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Chapter 116

But he was also an example of what a noble should be, with his strict etiquette and clean manners.

He possessed the elegance, class, charisma, and leadership required for someone who would stand above the common folk...

Eddy had concluded that Hector was worthy of being his lord. He hadn’t doubted that Hector could become the Bednicker family head in the future.

Had.

But over the course of this training camp, Hector had changed slightly.

Eddy would need to wait and see if it was a positive change, but one thing was for certain: Hector had become gentler.

At first, Eddy had been surprised and taken aback by this change...

But he’d decided that the current Hector wasn’t bad either.

Hector used to be fierce and cold toward others, so when he had suddenly become gentler, it had felt as if he’d grown as an individual.

However...

Even if they were brothers from different mothers, blood is still blood.

Actually, Hector hadn’t been too shaken up when he’d first heard Luan had gone missing.

“He’s the type to not die even if you kill him. He’ll be fine.”

However, when one, two, and then three days had passed without any trace of Luan...

When House Bednicker had declared Luan missing, Hector’s face...

“O-of course!” Hans finally said, his face stiff. “P-please follow me...!”

He was normally timid, so he probably wasn’t lying straight to Hector’s face...

Eddy worried about the other possibilities as he followed after Hector.

At some point, he glanced backward and asked, “Are you okay?”

Sellen nodded and quietly responded, “Yes.”

It had been more than a month now that they had been working together, but Eddy still found interacting with Sellen Goodspring to be uncomfortable.

As a child of a famous house, it was natural that she be more dignified than others...

But sometimes it felt like he was talking to a wall.

“...”

Of course, that was what Sellen wanted.

Sellen had wanted to avoid forming deep relationships with the young heroes here, and she’d been acting to make sure nothing of the sort happened.

That was why talking so much with that weird kid had been beyond her expectations.

Would he really have just died like that?

She couldn’t say.

From the way he’d spoken and acted, she’d been able to tell that he wasn’t ordinary...

But on the other hand, if she were asked about his performance during the training camp, she wouldn’t be able to say he was extraordinary either.

However, she was still impressed by how calm and calculated he’d been during their battle against Hariba.

I don’t get it.

But...

I don’t think he would’ve died so easily.

That was what her intuition said.

To be honest, there were a few more things she couldn’t understand.

Why had nothing happened during the second special test?

The sudden appearance of the Instructor of Swords and Blades and Juan’s sudden departure... were those connected to Luan’s death?

That seemed likely.

What was important was that Sellen didn’t have the authority to look into and investigate this incident.

Ignoring the fact that she was just a young hero, the Goodspring name was an obstacle here.

And I ended up in this state because I did too much during the second special test.

Sellen had been sure that a calamity would occur during the second special test.

That was why she’d pushed so hard, even using the Goodspring name to command the other young heroes.

But in the end, it had all been for naught.

Other than a few days\' extension due to the search party being formed for Luan, the second special test had ended without incident.

During that process, two young heroes had died, but that was due to monsters...

In the end, the young heroes who had listened to Sellen had ended up suffering major losses.

They had used their precious points to buy lots of food and water, and they hadn’t been able to achieve results that could compensate for that.

Because Sellen had been the leader, her authority had disappeared after that incident, although nobody had actively gone against her due to her name.

It was for that reason that her team was working alongside Hector’s in the final test.

Step.

They walked through the forest with Hans at the front.

Eddy approached Hector and whispered in a low voice, “It’s still odd. I feel like it’s a trap. That idiot is probably just being used without realizing it.”

Hector nodded as he responded, “Probably. But we’ll still follow him because if we do, we’ll be able to meet Charon Woodjack.”

“...Understood.”

Hector was truly aiming for first place, and if he wanted to do that, he would need to defeat Charon during this test.

Given how strongly Hector had said those words, Eddy couldn’t do anything but nod.

After about half a days of travel...

Hans suddenly stopped and pointed toward a dark cave.

“Ch-Charon is in there.”

“...”

One of the members of Hector’s original team, Pam, let out a laugh.

“Are you serious? You want us to go in there?”

“Th-that’s...”

Eddy felt a burst of anger rise up as he glared at Hans. “This bastard thinks we’re stupid...”

Sellen, who had been following along, looked into the cave with a hardened expression.

Because she knew of this cave, and she knew of this cave’s master.

“Let’s go.”

When Hector gave the command, the other young heroes looked around at each other in surprise.

“But Sir Hector...”

“I don’t care if you don’t come with me.”

“...Ehm.”

There was nothing they could do when he said that.

After exchanging glances with each other, the other team members nodded before stepping into the dark cave.

The cave was decently wide on the inside, and it was warmer than expected.

It was so wide that they didn’t have to worry about being surrounded.

“Pam, could you take the lead?”

“Yep.”

After nodding, Pam stepped to the front.

Flash!

She used her Blessing of the Raptor, and her pupils became enlarged.

Pam quickly looked around the entirety of the interior of the cave.

“I don’t see any traps.”

“What about Charon?”

“I feel a presence at the end of the cave. There’s only one person, but I can’t tell if it\'s Charon or not.”

“Good work.”

The cave was big, but it wasn’t that deep.

After walking a bit deeper, they found another open area.

“Ugh...”

Pam pinched her nose.

This area was filled with a disgusting stench.

At this point in the camp, even these nobles knew what the smell was.

It was the stench of a rotting corpse.

The area was filled with mounds of rotting flesh and bones, and there was a huge stone at the center.

“...”

Charon Woodjack was sitting there.

“Looks like the Master of the Cave left for a moment.” His deep voice echoed throughout the cave. “He probably went out to get something to eat. From what I can tell, he’ll return around sunset. There’s about two hours left until then.”

“So? I don’t think you called us so we can defeat it together.”

“Of course not.”

After looking around a little, Hector asked, “Are you alone?”

Charon smirked before jumping down from the rock.

Flash!

At this moment, many young heroes suddenly appeared at the entrance.

Pam furrowed her brow.

There wasn’t anyone here just a moment ago.

“It’s Sinbar’s Blessing of Shortened Earth. He can only use it twice a day, and as you can see, it allows for teleportation.”

Hector furrowed his brow.

“What are you planning?”

“Your team and my team, our overall capabilities are similar. We can’t easily decide who will win.”

“So?”

“I decided to use the environment a little. From what I can tell, none among your eight has a mobility blessing...”

“...”

“We cannot kill you, but... we aren’t the Master of the Cave.”

No... this guy...

“So we’ll make a deal here. Drop all the balls you have and leave. Then I’ll let you go.”

Only now did Hector realize the situation. He smirked.

“And if we don’t take that deal?”

“You’ll have to fight us. Until the Master of the Cave returns. And when he does, we’ll use the Blessing of Shortened Earth to immediately withdraw.”

“...Sigh.”

He knew just how strong the Master of the Cave was.

With his current forces, Hector’s team couldn’t defeat it. He wondered why they even let a monster like that roam the training camp area.

“Don’t touch the other young heroes’ balls.”

“What?”

“In the first place, isn’t your goal me alone? I’m the only one who has a chance of catching up to your points.”

“...”

“Shut up and just fight me one-on-one. The winner will take all of the loser’s balls. If I lose, I’ll honor the terms without resisting.”

“And why should I do that?” Charon responded with a tilt of his head. “You are weaker than me, but if we fight, I’ll definitely become exhausted. I don’t want to waste energy on a useless fight.”

“Do you not have any pride?”

“The pride of a hunter is determined only by the worth of their prey. It’s completely different from this empty honor you noble brats talk about.”

“...”

“Rather, I’m curious, Hector Bednicker... Why are you so incessant about getting first place? Is it because you’re a Bednicker? Or was Luan Bednicker’s death that shocking to you?” As if Charon was confused, he continued, “I can’t understand it. He was an idiot. He didn’t die during the test, he just went missing because he left the camp in the middle of the night for no reason.”

“...You.”

“If he was that weak, well... he would’ve already died in one of the other tests anyway. Rather, isn’t this better for you because you didn’t have to see his corpse?”

Hector gave a cold smile.

“You talk too much. It seems you’re not confident you can beat me in a duel.”

When he said that, Zeros, who had been quiet the entire time, finally spoke.

“The young master of Bednicker is using such an obvious provocation. As Charon said, there is no reason for us to take such a risk—”

“Interesting.”

“Charon?”

Charon drew his shortsword as he said, “But I’ll change the conditions. I will duel you, and the team of the one who loses will have to give up all their balls to the winner’s team.”

Hector hesitated.

“That’s...”

“Please accept it, Sir Hector,” said Eddy.

When Hector turned around, he could see the slight smiles on the faces of his team members.

“Let’s show these guys!”

“Show them just how strong you’ve become in this training camp, sir Hector!”

“We believe in you, Mr. Hector...”

“You guys...” Hector gave a satisfied smile as he turned back to Charon. “All right. I accept those conditions.”

“Come, brat. I’ll show you the difference between me and a sheltered flower like you.”

While the two young heroes burned with fighting spirit, Sellen thought to herself, I never agreed to this.

* * * * *

* * * * *

It had been about an hour since I’d entered the Forest of the Butterfly.

I wasn’t doing anything special. Really, I was just taking a walk.

“The air is nice...”

Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I’d been able to look around the Forest of the Butterfly with a calm spirit like this.

Without the influence of demonic energy, the forest was beautiful.

Due to how dense the foliage was, it was pretty dark, but it wouldn’t be wrong to call this vast land filled with thick and tall trees “a grand scene.”

If not for the monsters, this place could’ve probably been used for tourism.

Roaaaar!

If not for the monsters.

I saw monsters that looked like bears charging toward me.

There was a grey bear, a white bear, and a brown bear.

Of course, with their protruding fangs and large claws, it was obvious they weren’t ordinary beasts.

The white bear was the first to reach me, and when I dodged its claw swipe, its front leg slammed into one of the large trees.

Rumble...!

The tree shook as leaves fell off of it.

Even a knight holding a shield would be crushed if they took one of these bears’ body slams head-on.

In addition, considering their size, their quick movements and tough hide made it difficult to hit their critical points.

Slash.

But on the other hand, that was all they had going for them.

With my Sword of Seven Sins, I beheaded all three bears in half a breath.

This was the sword slash I’d obtained before I’d regressed, after being inspired by the movement of the Lord of Blood and Iron.

It might be obvious, but no matter how tough a monster bear was, they were still much weaker than a demon.

Boom...!

As the three bears all fell nicely next to each other, their bodies were soon enveloped by light.

After that, they disappeared. Only three balls remained where the bears had fallen.

“Oh...”

So it worked like that.

Was this magic as well?

It was honestly quite an interesting field of study.

“Eh. It’s blue.”

Were these 10 points or 15 points?

Well, it didn’t matter to me unless they were worth 25 points... but that didn’t mean I had no use for them.

I walked a little longer while juggling the three blue balls and soon felt another presence near me.

It was a monster again.

“Hmm?”

But it wasn’t just a monster this time.

I could hear a few shouts in between the other sounds, so there were probably young heroes present as well.

Were they fighting?

Dash!

I put the balls in my pocket before going into a full sprint, and I soon arrived where the sounds were coming from.

Under the trees, a few familiar faces were fighting together.

Evan, Mir, and Sharyl...

It’s been a while.

Technically, it had only been yesterday that I’d last seen them, but it really felt like it had been a long while.

Had their battle just ended?

They were panting and looked a bit disheveled.

“...We barely defeated it, but it’s only a green ball?”

“Let’s take it for now. We might be able to make use of it anyway.”

“Got it!”

For some reason, I sensed a bit of experience in their ordered movements.

Maybe it was to be expected of Bednicker’s training camp.

It wasn’t called the “Six Weeks of Despair” for nothing. These guys had grown tremendously since I’d last seen them.

At this point, I revealed my presence.

“Ahem.”

The three, who had let their guard down, were all startled as they looked up at me.

“Hi. It’s been a while.”

“...”

“...”

Evan blinked before saying, “Un...”

Un?

“It’s an undead monster! Prepare for battle!”

The three moved quickly to surround me.

These guys...

They had completely gotten used to Bednicker’s training camp.