Chapter 141. Stranger (2)

In this forest, where sometimes blizzards would rage so fiercely they could stop one's breath, there existed a few emergency pits for shelter.

Thanks to someone's gesture, I, along with Felkhor and Zahard, barely managed to hide ourselves in one of those pits, suppressing our presence from the hint of movement felt above.

"Thank you for your efforts. By chance, have any outsiders passed through here?"

A voice belonging to an unknown individual.

It must have been from one of those 'Wedges.'

As this individual spoke breathlessly, laden with suspicion, a composed voice responded.

"No, I don't think so."

"Is that so?"

"Has an outsider intruded into the forest?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. I'll report it if discovered."

"Thank you for your cooperation."

Engaging in a brief conversation, the 'Wedge' knight began heading elsewhere with rushed footsteps.

The presence gradually faded away.

"... They seem to be gone now."

Feeling that from within the pit, Felkhor breathed a sigh of relief.

Leaving him behind, I turned my gaze towards Zahard.

Unlike his usual self, Zahard seemed slightly somber, and upon sensing my gaze—or perhaps due to the earlier encounter with the 'One-Armed Demon'—his complexion didn't look good.

"I believe it's safe to come out now."

Upon hearing a voice from outside the pit, we removed the camouflage cover and revealed ourselves.

During this process, I pulled my hood down deeply.

The soldier wearing the 'Northern Front Coat' who aided us was someone I knew.

If my face were to be revealed, it could lead to complications.

"Sir Yulian, I never imagined meeting you here."

... Whose disciple must this be, to be so perceptive.

Well, if not for that, they wouldn't have helped an outsider like me.

"Likewise... Rinne."

While answering and removing the hood I was wearing, Rinne did the same, allowing her beautiful hair to flow.

"You recognized me well."

"It's the sword."

Despite trying my best to conceal my face, she pointed at the Moonstone Sword I was holding when I asked how she recognized me.

"It would be strange not to recognize it. A swordsman using a sword made of gem is rare both in and out of the capital."

No need to say she has a keen eye, as it goes without saying.

Only a person with overly accumulated egotism would use such a gem-made sword.

That person being 'me', damn it.

***

"This is a place like this in the Blizzard Forest, huh."

The cabin, untouched by human hands, deep in the forest.

Upon relocating towards it, Felkhor examined the building briefly before nodding his head.

The cabin was so concealed that even Felkhor, who hails from this land, hadn't discovered it.

As a result, it was devoid of any human scent, and the only thing possible was to shelter from the cold and snowstorm.

"But... why are you at the Northern Front, Sir Yulian?"

Once inside, avoiding the gazes of the 'Wedges' and the cold, Rinne got straight to the point.

A natural question that makes perfect sense for her to ask.

By rights, a person like me should only ever be in the capital, not in a place like this.

"I came out for a walk."

"... All the way to this northern region far from the capital?"

"... Sometimes, a refreshing northern breeze is what you need to clear your head."

I know it's an absurd excuse.

Hearing my words, Rinne frowned slightly as expected, then glanced at Felkhor and Zahard.

Both avoided making eye contact with Rinne. They had past associations with her to some degree.

"So Sir Zahard also came out here for an outing, did he?"

Though not now, Rinne was once the Sword Saint's disciple. It's only natural for her to recognize Zahard.

After all, Zahard had been an apprentice under the same mentor as the Sword Saint.

"Kuheum."

He coughed, trying to change the mood.

"Anyway, it seems you have almost graduated from the Academy."

"Yes, for aspiring knights from the Bayer Academy, experiencing the Northern Front is part of the curriculum."

"Tsk, knights, huh..."

Zahard smiled awkwardly at Rinne's words.

"But can an aspiring knight conceal outsiders like this?"

"It's not impossible. There isn't a specific rule against it. Besides, as long as it's not specified as wrong, what does it matter?"

Rinne's surprisingly carefree response to Zahard's cautious question was enough to make her aspirations to be a knight seem contradictory.

"Whatever brought you to the Northern Front, there must be a reason. I won't ask. I doubt I'd get an answer anyway."

With Rinne appearing to resign herself to not asking more, I decided to disclose our purpose.

"We came here to kill a demon."

This point should be safe to express honestly.

After all, there isn't much one could glean from the brief information that 'we came to kill a demon.'

"A demon... you say?"

"Yes."

Also, it's not unusual for 'Yulian', the Imperial Sword, to come to kill a 'demon'.

He made a name as a 'Demon Hunter' after all.

"That's strange."

However, Rinne's reaction was somewhat peculiar.

She glanced once towards the direction she came from, where the Northern Front base 'North Pole' was situated.

"What's strange?"

"It's the recent atmosphere, you see, with both the 'Wedge' knights and at 'North Pole'."

The atmosphere at North Pole?

That place, being firmly controlled by 'Third Prince' Kaldrach, shouldn't have a strange atmosphere.

"They're also keen on capturing a certain demon, even mobilizing us, who came from the Academy, for the search."

"A demon... capturing, you say?"

"Yes."

Rinne nodded at my slightly surprised inquiry with a look implying what's the big deal.

For a moment, I turned my gaze to Zahard.

Sensing my gaze, he too displayed uneasy signs and then proceeded to re-confirm with Rinne.

"By any chance, is the 'demon' they're after... missing an arm?"

"How did you know?"

Upon seeing Rinne's slightly surprised expression, both Zahard's and my face grew serious.

Not good.

From her words, something seemed peculiar with the situation.

Something unlike anything I'd experienced before...

"They're wanting to capture rather than kill..."

Perhaps feeling a similar sentiment, Zahard muttered in a bitter tone.

Rinne did mention the term 'capture.'

We were always cooperative in our goal to destroy the 'One-Armed Demon', Zahard to settle his past and me to eliminate a future threat.

Now, amidst our aim, there was a third party interested in 'capture.'

'Someone quite high up there...'

The Third Prince, Kaldrach and the 'Wedge' knights.

"Why... is the Third Prince so keen on capturing the demon?"

"I don't know either. Only Prince Kaldrach himself knows."

An obvious question, but even Rinne, who received the order, seemed oblivious to the reason.

Though there hadn't been a situation like this when playing 〈Let's Kill the Demon King〉, given my countless experiences, I started assembling information on 'Kaldrach'.

The incident in the Holy Kingdom was assumed as Kaldrach's move to hold back 'Fourth Prince' Eulsis.

Moreover, it was taken as an act to cement his succession rights by eliminating political opponents.

'Was it not?'

Thoughts based on 'the game' may be influenced by me, but given past collaborations with Aiden and the current hunt for the One-Armed Demon...

For the most part, Kaldrach's actions had been centered around 'demons'.

As if studying them to uncover something, similar to how Aileen conducted Soul Stone research.

'Ah, that might be it.'

Upon reaching such thoughts, the collated information pointed towards a rather unsettling conclusion.

'Kaldrach has collaborated with the Witch of the North.'

Something never seen before.

A development absent from the game.

***

In the cabin while relieving his fatigue, Zahard, gazing at the blizzard starting again, reminisces about the past.

-'I want to be a knight like my father.'

Words spoken by his son, who had just entered the Academy. Delightful words back then, yet now they pierce like a wound.

Razid.

My proud son.

Do you realize how much strength those words brought me?

Time passed, and his son reached his final year.

Observing the path his son had taken thus far, Zahard couldn't refrain from lamenting.

Razid, my son.

You do not possess the talent befitting a knight.

There is nothing innately special in you.

Neither possessing the vast potential like that person with slit eyes.

Nor wielding immense potential like the one hailed as the Sword Star.

Or even the exceptional aura apparent in someone still quite young.

Yet Zahard couldn't bring himself to voice that truth.

-'How is it, father? Doesn't it seem like I've reached the tips of your feet now?'

To the positively smiling young man approaching him, how could he utter such cold words?

"Hey, why did you hesitate back there?"

Lost in his ruminations, Zahard snapped back to reality at Felkhor's words.

With Rinne having returned to base to reunite with the Academy, the cabin settled into tranquility.

Amid the sticky silence that cloyed around them, Felkhor voiced his curiosity.

"Hmm..."

Zahard exhaled a brief sigh, turning his gaze toward Yulian, who showed no particular reaction.

It seemed he hadn't been informed by Yulian on the matter.

"Why did you hesitate when killing that demon? Although I wasn't much help then, you could have surely ended it by putting in some effort."

"Kuheum..."

"Weren't you here to kill it?"

Though Felkhor's gruff words lacked any subtlety, they indeed provided Zahard some relief.

As it helped him reign in his raging emotions.

Yulian and Felkhor had followed him to this place to handle the demon.

The reason they're now prevented from returning and left to wander was entirely due to his own actions.

Because he stood dumbfounded, merely staring at the son—no, the demon—before him.

Thus, making it hard for him had been the silent pity.

He understood himself.

What he had done wrong.

"I apologize. It seems personal emotions blinded me."

"Blind as you may have been... So, why did you hesitate?"

"That demon is Zahard's son."

"... His son?"

With words harsh as a death sentence, Yulian spoke, causing Zahard to feel a lump in his throat.

He knew all along.

He followed, aware of everything.

Having one's disgrace so openly revealed felt suffocating beyond anything else.

"Well, that explains it..."

Somehow, Felkhor seemed to accept it.

And with that, a guilt increasingly gripped over Zahard.

"Sir Zahard, yet the previous incident was quite troubling."

"My apologies."

"It delayed our plans, didn't it? It's frustrating. The quicker it is subdued, the quicker I'd obtain merit."

Bearing a nonchalant smile while spouting sharp words, Yulian.

Even so, Zahard knew this was his form of kindness. It was a moment that represented his changed nature from before.

"... My apologies."

"As long as you understand. Next time... you'll handle it, won't you?"

Hearing those words, Zahard caressed his staff.

-'Father, what do you think about using a staff as a scabbard? This way you won't need to carry both a staff and a scabbard. So handy, right?'

His youthful son's innocent laughter.

-'Look here, father, I have slain a knight. Doesn't this mean I equal knights... Or perhaps exceed them?'

His son's twisted laughter after being taken by a parasitic demon.

As these memories intertwined, an ache lodged itself in his chest.

Razid.

My proud son.

You remain my pride, knight or not.

"Indeed."

If only I had said so, this tragedy might have been averted.

Every bit my fault.

The consequence of the seeds I've sewn, and the sins born from it.

"I will be sure... to end it next time."

So, Razid.

My proud son.

I shall not let you further tarnish your name; I'll ensure it myself.

As a father, it is my final duty.

Clacky's Corner:I can't imagine how a father would feel if he had to kill his own son.

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