I wonder how long it's been. On the move for a while now, I eventually stopped at a flat part of the land where the sound of trickling water could be heard constantly beyond the thicket.
Slosh, slosh, slosh.
It sounded like there was a river through the trees and bushes.
"Seems like we've arrived at the place."
"Here?"
At Cassion's question, I nodded back.
This certainly was the place.
Whenever climbing a mountain, I never take the wrong turn.
Of course, to prevent any mishaps in the first place, it's important to study the terrain early.
Although I only learned about the way through a map, there was no problem because I seared the map into my brain after looking it over again and again.
Suddenly, I recalled a conversation I had with Blanca a few days ago.
'Just leave it to me.'
Blanca said this after she got the map of the hunting grounds for me.
While I was trying to memorize the map until my eyes would fall off, she asked if I really had to do that, and she soon spoke up with this and suggested a different method.
But as I looked through the map, I asked back quietly.
'If I leave it to you, will you personally go there?'
'No. Unfortunately, I'm not quite keen on hunting. In the first place, it's an event where only nobles participate.'
'Then you'll be leaving it to someone else. I don't want that.'
When I answered firmly, Blanca smiled and nodded.
There's nothing else that could be done.
The 'white-yellow deer' in the hunting festival was a major plot device in the original novel.
It was also closely connected to Leo.
We couldn't possibly leave this matter to someone else, now could we?
Either leave it in the hands of someone I could trust, or just go myself.
The former had a difficult requisite, so there's no other choice but to choose the latter.
As I recalled that conversation from a few days ago, I immediately turned my gaze to look at the old tree that was in front of me.
A huge, towering old tree that was so massive that even five male adults wouldn't be able to hug it with their arms outstretched.
This was proof that we had arrived at the right place.
〈 A river that flows beyond the thicket, and in front of the largest old tree of the forest. 〉
In the original novel, the scene that depicted the first appearance of the white-yellow deer was exactly like this.
"Huu… Hu…"
As I confirmed that we're at the right place, only then did I hear Cassion's labored breaths.
'That's understandable.'
We'd been scaling the mountain for an hour without a single break.
Since we continuously climbed a steep path, we were nearly at the top now.
I'd been pouring a stream of qi into my legs all this time, but they were starting to get heavy as well.
On the other hand, Cassion came this far with only the sheer endurance of his leg muscles, so he must be twice as tired as me.
"Let's take a small break. We're about to fight a monster now, so are you still alright?"
Cassion looked up at me.
While sweeping away his sweat-soaked fringe, he lightly shook his head and replied.
"Don't worry. I won't be rolling on the floor this time."
He was half sincere and half joking.
At least, that's what it sounded like to me.
With a smile on my lips, I nodded.
"Yeah, that's fine. Just in case though, you can still roll on the ground."
"…No way."
He responded to my teasing remark with a chuckle.
We shrugged at each other, then looked around.
Now that we arrived at our destination, we needed to find the target. It wouldn't be good to be caught unawares and ambushed.
With my sight and hearing heightened, I scanned my surroundings.
I recalled the appearance of the monster we were looking for.
'An animal that has a white body and yellow antlers.'
The white-yellow deer.
Just as we talked about earlier, it was the monster that Leo had raised for years.
He and his mother, Eianne, had been doing illegal experiments for quite a while now, and these experiments involved none other than raising animals into demonic monsters.
They experimented with all kinds of animals found in the empire, but it wasn't easy to attain success.
Even so, they did not give up.
Rather, this setback urged them to expand the scope of their experiments.
'If they failed with the animals found in the empire, then they started experimenting with the animals found overseas.'
They soon began smuggling predatory animals from other countries.
While experimenting with predator offspring, they eventually achieved the results they wanted.
Finally, they succeeded in turning a normal animal into a monster.
The first success was a 'white-yellow deer'.
After the white-yellow deer, the second success was born.
The red-coated lizard.
With its red body, it was originally a crocodile-sized wild lizard, and it was an animal smuggled from a foreign country.
Once the lizard became a monster, it was closer to a dragon than a crocodile.
The lizard was also another monster we're scheduled to meet later today.
But in the case of that lizard, there was no need to seek it out.
Rather, the lizard itself would come out to meet us.
Well, that's something for a couple hours later.
Anyway, there was a simple reason as to why Leo brought the monsters he raised here at the hunting festival.
Despite already holding Cassion's funeral, Duke Carter had yet to clearly announce Leo's position.
Even when one of the two candidates was gone.
Since the rival had already disappeared, of course, the only one left in the race was the remaining participant.
Still though, the duke continued to delay the announcement of his successor.
'I will announce it after the coming-of-age ceremony.'
'I will announce it after the birthday celebration.'
And naturally, this made Leo gnash his teeth.
He already eliminated his competitor to secure his position, and yet he was still not getting what's rightfully his.
He then wondered if his father was thinking of not giving him that position.
So in response, Leo decided to step up himself.
Just like when he killed Cassion with his own initiative.
Since his father wouldn't give him the position, then he had no choice but to win it for himself.
And, today was the day he decided to do so.
On the day of the 'hunting festival'.
The plan had been set in motion for weeks now.
The white-yellow deer and the red-coated lizard were hidden somewhere in the mountain range near the hunting grounds, and they were meant to be roused on the day of the hunting festival.
Since they were animals that he created and tamed himself, it was a piece of cake for him to deal with them.
He didn't have to worry about getting caught.
The northern part of this forest was being used as a hunting ground for a long time now, dedicated to the festival itself.
Sometimes, there weren't any animals dangerous enough for the occasion, so they would deliberately release winged animals as well. That's why the hunting grounds for the festival hadn't been thoroughly inspected.
'This is the downside of that custom.'
It's been done many times now, so people were under the blanket of complacency.
A combination of weak vigilance and aimed malice.
As a result, Leo's plan in the original novel was a great success.
In the first place, it was the male lead's plan, so it would be strange for it to fail.
During the day of the hunt.
Waking up right on time, the monsters would begin to prowl through the hunting grounds and start running wild. Soon, the nobles would fall into chaos.
Warfare was not common these days, and so monsters also appeared infrequently.
Therefore, the nobles were not accustomed to such a terrible sight.
The sight of people getting injured. Of people dying.
And their surroundings turned into a place that was no different than hell.
As they were unfamiliar with this, it was only natural that chaos arose.
Amidst all this, Leo was the one who stepped up.
Along with other knights and Damian, Leo was at the forefront of the counterattack. After which, he took the biggest credit in subjugating the monsters.
Everyone praised Leo as the 'hero'.
House Carter also headed the investigation into this incident.
Leo provided the greatest contribution to the monsters' defeat, so it was inevitable.
His position was solidified through this.
Even if Duke Carter had yet to officially name him as the 'duke's successor', at the very least, all those who attended the hunting festival and saw his performance began treating him as the 'duke's successor'.
This was the outcome that Leo was after.
And when the investigation was brought to a close,
The culprit himself was in charge of the investigation. And so, he concluded as such.
'The red-coated lizard and the white-yellow deer became extinct a long time ago in the Empire. As they endeavored to survive, it is apparent that these two species underwent metamorphosis.
Fortunately, it has been judged that there are no remaining survivors of each species.'
With the results of the investigation that was headed by House Carter being like so, nobody raised any refutations.
It was true that the red-coated lizard and the white-yellow deer were common animals in the empire many years ago.
Leo planned ahead until that point.
As such, the 'hunting festival' in the original novel was—in many ways—an arc dedicated to Leo.
That's why.
'I can't let things happen like how it did in the original.'
Today's arc had to be stopped no matter what.
Our goal was to push Leo out, so the arc where he would shine couldn't possibly be left intact.
In the meantime, the unwritten rules continued to lay a heavy hand when it came to Leo and Alicia's 'romance part', but the same disturbances couldn't be seen elsewhere.
So, I wasn't all too worried about messing up Leo's plans.
No, well, not just 'messing up'.
We're going to use his plans to our advantage.
There's nothing more fun than taking someone else's spoon from their table and using it against them.
Leo wouldn't be the star of today's event. It was going to be Cassion.
'Firstly, the white-yellow deer won't even show up.'
Based on the original, the lizard and the deer would wreak havoc together.
That would be in the next few hours.
'But if we get rid of the white-yellow deer here, just the lizard alone would run wild.'
That's going to be the first part that Leo's plan would go awry.
One ingredient for the elixir was the white-yellow deer's antlers, so wasn't this quite the blessing from God?
'The deer… the deer…'
Simultaneously looking for the deer's tracks and the scene detailing the deer's appearance in the original novel, I soon heard from somewhere away an unfamiliar sound that seemed like breathing.
Huuhng, huuuuhng.
I heightened my hearing by bringing qi to my ears.
Soon, that sound became clear.
A rough breath.
The sound of a newly awakened animal stretching.
But a normal animal wouldn't breathe as strongly and loudly as this one.
I felt my expression harden while I concentrated, and at this, Cassion asked with bated breath.
"You found it?"
I nodded quietly.
"Yes, it seems so."
At the brief answer, Cassion's adam's apple bobbed up and down.
Gulp.
With my ears coated in qi, even the sound of his gulp could be clearly heard.
The corners of my lips curled up as I looked at Cassion.
Then, I opened my lips again.
"In case you were wondering, it seems like it found us, too."
The eyes beneath the mask widened.