Chapter 26
Bwoooooo—
Fatalité's Wheel.
The horn signaling the start of the hunting contest vibrated through the North.
Emilie and I.
And Brance, along with Emilie's two attendants.
The five of us headed toward the White Forest.
The start was smooth.
We rented a sled, loaded it with rations and camping gear, and Brance and Emilie's attendants pulled it together.
I sat on top of that sled.
"My lord. It's too heavy..."
"It's for your training."
"Aren't you just doing this because you find it hard to walk?"
His eyes were full of suspicion, but I shook my head.
"I'm just expanding my ki senses to find where the magic beasts are. Stop suspecting nonsense and just pull the sled."
"...Yes, sir."
Brance's rogue-ish eyes were brimming with suspicion, but he couldn't say anything more. And my words were true. Even without sitting on the luggage loaded on the sled, it was possible to search for presences.
"Really?"
"Really."
It wasn't a lie.
My ki senses, made agile by Manhwabongyuk, easily found the traces of magic beasts.
And upon finding their locations, I directed us in the opposite direction.
"Is it really true? But why aren't any magic beasts showing up?"
"They must have run away."
The task Bernard requested of me was to protect Emilie, not to hunt magic beasts.
Unlike the brat in front of me, our goals were similar yet different, and I had to fulfill my mission only to the extent that it didn't bother me.
'In a few days, they'll cause an uproar on their own.'
There was no need to waste energy roaming around hunting magic beasts right now.
So, what I had to do now. Was one thing.
Preparation for potential danger.
Training.
Sitting on the sled, I cultivated Manhwabongyuk, coiling a tight knot in my lower dantian.
One bud slowly entered the path of ripening. The divine power and purity dwelling within the First Peak grew day by day.
But now, the size and purity of the First Peak were slowly reaching their limits.
The time had come. I had to pierce a new path and form the Second Peak.
Of course, it had to be a larger and more delicate bud than the First Peak, so the divine power and purity required would double.
It took several years to form the First Peak initially, but it wouldn't be the same for the Second.
Perhaps because I had gained momentum, forming the Second Peak didn't seem like it would take long.
'Still, it's difficult in a short time.'
I had created one bud in my dantian, but when I tried to make another beside it, the energy would strangely gather and then scatter.
It felt like it gathered, but wouldn't solidify.
I was trying to make it like I did the First Peak, but strangely, it wasn't working well.
It felt like the First Peak was interfering with the creation of the Second.
'Am I rushing?'
That could be it.
The quality of my divine power was only 4th-class.
I might be failing to meet the quality required to form the Second Peak.
As I thought so, my gaze naturally turned to the bracelet.
[Bibi's Bracelet] Rank - Epic
- A bracelet gifted by an elf living in the Swaying Forest. It minimizes divine power consumption and stores the reduced divine power.
Stored Divine Power: 37,556
It had been just over a month since I put the bracelet on, and this was all there was.
Originally, there was more. But as time passed, the divine power contained within the bracelet repeatedly increased and then decreased.
The reason was an issue of purity.
Bibi's Bracelet circulated the gathered divine power on its own, and during that process, it flushed out the divine power with many impurities.
So, even though a lot of time had passed, only that much divine power had accumulated, but in exchange, its quality had increased.
'If I release this, it might become the catalyst for forming the Second Peak.'
However, that was just a guess.
I was a bit reluctant to test it.
Fatalité's Wheel.
Who knows what might happen.
And of course, inside my robe, besides the bracelet, there was also a Divine Stone. Whenever I had a chance, I took out the Divine Stone to feel the Saint's divine power, so if given a little time, there would be progress in Manhwabongyuk.
[Fatalité's Wheel]
- The shadow of death flowing from inevitable fate looms over you.
- Survive.
'Fatalité.'
Its meaning was inevitable fate.
In the White Forest of the North, the term 'inevitable fate' suited it far better than 'destiny'.
Besides, there were exactly two groups that suited the word 'inevitable fate' in this place.
One was Zerban.
The other was across the White Forest.
At the very end of the North....
"What's this? Why did a half-wit who can't even use divine power come here with that kind of audacity?"
"Right, right? But she still has a knight with her, at least? Who are you? Don't you know that the knight accompanying Emilie will be out of favor once our father becomes the Patriarch?"
In front of them, chattering away was not a magic beast, but an annoying pair of twins with ash-gray eyes.
"Rivan, Rini."
Emilie, who had been fuming about why we couldn't find any magic beasts, felt her eyes grow cold.
Rivan and Rini.
They were fraternal twins with similar faces, dark black hair, and ash-gray eyes, but of different genders.
"They are the children of Killaban, who is being discussed as the next Patriarch."
"...I see."
One of Emilie's attendants approached and whispered to me.
Why tell me this when I wasn't even curious?
Glancing over, the attendants' expressions weren't so good either.
As for why.
"Hahat! Rini! Look at Emilie's attendants. They aren't dragging a single magic beast along, are they? It's obvious they haven't caught even one so far."
"Right? Emilie. Is it true? You haven't caught a single one in the White Forest where magic beasts are swarming? Or maybe you didn't have time to catch any because you were too busy running away."
"Hahahat! True, it'd be weirder if the half-wit Emilie actually caught a magic beast."
The way they talked was utterly obnoxious.
"The twins, Rivan and Rini, are sworn enemies of Lady Emilie."
The brown-haired attendant of Emilie whispered from beside me, even though I hadn't asked.
Judging by their tone and expression, it seemed the attendants didn't like them either.
Of course, I didn't care either way, so I just watched quietly.
'Orphin is over there too.'
It seemed Orphin, one of the knight captains, was escorting the twins.
He glanced at me and gave a slight nod.
Last time he was trying to kill me, but has he changed his mind a bit?
Or was it just basic courtesy?
Either way, I didn't care.
"Do you want to see our catch?"
It was the girl with braided hair, Rini von Zerban. The annoying-looking boy next to her was Rivan von Zerban.
They looked about fourteen years old.
"No, I don't need to."
"Just look, will you? You have to see what a magic beast looks like before you can catch one, right?"
Rini and Rivan pulled Emilie's hand and showed her the magic beast she didn't want to see.
The proof of catching a magic beast was its nose or ears.
Or it was proven by cutting off the head, and Rivan and Rini had decapitated the magic beast's head and placed it on their dedicated sled.
"Ta-da! How is it! Amazing, right?"
"My brother and I caught it with great difficulty? It was so fast that it almost ate us in one bite."
The head of the magic beast on the sled was quite massive.
It was a wolf-type magic beast, large enough to swallow Emilie in one bite, with a rugged jawbone and sharp fangs.
"You could never catch something like this, right? It'd be a miracle if you didn't freeze up and piss yourself the moment you saw it. Right, Rini?"
"Brother is right. I also froze for a moment and couldn't move. If it were you, Emilie, you would have wet yourself."
The twins reveled in Emilie's souring expression.
But when Emilie's reaction became completely uninteresting, the twins' gaze soon shifted to me.
"But who are you?"
"A wandering knight?"
Rivan and Rini asked, but I didn't bother to answer.
There were many reasons not to answer, but the largest proportion was simply because I couldn't be bothered.
Regardless of the status of Zerban's brats or the situation, I fundamentally dislike children.
Especially arrogant noble brats like them.
'Is this hatred for my own kind?'
That might be true.
Ironically, the nature of a scoundrel is to easily recognize another scoundrel.
"Emilie, your companion is too arrogant. To not even answer our question!"
"Right. Arrogant."
A child's patience was apparently shorter than I thought, as Rivan drew the sword at his waist first.
A longsword fitting for a child.
'Did he catch a magic beast with a sword like that?'
Without getting a single drop of blood on his clothes?
It was so ridiculous that I let out a smirk, distorting the twins' faces.
"Mocking me? Did that guy just mock my sword?"
"My brother's honor has been tainted. You're in big trouble now."
What kind of honor could a kid even have to act like that.
Only a hollow laugh came out.
"Come down. How dare a mere wandering knight look down on us?"
"Right. You came to the North because you wanted to rise in the world, didn't you? But of all people, you had to take on Emilie's escort. That's really stupid. Escorting a girl with nothing isn't going to open any doors for you... Are you an idiot?"
Emilie was quiet.
She was just looking at Kalliath, as if wanting to see what he would do.
Brance, who originally should have stepped forward and made a fuss, was also quiet.
Since he was hiding his identity and acting as an escort, he was holding back his itchy tongue.
With no other choice, Kalliath stepped down from the sled and stood in front of Rivan.
"You arrogant bastard. I'll make you pay for dragging my honor through the mud!"
Quite a combative brat.
He was probably acting up because he trusted in Orphin and the knights behind him.
And swinging his sword recklessly, riding on his own status and the Zerban name.
Kalliath clicked his tongue, then took something out of his robe and held it in his hand.
"A fork?"
It was his favorite fork.
"Pfft!"
"You bastard! Are you insulting me?!"
Emilie turned her head, seemingly unable to hold back her bursting laughter, and Rivan, feeling insulted, screamed at the top of his lungs.
"There's nothing smaller than this."
"How dare you humiliate Rivan of Zerban and think you'll survive!"
"Brother! Show him what you're made of! You just have to beat him!"
"Fine. If you're ridiculing me with an object like that, you should have been prepared to lose an arm!"
Rivan's sword flew in.
'Hmm.'
He raised his physical abilities with the divine power he'd harbored since childhood, and maximized its efficiency with Zerban's divine power cultivation method.
Thanks to that, Rivan displayed a swordsmanship different from a child's movements.
As expected of a child from a renowned swordsmanship family.
Strength, speed. And his divine power had transcended that of a mere child.
The agile yet heavy longsword unique to Zerban.
Light on the feet.
Rivan wielded a sword that perfectly embodied the phrase, "Light feet, heavy sword."
"I'll take that arm!"
Kalliath's arm.
The fork held in his hand.
Rivan had no doubt that the man's arm would be severed by his hand.
Soon, the moment the sword clashed with the fork.
Swish! Screech!
'Huh?'
Clang-!!
By the time he came to his senses, Rivan had his face planted in the snow.
Startled, he jumped up.
Swish- Thud!
His broken sword flew through the air and crashed onto the ground.
"What..."
In front of him stood the man holding a fork. Kalliath looked down at Rivan with indifferent eyes and said.
"You're just a brat, after all."