‘Ah… Is this how I die?’
After a desperate battle against the formidable rabbit monster I had encountered out of nowhere, I collapsed onto the freezing ground― no, not the ground, but a warm and soft field of Mana Herbs.
The fragrance was so sweet that the floral scent filling my nose nearly made my head spin.
‘F***, I never knew a rabbit’s claws could be this sharp.’
My entrails were spilling through the torn flesh of my abdomen, and what little life remained within me flowed out like a crimson river, staining the blue flower field red.
“Urgh…….”
I tried to move just in case, but I did not have enough strength to lift even a single finger.
Only a faint groan of pain escaped my lips.
‘H-Haha… This is ridiculous.’
Even when I was suddenly struck by dark magic and thrown into Murim.
Even when the Orthodox-Demonic War erupted there, I survived.
I had even succeeded in crossing dimensions from Murim back to Arvania… only to die here like this?
As death approached, a sudden sense of injustice washed over me.
I also found it difficult to believe that I was truly dying.
However, as time passed, my consciousness would gradually fade until I fell into an eternal sleep from which I would never awaken.
And so, I quietly closed my eyes.
.
.
.
However, no matter how long I waited, that moment never arrived.
‘…Huh? That’s strange.’
My consciousness, which should have been fading, was becoming clearer by the second.
Moreover, the pain in my abdomen was gradually disappearing.
Was the feeling that a considerable amount of vitality had returned to my body merely my imagination?
WIGGLE. WIGGLE.
‘What? I really can move?’
I carefully raised my upper body.
The rabbit monster’s corpse lay right beside me.
The moment I saw it, a strange thought crossed my mind.
‘Should I take it back and make a fur coat out of it?’
However, something else was far more important.
Among monsters, those capable of manifesting Aura possessed a ‘Mana Core’ inside their hearts.
It would fetch an enormous price if I sold it, but I intended to use it myself.
I could not be certain, but absorbing the mana contained within it would probably help me advance my attainment in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art considerably.
‘More importantly…….’
I looked down.
SHHHH….
I could not help but stare in astonishment.
My abdomen, which had been a grotesque mess of torn flesh and exposed entrails, had become almost completely clean, as though the wound had never existed.
Even at that very moment, the injury was healing.
It was happening quickly enough for me to watch with my own eyes.
‘W-What in the world… is happening?’
GULP.
The bizarre sight made me swallow unconsciously.
I looked around, wondering whether someone nearby might be casting Healing Magic on me, but as expected, there was no one there.
Feeling slightly tense, I examined the inside of my body.
I could sense the mana within my heart creating a unique magical current throughout my entire body.
‘Urgh…….’
A body that could heal a fatal wound on its own, without any outside assistance whatsoever?
I had never heard of such a thing.
My mind became troubled, and countless questions arose.
Was the phenomenon occurring within my body….
The result of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?
Or was it an ability I had acquired while crossing dimensions?
Could the original owner of this body have possessed a Special Constitution, or perhaps learned some form of magic without my knowledge?
…There were many questions, but not a single answer.
There was no doubt that it was an extraordinary ability.
‘Still, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Why have the mysteries continued to pile up ever since I awakened in this body…?’
It felt as though I had been given yet another problem to solve.
After several minutes, my body recovered completely, as though it had never been injured.
Afterward.
I considered carrying the rabbit monster’s entire corpse back with me, but that would only invite unnecessary suspicion, so I took only its Mana Core.
As for the Mana Herb field…….
‘I desperately want to make use of it immediately… but I should not allow greed to get the better of me.’
The current capabilities of the Verdin Marquisate would not be sufficient to handle something like this.
However, I could not simply leave it exposed.
If someone discovered it and spread the word, it would become a serious problem.
I placed several stones and branches infused with Heavenly Demon Qi around the Mana Herb field.
To anyone watching, it would have looked like a child’s game, but the objects had been arranged according to a specific pattern.
Once I finished the work, something astonishing occurred.
WHOOOOOSH―
The beautiful Mana Herb field, which had been radiating a brilliant and mystical light, vanished.
Now, the area appeared to contain nothing but ordinary trees and undergrowth, just like the rest of the forest.
It was a simple Formation utilizing the principles of the Eight Trigrams and the Five Elements.
Unless a Mage or an Aura User deliberately searched for it, no one would ever find it.
With that done, I headed back toward the 9th Battalion.
* * *
“Evan…!”
RUSH.
The moment the Marquis saw me appear covered from head to toe in blood, he ran toward me and pulled me into a tight embrace.
Apparently, I had returned after being missing for a full ten hours.
“F-Father……?”
“Your body… Are you injured anywhere?”
“Pardon? Ah… I am unharmed.”
“Thank goodness… Thank goodness you are safe……!”
I was a little bewildered at first, but having someone worry about me so sincerely did not feel unpleasant.
All the other knights breathed sighs of relief as well.
Haver, whose eyes had grown slightly red, was especially noticeable.
“WAAAAAAH―!!! Young Master Evan!!! I am truly relieved that you are safe!!!”
“Uh… Y-Yes…….”
Haver sniffled as he shouted loudly enough to make my ears ring.
Once everyone had calmed down, the Marquis seemed to grow embarrassed and gave several of his characteristic coughs.
“Ahem! Ahem! Now then… What in the world happened?”
“Well…….”
I had learned about the Marchioness’s plot from Raph.
‘However, there is no evidence under the present circumstances.’
Telling the truth would also be troublesome, since I would have to admit that I had personally killed Raph.
That was why I had already decided what to say.
“The commander of the 3rd Company of the 9th Battalion said that he had discovered an unusual plant, so I followed him there.”
“I see… What happened after that?”
The Marquis’s eyes gleamed strangely, but I calmly began my performance.
I made my voice tremble slightly, as though I were frightened.
“We… w-were attacked by monsters….”
“H-How could this happen…?!”
“Th-Then Raph… Do you mean he…?!”
NOD….
When I silently lowered my head, cries of dismay escaped from among the knights.
“I-I thought… that if I remained hidden, the commander of the 9th Battalion would come to rescue me.”
“Pardon?!”
Walter, the commander of the 9th Battalion, opened his eyes so widely that they seemed ready to burst from their sockets.
The Marquis and the knights all turned fierce gazes upon him at once.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Before we left, we clearly informed the commander of the 9th Battalion. However, when I spoke to him, he answered halfheartedly. It seems that he simply allowed my words to go in one ear and out the other.”
“Th-That is impossible! I never……!”
Walter hurriedly protested his innocence in alarm.
The claim that he had treated me halfheartedly was a lie.
But did he truly believe that anything he said would reach the Marquis’s ears now?
Judging by the situation, he had probably directed the search in the wrong direction on purpose so that Raph could finish the job undisturbed.
GRIN.
[Cut the crap, you fing bastard. You’re completely fed now.]
I sneered so that only Walter could see it and sent the satisfying stream of profanity directly into his ears through Sound Transmission.
“Y-Young Master?! Even so, how could you use such language…?!”
Walter stared at me with wide eyes, startled by my words.
However, no one else could have heard them.
“Huh? Commander of the 9th Battalion. Wh-What profanity did I use for you to glare at me so frighteningly……?”
“Pardon…? Y-You clearly just…….”
[Hehehe. Judging by how you still cannot understand the situation, you truly are a pathetic idiot.]
“Y-You called me an idiot just now as well……!”
Walter looked at me in confusion.
However, everyone except Walter was now looking at him with the same expression.
“Walter… You have finally gone mad!”
RUUUUMBLE―
The Marquis roared.
His pressure made it seem as though he might kill Walter on the spot.
“M-Marquis?! I-I……!”
“Silence!!!”
In the end, Walter was immediately relieved of his command for neglecting his duty to protect me.
Afterward.
The moment we returned to the castle following the Monster Subjugation Campaign, the Marquis had Walter flogged and cast out.
* * *
BANG―!
The office door flew open violently.
A woman’s shrill voice rang out.
“You! I heard that you expelled Sir Walter?!”
Her fierce eyes seemed even more sharply raised than usual beneath her vivid purple hair.
The woman glaring with furious, bright yellow eyes was the Marchioness, Clana Verdin.
“…My lady.”
Pervan, who had been busy working, remained seated and stared silently at her.
“How could you do something like this without saying a single word to me?!”
Clana’s voice became even sharper.
There were two reasons she was reacting so sensitively.
The first was that Walter had acted under her orders.
However, there was another reason as well.
Before her marriage, Clana Verdin’s family name had been ‘Freya.’
She was the second daughter of House Freya, and Walter had been one of the knights who accompanied her when she married into House Verdin.
Clana had used Walter to commit numerous wicked acts over the years, but Pervan had mostly turned a blind eye to them.
This time, however, he remained firm.
“Sir Walter neglected the grave duty entrusted to him on the battlefield, and dishonorably refused to admit his wrongdoing.”
“Ha! What did you say?! A grave duty?”
Clana scoffed in disbelief.
She knew exactly what had happened, yet she still had the audacity to confront him as though she were the wronged party.
“Wasn’t the real problem allowing that child onto a battlefield in the first place? You expelled a knight who had served faithfully for more than ten years merely because he lost sight of a child for a moment?!”
“…….”
Taken in isolation, her argument might have sounded reasonable.
The problem was that the knight had deliberately attempted to have the person under his protection killed.
‘That viperous bitch has nothing but filth inside her head…!’
Pervan had not wanted to provoke Clana unnecessarily and attract the attention of her family, House Freya.
That was why he had allowed her to do whatever she pleased.
However, regardless of everything else, he could not overlook her attempt to harm Evan.
“It was necessary for Evan to participate in a subjugation campaign eventually as a member of House Verdin. It merely happened sooner because the child himself wished for it.”
And how could guarding the lord’s child possibly not be considered a grave duty?!
At those words, the resentment that had been accumulating inside Clana ever since Evan was formally recognized as a member of the family finally erupted.
TREMBLE….
“I don’t want to hear it! What is so important about that filthy bastard child?!”
Clana shrieked in a piercing voice that seemed capable of tearing through one’s eardrums.
She had finally crossed the line.
BANG!
“Watch your words, my lady!”
Unable to tolerate her insult toward Evan, Pervan slammed his fist against the desk and roared.
His fury was so intense that Aura unconsciously began leaking from his body.
TREMBLE….
“Y-You……?”
Clana’s face went deathly pale.
Her pupils trembled violently, as though shaken by an earthquake, revealing how deeply shocked she was.
It was only natural.
Her husband, Pervan Verdin, had never once become angry with her in this manner.
WHOOOOOM―
“You may continue doing whatever you please, just as you always have! But do not touch Evan!”
He even issued an unmistakable warning.
“Urgh… How dare you treat me like this……!”
BITE.
Clana bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.
She glared at Pervan with bloodshot eyes.
SWISH―
Then she turned and stormed out of the office.
But not before declaring that he would regret this.
“…Haaah, how exhausting.”
Pervan stared at the spot where his wife had been standing for a long while before releasing a deep sigh.
However, he had no time to rest.
Representatives from the ‘Imperial Palace’ and the ‘Magic Tower’ were scheduled to arrive because of the method Evan had discovered for purifying monster corpses.