A Summons to the Lord's Palace
"Th-those kids were hostages the bandits were holding?"
Burren's blue eyes bulged as if they might pop right out of his skull.
"If you rescued hostages, that means you found the bandits! Don't lie to me!"
Marta shoved her face in close, telling him not to spout such nonsense.
The two of them—no, every trainee at the camp—stared with stunned, vacant eyes, unable to believe that Raon and Runaan had brought children back from the bandits.
"Think whatever you want."
Raon gave a faint chuckle and led the children over toward the campfire.
"Rest here for now."
He sat them down in front of the flames and handed over the jerky Sylvia and Helen had packed for him.
"Fill your stomachs with this."
"Th-thank you."
"Fank you."
The boy bowed his head, and the girl ducked hers in exactly the same way. The two children sat there in a daze for a moment before they began to chew on the jerky. Grief seemed to well up in them; tears gathered at the corners of their eyes.
"Dorian."
"Huh? Yes, sir!"
"Do you have a blanket? A clean one."
"Of course I do."
"Thanks."
Dorian pulled a long green blanket from his Belly Pouch. Raon draped it over both children's shoulders.
"Eat this too."
Runaan dropped to her knees so her eyes were level with theirs. She took the lid off her ice cream box and held it out. Only two bead ice creams were left—and they were her favorite flavor—but there was not a trace of hesitation in the gesture.
"What's this?"
The girl tilted her head.
"Ice cream."
Runaan told her it was cold and delicious, wiped the child's hands clean, and pressed the ice cream into them.
"Ah!"
The girl gave the ice cream a tentative lick and let out a shriek. A happy shriek, of course. She started eating with tiny darts of her tongue, like a kitten.
"Ugh!"
The boy took a bite as well, eyes flying wide. He did not keep eating, though. He passed what remained of his ice cream to his little sister, who was devouring hers with obvious delight.
Raon watched the two of them and clicked his tongue. A bitter taste lingered at its tip.
You've become an adult.
The way the boy had looked after his sister even among the bandits, and the way he put her first even now, over ice cream—the child who had lost his parents was already a grown man. He seemed better, somehow, than the Raon of a previous life, who had done nothing but follow Derus Robert's orders. Raon gave the boy's shoulder a light pat.
Hah. To shake off the temptation of bead ice cream that even This King could not refuse… that boy will go far. Recruit him. This King likes him.
Wrath muttered that he wanted the boy as a subordinate.
"Hic!"
A sniffling sound made Raon look up. Dorian was gazing at the children with tears welling in his eyes.
"Here—eat all of this!"
The boy pulled every snack he ordinarily kept for himself out of his Belly Pouch and piled them in front of the children. Soft-hearted to a fault.
"Rescuing the kids is one thing, but we still have to deal with the rest of the bandits. Once they realize the hostages are gone, they'll run for sure."
"Yeah. Where are those bastards. I'll snap every last one of those human pieces of trash by the neck."
While they were watching the children eat the sweets, Burren approached with heat in his eyes and Marta with fury in hers. They rapped their sword scabbards as if to say, take us to the bandits already.
"It's fine."
"Fine? A mission has to be finished properly, or else—"
"Now what's all this?"
Just as Burren started to argue, Rimer and the instructors burst out of the brush on the mountainside. The three instructors who had stayed behind to clean up the bandits' traces were the only ones missing.
"Who are the kids?"
He and the instructors cocked their heads, pretending to know nothing at all.
He knew all along.
Raon twitched the corner of his mouth. His aura was still too thin to pinpoint Rimer's location with any precision, but the man had clearly been watching him.
"You already know, don't you."
"Know what?"
Rimer shrugged, playing completely ignorant.
"Raon and I saved them."
Runaan walked up to Rimer and gave a small nod.
"Saved them? These children?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Didn't you hear it from the other instructors?"
"Ah, now that you mention it, three of them aren't here. Where did they go?"
"Haa. I'll explain."
Raon let out a sigh and stood. Judging by Rimer's expression, the man wanted this said in front of everyone.
"We found traces of the bandits in the forest inside the hills and began tracking them. The signs were almost invisible, but we followed them all the way and eventually found the bandits deep in the woods."
He laid out everything that had happened during the day's pursuit, step by step.
"…After we killed the Snow Tiger Bandit Chief, we brought the children back with us."
Silence settled over the clearing.
"Th-that's impossible…"
Burren swallowed dryly.
While I was wasting my time, he finished the mission itself…
While he had been throwing hours away, Raon had rescued the hostages and killed every last bandit. It was hard to believe—but given the circumstances, he had no choice.
"Damn it!"
Training and spars were one thing, but he had sworn he would at least outperform Raon on a real mission. He had failed again. No—failure did not even cover it. He had not been in the same league. The arrogance of his past self was so pathetic he could hardly stand it.
"Goddammit! Son of a bitch!"
Marta spun around and smashed her fist into a tree. Bark split and rained down onto the dirt.
That wasn't a lie.
The Raon she had seen until now was not the type to lie. He really had gone with Runaan, just the two of them, rescued the hostages, wiped out the bandits, and come back.
You idiot!
The moment she realized that Raon and Runaan had been fighting for their lives while she bickered with Burren like a child, the frustration was enough to bring tears to her eyes.
I was going to end it this time.
She had meant to complete this mission perfectly and void her promise to follow Raon. Instead, it was a total defeat. There was nothing to say for herself.
"Huuuh…"
Marta admitted the loss to Raon and let out a sigh so long it left a sweet taste in her mouth.
"H-he killed all the bandits by himself?"
"And he tracked them down and rescued the hostages on top of that…"
"What the hell even is that guy!"
The trainees' jaws trembled. Every one of them stared at Raon and Runaan, unable to contain their shock.
"Is that true?"
One of the instructors approached Raon. He genuinely looked as if he knew nothing—probably one of the instructors who had been watching the other children.
"The Snow Tiger Bandit Chief's combat level is mid-to-high Sword User. How did you beat him? Are you sure you didn't misidentify him?"
"I didn't."
"How can you be certain?"
"See for yourself."
Raon pointed to the bundle that could fairly be called their spoils.
"Hm."
The instructor nodded and opened it.
Red hair, a large scar by the eye.
It matched the description of the Snow Tiger Bandit Chief they had been given when they received the mission. The instructor's eyes surged as he turned back to Raon.
"…It's him, all right."
The instructor swallowed dryly and stepped closer.
"Well. That was just confirmation for the mission, so I hope you won't take it personally."
"Of course not."
Raon nodded, and the instructor returned the greeting before heading back to Rimer.
Rimer put him up to it, no doubt.
Raon could tell from the playful glint in Rimer's eyes. He had probably wanted to give the people who did not believe it—or only half believed it—a chance to see for themselves.
Thanks to that, the gazes the trainees turned on Raon and Runaan were now thick with awe and astonishment.
I wonder why.
Rimer treated him far better than a simple instructor-and-trainee relationship would explain. He was so different from the instructors Raon had known in his previous life that, honestly, Raon still was not sure what it meant.
"So the mission's over, then?"
"But we didn't do anything…"
"Umm, is it really all right to just go back like this…"
The trainees were glad at the thought of going home and sleeping in a real bed, but a shadow crossed their faces at having accomplished nothing.
"What are you all looking so disappointed for."
Rimer gave a short laugh as he looked over the awkwardly standing trainees.
"Almost nobody shows what they're capable of or does anything impressive on their first mission. The instructors here either made mistake after mistake on theirs, or they didn't do a thing."
The instructors nodded as if to say that was true.
"Then what about Raon and Runaan?"
"Yeah. Those two finished everything."
"Well, there are monsters now and then, you know. You're already used to it, so what's the fuss. Honestly, I made a splash from my first mission too. It was a whole scene. I charged into the enemy camp with nothing but a sword and…"
Rimer snickered and launched into the tale of his own first-mission exploits.
That pointy-eared brat's story isn't even that impressive. When This King was in the Demon Realm, freezing an entire castle in his first battle became a legend that spread across the whole Demon Realm…
"Haa…"
Raon shook his head. Listening to the two chatterboxes was starting to make his eardrums hurt.
Rimer declared the mission over and said they would return to the family the next day.
The trainees set about preparing a meal at once, and Runaan and the children had already grown close enough to eat together.
Raon was off by himself, eating a dinner that might have been porridge or stew—who could tell—when Rimer came over.
"Good work."
He dropped down beside Raon, still holding a bowl packed with nothing but solids.
"It was a mission."
"There are mountains of kids who earn a swordsman's qualifications and still can't finish a mission. For someone your age, you did well. Of course, there were a few things that fell short."
Rimer took a spoonful of the porridge. He muttered that it tasted awful and set the bowl aside.
"Bandits aren't the easy opponents you hear about in stories. They use the mountains as well as elves do, and they're as vicious as orcs. The ones who belong to the South-North Alliance—or the ones hunting for a place in it—are even worse."
"Yes."
Raon nodded quietly.
"Your improvisation in saving the children was solid. But if there had been a martial artist of Expert rank or higher in that camp, the ones who died would have been you and Runaan."
"So you were watching after all."
"Well. It just sort of happened."
Rimer grinned and went on.
"You did well today. From now on, though, check the enemy's strength, their numbers, whether there are hostages, and what condition those hostages are in—then decide whether to move alone or call for someone else. You're the top trainee. You'd do well to sharpen that judgment going forward."
He was not wrong. Raon had killed more times than he could count, but this had been his first hostage rescue, and there had been gaps.
In House Zieghart, he would be moving with comrades more often than alone. He needed to develop the judgment to match the moment.
"No need to look so grim. You and Runaan moved as well as anyone could have. You're going to go far."
"Thank you."
Rimer stuck up a thumb. Raon quietly lowered his eyes and accepted the praise.
"Ah, and it looks like we'll be taking those children back to the family. They said they have nowhere to go—their whole family is dead."
"I see…"
Raon scraped at the ground with his fingers. They were strangers, and yet his chest ached in a way that made no sense.
"They've gotten quite close to Runaan, so I'm thinking of asking House Sullion to take them in."
"That wouldn't be a bad idea."
The children had taken to Runaan. If it worked out that way, it would be all right.
"Raon Zieghart."
He was about to eat his porridge to settle the scrape in his chest when Burren, who had finished his meal, came over and opened his previously pursed mouth.
"I admit it. Today was a complete defeat. While I was running like a broken clock, you and Runaan finished the mission. But!"
He raised a trembling fist.
"I am not giving up. Even if I have to endure a thousand training hells, I will catch up to you!"
"Uh…"
Burren did not even wait for an answer. He turned on his heel and went straight back to where the branch-family trainees were gathered.
"What was that?"
Training hells? Raon had no idea what that meant, and he was just picking up his spoon to eat when a snort drifted over from a tree trunk to his right. Marta. She stood with her arms crossed, her expression ice-cold.
"Pathetic."
She did not specify who she was talking to, and then she disappeared into the forest.
"You really do live a troublesome life."
Rimer grinned and set down his soup bowl. He had said it tasted awful, and yet the bowl was empty.
"And whose fault is that."
Raon frowned. The man had used the instructors to provoke the trainees and was now pretending to have nothing to do with it.
"Whose fault?"
Rimer asked it back with a snicker.
"At your age, having rivals is how you grow. Later on they'll be the comrades you can trust more than anyone, so get along with them."
With that, he vanished in a rush of green wind.
Rivals, you say…
The instant Rimer left, Wrath popped out of the bracelet.
This King had six rivals of his own. Of course This King was the strongest, but those fellows had their own…
"……"
Raon let out a sigh and stacked his empty bowl.
Why are there so many lunatics around me…
Raon and the trainees returned to the family after a week. Some of them still dwelt on having done nothing of note during the mission, but most of them were beginning to smile at the thought of sleeping in a proper bed.
Rumble.
House Zieghart's main gate, like iron towers stacked one upon another, opened with a majestic groan. As the gatekeepers stepped aside, a towering man well over six and a half feet tall came out from within. It was Outer Chief Manager Iliun.
"Runaan Sullion. Raon Zieghart."
He called the two of them, who had been standing at the very back, and his eyes lit up.
"The Family Head has summoned you both. Prepare to enter the Lord's Palace at once."
"Summoned?"
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at Runaan, who was holding the two children's hands. Runaan tilted her head as well, equally in the dark.
"There's no need to be so surprised."
Outer Chief Manager Iliun offered a refreshing smile.
"Awarding the trainees who distinguished themselves most on their first mission is a tradition of House Zieghart."
"That's right. He's calling you to praise you, so don't be nervous."
Rimer nodded with a faintly excited look, murmuring that it was nothing to worry about.
There was something, however, that neither Rimer nor Iliun said.
Praising trainees who had shown outstanding results on their first mission was a real tradition. Summoning those trainees to the Lord's Palace itself was something that had never happened before.