episode_0006

There are corpses strewn everywhere.

It was an even more gruesome sight, as most of them appeared to be nothing more than boys and girls.

What on earth is going on here?

“… I’m sorry.”

I turned my head in response to the voice I heard.

And there, her most precious person.

Eugene was hugging the corpse of a boy tightly.

“If I had gotten to the meeting on time… or even if I had hurried just a little bit more, you wouldn’t have ended up like this.”

Eugene spits out words of self-reproach as if he were responsible for this disaster.

A group of people with ominous signs slowly approached him.

“I don’t have the right to do that to you, since I couldn’t protect you… .”

Eugene carefully laid the body of the boy he was holding on the floor.

He forced a lonely smile on his face, as if he was seeing someone off on a long journey.

“At least I’ll give you a companion so you won’t be resentful.”

Then he glares fiercely at the group of people in black attire approaching him.

“… I don’t know who you guys are or what your purpose is for doing this.”

Eugene’s eyes sparkled as he instantly slammed his fist into the head of the closest enemy.

Soon, a violent ashen aura began to ripple from his body.

“Not a single one of you will return from this place alive today.”

Soon after, the murderous Eugene and a group of unidentified enemies clashed.

… Finally, Aria was able to wake up from her dream.

“Huh!”

Aria hurriedly got up from her bed and looked around.

A familiar yet unfamiliar room, it was the guest room of the Everhart mansion where she had slept the night before.

Only then did she realize that the scene that unfolded just a moment ago was a dream.

‘What was that just now?’

It was too vivid to be just a dream.

Looking down at his chest, he saw Eugene’s ring, woven into a string like a necklace and carefully placed inside his shirt.

A faint light was gleaming from the relics he left behind.

‘no way?’

Suddenly, I had a feeling that the scene I had seen in my dream earlier might be an incident that Eugene had experienced or would experience in the future.

Thinking back, I think I must have heard that some kind of big incident had occurred in the North around this time before I returned.

‘It is clear that something big happened at the gathering of the noble children of the North… .’

At the time, she had just broken off her engagement, so she wanted to avoid any possible contact with Eugene.

So, I made an even more deliberate effort not to take interest in the North where he was.

So I didn’t know the details of what exactly happened there.

“Ah… .”

For a moment, I reproach myself for the consistently stupid actions I have committed in the past.

My heart ached as I recalled Eugene’s face, stained with sadness, from my dream.

At that moment, I felt like running to him right away and comforting him.

As if reading my mind, I saw Eugene walking away from the window.

“… Eugene?”

Without even having time to think, my body moved on its own and I chased after him.

***

Early morning.

As usual, I woke up early in the morning and headed straight to the training ground.

I ran into servants busily preparing breakfast, but they only gave me a brief greeting as if they were familiar with the current situation.

Since I was also used to this kind of thing, I nodded my head in response.

Once we got to the training ground, we constantly worked ourselves to death by lifting heavy lumps of iron scattered here and there or by running continuously around the training ground.

Throughout the entire process, without resting for even a moment, he distributed all the mana he could muster evenly throughout his body.

It was a unique training method that allowed one to train one’s body by emptying all the mana in the danjeon, just like training one’s muscles by tearing them to their limits.

A core vision of the family, created by our ancestors long ago to protect the North.

‘Heart of the beast.’

This is a vision that allows you to fight and win against wild beasts with your bare hands… in short, it allows you to transcend species.

A training method that seeks extreme growth by absorbing consumed mana into all organs of the body rather than throwing it away into thin air.

‘The reason why our family has had such an overwhelming physique for generations is largely due to this vision. It forces the body to grow and transform.’

However, even though quite some time had passed since he had started moving his body strangely, there was no sign of the mana in his danjeon being emptied.

Normally, I would have felt exhausted after emptying my stomach, but today, instead of feeling tired, I felt more motivated to move.

‘what?’

Even though I felt something strange, I couldn’t just leave it alone, so I sat down and crossed my legs.

I closed my eyes and took deep breaths to contemplate the inner world, the mana in my danjeon, that is invisible to the outside world.

“… What the hell is this.”

And what I was faced with was a sight of an endless sea of gray energy churning within my dantian.

In terms of mere numbers, this was more than several times the amount of mana I originally had.

Gain twice the amount of mana you’ve accumulated over a lifetime in one night?

It was a phenomenon so out of the ordinary that it could not even be considered a joke, and it could not be found even if you searched through the long history of the continent.

‘More than anything, the temperament felt from Mana is different than usual.’

Mana is something that floats around in nature, is absorbed, and stays within a person, so it follows the nature of its owner.

‘In that sense, it’s a bit strange.’

In the newly settled Mana, there was a feeling of loneliness and resignation that was overwhelmingly present.

‘It’s true that I’ve somewhat given up on my relationship with Aria, but it shouldn’t have affected me this much.’

So, even though it was clearly energy that had settled within my danjeon, it didn’t seem easy to handle.

No, to be exact, I didn’t think I could handle it right away.

‘It’s difficult.’

I tried it out once, but the amount of mana I had accumulated was the same as what I could move according to my will.

The remainder, which was incomparably huge, remained unmoved, as if they were not yet qualified.

Rustle!

Just when I was about to fall into deep thought after being faced with a completely unexpected situation in broad daylight.

My thoughts were suddenly broken by the sound of footsteps coming from behind me.

I turned my head slightly to check the identity of the person and opened my eyes wide.

“Eugene, what are you doing…?”

Because for some reason, Wild Aria was standing there blankly in her pajamas.

In a way, it was so unrealistic that it could be compared to the situation I had just experienced.

Until just a moment ago, the many tangled threads of worry in my head flew away.

To that extent, Aria’s defenseless pajamas had shocking destructive power.

If I think about it, it wasn’t just the mana in my danjeon that was strange since yesterday and today.

‘What did he really eat wrong?’

If things had gone as planned, I should have just called off the engagement, but since she kept acting strangely since yesterday, I sighed and asked her.

“What are you doing like that?”

He pointed to her clothes with the end of his gaze.

Only then did Aria notice her outfit, and her face blushed even more than yesterday when her belly button clock rang in front of her.

“… I’ll go change and come back!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight of Aria running away, her frills on her pajamas fluttering here and there.

It was a reaction and appearance that surpassed expectations and that I had never dared to imagine before.

Well, thanks to that, my mind is now much more organized.

Originally, I had planned to seriously talk to her about breaking off our engagement again today, just like I told her yesterday… .

The way she used to look at me like I was some kind of animal was definitely different from the way she started looking at me yesterday.

Also, judging from her reaction just now, it seems like Aria’s feelings haven’t changed much from what she showed yesterday.

“… Let’s just watch a little longer.”

Anyway, it’s a relationship that has already passed and we’ve been waiting and enduring for several years.

Putting off a decision for a while won’t cause any immediate problems.

Because of that, the original plan went a little wrong.

‘I originally planned to go to the imperial palace to submit the papers for the breakup of the engagement.’

As that happened, I ended up spending some time floating in the air.

So how should we utilize this empty time and what should we do?

“Ah.”

Then suddenly, a schedule for a meeting that was to be held in a few days popped into my head.

The successors or children of the families that settled in the North gathered periodically.

A meeting to share the situation of each territory and decide on a policy for the time being.

When I was asked previously if I would attend, I decided not to attend because I didn’t know when I would return from the palace… .

There is no need for that anymore.

“Since it’s come to this, I guess I should go and see your face for the first time in a while.”

So I was planning on not attending.

Or, the moment when I made up my mind to attend the Northern Self-Restraint Conference that I had planned to attend, albeit belatedly.

Wiggle!

It felt like the mana inside my danjeon was moving slightly.