When one thinks of the ‘East of the continent’, the places which usually come to mind are the Runtel Kingdom, famous for its magic and the Cesar Kingdom famous for its sorcery.
Thanks to these two highly developed places, people think of the east as a pretty good place to live.
In reality however, that wasn’t true.
Except for these two Kingdoms, the other small nations there are chaotic just like the southern part of the continent and a large area of the land is a habitat for dangerous monsters.
A primary example of this would be the Gabir Forest located to the southeast of the Cesar Duchy. It always had hot and humid weather surrounding it, and the trees were thick enough to obscure the vision and block most of the sunlight.
There were pests which sucked human blood, poisonous plants which could cause seizures with just a small touch and terrible monsters which feed on such plants.
‘Don’t enter the Gabir Forest. The devil lives there.’
‘Even if I am given all the riches of the world, I still wouldn’t enter that place.’
Even the most famous guides would reject entry into that place which was known as a paradise for monsters.
Kwak!
Slash!
Slash!
Crush!
It was a horrifying scene where a goblin’s limbs were cut off and its head was removed with a cleaver. The body, which was still oozing out blood, was thrown on a hook and then hung.
There was no grand reason for that action. It was for pure fun.
However, until a week ago such acts of pleasure weren’t being done. While slaughtering hundreds or maybe thousands of monsters, the devil realized one thing.
It wanted more color in its life.
‘I need humans.’
That was why the devil left its place and went out of the woods.
If things happened following the natural flow, then he would have had as much fun as he wanted. Right up until just before being discovered by the Purification team from the Holy Kingdom which subjugated the devils came.
“Phew. Thank goodness. It was really fortunate! I met you before you went out to play!”
“…?”
Meeting the clown at the periphery of the Gabir Forest had to be seen as bad luck for the devil.
“Good. Good. It isn’t as good as the Southern Great Forest, but this is also a good place to hide. There are plenty of ones like you who will make a fuss. And there’s no reason for you to even show your hand…”
Woong!
The devil didn’t listen to the clown till the end, and immediately struck down his large cleaver at the clown devil.
Normally, the devil wouldn’t have acted in such a manner.
He would act a little more moderately in order to experience the human emotions, the feelings of fear which were now only a memory for it.
Basically, the devil felt something unusual from the clown standing in front of it.
And it was right.
But the actions that the devil took weren't the answer.
The clown who smiled slightly, raised his bare arm to block the opponent’s attack.
Tung!
And with the other hand, he made a motion as if he was crushing the air.
Shik!
“Um, I’m sure I’ll be able to recover just fine.”
The clown climbed onto the fallen devil’s body.
The body was still wriggling despite its head getting slashed, but it’s movement stopped when the clown touched the stomach of the devil.
As the magi was absorbed, the gigantic body of the devil shrank, and the damaged mask of the clown was back to normal.
While he was concentrating on regaining his strength, he came to his senses when a letter fell from the sky.
“… Uh!”
The clown devil had a surprised expression.
This was because the content of the letter was different from what he had expected.
He knew that he would be scolded for making a bet with the reincarnation of his nemesis without consulting the other one, but the content of the letter the priest delivered was different.
“Because he is a demon stronger than a devil…”
If it was someone else, the clown would have laughed.
Humans who contract with the devil and accept the magi are different from humans who are demons from birth.
In order to fill the gap, humans themselves must have transcendental powers, but such beings usually have a strong ego and do not fall into the sweet whispers of the devil.
But…
‘I’ve already seen something similar, so it doesn’t seem like an impossible occurrence.’
The Great magician of Runtel.
He couldn’t even imagine how to subdue that filthily proud man.
As for the plan, the priest was always one step ahead of him. Which was why the clown had accepted the offer.
“… Hm... Hmm.”
Kwak!
The clown devil let out a strange groan as he shredded the corpse with the cleaver.
But he still didn’t feel good.
Waiting for the time that he could reunite with his partner, he hid inside the Gabir Forest.
“Thank you, Master Airn Pareira! Baron Harun Pareira! Ah, and Miss Kirill Pareira too! Because of you, how, how great...!”
The banquet ended safely.
For Pareira and the others leaving the royal palace, the King of Hale went to see them off personally.
It wasn’t anything special since the King always acted like this, but the emotion in his eyes was unusual. It was bound to be that way.
It was because these people were the ones who saved the banquet which could have ended in a mess and moreover, they had also saved his face as a king and at the same time, built a name for the nation.
“Phew. I am not good with words. Just seeing you people makes me feel so proud…”
“It is fine, Your Majesty.”
“Huhu, it is unfortunate. If I had a daughter, I would have asked for Master Pareira to wed her…”
“Haha… thank you for those kind words.”
Baron Harun Pareira responded politely to the king.
It was really unfortunate. In his mind, even now, he wanted to use something, or some means so that he could have a daughter who could enter into an engagement with Airn.
Of course, he knew that such thoughts were useless, so he didn’t think much.
Fortunately, Pareira rejected all the subtle marriage talks which came from both the Sonan and Cologne Kingdoms.
If it was from another kingdom, it would be a different thing, but it was hard to accept it from the 4 kingdoms who were in alliance.
Because the 4 kingdoms were friends yet rivals.
“I-I’ve held you up for too long. I am sorry.”
“No, Your Majesty. How can you even say…”
“Huh. I will say it again, thank you. Really…thank you. With my power, Master Pareira I can put you right in the middle of the palace…”
“… that is enough, Your Majesty.”
The Queen stopped him from saying more and the Pareira family finally managed to get out of the palace.
The father, son and daughter had a quiet moment where the sound of horseshoes was only heard.
But that silence didn’t last forever.
“Son.”
“Yes.”
“Do you have someone in your heart?”
“… I do.”
“By any chance, is that person… the Lindsay family’s child who is famous on the continent… is that right?”
“…”
Airn Pareira, who stayed still then nodded his head.
It was strange.
After he took up his sword.
No, even when he entered into the world to find his own true sword, Airn was never shy about expressing his feelings to others.
But strangely, now he felt shy.
He wanted to hide them.
Even though he knew that his feelings weren’t wrong or bad.
‘Why?’
‘He’s still young in this aspect.’
Unlike his son who was confused, the father who heard the story, felt like something new had bloomed inside his son.
Actually, after having observed his son recently, Harun felt a sense of disparity.
The son had always been a young and fragile boy who had to be handled with care and guided meticulously. And this thought hadn’t changed for him until he graduated from Krono safely and was actively performing in the demon subjugation.
However, after returning from the 2 year journey, or to be more precise, after seeing his lecture on swordsmanship, Harun realized that his son had escaped from the arms of the father and had been reborn into a much larger person than him.
And it wasn’t that he didn’t like the change in Airn. Rather, he was very proud of the change.
However, when he thought about the change which might result in a situation where he couldn’t reach his son, and when he thought about the heroic figure in the hunting contest… It was also true that Harun felt a sense of loneliness.
‘There is still something where his father can help him with!’
Harun smiled softly.
He couldn’t even remember the last time he confessed to someone. However, he was sure that he would be more proficient at it than his son, who never had such feelings before.
Considering Airn’s introverted personality, he thought that he was even more experienced.
Thinking about it, the Baron looked at his daughter.
And Kirill too looked at him at the same time.
Looking at her, with an expression she didn’t understand, Harun said.
“Daughter”
“Yes.”
“Go out for a while.”
“No, why?”
“If you stay, won’t it be difficult for Airn to talk?”
“NO, what! Seriously! This makes no sense. I can’t be here, but dad can? I am confident that I will give good advice to people on their relationships!”
“But then you have no experience in dating, right?”
“Uh, hm… right.”
Kirill stuttered.
It was too burdensome for her to tell her father about her love life.
Just as Airn was young, so was Kirill.
So, she grunted and headed outside the carriage.
She was running out with a frown on her face, but who would care about the sorcerer in such a situation?
Eventually, the two were alone and Harun spoke with a smile.
“If you want to say something, you have the chance now, but you don’t have to speak if you aren’t comfortable. I am just curious. How did you come to have these feelings and how did you fall in love with someone…”
“…”
“Would a drink help you?”
“No, this is good.”
Airn shook his head.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk. It just meant that he had no intention of making this shyness grow by speaking about it.
In fact, after realizing his feelings, Airn had been feeling frustrated the whole time.
He was impatient, hot-headed, and he wanted to show what he was feeling, but at the same time, he didn’t want to tell anyone either.
Considering that, there was no one strong and reliable like his father.
Before long, Airn spoke about Ilya.
“So…”
Today’s Airn was even less talkative compared to the past.
He was trying to express what he wanted to say, but he couldn’t put it in detail, so he stopped.
This seemed a lot more difficult than even swordsmanship discussions, and sweat was flowing down his forehead.
What he felt in the process was that the more he thought about it, the more he liked Ilya.
“Hmm, Hmm.”
And the son’s heart along with his feelings reached the father.
The image of Ilya…Harun Pareira understood what it was little by little.
Beyond a genius who had shook the continent, she was an attractive woman who had stolen Airn’s heart.
‘She seems like a good child.’
He wanted to see her in person. He wanted to meet the child and have a short conversation with her.
Of course, that didn’t mean he was going to meddle into his son’s love affairs, but he couldn’t help his curiosity.
Harun thought about it and shook his head.
They hadn’t been dating for long.
No, not dating, they didn’t even start dating yet. For him, his son had a one-sided love.
In a situation, he was thinking about meeting the child in person?
It was like…
‘Deciding to meet the person after the two are engaged?’
Calm down. Calm down.
Harun Pareira mumbled.
Hearing the story, he felt more excited than his son, so he was the one who needed self control.
Eventually, they reached the Pareira territory.
Passing through the mansion gates, he nodded looking at the mansion.
After a nice discussion with his wife, he thought that he could come up with an answer which would help his son.
With that thought, it was time to get off the carriage.
“Airn!”
“…?”
“…?”
It was a voice unfamiliar to Harun.
However, to Airn and Kirill, the voice was a familiar one.
When the two realized who the owner of the voice was and seemed bewildered, the one who shouted out the name ran at frightening speed towards them.
And hugged Airn.
“Arin.”
“Uh. Uh?”
“I missed you. Really…”
“Uh. Yes. Me too…?”
It was a completely different attitude, tone of voice and way of speaking
And there was also a faint smell of alcohol.
When Airn looked at Ilya whose face a little red and standing weirdly,
“Ah, we were too late…”
“We are late, Bratt.”
Bratt and Lulu showed up one beat later and had sad expressions on their faces.
