a unique item that the brothers had painstakingly completed, there was no substitute for it. If it was lost or damaged, it would take a long time to fix or make a new one, and there was even the possibility that all of your mail would be sent to the lost mailbox. It was a simple yet dangerous item. So, it was placed inside the tent.

And then, Elderis was able to find a piece of mail placed inside.

“Ah, ah…!”

Without thinking, Elderis put his hand into the mailbox and picked up the mail. Then, startled, he quickly went out of the tent. He quickly walked towards his brother.

“Give me the vial…Why? Why are you in such a hurry…”

“Tongue, bro…! Look at this!”

“What’s that…Huh, a letter? Was it in the mailbox?”

“Letter?”

Belzeph, who had been sitting around with nothing to do, also seemed interested in Elderis’s urgent appearance and approached his brother. Elsadus picked up the letter that Elderis had handed him.

And then, in an instant, I discovered that the seal on the letter was no ordinary seal. This was…