It was the second day of the hunt.
Gargith’s eyes opened as he woke up. Dew that had an ominous black color to it had been accumulating on the surface of his armor since dawn.
The color was from the poison mixed into it.
Gargith brushed off the dew with a calm expression. When there was only a little left on the tip of his finger, he brought it up to his nose and sniffed its scent. It was faint, but it smelled a bit like rotten eggs.
He showed no hesitation in then opening his mouth wide and sticking his finger in. A poison like this, even if he drank a solid pint, wouldn’t harm this well-built body of his.
“…However, as expected of a poison. My body really doesn’t feel happy swallowing it…,” Gargith muttered to himself.
His tongue, throat, and esophagus, everything that the poison had touched, felt sore. Although Gargith had never neglected training his body, he had never been able to train his internal muscles. If he really went looking for a method to do that, it wasn’t like he wouldn’t be able to find a few, but Gargith still hadn’t found the true secret to training his ‘insides’.
“It seems that there’s no need for me to wake you up.” Dezra spoke up from her seat perched high on a tree branch. “Nothing much happened. A demonic beast did approach us, but it wasn’t dangerous enough for me to wake you or for us to have to move.”
“Hm.” Gargith grunted in acknowledgment with a nod and then began doing squats on the spot.
Instead of asking his reason for such behavior, Dezra took out some jerky from a pocket and began chewing on it.
‘He was a strange guy when we were young, and he still is even now, but… even so, it seems that my luck is unbelievably good,’ Dezra thought cheerfully.
There were only nine of them who had ventured into this wide forest. Their paths into the forest had separated into such a tangled mess that it was unlikely for any of them to meet anyone else as long as they kept going forward.
And that was exactly why Dezra felt like her luck was so good.
Yesterday, when the sun had set and the forest had started to sink into darkness, she had met Gargith while she was contemplating on whether to continue moving until dawn or find a safe place to camp.
Just going from being on their own to being together with another had made a lot of things much easier. They could relieve their tiredness by taking turns to rest, and as the number of eyes and ears had grown, navigation had also become correspondingly easier.
‘Although our evaluation may be harsher than if we had struck out on our own,’ Dezra considered for a moment.
But she had already prepared herself for this. In the first place, Dezra didn’t think that she would be able to overtake their hunting score and defeat the monsters from the main family, or Hector for that matter. She just wanted to get a moderate score, enough to make the elders in the Black Lion Castle remember the name ‘Dezra Lionheart’.
‘And I also want to join the Black Lions…,’ Dezra admitted to herself.
She especially hoped to join the Third Division. As long as you were a woman born in the Lionheart clan — no, any female warrior with a passion for the martial arts, you wouldn’t be able to help but feel a sense of admiration for the Carmen Lionheart, also known as the Amazon of the Lionheart clan and the Iron-Blooded Black Lion.
Dezra signed. ‘But apparently Lady Carmen is away….’
Dezra had heard that Carmen had left on an escort mission for the main family. However, if Dezra was able to show some accomplishments in this forest, then she would very likely be allowed to join the Knights of the Black Lion.
“…Are you done?” Dezra asked Gargith.
“Just three more sets,” Gargith grunted.
“Isn’t that too much for having just woken up? You haven’t even eaten yet.”
“Replenishment comes after my training is over.”
Below her, Gargith was now performing squats with his greatsword held across his back.
“Want something to eat?” Dezra offered once Gargith was done.
Gargith turned her down, “No, this is enough.”
Taking out a large canteen, he filled a cup to the brim with what looked like a thick porridge made from some unknown ingredients. After expressing gratitude for his healthy body and performing prayers for his continued growth, Gargith drank the cupful of his family’s revolutionary muscle growth supplement in a single gulp. Vigor spread throughout his body as a feeling of fullness settled in his heavy stomach….
“Let’s go,” Gargith said with a refreshed expression as he wiped away the sweat from his forehead.
Although Dezra’s dream was to join the Knights of the Black Lion, Gargith had no such plans. If he were to become a member of the Knights of the Black Lion, this would inevitably create a rift between him and the family that he was born in.
The only exceptions to such an issue were the likes of the Council Head’s family or Genos’ family, where the entire family would join the Black Lions as part of a hereditary tradition.
Gargith respected his father and loved both his branch of the clan and the territory that they ruled. Rather than becoming a Black Lion and contributing to the Lionheart clan as a whole, he would prefer to inherit his father’s title and rule their own territory peacefully.
However, that didn’t mean he had no desire to prove his skills in this forest. Gargith wanted to see just how much this body of his, which he had trained every day until sweat poured down like rivers, would shine during this hunt.
‘It might look crude, but…,’ Dezra observed the movements of Gargith’s greatsword, which was about as big as her own body, ‘he isn’t just swinging it with all his strength. He’s actually pretty sophisticated.’
The trajectory of the blade was constantly being corrected so that it wouldn’t get caught in any of the surrounding trees. It was all thanks to his body, which Gargith had trained so barbarically, that he was able to swing and strike with such ease despite the sheer weight of the sword.
He wasn’t just relying on the greatsword alone either. He was striking with his feet, swinging his fists, and charging forward with his shoulder. Gargith’s huge bulk on its own was a weapon that he used to crush any demonic beast that came his way.
Meanwhile, Dezra kept to the rear. She had been in constant training with the spear starting from a young age and so was ready for anything.
Demonic beasts could pop out from anywhere. Some could emerge from shadows, others lurked in trees and rocks, and still others could even leap out of the ground.
Monsters that were able to manipulate their mana were rare. However, this wasn’t the case for demonic beasts. They could freely manipulate the demonic power that filled their bodies and unleash a power similar to magic or sword-force.
But they still weren’t a threat.
Or at least, that’s what Cyan thought. During the few months he had spent training in the Black Lion Castle, he had yet to fight a demonic beast. All of Cyan’s training had been in one-on-one spars with the Captains and other knights.
That was more than enough. Even if his opponents were humans instead of demonic beasts, the most important thing was that, in the end, it was all ‘combat’. The more familiar one’s body was with combat, the better they would do. The knowledge of how to move according to each situation would become ingrained into one’s body. As the experience piled up, even when they found themselves in a completely unfamiliar situation, they were able to avoid the worst courses of action.
After entering the forest, Cyan had never once been in what he would call a worst-case situation. He hadn’t even needed to use Gedon’s Shield. If the demonic beasts were only on this level, Cyan was confident that he would be able to easily break through this challenge with just his sword alone.
‘Hector has probably headed in deeper, right?’ Cyan speculated as he shook the blood off his sword. ‘That bastard Eugene is definitely deep into the forest.’
Cyan held similar intentions. He wanted to venture deep into the forest. He wanted to prove just how brave and exceptional the next Patriarch of the Lionheart truly was.
“…This is a surprise,” Cyan muttered as he hid a look of alarm. “No way… to think you two would already have gone in deeper than me.”
He had just come face to face with Gargith and Dezra. .𝒎
Cyan reluctantly thought to himself, ‘I know that they are among the most exceptionally skilled of the collateral branches, but….’
So what if that was the case! Cyan shook off the unnecessary slouch in his shoulders as he regained his confidence.
They just hadn’t been operating under the same conditions. No matter what one might say, Cyan was on his own, while the two of them had each other. Indeed, Cyan had continued moving while they had slept through the night, as he had needed to be wary of the demonic beasts that he could encounter in the dark, so it couldn’t be helped if Cyan’s movements had been slowed.
On the other hand, since there were two of them, they could keep an eye on each other’s blindspots and… if they were tired, they could lean on each other; in any case, the two of them had definitely had it much easier. Cyan decided to think of it like that.
“Hmm, but seeing as you two have turned back, it seems that you two must have faced difficulties heading in any further, right?” Cyan stated with increased self-confidence.
“I’m not sure what you mean by that,” Dezra replied, as her expression twisted into a fierce scowl.
The memories of being chased by Cyan during the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony, back when she was only eleven, were still fresh in Dezra’s mind. Thanks to that, Dezra held a hidden fear of Cyan, but in order not to reveal this, she purposefully raised her voice and narrowed her eyes.
“You’re accusing us of turning back? We have been heading forward all this time and will continue to do so. We have no intentions of turning back,” Dezra proudly declared.
“What kind of bullshit is that?” Cyan demanded. “Also, what’s with your expression? Are you trying to fuck with me right now?”
Gargith suddenly spoke up, cutting the tension. “It seems that you’ve shaved your facial hair. Although it’s too late to advise you either way, I think that you look better without any facial hair, young master.”
“Hmph, as long as one of you knows their place…” Cyan accepted the compliment with a nod and reached into his pocket. “In any case… I’ve always said that fools are called fools for a reason. You two, after entering this vast forest, didn’t you even bother to take the basic precautions to keep yourselves from getting lost?”
This had to be because they had come in here with a sloppy attitude. Cyan clicked his tongue in disappointment as he pulled out the compass that he was keeping in his pocket. .
“Here, see this, this might look like just a compass, but this is no ordinary compass. Its needle has been forged with magic, so that it always points to the deepest concentration of demonic power. You understand what that means, right? As long as we keep an eye on the needle of this compass, we will be able to move toward the center from no matter where we are in the forest,” Cyan proudly declared.
This was a compass specially designed for the Black Lions’ use. Cyan had endlessly pestered his uncle Gion, the commander of the Fifth Division, in order to borrow this compass.
“A compass? We have one as well,” Dezra insisted with a pout on her lips, taking out her own compass. “Although it doesn’t point towards demonic power like the young master’s, our compass is pretty good as well. The center of this forest is to the west, right? Starting from yesterday, we’ve been heading due west—”
“It’s broken,” Cyan interrupted Dezra before she could even finish speaking, shaking his head in disbelief. “See this, you’re saying that your compass is currently pointing due west, right? But that’s the direction that I’ve just come from. However, the direction that my compass is indicating as being west is the direction that you two have come from.”
“It’s possible that the young master’s compass is the one that’s broken,” Dezra argued.
Cyan scoffed with another shake of his head, “Ha! That’s why idiots are just…. Were you listening to my words with your nostrils instead of your ears? Didn’t I say that this compass always points to the densest concentration of demonic power?”
“But… I… I’m sure that we’ve been heading due west ever since we started…,” Dezra tried to protest.
Cyan shouted her down, “You must have taken the wrong direction from the start due to your clumsy feet! It’s only because you were running in circles like that, that you were able to run into me…. Really now, there should be a limit to your foolishness.”
Recently, there had only been a few situations in which Cyan could feel this sense of superiority over others. That was partially why Cyan decided that he didn’t want to miss this opportunity.
“Don’t you know that relying solely on your own senses in this forest is extremely foolish,” Cyan lectured Dezra. “Even if you think that you’re walking in a straight line, the truth is that you might have deviated slightly and already started walking in the wrong direction. And, more importantly, it’s not like you two were only focussed on walking, now were you?”
“…Yes…,” Dezra meekly gave in.
“You must also have met with demonic beasts during your journey, taken short rests, and even slept, right? After stopping and starting like that, isn’t it too arrogant of you to be so sure that you were going ‘straight’?” Cyan pressed.
“…Uuu…” Dezra whimpered, unable to muster up a defense.
“If you hadn’t met with me here, you and that pig over there would have been wandering around in the wrong direction for the whole four days!” Cyan scolded. “Dezra Lionheart, did you come all the way here just to do something like that?”
“Uuu… uwah…,” Dezra continued to whimper pitifully.
But just like Dezra had a slight lingering fear of Cyan due to her memories of the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony, so too did Cyan. The appearance of Dezra, when she had suddenly popped out of nowhere with her face drenched in blood, still showed up in his dreams from time to time.
That was why Cyan was so eagerly pressuring Dezra. He wanted to overcome this trauma from his childhood that had remained stuck in his heart. Not saying anything to Gargith was his repayment for the hair regrowth formula that Cyan had received from him last time.
Cyan coughed and straightened his spine as he began the next stage of his plan, “If you really want to….”
Somewhere in this forest, the Captains should be watching over them. His rebuke just now should have shown them he had the charisma needed to govern those of lower stations….
Now, it was time to demonstrate the leadership needed to charm others and make them want to follow him.
“…then I will allow you to follow me. Although I’m not saying that we should fight together, I will lead you to the actual battlefield where the two of you can prove your skills,” Cyan strengthened his voice as he made this offer, while also shaping his expression into what he thought was his most impressive look.
In his opinion, combined with the words he had just said, it should be enough to create an amazing impression.
“I will follow you, young master,” Gargith immediately accepted.
While Dezra had a hesitant expression on her face, Gargith felt his heart pound in admiration of Cyan, and he hammered his chest with a fist in a salute.
“…Wasn’t the young master planning to travel together with Miss Ciel?” Dezra pointed out hesitantly.
“Do you think that we always stick together just because we’re twins?” Cyan snorted and began to lead the way. “Ciel will do just fine on her own. She’s much more talented than you, and she knows this forest better than I do. At the moment, she should probably be closer to the demonic beasts’ lair than anyone else?”
* * *
Ciel bit her lip in order to clear her dizzy head. As she bit down hard enough to draw blood, she could clearly feel the pain in her mouth. She could also sense the taste of blood spreading throughout her mouth.
However she couldn’t feel any sensation coming from her body. Ciel tried to move a finger, but while it felt like… she was doing something… she couldn’t really feel it.
Ciel slowly assessed her situation. ‘My head… feels heavy. Is this fatigue… from lack of sleep? Am I really… feeling sleepy? In this short of situation? Could it be poison…?’
“Where… are we going?” Ciel somehow forced herself to speak.
At this, Eward, who she could see walking in front of her, turned his head to look back at her.
“You’re amazing,” he marveled.
“…What?” Ciel squeezed out in confusion.
Eward explained, “The formula that I used on you is a concoction refined from a Gasamal fruit and the roots of a Pahyur.”
“…So I was drugged.” Ciel’s blood-stained lips twisted into a sneer as she said, “So you really can’t teach an old dog new tricks…. When you told us that you no longer bought drugs… you were hiding the fact that you now refine them yourself, huh?”
“I don’t use them for myself,” Eward replied with a smile. “During these past three years… well… there have been a few times where I tested them on myself, but I’ve never used them for enjoyment.”
“But you were a user, weren’t you?” Ciel accused.
“Uhuh, I did use them, but that was three years ago. But ever since I started making them with my own hands… it led me to not enjoy using them myself. Did you know, Ciel? The dreams that you have while high on drugs are truly pleasant. Whatever you want to see, whatever you want to do, they make it all come true,” Eward’s hands shook as he said this. “However, when you wake up, it’s all so empty. That’s all that dreams are in the end. Even though you want to keep having the same dream, you can’t control what dream comes to you… and when you wake up, the dreams just fade from your mind. Because, in the end, dreams aren’t reality….
“That’s why I no longer use them. To a certain extent, you could say that it was also because it was impossible for me to invite a succubus to the mansion… but it was also due to having realized something, I just need to make reality like my dream.”
Ciel silently listened to him.
“In any case, Ciel, you really are amazing,” Eward repeated. “With a dosage of that level, you should have lost consciousness or be seeing hallucinations, but you… you’re still resisting and trying to keep your mind awake as you shake off the effects of the drug, aren’t you?”
“Unlike you, brother, I’ve always taken my training seriously,” Ciel goaded him as she bit down on her lip once more. “Although it seems… that you only remember me from what I was like when I was younger, brother. I’m also grown up and I’ve changed a lot. Just like Cyan has. Because we’ve both worked hard.”
“That goes for me as well,” Eward said with a smile as he nodded in agreement. “I’ve also changed, and I’ve worked hard to make these changes. Your transformation might be extraordinary, but… haha…. Ciel, please don’t get angry at me for saying that your changes are merely praiseworthy.”
Ciel fumed silently.
Eward tried to soothe her, “What I was trying to say is that I would rather you get high on the drug, so that you can at least get to relax and see the hallucinations of what you want to see.”
“…Aren’t you happy to talk to me?” Ciel prodded stubbornly.
“Of course I’m happy. After all, we haven’t had many chances to talk to each other like this. However, rather than continue talking for my own happiness… I would rather that my younger sister remain happy,” Eward said with some disappointment.
“…If that’s the case… then you can still stop now. Just what in the world are you even trying to do? No, what do you plan on doing to me?” Ciel demanded.
She had just noticed that she couldn’t feel her mana.
She kept questioning Eward. “The medicine that you gave me should have had the effect of scattering my mana. Is this a spell…? Some kind of black magic? Just how did you hide it?”
She couldn’t understand it. If Eward had become a black wizard, then there was no way that the Black Lions wouldn’t have noticed it. No… that wasn’t the only thing that she was struggling to understand.
The demonic beasts that had been killed by Eward, there was no way that the Captains who were supposed to be monitoring them would just ignore such unusual corpses without examining them. Quite a long time had passed since Ciel had been overpowered by Eward and carried away, but… no one had come to intervene.
‘…Has he shaken off his surveillance? How?’ Ciel wondered.
Even though Eward should have been under extra scrutiny due to the precedent he had set?
“It’s not black magic,” Eward denied the accusation with a smile and a shrug.
“…You’re saying that… this isn’t black magic?” Ciel repeated incredulously.
Ciel definitely couldn’t believe those words. She tried to get out of what was holding her up by twisting her body once more, but there was still absolutely no feeling below her neck…. Ciel gulped down the blood that was filling her mouth and looked down.
Her body below her neck was covered by a black darkness. Was she unconsciously walking on her own two legs right now? Or else could she be flying in the sky…? If neither of those possibilities were true, had everything else except for her head disappeared?
Ciel tried not to be overcome by the spine-chilling horror of her situation.
“Are you afraid?” Eward asked without turning to look back at her.
He just continued walking through darkness. Without a torch, without any magic light.
Quite some time seemed to have passed. The night and dawn should have already come and gone, so by now the sun should have risen. However, there was no light in Eward’s immediate vicinity.
Where exactly were they in the first place? Was this really the forest? Ciel’s head was clouded. She couldn’t fully trust her senses. At some point, even the smell of the forest had disappeared… Their surroundings… it was too dark to see anything.
“I have no intention of deriving enjoyment from seeing you tremble in fear. That’s the reason why I gave you that drug in the first place. I wanted you to be at least a little more comfortable for what comes next….” Eward sighed in regret.
“Just what were you planning to do to me while I was under the drug’s effects?” Ciel spat out, unable to hide the trembling in her voice. “I-I have to say, I know that you’re a failure and a piece of trash, brother, but I still… I still thought of you as a person. No matter how twisted of a human being you were, I still thought of you as my big brother.”
“Hah… this kind of misunderstanding… is really awkward and embarrassing,” Eward muttered as he shook his head. “Ciel, I’m just saying this so that you don’t get the wrong idea, but I have no intention of defiling you.”
Ciel’s silence expressed her disbelief.
“Really, there’s no point in me polluting your purity,” Eward insisted. “You might not be a wizard, but you should still have heard about ‘sacrifices’, right? It’s… well… it’s not just something related to black magic. While it’s now considered to be taboo, in ancient magic and witchcraft it was quite common to use sacrifices in order to strengthen a spell.”
“…Just what are you trying to say?” Ciel asked suspiciously.
“Among such sacrifices, a ‘sacrifice of kin’ is quite a special offering. The strange thing is, with that kind of sacrifice, the value of the offering increases depending on how close the relationship of the sacrifice is with yourself,” Eward paused his explanation for a moment to burst into laughter. “Ciel, you and I are half-siblings. We share the same father. That alone raises the quality of your sacrifice.
“However, after that is factored in, the quality of your sacrifice depends not on our relationship, but on your own individual value. Silver hair and golden eyes are quite rarely found among humans. On top of that, Ciel, you truly are beautiful. You have the body of a maiden who has just graduated from her childhood and is overflowing with vitality. Your skills and mana far surpass your peers. Finally, you are pure, and your purity has never been defiled.”
“…You’re disgusting,” Ciel cursed.
“My personal opinion of you… well… it’s just to the extent of agreeing that you’re beautiful. However, everything else is just the truth, isn’t it? You do possess such value, and you even share the same bloodline as I do. Ciel, you are the best among all the sacrifices that I could have offered,” Eward complimented sincerely.
Ciel was paralyzed by disgust.
“However, it won’t be enough with just you,” Eward said to himself. “Cyan… I wasn’t able to meet with him earlier, but he should be here soon. Did you know? Just like how a pure virgin female has a high value as a sacrifice, a pure virgin male also shares the same high value. The only things better are newborn infants, fetuses, and pregnant women, but I… well…. I don’t really want to bother with that.”
“You’re crazy,” Ciel spat out as her body trembled in fear. “You’re not in your right mind. So that’s it, you just want to offer me and Cyan, as your sacrifices? What exactly are you doing all this for?”
Eward said simply, “The more sacrifices the better. Of course, there is a limit to the amount of sacrifices that I can handle at any one time with my current skills, and it would be unreasonable for me to try and take on all of the Black Lions by myself. That’s why we need to do this as quickly as possible—”
Ciel burst out, “You’re insane! What makes you think you’ll even get away with this? You, you’re going to die here, brother. And it won’t just be you—! Both Lady Tanis, who raised you, and Count Bossar will also—!
“They’ll be fine,” Eward cut her short, his steps halting. “They’re all cheering me on. No matter what I do, they won’t blame me for it.”
Ciel gasped. “Don’t say something so absurd—!”
“It seems that you’re no longer trying to hide your true feelings. Mhm, well it can’t be helped. You’ve been afraid ever since earlier, and… although you’ve been good at hiding your inner feelings ever since you were young, you’ve never needed to hide terror,” Eward observed as he pointed a finger at Ciel. “So you should just relax. Close your eyes and stop resisting. That’s all that you need to do.”
Everything in front of Ciel’s eyes began to blur. Her head also started to feel heavy. But she didn’t want to go to sleep. If she fell asleep, she didn’t think that she would ever be able to open her eyes again.
…And Cyan? What about her twin brother? Eward had said that he would be coming here, so… would her twin be caught like this as well? What about mother, father, Sir Carmen….
‘…Eugene.’
What would happen to him? Was he coming here like Cyan was?
‘…Help me,’ Ciel begged as she lost consciousness.
* * *
“…It’s strange,” Eugene murmured as he stopped walking with a frown.
Before entering the forest of the demonic beasts, he had received a compass from Genos, though he had never actually taken it out to use it. Eugene was able to clearly feel the ominous demonic power covering the entire forest, so he was able to sense in which direction the source of the demonic power lay without having to rely on tools.
However currently, he wasn’t able to fully trust his own senses. Yesterday, when he had first entered the forest, he could still recall the direction in which he had sensed the center of the forest to be. But now? Paying close attention to the confusion of his senses, Eugene took out the compass.
“…So it really has changed?” Eugene muttered when he saw that the compass was pointing in a completely different direction. “Have I really unconsciously gotten lost in this forest?”
He took out a different compass — just an ordinary piece of equipment, this time. Eugene held the two compasses in each hand, then kicked off the ground and raced forward.
‘There’s no way that the both of them would break at the same time,’ Eugene thought confidently, but even though he was heading forward in a straight line, the compasses were still each pointing to a different location. ‘So, has something gone wrong with the forest?’
Eugene retrieved Akasha from inside his cloak and held it in his hand. He then examined his surroundings, but he couldn’t spot any spells that could be affecting the forest.
Eugene thought of something. ‘Is this the influence of the demonic power? Well, that’s also a possibility.’
If this were Helmuth, then it wouldn’t be strange for that to be the case. However, this was patently not Helmuth.
In the first place, even if something had gone wrong with the forest, one would still be able to find their way without using a compass.
‘But Genos has gone missing….’
Eugene could no longer feel the faint traces of his presence.
“Hmmm…” Eugen hummed thoughtfully as he placed both compasses back inside of his cloak.
“…Uuu…,” Mer, who was lying on her back, groaned as she lifted her head to look at him. “What’s the matter, Sir Eugene…?”
“I need you to keep your head sticking out,” Eugene instructed.
“…Huh?” Mer grunted questioningly.
“We need to find the right path,” Eugene informed her.
Tap.
Eugene knocked on Mer’s head and said, “From now on, you’re a guidepost.”
Mer reacted with confusion. “Huuuh…?”
“Although I could keep going by following my senses, aren’t you just as sensitive to demonic power as I am? So you can just guide me to wherever it feels the most disgusting,” Eugene proposed.
Mer warned him, “But I might just throw up….”
“You’re not even capable of such a thing,” Eugen scoffed. “You don’t even have a stomach, so just what are you trying to say….”
“If I want to, then I can manage it somehow,” Mer stubbornly insisted. “I really will vomit inside of your cloak….”
“I’ll get mad,” Eugene threatened.
Bong.
Eugene bonked Mer on the head and resumed walking forward.
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