Acting as a Slit-Eye Chapter 141

Chapter 141. Stranger (2)

In this forest, where sotis blizzards would rage so fiercely they could stop one's breath, there existed a few ergency pits for shelter.

Thanks to soone's gesture, I, along with Felkhor and Zahard, barely managed to hide ourselves in one of those pits, suppressing our presence from the hint of movent felt above.

"Thank you for your efforts. By chance, have any outsiders passed through here?"

A voice belonging to an unknown individual.

It must have been from one of those 'Wedges.'

As this individual spoke breathlessly, laden with suspicion, a composed voice responded.

"No, I don't think so."

"Is that so?"

"Has an outsider intruded into the forest?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. I'll report it if discovered."

"Thank you for your cooperation."

Engaging in a brief conversation, the 'Wedge' knight began heading elsewhere with rushed footsteps.

The presence gradually faded away.

"... They seem to be gone now."

Feeling that from within the pit, Felkhor breathed a sigh of relief.

Leaving him behind, I turned my gaze towards Zahard.

Unlike his usual self, Zahard seed slightly somber, and upon sensing my gaze—or perhaps due to the earlier encounter with the 'One-Ard Demon'—his complexion didn't look good.

"I believe it's safe to co out now."

Upon hearing a voice from outside the pit, we removed the camouflage cover and revealed ourselves.

During this process, I pulled my hood down deeply.

The soldier wearing the 'Northern Front Coat' who aided us was soone I knew.

If my face were to be revealed, it could lead to complications.

"Sir Yulian, I never imagined eting you here."

... Whose disciple must this be, to be so perceptive.

Well, if not for that, they wouldn't have helped an outsider like .

"Likewise... Rinne."

While answering and removing the hood I was wearing, Rinne did the sa, allowing her beautiful hair to flow.

"You recognized

well."

"It's the sword."

Despite trying my best to conceal my face, she pointed at the Moonstone Sword I was holding when I asked how she recognized .

"It would be strange not to recognize it. A swordsman using a sword made of gem is rare both in and out of the capital."

No need to say she has a keen eye, as it goes without saying.

Only a person with overly accumulated egotism would use such a gem-made sword.

That person being '', damn it.

***

"This is a place like this in the Blizzard Forest, huh."

The cabin, untouched by human hands, deep in the forest.

Upon relocating towards it, Felkhor examined the building briefly before nodding his head.

The cabin was so concealed that even Felkhor, who hails from this land, hadn't discovered it.

As a result, it was devoid of any human scent, and the only thing possible was to shelter from the cold and snowstorm.

"But... why are you at the Northern Front, Sir Yulian?"

Once inside, avoiding the gazes of the 'Wedges' and the cold, Rinne got straight to the point.

A natural question that makes perfect sense for her to ask.

By rights, a person like

should only ever be in the capital, not in a place like this.

"I ca out for a walk."

"... All the way to this northern region far from the capital?"

"... Sotis, a refreshing northern breeze is what you need to clear your head."

I know it's an absurd excuse.

Hearing my words, Rinne frowned slightly as expected, then glanced at Felkhor and Zahard.

Both avoided making eye contact with Rinne. They had past associations with her to so degree.

"So Sir Zahard also ca out here for an outing, did he?"

Though not now, Rinne was once the Sword Saint's disciple. It's only natural for her to recognize Zahard.

After all, Zahard had been an apprentice under the sa ntor as the Sword Saint.

"Kuheum."

He coughed, trying to change the mood.

"Anyway, it seems you have almost graduated from the Academy."

"Yes, for aspiring knights from the Bayer Academy, experiencing the Northern Front is part of the curriculum."

"Tsk, knights, huh..."

Zahard smiled awkwardly at Rinne's words.

"But can an aspiring knight conceal outsiders like this?"

"It's not impossible. There isn't a specific rule against it. Besides, as long as it's not specified as wrong, what does it matter?"

Rinne's surprisingly carefree response to Zahard's cautious question was enough to make her aspirations to be a knight seem contradictory.

"Whatever brought you to the Northern Front, there must be a reason. I won't ask. I doubt I'd get an answer anyway."

With Rinne appearing to resign herself to not asking more, I decided to disclose our purpose.

"We ca here to kill a demon."

This point should be safe to express honestly.

After all, there isn't much one could glean from the brief information that 'we ca to kill a demon.'

"A demon... you say?"

"Yes."

Also, it's not unusual for 'Yulian', the Imperial Sword, to co to kill a 'demon'.

He made a na as a 'Demon Hunter' after all.

"That's strange."

However, Rinne's reaction was sowhat peculiar.

She glanced once towards the direction she ca from, where the Northern Front base 'North Pole' was situated.

"What's strange?"

"It's the recent atmosphere, you see, with both the 'Wedge' knights and at 'North Pole'."

The atmosphere at North Pole?

That place, being firmly controlled by 'Third Prince' Kaldrach, shouldn't have a strange atmosphere.

"They're also keen on capturing a certain demon, even mobilizing us, who ca from the Academy, for the search."

"A demon... capturing, you say?"

"Yes."

Rinne nodded at my slightly surprised inquiry with a look implying what's the big deal.

For a mont, I turned my gaze to Zahard.

Sensing my gaze, he too displayed uneasy signs and then proceeded to re-confirm with Rinne.

"By any chance, is the 'demon' they're after... missing an arm?"

"How did you know?"

Upon seeing Rinne's slightly surprised expression, both Zahard's and my face grew serious.

Not good.

From her words, sothing seed peculiar with the situation.

Sothing unlike anything I'd experienced before...

"They're wanting to capture rather than kill..."

Perhaps feeling a similar sentint, Zahard muttered in a bitter tone.

Rinne did ntion the term 'capture.'

We were always cooperative in our goal to destroy the 'One-Ard Demon', Zahard to settle his past and

to eliminate a future threat.

Now, amidst our aim, there was a third party interested in 'capture.'

'Soone quite high up there...'

The Third Prince, Kaldrach and the 'Wedge' knights.

"Why... is the Third Prince so keen on capturing the demon?"

"I don't know either. Only Prince Kaldrach himself knows."

An obvious question, but even Rinne, who received the order, seed oblivious to the reason.

Though there hadn't been a situation like this when playing 〈Let's Kill the Demon King〉, given my countless experiences, I started assembling information on 'Kaldrach'.

The incident in the Holy Kingdom was assud as Kaldrach's move to hold back 'Fourth Prince' Eulsis.

Moreover, it was taken as an act to cent his succession rights by eliminating political opponents.

'Was it not?'

Thoughts based on 'the ga' may be influenced by , but given past collaborations with Aiden and the current hunt for the One-Ard Demon...

For the most part, Kaldrach's actions had been centered around 'demons'.

As if studying them to uncover sothing, similar to how Aileen conducted Soul Stone research.

'Ah, that might be it.'

Upon reaching such thoughts, the collated information pointed towards a rather unsettling conclusion.

'Kaldrach has collaborated with the Witch of the North.'

Sothing never seen before.

A developnt absent from the ga.

***

In the cabin while relieving his fatigue, Zahard, gazing at the blizzard starting again, reminisces about the past.

-'I want to be a knight like my father.'

Words spoken by his son, who had just entered the Academy. Delightful words back then, yet now they pierce like a wound.

Razid.

My proud son.

Do you realize how much strength those words brought ?

Ti passed, and his son reached his final year.

Observing the path his son had taken thus far, Zahard couldn't refrain from lanting.

Razid, my son.

You do not possess the talent befitting a knight.

There is nothing innately special in you.

Neither possessing the vast potential like that person with slit eyes.

Nor wielding imnse potential like the one hailed as the Sword Star.

Or even the exceptional aura apparent in soone still quite young.

Yet Zahard couldn't bring himself to voice that truth.

-'How is it, father? Doesn't it seem like I've reached the tips of your feet now?'

To the positively smiling young man approaching him, how could he utter such cold words?

"Hey, why did you hesitate back there?"

Lost in his ruminations, Zahard snapped back to reality at Felkhor's words.

With Rinne having returned to base to reunite with the Academy, the cabin settled into tranquility.

Amid the sticky silence that cloyed around them, Felkhor voiced his curiosity.

"Hmm..."

Zahard exhaled a brief sigh, turning his gaze toward Yulian, who showed no particular reaction.

It seed he hadn't been inford by Yulian on the matter.

"Why did you hesitate when killing that demon? Although I wasn't much help then, you could have surely ended it by putting in so effort."

"Kuheum..."

"Weren't you here to kill it?"

Though Felkhor's gruff words lacked any subtlety, they indeed provided Zahard so relief.

As it helped him reign in his raging emotions.

Yulian and Felkhor had followed him to this place to handle the demon.

The reason they're now prevented from returning and left to wander was entirely due to his own actions.

Because he stood dumbfounded, rely staring at the son—no, the demon—before him.

Thus, making it hard for him had been the silent pity.

He understood himself.

What he had done wrong.

"I apologize. It seems personal emotions blinded ."

"Blind as you may have been... So, why did you hesitate?"

"That demon is Zahard's son."

"... His son?"

With words harsh as a death sentence, Yulian spoke, causing Zahard to feel a lump in his throat.

He knew all along.

He followed, aware of everything.

Having one's disgrace so openly revealed felt suffocating beyond anything else.

"Well, that explains it..."

Sohow, Felkhor seed to accept it.

And with that, a guilt increasingly gripped over Zahard.

"Sir Zahard, yet the previous incident was quite troubling."

"My apologies."

"It delayed our plans, didn't it? It's frustrating. The quicker it is subdued, the quicker I'd obtain rit."

Bearing a nonchalant smile while spouting sharp words, Yulian.

Even so, Zahard knew this was his form of kindness. It was a mont that represented his changed nature from before.

"... My apologies."

"As long as you understand. Next ti... you'll handle it, won't you?"

Hearing those words, Zahard caressed his staff.

-'Father, what do you think about using a staff as a scabbard? This way you won't need to carry both a staff and a scabbard. So handy, right?'

His youthful son's innocent laughter.

-'Look here, father, I have slain a knight. Doesn't this an I equal knights... Or perhaps exceed them?'

His son's twisted laughter after being taken by a parasitic demon.

As these mories intertwined, an ache lodged itself in his chest.

Razid.

My proud son.

You remain my pride, knight or not.

"Indeed."

If only I had said so, this tragedy might have been averted.

Every bit my fault.

The consequence of the seeds I've sewn, and the sins born from it.

"I will be sure... to end it next ti."

So, Razid.

My proud son.

I shall not let you further tarnish your na; I'll ensure it myself.

As a father, it is my final duty.

Clacky's Corner:

I can't imagine how a father would feel if he had to kill his own son.