RUMBLE—!
The dungeon door opened with a heavy sound.
A cool breeze blew in and brushed past me.
Perhaps because I had just emerged from underground, it felt even more refreshing.
“Ugh, I thought the dampness would kill me.”
I stretched broadly and climbed the stairs.
A knight of the ducal house was waiting at the dungeon entrance.
“Young Master. You succeeded!”
He greeted me with both astonishment and elation on his face.
“What? Why are you so surprised?”
“Today marks the tenth day since you entered the dungeon.”
“What? It’s already been that long?”
It had felt like only a few hours inside.
Had I truly spent nine whole days in there?
“Yes. We were ordered to wait here since no one knew when you would emerge. Once you came out, we were to escort you directly to the main castle before you could slip away elsewhere.”
Pointlessly perceptive.
There were mountains of things I wanted to test, including how to wield Fafnir and Siegfried’s swordsmanship, so I had been planning to bolt immediately.
He had seen right through me.
“How long have you been waiting?”
“Since today. The head of the family said it was about time you emerged.”
Good grief. The old man was practically a ghost.
How had someone who had never even entered the dungeon guessed correctly?
“Very well. Let’s go.”
“Please wait a moment, Young Master. I shall send word immediately.”
A pigeon with a note tied to its leg flew into the sky.
“Please follow me.”
A laugh escaped me for no reason.
Father had never believed I would die.
Grinning to myself, I followed behind the knight.
***
When I arrived at Fenrir Castle, Father was in the audience hall.
He sat upon the black throne reserved solely for the Duke.
Banners bearing the family’s wolf crest stood in rows behind him.
“Come closer.”
I stepped toward the throne.
A red carpet began beneath Father’s throne and divided the audience hall in half.
The vassals of House Fenrir stood on either side of it.
Their gazes stabbed into me from both directions.
Which of them were loyal retainers, and which were traitors?
For now, I had no way of knowing.
I stopped at the end of the carpet before the throne.
Then I lowered myself onto one knee before Father.
“Third Young Master Pietro Fenrir has returned after completing the mission to clear the dungeon.”
“You took long enough.”
Father welcomed me in his usual blunt manner.
“I gave it everything I had, but this was the best I could manage.”
At that moment, a faint smile touched Father’s lips, and pride flashed through his eyes.
Though it disappeared in an instant, I could not have imagined it.
“You worked rather hard, for you.”
“Yes. I ran as though my life depended on it.”
In my previous life, I had believed Father was the kind of man who would sacrifice his own children without hesitation for the Empire’s safety.
But now I knew.
He was blunt, excessively masculine, and clumsy, but if the choice was between sacrificing his children and throwing away his own life,
he would choose his own life without hesitation.
“So, what exactly was inside?”
“The remains of Demonic Dragon Fafnir were lying dormant there.”
“Gasp!”
“What did he say?”
“No, that cannot be……!”
“Silence!”
Father’s low voice silenced the murmuring vassals.
“By Fafnir, do you mean the Demonic Dragon from the Empire’s founding legend?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Do you have proof?”
I took the Dragon Orb from inside my clothes.
“What is that?”
“A Dragon Orb. According to legend, they are occasionally discovered within the remains of dragons.”
Father accepted the Dragon Orb from me.
At a glance, it merely shone with a radiant violet light and appeared little different from an ordinary crystal orb.
WHUMM—!
The Dragon Orb revealed its true value the moment Father infused it with mana.
THOOM—!
The enormously amplified mana pressed down upon the audience hall.
The vassals staggered beneath its overwhelming power, and several even collapsed to the floor.
“The property of amplifying the mana that touches it severalfold. It is indeed exactly as the records describe.”
Once Father confirmed it, the vassals began making a great commotion.
“The Dragon Orb of Fafnir, known only from the legend of the Founding Emperor! This is an astonishing achievement!”
“Indeed. We must spread word of this accomplishment far and wide!”
“That is right. We must dispatch messengers throughout the entire nation immediately!”
Father looked at the vassals.
“You may all withdraw.”
The vassals could only close their mouths and leave.
Father and I were left alone in the audience hall.
“I thought you would croak in there, but you did well.”
“Of course. Whose son am I?”
“Ha! Insolent brat.”
Father smiled crookedly, then turned his head and called to someone.
“Enter.”
Head Butler Alfred and several subordinate butlers opened the doors and entered.
Alfred carried a box in both arms, while the other butlers carried several more between them.
“It’s been a while, Head Butler.”
“To think you cleared a dungeon no one had ever returned from in only ten days. Remarkable.”
The boxes landed with heavy thuds as the butlers set them down.
“What is all this?”
“Open them.”
The boxes contained armor and a cloak.
“A cloak made from Dark Wolf hide and armor forged from Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron. They will protect you from your enemies’ blades.”
When I lifted the cloak with both hands, it unfurled with a rustle.
The cloak was as dark as a night sky without a single star.
“These are gifts prepared by the head of the family to commemorate your achievement, Young Master.”
I turned toward Father.
“Thank you, Father.”
“Do not grin like a fool. I am not giving them to you because I find you endearing.”
He was grumbling for no reason.
Anyone could tell that neither the cloak nor the armor could have been prepared overnight.
He had believed from the beginning that I would return alive.
“Then why are you giving them to me?”
“I intend to entrust you with one of the family’s duties.”
This situation was certainly different from my previous life.
Father had only ever entrusted duties to my brothers.
I had merely been kept busy receiving his scoldings.
I looked at Father.
“Starting in two weeks, the Demonic Beasts living in the Forest of Demonic Beasts will enter their mating season. They will attempt to consume humans to store the energy required for breeding. If their population increases, it will ultimately be the people of this territory who die.”
“I know. The Demonic Beast Hunt is an annual event.”
“This year, I intend to include you in that annual event.”
Father looked at me.
Trust lay within his seemingly indifferent eyes.
“Can you do it?”
Could I do it?
Of course I had to.
“Yes. I’ll do it.”
“You are remarkably confident for someone without experience hunting Demonic Beasts.”
Without experience?
When the Hellgates opened, the Demonic Beasts had also gone mad and rampaged.
I had hunted more of them than I could count.
From tracking and ambushes to hunting and butchering, there was almost nothing I had not done.
“We cannot simply leave Demonic Beasts that ravage the territory and take the lives of its people alone. However, I have one condition.”
“What is it?”
“For this hunt, grant me command of the Demonic Beast Subjugation Unit.”
Father and Head Butler Alfred exchanged glances.
There had never been a precedent for entrusting the Demonic Beast Subjugation Unit to someone without hunting experience.
After considering it briefly, Father looked at me again.
“If casualties occur because of you, you will be held severely responsible. Do you still wish to do it?”
“Entrust it to me.”
“You certainly know how to talk.”
Father rose and beckoned to me.
“Follow me.”
“Right now? Shouldn’t I try on the gifts you gave me?”
“Silence. I shall have the boxes placed in your quarters, so you may try them on to your heart’s content later. For now, follow me.”
“Yes.”
The armor and cloak grew farther away in the butlers’ hands.
I had no choice but to follow Father.
***
The training ground.
“Why did we come here?”
“Do you think I would simply entrust the Demonic Beast Subjugation Unit to a fledgling like you?”
Father clasped his hands behind his back.
“Take up your sword.”
When I gripped my sword, Father pointed at his own stomach.
“Cut me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Have you gone deaf? I told you to swing your sword and cut me.”
Father wore ordinary clothes without any armor, yet his expression held no hesitation.
“Understood.”
WHOOSH—!
I swung my sword at Father.
CLANG—!
A powerful impact traveled through my hand, as though I had struck solid steel.
“What is this……?!”
“Mana Shield. It is a technique that protects the body by wrapping mana around it like armor.”
When I sensed his mana, I could clearly feel it concentrated around his abdomen.
“Have you confirmed it?”
“Yes, Father.”
“Then imitate it.”
“Pardon?”
So suddenly?
Mana did not remain still.
It naturally sought to flow at all times.
To instantly solidify flowing mana until it could withstand an enemy’s attack
was like freezing a violently rushing river solid in an instant.
“If you cannot do it, you will not receive command.”
“What are you suddenly talking about?!”
“What else could I mean? Who would trust and follow a man who cannot perform something every Demonic Beast hunter should be capable of?!”
Father raised the sword and pointed it at me.
“If your desire for command is not mere childishness or vanity, demonstrate Mana Shield immediately.”
“I thought you agreed far too easily.”
“If that displeases you, succeed! That is the spirit of the North!”
Why did he bring up the North whenever anything happened?
I sat cross-legged on the training ground.
“Do not attempt to block the flow of mana. Guide it toward the place you desire. The mana that flows there will become your shield.”
I reflected on Father’s advice.
CRACKLE.
When I rotated the Mana Chain, I felt mana surging through me like a violent current.
‘Guide the flow.’
The mana flowed throughout my body along my nerves, but its origin and destination were the same.
The Mana Chain formed at the highest point of my spine, behind my neck.
“I’ve got it.”
I guided the mana pouring from it.
Its destination was my abdomen, just as Father had demonstrated.
Once I gave direction to the mana that had previously been busy merely passing through, it gradually began rotating once more around my abdomen.
“Stand up while maintaining it.”
Still concentrating, I slowly rose.
The repulsive force generated by the mana’s rotation was so powerful that it felt ready to scatter the moment my concentration wavered.
“Is it done?”
“There is only one way to confirm that.”
Father took the sword I had been holding.
“Pardon?”
“Endure it. I do not wish to kill my son with my own hands.”
Father, wait.
Time out.
For someone who did not want to kill me, was that killing intent not a little too serious?
One thrust from that sword looked as though it would turn me into a meat skewer.
“Here I come.”
Father, stop!
Stooooop!
CLANG—!
A sound like steel colliding with steel rang out.
SSSSS.
“Father. Wasn’t that thrust a little too serious? One mistake and you’d kill your son.”
“Weak words. Do Demonic Beasts ask about your circumstances before sinking their teeth into you?”
Even so.
Was a thrust powerful enough to send me flying from the impact alone not crossing the line?
I stood and brushed the sand and gravel from my backside.
“I succeeded at Mana Shield, so command of this hunt belongs to me!”
“You infuriating brat. Just make sure you do not turn perfectly good soldiers into Demonic Beast feed!”
“Yes, understood!”
Rather, if he wanted the soldiers to survive, I needed to command them.
Unless he wanted everyone to die or suffer injuries like they had in my previous life.