There stood a giant man. The rangers of Lehainjar and Aman Ruhr, the Beast King, were all well over two meters, but the man towering on top of the cliff looked to be a head taller than them.
He wore fur over his shoulders, though it was hard to tell whether it had once belonged to an animal or a monster. In addition, his left arm was covered in what seemed like a bracer made of an unknown material, and that was all the armor he had. Even in such harsh, freezing weather, the man was without any thick winter clothes, and his large, firm chest and arm muscles were exposed.
Yet, despite the freezing weather, he seemed completely unfazed, his breaths coming slow and steady though his chest was bare. His thick, enormous muscles made the man appear even taller and bigger than he already was.
The man also had an axe slung over his shoulder; appearance-wise, the rugged weapon resembled a woodcutter's axe. Moreover, it looked large enough to fell a giant tree with one strike. In fact, the man had decapitated the head of the Nur, a giant monster, with a single swing, and there remained not a single drop of blood staining its blade.
The wind scattered the manâs hair in front of his face, and his gaze slowly fell downwards through the curtain of hair. There was no way Eugene and Anise would fail to recognize the man â Molon Ruhr. Although he adorned a shaggy beard, unlike three hundred years ago, it didnât matter. Even if Molon grew a beard, he was still Molon.
At least, thatâs how it was supposed to be.
Eugene and Anise stood frozen on their spot for a moment.
The two stood there in place, staring up at him. Although Eugene had called out his name, he couldnât follow up with anything else. Was it because Molon was taller than he had been three hundred years ago? Or was it because he was bigger and larger? Was it because he was covering his left arm with a strange bracer, or was it because he had grown a shaggy beard? Even so, Molon was still Molon, right?
Eugene and Anise saw the eyes that peered down at them. The eyes belonging to their old friend were frigid, and they contained no emotion. It was almost impossible to think such eyes belonged to Molon. Was it because he had not heard Eugene call out his name? It was definitely possible since Eugene had barely shouted loud enough due to his immense shock.
Eugene couldnât understand why Molon was exuding such an atmosphere. Eugene could perhaps understand if he were the only one here since it wouldnât be strange for Molon to be wary of unknown outsiders. However, Eugene wasnât alone. He was with Kristina, who looked exactly like Anise. Even if Molon failed to recognize Eugene as Hamelâs reincarnation, he couldnât possibly fail to recognize Kristina, or rather Anise. To boot, Anise was even spreading all of her eight wings.
âHey, Molon,â Eugene called out once more after quenching his emotions. There were too many things he couldnât understand.
He wasnât completely certain whether that monster had been the Nur, the subject of the rangersâ warning and the main character of Bayarâs old legends. What Eugene and Anise had felt from the monster was the same ominous, repulsive sensation they had felt from the Demon King of Destruction, and it had not been a simple illusion either. They had felt the visceral ominosity right down to their bones, and it was something they had felt only from the Demon King of Destruction among all the Demon Kings and demonfolks they had encountered. Of course, this sensation had paled compared to one given off by the Demon King of Destruction, but the monster had successfully evoked the memory of three hundred years ago with its presence alone.
Eugene couldnât understand why such a monster was on this mountain and why Molon was here after entering seclusion 100 years ago. There was so much he didnât understand.
âYou moron,â Eugene breathed out.
But truth be told, what did such things matter? His comrade from three hundred years ago was alive and well. He didnât know what Molon had experienced, but he appeared just fine standing on the cliff. He had not faked his own death like Vermouth, nor been sealed with a hole in his chest like Sienna, or killed himself like Anise.
So Eugene kicked off the ground and jumped high. The cliff was tall, but Eugene managed to reach its end with a single leap. Molonâs gaze followed him upwards, and their gazes met in the air. But what Eugene saw were cold, distant eyes.
Eugene did not remember Molonâs eyes as being like this. They were dull and murky, as if Molon had been weathered and destroyed by the three hundred years he had experienced, and Eugene couldnât help but wonder what Molon had been through in the past three hundred years after Hamelâs death. He looked tired and exhausted, just as Vermouth had appeared in the chair in the Lionheartâs Dark Room.
Eugene was about to set foot on the cliff when Molon shook his head, and just before he landed, Molon waved his hand. Although it was a gentle wave of his hand, it caused a strong gust of wind like a storm. The snow lining the cliff soared under the huge pressure and scattered. Not expecting this development, Eugene was immediately thrown backward, never having imagined that Molon would push him away. He was carried back quite a distance by the wind.
âOi!â Eugene shouted. He was dumbfounded and immediately gave orders to the spirits of the wind and stopped himself. Then, he pushed himself forward with an even stronger gust of wind and approached the cliff.
âGo back.â The lips centered between the shaggy beard parted, and Molon continued while staring directly at Eugeneâs face, âHamel.â
It seemed Molon recognized Eugene, even though he looked completely different from his past life. Was it because of how Eugene had addressed him?
Go back? Eugeneâs expression contorted with annoyance. He was reunited with Molon after three hundred years, after climbing this damned mountain. There was so much he wanted to ask Molon, but the moron was telling him to go back?
âFuck off.â Eugene had no intention of complying with Molonâs words. Eugene once again descended to the cliff after returning, and Molonâs beard twitched as he grinned. He raised his axe above his shoulder, then grabbed it with one hand before swinging it into the air.
The strike contained absolutely no hostility, but it created a tremendous force that was impossible to resist from the front. Eugene reflexively grabbed Wynnyd from inside his cloak and called Tempestâs wind.
Kwaaaaahh!
A storm erupted behind Wynnydâs trajectory. Even though the sword and the axe never clashed directly, the full brunt of their strikes collided midair. Eugene immediately realized the massive difference in their power, even though he was sure they both had swung without any preparation. Molonâs brute force was extremely powerful, just like three hundred years ago. Although his eyes and appearance had taken the full brunt of the passage of time, the strength contained in his grossly large muscles had not faded at all.
âNo, in fact, heâs even stronger than three hundred years agoâŚ.â
The clash of storms collapsed, and Eugene was thrown backward. The power contained in the force pushing him back was massive, and Eugene couldnât tell how far he would be sent flying if he didnât resist. As such, Eugene once again called upon the wind and stopped himself in midair, then descended.
âThat moron,â spat Eugene while pushing against the blizzard. He saw Aniseâs back when he returned to the bottom of the cliff. She was standing in place after putting her eight wings away.
âAnise, are you all right?â Eugene inquired.
âIâm fine,â she answered without looking back. Instead, she slowly raised her finger to where her gaze was headed â the top of the cliff. Eugene followed suit and looked up at the cliff once more.
âWhere did that moron go?â Eugene asked with a deep frown. He couldnât see Molon or the corpse of the monster.
Anise shrugged and looked back. âI donât know. He suddenly disappeared in the snowstorm.â
âThat stupid idiot disappeared with that stupidly big corpse? What, did he grab the corpse and hop away?â asked Eugene.
âNo. Although I donât know much about magic, Molon disappeared with the body like it was magic. They disappeared in the blink of an eye,â said Anise.
âIâll take a look myself,â grumbled Eugene, approaching Anise.
âIâve already put away my wings,â said Anise.
âWell, you can take them out again. And since when did you have to take out your wings to fly? I know you can do it without your wings. Or you can just jump. You can jump that much, canât you?â Eugene continued with his grumbling.
Although the cliff was relatively high, Eugene had no doubt that Anise was more than capable of hopping to the top.
âKristina lacks the physical abilities. And I need my wings to look sacred, donât I?â replied Anise.
âItâs not like anyone is watching right now.â
âOh, right. I guess itâs just you and me right now, Hamel,â Anise said with a smile.
Kristina would have screamed out of embarrassment if she were awake, but unfortunately, she was still unconscious inside her mind. Anise had hoped for Eugene to blush with embarrassment, but he looked nonchalant. In the first place, Eugene wasnât embarrassed by what he had said during the fireworks, so why would he feel embarrassed now?
âThen I guess thereâs no helping it,â Eugene said before taking giant strides up to Anise. After stopping in front of her, he suddenly placed his hand on her waist.
Aniseâs brain short-circuited by Eugeneâs unexpected, sudden action. However, Eugene brought her into his embrace and carried her without caring for how she had stiffened.
âStay still,â said Eugene.
It was a reasonable choice by Eugeneâs standards. Although he couldnât see Molon on the cliff now, wasnât it possible that he was hiding somewhere? Moreover, Molon could well swing his axe once more like before. Of course, Eugene knew Anise was strong enough to protect herself, but he judged it would be safer to carry her as he flew up.
âP-p-princess carryâŚ.â
In fact, Anise had been secretly looking forward to something like this happening. However, she had hoped Eugeneâs face would be dyed red, and he would hesitate when she suggested he do this rather than him taking the initiative. In other words, Anise had not been prepared for Eugene to carry her like this. So she could not poke fun at him but quietly allowed him to carry her in his arms instead. She was certain she could regain her composure and tease him if she were in his arms for a while, but⌠unfortunately, the tall cliff took only one simple leap for Eugene to climb.
âHeâs not here,â grumbled Eugene after landing on the cliff as he put Anise down. No, to be exact, he attempted to put her down. After belatedly coming to her senses, Anise wrapped her arms tightly around Eugeneâs neck. Even though he had already released her from his arms, she held on to his neck by squeezing her arms tightly. The strength Eugene felt in her arms made it quite hard to believe she was physically lacking.
âWhat are you doing?â asked Eugene.
âHmm.â Anise didnât have a good answer, so she cleared her throat instead while slowly loosening her grip. She descended, then looked around before commenting, âItâs clean.â
âI know,â replied Eugene.
The Nur had been a monster as big as a giant. It wouldnât have been strange for its black blood to dye all the snow on the cliff, but strangely enough, the ground was spotless and white. Moreover, there were no traces of a body being dragged away.
âYouâre right. Itâs like magic,â muttered Eugene with a scoff. Was it possible that Molon had learned magic during the three hundred years? It wasnât an impossibility.
Eugene turned his head and looked at Anise. She had said that Molon had disappeared with the monsterâs body like magic. Yes, it was true that Anise didnât know much about magic. But just because Anise herself didnât know how to use magic didnât mean she couldnât recognize it. This phenomenon had not been caused by magic but by something similar to magic.
Eugene looked around once more. Even while holding Akasha in his cloak, he couldnât figure out how Molon had disappeared with the body.
âDid Molon not say anything to you?â Eugene asked.
âHe said nothing, Hamel. He just looked at me for a moment before you came back,â answered Anise.
âHow did Molon disappear?â asked Eugene.
âSuddenly. Just like magic. I donât know exactly how, and although I said⌠he disappeared in the blink of an eye, I didnât actually close my eyes, just that he disappeared that quickly and suddenly. He disappeared in the snowstorm as if⌠he had never been there, to begin with,â replied Anise.
âThereâs only one explanation I can infer from what youâre saying and the traces here,â said Eugene.
âA barrier,â said Anise, nodding.
It was likely that the cliff itself straddled a boundary as a barrier. Molon and the Nurâs body had been on a different cliff that paralleled this one. For barriers like these, there was bound to be a totem that powered it. However, no matter how he tried, Eugene could not see through the barrier, even with Akasha, and he couldnât blindly search for the totem, not knowing what lay beyond the cliff and the barrier.
âLetâs go down,â Eugene said with a deep frown. âThatâs what Molon said. To go back.â
âAnd since when were you so obedient to what Molon said?â asked Anise.
âMolon is older than me,â replied Eugene.
âHe was also older than you three hundred years ago,â countered Anise.
âAt that time, Molon was older than me by only three or four years,â said Eugene.
âFive years,â Anise corrected.
âIn those days, a difference of five years was nothing. We were all just friends anyways. If weâre talking about specifics, Anise, you were two years older than me,â said Eugene.
âThree years,â she corrected once more.
âAt that time, we were all equal regardless of our ages and when we were born. But itâs been three hundred years, and that bastard Molon had aged by three hundred years. Iâm sure he didnât tell me to get lost just because he doesnât like me, so letâs go back down and figure things out,â said Eugene.
âHow cute,â commented Anise.
âWhat?â
âRegardless of your reason, youâre showing respect for Molonâs will. Hamel, are you afraid of being pushed back by Molon again while stubbornly searching this placeâŚ?â asked Anise.
âStop saying weird things. Molon is alive, and Iâm sure he has his reasons.â
âThatâs what we call respect,â sniggered Anise before turning away. She jumped down from the cliff, thinking that Hamel looked incredibly cute with his shy face, mumbling like an idiot.
âAh.â It wasnât until she reached the ground that she belatedly came to a realization. She could have asked him to help her down, saying it was too high. If she had, she could have made him carry her like a princess once moreâŚ!
Anise hurriedly turned her eyes upward with regret. Eugene was looking down at her with narrowed eyes and an absurd expression.
âEhem.â Anise cleared her throat while soothing her disappointment.
Abel was waiting for them with droopy ears when they returned to the tent. The ominous feeling similar to the Demon King of Destruction had disappeared with the death of the Nur, or the unknown monster. Thanks to that, Abel didnât appear as scared as before.
A little while later, Mer gently poked her head out of Eugeneâs cloak, and Kristina also came to her senses.
Kristina felt ashamed of herself for fainting without managing to put up any resistance and blamed herself.
[Itâs only natural for you to have fainted, Kristina. After all, youâve never experienced anything like that before, right?] Anise consoled her.
Eugene did the same. âWe almost fainted three hundred years ago, even though we had been through all sorts of things.â
âBut that wasnât the Demon King of Destruction,â Kristina said, gathering her breath.
âBut it was similar. Donât let it weigh too heavily on your heart. Itâs like an instinctive fear, something you canât really resist without experience,â Eugene reassured her as they finished their meal from before. The porridge had gone cold, so they boiled it again. The taste was worse than usual.
Two days later, Eugene and Kristina crossed the boundary of Lehainjar and arrived at Lehainâs training grounds. It was a fortress protected by high walls but shaped like a village attached to a castle. The knights of the Kingdom of Ruhr mainly used the training grounds, but the people of the Bayar Tribes resided in the village. The ones who had not left the snowfield had been managing the fortress since it was built while living in the village.
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Most of Lehainjarâs rangers were natives of Bayar who were born in the village, and many young warriors dreamt of someday going to Hamelon, the capital, to become chosen knights of the king.
âItâs big,â mumbled Eugene after entering the fortress.
He wasnât just referring to the fortress, either. The native residents of the village were tall and big, just like Molon, the King of Ruhr, and the rangers of the snowy mountain. Eugene was also quite tall, but he couldnât see any men in the fortress who were shorter than him. In any case, the fortress itself was enormous as well.
It was for the Knight March. As soon as the site of Knight March had been confirmed, the Beast King had ordered for the Lehainâs fortress to be expanded extensively. Eugene didnât know exactly how many knights and mercenaries were coming to the Knight March, but the expanded fortress looked big enough to accommodate all visitors.
âThe Burning River,â said Eugene.
A hot, steam-breathing river flowed through the outskirts of the village. Perhaps thanks to it, it didnât feel very cold despite the snow.
âYou are not allowed to enter without washing up and not allowed to enter wearing anything other than a bathing suit,â answered the villager responsible for showing them around.
âIâm not going in.â
âWe donât see many visitors here normally, and many outsiders who are here seem quite mistaken. This is the end of the northern snowfield, and the natives of Bayar have resided in this place for a long time. Unfortunately, that means they like to think we are ignorant and barbaric,â continued the villager with a shrug. Like the other natives, he was tall, an entire head taller than Eugene.
âBut we are not as ignorant or barbaric as they think us to be. The Burning RiverâŚ. Indeed, it feels great to go in there when it snows, but that doesnât mean we enter it without first washing up. If you really want to do something like that, you can use the private hot spring at your own house. The river belongs to the village, so you shouldnât make your neighbors uncomfortable. Everyone here respects the rule,â said the villager.
âIs that so?â said Eugene.
âBut the Lionheart clan is a friend of our founder. Although three hundred long years have passed, the Lionheart clan is still a friend to the Ruhr family. So, Sir Eugene Lionheart, if you would like to jump into that river right now,â the villager said hesitantly.
âHas someone already jumped in?â asked Eugene. He felt his heart drop slightly.
âNo, they didnât jump in. Rather, they walked on the hot spring saying it was amazing, without even removing their shoes,â the villager answered.
âIt must have been Lady Carmen,â muttered Eugene.
âHow did you know?â the villager asked with surprise.
âLady Carmen is the only one who enjoys such⌠eccentric behavior in the Lionheart family. I apologize on her behalf as a member of the family,â said Eugene.
âWe have already heard enough apologies,â the villager answered.
The other members of the Lionheart family had departed a few days ahead of Eugene and had arrived in Lehain earlier.
However, Cyan, Ciel, Dior, and Princess Scalia had yet to arrive. Eugene felt inwardly worried, but he did not rush to search for them, partially because of what Anise had said to him before. He couldnât continue to treat them like they were children.
âThe guests from the Lionheart clan are staying at this mansion,â the villager said as they arrived at a large mansion close to the castle. âIt is the mansion with the largest hot spring, except for the castle and the townâs public baths.â
The kings and royal knights of different nations were staying at the castle. There were still four days until the beginning of the Knight March, but the kings of each country, except Ruhrâs own king, had already arrived.
Aeuryus, the Pope of the Holy Empire.
Straut the Second, the Emperor of the Kiehl Empire.
Alabur, the Sultan of Nahama.
Daindolf, the King of Aroth.
The leaders of the empires and the equivalent nations were present, as well as King Rigos, King of the Flayvour Kingdom and the Director of the Anti-Demon Alliance, and other kings belonging to the alliance. Most of the continentâs rulers, apart from those of Helmuth, were currently staying in this fortress.
âWell, please enjoy your stay,â the villager said before returning.
Eugene stared up at the castle for a while. He could already feel a few gazes, gazes belonging to arrogant people who had no desire nor reason to hide their eyes. Eugene could feel the gazes coming from different heights. It was quite obvious. Not all kings stood on equal ground, and empires were superior to kingdoms, while kingdoms could be divided into large and small kingdoms.
He was the second coming of the Great Vermouth. Even though he wasnât set to be the next head of the family, he was a young lion of the main family of the Lionheart clan who would surely lead the next generation.
The rulers of royal authority were paying keen attention to Eugene.
âSir Eugene.â
âIâm not going to be rude. Iâm just looking up, thatâs all,â said Eugene with a smirk. He then turned his head before walking into the mansion with light steps.