Chapter 2

At the exact moment Beatrice Winter woke up as if seized by a fit, Erich von Schwert also opened his eyes.

It was because a cat softly purred in the blue light of dawn.

His dark blue eyes were clear, without a hint of drowsiness. It was as if the sleep that had just enveloped him was nothing but a lie.

The man’s gaze clicked into place.

And the cat cried again.

Erich von Schwert finally sat up and looked crookedly at his companion cat. Whether the cat knew its owner’s annoyed gaze or not, it merely licked its white paw.

“Louis. Because of you, I wake up early every day.”

Louis didn’t bother to listen and continued grooming its fur. The sight of its red tongue flicking was rather irritating.

What could he do? It was the fate of a caretaker.

Erich sighed and slowly stood up. He was quite fed up with the idea that another day had begun.

As usual, he first made his bed, washed his face briefly, and then grabbed his sword.

Louis, who followed his morning training about half the time, seemed to have decided to stay in the room today. There was no gentle sound of paws tickling his ears.

Unsurprisingly, the training ground at dawn was empty.

It had been five years since the end of the Third Human-Monster War. In other words, five years since peace settled over the human world.

Even the elite knights of the Schwert Grand Ducal House, who once risked their lives on the front lines to protect humanity, had grown lax in that time.

Erich focused his breath as he infused spiritual power into the tip of his sword. His already sensitive senses became sharper, and all kinds of stimuli poured in.

He calmly distinguished every stimulus that flooded him.

The sound of ants struggling to move a grain. The scent of crushed clover. Leaves falling between the dim dawn. And then.

Wuuung. The sword hummed.

The sword that had ended thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of monsters seemed to feel as awkward about this peace as its master did. Erich tapped the hilt soothingly and rubbed his ear with his other hand.

To someone accustomed to the sound of giant beasts trampling humans, the acrid smoke of wildfires, and forests of corpses burned by lightning…

It was a truly oppressive silence.

Others may have found five years enough to wash away the traces of war, but for him, it was insufficient. He felt neither surprise nor regret.

Erich von Schwert, one of humanity’s two great heroes, the Sword Saint, raised his sword.

A frost-laden strike swept across the world.

Anyone who could witness his movement would be compelled to admire its precision and power. Speed. Balance. Weight. Strength. Technique. Every element reached the pinnacle of perfection in his actions.

Erich continued training until he was satisfied, then finally stopped.

On his way back to his bedroom, treading through darkness, there was no sign of sunrise yet.

This ordinary morning became special when Erich finished washing.

After feeding Louis, he tried to button his shirt properly. It would have happened if he hadn’t glanced at the mirror.

Erich stopped his hand.

On the shiny surface of the mirror, a rather strange image was reflected. No matter how many times he blinked, the anomaly did not disappear.

Erich lightly stepped closer to the mirror. Standing right in front, he carefully, very carefully, examined his chest reflected on the surface.

A brand had appeared near his heart.

[Beatrice Winter]

The name of his long-time comrade and ex-lover had suddenly appeared on his skin.

It was enough to make a ghost wail. Chewing over the absurdity, Erich examined each letter from B to r once more.

The handwriting was exactly hers.

Anyone seeing this would think Beatrice Winter had played a prank and signed his skin. Erich von Schwert traced the letters with a hardened expression.

It wouldn’t come off. Of course.

After ten years as the partner of a genius sorceress, he had gained some common sense about sorcery.

Erich easily recognized that the brand suddenly appearing on his chest was the result of a spell.

The problem was figuring out exactly what kind of spell it was…

Ultimately, it was irritating.

Erich furrowed his brow deeply and buttoned his shirt.

Both the suddenly appearing name and its owner were nothing but sources of irritation.

* * * 

A pure white woman strode boldly along the soot-filled road. Her striking whiteness was not just because of her clothes.

Hair so white it was indistinguishable from her outfit.

Her intense white hair sparkled even more brilliantly against the dark background. Even her eyes were silver-gray, giving her an impression wrapped in light.

Beatrice Winter, dressed in a way that made her an easy target, was inspecting the ‘Forsaken Forest’. The forest humanity had barely conquered still had not revived.

Whenever the wind blew, black branches lost their shape and crumbled.

The acrid wind carried black ash and heavy charcoal. Beatrice blocked the pollutants that tried to dirty her lungs by creating a transparent barrier.

Snapping her fingers briskly, she bent down and fiddled with the soil.

“The contamination is still here.”

Beatrice murmured anxiously as she rubbed the soil grains.

“It doesn’t seem purified.”

The turbid energy flowing from the ‘Abyss’ polluted nature and mutated animals into ‘monsters’.

Thus, humans tried to seal the Abyss, and monsters tried to stop them. In short, the long war that lasted decades was a clash between races with opposing wills.

And five years ago.

Humanity found and killed the monster holding the ‘Key of the Abyss’, sealing the Abyss and becoming the victors of the Third War.

“No matter how I look at it, it’s contaminated.”

Beatrice snapped her fingers sharply. The ongoing contamination implied one of two things:

Either the monster that became the ‘key’ had been reborn,

Or a monster that survived the brutal war back then still remained.

Beatrice considered the latter possibility. If there were any surviving monsters in the ‘Forsaken Forest’…

It was likely a <Blue Grizzly>. They were the strongest species.

Beatrice wrinkled her nose lightly and took a coin out of her pocket. Tossing it several times in the air, she narrowed her eyes.

Her sensitive hearing caught a noise.

Noise, in this forest.

Beatrice raised her tension to the max and smirked. The end of her red lips oozed a faint hint of menace.

If even one <Blue Grizzly> was alive, she could enjoy a rather thrilling hunt.

<Blue Grizzly> would never have forgotten Beatrice Winter. Just as Beatrice could never forget those damned bear cubs that massacred the young sorcerers of the Ivory Tower.

As the woman chewed over her grudge, her figure suddenly shot like an arrow.

But when Beatrice reached the source of the sound, she couldn’t help but frown.

“Hm?”

Uttering a single syllable, Beatrice crossed her arms slowly. At her feet, a gray rabbit was struggling and squeaking.

Ears much larger than those of a typical rabbit. And big teeth.

A rabbit undergoing ‘monsterification’.

“What is this?”

As if to answer her question, the rabbit let out a small squeak. The cute sound left Beatrice even more dumbfounded.

Goodness, a rabbit monster.

Among all the monsters humanity had witnessed so far, there had never been one based on a small herbivore.

Monsters always mutated from beasts, birds of prey, large mammals, or poisonous animals—creatures that could easily kill humans. For example, even the monster that was the ‘key’ was a <Helmet Elephant>.

Beatrice was reviewing her common sense. The coin between her fingers popped out and began spinning in the air.

– Tower Master.

It was a telepathic message from her secretary, Maximine.

“Why?”

– An urgent message has arrived from the Schwert Grand Ducal House.

“What’s in it?”

– Aside from the phrase urgently requesting the Tower Master’s visit, there’s nothing else. The reason for the request itself seems highly confidential.

“Hm……”

The only one in Schwert who could summon her without stating the reason was just one person.

Beatrice took her eyes off the coin and looked around the dark forest.

Maybe because the whole world was black.

She recalled the man whose blue eyes contained darkness. Thinking of her old comrade, Beatrice tousled her hair.

They were ‘perfectly’ ex-lovers and, thus, perfect ‘ex-lovers’.

Maintaining a thoroughly public relationship without revealing any personal feelings.

Schwert, who always kept an appropriate distance, must have a reason for summoning her.

“All right.”

Beatrice answered calmly.

“I’ll return immediately. Tell the elders I’ll go straight to the Grand Ducal House without stopping by the Ivory Tower.”

– Understood.

Beatrice bent down and grabbed the rabbit. Putting the struggling animal in her pocket, she quickly started to exit the forest.

Her destination this time: Northern Birka.

And there, the most imposing place—Schwert ducal residence.

* * *

Exactly three days after receiving the Schwert Grand Ducal House’s message, Beatrice arrived at the ducal residence.