Chapter 419

Kuh…

Wrath groaned in pain while looking up to the yellow walls of Habun Castle.

This place left nasty memories on the King of Essence.

He remembered the worst moment of his demon life, where Raon pressured Sloth by using his name.

‘Damn it…’

He hated every single moment of his life—except for when he was eating delicious food—ever since he was reduced to his present state, but the encounter with Sloth was the worst moment where he most wished he could speak.

Raon licked his lips while putting his hand on Wrath’s head.

‘Really? They are the best memories for me.’

He managed to meet nice people after coming to Habun Castle, managed to rescue Yua, and earned countless rewards—especially Sloth.

Unlike Wrath, Habun Castle was a lucky place for him.

Raon entered through the castle gate while the cheers from the knights and the scouts poured down on him like sunlight.

“Whoaaa!”

“It’s been a long time!”

“I can’t even call you ‘Young Sword Demon’ anymore! Welcome, White Sword Dragon!”

“You’ve gotten even taller than before!”

“I keep hearing news about Sir Raon!”

The scouts inside the castle gate waved their hands with happy smiles on their faces.

“Yua is also here!”

“Yua!”

“Why didn’t you come earlier?”

“I missed the food you used to make!”

“How have you been, everyone?”

Yua smiled brightly at the rangers, who were jumping up and down upon spotting her.

‘I remember all of these faces.’

Raon was familiar with all of their faces, probably because he’d started as a scout when he first came to Habun Castle.

“It’s been a while.”

Raon lowered his head slightly to answer their cheers.

The rumor about his return must’ve spread—even Habun Castle’s residents came to see him behind the row of scouts and knights.

The shouts of joy coming from countless people were almost painful to the ears.

“Wow…”

While looking at the crowd gathered around them, Burren’s jaw dropped so much that a fly could have entered without any issue.

“What did you even do here to make them so happy about your return?”

He was amazed because it almost looked like the return of a hero.

“You are treated as a hero everywhere even though I became Miss Rakshasa because of you.”

Martha frowned while covering her ears.

“Why don’t you just live here? It looks like Habun Castle is your hometown.”

She was extremely irritated because people called her Miss Rakshasa before they came to Habun Castle.

‘But they are calling you Miss Rakshasa because of your personality…’

The reason why her nickname ended up Miss Rakshasa was because of her temper and the tenacity she’d shown during the tournament. Raon couldn’t understand why she was blaming him for that, since it was the result of her actions.

“North, cold.”

Runaan excitedly looked around with sparkling eyes.

“Ice cream!”

She observed the buildings behind the people while murmuring that there had to be excellent ice cream shops around.

Unfortunately for her, there was obviously no such thing as ice cream shops in Habun Castle. However, Raon decided to leave her alone since her energetic appearance was a rare sight that didn’t even happen once a year.

“All of them are so unusual.”

Raon laughed bitterly as he advanced, and a familiar old man with a bandana covering his forehead walked up to him. He was Yua’s grandfather, the manager of the pub Branch of Frost.

“Whoaa! Grandpa!”

Yua even used footwork to dash at the manager.

“Heave ho!”

The manager bent his knees to smoothly pick Yua up.

“Huhu! It’s difficult to hold you in my arms now because you grew up so much!”

He hugged Yua tightly and straightened his wrinkled face.

“I wanted to see you!”

Yua rubbed her cheek against the manager’s chest with teary eyes.

“Same goes for me. I’m glad you returned.”

The manager’s smile was brimming with warmth as he patted Yua’s back while she sniffled.

“Hmmph!”

Yulius turned his head and covered his mouth. The reunion between Yua and her grandfather must’ve been a touching scene for him.

The manager briefly spoke with Yua before coming towards Raon.

“Thank you for taking care of this tomboy.”

He bowed before Raon could say anything.

“Please don’t do this.”

Raon shook his head while making him stand.

“We are the ones being helped by her because she is such an energetic girl.”

It was true. Because of Yua’s bright and kind personality, she created a warm atmosphere around her wherever she—was just like Sylvia.”

Even the annex building became more cheerful than before after Yua joined them.

“Yua, go ahead and rest with your grandfather.”

“Can I really do that?”

“Yes. We will be visiting the Branch of Frost later.”

“Yes! I’ll prepare some delicious food!”

Yua linked her arm with the manager and went to the Branch of Frost while saying that it was time to increase sales.

‘Hmm.’

Raon tilted his head while looking at Wrath, who was limp on his shoulder.

‘How unexpected of you.’

What do you mean?

‘I’m wondering why you are so quiet. Normally, you would’ve said something like, ‘What are you waiting for? Follow her right now and order the pineapple pizza made by the manager!’ by now.’

There’s no way the King of Essence would interrupt them since they need some time to speak to each other.

Wrath snorted, saying that the grandfather and granddaughter needed some time for their reunion.

‘I really don’t understand you.’

He usually acted like a kid, but he sometimes showed a serious side of himself. That was why Raon couldn’t bring himself to hate him.

The King of Essence isn’t a useless mouth!

‘Oh, you are indeed a useless mouth. That much is certain.’

What?!

Raon smiled while tapping on Wrath’s nose to push him back as he charged.

While Raon and the demon king of Wrath were hitting each other’s noses, Dorian’s eyes were trembling anxiously.

He was rubbing his belly pocket while looking around at the Habun Castle residents that kept shouting Raon’s name.

‘What’s going on…? I also fought with them, so why is there such a huge difference in the way they are treating us?!’

When Habun Castle turned into hell, Dorian also fought until the end without sleeping, just like Raon.

Moreover, swinging his sword wasn’t the only thing he’d done. He dropped logs, pumped out boulders, and even gave away a large amount of supplies. That was why he never expected that they would treat him like an invisible person.

‘I admit that the vice squad leader is amazing. Of course I do, but… Not a single person is calling my name! This is too mean!’

Not a single one among the countless people surrounding the Light Wind squad was shouting Dorian’s name instead of Raon’s.

Moisture welled up in his eyes because it reminded him of the traumatic experience when everyone ignored him when he returned to the house after the trial in Habun Castle.

‘They are going too far, aren’t they?!’

His fist trembled from the boiling rage, and he could hear a small voice calling his name from somewhere.

“Dorian!”

“Huh?”

He wasn’t hearing things. Someone was definitely calling him.

He turned his head towards the source of the sound, and a middle-aged man wearing a white windbreaker was waving his hand towards him. It was Radin, the leader of the third scouting party that he’d joined in the beginning.

“Sir Radin!”

Dorian smiled brightly and ran towards Radin. His heart was pounding violently because he was the first person who was welcoming him.

“Long time no see, Dorian!”

“You are the only one who cares about me.”

Dorian nodded while sniffling.

“You are the same as before. It looks like you’ve barely changed.”

“Not at all, I’ve also changed a lot!”

He could understand why no one was greeting him if they couldn’t recognize him because of how much he’d changed. That was why hearing that he hadn’t changed made him even sadder.

“By the way…”

“Hmm?”

“Do you have the yellow apples you gave us back then by any chance? I still can’t forget that taste…”

Radin licked his lips while saying that he kept thinking about that yellow apple because of how delicious it was.

‘Does this mean that he called me because of the apple, not because he was glad to see me?’

Veins bulged on Dorian’s forehead. He was actually thinking it was suspicious that the sly man in front of him was being so friendly.

“Apples? I have them of course.”

He released the rage he’d been choking down and put his hand inside his belly pocket. He took out the whole apple crate and smashed Radin’s head with it.

Smaack!

The apple crate crumbled into pieces, and Radin fell back while screaming.

“Kueh…”

“Eat up!”

* * *

Wham! Wham!

Lephon Robert violently pounded on Derus Robert’s office door.

“Father! Father!”

He kept hitting the door and calling Derus’s name.

“Enter.”

A kindhearted voice could be heard from inside the room soon enough.

“Yes!”

Lephon Robert straightened his clothes and opened the office door.

“Lephon.”

Derus Robert put the pen that he was holding on the desk and raised his gaze. Generous warmth could be seen in his eyes.

“Considering how hurriedly you came running, it must be about the swordsman Raon.”

“It is!”

Lephon Robert gave him a big nod. He grew to admire Raon even more after the Six Kings tournament, and everyone in the house was aware of how much he liked Raon.

“So what did the swordsman Raon do this time to make you so excited?”

“Do you know about House Arianne?”

“Of course I do.”

“Sir Raon went to that house Arianne and executed the corrupt leaders! He even defeated the Specter who tried to attack…”

He told him everything about how Raon rescued House Arianne and drove away the Specter and his undead.

“I see. He really is an amazing fellow.”

Derus quietly nodded after he carefully listened to the story about Raon that his youngest son had brought him.

“And you must’ve become a real fan now.”

“I’ve already been a real fan! My uniform with his signature is still hanging on my wall!”

Lephon smiled happily and said that he shook the dust off the uniform with Raon’s signature on it once a day.

“Sir Raon’s might is worthy of admiration, but the fact that multiple factions took action in order to save him during the crisis was even more surprising. It makes my heart overflow with emotions…”

“It makes your heart overflow with emotions?”

“Yes! That’s the only way to describe it!”

He put his hand on the left side of his chest with an excited expression on his face.

“Sir Raon is my goal. I want to follow him and participate in the same battle no matter what.”

“I think you told me about this before…”

Derus Robert smiled gently and shook his hand towards Lephon.

“I believe you shouldn’t be idling here if you want to become like the swordsman Raon.”

“Ah…”

“You went outside again instead of training, didn’t you?!”

“I-I’m going to train right away!”

Lephon nodded at him and hurriedly left the office.

Tap.

The moment the office door was closed, Derus Robert’s eyes—-which were smiling as if he were fond of his son—froze like a glacier.

“Sirith.”

A dark shadow emerged from the ground upon hearing his call. The shadow wavered like a tidal wave and shaped itself into a handsome young man with impressively long black hair.

“Yes, sir?”

The man called Sirith went on his knees and bowed.

“What’s the progress on gathering information about Raon Zieghart and the Light Wind squad?”

“We are gathering everything about them without missing a single hair. This incident allowed us to learn that Habun Castle, Owen, and the Warring Steel division are supporting him, which is a great result.”

“What about Balkar?”

“As for the Balkar’s magicians, the rumors said that they only joined because of Princess Jayna’s request. He seems to be related to Princess Jayna instead of Morell.”

“They didn’t seem to be on good terms though…”

Derus’s brow furrowed while thinking about Raon and Jayna, who he’d seen at Owen.

“We tried asking the Black Market, but they seemed to be hiding important information about Raon.”

“It’s understandable after everything Raon has done for them. Just like I said before, don’t unconditionally trust the Black Market’s information. Treat it with suspicion.”

“We will.”

Sirith nodded his head.

Zap.

Derus took off his black leather glove. The sticky blood flowing from the back of his hand was connected to the glove like a spider web.

He grasped the blood with his hand with a frightening smile on his face.

“So, he defeated the Specter…”

“It can’t be true, can it?”

“Rimmer must’ve helped him since he must only be at the advanced Master realm, even if I consider his growth.”

“He already reached advanced Master at twenty years old. He’s really an unparalleled genius.”

Sirith shrugged his shoulders while whistling.

“He’s not just a genius. He’s a monster beyond human comprehension. However, we shouldn’t need to take any action anymore.”

Derus bobbed his finger while looking at the back of the hand that kept bleeding.

“I’m thinking the same thing.”

Sirith licked his lips and continued.

“Raon Zieghart antagonized four out of the Five Demons. Since the last one is also on bad terms with Zieghart, he’s pretty much a common target of all Five Demons. Making use of them will be the best course of action.”

“Indeed.”

Derus faintly nodded, satisfied with Sirith’s assessment.

“Which faction do you think we should help?”

“It would be Eden or the White Blood Religion, of course. The Black Tower had begun to act, but their grudge is a lot weaker than the other two.”

“You are, unfortunately, wrong.”

He closed his eyes, denying his answer.

“Eden and the White Blood Religion are blindly chasing the restoration and doctrine, respectively. That is why they don’t care too much about their companions. They must’ve already forgotten about their grudge, and they should be preparing a different plan.”

“Which means…”

“We need to look at the South-North Union.”

“But they aren’t exactly doing anything while taxing people for money…”

“I’m not talking about the South-North Union itself, but their vice head of the council, Siran.”

Derus mentioned the name of a person from the South-North Union.

“Do you think he will stay quiet after he lost his only grandson? I don’t think so.”

Tyler was Siran’s grandson, and he was torn to death by Raon after he toyed with the lives of the Blue Lughs.

Since the South-North Union still had human affection, unlike the other Five Demons, he must’ve been preparing revenge for his grandson.

“Investigate what Siran and the council members are doing and carefully approach them.”

“Understood.”

Sirith nodded and became a shadow to disappear just like when he appeared.

“Enjoy it while you can.”

A dangerous smile appeared on Derus’s face as he forcefully squeezed the blood from the scar on his hand.

“Because you shouldn’t have much time left to live.”

* * *

The Light Wind squad and the knights stopped their advance in front of the castellan’s mansion located at the center of Habun Castle.

Milland smiled in satisfaction while looking at the knights and the swordsmen.

“You’ve done well. Take a good rest, since I’m giving you a week’s break.”

“Whoaa!”

The knights took off their helmets and cheered upon hearing his command.

“Same goes for us!”

Rimmer finally came back to his senses and raised his hand.

“Since you went through those difficult times, you can consider this vacation and play around!”

“A-are we really having a break? Raon is going to be mad about this.”

“I know, right?”

“Please stop the vice squad leader.”

“Ahem…”

The Light Wind swordsmen pleaded with Rimmer for help with their gazes, but he cleared his throat and averted his gaze, pretending he didn’t notice.

“He’s a puppet squad leader…”

“He’s so useless.”

“Gambling addict with protagonist syndrome.”

“Lalala…”

Rimmer started humming, ignoring whatever the Light Wind members were calling him.

“Let’s go, Sir Rector. I have some decent liquor to share.”

Milland smiled while pointing at his mansion.

“I’ll be in the castellan’s care today.”

The Sword Demon smiled faintly and nodded. Since they were around the same age, they’d gotten rather friendly during the trip.

“Hmm…”

He started to follow Milland into his mansion but suddenly stopped and looked at Raon.

“Can I make a request?”

“Please do.”

“Can you bring him with you and show him around Habun Castle? He’s awkward around people.”

Mustan was standing next to the Sword Demon, and he pushed him forward.

“Master!”

“I’m drinking with the castellan. There’s nothing for you to do by staying with us.”

“That’s…”

“There aren’t many places in the world brimming with the scent of battle. You should look around to see what kind of battles took place here and try thinking what you would’ve done to defend.”

The Sword Demon told him to find what he could learn from them. He must’ve figured that it would be a great experience for him.

“Understood.”

Raon didn’t like Mustan, but he nodded because it wasn’t exactly a difficult request, and the Sword Demon had helped him a lot.

“Let me join!”

Rimmer followed the Sword Demon and Milland with a broad grin.

“Are you really leaving us now?”

“You damn gambling addict!”

“Slothful elf!”

The Light Wind members shouted at Rimmer, but he didn’t look back no matter what they said and left even faster.

“As for today…”

Raon slowly opened his eyes while standing in front of the Light Wind squad. He’d only started his speech, but fear was already welling up in everyone’s eyes.

“We will rest.”

“Rest?”

“Really?”

“What happened to you?”

The Light Wind members widened their eyes because of his unexpected declaration. They kept asking back to confirm his intention.

“You can rest for two days since you’ve been working hard.”

Raon was planning to give them a break to begin with because he needed some time to visit Sloth.

“The scout leader who was smacked by Dorian with a crate is going to guide you to the rooms you will stay in.”

Raon pointed at Radin, who was eating an apple while covering his head, before he turned around.

“I’m done here. Let’s go.”

He waved his hand at Mustan.

“I’ll finish it quickly since I’m sure you don’t like this either.”

“……”

Mustan twisted his lips but still followed him. He seemed to dislike the idea but was still doing it because of his master’s order.

Raon traced his memory back and introduced Mustan to various places at Habun Castle.

Mustan seemed to be reluctantly enduring it at first, but his face turned as dark as a catfish in a brook every time the residents they encountered greeted Raon with great moods.

‘He’s so annoying.’

The Sword Demon must’ve made that request in the hopes that they would get along with each other. However, Raon couldn’t imagine them getting on friendly terms, no matter how he thought about it.

He half-heartedly showed him around the castle and went on the castle walls in order to quickly finish the tour.

“This is Habun Castle’s wall. Pandemonium happens here at the beginning of every year because they have to defend against the attack of thousands of monsters. At your level, you should be able to smell the blood engraved in this land.”

“……”

Mustan still didn’t speak. He simply furrowed his brow while looking at the snow field that still had some traces of blood on it.

“This is the last place. You can do whatever you want now since I finished showing you around.”

“Raon Zieghart.”

Raon was turning around after he waved his hand, but he heard Mustan’s voice for the first time.

“Don’t approach my master anymore.”

His voice was brimming with jealousy. Raon could guess what kind of face he was making even without looking.

“Haa…”

Raon briefly sighed and turned around. Mustan’s face was even more distorted than he anticipated as he violently exhaled.

“My master has changed because of you. He wasn’t like that before!”

“I didn’t approach Sir Rector. He was the one who came to me. Get it right.”

“He’s been only looking at me even though he was sometimes interested in other people’s swordsmanship. Yet you, how dare you…”

Mustan shouted, saying that the Sword Demon had only been kind towards him so far, and Raon had ruined everything.

“Remember how he gave you advice about swordsmanship before throwing the leftover fishbones to me!”

“You idiot.”

It was bullshit.

After advising Raon, the Sword Demon explained to Mustan why he gave that advice and what change it brought.

Both the quality and quantity of the lesson were incomparable. That was why Mustan’s complaint didn’t make any sense.

Raon met Mustan’s eyes.

It felt like the jealousy extending from his tilted gaze was reaching his skin.

‘He can be called amazing in a way.’

Raon had seen all kinds of people in his previous and current life, but he’d never seen anyone who was devoured by envy to such an extent.

Just like how Wrath called it the mind of a snake, his pupils almost looked vertical like a reptile’s.

“Let’s stop.”

Raon was getting the overwhelming urge to smack his face, but he simply shook his hand since it was Rector’s job to take care of him, and he had to visit Sloth.

“Don’t try to steal another person’s master just because your master is an idiot!”

“……”

Raon stopped walking even though he was about to leave.

“You said you wanted a rematch, didn’t you?”

“What?”

“I’ll give you a chance.”

The frightening coldness of his rage glimmered from Raon’s red eyes and overwhelmed the jealousy.

“You need a beating.”

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Writing Ant, 글개미]

[Translator – Kyangi]

[Proofreader – Harley]