Blackwood had seized the labyrinth in which the rare Helros herb grew — a discovery that would bring them even more fortune.

The Sunray duchy had barely had time to focus on its own labyrinth conquests before Blackwood arrived. Before leaving the estate, they had already begun organizing an *ssault team with neighboring lords. If Eldrian had chosen to stay and lend his support, the conquest could have been completed swiftly and efficiently with far fewer casualties.

However, he had abandoned that opportunity to come here, only to be met with a wall.

Lesta’s true intentions were impossible to read. She seemed easygoing and almost careless, yet she hid her thoughts with unnerving precision.

‘Should I just go back?’

He didn’t want to waste time on something that wouldn’t work. If Lesta shown even the slightest hint of interest, he would have waited, no matter how long it took.

“Mercenaries will do anything if you pay them.”

He recalled his own words with a bitter smile.

‘No… even if I gave her the entire fortune of House Sunray, she wouldn’t move.’

✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦ ✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦ ✦❘

Before arriving in the port city of Revron, Eldrian had rented a mansion and hired a small team of staff. As instructed, they had prepared three whole roasted pigs for Luna, who had run tirelessly across half the continent.

Now, Eldrian was sitting back on the sofa in the parlor, watching the great white wolf devour her meal with loud, satisfied crunches.

When she had finally finished eating and lay down, resting her head on her front paws and closing her eyes, Eldrian remained where he was, lost in thought.

Hours passed.

Then—

Bang!

The parlor doors flew open with a loud crash.

Luna cracked open one golden eye, saw who had entered, and promptly closed it again.

“Brother…”

Eldrian looked up, his expression softening into a bright, easy smile.

“You’re here.”

His younger brother stood in the doorway, looking disheveled and out of breath, and groaned.

“For heaven’s sake—”

Leonel strode toward him, voice low and sharp.

“What were you thinking, running off like that alone?”

Eldrian brushed a few twigs and leaves from his brother’s hair.

Leonel swatted his hand away with an annoyed huff.

“Where’s Cassandra?”

“She said she’d take her time and thought you’d be fine on your own.”

“Don’t you think she’s being a bit too relaxed for someone whose job is to guard you?”

“And don’t you think you’re being a bit too relaxed for someone who’s supposed to be the Little Duke?”

“As you can see, nothing happened.”

Leonel didn’t answer. Even after confirming that his brother was safe, the tension remained visible on his face. He stood there, staring at Eldrian for a long time, his expression unreadable.

Unaccustomed to seeing his usually easy-going brother look so grim, Eldrian tilted his head.

“What’s wrong?”

“…It’s nothing.”

After a moment, Leonel ran both hands through his hair and sank onto the sofa beside him with a sigh.

“So, you met the Mercenary King?”

“Yeah.”

“How was she? …Healthy?”

The unexpected question caught Eldrian off guard.

“Healthy? Don’t you mean strong?”

“Ah. Yeah. That too.”

“You’re acting strange today.”

“Maybe because I didn’t get a single moment’s rest chasing after you.”

Leonel grumbled and went back to being his usual self.

After taking a quick look, Eldrian decided that he was all right, and leaned back.

“I think the Mercenary King might be a fan of Dominic.”

Leonel frowned.

“What does that mean?”

“There was a Dominic doll on her desk.”

“Huh.”

“So I’m thinking it has to be one of two things. Either she’s an obsessive admirer of his… or—”

“An enemy.”

Leonel finished for him.

“Exactly. Maybe she keeps that doll there just to imagine a hundred different ways to kill him.”

Eldrian laughed dryly.

“Though maybe I’m just reading too much into it.”

“No.”

Leonel said, his tone calm but certain.

“I’d say that’s pretty likely.”

“You think so too, huh?”

Eldrian’s lips curved slightly, though his eyes remained clouded. He couldn’t shake the feeling that, whatever the truth was, it wouldn’t be simple.

Yet, when he thought about it calmly, something didn’t add up.

Lesta had gathered countless unruly mercenaries under her banner and earned the title of Mercenary King — a feat that spoke for itself. If she wanted to, earning a noble title wouldn’t be difficult. With that title, she could easily challenge the Imperial Knight Order.

Even without becoming a knight herself, she could have joined any imperial expedition to subjugate beasts or explore labyrinths. Besides, Blackwood was always seeking talent.

They welcomed strength regardless of birth, offering wealth and position to any skilled fighter. Many free knights and mercenaries flocked to them, hoping to stand beside the hero Dominic.

There were countless ways for her to get close to him. And yet… Lesta hadn’t moved at all.

After laying out his thoughts, Eldrian added quietly,

“But really, when you think about it… what connection could a common-born mercenary possibly have with Dominic Blackwood?”

Leonel tilted his head.

“Who knows? There might be things we don’t understand, circumstances we’ve never heard of.”

“Hmm.”

Eldrian leaned back into the sofa, folding his arms.

He tapped his forearm with one finger, lost in thought.

“I can’t figure out what she wants. She made it very clear, money won’t move her.”

“Maybe she wants to test your skill?”

“If that were the case, she would’ve challenged me. Or at least suggested hunting monsters together.”

Suddenly, Eldrian reached out, cupping both of Leonel’s cheeks and turning his head towards him. He stared into his younger brother’s golden eyes, searching them intently.

It was an old habit of his. Whenever he was troubled or couldn’t find an answer, he would gaze into Leonel’s eyes until the noise in his head quietened and clarity surfaced like a ripple on still water.

Knowing his brother’s quirks all too well, Leonel stood still and let him look.

After a long, silent moment, Eldrian finally released him and said,

“All right. Let’s get some sleep. I’ll think about it again in the morning.”

“…Right.”

✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦ ✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦❘༻༺❘✦ ✦❘

Duuung—! Duuung—!

The deep pounding of drums jolted Eldrian awake.

“Grrr…”

From beneath the bed came Luna’s low, rumbling growl.

Instinctively, Eldrian reached for the sword leaning beside his bed.

Duuung—! Duuung—!

The ominous pounding of the drums continued. Eldrian could see the fur bristling along Luna’s neck, and that alone told him what she was. Only monsters could make her react that way.

‘Has a beast broken into the city?’

Typically, creatures that escaped from a labyrinth would remain close to its perimeter. However, the stronger and more intelligent ones would sometimes venture farther afield, raiding nearby towns or claiming them as their own. Many cities and villages in weaker nations had already fallen to monsters.

Eldrian went straight to the window and threw it open.

Instead of chaos, the night outside was eerily still. There was no screaming, no footsteps, and no signs of panic, only the deep, rhythmic duuum, duuum of drums echoing in the distance.

‘Why…?’

When a monster appeared, people usually ran for their lives, lighting fires, sounding alarms, preparing for evacuation.

But the port city of Revron lay wrapped in quiet. No lights flickered on, no frightened faces peeked outside.

And then—

‘There.’

He caught sight of figures moving swiftly through the darkness. He recognised them instantly because a woman with crimson hair, glimmering like a ruby in the moonlight, was leading them. A massive black blade, almost as long as she was tall, was strapped to her back.

Watching her gallop through the night took his breath away and, for no apparent reason, he felt his chest tighten.

“Luna.”

The intelligent white wolf crouched, ready to leap. Eldrian jumped onto its back, and they both soared out of the window.

Thud—

Luna landed gracefully, her snow-white paws barely sinking into the earth. Without being told, she ran towards the coastline in the same direction as the Ides mercenaries.

Eldrian didn’t take his eyes off Lesta, who was riding at the front.

When they finally arrived, a rancid, fishy stench blew in from the cliffs ahead. Below, on the pale sands of the beach, hulking shapes writhed and snapped.

They weren’t men.

They were monsters — several of them, massive and foul. Their shells glinted like iron in the moonlight, and they had claws the size of scythes and tails that dripped venomous mist.

‘Prongests!’

Resembling a cross between scorpions and crabs, these creatures inhabited coastal areas and were among the most dangerous beasts. Their armoured shells were almost impenetrable, but it was the toxin streaming from their tails like fog that posed the real danger.

The air shimmered faintly with it, and even from the cliffs, Eldrian could feel its sting at the back of his throat.

This venomous mist didn’t just cause temporary paralysis; prolonged exposure could melt the skin right off a person’s bones.

The only mercy was that the monsters’ poison was limited. Once they had expelled too much, they needed time to recover.

“Captain!”

Eldrian heard someone shout.

The area appeared to be accustomed to monster incursions, as there was a steel barricade around the perimeter. Mercenaries stood behind the barricade, bracing their long spears. The tips of the spears glowed faintly thanks to the mana stones etched with lightning runes embedded in them.

Each time a spear struck a creature’s shell—

Pzzzt—! Crackle!

Blue sparks leapt out and scorched the air. The beasts recoiled from the shock, screeching, but the damage was only superficial. Their carapaces remained intact.

Sssaaaaa—!

One of the Prongests reared up, its scorpion-like tail curling high before releasing a cloud of venomous fog.

“Fall back!”

Then, Lesta moved.

Kicking off her horse’s back, she soared upwards. In mid-air, she reached behind her shoulder and drew the massive black blade in one smooth motion.

The sword sang through the air.

KWAANG—!

There was a deafening crack as the blade came down, cleaving straight through the monster’s shell.

The whole thing happened in the blink of an eye.

To the untrained eye, it would have been nothing but a blur; the movement was too fast and fl*id to follow.

But to Eldrian, every movement was in slow motion. He saw the sweep of her blade, the ripple of her red hair, and the sparks flying as the black sword met the chitinous shell.

Once again, his breath caught in his throat.