Ppuuuuuu –

Fatalite's Wheel.

The sound of horns, heralding the start of the hunting competition, shook the North.

Emily and I.

And Bruns, as well as Emily's two servants.

The five of us headed to the White Forest.

The beginning was smooth.

We borrowed a sled to load food and camping gear, which was pulled together by Bruns and Emily's attendants.

I was on the sleigh.

"Master. It's too heavy…"

"It's for your training."

"Isn't it just because you don't want to walk?"

His eyes were full of doubt, but I shook my head.

"I'm just widening my senses and looking for the beasts' locations. Don't be so suspicious and just pull the sled."

"… Yeah."

There was still a lot of doubt in his shitty eyes, but Bruns couldn't say anything more. And I was, in point of fact, speaking the truth. Although, it was possible to find the signs even without sitting on the sled.

"Really?"

"Really."

It wasn't a lie.

My aura sense[1], which had sharpened under the influence of Six Peak Flowers Bloom in Late Season, easily found the presences of the demonic beasts.

And every time I found their locations, I directed the party to the opposite side.

"Really? But why aren't any of the beasts coming out?"

"They ran away."

The job Bernard asked me to do was to protect Emily, not to hunt the beasts.

Unlike the kid sitting in front of me, I had a subtly different purpose, and I had to carry out my duties in a way that didn't bother me.

‘In a few days, we'll find out what's going on.'

Right now, there was no need to spend our strength hunting for beasts.

So, what to do now?

One. Prepare for danger.

Two. Practice.

I sat on the sled and polished the bud of Six Peak Flowers Bloom in Late Season in my Elixir Field.

The first bud had been slowly approaching the state of perfection. The divine power imbued in the first peak and its purity grew day by day.

But now, both the size and purity had reached their limits.

The time had come. A new path had to be carved out to make a second peak (二峰).

Of course, it had to be made with a larger and more delicate bud than the first peak, and the amount of divine power and purity needed to double.

It took several years to achieve the first peak, but that didn't seem to be the case for the second.

It didn't seem like it would take long to achieve a second peak because of the momentum.

‘Is it still difficult to achieve in a short time?'

I'd already made one bud in my Elixir Field, but if I tried to make another next to it, it somehow scattered every time.

Felt like it could not coalesce properly after the power was gathered.

Strangely, the same process for the first peak didn't work for the second.

As if the first peak's very existence interferes with making another one.

‘Am I in too much of a hurry?'

That might be the reason.

My spirit quality is only at level 4.

This may simply not meet the quality required to achieve a second peak.

As I thought about it, my eyes naturally turned to the bracelet.

[Vivi’s Bracelet]

Grade – Epic.

It'd been a little over a month since I last loosened the bracelet, but that was about it.

Originally the stored power was more than this. However, as time passes, the divine power contained in the bracelet fluctuates wildly, increasing and decreasing in turn.

Because of the issue of purity.

Vivi's Bracelet circulates its collected spiritual energy by itself, and in the process, a lot of impure spiritual energy is expelled.

So, even after a lot of time has passed, the gathered divine power is only at this level, but the quality has improved instead.

‘If I take this off, I might be able to open a second peak.'

But that's just a guess.

It's a bit embarrassing to test.

Fatalite's Wheel.

I don't know what's going to happen this time.

And, of course, in addition to the bracelet, there's also the sacred stone. Whenever I have some spare time, I take out the sacred stone and feel the Saint's divine power imbued within, so if I just give it a little time, I should be able to make some progress in the Six Peak Flowers technique.

[Fatalite's Wheel]

‘Fatalite.'

Referring to, an inescapable inevitability decreed by fate.

In the Northern White Forest, the word ‘fatality' is more appropriate than fate, or destiny.

In addition, there are a total of two tribes here for whom the word ‘fatality' is appropriate.

One is Jervain.

Another one is across the White Forest.

At the edge of the North…

"What's this, what's a halfwit who can't even use her spirit power doing here?"

"Right, right? Still, you do have a Knight with you. Who are you? Don't you know that the Knights following Emily will have to get out of sight when our father becomes the Lord?"

In front of us, not beasts, but a pair of pale gray-eyed twins were chattering.

"Rivan, Rinney."

Emily's eyes, who had been looking anxious about why she couldn't find the beasts, turned cold.

Rivan and Rinney.

They were fraternal twins with dark hair and gray eyes, similar faces but different sexes.

"These are the children of Callavan, who people think will be the next Patriarch."

"… Right."

One of Emily's attendants came up to me and whispered.

I'm not really curious, so why are you telling me?

Taking a peek, the servants' expressions weren't that good either.

Why?

"Haha! Rinney! Look at Emily's attendants. You don't have any tokens with you, so you haven't even managed to catch a single beast so far?"

"Is that true? Really, Emily? You haven't caught a single one in this White Forest teeming with beasts? Or maybe you didn't have time to catch one because you were busy running away?"

"Hahaha! Actually, it'd be strange if Emily the halfwit did catch one."

Those impolite kids just kept chattering.

"The twins Rivan and Rinney are feuding with Miss Emily."

Without me even asking, Emily's maid with brown hair whispered beside me.

Judging from the tone of voice and her facial expression, it seemed that the attendants didn't like them either.

Of course, I had nothing to do with it, so I just watched.

‘Orphin is there too.'

Orphin, one of the Knight-Captains, seemed to be escorting the twins.

She glanced at me and bowed slightly.

Last time you tried to kill me; did you change your mind a bit?

Or is this the bare minimum courtesy?

But this is still pretty good.

"Would you like to see the game we caught?"

Who spoke was that girl with the ponytail, Rinney von Jervain. Next to her was the naughty-looking boy, Rivan von Jervain.

They looked to be about fourteen years old.

"No, I don't need to."

"Because, you see? Don't you have to know what the beasts look like before you can catch them?"

Rinnie and Rivan took Emily's hands and showed her what she didn't want to see.

The proof of catching a beast is its nose and ears.

Or you can simply cut their head off, so Rivan and Rinney had cut the beast's head and put it on a dedicated cart.

"Voila! How is it! Isn't it great?"

"We had a hard time catching it, you know? It was so fast that I almost got eaten in one bite."

The head of the beast on the cart was quite huge.

It was a wolf beast with strong jawbones and sharp fangs, big enough to swallow Emily in one gulp.

"You'll never catch something like this, right? It'd be great if you don't pee your trousers because you'll freeze the moment you meet one, right, Rinney?"

"You're right. Even I froze for a moment and couldn't move. Emily, if it were you, you would have definitely peed."

Seeing Emily's rotten expression, the twins looked thrilled.

But Emily's reaction was no fun at all, so the twins' eyes soon turned to me.

"But who are you?"

"A wandering Knight?"

Rivan and Rinney asked, but I did not care to answer.

There were many reasons for not answering, but the reason that accounted for the largest percentage was because of annoyance.

Whatever the status of these little Jervain kids, whatever the circumstances, I basically didn't like little children.

Besides, these cheeky little noble types, especially.

‘Oikophobia? Hating my own kind?'

That might be it.

Ironically, the trait of a fool is to recognize others who are the same type of fool.

"Emily, your follower is so cocky? He doesn't even answer our questions!"

"That's right. How cheeky."

Perhaps the child's patience was not as long as I thought, because Rivan drew the sword from his waist first.

A longsword suitable for children.

‘Did you catch a beast with a sword like that?'

Without a drop of blood on your clothes?

The twins' faces contorted as I laughed out loud.

"Are you kidding me? Is that bastard laughing at my sword now?"

"My brother's honour has been tarnished. You're in big trouble now."

Even a child has honour now? What kind of honour do they have, exactly?

There was nothing for it but laughter.

"Come down from there. Are you looking down on us when you're a mere wandering Knight?"

"That's right. You came to the North to get a job? But you ended up escorting Emily. It's so stupid. There's no way you'll get any benefits escorting a child who has nothing… Are you stupid?"

Emily was quiet.

She was looking at Callius, just to see what he would do.

Bruns, who should have already stepped forward and made a loud ruckus by now, was also quiet.

Callius was hiding his identity and was in charge of the escort, so Bruns was forcefully putting up with his itchy mouth.

Reluctantly, Callius got off the cart and stood in front of Rivan.

"You cheeky bastard. You have to pay for the crime of ruining my honour!"

He was a pretty aggressive kid.

Perhaps it was his trust in Orphin and the Knights behind them that made him act so frivolous.

Besides, he must have been used to recklessly swinging his sword with his identity and Jervain's name behind his back.

Callius clicked his tongue, pulled something out of his pocket and held it out.

"A fork?"

It was his favourite fork.

"Fuck!"

"Hey! Are you insulting me?!"

Emily turned her head as if she couldn't contain a burst of laughter, and Rivan screamed in outrage, thinking he was being insulted.

"I don't have anything smaller."

"You dare to insult Jervain's Rivan, and you think you will survive?"

"Brother! Show us what you got! You have to win!"

"Okay. If you're mocking me with something like that, you should be prepared to lose an arm!"

Rivan's sword swung.

‘Hmm.'

He raised his physical ability with the divine power he had cherished since childhood, and maximized its efficiency with Jervain's divine power training method.

Thanks to that, Rivan's sword showed something different from the movements of a child.

A swordsman's poise, perhaps.

Strength. Speed. And the divine power, too, all were beyond that of a child.

The heavy sword[2] style unique to Jervain, nimble yet heavy.

While stepping lightly.

Rivan was wielding a sword that felt so heavy.

"That arm, I'll take it!"

Callius' arm.

There was only a fork in his hand.

Rivan had no doubt that his sword would cut off the man's arm.

The moment the sword came into contact with the fork –

Whiiiik! Gigiiik!

‘Uh?'

Chaeeng –!!

When he came to his senses, Rivan found himself lying down on the snow.

Startled, he jumped up.

Whiiiik – puk!

His broken sword flew through the air, crashing to the ground.

"What…."

The man stood still, holding that fork in front of him. Callius spoke, looking down at Rivan with a calm gaze.

"Yeah, you're still a kid."

Editor's Notes:

[1] 기감 (lit. energy sense) is being translated as aura sense.

[2] 중검 (lit. Heavy Sword) – in Korean martial arts, you see three types of sword arts; heavy sword, quick sword (쾌검), magic/phantom sword (환검). In chapter 16, Esther used one of the other styles, a quick sword. The same name for the third style is also used for the sword grade Vision Sword, so later chapters will be fun to edit (sic).