The small, muscular man clad in a small robe arrived beside me. I was still
on the ground after falling on my rear, yet to recover from the unbelievable
spectacle a while ago.
「It seems you survived, huh, Guild Master!」
I patted my ch*st in relief upon discovering his survival.
「I was seriously about to die back then. The only reason I survived is the
slimes he summoned.」
These words made me recall the slimes that were pridefully jumping around
Kai Heineman.
「You're right.」
I had no choice but to agree with Guild Master.
「So, what do you think is THAT?」
By "THAT," Guild Master was obviously referring to Kai Heineman.
「No idea! To be honest, not even in my wildest dreams would I have
thought that he's such an aberrant being.」
It was natural. Kai Heineman had easily massacred thousands of beastheaded monsters, each equal to three guild masters.
To top it off, he had sliced their generals; the eagle-headed, the wolfheaded, and the tiger-headed monsters that had pinned down Knight Leader
Arnold. Kai Heineman had diced them into fine pieces of meat, and as if
that wasn't absurd enough, he had even trampled on their boss, which had
turned into a giant with a lizard head, with such ease.
Strongest hunter— No! It might not even be an exaggeration to call him the
strongest in the world.
「That f*cking Elm! Just how in the world did he manage to raise such an
aberration?」
Guild Master cursed Elm, Kai's grandfather, non-stop.
「You're wrong! That Martial God has no teacher.」
When I turned toward the direction of that voice, I saw an old man with a
long, white beard and hair walking toward us with a pleasant smile on his
face.
「Long time no see, Master Aaron!」
Knight Leader Arnold ran toward us the moment he saw the old man. He
cupped his hands and bowed toward the old man. Wolfman followed
Arnold a while later.
「Uhm! It seems you're also safe and sound, Arnold.」
The white-haired old man replied to Knight Leader Arnold. Yes, this old
man was Knight Leader Arnold's master and the grandmaster of the Kaienstyle, Aaron Kaien.
「Aaron! What do you mean by Kai Heineman has no teacher?」
「THAT is a Martial God. And a Martial God has no teacher. Am I
wrong?」
「…」
Guild Master touched his chin upon hearing Aaron's remark and said,
「Now that you said those words, cultivating "THAT" is pretty much
impossible. Since that's the case, such a talent is…」
「So? do you know what kind of person that youth is?」
Wolfman sent a sidelong glance toward Guild Master and asked for a
confirmation.
「Kai Heineman is Princess Rose's royal guard.」
So that rumor was true. Since that's the case―
「I see. Kai is Princess Rose's royal guard, huh… So that's why the
princess is…」
Old man Aaron crossed his arms as he pondered something with a steep
expression. On the other hand―
「I'M AGAINST THIS! Don't you see just what kind of aberration is that
so-called royal guard? His strength isn't something that should be in the
possession of a country. Just what kind of madness is this for a mere
princess to have such an aberration as her vassal!!!」
Guild Master's visage turned ghastly pale. But…
「So, what do you think about this situation, Guild Master?」
I asked him about the real intention behind his remark.
「Naturally, leave him to a neutral organization that isn't affiliated with any
country, such as [Babel], or Hunter Guild.」
So it came to this, huh! But still, Guild Master's remark was correct. Kai
Heineman's existence might be capable of destroying the entire delicate
power balance between countries and races. Or rather, I couldn't see any
chance of defeating him even if tens of thousands of soldiers surrounded
him. I could only see mountains of corpses he would single-handedly build.
Yes, just like those beast-headed corpses.
「Worry not! He isn't the kind of person willing to work under someone
else. He's not a pure knight like us. If I have to say, his role is more like a
guardian who supports Rose-sama.」
So his relationship with the royal family is more like a guardian! The one
who has the power to do that is either a super big-shot noble or the relatives
of the royalty. No matter how much you think about it, such a position was
too much for a young man of Kai Heineman's age. And yet, I naturally
consented with Knight Leader Arnold when he explained the relationship
between Kai and Princess Rose.
Old Man Aaron, who had been pondering something with his arms crossed
since a while ago, looked at his disciple, Knight Leader Arnold, with a
serene expression.
「Arnold, do you know the secret of Kai Heineman's strength?」
Yes, everyone in this place was also curious about the secret behind Kai's
strength.
「Everything I know so far about him is just my conjecture.」
「Nevertheless, you have no shred of doubt about it, right?」
「Yes.」
「Then do tell us!」
At Old Man Aaron's urging, Knight Leader Arnold shook his head and
opened his mouth.
「That'll be a breach of privacy. To make matters worse, everything is just
my conjecture. He had us make a promise to not snoop around his secret
and privacy, so I really can't tell you about the secret of his strength! Not
even to you, Master!」
He declared that.
「No exception at all?」
「Yes.」
「I see… Well, it can't be helped then…」
A wry smile appeared on Knight Leader Arnold's face when he saw Old
Man Aaron's dejected expression. Then, he added,
「Well, there's one thing I'm sure about. He was weak and powerless
before the start of our journey toward the royal capital.」
「He was weak and powerless before the journey! Is it… Uhm, sure
enough… That Martial God's prowess isn't something as cheap as talent
and gift. Since that's the case…」
Old Man Aaron drowned into a train of thought.
「The origin of his strength is a trivial matter! What matters is the fact that
Kai Heineman is STRONG!
Aaron, you don't mind if Hunter Guild takes him, right?」
Guild Master asked Old Man Aaron, not allowing the latter to have any
other choice.
「Yeah, I don't mind. I realized how ridiculous my attempts to make that
Martial God my disciple was. Placing him in the hunter world, which
values merit and real strength above everything, is our best option and the
one that will cause the least problem.」
「That's good! It'll get busy very soon! I have to pull some strings to
quickly raise his hunter rank!」
I looked at Guild Master, who ran toward Barse city with sparkling eyes.
「Let's follow him.」
Knight Leader Arnold urged us to follow Guild Master. Thus, nodding in
silence, all of us walked toward the city.
For some reason, I had never felt a breeze as refreshing as the one blowing
this time. It wasn't just my imagination, as I found out a while later that I
had unknowingly gotten myself embroiled into the vortex of the storm
centering around Kai Heineman.