Raon swallowed nervously while looking at the young hedgehog waving its hand.
‘Hedgehogs are supposed to hibernate…’
It was winter in Zieghart all year long, and they were in the coldest period of the year.
Wild hedgehogs were supposed to be sleeping underground with full stomachs. That was why it was impossible to have a smiling hedgehog waving its hand at them.
Why are you thinking so hard about this?
Wrath’s chin was trembling as he watched the grinning hedgehog.
It’s obvious! The madwoman is here!
He quickly went into the ice flower bracelet while mumbling that she was too scary.
‘I know…’
Raon was obviously aware of who was inside the hedgehog, but he was clinging onto a faint hope—just in case it was a real hedgehog.
“Haa…”
Raon sighed deeply and met the hedgehog’s eyes.
“Merlin?”
“Yeah!”
The hedgehog nodded with a cheerful smile. His hope didn’t come true.
“How did you even get here?”
“Yesterday’s match was nice to watch.”
As expected of Merlin, she kept saying whatever she wanted to say without responding to Raon’s question.
“You didn’t panic over the sudden problem and overcame a difficult situation alongside your companions. It was really cool!”
Merlin gave him a thumbs up to praise him. It was surprising that a hedgehog could make that gesture.
“Did you really watch that?”
Raon’s lips parted in surprise.
‘Even the head of house was around.’
Glenn was in the urban training ground where the battle took place the day before. Raon could only gasp at her boldness—she watched it until the end even though she could be caught and killed at any moment.
“It’s worth spending my lifespan to watch you as you take command in battle.”
Merlin laughed shyly while twisting her body.
Sh-she’s literally a madwoman…
‘What the hell…’
It could’ve been taken differently if someone else had said it, but it wasn’t since it was Merlin. Cold sweat was flowing down his back.
“Heave-ho.”
Merlin came down from the tree and slowly crawled towards him. She was slow since she was using a hedgehog’s body, but she reached Raon’s feet in no time because she wasn’t too far away.
“I have something to tell you. Can you pick me up?”
“But you have spikes.”
“It will be fine since I won’t be putting them up. Ah, don’t touch my side, it’s embarrassing.”
Her face became flushed as she said that touching her body from the side felt embarrassing.
“Hah…”
‘This is driving me nuts.’
She kept twisting her body, and Raon couldn’t understand why she was so embarrassed when she was a hedgehog.
However, he couldn’t refuse because he could tell that she had an important piece of information to share with him.
Raon sighed deeply and picked Merlin up. She must’ve been able to control the spikes, as they curved slightly to the inside.
“See? It doesn’t hurt.”
Merlin waved her small hand at him, saying that she was right about it. It looked so cute that Raon almost wanted to hug the creature—if only the madwoman wasn’t inside.
“So, what were you going to tell me?”
“The Black Tower is targeting you.”
Her voice was frightening despite her cute appearance.
“Targeting me?”
Raon narrowed his eyes while looking at Merlin.
“They must be aware that I killed the Black Commander.”
“They were simply aware in the past, but they decided that you are a target for elimination now.”
A blue light was glowing in Merlin’s dark eyes.
“The Black Tower is stealthy and persistent. The Black Commander was from a lower floor, but you still defeated their floor overseer. They are definitely going to investigate you and send a stronger opponent after you now.”
“I guess.”
Raon nodded.
‘Because they are nasty fellows.’
The Black Tower didn’t care about consequences, as expected of the ones who use the energy of darkness. They were definitely going to attempt to get revenge by any means.
“But how did you learn about that?”
The Shadow Agents and the Black Market were also investigating the Black Tower. That was why Raon didn’t expect Merlin to be the one delivering the news to him.
“Because I infiltrated them.”
Merlin laughed cheerfully while scratching her round nose.
‘Infiltrated? Did she really just say ‘infiltrated’?’
He couldn’t believe that the top brass of Eden had infiltrated the Black Tower.
“Was it because of me?”
“Of course.”
“Why did you go so far…?”
“Because I’m worried about you.”
Merlin tilted her head, wondering why he was asking such an obvious question.
‘Ah…’
Raon’s mouth felt dry every time she said those words. He was thankful but also terrified at the same time.
Wrath groaned in surprise from the bracelet.
“I think Eden is also preparing something, but I’m not sure what it is.”
Merlin frowned, saying that the Fallen had been acting on his own recently.
“Even you can’t tell what it is?”
“The Fallen might be suspicious of me, as he’s only giving me trivial missions while taking care of most things by himself.”
“He suspects you?”
“Because you used to be my goal, he might think that we are keeping a connection. He’s a smart one.”
She reassured him that he didn’t need to worry about it too much since the Fallen hadn’t found out yet.
“I need to clear up the suspicion for now. That’s why I’ll have to be more careful in the future.”
Merlin waved her small hand.
“I’ll come back if I get some important information from the Black Tower or the Eden. Stay safe until then.”
She waved her small hand energetically, saying that she had to leave.
“Thank you for telling m—”
“Give twenty worms to this one. That was the promise we had.”
Merlin winked with her hedgehog eyes and disappeared.
“Wa-wait! How am I supposed to get worms from here?!”
Gee?
The hedgehog stood up on four legs from his hand and stared at him. The way it narrowed its eyes looked like it was urging him to give the food already.
“Ah…”
Raon’s lips trembled as he supported the hedgehog in his hand.
“How am I even supposed to get worms now…?”
Since he never expected to meet Merlin inside Zieghart, his subspace pocket was completely empty as well.
Kiee!
The hedgehog’s scream became louder as it straightened its spines.
What are you waiting for?! You have to keep the promise! Start digging the ground or something!
‘I didn’t make any promises though…’
Raon sighed and spread the Perception of the Snow Flower to look for worms or insects around him. Honestly, though, he barely found any trace.
“Ca-can I make it ten instead of twenty…?”
Kieeeh!
“Okay, okay.”
Raon shook his head and started digging with his bare hands where he could feel a faint energy from below.
The King of Essence is afraid of that madwoman, but…
Wrath came next to him and started to giggle.
The way you are panicking makes him unbearably happy!
‘Shut up and help me look for the worms. I’m going to eat the worms otherwise.’
Ueh…
* * *
Raon barely managed to find the twenty worms and dug a hole for the hedgehog to sleep before he could finally escape from it.
The hedgehog gave him a thumbs up with a satisfied expression before it went to hibernate.
‘I’m so tired.’
The King of Essence is hungry…
Wrath went limp on Raon’s forearm because he’d been looking for the worms with him.
Let’s eat something as soon as we return home.
‘Sleep comes first.’
Eat and wake up.
‘What are you even saying…?’
I’m telling you to eat before you do anything else!
‘But everyone must be sleeping right now.’
He was trying to enter through his window—trying to avoid waking up the other people inside the house—when the annex building’s door was opened.
“Raon, come over here.”
Sylvia came out from the door and waved her hand towards him.
“Mother?”
Raon went towards her with wide eyes.
“I thought you’d be sleeping.”
“You sleep less in the morning once you get older.”
Sylvia smiled, saying that she had just woken up.
“But mother, you should sleep a bit longer…”
“It’s difficult to fall back asleep once I wake up. By the way…”
She narrowed her eyes while grabbing his dirty hand.
“Why aren’t you calling me ‘mom’ anymore?”
“I’m over twenty years old now.”
Raon thought it would be more natural to speak politely since he was over twenty years old.
“Don’t do it.”
Sylvia frantically shook her head while looking at Raon.
“I don’t want you to become an adult yet.”
She smiled, saying that he should act like a baby even at his age.
“I’m already way past that age.”
“I guess you’ve never acted cute even when you were a baby.”
“Hmm…”
Raon couldn’t refute that. Since he had the mind of an adult ever since he was a baby, it was impossible to act as cute as a baby.
“You are still a baby to me though.”
Sylvia caressed his cheeks.
“The people from outside considered you the pinnacle of warriors, calling you a hero or a Sword Dragon. Actually, a lot of people came to see me to gain your favor.”
“Is that so?”
Raon smiled faintly. The groundwork to restore Sylvia’s status to the direct line must’ve been working.
“But I’m refusing them all, and I don’t even care about them.”
Sylvia smiled while meeting his eyes.
“Don’t worry about making your mom a part of the direct line. Instead, focus on what you want to do. You never told me about it, but you have something you have to do, don’t you?”
“How did you know…?”
Raon’s eyes widened. He was surprised because he’d never told Sylvia about his goals.
“Because I’m your mom.”
“Ah…”
“Judiel is on duty today, so I’ll make some sandwiches for you with her. You should wash up for now.”
Sylvia waved her hand and went to the kitchen.
“Erm…”
Mom, you are the best!
“…”
* * *
* * *
Raon opened the door to his room after he finished his bath, and Judiel bowed at him.
“Welcome back.”
She told him to eat the sandwiches and milk on the table while pointing at them.
Her sandwiches are pretty decent.
Raon agreed with Wrath, as Judiel’s sandwiches were rather delicious with their nutty and clean flavor.
“Thank you for the meal.”
Raon sat at the table before taking a bite of the sandwich, and Judiel came up next to him.
“The Black Market sent the information about the Five Demons while you were away for training, young master. Would you like to read it by yourself or shall I tell you about it?”
“Tell me about it.”
Since Judiel was extremely talented when it came to managing information, hearing it from her made it a lot easier.
“First of all, the Five Demons have become a lot less active. The South-North Union and the Black Tower are the only ones active, but they haven’t done anything significant.”
“It must be because of the Conference of the Six Kings.”
“Yes. They must’ve decided to hide temporarily because they realized that the alliance of the Six Kings is as solid as before, and our head of house is still powerful.”
Judiel nodded and her gaze became serious.
“But we can’t let our guard down since they are definitely nurturing their power while hiding.”
“Indeed.”
Raon licked his lips. The Five Demons were lunatics who wouldn’t stay quiet for an extended period of time without causing any trouble. They were definitely plotting something from the shadows.
“The Black Tower’s activity was meant to gather information, and it’s about…”
“Me.”
Raon chuckled at Judiel.
“Did you already know about it?”
“It’s obvious.”
Raon could easily tell what the Black Tower was thinking thanks to Merlin.
“What about the information about your brother?”
“We have none so far.”
“You can express your regret if you feel that way.”
“I’m fine.”
Judiel shook her head nonchalantly like an emotionless doll.
“But you were acting really well during the puppet show last time. Your scream was so realistic when you went ‘Uaaaah!’…”
“Yo-young master!”
Her face became flushed for the first time. She apparently felt embarrassed about that.
“I-I’ll take my leave now. Thank you for your consideration.”
Judiel left the room with red ears.
Hnng.
Wrath started taking notes on his round, bread-like hand while looking at the door Judiel had left through.
It’s important to pretend to care about the subordinate…
‘I’m not just pretending.’
Anyway, this isn’t a difficult task. No demon king in Devildom cares about their subordinates as much as the King of Essence.
‘Can you stop writing them down?’
He already said it yesterday, but he should at least gain something from this when you keep stealing his power!
He frowned, saying that nothing is free in the world—and that was when the messages appeared.
[You’ve achieved victory against an opponent at a higher realm.]
[All stats have increased by 8.]
[The Precise Sword and Sharp Sword’s proficiencies have increased.]
The messages were announcing the increased stats and proficiencies from winning against Trevin.
‘I knew it.’
Raon had noticed that it was easier to control the Precise Sword and the Sharp Sword’s principles after the match, and those messages confirmed that he wasn’t imagining it.
Wh-why are you giving this to him again?!
Wrath dropped his round hand from where it was taking notes.
‘You said it yourself. Nothing is free in the world.’
Raon shrugged his shoulders while watching Wrath’s trembling lips.
‘It’s today’s lesson fee.’
Shut up! The King of Essence has already paid enough fees for his entire life! This is a scam!
‘Report me then. I guess you have nowhere to report though.’
You damn bastard! He can’t take it anymore!
Wrath flipped out like he hadn’t done in a long time, and Raon managed to gain extra strength and agility as a result.
* * *
“Huaah…”
Yulius gasped while looking up to the North Grave Mountain’s cliff.
“A-am I really supposed to climb that?”
‘He must be insane.’
The cliff was so stiff that he was going to fall if he made the slightest mistake, and he could only think that Raon must’ve been out of his mind.
“Come up here.”
Raon’s shout could be heard from the peak.
“I’m really going to kill him today.”
“Raon’s personality is damn ugly…”
“Let’s go!”
Martha, Runaan, and Burren started to climb the cliff to show an example as the team leaders, and then the other Light Wind swordsmen followed them.
The Light Wind squad crawled towards the top at a tremendous speed even though they were wearing lumps of metal called Black Converters around their wrists and ankles.
They looked as swift as cockroaches, though Yulius felt reluctant to describe his seniors that way.
‘How are they climbing so quickly while carrying those things?’
Weight was one thing for the Black Converters, but their effect was to block aura circulation. Yulius couldn’t believe that they were climbing so quickly without even using their aura.
“We should also get started.”
Yua clenched her fist. She had become the Light Wind squad’s trainee swordsman alongside Yulius.
‘Nothing scares this kid…’
Yua’s flushed face looked like she was looking forward to climbing. She was apparently not afraid of the cliff at all.
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“But we’ve been training for three months for this.”
“It wasn’t for this, though.”
Yulius shook his head. They followed the basic training for three months after the match between the Light Wind squad and the Warring Steel division, but he couldn’t bring himself to think that he could easily climb the cliff.
Because…
“Kuaaaah!”
Krein was falling down the cliff after a throwing dagger hit him like a rock.
He quickly removed his Black Converter to protect his body with aura before he reached the ground.
Whaam!
The land trembled violently as he smashed into the ground.
“Ugh…”
He barely started to talk with trembling eyes.
“Raon, you bastard. Why am I always the first on—ack!”
A rock came from somewhere and smashed his forehead as he swore at Raon.
“It looks fun!”
“Uhh…”
Yua jumped up and down in excitement, and Krein’s face turned pale.
“Don’t worry.”
The Gambling Monster came towards the two children and shook his head.
“I’ll catch you even if you fall.”
He said that he didn’t need to catch the other members because they were already used to it. As soon as he said that, the Light Wind members started to rain down from the cliff.
“Kuaaah!”
“Damn it!”
“Why is that crazy bastard getting better at throwing daggers every time?!”
The Light Wind members smashed into the ground one after the other while screaming.
“Let’s go!”
Yua started to climb with an excited smile that Yulius couldn’t understand. She was climbing pretty quickly because she wasn’t wearing a Black Converter.
“Ugh…”
Yulius gritted his teeth and put his hands on the cliff to follow Yua.
‘I can’t lose to her.’
He didn’t want that smiling girl to be the only one praised by the esteemed Raon. Yulius overcame his fear and climbed the cliff to the best of his abilities.
Raon smiled while watching little Yua and Yulius climb the cliff.
‘They are pretty good.’
He thought it would still be difficult for them to climb the cliff without using their aura because they hadn’t trained for long enough, but they were doing relatively well.
‘Yua is having fun and Yulius doesn’t want to lose.’
Yua was enjoying the training itself, and Yulius was gritting his teeth because he didn’t want to lose to her.
‘This is the nice part about having a rival.’
Raon chuckled and threw the dagger between his fingers under the cliff. The throwing dagger fell towards Dorian’s forehead without making any sound whatsoever.
“O-oh no!”
Dorian noticed the danger and tried to dodge to the right, but the throwing dagger smoothly curved like a leaf in the wind and smacked his ribs.
Smaack!
Even though a throwing dagger was hitting his flesh, it sounded like he got smashed by a steel hammer.
“Quaack!”
Dorian fell and left tears behind.
“You demon!”
He couldn’t bring himself to insult him, calling him a demon before he disappeared.
He’s not just a demon. He’s a demon king candidate!
Wrath shook his head, saying that he was way worse than a normal demon already.
‘I’m not becoming a demon king.’
Raon chuckled and hurled the throwing dagger from his hand. The dagger fell like lightning to hit a Light Wind member’s shoulder.
‘I think it can match up to a sword now.’
The Flawless Throw was growing even faster than the Light Wind squad’s growth. Raon had even made a few special techniques, and there was a long way for the Light Wind squad to go before they could conquer the cliff.
‘I should try mixing it with that.’
Since he got accustomed to the Flawless Throw, he figured it wouldn’t be a bad idea to mix it with the Piercing Dagger that Derus had given him previously.
‘I should fix a day to focus on…’
While Raon was thinking about the Piercing Dagger’s principles, he felt someone’s presence behind him. He looked around to find Roenn smiling gently at him.
‘He’s always so stealthy.’
Roenn was far better at hiding his presence than Raon, which was expected since he was an assassin called the Assassin King.
“Greetings, Light Wind vice squad leader.”
Roenn politely bowed.
“Long time no see, Sir Roenn.”
Roenn bowed even deeper and greeted him back.
“The head of house wants to see you.”
Roenn smiled gently and nodded.
“He wants to see me?”
“Yes. I think the second trial has been decided.”
