Chapter 136: The Preparation for the Hunt (5)

Chapter 136: The Preparation for the Hunt (5)

“It’s really hard to meet you, maybe because you are famous,” a man spoke.

As he was returning to the keep, the sun slowly set and the sky turned scarlet. Underneath the Lionheart’s flag, which was hung high, a shadow abruptly rose beneath a rampart.

Eugene silently stared at the shadow. A man stepped out of it with an easy-going smile on his face.

“Hector Lionheart,” Eugene said.

Hector slowly approached Eugene, holding out his hand for a handshake.

“I hope I wasn’t being rude to the main family’s son.”

“I didn’t think it was rude.”

Eugene didn’t leave Hector hanging. As they briefly shook hands, Hector grinned.

“If I could do as I please, I would’ve liked to say hello to you when you arrived a while ago,” he said. He was sitting on the rampart across from where Eugene was standing.

The first encounter with Hector had been brief. They had met each other’s gaze, smiled, and waved. That was all.

“I didn’t want to play smug among young people just because I am a few years older than you. Besides, only the people who participated in the same Bloodline Continuation Ceremony went to greet you earlier, right? It would have been pretty awkward if I had been there.”

“I assume you have an interest in me, am I right?”

“Everyone does.”

They let go of each other’s hands. During that brief contact, however, Eugene could figure out many things about Hector.

‘He’s strong.’

A martial artist’s hands—their stocky hands, their calluses, and the thickness of their joints—said a lot about the martial artist. Depending on what kind of weapons a martial artist used, their hands ended up taking a certain form.

“We seem to be a little bit alike,” Hector spoke, smiling.

Eugene also agreed with him. Hector’s hands appeared to be those of a swordsman, but also looked like a spearman’s. In other words, his hands resembled Eugene’s.

‘It seems that he uses any weapons he can get his hands on. He also seems like a skillful hand-to-hand fighter.’

His neatly refined mana control especially piqued Eugene’s interest. People did say that Hector had been the most outstanding genius of the collateral families, and it didn’t look like they were exaggerating. If Eugene hadn’t shown up, Hector would still have been called the most outstanding genius of the collateral lines.

“Is that because we are both called geniuses?”

“That is one of the reasons.” Hector chuckled as he nodded. “Just like I said, anyone would be interested in you. People will be interested in you even if they aren’t members of the Lionheart clan. And if they are, all the more reason for them to be interested in you.”

“What do you mean when you say ‘interest,’ Sir Hector?”

“Hmm. I mean a desire to win…and also plain old curiosity.”

“What about jealousy?” Eugene threw the question. Although he openly asked this in order to gauge Hector’s reaction and see what he was planning in his head, Hector looked at him with wide eyes.

“Why would I be jealous?” Hector asked in shock.

“You have also been called a genius and won first place in the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony.”

“Ah…right. I have walked a similar path as you, but I didn’t get to be adopted by the main family like you did.” Hector nodded after he belatedly understood what Eugene meant. “Me being jealous about that… Hmm, I guess it could be viewed that way.”

“I apologize for my rude question.” Eugene bowed to Hector after taking a step back. When he did, Hector rather seemed baffled.

“No, don’t apologize. I fully understand your situation. Well, it is embarrassing to say it myself, but many other people were jealous of me too, just like they’re jealous of you.”

It was inevitable. When a person was called a genius, other people became jealous of them in one way or another.

“I can’t blame you for thinking that way and staying on guard against me. But I am really not jealous of you. I am in awe of you, though.”

“In awe?”

“Yes, you are a really cool person. Although I said that you and I were alike, we are incomparable, to be honest. When I participated in the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony, the main family members didn’t participate. But how about you? You competed with not one, but three children from the main house, and you still won.” 

Hector’s eyes shone.

“I wouldn’t have been able to do what you have done, achieve what you have achieved since you were adopted. That is why I am in awe of you. Anyway, shall we walk? I don’t have enough things to talk about that would require me to sit somewhere and talk over a drink. Besides, we stay in the same keep, so we are going to walk on the same path, aren’t we?”

“Any topic can turn into a conversation.”

“Not sure… I think forcing a conversation to continue causes a relationship to worsen. Or do you mean that you have a lot of stuff to talk about with me?”

“Do you not have anything else to talk with me, Sir Hector?”

“No.”

“Haven’t you been waiting for me?”

“I think I did enough by waiting. A conversation isn’t essential to explain how much I am interested in you. For no reason at all, I came all the way here to wait for you, and we are walking back together as I naturally talk about small things, without forcing a conversation.” 

Hector said nothing for a while, then suddenly broke into laughter.

“My, my. I said it myself, but it is pretty embarrassing. You aren’t getting any wrong ideas, are you?”

“I’m used to it,” Eugene answered as he thought of Balzac Ludbeth, the Black Tower Master.

“If you are that interested in me, why don’t we try sparring a little?”

“No, I will decline. I am not the kind of person that volunteers to get humiliated.”

“I think you are too harsh with yourself.”

“Haha! Thank you for putting it that way, but I’m nothing compared to you.”

“I have also heard a lot about you, Sir Hector. You are an honorary knight of the White Fang Order, right?”

“That medal is truly nothing. Do you know how many White Fang Knights there are in Ruhr? There are at least five hundred of them, but how about your pass to Akron? Aren’t there ten passes at most?” Hector guffawed, shaking his head. “From the start, an honorary knight title is honorary, just as the name suggests. My name is listed as one of the White Fang Knights, but that doesn’t mean I am really a White Fang Knight. With your talent, I am pretty sure you would become an honorary White Fang Knight even faster than me. ”

Eugene was interested in the Ruhr Kingdom, but he wasn't really interested in the White Fang Knights, the royal knights of Ruhr.

‘No, would it be better if I became a White Fang to dig up news about Molon?’ Eugene wondered.

Since he wasn’t a citizen of Ruhr, Eugene would be an honorary knight at most. Just like Hector had said, the title was honorary. When would he ever become a member of Ruhr’s royal family if he started at the bottom?

‘I wish Cyan would just marry a princess of Ruhr,’ Eugene grumbled.

The main family was considering numerous candidates to be Cyan’s wife, and a princess of Ruhr was one of them. However, there was a problem—she had just turned ten.

“Hector!” Genia Lionheart suddenly called out for Hector from a window on an upper floor. She scowled when she saw Eugene and Hector standing together.

“You must be close to her,” Eugene calmly spoke.  

“We are meeting for the first time in years, but yeah, we are pretty close.”

Genia stepped on the railing, then jumped over. Although she jumped from a pretty high place, she landed without making a sound. She strode toward Hector.

“Why are you two coming together?” Genia asked.

“We met in the middle,” Hector answered.

She clearly didn’t like his answer. With a fierce look, she looked back and forth between Eugene and Hector.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Go where?” Hector bafflingly asked.

“You promised to spar with me!” Genia snapped, grabbing onto Hector’s wrist. It seemed Hector didn’t want to spar, but he didn’t shake off Genia’s grip.

“Will you come with us?” Hector turned back to Eugene while Hector was getting dragged away. 

Before Eugene could say anything, Genia pulled Hector’s wrist even harder, frowning.

“I don’t want to show him,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Don’t show what?”

“Me sparring… I mean, I don’t want to show him my skills…!” Genia said so as quietly as possible. However, Eugene could hear their conversation crystal clear due to his keen senses.

Watching the two with a bitter face, Eugene was having an inner conflict. If he could do as he pleased, he would’ve liked to follow them. He wasn’t interested in their skills one bit, but he wanted to pester them about watching their sparring session, precisely because Genia didn’t want him to watch.

‘If only she wasn’t Genos’ daughter.’ Eugene grumbled.

He could understand Genia on some level. Besides, Genos would be in a tight spot as her father if Genia ended up hating Eugene any more than she did right now. In the end, Eugene took a few steps back, as if he was doing them a favor.

“Thank you for the offer, but I think I will have to decline. I’m a bit tired, I’ve been summoned here and there right after I arrived.”

“Summoned?” Genia raised an eyebrow. “My father didn’t summon you, you just visited my father on your own.”

Genia left, dragging Hector with her.

‘It seems she really likes her father,’ Eugene thought as Genia and Hector got further away. 

Eugene turned the opposite way and returned to the keep.

The hunt was due in two days. Unlike the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony, attendance wasn't mandatory and the event was held at pretty short notice. Despite that, many people from the collateral family participated, such as Gargith, Dezra, and Deacon.

‘I don’t remember anything about Deacon.’

Seven years ago, there had been only two people who had caught a little bit of Eugene’s attention during the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony: Gargith and Dezra. Aside from them, there had also been several people from the collateral family, but they were a bunch of losers not worth remembering.

‘If I have to remember… I do remember a fat bastard. ’

His name was Hansen or something.

“Ah…”

Deacon had been eleven at the time. Although he had been incomparable to Gargith and Dezra, Eugene had heard that Deacon had achieved a pretty brilliant exploit. With arrows stuck in his body, he had marched forward without giving up… However, he had gotten swallowed by a slime and ended up being rescued at the end.

‘He is still better than the other losers,’ Eugene thought as he stared at Deacon, whom he had just met in the middle of the hallway.

Deacon didn’t make much of an impression even after seven years. His body had gotten quite big, yet he still had the face of an eighteen-year-old boy.

“He, hello…” Deacon stutteringly said his greetings and passed Eugene by as if he was running away.

Eugene kept walking, but he could sense Deacon watching him from behind. When he glanced back, he could see Deacon staring at him from far away. Deacon had also stopped walking.

“…Do you have something to say to me?”

“No, no. I don't.” Deacon flinched, then shook his head. He turned back again and walked away at a fast pace.

“He lacks spirit,” Mer said as she stuck her head out of the cloak. After she glanced at Deacon, who just kept walking, she hopped toward the door of Eugene’s room.

“I think there are only two people whom you should pay attention to, Hector and Genia. What do you think, Sir Eugene?”

“Why do I have to pay attention to them?”

“Those two might attack you on the order of the Council of Elder’s Chief,” Mer spoke quietly after she and Eugene entered the room.

“I don’t think the Chief will take matters into his own hands, considering his position. The Black Lion Knights are the knights who do the Lionhearts’ dirty work in the first place, right? On top of that, he is the Chief. There will be plenty of men who will soil their hands on his behalf. ”

“You may be right,” Eugene apathetically said as he approached a window in his room.

“Just like you said, Hector or Genia may be the Chief’s assassin. Or Deacon might be the one who tries to stab me in the back, much to everyone’s surprise.”

“Hmm…that little boy who had no spirit?” Mer asked doubtfully.

“The best person to carry out an assassination is the one nobody expects.”

It wasn’t just Deacon. There were tons of people who would stain their hands on the Chief’s command. Although Eugene couldn’t tell if one of the Black Lions or another Lionheart participating in this hunt was one such person…

‘…I really don’t think Gargith will be the assassin.’

Maybe Eugene was trusting Gargith prematurely, but he really couldn’t imagine Gargith trying to stab him in the back on the Chief’s order.

‘Maybe Dezra will be the assassin.’ 

Eugene stood beside the window and looked outside. Dezra and Gargith were standing in the corner of a big gymnasium. Gargith was focusing on exercising his muscles, still wearing the top that offered an embarrassing view of his chest and armpits. Of course, the embarrassed one wasn’t Gargith. A little further away, Dezra was practicing with her spear.

“…They are working hard. Does that man, Gargith, fight using his muscles?” Mer asked. 

“No… I think he used a greatsword if I remember correctly…”

“But why is he only doing strength exercises instead of swinging a greatsword?”

“Umm… I’m not sure…” Eugene turned away with a sour face. The only people in the gymnasium were Gargith and Dezra. Deacon had returned to his room, and Eward… Eugene hadn’t seen him after they said their hellos.

“It seems he cooped himself up in his room,” Ciel told Eugene as she let herself in Eugene’s room.

Quietly glaring at Mer, who was rolling around on the soft bed, she continued. “From what I heard, he also eats in his room. I thought he became a little bit more sociable when he said hello to you first, but I guess he didn’t change much.”

“I think he’s better than he was when he was in Aroth.”

“I can’t really tell, but I think Father will like it when he sees Eward.” Ciel snorted. “Wouldn’t it be possible that Eward is participating in this hunt because he wants Father to react? No, maybe that’s what Lady Tanis wants. It would be awkward for her to say that she wants to go back to the main house now, so she is subtly revealing her desire to return by showing how much Eward has changed.”

“But the Patriarch can’t make it to this hunt.”

“Yes, you are right. Father is at the palace now… Can I be honest?”

“Since when did you need my permission to talk honestly? ”

“I’m glad Father isn’t at the Black Lion Castle right now. You may not know this, but do you know how many times Father had to lower his head to other people for Eward? Father consistently participated in the Council of Elders’ regular meeting, asking them to forgive Eward. ”

Since she was seventeen, Ciel had been living in the Black Lion Castle. That was why she knew how hard Gilead had tried over the past three years. He often visited the Black Lion castle and attended meetings to defend Eward.

“Originally, Eward should have been disowned. Being disowned is a given, considering how he tried to learn black magic despite being the first son of the main family. The only reason Eward didn’t get disowned was that Father begged and begged to stop it from happening, saying he couldn’t abandon his first son.”

That was why Ciel hated Eward.

“He was the one who put Father in such a spot… but Lady Tanis blamed Father instead, right? It’s so absurd that it’s not even funny. What did Father do wrong? Is it Father’s fault that Eward is a wuss?” Ciel furiously asked.

“Umm… He is not totally blameless,” Eugene answered.

Ciel scowled at Eugene.

“I mean… It’s true that the Patriarch was away from the main house a lot when you guys were children.”

“You’re right, but Cyan and I didn’t become idiots like Eward. Mother raised us well. The only reason why Eward became a fool is that Lady Tanis raised him wrong.”

“Ummm…. To be honest, I don’t think you and Cyan would have become the mature adults you are today if I hadn’t come to live in the main house. ”

“Speak for Cyan, not me!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“Anyhow, I can’t tolerate this. Along with Eward, Lady Tanis should also humbly apologize to the Patriarch if they really want to return to the main house.”

“Then, can they come back if they apologize?”

“Why would I stop them?”

“Lady Ancilla may hate it.”

“Ha!” Ciel snorted, shaking her head. “Do you think Lady Tanis will be a match to Mother just because she returned to the main house? The servants in the house are loyal to Mother, they already consider Mother as the sole mistress of the Lionheart clan. You don’t know this, but it has been this way for a long time. They treated Lady Tanis as their master only because she is the first mistress. Mother is considered to be better than Lady Tanis when it comes to managing clan affairs.”

“I don’t really know…” Eugene trailed off. 

“You don’t know the situation. No matter what kind of method Lady Tanis uses, she will never be respected in the same way she used to be. That also applies to the hunt that will take place two days from now. The current situation will never change no matter what Eward does in the hunt.” Ciel’s eyes narrowed. “He’s still Eward. Of course, I’m not lowering my guard. This is why Cyan is still training without returning to the main house. I’m going to do overwhelmingly better than Eward. ”

“You are at an advantage. You must have hunted demonic beasts several times in this place, right?”

“I haven’t gotten deep into the forest yet, though…” Ciel murmured.

Her shoulders twitched as she suddenly realized something. She had a powerful advantage—experience. There were no demonic beasts in other areas; not in Aroth, the Nahama Dessert, or the Samar Rainforest.

“Hehe.” Ciel grinned as she stared at Eugene.“You must have met many monsters, but you haven’t met demonic beasts, right? Do you know this? Monsters and demonic beasts look similar, but they are entirely different creatures. Monsters become violent because they are affected by demonic energy. Meanwhile, demonic beasts are born from demonic…”

“Pfft…” Mer tried to hold her laughter.

“...That is why their existence alone is ominous. Even a low-ranking demonic beast has a magical ability, unlike monsters…” Ciel ignored Mer and continued.

“Hehe…” Mer was having a really hard time holding her laughter.

“…What I’m saying is… It will be dangerous for you to roam around alone. The Black Lions are accompanying you, but since you are the main family’s son, you have to be able to hunt alone and get achievements. Don’t worry too much. Unlike you, your sister here has a lot of experience in hunting demonic beasts, so if we stick together…” 

“Ha… Hahaha!” Mer finally broke into laughter.

“Why are you keep laughing?” Ciel turned to Mer, crumpling her face. Burying her face in a pillow, Mer was lying and pounding on the bed with her legs.

“It’s…not…nothing,” Mer answered, half crying. She knew Eugene was the reincarnation of Hamel, so she naturally found Ciel’s boasting unbearably funny. An expert in hunting demonic beasts? There wasn’t a better expert than Eugene in the whole continent.

‘…What is up with her?’

Since Ciel had no way of knowing that, she had no idea why Mer was laughing at her.

Although he wasn’t being obvious as Mer, Eugene was desperately holding in his laughter.

“What is up with you too?!” Ciel shouted after seeing Eugene’s annoyingly twitching cheeks.

“No…nothing… Yes… You are cute, very cute. Yeah, I’m counting on you, Ciel. I don’t know much when it comes to demonic beasts, I will trust you, who knows about demonic beasts…better…better than…better than me…”

“Why are you laughing?!” 

Ciel could feel that she was being mocked, and she had no idea why.