Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: A New Era
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Damian stood in front of the mirror.
Silk robes he was wearing for the first time in his life.
'Feels awkward.'
Was it because he'd never worn anything like this before?
It felt uncomfortable and burdensome somehow.
"They suit you well."
The attendant who had helped him dress spoke up from the side.
"His Highness the Prince specifically ordered us to prepare something special, since it's your first meeting with him."
His Highness the Prince.
That phrase brought a sense of reality crashing in.
'Me, meeting a prince?'
The first prince of the Coldwood Kingdom.
A man who would one day lead a nation.
And such a great figure was summoning him—a farmer, a soldier, a mercenary.
'Why on earth?'
He had no idea why.
He would simply follow along.
Snap!
The final knot was tied.
The signal that dressing was complete.
"Does the size fit alright?"
"It's fine."
It fit him perfectly.
As if it had been made for him from the start.
"All set?"
At that moment,
the door opened, and the High Lord entered.
He too was dressed in immaculate robes.
"Oh ho."
Mikhail scanned Damian up and down.
Satisfaction gleamed in his eyes.
"It suits you better than I expected."
Then he clapped Damian on the shoulder.
"You could take a noble title right now. Haha!"
As always,
but he seemed somewhat drained.
His hair, now stark white, was proof of that.
'Aftereffects after all.'
The aftermath of mana awakening.
The price of burning his life force.
"Let's get going."
The High Lord Mikhail led the way.
Damian followed behind him.
"......"
An awkward silence stretched on as they walked.
"May I ask one thing?"
"What is it?"
"After I faced the troll cavalry."
Damian broached the subject carefully.
"How did you make it back? I have no memory at all."
It couldn't have been an easy journey.
Even if Damian had held off the pursuit and passed out at the perfect moment, it was still half a day's ride to Sobkov Territory.
Yet the two injured men had returned with him intact?
No matter how he thought about it, it seemed impossible.
"Just got lucky."
A vague answer.
He was clearly hiding something.
"That's all."
His lingering doubts remained unresolved.
The High Lord added,
"I won't pry either."
"......Pardon?"
"Where you learned that power."
Berserk mode.
No, perhaps everything he'd shown so far.
Honestly, anyone would find it suspicious.
His versatility had gone beyond reasonable limits.
"You probably just got lucky too."
"......"
That was the end of it.
Damian didn't ask further.
Because that's what the High Lord wanted.
"We're here."
A short while later,
Mikhail stopped.
It was a guest reception room, decorated modestly.
"No need to be nervous. Just answer properly."
Mikhail patted Damian's tense back.
At the same time, the door to the reception room slowly opened.
'That's him......'
A man waiting inside for them.
Golden hair shining so brightly it hurt the eyes.
Perfectly sculpted features.
An unmistakable air of nobility.
'Bastian Calitus.'
The first prince of the Coldwood Kingdom.
His golden eyes examined Damian.
"You've arrived."
Prince Bastian rose from his seat.
A gentle smile played on his lips.
"It's an honor to meet Sobkov's two heroes."
A warm welcome straight from the prince's mouth.
Heroes—an unexpected word.
"......The honor is mine, Your Highness."
Damian hurriedly bowed.
Etiquette he'd learned in a crash course from Elena.
"No need for that."
Bastian waved him off.
"Please, have a seat. Make yourselves comfortable."
He even pulled out a chair himself.
An unprecedented courtesy.
"Thank you. Then......"
Damian sat awkwardly.
He still felt dazed.
"The robes suit you well."
Prince Bastian said as he sat across from him.
"You look more like a noble than a mercenary. Don't you agree, High Lord?"
"Now that you mention it, yes. Clothes make the man, after all. Haha!"
A completely unexpected atmosphere.
'I don't even know how to react.'
Maybe because it was his first time in such high society.
Damian could hardly keep up.
'Just smile for now.'
Without making a sound.
Just a subtle one.
"Don't be so tense."
How awkward his expression must have looked.
Prince Bastian chuckled.
"I just wanted to meet you once."
Then he offered them pre-prepared tea and murmured,
"I've heard of your exploits."
His survival in the Great Forest.
His performance as a suicide squad member.
And saving the High Lord's life.
"Nothing but 'impressive' comes to mind."
He shook his head in genuine admiration.
"I never dreamed our kingdom had talent like yours."
Endless praise.
Now he understood what it meant to not know where to put oneself.
"Please continue to showcase your talents freely from here on."
"......Ah, yes. Thank you for the kind words."
He wondered if there was more to it.
But no matter how closely he listened, it was the same.
Nothing but curiosity toward Damian and boundless praise.
As if he really just wanted to meet him and exchange pleasantries.
"I feel like I've kept an injured man too long."
How much time had passed?
Finally, Prince Bastian let Damian off the hook.
"You've endured dealing with a curious prince. You can rest now."
Finally over.
Damian rose from his seat.
"Then I'll take my leave."
He bowed as formally as possible.
Then exited the reception room.
Still in a daze.
'......What was that all about?'
Did he really summon him just to praise him?
The heir to the throne of a nation?
'Some things you'll never understand.'
Damian eventually gave up thinking about it.
He shrugged and walked away from the reception room.
With the novel experience of his lifetime.
"Just as I heard."
Meanwhile,
in the guest reception room after Damian left.
Prince Bastian nodded in satisfaction.
"No ordinary talent."
He had been curious.
The information that a mere mercenary had been selected for Sobkov's fateful suicide squad.
The fact that he received the High Lord's full favor and performed greater than anyone.
"Someone even more promising tomorrow than today."
Mikhail summed up Damian Winter in one phrase.
"More promising tomorrow than today—meaning his talent is that exceptional?"
"Beyond exceptional. Just compare him before and after entering the Great Forest—he's like a different person."
Tremendous growth speed.
Or something even greater.
"If I had to cut him down today, I could do it easily enough. I'm no stranger to that sort of thing myself."
The High Lord was among the top Expert knights.
There weren't many knights in the kingdom who could beat him in a real sword fight to begin with.
"But if it were tomorrow, I'd at least need to be on guard compared to today."
That was how terrifyingly fast he was growing.
Prince Bastian nodded.
Then he asked sharply,
"And in a year?"
Not today or tomorrow.
One year from now.
"What then?"
A question probing Damian Winter's limits.
The High Lord answered without hesitation.
"I'd give up."
"Give up?"
"I don't fancy dying at that kid's hands."
Prince Bastian, who had kept smiling throughout,
had his eyes waver at that answer.
But only for a moment.
"If even you say that, High Lord, he sounds all the more enticing."
Damian Winter.
The prince committed the name to memory.
"One more thing, then."
"Speak."
"What about Sir Gerdt? Same timeframe, one year from now."
Knight Gerdt.
Captain of the Royal Knights.
Or, the kingdom's greatest knight.
"Hmm, that one......"
The High Lord pondered long.
Then he reached a conclusion.
"Hard to say. Whoever's in better condition wins?"
A witty refusal to commit.
But it was effectively raising Damian's hand.
Prince Bastian understood and asked no more.
"Fair enough. Condition on the day is everything, after all."
Then he changed the subject.
"Anyway, how's your body holding up?"
"Much better, thanks to your concern."
"I heard the side effects were severe."
"I've lived my life staking it on the line anyway. What's a little lost lifespan?"
Mikhail answered flatly.
The price of mana awakening was his life force itself.
"Don't push yourself. For the kingdom's sake, if nothing else."
"Of course. No need to worry."
Mikhail nodded.
A brief silence followed.
Now it was time for the main topic.
"......Frankly, I was a bit surprised."
"Surprised by what?"
"I didn't expect you to request aid, High Lord."
The territories and families handling monster waves across the kingdom.
They were all famously proud.
People who bore their duties with a sense of mission.
They rarely asked the crown for help.
Yet a request for support.
The first in decades.
"I judged the situation dire enough to act immediately. And that choice...... seems to have been right. An utterly unreal scenario, isn't it?"
The intelligence secured at the cost of the suicide squad's lives.
The Great Forest's barbarians and monsters had allied.
They were preparing for all-out war.
Chilling information.
"As lord, I offer my deepest thanks once more for the crown's generous support."
The High Lord expressed sincere gratitude.
"Thanks to this mission's success, we've detected an invisible threat and can prepare countermeasures. We'll do our utmost to allow the crown's forces to return to the capital swiftly."
A promise to send them back soon.
But the prince shook his head.
"A misunderstanding. That's not what I meant."
"Then what?"
"I have a proposal."
A proposal.
Prince Bastian rose from his seat.
His gaze turned to the window.
Toward the Great Forest.
"This was my first time experiencing a monster wave firsthand. The war with the empire felt like child's play by comparison."
Prince Bastian continued slowly.
"But once I realized that, a thought struck me."
"What thought?"
"That we're tied down too long in such massive wars."
Or perhaps,
"That we're wasting too much manpower and resources continuously."
Then he looked back at the High Lord.
"What if we could break this cycle?"
"......What do you mean?"
"The monster waves."
Prince Bastian's eyes gleamed.
"If we ended all monster waves in the kingdom, how would the nation change?"
Ending monster waves.
Impossible by common sense.
Common sense proven by long history.
"Before discussing change, do you see it as feasible?"
"This isn't the time to weigh possibilities. We must make it happen."
Conviction filled the prince's voice.
"Is there any guarantee the changes in the Great Forest won't happen elsewhere?"
The civilization that gained a focal point in the Great Forest.
What if similar events occurred at other monster wave points?
If they couldn't respond adequately like Sobkov Territory had?
'If even one breaks through......'
And monster waves poured into the heartlands?
A catastrophe.
A natural disaster.
"Now it's time to choose. We can't keep postponing like our ancestors."
Unlike predecessors who left all duties to territories, families, and the people.
This generation had to choose.
For all sons and daughters.
"If we break free from the chains of monster waves, we'll grow stronger. No more precious lives lost, no more squandering vast manpower and resources. All that would naturally lead to the prosperity of this nation, the Coldwood Kingdom."
The immense manpower and resources poured into monster waves.
If saved and invested fully in national and territorial development?
As the prince said, a straight path to a rich and powerful state.
"Thus, I'd like to test that possibility here in Sobkov Territory. Of course, only if you permit it, High Lord. Or rather, if you'll join me in this."
Prince Bastian stated firmly.
"The crown will spare no support."
Unreserved support.
Not mere military aid.
A declaration of total commitment.
"And if we succeed, I plan to grant you a new high position."
"......What position?"
"Marshal over all monster waves in the kingdom."
Marshal overseeing all monster waves.
Supreme authority over monsters in the kingdom.
Such a post offered to Mikhail Sobkov.
"You'll have full authority for total war. Military command, plus the power to requisition supplies and manpower across the kingdom."
"......!"
It even surpassed a typical marshal.
The crown's most audacious offer.
Proof of their all-in stake.
"The choice is yours, High Lord."
The prince's golden gaze pierced Mikhail.
"Wither away slowly as we are."
Or.
"Stake everything to usher in a new era."
A choice that would stake Sobkov's fate.
The High Lord's deliberation was not long.
'A prince.'
Even thinking about it again, it was amazing.
'What's his angle?'
There was no such thing as unmotivated favor in the world.
Even as a farmer, he knew that.
There had to be something, but what?
'......Just do my job for now.'
Damian stopped thinking and started walking.
His destination: the training grounds in the lord's castle.
The reason was simple.
'My body's in perfect condition.'
The injuries and fatigue from the Great Forest had already vanished thanks to various abilities.
Instead, after days of rest, his body itched to the point of madness.
'Time to check.'
He had devoured countless abilities and techniques in the Great Forest.
Shaman kings, earth spirits.
Even various superior specimens.
'Rewards worth risking my life for.'
Time to review his achievements from the Great Forest.
As he neared the training grounds,
"......!"
An unexpected chill struck Damian.
An instinctive warning crawling up his spine.
The sensation of facing a superior opponent.
'Who?'
The aura emanating from inside the training grounds.
This was no ordinary level.
'Stronger than me. No, maybe even.'
Stronger than High Lord Mikhail Sobkov.
'Was there another powerhouse like this in Sobkov Territory?'
No, impossible.
He would have joined the suicide squad if so.
'Then......'
The forces the prince brought.
Among them, the Royal Knights.
Had to be one of them.
'Let's see.'
Damian approached the training grounds cautiously.
And soon faced a certain man.
'......As I thought.'
Royal.
No, the symbol of the Coldwood Kingdom.
Armor emblazoned with the Blue Hawk emblem on the chest.
And a blue cloak to match.
'A Royal Knight.'