HRB 66

That day, Ketron meditated.

In fact, once you reached Ketron’s level, physical training didn’t mean much.

It was more important to contemplate the inner self or purify the body with Mana.

But Ketron continued to train his body.

Of course, he sometimes had thoughts like this.

Is there any point in training more? The Demon King doesn’t exist in the world anymore.

He’s not the Hero anymore.

There might be remnants of the Demon race left, but that was no longer Ketron’s responsibility.

Even if he didn’t do it for a reward, he saved everyone and was forgotten, so there was no need to worry about the remnants.

Even so, Ketron couldn’t shake off the habit he’d had his whole life, and he stretched and trained every day without stopping.

“How long are you going to keep mindlessly working out?”

The Holy Sword, who had been watching him every day, clicked his tongue as if frustrated.

“Wouldn’t it be better to meditate?”

“…….”

Ketron didn’t say anything. Not because he thought the Holy Sword was picking a fight, but because he had nothing to say.

Ketron knew it too. This was really just a warm-up. No matter how much he trained, he couldn’t get any better from here.

But Ketron couldn’t help it. He sighed and replied.

“I can’t react if something happens while I’m meditating.”

The meditation he and the Holy Sword were talking about was the act of repeating countless training sessions in his head. The opponent was always stronger than him, even stronger, and every time he defeated an opponent, a new one appeared.

He hadn’t trained properly since the battle with the Demon King, but if he started meditating now, the Demon King would probably appear at the end.

But that wasn’t the important thing.

He couldn’t react to any external stimuli while meditating. It was unlikely to happen in this peaceful place, but if something happened to Eddie, Ketron wouldn’t be able to move quickly.

And for Ketron, whose priority was Eddie’s safety, that was a fatal fact.

“It’s because of Eddie, isn’t it?”

The Holy Sword, who knew everything about Ketron, easily figured out why Ketron was hesitating.

“I’ll keep watch, so you can meditate. Nothing will happen to Eddie.”

He could trust the Holy Sword to keep Eddie safe. It was morning, so there weren’t many customers.

Ketron hesitated for a moment, but eventually nodded.

“Okay.”

Since returning from Sandeln, Ketron had been meditating all the time instead of working out.

That day, when Ketron finished meditating, the surroundings were quiet as usual. There was a little noise coming from the first floor of the inn, but it wasn’t enough to be called a commotion.

Still, just in case, he asked habitually, as he had been doing for the past few days.

“Nothing happened, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

The Holy Sword’s voice was listless.

“Some guy was trying to get friendly with Eddie, but other than that, nothing happened.”

Ketron frowned at the subtle words.

Eddie basically had a smiling face, and thanks to his flamboyant appearance, he easily gained the favor of many people.

It was a good thing that Eddie was loved by many people. But Ketron was strangely dissatisfied with that. He didn’t know why himself.

It was then that Ketron heard that loud voice while he was lost in thought.

“I clearly saw it, but since when has groping and molesting someone without their permission been a misunderstanding?”

Ketron immediately knew who the voice belonged to. How could he not recognize the voice of someone he had adventured with for so long?

But why is Augustine here all of a sudden? No, more than that.

Molesting?

Groping someone without their permission?

……Who?

The Holy Sword said that someone was trying to get friendly with Eddie. Considering the Holy Sword’s inexperience with human emotions and relationships, even such molestation might seem like friendliness to the Holy Sword. Then the person who was molested was…….

As the slowly derived result concluded that ‘Eddie was being molested by someone,’ Ketron jumped up from his seat.

“Ketron?”

The Holy Sword called out to Ketron as if wondering what was going on, but Ketron didn’t have the mind to reply calmly.

Bang!

Ketron went straight into the inn. When he opened the door roughly, he saw Augustine, Eddie, and a man who looked like a Noble.

Augustine was hiding Eddie behind him and confronting the Noble man. Ketron immediately understood the situation.

“Molesting?”

Ketron muttered in a voice that sounded quite ominous even to himself and approached them.

He wasn’t thinking about what to do or what he was going to do.

He only saw Eddie.

And that Noble man who must have made Eddie feel uncomfortable.

Ketron approached the man with a stern face. He wasn’t approaching with the intention of doing anything in particular.

However, as a martial artist with a sharp sense of intimidation, who had obviously trained his body to the limit, approached, the man’s face turned white in an instant.

Ketron, who had been striding forward, stopped just before reaching the man’s nose.

“Hey, hey, don’t get excited.”

Augustine skillfully blocked Ketron.

“…….”

Ketron frowned. Not because he was upset, but because he felt a sense of déjà vu from the action.

“Don’t get excited, calm down.”

In the past, Augustine would step in to stop Ketron whenever he was about to cause trouble. Ketron would stop Augustine when he was about to cause trouble, so they had a mutually beneficial relationship in that regard.

Unlike Boram, who wasn’t interested in such things, or Arthur, who wasn’t capable of stopping Ketron, Augustine was capable enough to stop an excited Ketron.

The image of the past made one side of his chest feel cold, but that was all.

What was immediately important to Ketron wasn’t that, but Eddie, who was standing behind Augustine with a pale face.

“Get out of the way.”

Those words were quite dry and fierce for someone who was speaking to the person who had made him cry until recently.

“What if I don’t? What are you going to do?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“It’s a serious crime to harm a Noble.”

“Augustine.”

Augustine thought that the voice calling him, the nuance, was somehow very familiar.

“I told you to get out of the way.”

Augustine inwardly clicked his tongue at the cold voice that sounded like a final warning.

It was absurd that a young punk was calling him Augustine without any honorifics, but the biggest problem was this ferocious expression and momentum that made it clear that he would do something to Count Demays, regardless of his status, if he didn’t stop him.

As far as Augustine knew, guys with eyes like that had no mercy. This guy was at least not a fledgling who hesitated to draw blood.

Besides, he was a strongman that Augustine couldn’t guarantee victory against, as he had felt when they fought once before.

Why was a guy like that hiding in this inn without any great fame? And why was his bloodlust so strong? What kind of life had this young punk lived?

Augustine had seen countless young punks who relied on their mediocre strength and looked down on them, but at this level, it wouldn’t matter if the other party was the Hero’s companion.

Maybe it wouldn’t be offensive to not attach an honorific to his name if he was this kind of guy. Augustine unconsciously agreed.

But strangely, it felt natural to be called by his first name with this guy.

He tilted his head for a moment, but Augustine didn’t forget his duty.

Augustine changed his approach, as it seemed that Ketron wouldn’t easily back down just by blocking him. He slyly lowered his head and whispered in Ketron’s ear.

“If you do what you want, you might feel better, but it seems like the Owner will be in trouble… don’t you think?”

“…….”

Ketron narrowed his eyes. Even this felt like déjà vu, as it was the way Augustine used to calm him down when he was trying to appease Ketron.

He had lost his memories, but why were these parts the same as in the past?

Ketron closed and opened his eyes tightly, feeling like his heart was getting complicated.

But thanks to that, his mind, which had been completely clouded, seemed to clear up a bit, and Ketron took a step back and sighed deeply.

Augustine had cleverly used Eddie as a weapon. He had seen that Ketron couldn’t do anything about it.

Augustine smiled brightly as Ketron showed signs of backing down.

“I’ll take care of it.”

Augustine said that and patted Ketron’s shoulder. Unfortunately, that touch was also familiar to Ketron.

But he wasn’t as sad and painful as when he first realized that Augustine had forgotten him. Not because he had become numb, but because he wanted to check on Eddie’s condition right now.

Augustine seemed to notice Ketron’s condition and clicked his tongue.

“I had something to say to you… but it doesn’t seem like a good time right now.”

He muttered with a sigh as he wrapped up the situation.

“Count, let’s have the rest of the conversation separately. There’s no point in you being here, is there?”

As Augustine calmly said the words to wrap up the situation, the man, who had been frozen like ice and only rolling his eyes, not knowing how the situation was turning out due to Ketron’s fierce momentum, suddenly came to his senses and hurriedly replied.

“Ah, ahem. Y-yes, let’s do that.”

He was completely overwhelmed by Ketron’s momentum, but he cleared his throat and tried to maintain his dignity, whether it was his last bit of pride or something else.

But he couldn’t help it. The other party’s intimidation was too strong to say things like, “Do you know who I am!” or “How dare you!”

The saying that fists are closer than the law was true, but that man wasn’t even at that level. He felt a chilling sensation that his neck would be cut off if he showed his pride here.

Augustine, as if knowing his thoughts, chuckled and this time turned to Eddie and lamented.

“Haa, I came here because I was a little free.”

Eddie blinked. Ketron knew what that expression on Eddie’s face meant. It was a face that said, “Why are you telling me that?”

“It doesn’t seem like the right time now, so I’ll come next time. Please welcome me then.”

Augustine turned around, and the Noble man hurriedly followed him, as if afraid that Augustine would leave him behind.

Augustine turned around with a smiling face, but Ketron knew Augustine’s way of resolving things well.

That man had avoided Ketron, but he couldn’t avoid Augustine, so he would receive due compensation for what he had done in some way. It might even be harsher than Ketron’s way.

“Th-thank you.”

Eddie said to Augustine’s back as he walked away. Augustine lightly turned his head and winked before quickly disappearing.

Finally, the two of them left the inn, and the few customers who were there hurriedly finished their meals and left, fearing that they would be caught up in the conflict with the Noble, so Eddie and Ketron were left alone on the first floor.

Eddie seemed to feel embarrassed for some reason, and he didn’t look Ketron in the face, but only fiddled with his wrist.

“Haa.”

He even sighed out loud.

Earlier, as soon as he saw Ketron’s face, his face brightened as if he had found a lifeline.

Ketron quietly looked down at him and called out to Eddie in a low voice.

“Eddie.”

Eddie, who raised his head with a “Huh?” slowly blinked his eyes as if he had finally realized that Ketron’s expression was unusual.