"Beradin…?"
Jin had dismounted Shurry with his eyes wide from shock.
'Why is this guy here? And what happened to the gold…?'
The flames were truly enormous.
The amount of gold was large enough for the holy kingdom to use for decades, thus the size of the flames only reflected that.
As Jin was about to ask if Beradin was the culprit, he heard another familiar voice.
"Lord Beradin! The fire's reached all the way to the end, is it time to flee… Huh? Jin?! Is it really you?"
A small physique and a husky voice.
It was Dante Hairan.
Jin hadn't noticed him at first because Dante was busy checking whether the fire was properly burning everything.
"D-Dante, you too?"
As Dante popped out, even Jin couldn't help but stutter.
'Why do these guys keep appearing when I least expect it?'
It was always like this.
When he left Storm Castle, at the Cosmos Arena, in the Nameless's city of Samil, and now here in Vankella.
Jin cleared away his wandering thoughts and looked at the two.
They were already expressing their joy with sparkling eyes.
"I can't believe we're meeting here! I guess there really is a connection between us three."
"You're right. Haha, hehe, huhu. Last time it was you causing an incident in Samil, but this time it's us who are causing the incident."
"Anyway, what's with that cat? It's hella big."
"You're riding a Crimson Gem! How did you tame this mythical beast? A-Anyway, it's so good to see you. Haha, ha."
Both Beradin and Dante spoke at the same time, pointing at Shurry.
As Jin looked at the happy-go-lucky duo standing in front of the burning gold, he felt like he was getting a headache.
"Didn't you two say you were going to run away? Did you start this fire?"
"Well, it was Beradin who started it."
Dante pointed his finger at Beradin.
Just like how a child caught doing something wrong would push the blame to somebody else.
"No, it was you."
Beradin had a straight face as he pointed at Jin.
Jin pointed at himself in surprise.
"What, me? When did I do that?"
"Beradin, he only just arrived, didn't he? It was definitely you that started this fire."
"W-Well, let's just say it was Jin. He's Runcandel's provisional flag-bearer anyway, so if you count all his accomplishments, then…"
Clang!
As Dante was about to wave his hand at Beradin, a piece of gold suddenly fell out of his pocket and onto the ground.
Jin looked between the gold piece and Dante, his shock evident.
"…You, forget it, you're insane. You couldn't have possibly stolen from this pile, right?"
"It's… It's not what you think! I just came with Beradin because he said he would pay me if I helped him."
"Dante! Did you really take gold bars without me knowing?"
Dante's eyes almost popped out at Beradin's words.
"Beradin! Why do you keep saying such strange things? You're the one who started the fire, and this was the reward I was supposed to receive…!"
The whole situation was a feast of gibberish.
Jin sighed, his palm covering his face.
'Right, there's no way Dante, straight as an arrow, would steal. On closer inspection, Beradin and this whole situation is a bit strange. His expression also looks a bit off.'
Drip.
Beradin looked around in a cold sweat.
Dante grabbed him by the collar and raised his voice, asking why he was accusing him of being a thief.
"A-Anyway! I don't know, we have to blame this on Jin. Otherwise we'll both be in trouble, Dante!"
"You never said anything about that to me the entire time we traveled here!"
"That's because I wasn't myself from all the anger!"
"You weren't yourself? The two of us rode that sailboat for three days to get here. You were fine the entire time. Do you mean to say that determination to never forgive your family's evil acts was all a lie?"
"Hey hey."
Beradin twisted his body strangely as if he was a windup doll.
"Beradin, you shut up. Dante, explain the situation. We don't have time. The Zipfel mages who want to kill me will attack soon."
"Jin, what are you talking about?"
"I was the one who exposed the whole holy kingdom incident. I revealed it at the square just now, and now I'm running away after fighting the Zipfel mages that attacked me."
"What, what? You're saying that you're Vamel?"
"You're Vamel?!"
Dante and Beradin turned to face Jin.
The three were constantly shocking one another.
But at least Jin was barely able to keep his cool.
If even Jin were to join in on this parade of idiots, then the whole situation would end up becoming a joke.
"And the fact that I'm Runcandel's provisional flag-bearer has been revealed, so Zipfel is in a situation where they're trying to kill me at all costs. The reason I chose this direction to escape was so that I could completely destroy the gold bars that Zipfel gave the holy kingdom as a courtesy."
"Jin, we really are destined to be together."
Dante clenched his fist, clearly touched at Jin's words.
"Your purpose and ours are the same. It looks like Beradin's lost his mind currently, but he asked for my help because he couldn't forgive his family. He said that, as the next patriarch of the Zipfel Clan, he had to take responsibility."
So the three effectively came to the port for the same purpose.
Beradin and Dante were indignant after hearing about the situation in the Holy Kingdom of Vankella through a newsletter.
And Beradin decided to personally step forward and correct things, even though Zipfel was his own family.
Jin and Dante were also descendants of great families and knew very well how noble his choice was.
Although he was being compensated, this was precisely the reason why Dante, the next head of the Hairan Clan, decided to help Beradin.
Dante was moved by Beradin's resolve.
Though him speaking nonsense afterwards was diminishing that emotion.
"So it's fine if I take the blame for setting the gold on fire. I would've done it anyway if you two weren't here."
"Jin."
Beradin adjusted his expression and looked at Jin.
"Our mages attacked you? To cover up the truth and to save face?"
In place of an answer, Jin quietly nodded his head.
Beradin's expression darkened.
"And they're chasing you now?"
"Yes."
"Those… bastards. They don't even know how to feel ashamed. I'll kill them all."
Beradin's hair began to flutter as if a strong wind was blowing through.
He was drawing out mana, at least 8-stars.
Jin, who had made an estimation of Beradin's magic power, sighed inwardly.
'When did he get so strong? In my previous life, I heard he reached 9-stars by 30.'
Jin had thought that Beradin's power had remained at 7-stars.
And that since he was a monster who was able to multicast, even as a 7-star, he was more impressive than other 8-star mages.
But that wasn't the case.
The mana flowing around Beradin was close to 9-stars.
"Calm down, Beradin."
"Saving face? How many innocent people are you going to kill just because of something like that?"
Suddenly, Jin remembered the day he first met Beradin.
—…Well, fine. You're a confident one. But let me give you some advice as someone who's in similar circumstances as you. Next time you meet a rude Zipfel who does something offensive, don't recklessly cut off their fingers. It would stir trouble up for both our clans, don't you think?
—Now that's what a real joke sounds like, Beradin Zipfel.
—Hm? Why do you say so? If the Zipfels and Runcandels fought to the death for every trivial issue, the world wouldn't be able to withstand the bloody battles. I'm telling you to keep in mind the potential disasters and chaos the innocent civilians would face because of us.
The words they shared to one another in the Mitel Kingdom when Jin was about to cut off Beradin's fingers.
'I always thought that Beradin was someone who was hard to read. And I thought there was no way the person who'd become the next clan head wouldn't know about Zipfel's evil deeds.'
But right now, Beradin had been truly unaware.
It's just that the way he acted was unique, perhaps Beradin was far different to the 'Zipfel' Jin had known.
"Do you know what this gold bar means, Jin? It means that if they don't accept this and move on, the holy kingdom will be impoverished for decades. That's no different from starving more than a million civilians to death."
Beradin was showing the self that Dante had been impressed with.
Jin felt like he knew the reason why his personality kept shifting to and fro.
'It's a scary thing.'
Beradin was angry at his family's evil deeds, but at the same time shuddered with anxiety of the consequences of what he had done.
However, upon hearing that Zipfel's mages had attacked Jin, anger once again won over his anxiety.
More precisely, the fact that it had been Jin who had been attacked left Beradin furious.
His reason and other emotions faded away.
If Jin had been in Beradin's situation and had acted the same…
The Runcandel Clan would have crippled Jin no matter the circumstances and banished him.
With the entire family desperately trying to save face, it was impossible for one heir to overturn the situation out of a sense of justice.
"I know as well. That's why even after revealing my identity, I set out to burn the gold bars."
"But how can you tell me to calm down?!"
"The consequences of your actions and mine are different. All I have to do is give the holy kingdom a reason to refuse the gold and run away. But you? If you kill the mages who come here with your own hands, what will you do next?"
"Father will understand my will."
"I don't want to say this, but your brother… Kal Zipfel died at the hands of an assassin sent by your father. Kal, the Fourth Magic Tower's Pillar, was used as bait to lure me in. Just because it's you…"
"It's a fire! The gold is on fire!" It's clear that he started the fire. Capture him no matter what!"
Suddenly, a shout was heard from far into the distance.
The mages who followed Jin had arrived at the port.
"Enough. Jin, Dante. You go first. I'll stop them."
Beradin spoke in a low voice.
His mana was forming a new flame in his hands.
Ring of Erupting Flames Massacre 1st Form. Unlike in Samil, the technique had been completed perfectly.
"Beradin."
"It was fun."
Jin sighed.
'Is he going through a late puberty? I understand your feelings, but you have to be able to not make mistakes you'll regret even if you're drunk with anger. You can't be like a moth to a flame.'
Jin knew there were many ways to end this situation more efficiently and cleanly.
"Okay, we'll get out first, Beradin."
"Jin! We can't just leave Beradin!"
Dante turned his head and shouted.
"But… Before I fled, you tried to stop me and were defeated gallantly."
Crack!
Jin's right fist landed squarely on Beradin's chin.
"Ugh."
Crunch!
The front kick that came next hit him in the solar plexus, and Beradin fell forward, coughing up blood.
Jin stepped on the back of the fallen Beradin's head once more, burying his head completely in the dirt.
Because Beradin had been attacked so suddenly in the midst of his spellcasting, he began to experience mana overflow.
Bubble, bubble.
That was the sound of blood foaming in Beradin's mouth.
"Jin… Jin?"
"You must not want anything bad to happen to him either. You come as well."
Jin used his robe to wrap Dante like a bundle.
"Even if it stings a little, keep your mouth shut until I give you the signal. Shurry, bite."
By the time Jin climbed back up onto Shurry's back, Dante was held in Shurry's mouth.