The Mad Dog Squad Returns
"Squad Leader..."
Raon frowned as he looked at Rimer.
"What did you just say?"
"The first test is tomorrow."
Rimer lifted his chin with a look that all but shouted, I did good, right?
"Haa..."
A headache came down like a weight on his skull. Raon pressed his fingers to his temple. That bizarre elf had not changed in the slightest.
He's going to live a very long time.
People said that anyone who changed too suddenly was bound to die. At this rate, that man was clearly destined for a long, long life.
"That pointy-eared bastard is the same as ever!"
Wrath cackled as he looked at Rimer.
"He's not as far gone as you, but he's properly insane."
He's worse than I am.
"What nonsense is that! In all This King's life, This King has never seen a madman to match you!"
Wrath could not stop laughing, as if this whole wreck of a situation were a delight.
"Haa, Squad Leader..."
"You lunatic! If it's tomorrow, we have no time to prepare!"
"Do we have to stay up all night?"
Burren let out a sigh and closed his eyes. Marta's fists trembled as if she were about to lunge at Rimer that instant. Runaan's vacant eyes welled up at the thought of another sleepless night.
"I knew it from the moment that guy went crazy for gambling."
"He's not doing this on purpose so he can bet against us, is he?"
"If it's the Squad Leader, that's entirely possible."
"Ugh, I can't believe we're hearing 'the day before the exam' again..."
The Light Wind Squad raised their swords as if they meant to run him through on the spot, every last one of them glaring at Rimer.
"Now, now. Settle down."
Rimer waved both hands the way a man might soothe a herd of cattle, wearing a thoroughly punchable smile.
"I've been telling you this from the start. What matters to a Zieghart swordsman is the ability to move without panicking, no matter the situation. It's not that I forgot and didn't tell you on purpose. I set this up for your growth."
"Huuu..."
Raon let out a breath of pure rage. The way Rimer had slipped the word forgot into that speech made it obvious he had, in fact, forgotten.
What kind of elf even develops amnesia?
"For a martial artist, preparation isn't that important. What matters most is the training you do every day, and the skill you already have."
While Rimer was muttering that nonsense, Raon circulated the energy of the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames. Four throwing knives in his left hand. Four in his right. Eight in all. He wound the formula of Flawless Flight around each of them and sent them flying.
"So instead of wasting time resenting me, keep up with the training you were already—hup!"
Rimer's eyes flew wide at the knives that had closed in without a sound, but he drew his sword at once and raised a wind.
In that sliver of an instant, a sword barrier shimmered into being, shot through with green light.
"That much..."
Raon looked at Rimer's barrier and smiled, cold as frost.
Won't be enough.
This was nothing like the throwing-knife work Rimer had seen on the cliff.
The secret art of Flawless Flight. Eight blades converge, pierce, and scatter like dandelion seed upon the wind.
The eight throwing knives gathered toward the center, punched straight through the wall of wind Rimer had raised, then scattered like dandelion seeds and went for every vital point on his body.
"Kh—!"
Rimer scrambled backward and brought his sword down, but the immense force loaded into the knives meant he knocked aside only three.
The remaining five became blunt hammers and smashed into him from head to toe.
"Gahk!"
Even after he released his aura at the last instant to blunt the impact, he could not overcome the power riding in those knives. His head slammed into the ground.
"Ough!"
He squawked and frantically rubbed every spot the knives had struck.
"W-why does this hurt so much! These aren't throwing knives — it feels like I got hit with hammers!"
While Rimer flailed on the floor like a turtle on its back, Raon lifted a finger.
"Stomp him."
"I'm first!"
"You're dead!"
"That guy needs a beating!"
"If we don't hit him now, we'll never get another chance!"
"Those throwing knives are actually fair. I got one. He got one too."
Burren and Marta charged in first. The rest of the Light Wind Squad swarmed after them and started stomping on Rimer.
They did not circulate aura. They did, however, pour every ounce of pent-up resentment they had been saving into grinding him into the dirt.
"That's enough."
Raon waited until the squad had worked the fury out of their systems, then walked over to Rimer.
"Are you all right?"
"Y-you unfilial brat! Ambushing your master while he's talking — that's too much!"
Rimer pressed at his swollen, blackened eye sockets and scowled.
"I merely followed the Squad Leader's words exactly, didn't I?"
"What? When did I ever..."
"Just now, you said, 'What matters to a Zieghart swordsman is the ability to move without panicking, no matter the situation.' I wanted to see the Squad Leader's own response capability. It was rather sloppy."
Raon recited Rimer's own words back to him, a cold smile on his face.
"Kh..."
Having said it himself, Rimer had no retort. He hung his head.
Ah. That's better.
Watching Rimer — the undisputed champion of being insufferable — fall silent felt like a knot in his chest dissolving. The rest of the Light Wind Squad rubbed at their own chests as if they felt just as refreshed.
"We're short on time, so please tell us now. What's the first test?"
"Combat..."
Rimer stuck out his lower lip and mumbled the word.
"You'll be going up against the Iron Blood Sword Squad tomorrow."
"Th-the Iron Blood Sword Squad?"
"That's a martial unit with direct descendants as the division leader and vice-leaders!"
"We're fighting them and you tell us now? You bastard!"
The Light Wind Squad swallowed hard at the name Iron Blood Sword Squad.
"And the format?"
"It's a team battle in the city streets."
"The Iron Blood Sword Squad, in the streets..."
Raon called up the intelligence Judiel had given him on the squads and divisions.
The Iron Blood Sword Squad...
A martial unit with a heavy concentration of direct descendants. They had not been promoted to a full division all that long ago.
The division leader was Peak Master. Both vice-leaders were Low-rank Masters. That was older intelligence, so they would have grown since then — but even so, they were a manageable opponent compared to the other divisions.
The problem is...
The Light Wind Squad as it stood was not enough.
The Iron Blood Sword Squad had accumulated a long record of achievements before their promotion. In both martial power and experience, they held the advantage.
If they fought now, with the Four Clouds Pill still not fully absorbed, winning would be difficult.
"C-can we win?"
"Uh, it'll be hard..."
"We didn't even have time to prepare."
"Aigoo..."
Starting with Dorian's frightened voice, the Light Wind Squad began to tremble.
"We haven't even fought yet. Why are you making those faces already? Straighten your backs!"
Marta scowled at the drooping squad members.
"You don't know a fight until you fight it!"
"You don't know what ice cream tastes like until you eat it."
Runaan spoke at unusual length. She seemed to want to put some courage into her uneasy comrades.
"She's right."
Raon smiled and took his place beside Marta and Runaan.
"That said, there is a gap in strength and experience. And thanks to a certain someone, we also have no time to prepare. That's a fact."
He said it while glaring at Rimer. Rimer whistled, the picture of a man who had done nothing wrong.
Raon barely restrained the urge to put a throwing knife through that mouth.
"Hey! Don't you start too—"
"That said!"
Raon cut Marta off and looked over the Light Wind Squad.
"If we have help, there's no law that says we can't win."
"Help?"
"What kind of help?"
Runaan and Dorian lifted their eyes.
"I'm going to draw out the children sunk deep in your hearts."
As he spoke, Raon drew the Heavenly Sky Sword. A chilling rasp of steel leaving the scabbard rang in every swordsman's ears.
"W-why are you drawing your sword all of a sudden!"
"What are you about to do now!"
"Why a sword? Why not the throwing knives!"
The Light Wind Squad's lips trembled as they stared at the Heavenly Sky Sword, which was pouring out a biting cold.
"I just told you."
Raon gathered energy into the blade, a cool smile on his face.
"I'm going to draw out the children sunk in your hearts."
Before they were promoted, it was time to bring out the Mad Dog Squad one last time.
While the Light Wind Squad spent a week going back and forth between the training ground and the cliff, the guild master of the Sepia Merchant Guild, Adis Sefia, had also arrived at House Zieghart.
Adis Sefia stood before Glenn, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head.
"A humble pack merchant of Sepia greets the heavens of Zieghart!"
"Your humility is excessive. Rise."
Adis lifted his head at a voice so heavy it felt as if it might crush bone.
Golden hair. Crimson eyes. A giant of the north who resembled Raon and yet carried a completely different weight was looking down at him. A chill crawled up Adis's spine at those dry pupils, as if every last trace of heat had drained from them.
So this is Glenn Zieghart, the Northern Annihilation King.
It was their first meeting in person, and the pressure exceeded anything he had heard. Even among the leaders of the Six Kings he had met, this man stood apart.
"Forgive my lateness."
Adis placed a hand over his stomach and bowed.
"I am aware a guild master is a busy man. Pay it no mind."
Glenn waved a hand, as if to say Adis should not waste breath on such things.
"I have little fondness for tedious preamble. May we proceed to the point?"
"That would suit me as well."
Adis gave a small nod.
"I have heard you are installing infrastructure around Zieghart and expanding the road network."
Glenn lowered eyes that seemed filled with emptiness and propped his chin on a fist.
"Even for the General Store of the Continent, a guild that claims to lack nothing, that will require considerable funds and manpower. What is your reason for undertaking such work?"
The gaze of the man called the Northern Annihilation King came down like a blade. The feeling was that if Adis lied, his entire body would be torn apart on the spot.
I cannot lie.
There were people in the world on whom a lie would work, and people on whom it would not. The giant before him was the textbook case of the latter. He would have to lay his heart out honestly.
"Because of Vice-Squad Leader Raon."
"Raon?"
"Yes. After meeting him in person, I became certain that if I invested in Zieghart now, the return would be several times the original sum."
"Ahem!"
The instant Glenn heard Raon's name, the fist propping his chin opened and covered his mouth. He coughed, loudly.
"...Is that so?"
"Ah. Yes."
Adis felt the pressure that had been crushing his shoulders lighten, and cautiously unbent his back.
"Why did seeing that child make you decide to invest in Zieghart? His martial power? His talent?"
"No. Because he is someone who knows how to move people."
"Move people?"
"Everyone already knows that Vice-Squad Leader Raon is a strong and gifted martial artist. If he continues to grow as he has, he may one day become the greatest on the continent. But no matter how strong he was, if he had been a self-righteous man, I would not have invested."
A light that was hard to believe belonged to a merchant flashed in Adis's eyes — something earnest, almost devout.
"I did not decide to invest because of his martial power. I looked deeper than that."
"And that deeper thing is people?"
Glenn tilted his head down slightly, as if his curiosity had been piqued.
"Yes. Vice-Squad Leader Raon can change not only himself, but others. The things he does without a second thought have a positive influence on a great many people."
Adis thought of Mark Goetten, and of his third daughter Phalen — both of them changed because of Raon — and a gentle smile touched his face.
"I saw for myself what kind of person Vice-Squad Leader Raon is. I felt it. That is why I resolved to invest in Zieghart."
He stated his reason for coming here without a shred of falsehood, and bowed his head.
"Keh-hem!"
Glenn coughed even more loudly than before, his face faintly flushed. The hand covering his mouth seemed to tremble.
"So that was it. I understand."
His voice had softened beyond any comparison with how it had begun, and the air in the Audience Chamber, which had been as cold as a sheet of ice, warmed as if a stove had been lit.
"Guild Master of Sepia?"
"Yes? Ah — yes!"
"Do you drink?"
"A-a little."
"Then let us have a cup."
Glenn pointed to a room off the right side of the Audience Chamber, as if telling Adis to follow.
"Understood!"
Adis nodded and fell in behind him.
"Over a light drink, tell me in detail what happened at the guild."
"Then I shall begin from when I administered the test..."
"No."
Glenn raised a hand and cut him off.
"Not from there. Start from when Raon arrived, and continue until he left."
"I-if I tell you all of that, it will be extremely long..."
"That is fine. All of it. Do not leave out a single thing. There is something interesting tomorrow. Stay and watch that as well."
Glenn curled his hand into a fist, as if he would strike Adis for talking nonsense.
"Uh..."
Adis looked at Glenn's flushed fist and equally flushed cheeks, and his lips went pale.
W-what is this now? Is he testing me?
A lightless night, the moon itself hidden behind black clouds.
Raon stood at the center of the Fifth Training Ground. Around him, the Light Wind Squad had raised their swords, crimson eyes gleaming.
A ragged, beastlike breathing spilled from the swordsmen's mouths. They kicked off the earth as one, raising a savage killing intent as if they had truly become predators.
The first to come forward were the three squad leaders.
A keen wind sprouted from Burren's blade. A weight like a mountain dropped from Marta's. A cold that ached in the bone whirled off Runaan's.
The Light Wind swordsmen bursting out behind their leaders sent sword-light racing down every kind of path, sweeping around Raon like a storm.
Raon thrust his sword toward the black sky. From the tip of the blade, a brilliant blossom unfurled as if wiping the darkness away, and covered the space around him.
Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames — hundreds of flame petals scatter upon the wind.
Hundreds of fire-petals scattered and surged forth, crashing into the Light Wind Squad's incoming sword strikes.
Violent shockwaves burst one after another. The charging swordsmen were hurled back and slammed into the cracked earth.
But they were squad leaders for a reason. Burren, Marta, and Runaan cut through the Flower Spirit and drove straight at Raon.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"Just die already!"
"..."
Raon turned his gaze on the three squad leaders, each of them unfolding a martial art with a character all its own, and dragged the Heavenly Sky Sword up from the ground.
The blade scraped along the split earth as it rose, and spat crimson fire into the sword strikes the three of them had extended.
A rotating sphere of heat shattered Burren's, Marta's, and Runaan's attacks and erupted in a towering explosion.
"Kh—!"
"Son of a biiiitch!"
"Einh..."
The three squad leaders were thrown even farther than the rest of the Light Wind swordsmen and smashed into the training ground wall.
Raon lowered the reddened Heavenly Sky Sword and slowly surveyed the wreck of the Fifth Training Ground.
"Khrrr!"
"Damn it!"
"We're not losing this time!"
"Even if I can't kill him, I'm definitely landing one hit on that smug pretty face!"
The Light Wind Squad rose as if they had already forgotten the beating they had just taken, a bright yellow madness ringing their eyes, swords clenched in their fists. They ground their teeth like rabid dogs and poured their killing intent higher.
"Damn it! He's this strong even without using Ganggi?"
Burren bit his lip and dragged up every last drop of aura he had.
"You bastard who's only good at swinging a sword..."
"He's insanely handsome, so his face is good-looking too."
"Whose side are you on?!"
"Mine."
"Grrrk!"
Burren and Runaan glared at each other and bickered, but the madness and the killing intent they were firing off were aimed entirely at Raon.
The Light Wind Squad's aura — having absorbed the Four Clouds Pill energy left in their bodies through a full day of getting beaten — surged into the sky and unfurled a vicious presence.
It was a chilling feeling, like a mad beast baring its fangs and snarling.
"Those things seem to be going more and more insane..."
Wrath let out a hollow breath at the sight.
It'd be a problem if they didn't. That's what I was aiming for.
Raon faced the Light Wind Squad's madness as it crushed down on his whole body, and a bright, eager smile touched his mouth.
Revival
"What are you, some kind of dog dealer..."