The Hunt Begins
Gyal, the massive man, channeled his energy down through the boy's shoulders.
The boy's energy, already leaking out in a tangled mess, began to lash out at Gyal's energy like a thorny vine. Faced with a reaction far more violent than before, Gyal had no choice but to thrust his energy forward more aggressively.
As if in backlash, the boy's body convulsed violently, and he coughed up a dark, reddish-black clump of blood.
His face turned deathly pale in an instant, and his limbs began to tremble as if having a seizure.
Yet, there was nothing else to be done.
Even at this very moment, the boy was continuously absorbing his own energy to heal his wounds. Thanks to the overwhelming scale of his energy, he was holding out much better than expected.
An energy backflow.
A phenomenon where existing energy refuses to accept new energy, causing them to clash.
Gyal had experienced this before, so resolving a clash of this level fell well within his capabilities.
What he couldn't understand was why this was happening when the energy already settled in the boy's body was overwhelmingly larger than the unabsorbed energy.
Normally, an energy backflow only occurred when one absorbed an equal amount of energy or an amount too massive to digest. He had never experienced or even heard of the opposite happening.
Weighing all the circumstances, he could only conclude that the boy's energy had simply exceeded the limits of what his body could handle. Because it could not grow any larger, the two energies could neither consume nor be consumed by each other, locked in an endless struggle for dominance.
To protect a sandcastle that had begun to crumble because no more sand could be piled upon it, there was only one thing left to do.
Gyal seized the wild, smaller energy and began to tear it out by its roots.
"A monster."
No matter how he looked at it, this was not an energy a ten-year-old boy should possess.
Above all, Gyal had never encountered a beast with an energy this massive.
He was simply curious as to how the boy hadn't been consumed by his own energy yet.
The boy's energy was raging wildly, like a predator robbed of its prey.
He had to quickly withdraw his energy before the thrashing grew any worse.
Riiip.
With the sound of something tearing, Gyal's hand pulled away. As a faint trace of energy settled in his heart, color began to return to the boy's deathly pale face.
The heavy downpour that felt as if it would pierce through my body stopped, and a ray of light poured down.
It was not a dazzlingly pale sunlight, but a suffocating red glow that flickered.
"Cough!"
Like a blocked airway bursting open, dry air began to fill my shriveled lungs.
As the familiar silhouette sharpened, the man's figure came into view.
At that moment, I realized I owed the man my life once again.
"...Thank you."
Through the faint candlelight that illuminated the descending darkness, the shouting of soldiers and a flickering red light forced their way in.
The man was looking down at me with a complex, subtle expression.
"The Lord is looking for us."
"I'll get ready."
The energy that had been raging as if to tear my entire body apart grew quiet, as if it had all been a lie.
This made one thing certain.
New energy was no different from a deadly poison.
Even after causing such a massive uproar, the amount of energy I could draw out remained exactly the same as before.
Just because I wanted to use more energy didn't mean it would obey my will.
The quietly dormant energy growled softly, as if agreeing with my thoughts.
Like an ill-tempered master granting authority to a favored slave, it only permitted more power when I produced results that met specific conditions.
I wiped the damp vomit from around my mouth and changed into fresh clothes.
Whatever it is you want, I will hunt it down without fail.
And so, until I devour everything you possess, I will stack my achievements and forge ahead.
Making that vow to myself, I picked up the sword resting in the corner of the room.
Heavily armed soldiers were moving busily toward the ramparts, and the darkened sky was stained a dark reddish-black with smoke and torches.
"Hurry up. We cannot afford any more delay."
As soon as we stepped out of the inn, a knight standing with a grim face spoke as if he had been waiting for us.
Whatever was happening, it was clearly serious. We followed the guiding knight at a brisk pace into the inner castle.
"I have brought the ones you requested."
"Send them in."
The door, engraved with patterns of roses and stags, opened, and we stepped into a room that looked like a council chamber.
Documents of unknown contents lay scattered across a massive table, and a sharp-featured middle-aged man and an exhausted-looking old man sat at the head of the table.
"Your names and affiliations?"
The sharp-featured middle-aged man asked.
He seemed to be Count Dornen, the lord of this territory.
If so, the old man sitting next to him was naturally Count Halstein. These great lords, whom commoners would struggle to see even once in a lifetime, were staring at us with faces that looked half-dead from exhaustion.
"Gyal Bailey. Currently operating under a commission from the Magic Tower."
"From Tyrancia? The Prophet's companions have traveled far."
"She had a specific request for us."
When Gyal, the massive man, pulled a scroll stamped with a white seal from his breast pocket, an attendant standing nearby took it and handed it to Count Dornen.
"A white crow holding a mistletoe berry."
Sighing deeply as he looked at the crest stamped on the seal, Count Dornen unrolled the scroll and began to examine its contents.
"It bears His Majesty's official seal. A request for cooperation. Then, is this boy the person written here?"
"He is."
In an instant, the eyes of everyone in the council chamber shifted toward me.
I bowed politely to show my respect.
"I am Kamil of Malabiche."
"Malabiche is your territory. Are you a refugee?"
Count Halstein, who had received the scroll from Count Dornen, looked up and met my eyes.
I shook my head and replied.
"Right after our village was attacked by the beasts... Gyal saved me. We met the refugees on our way here."
"He is young, but exceptionally skilled. Though he cannot be compared to a man like Gyal, he also has the merit of saving me and the refugees by slaying monsters. In my brief estimation, his talent is more than enough to rival any knight I have ever seen."
Jude, who had been watching from the side, added an explanation.
At that, a strange gleam appeared in the eyes of the people who hadn't spared me a single glance until now.
"You must have served as a squire. Who was your master?"
"I only helped my parents run a general store. I have never formally learned the sword."
Hearing that, they quickly lost interest and turned their gazes away one by one.
I had nothing to hide. Clumsy lies didn't suit my nature, and I had no reason to seek their approval anyway.
Flustered by my response, Count Dornen looked at Count Halstein, who in turn stared at Jude with eyes full of unspoken questions.
"It is hard for even me to believe. But as I said, I guarantee the boy's abilities. If that is not enough, there are plenty of people outside who can testify to it."
Yet Jude didn't even flush, merely keeping his back straight and proud.
After a brief silence, Count Dornen got to the main point.
"Our scouts have spotted a beast heading this way. They say its appearance and size are completely different from the ones that have attacked the castle so far. To be honest, I don't even know if we can take it down with our forces alone. We've already sent out several subjugation squads, but none have returned."
As if his throat were burning with anxiety, Count Dornen repeatedly emptied the cup in front of him.
"We can't fight a siege without any information. There are over ten thousand people living in the outer castle, including the refugees. My duty is to protect them; I cannot gamble with their lives. I hear you two are experts at hunting these monsters. Is that true?"
When the Count asked us, Gyal nodded slightly.
"If it's within reason, it can be done. It would be even better if we had a mage."
"Devon?"
The sound of clanking metal came from behind.
The soldier guarding the door answered loudly.
"Lady Rosia is currently tending to the wounded at the church!"
"Go tell her I'm looking for her. Damn it, tell her to get over here right now if she doesn't want to see the body count rise!"
"Yes, sir!"
Once the soldier left with his orders, the council chamber fell into a noisy bustle.
Amidst the priests offering prayers for the dead, those whispering suspiciously while glancing our way, and others engaged in heated debates over information about the monster, Count Halstein and Jude approached us.
"I heard you saved my people. I feel deeply apologetic for sending you into the jaws of death before I could even offer a proper reward. I promise to support you in any way I can."
"It is something we would have done even without being asked. The Prophet herself requested the subjugation of the beasts, so do not let it weigh on your mind."
"I have incurred a debt to the Magic Tower as well. I shall remember this."
Count Halstein bowed his head slightly in gratitude.
While Jude watched this, looking restless and unsure of what to do, the closed doors of the council chamber burst open with a loud crash.
"Telling me to shut up and get over here if I don't want to clean up corpses! How could you say such a thing?"
With silver hair that looked like moonlight reflected on water fluttering behind her, a beautiful woman with a heavily scowling face stormed in.
Naturally passing by Gyal and me as we stood near the door, she slammed both hands onto the table, demanding an explanation.
Carson, who had followed her in, bowed his head repeatedly in a panic and began to explain.
"Lady Rosia! When did I ever say it like that..."
"It's practically the same thing! Do you think I don't know how the Lord usually talks?"
"Rosia, Rosia!"
Count Dornen, shouting at Rosia as she bickered with the flustered Carson, slammed his fist on the table. The council chamber fell silent in an instant.
"What!"
Seeing Rosia snap back without being intimidated in the slightest, Count Dornen clutched the back of his neck. One would think someone might try to stop her, but the people gathered in the room all pretended to look elsewhere.
"As your Lord, I command you. Accompany those two immediately and subjugate the beast threatening our territory!"
"Command or not, no matter how urgent the situation is... wait, what?"
Rosia, who had been huffing with ears flushed red, widened her eyes. Her gaze shifted to Gyal, and then to me, standing awkwardly beside him.
"But I don't know how to fight?"
"You probably won't need to fight directly. It will be enough if you provide the right distractions when needed."
At Gyal's calm reply, Rosia looked back at Count Dornen.
As if wanting to avoid being rude to a man she had just met, Rosia sought an explanation from the Count, who handed her the scroll.