Chapter 614

“What could Raon have done for you to smile like that?” Sheryl asked as she smiled faintly while looking up at Glenn.

“I know, right?” Rimmer nodded his head. “A smile is blooming on his face, almost like Raon watered it or something.”

He grinned, having roughly guessed what happened.

“Ahem!”

Glenn cleared his throat and hardened his expression. However, the corners of his lips were twitching, trying to ascend regardless of his intention.

“It’s not a big deal.”

“You say that, but I’ve never seen that expression before.”

Roenn walked up to the platform with a gentle laugh.

“It’s not.”

Glenn shook his head and furrowed his brow.

‘Did I show it on the outside?’

He’d thought he was hiding his face with the report, but he must’ve lowered his hands before he knew it because he was so happy about Raon’s deeds.

His face heated up from the embarrassment, but he used his aura to cool himself down.

“I get it, so just tell us about what Raon did. I’m so curious that it’s getting ticklish.”

Rimmer shook the dust off from his shoulder with his hand and pointed at the report.

“Well, you leave me no other choice since you are so curious about it.”

Glenn nodded and lifted the report again, but the audience chamber’s door burst open and Aries made her entrance.

“Father!” she shouted while running to the center. “I heard Raon sent a letter!”

How she learned about it was a mystery.

“How do you even know…?”

Glenn furrowed his brow, unable to understand.

“I’ve turned one of the Shadow Agents to my side!”

Aries smiled, saying that she’d gained an information agent while she was staying with the Shadow Agents.

“Hmm…”

Glenn turned his head towards Chad, a frightening gaze sparking from his eyes.

Hiccup!

Chad froze, shoulders trembling. He even started to hiccup from nerves.

“Stop pressuring the leader of Shadow Agents and read the letter already. It’s that one, right?”

Aries patted Chad’s head and stepped forward.

“Haa.” Glenn sighed in resignation and looked at the report. “He said he was heading out to train, but in reality…”

He told them everything about what Raon had done for the Suran tribe.

“Seriously, what the hell is he?” Aries laughed in disbelief while looking at the report. “Did he stop the war between the Suran tribe and the assassins on his own? Is that even possible?”

“I agree,” Roenn stated, blinking in a daze. “Since not a single person died in the Suran tribe, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a great deed.”

He gave a big nod of approval, showing that he was proud of Raon.

“It shouldn’t have been an easy task even though he is familiar with the fire. He is seriously so good at surprising me,” Sheryl mused with a smile, mostly pleased by the fact that Raon had saved a lot of people.

“It’s not that amazing, but I can tell that he worked pretty hard for it.”

Glenn calmly shook his head. However, the corners of his lips were twitching violently.

“Ah! I’m heading out now!” Aries raised her hand and immediately turned around.

“What? Where are you going?” Glenn anxiously wrinkled his nose.

“If Raon saved the entirety of the Suran tribe, with his personality the Beast King is definitely going to hold a festival! I’m going to participate in that one!”

Aries got into a posture to immediately run outside as she declared that she couldn’t be late for it.

“Just stay put please!” Glenn stopped Aries and looked at the letter again.

‘Now that I think about it…’

He read the last line of the report again.

[I think I’ll be a bit late because the Beast Lord isn’t letting me go. I’m sending the report first.]

Raon had written that he was sending the report first because the Beast King Ogram was holding him back.

‘Are they drinking…?’

Imagining him being forced to drink with the Beast King made a hot rage spread throughout his head because even Glenn himself had only drunk with Raon twice.

‘Should I kill him?’

Glenn was seriously contemplating it, and Rimmer widened his eyes upon realizing what he was thinking from his expression.

“No! Please hold yourself back too, my lord!”

* * *

In a nameless forest outside the Beast Union, Karoon slammed the dark and hard ground with his fist, trembling furiously.

Whaaam!

A huge fissure appeared on the ground like an earthquake was occurring as his fist pierced into the land.

“Those damned bastards!”

As if it wasn’t enough to vent his anger, he pounded the ground over and over and revealed the anger that he’d been suppressing in front of Ogram.

He vented his frustration for a while before he finally lowered his hand as black blood started to flow from his mouth.

However, the forest was already destroyed to the point of no return, left in ruins.

“Kuh…”

Karoon sank to the destroyed land, wiping the black blood flowing from his lips.

‘The pain isn’t decreasing.’

His abdomen was hurting more and more since Ogram had hit him.

It was indeed the Beast King’s technique, capable of perfectly shoving damage into a body, breaking through a person’s aura and physical defense.

‘It can’t be helped.’

Karoon furrowed his brow and placed his hand on his abdomen. A clear blue light appeared from his hand, and the blood flowing from his mouth turned red.

“Huff.”

Karoon controlled his breathing for a while before he finally stood up. He straightened his behavior to return to his usual noble self and casually snapped his fingers.

“You summoned me, sir?”

The first secretary of the Central Martial Palace, Maxian, had been hiding. He stepped in front of him to kneel upon hearing the call.

“Who has been giving instructions to that woman?”

“The butler Berif.”

“It’d be better to make him shut his mouth.”

Karoon nodded while looking up at the night sky.

“Berif won’t open his mouth no matter how he is tortured.”

Since making him shut his mouth implied killing him, Maxian lowered his head, pleading for Karoon to believe in Berif.

“I told you to make him shut his mouth.”

Karoon’s gaze became frightening enough to suffocate a man.

“…I’ll take measures towards it.”

Maxian shivered and lowered his head. He was about to leave but stopped himself.

“But the issue is going to aggravate if Raon Zieghart already sent the news to the house.”

“No.” Karoon firmly shook his head. “Even if he sent a report, it should be missing anything about me. Raon Zieghart isn’t the type of person who takes action without definitive proof.”

“But the head of house…”

“Father isn’t the type of person who would take action even if he knew the circumstances. Raon is most likely going to investigate himself after he returns, so cut off all the connections to the spies as soon as you return.”

“Understood.”

Maxian closed his lips and stepped back.

Karoon violently ground his teeth while looking at the darkness of the forest.

‘Raon Zieghart…’

Judging from Judiel’s reaction, Raon must’ve been fully aware that he was the one giving orders to Judiel. The fact that he’d still interfered with the matter was pretty much a declaration of war against him.

‘If you wish to die that much, I’ll oblige you.’

He hadn’t done anything directly to Raon so far. No, he hadn’t even done anything indirectly either. He’d thought that it was meaningless to deal with him. However, Raon had crossed the line. It was time to show him how foolish he was to do that.

Crack.

Karoon clenched his fist tightly.

‘I’ll make you regret today’s decision for the rest of your life. No, you won’t even get to regret it.’

* * *

Gulp.

Raon swallowed nervously while looking at the pots of alcohol piling up in front of him.

‘…Are we drinking again? But we already drank so much yesterday.’

Even though they’d emptied ten whole pots from the night before until afternoon, more pots were being delivered from somewhere. Raon couldn’t close his mouth because of how ridiculous it was.

‘I’m going nuts.’

It wasn’t like he was bad at drinking, but he couldn’t hold back his sigh because of the huge quantity.

‘Moreover, the cotton candy next to me made it even harder.’

Raon looked at Wrath who was snoring on his shoulder. After all, whenever he drank, the cotton candy went…

Gueeh! So damn disgusting! Why do humans even drink this shit? Spit it out already!

And whenever Raon ate a side dish…

Uhehehe! It was so delicious! They’re barbarians, but they are good at cooking, at least! The roasted meat is especially great!

And when he started to drink again…

You damn drunkard! Stop drinking and eat the side dishes!

He would’ve returned to the bracelet and started to sleep if he disliked the alcohol, but he kept blabbering without returning because of the side dishes, hurting Raon’s ears the whole time.

Oh…

As he was thinking, Wrath woke up and darted his tongue in and out, showing that he was clearly thinking about the side dishes from the day before.

“What a nice day, isn’t it?” Ogram smiled brightly while looking at the Suran chief.

“Yes, it is! It’s a good day with good people and good liquor!”

The Suran chief also had a refreshing smile on his face. He seemed to be in a good mood because the members of the tribe had only been injured. There hadn’t been a single death.

“Brother!”

While Raon was laughing bitterly at the sight of the twenty pots filled with liquor, he heard a familiar voice from the right side.

“Hmm?”

Raon shifted his gaze and saw that a young man even bigger than Ogram was running towards him, carrying pots of liquor in both hands.

 “Garona?”

The young man carrying the pots was Garona from the Black Beast Tribe, who he’d fought against during the Six Kings tournament. His body had become even bigger than before. He seemed to be trying to become a dragon himself instead of a dragon slayer.

“It’s been a while, brother!”

“Why am I your brother?”

“We clashed our souls against each other in that duel! That’s why we are brothers!”

Garona smiled, saying that it was just obvious.

“Huh…” Raon gasped.

‘He hasn’t changed at all.’

Garona had acknowledged his defeat right after the match and had asked to become brothers, shouting that it was Raon’s victory. He was apparently serious about it, not joking like he’d thought.

“Why are you even here? I believe you had some work to do!” Ogram furrowed his brow while looking at Garona.

“There’s no way I could sit still when my brother saved the Suran tribe! I brought all the alcohol since I heard you wanted it!” Garona straightened his back, his confidence brimming from the eyes.

“About that… Well done! Come here and drink with us!”

Raon thought that he would be scolded for skipping work, but Ogram complimented him instead and let him sit next to him.

It looked like the Beast Union’s people weren’t just living by their instincts but by reflexes instead.

“Take out the side dishes, too!”

Garona shook his hand, and all kinds of ingredients were unloaded from the beasts. The Beast Union’s cooks started fires here and there in preparation for cooking.

Ooh! You are the King of Essence’s brother starting today!

Wrath gave a big nod of approval at Garona.

‘It’s so easy to become a brother…’

Raon shook his head at his ridiculous statement. They just needed to give him some food to become his subordinate or brother. He couldn’t imagine that a demon king could be any easier than that.

“Since another pleasant fellow has joined us, let’s get started again!” Ogram raised his cup… or, rather, saucepan of liquor.

“Sure! Brother, you should also have some drinks!” Garona filled a saucepan that was even bigger than Ogram’s and gave it to Raon. “Since my bro is so broad-minded, your glass needs to be big enough to match!”

“......”

Raon swallowed nervously while looking at the drink sloshing like the ocean inside the cup.

‘Isn’t there anyone who can save me?’

Raon looked around just in case.

Judiel and Juvel were busy talking about what happened so far, their shoulders right next to each other, and Liston was having fun talking with the Suran tribe members.

“Oh, yes! It was definitely dangerous! It was, but! I wasn’t afraid at all when I thought that I had to save people, I was only fixated on the value of life…”

Raon couldn’t understand how he was so talkative when he used to be an assassin.

“Haa…”

Raon just gave up and lifted the cup that Garona had given to him.

Side dish! Start with the side dish!

Wrath smiled happily while pointing at the food being displayed in front of the liquor.

“Raise your glass!”

“Drink it!”

We’re having a festival today!

“......”

Raon closed his eyes tightly while listening to Ogram and Garona’s roars and Wrath’s rampage.

‘I want to go home…’

* * *

The drinking party was still going on after two days.

Ogram and Garona weren’t getting drunk at all even though they were drinking the alcohol like it was water—or, rather, they were drinking like it was air. They looked like monsters in a different meaning than usual.

“Uhh…”

Raon’s shoulders trembled as he put down the empty cup.

‘It’s getting rather difficult.’

He didn’t get drunk thanks to the Ring of Fire, but he felt exhausted just from drinking at that point.

Hehe…

Wrath was sleeping happily inside the bracelet after he had eaten to his heart’s content.

‘I also want to stop.’

He wanted to swing his sword because he’d been sitting and doing nothing but drinking. He was craving some action.

“Hell yeah.”

Ogram burped loudly enough to echo throughout the land while putting down his cup.

“Haa…”

Garona exhaled roughly with his back leaning against the wall, showing that he was also having a hard time.

“Well, then…”

Ogram rotated his shoulder and stood up.

‘Is it finally over?’

Raon curled his lips. A smile naturally surfaced on his face upon thinking that the drinking party was finally over.

Wham!

However, Ogram brought over another huge pot. It was the biggest one so far.

“Let’s start the second round!”

“Ahahaha! Sure!”

Garona smiled happily, as if his exhaustion was just an illusion, and stepped forward.

“Brother, you also love the idea, right?”

He waved his hand, telling Raon to quickly join them. Raon wanted to smack his shining forehead.

Raon’s hands trembled with his face turned pale.

‘Are they seriously drinking even more now?’

They were seriously crazy about alcohol. It looked like they would get along with the Gambling Monster.

‘Uhh…’

Raon stood up while groaning. He had no energy left to stay in that party anymore.

“Erm, Beast King.”

“Just call me big bro!”

Ogram shook his hand, telling him that it was unnecessary to call him the Beast King.

“I’ve been curious about something. Is it okay for me to ask?”

“Sure!”

He widely shook his hand, telling him to ask whatever he wanted.

“When you punched the Central Martial Palace master for the third time, it looked like you were completely ignoring his defense. Did I see it right?”

Raon asked about the most interesting thing that had happened so far to change the situation he was in.

“You saw that?” Ogram raised his eyebrows, finding it interesting.

“It’s a martial art called Tidebreaker, brother,” Garona stated, having already finished his drink, and nodded at him.

“Tidebreaker?”

“As you described, it consists of ignoring the opponent’s defense and perfectly landing an attack. I’ve been learning it recently, too.”

He shook his head, saying that it was an extremely difficult technique.

“You are indeed a warrior.”

Ogram finished his glass and stood up.

“Follow me, both of you.”

He stopped drinking for the first time and went towards a small open area near the village.

Ogram looked behind him and raised his chin sharply. His confidence alone seemed to be the best among the Six Kings.

“A fight between warriors consists of trading blows. Whose attack is more powerful and whose defense is more perfect is important for the outcome. However…”

Ogram clenched his fist. A colorless atmosphere blazed from his large fist.

“If you can smash your opponent without losing any of your power, you’ll be able to win any battle.”

He thrust his fist in front of Raon. The punch was as slow as a crawling turtle, but a chill ran down his spine just from watching it.

Smack!

Raon extended his hand engulfed in aura in order to catch Ogram’s fist. However, Ogram’s fist ignored the aura that was protecting him and delivered a tremendous amount of impact to his hand.

Whaam!

Raon was unable to keep his balance, got sent flying to the back, and was slammed onto the ground.

“Kuh…”

Both his hands ached as if they were being torn apart. It felt like the damage was delivered directly to his flesh and all the way to his soul, breaking through his aura. Even his mind was being blown away alongside his hand.

“That’s how the Tidebreaker Strike was created and was improved over time.”

Ogram opened his clenched fist with a refreshing smile on his face.

“What do you think? Do you want to try learning it?”

***

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]