Chapter 603

Raon bit his lip tightly as he watched Rimmer, who was swaying like a delinquent.

‘What the hell…?’

He wouldn’t have minded fighting Roman with his life on the line if he had been alone, but he had people to protect.

He couldn’t understand why Rimmer was suddenly picking a fight when Roman had decided to leave quietly.

Moreover…

Wrath grinned, clutching his reddened face.

He became an Axehole. Should it be called a promotion since he went from Axe King to Axehole?

‘It’s not a promotion! It’s the worst nickname he could give!’

Since Axehole was too shocking as a name, it was going to affect Roman’s reputation. Raon had the feeling that he wasn’t going to withdraw without doing anything.

“......”

Roman’s frightening glare suggested that he was about to snap Rimmer’s neck at any moment.

“You are going to die one day because of that mouth of yours.”

“Yes, sure. I’ll die, and you will be the Axeho—mmm!”

Raon even used the Supreme Harmony Steps to reach Rimmer and cover his mouth.

“Please shut your mouth, I beg you.”

He kicked Rimmer’s waist with his knee to stop him from struggling.

“Cough!”

Rimmer sank to his knees while faltering because of the impact on his waist.

“I’ll say it again since that idiot broke the flow.”

Roman stared at Rimmer for a moment, then shifted his gaze towards Raon.

“I didn’t expect you to get so strong when you mentioned the duel to death two years ago. Your progress leaves me dumbfounded. However…”

He lowered his gaze, spinning the axe with his fingers.

“The two years gave me the same opportunity. It’s not enough yet. Climb even higher if you wish to survive.”

“Aren’t you going to die if I manage to survive?”

“That's the nature of a duel to the death. One person has to die, and the other can live. It’s a blessing for a warrior to die at the hand of a stronger warrior.”

A refreshing smile surfaced on Roman’s face as he said that a warrior who died in an all-out battle was a fortunate one.

Raon furrowed his brow, watching the smile around Roman’s mouth.

‘Is this the Axe King Roman’s real personality?’

He’d thought he was out of his mind because he kept breaking his promises, but he hadn't actually killed anyone in either of their encounters.

He didn’t do anything to the weak, giving him a goal for his progress instead.

Even though he desired to fight a stronger version of Raon, it definitely did feel like a consideration.

He wasn’t a good person, but he couldn’t be defined as evil either.

‘Humans have so many different faces.’

Raon nodded, enlightened about life rather than martial arts.

“See you again on the first day of the next year, Axe King Roman.”

He was fully aware of Roman’s intention, but he still responded rather politely at his consideration.

“It’s a mystery how a monster like that was raised under you.”

Roman sighed at Rimmer and turned around.

“Don’t run away.”

He boarded the Misfortune and left right away, as if he had nothing left to do.

‘It won’t be easy.’

Roman was already powerful, but he could become even more powerful before the next year. He needed something more than just effort to defeat him in a head-on battle.

‘Can I do it? No, I should think about how I will do it.’

The duel to the death couldn’t be canceled anymore at that point. All he had to think about was how to defeat the Axe King Roman.

Raon watched the Misfortune getting further away and weakened his grip on Rimmer.

“Hey! You Axehole! You are going to die! Raon will kill you!”

He shouted at Roman, calling him an Axehole as soon as his mouth was freed.

Open up his skull to check it out. The King of Essence is guessing that he has thick pasta in place of his brain.

‘That might be true.’

Raon sighed and stood in front of Rimmer.

“What are you even thinking? Why were you provoking him when he was about to leave?!”

“Because it’s irritating how he keeps breaking his promises.”

Rimmer furrowed his brow, looking in the direction where Roman had left.

“And since he abandoned his own nickname, I made a new one for him. I deserve his gratitude instead!”

He shrugged his shoulders, saying that he’d done nothing wrong.

‘This is exhausting.’

Raon sighed and turned his head. He figured he’d better remove the chain necklaces while he still had some energy rather than wasting it on a pointless argument with Rimmer.

Raon went to the small boat and looked at the small elf wearing a chain necklace. She was the girl that Leiran had called Heirin.

“Uhh…”

He brought his hand to her neck, and her shoulders trembled in fear. She seemed to be afraid of humans.

“Don’t worry.”

Leiran held Heirin’s shoulder and smiled gently.

“He is the one who saved you. Believe in me and endure.”

She had the warmest expression on her face that he’d seen so far.

Raon thanked Leiran with his eyes and grabbed Heirin’s necklace.

He shoved the aura inside it like Raptor had told him, and the necklace suddenly broke and dropped on the boat.

“Ah!”

Heirin touched her freed neck with trembling lips. She lowered her head with teary eyes.

“Th-thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

Raon patted Heirin’s head and proceeded to the next elf with a necklace.

That small elf just now should be older than you.

‘Stop saying things like that…’

* * *

Siyan breathed out a sigh of relief as she watched Raon remove the necklaces from the elves.

‘It’s a relief.’

She’s been worried a lot about the necklaces even after they’ve managed to rescue her kin, but Raon easily removed them as if she never needed to worry about it.

‘I would’ve been completely powerless today without Sir Raon.’

It was Raon who’d figured out that the auction was happening, and it was thanks to his distraction that they’d safely rescued everyone.

Even after they came outside, Raon stopped the powerful opponents on his own and protected everyone. Everyone would’ve been killed if it weren’t for him.

Siyan removed the necklace from the last elf and blinked while looking at Raon.

‘Ah! Now that I think about it…’

She was in a daze because so many things happened at once, but she realized there were many things to put together.

‘There were great lines one after the other.’

Raon had spoken great lines every time he opened his mouth, lines that deserved to be treasured as family heirlooms. She considered the words he’d shouted that still lingered in her memory.

‘First of all, ‘Zieghart is wherever I am.’ That should be the best one.’

A chill had run down her spine when he’d said that line even though she was completely worried about her kin.

It even made her jolt because she could feel his conviction about Zieghart.

‘And there were a lot more.’

Siyan immediately took out her notepad and wrote down his actions and lines so that she wouldn’t forget them.

‘Because I have to write the next volume of the biography.’

She had no intention of letting anyone else write the Seipia chapter of Raon Zieghart’s biography. She wrote down every single detail about it.

“‘Zieghart is wherever I am.’ ‘You are going to lose your head if your axe isn’t heavy’… Hehehe.”

Siyan recorded Raon’s actions with a dumb smile on her face.

“Lady Siyan?”

Raon walked up to her upon hearing her laughter, which sounded slightly eerie.

‘Is she feeling sick?’

He checked her out because he was worried that she was making such a strange expression, and she was grinning while writing down what he’d done and said on her notepad.

“Hey, you Axehole!”

Rimmer was still shouting at Roman, calling him the Axehole on the other side.

Raon massaged his temple, looking back and forth between Siyan and Rimmer.

‘Is that entire household the issue?’

* * *

Rumble.

A heavy tremor spread from the deepest place of Zieghart’s lord’s manor.

“It’s starting again.”

“It’s been quiet for a while, but it has become even worse now.”

“I heard it’s happening because a huge monster was born in the North Grave Mountain.”

“I heard a mythical creature was born.”

“It’s just an earthquake.”

Since the swordsmen had gotten used to the earthquakes, they casually chatted while looking up at the trembling ceiling.

“Well, it should stop soon enough.”

“But it’s been happening since the morning…”

“Don’t worry. Nothing bad is going to happen… Huh?”

“Wh-what?!”

The tremor intensified as if it were laughing at the swordsmen who were underestimating the earthquake. Gray dust fluttered from the ceiling, and the ornaments started to fall.

“I-it’s too strong!”

“Isn’t the building really going to collapse at this rate?”

“I-I can’t even stand straight!”

The swordsmen swallowed nervously, terrified by the frightening vibration.

“It’s not going to collapse.”

By the time the swordsmen turned pale, Chad approached them with calm steps and shook his head.

“Zieghart’s swordsmen shouldn’t be afraid of an earthquake like this.”

“Ah…”

“I-I’m sorry!”

The swordsmen bowed at Chad, who still looked composed despite the violent vibration.

“It’s going to subside shortly.”

Chad greeted the swordsmen and opened the audience chamber door.

The first thing he saw after entering the room was Glenn’s shaking leg. His leg was shaking so hard that it almost looked like he was going to crush the platform.

‘He’s getting started again.’

There was only one reason why the Conqueror of the North, often called coldhearted and even cruel, would be shaking his leg so hard. Raon Zieghart. It was because he hadn’t returned when he should have.

“Huhuhu.”

Roenn smiled at Glenn with gentle laughter.

“My lord, please calm down.”

“Calm down…?”

Glenn furrowed his brow while looking at Roenn.

“How am I supposed to calm down when the man who should’ve returned a long time ago is still not here?”

His leg started to shake even more powerfully, saying that it was impossible to calm down.

Rumble!

Small dust fluttered from the ceiling and the window even though they were extremely clean because Roenn had been cleaning every day.

“He should’ve returned a long time ago, but there’s no news from him. Something must’ve happened to him!”

Glenn clenched the armrest on his right side with his large hand. The armrest had been repaired over twenty times so far, but it turned into scrap metal again.

“I shouldn’t have sent him with that lazybones!”

He sighed, saying that he regretted sending him with Rimmer.

“M-my lord…”

Chad walked up to Glenn and lowered his head.

“He is on his way.”

“What?”

“The message has arrived saying that the Light Wind division leader and the vice division leader are on their way. They are expected to be here within an hour.”

“Why are you saying that so late?!” Glenn yelled at Chad.

The mana inside the audience chamber started to rampage as if a powerful storm was passing by.

“How could you bring such important information so late, despite being the leader of Shadow Agents? What have you been doing so far?!

“H-he really appeared out of nowhere. He must’ve been careful because he was coming with the elves.”

Chad’s shoulders shrunk with his head hanging down like a child being picked on by a delinquent.

“Tsk.”

Glenn stopped shaking his leg and stood up. The tremor that had been engulfing the lord’s manor the whole day finally came to a halt.

“Roenn, bring the things we prepared.”

“Yes.”

Roenn went to the room on the right, maintaining a gentle smile on his face.

“Leader of Shadow Agents.”

“Ah, yes!”

“Summon the executives.”

Glenn bobbed his finger, telling him to call all the executives in the house.

“Understood!”

“Wait a moment.”

Chad was about to hurriedly run outside when Glenn shook his head.

“Don’t call Aries. Leave her alone.”

“About that…”

Chad swallowed nervously and turned around.

“Lady Aries has already l-left.”

“Left?”

“Sh-she ran outside, saying that she was going out to meet Sir Raon.”

Wham!

Glenn slammed his left fist and shattered the left armrest of the throne that had managed to survive. That one had been repaired over thirty times so far.

“How come she got the news before me?!”

“Sh-she was already in the Shadow Agents headquarters. She ran outside as soon as she heard the news about the Light Wind vice division leader, and she couldn’t be stopped…”

“Ugh.”

Glenn bit his lip in irritation.

“Whatever, summon the executives already.”

“Yes…”

Chad nodded and left the audience chamber.

“Haa…”

He couldn’t help but sigh from the bottom of his heart.

‘This is seriously unbearable.’

He felt like his stomach was burning because he’d been getting beaten, stuck in between Aries and Glenn.

They were seriously unbearable because they started to throw a fit as soon as Raon was mentioned.

‘Should I resign?’

He unconsciously sighed because he had never heard about pain like that from the previous leader of Shadow Agents.

‘I’m so exhausted…’

He walked through the lord’s manor’s corridor powerlessly, and the swordsmen he’d encountered on the way came towards him with sparkling eyes.

“Sh-Shadow Agent leader!”

“How did you figure out that the earthquake was going to stop?”

“Can you read the heaven’s flow…?”

“He is the leader of Shadow Agents! Nothing can escape his eyes in the north!”

“Amazing!”

The swordsmen completely believed what he’d told them before he entered the audience chamber and thought that he’d used some kind of magic.

“Hmm…”

Chad didn’t say anything with a faint smile on his face. He simply nodded at them and passed through the corridor.

“He is so humble…”

“As expected of the master of Shadow Agents.”

The swordsmen even started to admire that behavior.

Chad went towards the palaces, suppressing his laughter.

‘Should I put up with it a bit longer?’

* * *

Raon sighed briefly, looking at Zieghart’s noble ramparts.

‘I can finally rest now.’

They’ve been hiding themselves, only picking the difficult paths on purpose to avoid ambushes just in case.

Since he couldn’t sleep or eat properly, he was finally reassured after seeing the huge rampart.

“Let’s go. We should finally be able to rest.”

He smiled faintly at the elves and started to walk towards the gate when something jumped out from above the ramparts.

Thud!

A woman approached from the sky like a goat climbing a cliff and spun midair before she landed on the ground.

She briskly raised her head. Her hair gleamed in the evening glow, highlighting her sharp, cool features. The person standing before him was Aries Zieghart.

“L-Lady Aries?”

“My nephew!”

Aries hugged Raon with her lips curved into a smile.

“Why are you so late?! I’ve been waiting for you every day!”

She clenched her hands and said that she’d missed him. The gentle fragrance of the ocean wafted from her hair, which was fluttering in the evening glow.

“I’m sorry. Something happened on the way back.”

Raon smiled awkwardly and shook his head.

“Hey.”

Aries glared at Rimmer while still hugging Raon.

“Ehh…?”

Rimmer was standing there blankly, but he started to blink, surprised by Aries’s cold pressure.

“What’s the point of your existence? You should make sure to send the report at least if you are useless otherwise!”

“Ah, about that…”

“Your incompetence is mind-blowing. What do you even do? Even the reports are sent by Raon every single time!”

“I mean…”

“Stop talking and do better next time. I’ll kill you if you keep behaving like this.”

“Wait…”

She completely stopped Rimmer from speaking and went towards the elves. She was literally a storm.

“Ah, you are Seipia’s envoy. Nice to meet you.”

Aries smiled cheerfully, as if her frown from a moment ago was just an illusion. The atmosphere changed in an instant because of her excellent beauty.

“N-nice to meet you.”

Siyan nodded towards Aries. She was stuttering a little, but she had improved drastically compared to the first encounter with Raon.

“Wow, your appearance is insane.”

Aries dropped her jaw, surprised by Siyan’s appearance.

“What?”

“Nevermind. Let’s go in right now. You must be tired from your long journey.”

She immediately guided the group to the gate, saying that they should go inside right away.

“Please stop.”

Illiune, the external commander, stopped their entrance, standing in front of the gate.

“The elves are welcome. But since it’s their first visit, we need to check their identities…”

“Hey.”

Aries furrowed her brow while looking at Illiune.

“What?”

Illiune flinched and took a step back.

“Are you suspecting my Raon’s guests?”

“It would be the correct thing to do if that idiot over there brought some guests.”

Aries bit her lip while pointing at Rimmer.

“Why me again…?”

Rimmer’s shoulders drooped after being degraded twice in a row.

“But these people are visiting the house in order to express their gratitude towards Raon! Do you seriously want to inspect them now? Do you have a death wish?”

“I-I know that fact, but it’s just my job…”

“So are you telling me that you don’t trust Raon?”

“That’s not it… Ha…”

Illiune shook his head, realizing that he couldn’t talk sense to Aries.

“Understood. You may enter.”

“Good work.”

Aries waved her hand, urging them to enter.

“…Let’s go.”

Raon sighed and looked at the elves. He was trying to tell them that they should proceed but noticed that Siyan was murmuring something with her notepad in her hand again.

“Even inside Zieghart, Sir Raon holds unparalleled trust. He can’t be compared to my insignificant brother…”

Raon closed his eyes tightly upon hearing Siyan’s murmur.

‘The groundless rumors are going to get even worse now.’

He had a feeling that the nonsensical biography was going to turn into an implausible fantasy novel.

Raon shook his head and followed Aries towards the lord’s manor of Zieghart.

“Raon.”

Aries came up next to him and tapped on his shoulder.

“What took you so long, by the way?”

“There were some circumstances.”

“What circumstances?”

“I’ll talk about it in the lord’s manor.”

“Can you tell me real quick on our way?”

She separated her fingers slightly, saying that she wanted to hear it in advance.

“Hmm, I understand.”

Raon briefly explained what had happened during his journey. Since it wasn’t a short story, he was already at the audience chamber’s door by the time he finished the tale.

“Let’s enter.”

Aries opened the audience chamber’s door with a strangely bright smile on her face.

The executives of the house had gathered in front of the pillars inside the audience chamber, implying that they’d heard about his return.

Raon was heading towards the platform under the gazes showing various emotions, but Aries suddenly shouted while stepping forward.

“My lord! Don’t scold Raon! He has accomplished something great again!"

Aries declared that Raon had rescued the kidnapped elves with a bright smile on her face.

“Haa…”

Raon sighed because he had the feeling that she was going to say that.

“Greeting, my…”

Raon started to raise his gaze as a greeting and suddenly stopped. Glenn’s red eyes were gazing coldly at him.

‘What’s happening now…?’

***

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]