"Do you understand how serious it is to mention the name Zieghart?"
Glenn Zieghart employed a small amount of pressure into his gaze.
"Kuh!"
Raon bit his lip so hard that it nearly bled.
'It feels like my flesh is being crushed.'
The pressure that Glenn was exerting was a small amount, a cup of water against the vast ocean. However, it felt as though his heart was being squeezed.
He could feel his clothes become sticky because of the cold sweat he broke into. If he hadn't practiced the Ring of Fire, he might have fainted already.
'Is this the warrior, the Destructive King of the North…?'
Considering his gaze alone held such pressure, his prowess surpassed Derus Robert. It was impossible to raise his head.
"Try saying it again. Can you take responsibility for what you've just said?"
"My… My lord! Raon is still young. He doesn't know what he is talking about."
"That's true! Raon has lived in the annex building all this time, so he doesn't know about the name of Zieghart…"
Sylvia and Helen ran next to him and knelt.
"My lord, he is just a child who doesn't know anything. Please withdraw your pressure."
Denier Zieghart stood up and defended them against the pressure.
"Sir Denier!"
"As expected of Sir Denier, he would even care for an insolent kid like him."
"The broadness of his mind is even greater than his might."
The collaterals praised Denier's behavior.
"I am speaking right now."
"Ugh!"
"Kuh…"
Denier and Sylvia both stepped back at once, hearing Glenn's mighty voice. They didn't move on their own; Glenn pushed them back with his voice alone.
"I'm s-sorry."
Denier lowered his head, but Sylvia was different.
"F-Father…"
She approached Glenn, enduring his pressure with her frail body, which didn't even possess aura.
"Raon is not yet ready to train…"
Sylvia's eyes reflected that she was solely worried about him.
It pulled at Raon's heartstrings.
'I don't understand.'
He was choked up, but he couldn't tell if that emotion meant compassion, or worry, or something else.
He just wished that she would always smile happily, instead of being in that state.
'I was an assassin.'
An assassin was a being that lived in the darkness. Being closer to death than life, they would never show themselves.
'However, I no longer am one.'
'I'm not going to live as an assassin anymore.'
As Raon Zieghart, and not as Raon the assassin, he resolved that he would return Sylvia to her original place.
Crash!
At that moment, he could hear a sound similar to one of the chains around his neck falling.
"I do not know."
Raon forced himself to raise his head, facing Glenn's overbearing gaze directly. Suppressing the urge to close his eyes, he continued.
"I've been raised in the annex building, and not in the main building. I don't know how high and mighty Zieghart is."
"R-Raon!"
Sylvia desperately called for him, but he didn't look back.
"That's why I want to see for myself what kind of place is Zieghart, by participating in training."
Once Raon finished talking, everyone held their breath and looked at Glenn.
"…"
One of Glenn's eyebrows raised slightly.
"Do you mean that you will judge Zieghart from basic training?"
"That is the only way I can learn about Zieghart right now."
"Then I will have to make sure that the instructor is fully prepared, so that you won't be disappointed."
The room of audience became as quiet as a mouse, as Glenn's red eyes blazed.
"Kuh…"
Being unable to withstand it any further, Raon finally bowed his head. He was only twelve years old, a child who couldn't endure a thousandth of Glenn's pressure.
Yet he didn't give in.
If he kept cultivating the Ring of Fire, and learned an efficient way of handling aura, he would be able to properly stand in front of him one day.
Deciding that he would show that with action instead of word, he clenched his teeth.
'One day.'