By Zephyria Hugh Benson enrolled in Shierun Academy that very day.
Academy life was incredibly luxurious.
Lavish meals at every turn, high-quality clothing, excellent professors, and systematic, safe training.
It wasn’t just nobles. Even commoners, the academy students were individuals with special talents. They had never eaten sewer rats, never slept outdoors without blankets, never run for their lives from monster attacks.
Hugh was filled with malice. He felt wronged. He felt miserable. Yet, he wasn’t foolish enough to throw away the opportunity he had barely obtained. All he could do was study and train. He worked hard and achieved decent results.
But there was always a wall he couldn’t overcome by his side. The feeling that they were different from him at the root, that he was an outsider. Walls like the rough accent predominantly used by the lower class in Owen, a mindset he thought was ordinary but was terribly cruel, and his body where veins would swell black when his aura was pushed to its limit.
Whenever he felt unbearably lonely, Hugh Benson would write letters to Owen.
The letters, written with a fine pen on clean paper, were honestly close to self-satisfaction. Like Hugh before entering the academy, Dan couldn’t read. So, Hugh sent his letters to the mercenary management office of Owen Bardiol. He figured someone would be able to read it, and then they would pass the message to Dan.
There was no reply.
Before one semester passed, I had enrolled, and Hugh thought he had met someone of his own kind.
“⋯It’s similar. I ate rats too.”
“Exactly. I could tell right away. I thought, ‘This bastard is worse than me,’ and I poked at him a bit⋯. When I saw that he just took it all in stride no matter what I did, I finally felt at ease. I was like a fish that couldn’t survive in water that was too clear.”
“Is that so.”
“Yeah. Well⋯. That’s how it was. What a flawed bastard.”
When he said that, I laughed, and Hugh laughed too. Then he continued.
“When we graduated and came to Withrow, the butler at the Duke of Withrow’s mansion told me that all the letters I had sent had been returned. There was no mercenary named Dan in Bardiol.”
“⋯.”
“If they had just held on for three more years, I could have hunted monsters, and he could have dealt with the byproducts, and we could have traveled together like that. But if he was too proud to like it⋯. If I had earned like a dog, I could have opened a shop for him and forgotten about it. Now, I can.”
“⋯.”
“So, I had thought he was dead before. That Raul bastard is a bad person from the start. He’s the type who would say nonsense even if he knew everything. If my letters reached the mercenary management office and were returned, he would have known I was looking for Dan.”
“⋯.”
“That’s why I didn’t even look towards Owen. Because I didn’t want to confirm that he was dead. If he was alive and still hadn’t found me, then there was no need to look further. I just thought he was living well somewhere⋯.”
“⋯.”
“Then, when the opportunity arose, my eyes went wild, and I thought maybe⋯. But it wasn’t. It wasn’t.”
“Let’s go to Owen.”
“Did you just hear me with your ass?”
“Let’s go.”
Hugh Benson pushed my forearm with annoyance. Seeing his deeply furrowed brow, I said resolutely,
“To rip that bastard Raul’s mouth open.”
“⋯What, ⋯No, fuck. I can’t even drink cold water in front of a kid⋯.”
But Hugh couldn’t stand up right away. He sat there for a long time, rubbing his face with both hands, then raking his long bangs as if to tear them, then letting out a short sigh, “Ah,” and slapping his own cheeks. I watched his fussing from right beside him, remaining quiet.
After a long period of deliberation, Hugh declared,
“First, I’ll report in. If I get permission to go, I’ll go. Just rip that bastard’s mouth open and come right back⋯. So, fuck, if you act like a black magician over something trivial, you’ll die, really.”
“Yeah.”
“⋯You know I don’t really mean ‘rip it open,’ right?”
“Yeah.”
“I really⋯. I’m alive because of you.”
“Not that you’re unable to live?”
“Yeah. It’s funny, so life feels worth living.”
Maybe it’s because he reads a lot. Hugh has a great imagination.
Will I become a black magician? No way. Still, I nodded first.
The Emperor granted us permission for our unofficial trip.
Whether it was our threat that we wanted to go on a trip just once while His Majesty and his consort were on their honeymoon, or our plea that we needed a break because Michael’s restless dreams were causing trouble, we couldn’t tell. The voice transmitted from the Ranunculus he sent had a very displeased tone, but permission was permission nonetheless.
Upon hearing the news, Samantha Andrei once again spewed fire from her mouth, claiming Hugh Benson was neglecting his responsibilities and acting recklessly.
Even after the Emperor’s permission was granted, Hugh, who had been sighing heavily about not wanting to go to Owen, seemed to enjoy this attitude. His face, sticking out his tongue with a smirk, saying he’d have fun and that I should diligently protect Duke Ernhardt’s Territory, was quite cute.
With just a sword and Hugh Benson, I felt fearless anywhere on this continent.
The wind in Owen carried sand. I hoped we would just go that far and return.
Currently, Owen was in the worst situation among the five kingdoms.
The royal families of Biban and Yulan actively interacted with the Second Prince, the current Emperor of Shierun, to solidify their positions. Felix’s country was already on the verge of collapse, so it was no different before or after the Blue Star disappearance incident. Floyd, upon the death of the two Demonic Cult members, had secretly entered Floyd and issued a statement declaring they had no relation to them.
However, Owen was the stronghold of Soho Cheon-nyeo. If she couldn’t return to her original world, she harbored ambitions of bringing a Heavenly Demon to this land and making him the king of a country, while she took the seat beside him. Therefore, she actively tempted and brainwashed Owen’s nobles, increasing the number of her disciples.
Even after Soho Cheon-nyeo was already dead, the power struggles among those who remained did not end. Consequently, they corrupted monsters in Soho Cheon-nyeo’s way, murdered many people, and cursed them, threatening Owen’s royal authority. Dozens of nobles who wished to become king themselves killed each other. Endless chaos continued to shake Owen.
Still unable to escape the aftermath of the Divine Revelation left by the Ninth God, Owen had prohibited free entry for Shierun people until now. However, due to the unstable security, one could easily cross the border for a few coins.
The first place we visited was the mercenary management office. There, Hugh described the appearance of the mercenary we had apprehended. A woman with reddish-brown hair, deep purple eyes, a narrow jaw, and a wide mouth.
The mouth of the introducer, which had remained closed in the fairy tale, opened easily for silver. The place identified as her current residence was familiar to us.
It was Lady Diamang’s mansion.
When we had visited last time, the high walls were adorned with dozens of magic spells, shimmering dazzlingly. Now, not only were the defensive spells gone, but even the walls themselves had crumbled, overgrown with ivy.
Hugh, after carefully surveying the surroundings, headed straight for the main building. Most of the other structures were destroyed, making them unsuitable for hiding.
Because we didn’t deliberately hide our presence, the female mercenary who suddenly appeared froze the moment she saw us.
Her face looked more relaxed than the last time we saw her. Her clean face shone with a pale glow, and her lustrous hair seemed well-groomed. She wore light armor made of red troll hide, cinched so tightly at the waist that the leather seemed to cling to her body.
She held a blanket in her left hand and a basket containing food in her right. This was not attire for traversing such ruins, nor were these items to be carried around. The moment suspicion turned into certainty, Hugh spat out mockingly,
“Why aren’t you running?”
“⋯.”
“He’s here, isn’t he?”
“Um, well. I thought you wouldn’t be coming anymore.”
“Because I still have things to say, and things to hear.”
Within a radius of at least 150 meters, there were no Igshars other than her. The mercenary hesitated for a moment, then let out a faint sigh and offered the blanket she was holding. I accepted it absentmindedly. The blanket carried a fragrant scent, unbefitting of this severely ruined building.
“Then⋯. You might hurt your eyes when you talk, so cover them.”
“What?”
“As for cutting anything off, I can’t say anything⋯. But I would be grateful if you spared him.”
“⋯.”
“If you have any grudges, it would be better to keep him alive. I swear.”
This was the first time I had seen Hugh look so dumbfounded. Hugh looked at her face once, then at the blanket in my hand, then back at her face once more. Then, as if he realized something, his expression crumpled, and he snatched the blanket from my hand.
Why?
As I hurried to catch up with Hugh, who was striding ahead, I glanced back. The mercenary rubbed her cheek with an embarrassed expression and then darted away somewhere.
The deeper we went into the building, the more a fishy smell permeated the air. Blood, clearly squeezed from multiple bodies, had solidified in several buckets. The marks where bodies had been placed were visible, but the corpses themselves were gone, suggesting the mercenary or someone else had removed them.
Stepping on carpets stained with dried blood, we descended three floors, and a coughing sound was heard.
Raul was locked inside an iron cage. Naked, with shackles on his ankles.
Even Hugh couldn’t completely hide his dumbfounded expression.
Now I understood why she had given us the blanket. Unlike the mercenary’s neat appearance, Raul was filthy. His hair, which seemed to have been soaked and dried multiple times, was matted, his eyes were bloodshot, and his lower abdomen and groin were messily wet.
He, who had been lying sprawled out, immediately pulled his knees together to cover himself upon seeing us.
Hugh Benson quietly pushed the blanket into the cage. Raul then took the blanket and chuckled.
“Oh my, why did I come all this way to be laughed at? How embarrassing.”
“⋯Before.”
While Hugh, his voice hoarse, cleared his throat, Raul wrapped the blanket around himself. Covering his entire body from head to toe, only his eyes, nose, and mouth were vaguely visible in a round shape. Only then did Hugh regain his voice.
“You said before that Kudrang Dan was also captured by Diamang. Is that true?”
“Of course. Why would I lie to my brother?”
It was a lie. I gripped one of the iron bars. Seeing the bar bend with a creak in my grip, he flinched back and quickly changed his words.
“No, no! It was a lie. You know that, brother.”
“Know what?”
“What Lady Diamang intended to do.”
“Spit it out.”
Lady Diamang wanted to overthrow the nation. And Raul wanted to overthrow the nation.
Raul, born the son of a mercenary like Hugh and Dan, was kicked out of the orphanage at the age of eleven. He was unlucky, not smart, and lacked any exceptional skills. He joined a pickpocket gang, got caught by mercenaries and beaten severely, tried to be a pimp in a brothel and was beaten severely again, sold his own body a few times, and lived day by day, barely clinging to life.
That life was so fucking awful.
Upon learning of Lady Diamang’s existence, he immediately prostrated himself to become her subordinate and begged. He wished for this world to be destroyed. If possible, he wished for it to be utterly ruined. He thought he could live a better life if he were reborn. He decided to just throw away this life.
While diligently coaxing mercenaries and recruiting Sword Masters, he saw Hugh in Owen.
Hugh Benson, who had become a true knight, escorting a rather magnificent carriage.
“He disappeared without a word and is living well on his own, and he’s even become a knight? How could I watch that with my own eyes.”
“⋯Did you know when you did it?”
“That the cross-dressing man was the Second Prince? Of course, I knew. How could I not?”