"Huff! Huff!"
Isaac exhaled heavily, staring at the transcendent impaled on the spear.
It stood upright even in death, resembling a lone grave marker.
'Thank goodness.'
Though he was too breathless to voice his thoughts, Isaac felt genuine relief.
He had believed wholeheartedly that if they could just reach Uldren Caldias, he would be able to kill the transcendent.
No matter how formidable the transcendents were, Uldren's power was more than enough to subdue them.
'This one wasn't even a particularly strong one among the transcendents.'
Assessing the situation objectively, Isaac knew that, among the transcendents he was aware of, this one wasn't particularly powerful.
"Are you alright?"
"We'll rescue you right away!"
The wall's tightly shut doors swung open, and soldiers rushed toward him. Isaac pointed in the direction he had come from and shouted.
"Start with the injured! Quickly!"
Jonathan, Silverna, lieutenant Anna, the nobles, and their escorts—all of them had suffered under the attack of a single transcendent.
As for Isaac, aside from minor injuries sustained during his fall, he had escaped relatively unharmed.
Right now, others needed help more than he did.
Following Isaac's orders, the soldiers hurriedly headed toward the foothills of the mountain.
"Are you alright?"
Uldren approached Isaac, who had slumped down, trying to steady himself.
Isaac tried to stand quickly, but Uldren placed a firm hand on his shoulder, urging him to rest.
"Yes, I'm alright."
"Hm. What of that beast?"
Even Uldren seemed to be seeing one for the first time.
Isaac looked at the corpse with a bitter expression and replied.
"They are called transcendent beings… similar to humans but like ferocious beasts."
As Isaac spoke, Uldren crossed his arms, studying the body with interest.
"Hm, you seem to know quite a bit about them?"
"I'll explain later." Isaac replied, slowly rising to his feet.
When he saw a man lying on a stretcher, Isaac felt an overwhelming urge to run to him immediately.
Seeing this pure concern, Uldren smirked and nodded.
"Don't worry about me. It's only natural to care for your comrades."
"Thank you."
Leaving Uldren behind, Isaac hurried to Jonathan.
"Jonathan! Are you alright?!"
Jonathan, lying on the stretcher, gave him a weak smile and a thumbs-up.
"I'm a knight of Helmut, aren't I?"
"Haha… That's a relief."
Although Isaac wasn't particularly fond of the knights of Helmut, he was grateful that Jonathan had survived.
"What exactly happened?"
The transcendents Isaac knew never spared humans.
Their hatred for humanity seemed more like an innate, primal urge than a conscious decision.
Jonathan scratched his cheek awkwardly as he lay there.
"To be honest, I'm not sure. After sending you off, its greatsword came right up to my throat."
Jonathan tilted his head slightly, revealing a wound on his throat where blood had pooled.
"But then it just stared at me for a while and left."
"Left?"
"Yes, it called me a filthy creature and walked away."
"Filthy creature?"
Isaac tilted his head in confusion at Jonathan's words.
The idea that a transcendent would pass up the chance to kill a human didn't make sense.
'What's going on?'
It defied everything he understood about them.
"Sir Isaac! I'm perfectly fine, so don't worry about me!"
"Oh, come on, just stay still for once."
"At least let the physician check you out."
Jonathan was dragged off despite his protests.
Even as Isaac felt a brief moment of relief at Jonathan's safety, unanswered questions began swirling in his mind, one after another.
Someone suddenly hugged Isaac tightly from behind.
"Isaac!"
"Silverna?"
Startled, Isaac turned his head.
Silverna was clinging to him tightly, relief evident on her face.
"Thank goodness! I'm so glad, Isaac! I thought something terrible had happened to you!"
"Well, uh…"
Feeling awkward, Isaac glanced behind him.
He could sense Uldren Caldias staring at them with a piercing gaze.
'If I'm not careful, I might end up skewered like that transcendent being.'
Not wanting to share the same fate as the impaled transcendent, Isaac tried to gently push Silverna away.
"Urgh."
But he lacked the strength to pry her off.
While pondering how to free himself from her grip,
"Ahem, Silverna."
Uldren Caldias finally approached them with a cough, calling out to his daughter.
"Oh, I-I'm sorry!"
Realizing what she had done, Silverna quickly let go, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"…"
Uldren's gaze shifted to Isaac. He looked as though he wanted to say something but refrained.
"Ahem."
Isaac scratched the back of his neck as if casually, subtly showing the ring on his left ring finger.
That seemed to soften Uldren's intense stare slightly.
"What about the relic from Holstein?"
Returning to his original duties, Uldren asked the question. Silverna snapped to attention and reported.
"We've retrieved it. Currently, Anna is guarding it. However, she's injured and will need immediate reinforcements."
"Very well. I'll handle it myself."
Silverna was taken aback by Uldiran's declaration, but…
"We can't afford to let our guard down."
The deep tone of his voice carried a hint of bitterness. With a frown, Uldren expressed his concerns about the current situation.
"The strange creature they call a transcendent is troubling, but what worries me more is the number of beasts."
Indeed.
Silverna also thought the number of beasts near the wall was excessively high.
"You mean—?"
"Silverna, prepare the message immediately."
After 23 long years,
"The Great Colony has appeared."
***
Helmut Estate
"Aaaahhh!"
A man's wail echoed through the air.
Given how early it was, one might mistake it for a rooster's crow.
The source of the scream was Alois Helmut, the third son of the family.
Recently,
He had been training every morning without fail.
And not just with anyone, but with his eldest sister, Liana Helmut.
Whoosh!
Liana sheathed her greatsword, Ragnavel, letting out a sigh.
"Fix your stance, Alois."
Her words made it clear that this wasn't over yet.
To Alois, who often compared her eyes to precious gems, they now seemed blood-red, brimming with ferocity.
"S-sister! We've been training every day! You're going to kill me at this rate!"
As much as Alois enjoyed spending time with Liana, this was too much.
Every day, his entire body felt as if it were being crushed.
But Liana wasn't one to back down.
"I've been sparring with you daily, yet you've shown no improvement."
"That's not—"
She probably thinks so from her perspective.
Alois swallowed his words.
In truth, he had improved.
It was just that, from Liana's level, it seemed negligible.
"Pick up your sword."
There was no backing down for Liana.
Her impassive expression made her seriousness all the more palpable.
'Bringing up remarriage… that was a mistake.'
Alois was paying dearly for his remarks about remarriage and his disrespectful comments about Isaac in front of Lilac. He'd been enduring punishment for days now.
And he wasn't the only one at the Helmut estate whose mind was unsettled because of Isaac.
The second daughter, Sharen Helmut, was also feeling restless. At 17 years old, she was the youngest Helmut child aside from their youngest brother, 15-year-old Edel Helmut.
Right now, she was lying on her bed, kicking her blanket furiously.
"Aaaagh! Where is it?!"
To describe her, one could say she was a tomboy and a bundle of chaos.
If she hadn't been born a Helmut, she might've just been an ordinary, wild girl from the countryside.
But as a member of the Helmut family, her behavior often leaned toward the extreme.
Especially when it came to her snacks.
"Where is it!?"
There was one snack she particularly loved. Recently, however, Sharen hadn't been able to eat any of it.
"Where in the world does Isaac buy it from?!"
The problem was, Isaac—her go-to errand boy—had been deployed to the front lines of Malidan.
Because of that, Sharen had been deprived of her beloved snack.
Despite searching every bakery in the vicinity, hoping they might carry the same treats, she had no luck.
As she agonized over her predicament, her personal maid, Kelsey, burst into the room, calling her name urgently.
"My lady! The head of the household has summoned everyone!"
"Father has?!"
With the Sword Festival still more than a month and a half away, it was unusual for the head of the family to call a meeting. Sharen immediately realized something significant must have happened.
Soon, all the direct descendants of the Helmut family gathered in the head's office.
The eldest son, Lohengrin.
The eldest daughter, Liana.
The second son, Armin.
The third son, Alois.
The second daughter, Sharen.
And the youngest, Edel.
It had been a long time since they were all together outside of breakfast, so the atmosphere was slightly awkward.
Arandel Helmut, their father, rested his chin on his hand, looking troubled as he spoke.
"A messenger has arrived from the Malidan Wall."
Instantly, everyone glanced at Liana, trying to read her reaction.
Malidan Wall—the place where Isaac had been sent in their stead.
Could it be news of his death?
That seemed the most likely explanation.
Liana clenched her fists, trying to suppress the pounding in her chest.
"The beast lair near Malidan has been confirmed as a Great Colony."
The tension in the room shifted to a different kind.
A Great Colony, appearing for the first time in 23 years.
The reason for the messenger's arrival was now clear.
"They need more reinforcements."
The Kingdom's request, passed on to the nobles by the Caldias, was blunt.
When it had been a mere beast lair, sending promising youths for real combat experience had been acceptable.
But with its status upgraded to a Great Colony…
Now they required actual battle-ready forces.
"Phew."
Arandel sighed, regretful that this crisis had arisen so close to the family's major event, the Sword Festival.
But with the situation declared a Great Colony, he couldn't make decisions based solely on the Helmut family's interests.
"We need to send reinforcements to Malidan. Who will volunteer?"
At his question, two voices immediately responded.
"I will go."
"Father! Please let me go!"
The two women in the room—Liana and Sharen—answered simultaneously.