“So, did you really sign a contract with Ifrit?” Eugene asked.
“Call him by his full name, the Spirit King of Flames, Ifrit,” Melkith demanded.
Eugene repeated, “I asked if you really managed to sign a contract with him?”
Melkith refused to answer, “It’s a secret.”
“But it seems to me like you may have failed to sign the contract, no?” Eugene said teasingly. “If you really did manage to sign the contract, Lady Melkith, with your personality, there’s no way you would stay silent about it, right?”
Melkith’s eyes darkened gloomily at this teasing that Eugene delivered with a snicker.
However, Eugene didn’t stop at that and kept on talking, “Even though you said that you had a feeling that you would definitely be able to sign a contract, in the end, you didn’t manage to sign a contract with Ifrit, did you?”
Melkith responded coldly, “I said to call him the Spirit King of Flames, Ifrit.”
“Why do I have to say his name like that?” Eugene asked.
Finally losing patience, Melkith let out a loud roar, “Because he might be listening to our conversation right now!”
She took out the Firestone, which she had carefully tucked between her breasts, and placed it on top of the table.
“Let me just be clear, I didn’t fail to contract him,” Melkith insisted. “Failure does not exist for one such as I, Melkith El-Hayah. It was just that, ever so slightly, it seems that our opinions of each other aren’t quite coordinated? But that’s just how contracts are. We need to keep fine-tuning the terms and adjusting to each other until we both finally reach a desired point where we then decide, ‘Fine, let’s make a contract!’”
“Well, that just means you really did fail,” Eugene said dismissively.
“Like I said, I didn’t! I’m telling you, we’re just currently reconciling a difference of opinions. As such, Eugene, be careful with the way you speak. Right now, this conversation is being overheard by the great and passionate Spirit King of Flames, Lord Ifrit. Lord Ifrit, this is how dearly I adore you,” Melkith said as she held up the Firestone with both hands and rubbed it against her cheek.
Seeing this scene, Tempest loudly ground his teeth inside Eugene’s head.
“Just how long are you going to keep straining your eyes like that?” Eugene asked, tilting his chair back and looking to the side.
From this angle, he could see Cyan, who appeared to be furrowing his brow.
“I’m not doing anything,” Cyan grunted.
Eugene pointed out, “Even now, you’re still glaring daggers.”
“Those bastards have been glancing at us since earlier,” Cyan finally spat out as he suddenly unbuttoned his cuffs and started rolling up his sleeves.
When Cyan clenched his fists, the tight muscles on his forearms twitched menacingly. And as if that wasn’t enough, Cyan even unfastened the sword from his waist and leaned it against the table so that it could easily catch others’ eyes.
“You’re really overdoing it,” Eugene sighed.
“The natives of Samar are known to kidnap foreigners to either eat them or sell them. I’ve heard that trading cities like this one, in particular, serve as hunting grounds for the natives,” Cyan muttered cautiously.
It had been two days since they had left the Lionheart mansion. Since there were no warp-gates in Samar, they had arrived at the southern border of Kiehl before moving directly across the border to the trade city located just at the entrance to the Rainforest.
Cyan’s words weren’t entirely wrong.
Samar was a lawless zone where none of the laws of the continent applied, so there were many criminals who had fled here from other kingdoms. Such criminals would often commit crimes in collusion with the aggressive and violent natives, and the wealthy and thoughtless tourists who would recklessly venture all the way into this dangerous place were some of their favorite prey.
Eugene scoffed, “They wouldn’t target us unless they've lost their minds.”
Eugene and his companions were sitting at an outdoor table at a street bar. Although he had made eye contact with a few of those passing them on the street, most immediately turned their gazes away from him and quickly scurried past. The same went for the guys who were watching their party from the shadows.
People always unconsciously let out a specific type of aura. Although he wasn’t wearing the formal clothes of the Lionheart clan, the aura emitted from Eugene was aggressive enough that no one else dared to make eye contact with him.
In contrast, the atmosphere at their table was quite cozy.
‘This is pretty delicious,” Raimira said with a big smile as she indulged in the exotic stir-fries that had been ladled onto their plates and served to them.
“You’ve got something on your cheek,” Kristina, sitting across from Raimira, chided gently as she wiped Raimira’s cheek with a napkin.
“Mother…,” Raimira unconsciously muttered.
She had already been receiving this sort of care for several days now. On their first meeting, Raimira had nearly been killed when a flail had been mercilessly swung at her, but ever since then, this blonde priest had been very kind and gentle to her. Raimira sincerely wished that Kristina could be her actual mother.
‘When I talk to Lord Father, Black Dragon, I can ask him to let me take that human as my nanny, ’ Raimira seriously thought to herself.
From what she had overheard, the only one who would be taking on the challenge to slay the Black Dragon was Eugene Lionheart. Although Raimira couldn’t do anything to stop him from getting himself killed like that, she would at least be able to save the priest.
“Me too, Sir Eugene, something’s on my cheek as well,” Mer, who had been eating in the seat next to Raimira, whined for help.
Without any sign of annoyance, Eugene wiped Mer’s face clean.
“Is that really a dragon?” Cyan asked skeptically.
Raimira demanded, “Call me the Dragon Duchess, you insignificant human.”
“Is she really a dragon, one of the masters of all magic…?” Melkith muttered with an expression of disbelief.
Now that they had accompanied him to Samar, Eugene had been forced to share some of the details of their other mission with Cyan and Melkith.
He didn’t tell them about how they had been involved in the fall of the Dragon Demon Castle and the eradication of Karabloom. Instead, Eugene just told them that he broke into the Dragon Demon Castle during a battle and kidnapped the Dragon Duchess. That was all he had to say.
“All my illusions about the dragons have been shattered,” Cyan muttered as he shook his head.
The reason Cyan was constantly nervous and continuously surveyed their surroundings wasn’t just the lawless place that was Samar.
Cyan had thought that all they were here for was to investigate the truth behind the black magic that was being prepared in the Samar Rainforest, but now he had discovered that they were here for even more important matters.
They were going to save the Wise Sienna, but Cyan seemed to feel burdened by the weight of their purpose.
“Can’t we interfere with the magic from here?” Cyan asked agitatedly.
Eugene shook his head, “I feel like we’ll need to go in deeper.”
As soon as they had arrived at the trade city, Eugene had attempted to use the Draconic Spell on Raimira. However, it seemed like they couldn’t yet reach the dimensional rift where Raizakia was located from here.
Even after getting trapped within a dimensional rift, Raizakia had somehow managed to tie his existence to the land of the Samar Rainforest. Seemingly abandoning the dignity of a dragon, he had fallen into an existence that was no different from a spirit of the land. Thanks to that, Raizakia hadn’t just disappeared over the past two hundred years and had managed to survive while within the dimensional rift.
In order to reach the space where Raizakia was located, they needed to open the doorway by using Raimira as the key, and the doorway was rooted somewhere deep within the Rainforest.
‘Or else, we would need to erase the entire Rainforest,’ Eugene considered thoughtfully.
This was, of course, impossible. Erasing the entirety of the Samar Rainforest would mean wiping away the World Tree in which Sienna was sealed and the entire elven territory as well.
They needed to kill Raizakia, then save Sienna. In order to accomplish both these tasks, they had no choice but to first open the dimensional doorway hidden deep within the Rainforest.
‘If only something like this wasn’t going on, it wouldn’t be that difficult to infiltrate the Rainforest,’ Eugene thought with a frown as he scanned the outside of the bar.
There had been a huge change in the atmosphere of the trade city since the last time they had come here. Eugene was very familiar with atmospheres like that. He couldn’t help but get used to them after spending so long in them.
The trade city was either embroiled in a war or preparing for one. The goods being traded were mostly war materials such as weapons, and tourists were rare. You could also see a few merchants of death and other hyenas who had been drawn to the scent of war. Even the natives could often be seen hiring mercenaries.
‘But I’ve heard that the Fury Independence Army has withdrawn,’ Eugene recalled. ‘It seems that Iris doesn’t want to get involved in this war.’
The Fury Independence Army was a group of dark elves led by Iris. The last time Eugene had passed through, those knife-ears were in the middle of setting down roots within this trade city.
But now their leader, Iris, had been defeated in a territorial war against Noir Giabella and had fallen into the role of playing pirate. That said, this didn’t mean that their ultimate goal had changed. Iris still hoped to raise her own races and eventually achieve the recognition of being crowned as the next Demon King.
It seemed that rather than looking for some fun in this war, Iris had decided to retreat her forces early in order to avoid any losses to her already-paltry numbers and focus on plundering the seas.
“He’s here,” Melkith said with a smile.
She had spotted a man dressed in dark-red robes, with his blonde hair tied back, coming this way.
This was the Red Tower Master, Lovellian Sophis. As he had immediately departed from Aroth when he got their message, they had been waiting to meet him here today.
“It’s been a long time,” the approaching Lovellian said with a faint smile.
Ivatar had decided to stay outside the city gates, so now that Lovellian, the last person they had been waiting for, had arrived, they did not need to keep sitting here any longer.
After exchanging some casual greetings, Eugene and the others began walking down the street.
Eugene cautioned Lovellian, “This is all a secret from the Patriarch.”
“Yes, I know,” Lovellian responded with a slight nod before glancing toward Cyan.
Seeing them together like this, the contrast between the siblings was clear. Both at twenty-one years old, they might be the same age, but Eugene had enough composure that he could afford to appear calm. However, Cyan had had to calm his racing breaths several times since they had started walking.
‘...Though that’s the normal reaction to all this,’ Lovellian thought as, unbeknownst to himself, he smiled wryly.
He had watched over Cyan, Ciel, and Eugene since their childhood. The twins from the main family were extraordinary enough to be rightfully called geniuses, but they were still nothing compared to Eugene.
Wasn’t that the case even now? In the depths of the Rainforest, an unknown plot was being hatched. Countless natives were gathering to wage war. And finally… they were about to attempt the rescue of the Wise Sienna, who had disappeared for over two hundred years.
Even Lovellian, who had seen many years, couldn’t help but feel the pressure. It was understandable that Melkith, who had only accompanied them on a whim, could still appear calm. However, Lovellian couldn’t do the same.
They first had to deal with his hated black magic, and if that was all there was to deal with, then Lovellian would have been able to draw upon his bloodthirst to keep his cool; but whenever he thought about the Wise Sienna, whom he respected as his Grandmaster, Lovellian’s heart felt heavy and his mouth felt dry.
How could Cyan, a twenty-one-year-old young man, do any better? Moreover, there was also the fact that Cyan had come along due to his sense of duty as the Lionheart clan’s next Patriarch.
The only one who could be feeling an even greater burden than Cyan would be Eugene.
As the Hero who had been recognized by the Holy Sword and the Wise Sienna’s successor, Eugene was also the one who would be forced to fight Raizakia within the dimensional rift alone. Lovellian wouldn’t even be able to do anything to intervene in their fight.
Even with all that, Eugene’s face was still calm.
Although this sense of incongruity was a feeling that Lovellian had gotten many times up until now, the sensation this time was particularly intense.
Lovellian asked cautiously, “Are you alright, Sir Eugene?”
Eugene started, “Huh? Why are you asking me that?”
“It’s just that you don’t seem worried at all…,” Lovellian trailed off.
“It only looks like that. I’m actually extremely nervous,” Eugene confessed.
But it really didn’t look like he was.
Lovellian got a sudden suspicion, ‘...What if…?’
Although it was an absurd idea, Lovellian was a wizard. He believed that there wasn’t anything that was truly absurd in this world.
From the moment that Eugene created his Signature, he had become Lovellian’s equal as a wizard.
It didn’t matter that they had differences in the types of magic they were and weren’t able to cast. In a magic battle, as long as they both used their Signatures, Lovellian would no longer be able to gain an advantage over Eugene. That alone was already impressive enough, but what if Eugene used everything in his power to fight? If so, Lovellian didn’t have the confidence to beat Eugene.
Yet this was still just a young twenty-one-year-old man that they were talking about.
…But what if he was…?
Lovellian considered his previous suspicion once more as he gazed at Eugene’s back. The back of the young man walking in front of him looked so reliable and experienced that it was hard to believe he was only twenty-one.
‘Perhaps Sir Eugene is—’
“Aaagh!”
Lovellian’s thoughts were suddenly cut off by Cyan’s shrill screech. Eugene had suddenly struck Cyan, who was walking right next to him, with a low kick.
Eugene lectured Cyan, “Relax that face of yours, you bastard. Then, while you loosen up that expression, stretch out your shoulders as well. Why are you acting so stiff when you’re the one who stubbornly insisted on following along?”
Cyan protested, “Why on earth would you hit me…?!”
“To get you to relax,” Eugene replied with a shrug.
…Perhaps he was just overthinking things? Lovellian had a puzzled expression on his face as he tried to overlap the suspicion that had risen in his head with Eugene’s current appearance.
Deep down, Lovellian suspected that Eugene Lionheart had to be the reincarnation of the Great Vermouth. Yet when he saw Eugene like this… he felt that that couldn’t be the case.
The Great Vermouth, whose tales had been passed down through legends, just didn’t seem to overlap with this image of Eugene Lionheart. Instead, his casual and smirking appearance more closely resembled that of Stupid Hamel.
‘But that would truly be impossible,’ Lovellian thought dismissively.
For the Great Vermouth to be reincarnated as a descendant of his own bloodline would be hard to believe, but it still seemed somewhat plausible.
However, how on earth could the Stupid Hamel have been reincarnated as a Lionheart, a family to whom he had no connection whatsoever? The souls of the deceased were supposed to flow into the afterlife according to the natural laws of the world.
‘Unless some lunatic were to go against the natural order of things and forcibly retrieve the soul of the Stupid Hamel…,’ Lovellian gave it some more thought, but it still seemed absolutely ridiculous.
Lovellian tried hard to ignore the eerie shivers running down his back.
Eugene turned and asked, “Has there been any further news regarding Balzac Ludbeth?”
Lovellina belatedly responded, “Ah… no, there hasn’t been any news. He simply followed procedure and submitted a leave of absence fifteen days ago before leaving the Black Tower of Magic.”
“And you don’t know where he went, right?” Eugene confirmed.
“We can be sure that he did leave Aroth. But honestly speaking, I don’t think it’s Balzac who devised this scheme. While I do agree with you that Balzac is a suspicious individual, if he were to come up with a scheme like this… he wouldn’t be acting so blatantly as he is,” Lovellian surmised.
“That does make sense. For some reason, I get the image of Balzac conducting human experimentation in his secret, undisclosed laboratory somewhere,” Melkith said with a chuckle.
[How frustrating. Kristina, go and give Hamel a pat on the butt,] Anise suddenly instructed.
Kristina gave a startled, ‘Huh?’
[When it was just the two of us traveling with Hamel, I was able to come out as I pleased, but since our party has grown, I’m no longer able to come out freely,] Anise explained.
‘Since when did you care about something like that?’ Kristina asked. ‘It’s alright for you to come out if you want to, Sister. As long as you’re careful to not call Sir Eugene, Hamel, that is.’
Anise refused, [No, I won’t come out. If there’s a situation where I have to step in, I’ll have no choice but to come out… yet if at all possible, I plan to leave it up to you this time.]
Anise’s words were sincere. Just like how Eugene had caught the scent of war, Anise had also detected the smell of the battlefield. Anise was familiar with war. However, Kristina was still a stranger to war.
[...You’ll have to see a lot of corpses in this forest. You’ll be learning how brutal war is, what you, as a single cleric, can do on the battlefield, and how small of an existence you really are when facing the ruthlessness of war,] Anise warned.
Kristina remained silent.
[I hope you won’t get broken by the first war you see. Instead, I hope it will become an experience that will help you grow. Kristina, my immediate advice for you is… get rid of your arrogant desire to save everyone.]
‘Yes, Sister,’ Kristina responded inside her head as she kept staring at Eugene’s back.
Kristina had vowed that she would follow him. She had decided that she would always see the same things that Eugene saw. It wasn’t the same as a Saint’s duty to follow the Hero. It was Kristina Rogeris who had decided to follow Eugene Lionheart.
When she recalled these memories, Kristina’s face seemed to heat up a little. While fanning her hands to cool down her flushed face, Kristina hastened her steps.
* * *
“If at all possible, I wish I could look a little more human,” Hector muttered with a twisted expression.
It was a valid complaint. Even in the most polite terms, Hector’s current appearance couldn’t be described as anything close to human.
The number of Hector’s arms that should have stopped at two had been increased to six, and of those added arms, two seemed to have once belonged to some kind of vicious monster. The lower half of his body also had monster legs instead of human legs. In order to balance his increased number of arms, Hector’s torso had to become larger and thicker, and on top of all that, the face was also ugly.
A voice asked, “Does your body not feel right?”
“I’ve gotten somewhat used to it. I just don’t like the way it looks,” Hector complained.
“Don’t be too dissatisfied. After all, I created it to fit the shape of your soul, so it is the ideal body for you,” the voice revealed.
Hector Lionheart’s body had died and disintegrated.
Right at that moment, Hector’s soul had been summoned by the black wizard he was contracted to, Edmond Codreth.
It had already been a year since that had happened.
The shape of his soul, huh? Hector clicked his tongue in disappointment as he glared down at his body. He had only recently obtained this body after being forced to exist solely as a soul.
This hideous body may have given up all resemblance to humanity, but it was all the stronger for it, and he could also move easily in it. At first, it had been awkward and strange to learn how to handle having six arms, but now he had gotten completely used to it. Hector lightly shook his six arms around as he turned to look at their surroundings.
He was currently within a spacious arena, but there were no opponents to be seen. Edmond was the only one sitting in the spectator stands. Usually, this was where the Kochilla Tribe’s slaves were forced to kill each other in order to survive. Perhaps because this was a tribe whose culture was based on a hierarchy of cruelty, there were traces of that cruelty everywhere.
Each grain of soil gave off the smell of blood. A fence made up of human bones had been erected in front of the walls of the arena. The bodies of those who had died here yesterday were hanging from the ends of long skewers that had been erected like decorations.
Hector didn’t really feel any revulsion to this. His calm reaction to everything actually surprised even himself.
“Ugh,” a raspy voice suddenly broke the silence. A man who had just entered the spectator stands scowled down at Hector and said, “You really do look awful. It makes me want to kill you.”
Edmond interjected, “I thought I told you the time beforehand, so just where did you go?”
“Out for a walk,” the man said curtly.
Though his hands may have been wiped clean, there was a strong scent of blood wafting from the man.
Edmond gave a wry smile and shrugged his shoulders. “If you wanted to take a walk, it can’t be helped. Thank you for coming regardless.”
“So what now? Is it okay if I kill that thing?” the man asked, raising one finger and pointing at Hector.
“No, you can’t kill him,” Edmond denied. “I will still need to test the performance and stress limits of that body afterward.”
“But you wouldn’t go so far as to call me for something like this, right? Don’t make such an obvious excuse. You just want to take a look at my skills,” the man said with a sneer.
“Of course, that is one of my reasons for calling you here,” Edmond readily admitted.
“I don’t really want to play along. If it wasn’t for my Master’s request, I would kill you too,” the man spat out, his lips twisting into a scowl, but Edmond just grinned in response.
“Please understand my feelings,” Edmond politely requested. “Isn’t it only natural that I would want to see the famed skills of the Stupid Ham—”
Before Edmond had even finished speaking, the man — no, Hamel had closed the distance in an instant and thrust his sword toward Edmond’s throat.
“Don’t call me that,” the man hissed, his eyes glinting dully.
The blade was touching his Adam’s apple, but Edmond’s complexion was still as calm as ever.
“I know you’ve provided a lot of help in my creation. However, that doesn’t mean you’re my master. Do you get what I’m saying? If not, let me spell it out for you. Watch your mouth,” the man growled.
Edmond shrugged his shoulders slightly and nodded, “Understood, I’ll be more careful.”
The man snorted and lowered his sword. He then jumped down in front of Hector, who was still standing in the arena and threw the sword he was holding behind him.
“Your sword?” Hector said questioningly.
“Do you think I’ll need to use a sword to deal with a bastard like you?” the man sneered.
Without making any further response, Hector took up a stance.
The man chuckled as he scanned Hector, who was now holding a sword in each of his six hands, from head to toe, and said, “This reminds me of the old days.”