At Haimon

That night.

Kasha arrived at the mansion with the items she had prepared.

“Scarl, Kasha is here.”

“Stay out, Luna.”

“I too—”

Luna mustn’t come in.

Knowing she would follow without hesitation, Scarl excludes her.

“Didn’t I say I’d handle this alone? Stay out.”

“…Yes.”

Thump!

Kasha, startled by Scarl’s deliberate exclusion of Luna, asks with a small sigh after Luna leaves.

“Master, are these things really necessary for the Haimon territory?”

The items she brought were hardly what one would expect to be needed in a territory, so it was understandable that she found it strange. Had it not been for the order written in Scarl’s handwriting, she would have questioned him repeatedly.

‘Even half an elf is still an elf. Did she sense something from the list?’

A few flowers that will become special in the future, though not now, a suspiciously old necklace, and a bundle of old, yellowed parchment.

At first glance, it seemed like a useless combination, but those flowers were special ones that only grew in specific regions, the necklace was procured from a specific antique shop in the back alleys of the capital, and the parchment was found abandoned and rotting in a warehouse in an old Magic Tower.

Kasha initially doubted Scarl’s orders.

It was clearly a strange list of instructions, but it was still her master’s command. Therefore, she carried it out perfectly and on time.

‘I should reward her.’

“Good work, Kasha.”

He places his hand ‘thump’ on Kasha’s head, signaling her not to ask any more questions.

‘To sleep comfortably, I made her go through the trouble of running errands.’

It’s fortunate that there’s a week’s grace period.

The remaining time, at most, is five days.

‘Was it roughly three days ago?’

Mulling over the Samigina’s methods, Scarl warns Kasha.

“Yes. It’s not a big deal, but I made an agreement with former Minister of Military Affairs Roberto Haimon. A request that requires me, the guild master, to go to the Haimon region personally has come in through Aiden. I hinted at it to Luna, but… Kasha, this involves a special demon. He’s the type who prefers to handle things alone, so if anyone tries to follow, you must stop them. Absolutely.”

Kasha perks up her ears at the word “absolutely.”

Touching the soft cartilage at the tip of her ear out of curiosity at her non-human-like movement, she shivers.

“M-Master.”

Jantz’s words from earlier in the day come to mind for no reason.

For the sake of teasing, Scarl moves closer to Kasha and whispers in her ear.

“That’s an order, Kasha.”

Kasha’s legs momentarily give out, and she almost collapses. Scarl, surprised inwardly, quickly puts his arm around her.

Kasha, wrapping around his firm and solid forearm like laundry on a drying rack, feels her heart beat even faster.

“Are you alright?”

The expression on Kasha’s face as she looks up is definitely not normal.

“Hic. Yes.”

Her cheeks and face are flushed, and the tips of her ears are gradually becoming pointed.

Along with that, her hair and eyes are gradually turning green, which Scarl thought was normal.

“Oh dear. Close your eyes as usual, Kasha.”

He performs the elf ritual as always.

But Kasha, looking dazed as if it’s been a long time since she’s done this, makes a small exclamation and opens her mouth half a beat late.

“Yes? Y-Yes!”

Scarl covers her eyes with the hand that was on her ear.

He puts his other hand inside Kasha’s upper garment and gropes her smooth lower abdomen, approaching the Porchio.

“Ah, ah…?”

Kasha, fumbling with Scarl’s hand covering her face, smiles faintly as if asking if something is wrong.

Seeing Scarl’s unique gentle smile through his fingers, Kasha relaxes and entrusts her whole body to his hands for the first time in a while.

“I told you that you would revert to your true form if your emotions were exposed, Kasha.”

His touch is gentle as he firmly grips her lower abdomen with soft words.

Scarl’s hand, resting on her bulging lower abdomen, is warmed by Kasha’s body temperature and feels sensual. His thumb, moving closer to a more intimate place, gently massages the knotted flesh above her uterus.

“Hngh…!”

“You’re very tense.”

Kasha’s heart drops at his cold voice, which shows no emotion unlike her own, but Scarl’s expression as she looks up through his fingers is not like that at all.

My kind master, who is so caring even for a hybrid like me.

Only she could see that face at gatherings. Isn’t that why she came back?

Scarl’s hand, which had settled on her bulging Venus Mound, begins to gently massage Kasha’s body.

His touch, pressing firmly and then rubbing gently, is sticky, and Kasha’s baby room below throbs as if it has a heart.

“Haa…”

Kasha feels like she can’t stand it with Scarl’s breath tickling her ear.

“Endure it. This is also training.”

“Yesh.”

Kasha’s hair and eyes, which had loosened and returned after a faint climax, shook her body to shake off the lingering feelings after the short time when she could unleash her feelings for him.

“…Understood, Master.”

Scarl, turning away from Kasha, who couldn’t meet his eyes, had to pretend not to be conscious of her.

Taking them to face Samigina with these vulnerable girls…

‘Considering that guy’s methods, the young and tender children could be in mental danger.’

Except for Kasha, they are just students.

He hopes that Luna, Flare, and Sophia will experience hardship a little later.

‘They’ll experience it to the point of being sick of it later anyway.’

“Yes. Then I’ll be off.”

“…Be careful, Master.”

“Don’t worry. Nothing will happen.”

The next day.

Haimon Station, reached by an early morning train, was eerie.

Scarl, having eaten breakfast with the usual strange sandwich from the square brown briefcase Luna had packed, checked the supplies Kasha had prepared one more time, approached the carriage with the Haimon crest in front of the station, and showed the coachman Bernatore’s seal.

“Scarl Bernatore.”

“You must be the esteemed guest. Please, get in.”

The two-horse carriage began to climb the mountain range where Haimon Castle was located, rattling.

Haimon Castle, which seemed to have been carved sharply out of a low mountain, stood in a classic and dignified manner. The location of the castle made it clear how difficult it would be to invade this territory. A moat was laid out below the cliff, and the road to the castle was cut into a sharp, narrow path that was difficult to climb without a horse.

As expected of a military stronghold connecting the central and northwestern regions, Haimon Castle was located in a natural fortress.

“Do the people of Haimon usually stay up there?”

The coachman answers Scarl’s question.

“Oh no. They usually stay in their mansion in the city, but…”

Judging by the coachman’s voice, it seemed that the servants and maids were also aware of the seriousness of the situation.

“That’s enough.”

The fact that the city was so quiet even though it was dawn when they passed through was clearly due to the demon Samigina.

‘That guy can wear a human mask.’

A demon who mocks, despises, and commits sacrilege against corpses.

Wearing a human disguise, he is surely waiting, transformed into someone even now.

‘For example… he could have transformed into the coachman driving the carriage in front. How many times did I exchange words with the coachman?’

Once. It was once.

The coachman, unaware of what Scarl was thinking, boldly asks.

“By the way, what brings the famous Baron Bernatore from the capital here?”

Twice.

“Are you curious?”

Three times.

“Ahaha… Actually, I don’t care either way, but I was curious because someone so famous from the capital was coming—perhaps, what reason did you come for?”

Four times.

Of course. You must have wanted to know what kind of guy I am the most.

And since anyone is most careless at first, you must think it’s best to deal with me now.

‘The same goes for me.’

Scarl secretly manipulated the ring and took out the embedded magic sword.

Ignoring the rattling of the moving carriage, he accurately aims at the coachman’s seat.

“It’s nothing special. It’s because of an engagement.”

“Oh! An engagement… Did you come knowing about this situation?”

Five times.

“No. I didn’t know.”

Before the coachman could react, he stabs accurately at the spot where he is.

“Gck? Wh… Wh-Why?”

Before the sixth question could be finished.

Red blood seeps through the carriage wall, torn like cotton.

Scarl, not answering, twists the sword and rummages through the coachman’s lungs.

“U-Uh, uh… Gck?!”

The coachman, unable to say anything, dies.

Scarl opens the door of the running carriage and looks at the dead coachman.

“A lowly mongrel like you shouldn’t be asking that. Trash.”

As if he knew you would come out, he glares at the dead coachman with wide eyes, cuts off his head, and kicks the corpse away.

Scarl, looking at him indifferently, gives a sneering smile.

Dead but not dead.

Even if he’s a demon, he’ll never be able to find the corpse that fell into the moat again.

‘He’s a troublesome guy in many ways.’

The request won’t be over until he kills him eight more times in the next three days.

The horses pulling the carriage, unaware that the coachman was dead, ran along the designated path.

Scarl, sitting in the coachman’s seat, covers the stab marks and bloodstains with his back and drives the horses towards the castle as if nothing happened.

Scarl naturally took the reins and headed towards Haimon Castle.

“Hyah!”

The guards guarding Haimon Castle were flustered when Scarl Bernatore approached, sitting in the coachman’s seat.

Clearly, an old coachman named Shen had gone to pick him up, but that man was nowhere to be seen, and only the carriage and the guest himself had arrived… It was rude, but it was natural to ask the guest about the whereabouts of the coachman Shen.

“Confirmed. Baron. By any chance, the coachman, old man Shen…”

Scarl’s choice was to lie.

He decided to show his old self here, and it was easier to move if he revealed his particularly cruel and violent nature.

“Shen? Who’s that? I only received a message to take this carriage. It’s absurd to call a guest and then not have someone to greet them.”

It was a strange thing.

But considering the ominous stories circulating in the territory, the guards thought that old man Shen might have been possessed by a demon and kept their mouths shut. The guards, judging that questioning a noble guest called from outside any further was beyond their duties, quickly sent Scarl inside.

“Please come inside.”

“Thank you. I’ll leave the carriage here.”

A noble driving his own carriage.

Could the person who didn’t suspect anything and naturally drove the carriage really be Scarl Bernatore, who contributed to killing demons in the capital?

“Squad leader. This…”

Suspicion about Scarl arose in the guards’ minds at the bloodstains on the coachman’s seat, but Roberto Haimon’s orders were absolute, so they could only watch his retreating figure as he entered.

“Shh. Pretend you don’t know. Report it to the higher-ups secretly. The guest might be fake.”

“Understood.”