The desolate forest was submerged in silence. Only the sound of various creatures moving around could be heard, and the serene flood spread calm energy around its surroundings as if it was being considerate of the forest’s silence. However, the silence that seemed like it would last a thousand years was mercilessly broken by a few uninvited guests.
Crash!
The air vibrated and the ground shook. Mysterious birds resting on the trees bolted away in surprise.
Crash!
With another explosion, several trees fell. In the middle of the flood, a large hole appeared. Under the blue sky, the ground underneath the flood appeared in clear view.
A battle was in full swing. Hans and Snoc paired up to attack Zich together. Hans swung his sword sharply, and Snoc made a towering pile of earth to strike Zich. However, Zich evaded and destroyed all of their attacks.
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”
Hans flew off after being hit on the cheek with a scabbard, and Snoc fell down after receiving a kick to the stomach.
“You bastards! Why aren’t you attacking me properly! Did you forget everything I’ve taught you!”
Snoc and Hans hurriedly got up from Zich’s shout, but they immediately grew pale as a blue sword flew towards them. Hans raised his sword to protect himself and Snoc raised another earth barrier.
Crash! Crash!
Zich’s sword landed on Hans’ sword and Snoc’s barrier; they both let out a scream.
“First, you!” In an instant, Zich stood in front of Hans and kicked him. “I told you to distribute your strength! Is there nothing going inside your mind when you stand still while blocking my sword! Are you that type of person? Thoughtless punks who only live in the moment and don’t think at all about the future? Even those bastards think for at least one second, you stupid fuck!”
Hans rolled on the ground.
“And you!”
It was now Snoc’s turn to be scolded. He had been coughing while protecting himself with a dirt covering.
“In a fight, you have to always keep track of your opponent. Are you so stupid to block your path of sight with a dirt wall? How are you going to track your opponent without your eyes!”
Crash!
Snoc also got kicked and rolled on the ground.
“And you!” Before Snoc fell down, Zich caught Nowem and growled at him. “You fucking mole! Are you just a tool that gives this idiot some power? I told you to take advantage of your magical beast properties! Whether you collaborate with him or create a diversion, participate in the battle too, you bastard! What’s the use of making a contract!”
And Zich also threw Nowem with great force.
Koooooo!
“Ah! Nowem!”
Nowem’s screams sounded sad as he flew across the air. Snoc scurried to where Nowem was.
“You useless bastards! Come at me again! I’m going to fix all of your idiotic behaviors today!”
Zich began to wield his sword again. Even though Zich was controlling his strength, he showed no mercy. Hans, Snoc, and even Nowem screamed out loud and frantically tried to survive. Once again, the sounds of their battle echoed across the forest.
* * *
Crack! Crack!
The fire crackled in the light and spread warmth to everyone like a kind mother embracing her children. But the surrounding humans had no leisure to feel grateful for its warmth.
“Ughhhh!”
Lying on top of a pile of leaves, Snoc let out a cry of pain. His whole body ached.
Koo… Koo…
Nowem, who was behind Snoc, also lay down in the same position as Snoc and let out a cry of pain.
“Are you okay?”
“Ah, I feel as if I’m barely clinging onto life.”
Snoc barely managed to lift his head and stared up at Hans. Nowem also looked up at Hans.
“But senior, what about you? Are you okay?”
Snoc called Hans his ‘senior’ because Hans had been with Zich earlier than him. Whenever Snoc called him senior, Hans felt embarrassed and ticklish, but it was not a bad feeling to be called senior so he didn’t stop Snoc.
“Of course not. How can I be okay?”
Hans made the fire bigger and twisted his body in an exaggerated manner. Just moving his body was painful, and Hans frowned from the pain.
“I just got used to it. Sir Zich doesn’t go easy at all even during training.”
“Even if I get used to it, I don’t think I can keep going.”
“You don’t think you can do it?” Hans laughed. The light from the fire and the surrounding darkness made Hans’ smile look dark and twisted. “I also thought that too. But Sir Zich made it possible for me to keep going.”
“That doesn’t sound too comforting…”
“It’s not to console you. I’m just teaching you about the reality of your future.”
“…”
Snoc slammed his face into his blanket. Likewise, Nowem slammed his face into the edge of Snoc’s clothes.
“I didn’t know it would be this hard. When he trained us in Suol, he wasn’t this tough.”
“Of course not.”
It was not Hans who replied. Snoc immediately lifted his head.
Thud!
Something fell next to the bonfire—it was a huge deer. Snoc stared at the deer for a bit and then quickly got up.
“S-sir, h-have you come back?!”
Snoc acted like an underling of a mob boss. At Snoc’s sudden movement, Nowem fell on the ground with a hard thud and screamed, “Koo!”
As Zich sat next to the bonfire, he said, “You don’t have to pay attention to me. Do whatever you want during your break.”
Snoc looked sideways at Hans. Were these words trustworthy?
Hans nodded in reply; Zich really didn’t care what they did during their breaks. Even if they snored loudly, Zich didn’t get annoyed at all. With Hans’ nod, Snoc let his body relax, but he couldn’t let himself completely lie down in front of Zich. At the same time, Nowem tried hard to get back on top of Snoc’s clothes again.
“Let’s skin it.”
Hans took out his dagger and called out to Snoc. It was one of Hans and Snoc’s duties to skin the animals for cooking. Snoc struggled to move from the pain but managed to awkwardly help Hans skin the deer. Zich, who had been lying down and watching them work, said, “Are you complaining because the training got tougher than when you were at Suol?”
“No! Of course not!”
While taking out the organs of the deer and scowling, Snoc hurriedly denied Zich’s words.
But Zich continued, “It was because of Sam. Even I would even feel guilty if I trained you like crazy in front of your family.”
Guilt—a word that was far from Zich’s personality came out of his mouth. But Hans focused on quietly cutting up the deer; he had the exemplary attitude of a trained lackey.
“You don’t know how frustrated I was that I could only train you lightly at that time…”
‘That was lightly training me?!’
Snoc was shocked, because the training at Suol was enough for him to cough out blood. On the other hand, compared to the training today, the training at Suol really was light.
At Zich’s words, Hans also thought, ‘No wonder his training seemed different.’
No matter how he looked at it, Snoc’s training at Suol seemed so much easier than his usual training.
‘I thought it was because of Snoc’s special circumstances as a magical beast contractor, but I guess that was not it.’
Hans sent a sympathetic look towards Snoc. The skewered meat pieces on top of the fire began to expand. Snoc’s mouth salivated as he watched the oil from the meat drop one by one. He wiped the saliva that was about to spill out of his mouth. Hans expertly turned around the skewered meat to not burn it and then asked, “Sir, may I ask where our next destination is?”
Even though it seemed like they were going to stay in the mountains due to Snoc’s training, they were slowly moving forward. Hans predicted that they would just bulldoze through the forest without using previous trails or paths like usual.
‘Thankfully, we do have a destination.’
Hans hoped that they would quickly reach their destination. When Hans asked where they were going, he was secretly hoping for this.
“We are going to Ospurin.”
‘Where is that?’
Since Hans had never heard of Ospurin, he thought it must be far from Steelwall. Thinking of this, Hans suddenly felt sad about his situation and let out a sigh. Even though he was somewhat used to this life right now, he couldn’t completely shake off the feeling of missing his peaceful life in the past.
“Is it in our country?”
“No, it’s in a neighboring country, in Busutaku.”
Hans tried searching for it on the map and then gave up.
‘There’s no point in knowing where it is.’
There was nothing he could do. Hans just gave up thinking about his future and felt relieved. Snoc was only familiar with Suol’s geography, so he did not even bother to ask questions; but he felt a bit excited that they were going to a foreign country. Hans noticed Snoc’s excitement and shook his head.
‘Yep. Be happy while you can.’
After that, Hans and Snoc focused on cooking their meat. Zich stared at the burning bonfire. The red light stimulated Zich’s mind.
‘I wonder how he’s doing?’
Zich recalled memories from his past life. There was only one reason why he wanted to go to Ospurin. After searching through his memories, Zich remembered that no other Demon Person showed up in this country for a while—of course, there was a possibility that there was a Demon Person Zich was not aware of.
But as a result, Zich decided to go back to the plan he made at the beginning of the journey: to find the four Demon People who had served under him as ‘Demon Lord of Strength.’ One of them was from Ospurin.
‘I wonder what he’s like right now?’
Zich wondered how different and similar he would be at this time. Zich made a slight smile; he was happy that he could soon satiate his curiosity.
But contrary to Zich’s mood, Hans and Snoc shivered at Zich’s smile, fearful of what Zich had planned for them. They tried with all of their might to not make eye contact with him.
* * *
While training Hans and Snoc to their limits, Zich made great progress across the forest. They sometimes stopped in nearby villages, but they always slept on hard, cold ground, rather than in the comforts of an inn or a house. Snoc had been clumsy in preparing camps, but now he was able to make a fire and a campsite with relative ease.
After moving on like this for several days, Zich finally said, “A village is going to appear soon.”
Hans and Snoc were delighted to hear this, and their faces brightened up. From what they knew, the next village was on the same estate as Osuprin—that was how close they were to their destination. Snoc felt energized, thinking that his life of living like a wild beast would finally be over.
“Senior, do you think we will be able to stay in Osuprin for a while?”
“I think so. At least, I don’t think we would stay for only a day like the villages we passed by while coming here.”
Contrary to Snoc’s expectations, there was a hint of pessimism in Hans’ voice. Snoc thought Hans would be jumping in glee, but there was negativity in his tone. Snoc thought it was strange that Hans wasn’t happy like him that they would soon reach the end of their dreadful life in the mountains.
“Is there something you are concerned about?”
“Ever since I started traveling with Sir Zich, a huge event would blow up every time we reached our destination.”
This was the case for Suol and Portia. And thinking back on it, Zich had also stirred up a huge commotion at Steelwall. Knowing a little of what happened in the past from Hans’ narrative, Snoc made an awkward smile.
“It must be a coincidence.”
“I also think so.”
But why did he feel so unsure? Hans got the ominous feeling that he wouldn’t be able to peacefully rest at this destination either.
Zich walked forward without caring about their conversation, but then he looked up and stared at the cliff that appeared in front of them. After hearing from a nearby village the approximate distance and direction to the next village, they immediately went back to the mountains without a moment of hesitation. There was no way they were going to walk through a comfortable path.
However, Zich was not stupid. They climbed towards the highest peak. It was so high up that they could almost see all their surroundings.
‘The amount of strength I need is…’
Zich put his fingers into the cliff.
Crush!
He filled up his fingers with mana and pierced into the cliff as if it was mud.
‘This amount of strength is good enough.’
Zich forced his fingers into the cliff and began climbing. Hans and Snoc, who had been staring at Zich, looked at each other.
‘Do we have to follow him?’
‘Of course.’
They were able to communicate with just a few glances; after letting out a sigh, they began climbing behind Zich. Snoc used his powers to create big holes in the cliff, and he put his hands and feet inside these holes to climb the cliff. Likewise, Hans also used the holes Snoc made. The cliff was about twenty meters high, and Zich climbed up the cliff extremely fast as if he was just walking on land.
When he reached the top, Zich brushed off the dirt in his hands. From there, he could see what he expected to see: the blue sky, the white clouds, the bluish waters, and the reddish-black earth. However, Zich did not expect to see a cloud of black smoke rising from a distance.
“…Wait, isn’t that the village we are heading towards?”
“Yeah, I think so? But why is there so much smoke coming out…”
Hans and Snoc arrived later than Zich, and they were startled by the sight in front of them. No matter how one looked at it, there was something extremely serious going on in the village.