His steps had never felt lighter as he left the territory. Ivan quickly caught up with Ruben, who was strolling leisurely in the distance.
“I'm back, Director Ruben.”
“That was quick.”
“Yes. It ended sooner than I expected.”
“You certainly let loose quite the curse.”
Ivan jumped in surprise and looked back at Ruben.
“H-how did you hear that......?”
“For a martial artist who can wield aura, enhancing one's hearing is a simple matter.”
“That's incredible......”
Ivan knew what aura was, but he did not understand it in detail.
Even as he felt awe toward Ruben, Ivan could not help shuddering.
‘I'll have to watch my mouth from now on.’
Ivan enjoyed talking to himself, and what he enjoyed most was disparaging other people.
Whenever something shitty happened, he would unleash a rich bowlful of curses. He would have to be careful from now on.
“My mouth may be a little rough, but I am confident I can handle any job properly. Just give the order. Cleaning, laundry, errands—I will carry out any task to the best of my ability!”
Ivan quickly changed the subject and shouted with confidence. Ruben admonished him as though he had just said something absurd.
“Do you think I brought you along merely to do odd jobs? From now on, you will work as a civil servant of the Guardian Bureau. You'll be entrusted with very important work, so conduct yourself accordingly.”
Ivan's eyes filled with emotion. He was going to be entrusted with important work.
Ivan had expected to be put in charge of odd jobs at best, so he could not help feeling moved.
‘Then again, someone as important as the Director of the Guardian Bureau wouldn't come all this way in person to recruit an errand boy.’
As that thought occurred to him, Ivan's shoulders gradually began to rise.
Could I actually be some incredible genius? Is my life as the protagonist really about to begin?
No matter how hard he tried to remain calm, he could not stop the corners of his mouth from twitching.
“Then what is this important work I'll be doing?”
Just what sort of work had driven the Director of the Guardian Bureau himself to personally recruit him? Unable to contain his curiosity, Ivan asked Ruben with an excited heart.
“Ah, did I not tell you?”
He seemed somewhat forgetful, but Ivan paid it no mind and nodded.
“No, you haven't told me yet.”
“You'll work as a special investigator for Luverth, the Guardian Bureau's special investigative agency.”
“Ah, I'll be working for Huverth's special investigative agency? Just hearing it makes my heart race.”
“Luverth, not Huverth.”
Huverth or Luverth, what did it matter? What mattered was that it was the workplace of his dreams, one that would secure his future.
Well, calling it his dream job was getting ahead of himself when he did not even know what the place did yet.
“Right, right. The name exudes dignity all by itself. So what duties does a special investigator usually perform?”
So he asked, and the answer came immediately.
“We generally arrest criminal groups or criminals classified as high danger (upper tier) whom ordinary forces cannot handle, or investigate criminal organizations that are suspicious despite the lack of physical evidence.”
“I see. But how dangerous is the high danger class?”
“To put it simply, imagine monsters capable of effortlessly killing hundreds or thousands of people through magic, aura, sinister arts, or innate abilities—dark mages, demons, vampires, monster tamers, beastfolk, martial artists, and the like.”
“Ah... that sounds awfully difficult.”
“It is an extremely difficult occupation because you must put your life on the line. Luverth sometimes has to confront the Five Evils in particular.”
“Haha, the Five Evils... What......?”
For a moment, Ivan could not believe his ears. What? Put his life on the line?
No, fine, he could accept that part. But what? The Five Evils? F-F-F-F-Five E-E-E-E-Evils?!
Even Ivan, who was relatively ignorant of the world, knew exactly what the Five Evils were.
They were the continent's five worst criminal factions, committing murder as a matter of course along with every manner of atrocity.
According to the rumors Ivan had heard, anyone who encountered the Five Evils would naturally be subjected to all sorts of brutal torture, then brainwashed and forced to serve as their slave for life.
‘Fuck.’
The thought ‘Should I run away?’ flashed through his mind, but he abandoned it at once.
How could he possibly escape from someone reputed to have killed even a dragon with his sword?
Noticing Ivan's despair, Ruben offered comfort as though telling him not to worry.
“Don't worry too much. It is very rare for a new recruit to encounter the Five Evils. Most die before that happens.”
“......”
What kind of comfort was that supposed to be? Then Ruben added something else.
“Still, because the work puts your life at risk, the rewards are commensurate. After working for at least ten years, you'll receive severance pay and a special pension for the rest of your life.”
“Gasp!”
Ivan's despondent head snapped up as he sucked in a breath.
“How much would that be, exactly......?”
The answer made Ivan suck in another breath.
He could receive that much money for the rest of his life after working only ten years?
‘I'm sixteen now, so in ten years... I'll still be only twenty-six, won't I?’
His calculations were swift, and his reaction was immediate.
“I will dedicate this wretched life of mine to protecting the empire's safety and order!”
Right. What did his life matter?
The chance to coast through life on the country's money at twenty-six was right before his eyes!
Ivan instantly recovered his spirits, and Ruben regarded him through narrowed eyes.
Most children were too busy gazing at Ruben with eyes full of admiration.
‘Yet there isn't even a single grain of rice's worth of admiration for me in his eyes.’
Even Ruben had never before encountered such a transparently self-interested child.
***
Ivan climbed into Ruben's carriage, which was waiting in a nearby village.
The coachman set the carriage in motion, and they left the territory behind without regret.
“Are we going straight to the Guardian Bureau?”
“No. You aren't yet qualified to become a special investigator, so I'll first send you somewhere you can earn that qualification.”
Was he not becoming a special investigator right away? Ivan asked, and Ruben snorted before answering.
“You may be called the Young Sword Demon, but right now, you're nothing more than a greenhorn who cannot wield aura. If you became a special investigator with your current ability, you would plainly die on your first assignment. That would defeat the purpose of recruiting you.”
“I see.”
Fair enough. Even Ivan did not think he could face the monsters Ruben had mentioned earlier with his current ability.
“Then where are we going?”
“You certainly ask a lot of questions.”
“My apologies.”
Ivan, who had spent his life reading the room to survive, immediately apologized. Ruben merely laughed heartily and shook his head.
“That was praise. A desire to inquire is the driving force behind growth. It is also a necessary quality for a special investigator. Only by constantly questioning your circumstances can you predict and prepare for unforeseen situations. In that respect, I believe you will make an excellent special investigator.”
“Ah, yes. Thank you.”
Even as he spoke, Ivan felt awkward inside.
He had simply asked whatever came to mind because sitting alone together felt uncomfortable. He had never expected such glowing praise.
‘At this point, it almost feels like he's making fun of me.’
Then again, Ruben's serious face suggested he meant every word.
“The place you're going is the Guardian Bureau's secret training center.”
While Ivan was thinking that, Ruben answered his earlier question.
“Talents scouted by the Guardian Bureau, like you, receive instruction there to become special investigators.”
“Did you recruit all of them, Director Ruben?”
“No. I'm not so idle. There are people assigned specifically to recruitment. Including you, I've personally recruited only about four people.”
“Thank you for choosing me.”
Ivan bowed his head in gratitude. At the same time, he began to feel slightly worried.
“But what happens if I can't graduate from the training center?”
“As I said earlier, Luverth is an institution like the empire's shield, facing every manner of heinous criminal. Accordingly, Luverth's recruits are taught techniques the empire has spent thousands of years developing. Naturally, those techniques must never become known outside.”
Ivan swallowed hard.
“Could it be... that anyone who fails to graduate is killed?”
Ruben snorted in response.
“It would be absurd for the Guardian Bureau, which protects the people, to kill an innocent trainee. We don't kill them. However, to preserve secrecy, we bind them with a magical oath and erase every memory of the training center with memory-erasure magic as a precaution.”
That had taken ten years off his life. Ivan sighed in relief.
“Don't relax too much. If you fail to graduate, I'll sell you back to the place you came from.”
“......”
“Isn't it obvious? I spent the country's money to acquire you. If you fail to prove your value, I'll have no choice but to recoup the loss this way.”
Thinking about it rationally, Ivan could not say Ruben was wrong. He accepted the explanation without complaint.
“Well, since you're a talent I recruited personally, the odds of you failing to graduate are almost nonexistent. You needn't worry too much.”
“Understood.”
Ivan answered. At last, having run out of questions, he spent some time smacking his lips amid the awkwardness that filled the carriage.
***
A week had passed since they left the territory. They spent each day passing through one village after another, and in the process, the awkwardness between Ivan and Ruben naturally faded.
“You said you've never learned how to use aura, correct?”
Ruben also occasionally taught Ivan swordsmanship to relieve his boredom.
Ruben stared intently at Ivan as he asked, and Ivan nodded boldly as though the answer were obvious.
“Yes. I swear to the heavens that I've never learned so much as the first thing about aura. But why do you ask?”
“You're already circulating aura unconsciously.”
Ivan tilted his head at the unexpected statement.
“Really? I can't feel anything.”
“Because the amount of aura is too faint for you to notice. I was uncertain at first, but watching your sword today convinced me. When you swing your sword or evade an attack, you unconsciously circulate aura to maximize your movements.”
Having said that, Ruben swallowed a disbelieving laugh.
‘I thought from the beginning that he was exceptional, but he's an even greater monster than I imagined.’
It was not particularly rare for someone to sense aura despite never having learned it.
But it was exceedingly rare for someone to instinctively wield aura without even being able to sense it.
Ivan went beyond even that, using the faint aura available to him in exactly the right places.
He wasted no aura on unnecessary movements and used his aura efficiently for each crucial strike.
‘I truly look forward to seeing what he becomes.’
This was the level of skill displayed by a child who had learned neither aura nor even swordsmanship.
It was foolish to make hasty claims about the future, but if Ivan continued to grow steadily...
If he did...
Heh.
The thought of that future made the corner of Ruben's mouth rise subtly.
Several more days set and bloomed anew, and at last, Ivan and Ruben arrived at the location of the secret training center.
“This mountain range is known as the Dragon's Nest. The training center is up there.”
The sight of the mountain range, so long and tall that its end could not be seen, drew a gasp of admiration from Ivan.
Because the carriage could not climb the mountains, Ivan and Ruben got out and continued on foot.
They passed the foot of the range and climbed along a bumpy dirt road. Their surroundings were so quiet that they could sense no sign of anyone else.
Then it happened.
“Ugh!”
Ivan suddenly cried out and pitched forward. His vision warped, and the world began to spin dizzyingly at the same time.
“You've merely entered the barrier, so don't panic.”
Ruben's indifferent voice reached him. Ivan barely held on to his reeling mind and rose to his feet.
“Where are we......?”
Ivan's eyes widened.
Only moments ago, he had been walking along a mountain path. Somehow, he was now standing on a wide-open plain.
“The first exposure to magic brings on dizziness. Vomiting is usually the normal response, but you appear fine.”
“My head is still spinning a little.”
“It is a secret training center, so the security must necessarily be thorough. Try to understand.”
Ruben stepped forward as he spoke and beckoned Ivan to follow.
“That is the training center where you'll be staying from now on.”
Ivan's mouth fell half open of its own accord.
‘That training center is fucking enormous......’
The outer wall prevented him from seeing inside, but even at a glance, the compound looked large enough to put most academies to shame.