"Raon."
As Raon made a frightening smile, Runaan suddenly popped out and showed him a rectangular box.
It was the bead ice cream box that Raon had seen a lot in the past.
"Eat."
She opened the lid and leaned it forward. Raon could see two chunks of cookie and cream and mint chocolate ice cream.
She must've really hated the idea of training if she was giving away the bead ice creams, which even had the mint chocolate flavor.
'Let's see…'
Raon examined Runaan's face from where it was hiding behind the box. Considering her blank eyes and unruffled expression, she didn't look like she hated the training.
'It looks like she really is just giving them to me as a present.'
Raon had the same impression many times before, but she was such a peculiar girl because she was casually giving away ice cream when everyone else was frowning over the upcoming training.
'She's gotten a lot better.'
Runaan had reached an even higher realm than when they were in the Owen Kingdom.
Considering that the realm didn't increase easily at the highest level of Expert, that implied that she'd been making strenuous efforts every single day.
What are you waiting for?!
Wrath stuck his tongue out while looking at the ice cream.
Can't you even eat what's presented to you?! Eat it already!
He started drumming on Raon's back, urging him to eat before the ice cream melted.
'I need to make them train.'
Training can be saved for tomorrow! You might be planning to kill them, but save it for tomorrow!
'I have no intention of killing them.'
Raon couldn't understand why everyone was making such a fuss about it since it was just training.
"Thank you."
Raon smiled while accepting Runaan's box.
"Mhm."
Runaan nodded, urging him to eat.
Once the mood became nicer, Burren and Martha carefully walked up to him.
"R-Raon, it's been a while. How did your business go?"
"Why are you so late?! You sounded like you'd be right back!"
"Lots of things happened."
Raon narrowed his eyes while examining those two.
'They have been training properly, too.'
Martha and Burren had grown just as much as Runaan. It was clear that they'd been training to the best of their abilities.
'And the same goes for the others.'
It wasn't as much as Runaan, Martha, and Burren, but the other squad members had also improved drastically.
They must've been working in harmony to endure the boring and difficult training. Their achievement was worthy of recognition.
Slurp! They've gotten a lot stronger. You should forgive them—slurp!—for today.
'Wipe your drool at least.'
Wrath was solely focused on the ice cream, and he wasn't even looking at the squad members as drool dribbling from his mouth.
"We've been training really hard while you are gone. He just said that because he became overconfident, so let's just ignore him and rest for today."
"Yeah, he says that shit all the time."
Burren and Martha leered at Krein with frowns on their faces.
"That's true, vice squad leader!"
"Please suppress your anger since you are the handsome one!"
"W-we've just finished our training schedule for the day!"
"It's already late at night. Let's start with it tomorrow!"
The other Light Wind members came rushing together with forced smiles on their faces, trying to grasp that opportunity.
"..."
Runaan kept staring at the ice cream box regardless of their actions.
"You've definitely changed."
Raon nodded while meeting everyone's eyes.
"You are right. You deserve the credit for your achievement."
Ooh!
Wrath eagerly licked his lips. He seemed to believe that it was time for the ice cream.
"I knew our vice squad leader was a broad-minded person!"
"We've been training without slacking a single day, after all."
Burren and Martha also smiled in excitement. They seemed to believe that there wasn't going to be any additional training for the day.
"Therefore, I'll give you an opportunity."
"Opportunity?"
"What opportunity?"
Raon pointed at Dorian, who was eating some snacks behind him.
"Since you've been doing your best, you should be able to win against Dorian, who wasted lots of time traveling with me, right?"
He moved his finger to point at Krein, who was standing there like an idiot.
"If Krein wins against Dorian, I'll let you go for today without further fussing and even give you some free time tomorrow."
Seriously, you are the worst!
Wrath gasped since he knew the entire story behind it.
'What's wrong? Krein might end up winning.'
Raon snickered and looked at Dorian. He'd reached the highest level Expert during the journey and even gained lots of confidence.
The team leaders were still too much for him, but he could definitely win against Krein.
"But if he loses…"
Raon looked down on everyone, with his eyes turned even colder than in the beginning.
"You will have to keep training right away until sunrise."
"We did it!"
"It's an easy win for us with those conditions!"
The bright smiles on Burren and Martha showed that they believed in Krein's victory without any doubt.
"Krein!"
"I believe in you!"
"Make sure to win and show us you aren't all talk!"
"Krein! Show him the result of our sweat and blood!"
The other Light Wind members also expected Krein's victory and cheered for him while waving at him.
Since Krein was a vice team leader who was way stronger than Dorian, they all believed that the match was already decided.
"V-vice squad leader!"
Dorian came towards him in a panic.
"Can I even w-win against a vice team leader?"
"Of course you can, because he's completely underestimating you right now. If you can't finish him off in a single strike, you will have to climb the mountain all night long—all alone."
"Hiccup…"
Dorian closed his eyes for a moment and thought about what happened in Rokan.
'Those hellish days.'
Raon dropped boulders and trees from the summit while he tried to climb the rock.
He was saved before he died, but he was never going to forget that experience since he really thought he was going to die.
'I'm the only one who had to do that among the Light Wind squad!'
Dorian and Mark Goetten were the only people in that place who had experienced that hell. He didn't want to be the only one who went through that madness.
"Argh! I'm bringing you down with me."
Blue flames of motivation were burning from his eyes when he opened them again. He ran up to Krein and bobbed his fingers with the training sword clenched in his grasp.
"Come at me!"
"How cocky of you!"
Krein bit his lip while glaring at Dorian.
Raon stood between them and lowered his hand.
"Calm down. You can catch up with your swords."
He raised his hand as he spoke.
"Start!"
"Yaaaah!"
As soon as the spar started, Dorian made the first move. He slammed down his sword while gritting his teeth as if he were facing a desperate situation.
"Hmph."
Krein snorted and raised his sword to block the trajectory.
"You are still too impatient. You will never win against me at this rat—Huh?"
He widened his eyes in panic upon feeling the power from Dorian's sword.
'Wh-what?! Why is he so strong?!'
He tried to block Dorian's attack to the best of his ability, but it was already too late. Dorian's sword was already right in front of him.
"W-wait!"
"Yaaaah!"
Dorian didn't listen to Kiren at all and smashed him with the sword.
Smaack!
The training sword bashed the center of Krein's forehead, and he collapsed with his eyes rolled back.
"Huff!"
Dorian exhaled a heated breath while clenching his sword.
"I'm not going down, I'm definitely not going down alone! We'll be together…"
The way he kept murmuring he wouldn't go down sounded like he was possessed by some evil spirit.
"Ah…"
"Wh-what's going on?!"
"D-did Krein really lose just now? Today's training was difficult, but even so…"
"How is this even possible?"
The Light Wind members dropped their jaws while watching the excited Dorian and the unconscious Krein in front of him.
"What did I just witness?"
"I don't even know. Fuck this…"
Burren and Martha's chins were also trembling because of the unexpected situation.
Clap!
The sound of Raon clapping woke them up from their panic.
"The match is over."
Raon rolled his lips into a smile as the gazes of bewilderment were directed at him.
"You have no complaints now, right? Let's go now, for my training that makes perfect sense."
Raon carried Krein on his back while saying that. He had no intention of leaving him unconscious, since the opportunity to get stronger should be given fairly to everyone.
Wow…
Wrath's lips trembled as he looked at Raon's back as he began walking towards the North Grave Mountain.
Even the demons nowadays don't do this kind of thing.
The result was already decided when Raon made that bet, and even the demons in Devildom didn't do such a thing. Wrath couldn't understand what was inside that evil devil's head.
He really belongs to Devildom… Wait, no! Eat the mint chocolate before you go!
* * *
Glenn Zieghart was walking all around the audience chamber with a frown. His slightly trembling eyes were expressing his anxiety.
He walked around in circles on the platform for a while before he sat on the throne and leaned forward.
"Why?"
He lowered his eyebrows while looking at Roenn, who was standing below the platform.
"It's already been a long time since they said he went through the main gate, so why is he still not here yet?"
"He must be being considerate, my lord."
Roenn lowered his head with a gentle smile.
"Considerate?"
"Yes. It is late at night, after all."
He looked above and pointed at the moon in the sky.
"He must've thought that it would be rude to visit so late. He should be here tomorrow."
Sheryl also smiled, saying that Raon did it for Glenn's sake.
"Ahem."
Glenn cleared his throat and lowered his gaze.
"I don't need such consideration. He still does those useless things, just like before."
He licked his lips in regret.
Roenn and Sheryl watched Glenn with gentle smiles.
"Ah. In that case, should I bring him here?"
Rimmer raised his hand while leaning his back against a round pillar.
"I also want to see my student since it's been a while. I'll bring him then."
"Hey, he should be resting right now. Why would you do that?"
"No. Considering his personality, I'm pretty sure he's at the training ground."
Rimmer clicked his tongue, saying that they still knew nothing about Raon.
"What should I do? Should I bring him here?"
He wagged his finger while looking at Glenn.
"..."
Glenn stared at Rimmer without responding.
"Ah, I guess not. Then I'll go see him on my own. I'm gonna have a drink with my student since he's over twenty years old now. See you tomorro—"
"Rimmer!"
Rimmer waved his hand. When he was about to leave, Glenn slammed the armrest of his throne.
"…Bring him."
"Whaat? I can't hear anything because it's so quieeeeet."
"B-bring him."
"What did you say? I don't understand what you are saying because this grandpa doesn't even care about his grandson."
"How dare you…"
Glenn's wrath created thunderclouds to fill the space above them.
"Huh?! I won't be able to go if you drop this! No, I refuse to go!"
"Ugh!"
The lightning energy filling the audience chamber disappeared in an instant.
"I knew Raon was the best solution!"
Rimmer giggled and opened the audience chamber's door.
"I'll bring him back real quick!"
He waved his hand in a cheeky manner and left.
"Catch him after Raon returns."
"Yes."
"Understood."
Roenn and Sheryl nodded at the same time.
Sheryl's smile was icy cold as she looked at the door Rimmer had left through.
"We'll have to clean up an elven corpse today."
"Huhuhu."
Burren bit his lip while climbing the cliff of North Grave Mountain.
'How did Dorian become so strong?'
He'd only witnessed a single strike, but he could immediately notice that Dorian's might was on a completely different level from before.
He thought he'd been going through hell in the training ground, but traveling with Raon must've been true hell.
'But I'm relieved that this training isn't too bad.'
Climbing the cliff while aura was banned honestly wasn't too difficult.
'And it makes perfect sense as well.'
The training method where you climbed a cliff with bare hands was one of the physical training methods passed down from antiquity. Back when they were trainees, Rimmer had sometimes asked them to climb the mountain since he couldn't be bothered to come up with a regime.
"I was wondering what he prepared for us, but this much is easy."
Martha was also smiling, since climbing a cliff was a piece of cake.
"Hnng…"
Runaan was taking it even easier since she was dozing off while climbing.
"The vice squad leader isn't a complete demon."
"I know, right? My heart skipped a beat because I thought we were doing the focus enhancement training again."
"I would've dug a cave to hide myself if we were doing that again."
"Even the vice squad leader has a conscience, after all."
The other squad members didn't have much difficulty either, since they were leisurely chatting with each other while climbing.
"He's not that kind of person, though…"
Krein frowned, a huge bump on his forehead.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean the vice squad leader. I don't think it's simply going to end with this when he even got me beaten up to force us into this training."
"He's going easy on us because he's human after all."
Burren shook his head, saying that Raon was originally a nice guy.
"No, he's nice, but he doesn't compromise when it comes to training."
Krein licked his lips. Suddenly, they heard a huge noise from the summit—it sounded like something was being destroyed.
"What is that sound—Ack!"
Krein hadn't even finished speaking before he was hit by a rock that fell from the summit and fell from the cliff.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
He couldn't even grab anything on the way—he just kept falling until he disappeared from sight.
"K-Krein!"
"Wh-what's happening?!"
"Why did a rock suddenly fall on him?"
"What's happening?!"
Burren, Martha, and the Light Wind members raised their heads at the same time.
Wham! Rumble!
With a destructive sound, logs began falling from above.
"L-logs?"
"Why the hell are those logs falling right now?"
"What the hell?!"
The Light Wind members screamed and scattered on the cliff to avoid the logs.
"This place is safe—ack!"
"Yukan!"
However, they started falling one by one because the rocks fell towards the places they were hiding.
"Dodge!"
"R-rocks are falling on us!"
"We are going to die if we fall!"
The Light Wind members crawled on the cliff as fast as insects to escape, but the rocks looked like they predicted their movement because they smacked their vital spots.
"Argh!"
"Sniff!"
"S-save meeeee!"
Each time they screamed, the number of swordsmen decreased one by one.
"Argh!"
Martha barely managed to escape the rock falling upon her and raised her head straight towards the top.
"You crazy son of a bitch!"
She ground her teeth while cursing at Raon, who must've been at the summit.
"Did you really go insane?! Are you planning to kill everyon—Kyah!"
Martha got hit by a rock on her side before she could finish her curse and fell to the ground.
"Ah…"
Burren's jaw dropped. The only ones left were himself and Runaan, who was still dozing off.
"R-Runaan! Wake up! We are really going to di—ah!"
He was trying to wake Runaan up when a fist-sized rock fell towards him.
"Huff!"
Burren brought himself as close as possible to the cliff to dodge the rock flying towards his temple. However, it wasn't over yet. A large amount of rocks poured down on him from all over.
"I'm not going to die here!"
He climbed with all the strength he could muster and managed to dodge the rocks falling like meteorites.
Whoosh!
When he barely managed to avoid a rock falling towards his shoulder, a fist-sized rock was falling towards his forehead.
'This is easy.'
He fended off the rock with a faint smile on his face, but there was another one right behind it.
"You damn bastar—ack!"
He got a clean hit on his forehead from the second rock, and the strength left his limbs.
'You freaking psychopath. You even used your aura…'
Raon must've really gone insane, as he'd incorporated the rock with an aura to cause mental damage. Burren couldn't hold on anymore in his weakened state.
Burren almost lost consciousness and ended up falling from the cliff.
"Ah…"
He wanted to grab something during the fall, but he had no strength left.
'Is this how I end up dying? Because of that crazy bastard? I wanted to win against my father…'
Raon had helped him when he had locked himself in the villa. He had resolved to defeat his father one day, but he couldn't achieve it in the end. In fact, he was dying because of the guy who helped him.
'Bye, everyon—Huh?'
While he thought he was dying, something supported him from below.
"Ah…"
He raised his eyes and saw the middle-aged man who gave off a neat impression who'd come with Raon earlier. Burren could guess that he was the one who had caught him without the slightest impact.
"Are you okay?"
"I-I'm fine. Thank you."
Burren nodded and stood on the ground.
"Team leader, you are late."
"You lasted the longest in the end."
"Aww, that was so scary…"
The other swordsmen were also sitting on the ground without any injuries.
"Fuck…"
Martha was grinding her teeth while punching the cliff in frustration.
"Aww."
Burren was dumbfounded, and Runaan was falling with a small groan.
The middle-aged man easily caught Runaan and left her on the ground.
"Thank you."
Runaan bowed without panicking, as if she'd experienced it many times before.
"What are we supposed to do now…?"
"Hey!"
While they were looking at each other, since they didn't know what to do anymore, Raon's voice could be heard from above.
"You must remember that you are supposed to train until sunrise! Climb back up right now!"
The area under the Light Wind member's eyes turned black upon hearing Raon's bright and cheerful voice.
"Argh! What are the demons and devils doing right now?! They should take him to become one of theirs!"
Wrath heard Martha's voice from above the cliff and shook his head.
The King of Essence apologizes, Beef Girl.
Even the King of Essence can't handle him…
* * *
Raon smiled while watching the Light Wind members as they started to climb the cliff once again.
'They are definitely talented.'
Even though they'd only experienced it once, they were already moving in a way to dodge the rocks more easily. They were really smart.
"Dorian, you got more logs and boulders, don't you?"
Raon extended his hand towards Dorian, who was trembling next to him.
"I do have them because they are necessities…"
"I'll resupply for you later. Take them out."
"Yes…"
Dorian nodded and put his hand in his belly pocket to take out logs and boulders.
"Perfect."
Raon left the logs as they were and shattered the boulders to the size of a fist.
"Let's gooo!"
"I won't lose this time!"
"I'm only going to be satisfied after going up there to punch that guy!"
"I'm never going to fall!"
Raon could see the Light Wind members climbing from below while shouting. They were extremely enthusiastic, probably from anger.
"Yes, this makes it more interesting."
Raon smiled coldly and rolled a log down the area where the largest number of members were climbing.
Rumble!
The thunderous noise sounded like the cliff was caving in as the log fell upon the Light Wind members.
"Aaaaah!"
"Krein fell again!"
"Yukaaaaan!"
Two people fell from a single log. Since five people fell in total last time, it was amazing progress.
Raon dropped the logs one after the other to eliminate more than ten people before he picked up the rocks.
"The real part is only getting started."
He was about to throw the rocks with a grin on his face when he felt a gentle and refreshing breeze.
"Why are you already harassing our guys when you've just returned?"
Raon turned around upon hearing the loafer's voice. Rimmer was waving at him with the same smile as when he gambled.
"Squad leader."
Raon put down the rock before he stood up and examined Rimmer.
'What's going on?'
There was already a drastic change every day ever since he had received the artificial energy center, but he was looking like a completely different person. It felt like sharp lightning was filling the gaps between the cheerful wind.
"I can see that you haven't been playing around."
"Wrong, I was just playing around."
"Hmm…"
He was unexpectedly rebuked even though he was just praising Rimmer. He felt like he had finally returned to the Light Wind squad.
"Stop playing with them and come with me."
"Where are we going?"
"Greeting the elders takes priority once you return to the house. The head of house wants to see you."
"At this late hour?"
Raon was surprised that Glenn wanted to see him. He had been planning to visit the lord's manor the next day since it was already so late.
"Yes."
Rimmer nodded with a refreshing smile on his face.
"He's probably giving you a gift."