Began’s voice echoed throughout the sanctuary. At that moment, the twin heirs and Heinhern were taken aback.
‘The Chief Elder?’
‘The Council of Elders had a representative?’
‘...This is the first I’ve heard of it.’
They knew that the Daylin Family had a Council of Elders.
However, they knew absolutely nothing about the representative who led it.
After all, those who operated behind the scenes almost never appeared in public.
So while the three of them were bewildered—
“Greetings, Chief Elder.”
Wirn followed Began’s example and dropped to his right knee. At the same time, he paid his respects to the man presumed to be the Chief Elder.
‘The silver robe confirms it.’
At the same time, he realized why the man was wearing a robe engraved with a silver Mark.
It was only natural for someone who governed the Council of Elders.
Moreover, the chances that the man was impersonating the Chief Elder were practically zero.
This was, after all, an area within the Daylin Family estate.
‘But... I don’t know someone like him?’
That gave rise to another question.
In his previous life, Wirn had worked as an Imperial Hound and scraped together information about the Daylin Family.
That information had included the family’s important figures.
‘I’m certain I’ve never seen his face before.’
Yet the man before him was someone he had never seen.
Wirn had even memorized every last child of the collateral branches, yet this man did not exist anywhere in his memories.
That continued to bother him.
“...Greetings, Chief Elder.”
Just then, the other heirs followed Wirn’s lead and knelt.
With the two people before them already paying their respects, the remaining three had little choice but to follow suit.
However, their eyes still held questions about the man.
“It seems no one knows my face because I have only ever worked behind the scenes.”
The man gave a faint chuckle as he looked over them. He then approached Began, who had been the first to kneel.
“You have grown quite a bit. It feels like only yesterday that I saw you with your mother when you were two years old.”
He continued in a kindly voice.
“I have been working hard to become the Family Head.”
Began answered in a trembling voice.
“Hmm... the Family Head.”
At those words, a strange expression crossed the man’s face.
‘What was that?’
The change lasted only an instant.
But Wirn noticed it and questioned it inwardly.
“All of you, rise.”
The others, however, failed to notice the man’s change. They had been too busy keeping their heads bowed.
Rustle.
At the man’s words, the five heirs, including Wirn, rose from the floor.
“I am Ganpeirn, and I serve as an Elder on the Council of Elders.”
He introduced his position and name.
‘Ganpeirn....’
Wirn repeated the name to himself, chewing it over like a cow.
‘I really don’t remember him.’
Nothing came to mind.
No matter how hard he searched his memories, even the name Ganpeirn itself was completely unfamiliar.
‘Why?’
A Chief Elder would have been an important figure even within the Daylin Family.
And yet, until the very moment of his death, Wirn had never learned anything about Ganpeirn.
‘Then... he must have died within the family.’
Just as he was about to continue pursuing that question—
“So you’re Wirn.”
Ganpeirn approached him.
“It was rather impressive watching you pass the Hunting Ceremony.”
He had watched Wirn’s performance through the orb.
Thanks to that, this Hunting Ceremony had also shown him just how much potential the power known as Darkness possessed.
“Thank you.”
However, Wirn’s reaction to the praise was indifferent.
Passing the Hunting Ceremony had never been his real objective in the first place.
His true goal, which he had kept hidden from everyone else, had been to use the Hunting Ceremony as an opportunity to obtain greater power.
“Hmm. But your aura seems considerably different from before you entered the Hunting Ceremony. Did you perhaps obtain some kind of fortuitous opportunity?”
“...!”
Ganpeirn had seen through Wirn’s change and followed up with another question.
‘He isn’t just some old man who hides away in the back rooms.’
That was when Wirn realized it.
The Chief Elder standing before him was different from those old men who did nothing but move their mouths.
“Yes. I obtained something good.”
Wirn nodded in response to his question.
There was little point in hiding it here, and there was no need to grit his teeth and pretend otherwise.
If anything, this was an opportunity to create a foothold from which he could make use of the Chief Elder’s interest in him.
“How fascinating. It is not easy to obtain such an opportunity in that forest.”
“I was lucky.”
“Even fortune only comes to those who are prepared.”
Ganpeirn’s eyes gleamed at Wirn’s answer. He studied Wirn with a strange look before saying,
“That was skill befitting an heir of the Daylin Family.”
He lightly patted Wirn on the shoulder.
Rustle.
Then he took a ring from inside his clothes and held it out to Wirn.
“This is the reward given to the heir who passes the Hunting Ceremony most perfectly.”
“?”
Wirn blinked at it.
No matter how he examined it, it looked no different from an ordinary ring.
He wondered whether it contained mana, but that was not the case either.
“This ring symbolizes qualification. If you acquire that qualification someday, a change will occur in the ring.”
Ganpeirn then whispered quietly to Wirn.
“And... when that happens, the true power hidden within the ring will reveal itself.”
Smile.
Then, as though nothing had happened, he drew his head back and smiled.
“You have all worked hard. You may now return to the family.”
Snap!
The moment Ganpeirn finished speaking, he snapped his fingers.
Teleportation Magic Circles appeared beneath Wirn and the other heirs.
‘He’s using teleportation on multiple people at once?’
Wirn was genuinely astonished.
Several Teleportation Magic Circles had appeared simultaneously, despite how difficult it was to maintain even one.
Even Wirn in his previous life would never have been able to perform magic at this level with ease.
‘Ganpeirn....’
Without realizing it, Wirn stared fixedly at Ganpeirn.
Why had he never known about a mage this skilled?
‘I should investigate him.’
Just as he decided that he needed to look into Ganpeirn—
HUM!
Blue light burst from the Magic Circles.
FLASH!
Wirn and the other heirs vanished from the sanctuary.
“....”
The sanctuary, which had been filled with people, suddenly became deserted.
Ganpeirn stared at the spots where Wirn and the other heirs had been standing.
“Working hard to become the Family Head... Yes. There was a time like that.”
He muttered to himself with a strange look in his eyes.
Step.
Then he turned away from the sanctuary.
Back toward the Council of Elders, where he belonged.
***
Wirn and the other heirs all returned to the family through the Teleportation Magic Circles.
Or, more precisely, they were transported to the courtyard leading into the main residence.
“You have all worked hard.”
Kemen and the family’s maids were already there waiting to greet them.
“You may stay the night in the main residence today.”
He then told them to get plenty of rest that night.
“...You’re saying these guys are going to sleep in our family residence too?”
Began frowned at those words.
He disliked the very idea of heirs from the collateral branches staying together in the main residence.
“It is the Elder’s order.”
“...Then there’s nothing we can do.”
However, Began accepted Kemen’s explanation.
He knew perfectly well that an Elder’s order had to be obeyed.
“We have prepared separate rooms for those from the collateral branches. The maids here will each guide you.”
Nod.
After finishing his explanation, Kemen gestured toward the maids.
The maids who had been waiting behind him approached the collateral-branch heirs.
They then guided them to vacant rooms inside the family residence.
“....”
And so, the three heirs disappeared together with the maids.
Rustle.
After confirming that they were gone, Wirn was about to enter the building with the others when—
“Wirn. There’s something I want to ask you.”
Began called his name from behind.
“What exactly did you obtain in the forest?”
Wirn turned his head toward Began.
‘Anyone looking at him would think I committed some terrible crime. Why is he glaring at me like that?’
He frowned.
He did not like the expression on Began’s face.
“Are you threatening me right now? You look like you’re about to eat me alive.”
“What?”
“I’m asking nicely, so relax your face.”
“....”
Began was taken aback by Wirn’s words.
Then he saw his own face reflected in a window and realized what he had been doing.
“Sorry. I was so curious that I didn’t even realize....”
He had been glaring at Wirn as though he wanted to kill him.
“I apologize.”
Began added awkwardly.
“Ahem.”
He even turned his gaze away.
“Brat.”
Wirn laughed in disbelief at the sight.
Began might have been older than him physically, but in Wirn’s eyes, he was little more than a child.
“Don’t do that again.”
So Wirn merely gave Began a mild scolding.
He was still at an age where he could make mistakes.
“...Thank you.”
Began nodded at Wirn’s words.
He was also greatly relieved that Wirn had warned him with words rather than with his fists.
“So, what did you obtain in the forest?”
“...You still haven’t given up?”
“You haven’t given me a proper answer, so I’m asking again.”
However, that did nothing to stop his questioning.
“Hmm....”
Wirn furrowed his brow.
‘He really is ridiculously curious.’
He had realized that an ordinary answer would not make Began back down.
What a persistent bastard.
“I went and did something only I can do.”
So he told him the truth.
“It’s something you can’t do. So stop asking.”
“Something only you can do... Right. Something only I can do.”
Otherwise, Began would keep clinging to the matter endlessly.
“I understand.”
Began looked at Wirn with the eyes of someone who had realized something.
“Thank you for telling me.”
Then he headed toward the training grounds on the opposite side of the residence.
“....”
Wirn stared blankly after him.
‘That’s strange. I’ve never hit him in the head.’
Faced with Began’s sudden change in attitude, Wirn seriously wondered whether one of his punches had somehow damaged Began’s brain after all.
“It seems you are providing Young Master Began with good motivation.”
Just then, Kemen casually spoke to Wirn.
“That wasn’t my intention.”
Wirn frowned at those words.
He had no desire to become a source of motivation for someone as strong-willed as Began.
‘I suppose leaving him alone should be fine.’
However, Wirn had no intention of nipping Began in the bud.
He was no longer a hound who had to kill someone else in order to climb higher.
So he decided not to concern himself with whatever Began chose to do.
“Kemen. Let’s go inside too.”
He walked past Kemen, who had been waiting for him, and entered the residence.
“Yes, Young Master.”
Kemen lowered his head as he watched Wirn.
However, a smile had spread across his face.
‘Young Master can smile too.’
The corners of Wirn’s lips had risen ever so slightly.
And after a long time had passed, when darkness had settled heavily over the early dawn—
“...Can you really help me?”
Heinhern came to Wirn’s room.