One of the beings associated with darkness, the Rotten Wood Spirit, mocked Shane’s actions.
What Shane had just done was to draw a dark spirit into his own mental world.
One might think that this was akin to fighting on his home turf.
However, this was a great misconception.
Dark spirits fundamentally thrive on the negative emotions of living beings, that is, their dark energy.
And among all living beings, humans were the most emotional.
No matter how strong a human might be, no, even the great races of ancient times would not dare to invite a dark spirit into their mental world.
From the looks of it, he was a human with quite a strong spirit.
But no matter how fiercely he struggled, all living beings inherently possess dark energy and as long as this dark energy exists, the dark spirit will continue to grow stronger regardless of who the opponent is.
As a spirit who guarded the forest, it had witnessed too many deaths.
The spirit knew well where human darkness began to deepen.
It was death.
From now on, Shane would experience the numerous deaths the Rotten Wood Spirit had witnessed and his personality would be worn down.
He would face dozens of deaths in the blink of an eye.
And when he comes back to life, the fear of the impending death that would come again would make him tremble.
More dark energy would emerge this way and fuel the growth of the spirit even more.
However, the expectations of the Rotten Wood Spirit began to twist as soon as it entered Shane’s mental world.
-What, what is this…
Death.
The Rotten Wood Spirit had always thought it knew death better than anyone else.
But right after it entered Shane’s mental world,
What the Rotten Wood Spirit saw was a field of countless corpses stretching beyond the horizon.
-What the hell …
Everywhere it looked, there was only death.
The horrific sight was enough to overwhelm even a dark spirit that had lived for hundreds of years in the forest.
At that point, it realized something was terribly wrong.
This is not.
The death it knew.
-What is? What is this?
The dark spirit felt an emotion it should never be able to feel, an emotion it denied as reality.
That feeling was fear.
It was not simply the sight of those corpses that instilled fear.
It was the cause behind those corpses.
It was a fear born of facing a speck of darkness, similar to itself yet immeasurably deeper and more profound.
And when it suddenly turned around,
It saw Shane, seated on a throne atop numerous corpses.
-What does this mean…
And Shane’s chest was pierced by a sword that emitted a brilliant light.
Shane appeared to be smiling peacefully with his eyes closed as if in a deep sleep.
An instinctive realization.
The countless corpses that existed in this world were created by that human being.
Then what exactly was this?
Was this death?
No, it wasn’t.
It was something infinitely close to death, yet different.
At that moment, Shane’s eyes opened.
-How, how can a mortal possibly… create such a world…
No answer came to the dark spirit’s trembling question.
A chilling silence.
Just moments ago, Shane’s face seemed so peacefully soft, but now, as he opened his eyes, no emotion could be felt.
When those unfathomably deep eyes began to darken.
Something approached the Rotten Wood Spirit.
It was something infinitely close to death.
Yet something different.
It was “annihilation”.
When Klein and his knights arrived at the village, they were shocked to find a twin-headed ogre collapsed at the village entrance.
How could such a massive monster arrive at the village without emitting any presence at all?
The details of the incident were heard from the five knights who were still bleeding and were just beginning to administer first aid.
“—And he’s been like that ever since.”
“…. We need to hurry and call a mage. Young master, what shall we do?”
Klein responded with a gloomy expression to Layerd’s question as he looked at Shane who was sleeping soundly on the bed.
“I will wait until my brother wakes up, and then we will move together.”
Layerd sighed inwardly at Klein’s response.
He had never imagined that the eldest son would sacrifice himself for a mere mercenary.
Shane had recently been acting unlike himself.
His eyes remained dull as always but the hostile gaze he usually directed at Klein was nowhere to be found, and this incident was no exception.
However, Layerd felt compelled to reprimand Shane.
After all, you are the son of the Clayton family. It’s reckless to risk so much for a mere commoner.
Of course, Layerd who was unaware of Shane’s inner thoughts could not imagine that Shane might have been considering killing Wayton from the get-go simply to avoid dealing with the troublesome spirit inside his mental world.
“Rodwill, I’m afraid you’ll have to go. We need someone who was there to explain the situation accurately to the Magic Tower.”
Rodwill was the most skilled of the five knights who had remained in the village, and he was at least capable of moving.
“Yes, I understand.”
Rodwill did not refuse such an order from Layerd.
The eldest son had collapsed in his effort to protect the village.
How could he not be seen as a model knight?
And the only way to save the young master who had collapsed due to a dark spirit was to seek help from the Magic Tower.
It was just when Rodwill was about to leave.
“There’s no need to go.”
“…Young Master!”
Shane who was lying on the bed quietly opened his eyes.
At the same time.
“Commander, what are you doing right now!”
“What are you doing!”
Suddenly, Layerd placed one hand on the hilt of his sword and his actions caused the surrounding knights to exclaim in surprise.
Klein also glared at Layerd.
“We need to verify if it’s really young master Shane first. I’m sorry, young master, please step back…”
“That’s something we can verify easily. There’s no need for such a fuss.”
When Shane sat up in bed, Layerd did not relax his grip but instead grabbed Shane’s outstretched wrist.
“…”
Layerd’s magical power swept through Shane’s body but no dark spirit was detected.
“It is… really you, young master. I apologize for being rude.”
“It’s fine. What about the village?”
“I’ve instructed the returned knights to scout the surroundings, and once they return, we plan to call back the villagers.”
“I see.”
After various discussions regarding the cleanup were exchanged, Layerd, Rodwill, and the other knights left the room, leaving Shane and Klein alone.
“Do you have something to say?”
“Why did you take such a risk, big brother?”
“Are you worried about me?”
Shane’s roseberry-colored eyes stared into Klein’s ocean-blue eyes.
“Of course!”
Klein replied without a moment’s hesitation, drawing a slight chuckle from Shane.
“It wasn’t particularly dangerous. It was necessary, too.”
“……”
“You would have done the same.”
“I…”
“Let’s leave it at that for now. More importantly, Klein.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you need a squire while living at the academy?”
“……?”
Taken aback by Shane’s sudden remark, all Klein could do was blink.
***
The next day, at the crack of dawn,
The knights were busy packing their gear and preparing to leave the village again with their carriages.
The village chief wore a worried expression on his face. He was concerned about monsters still lurking around, but the knights had already scoured the area and found no traces of any beasts.
During this process, Shane requested the village’s carriages for the injured knights.
The chief had no choice but to agree with a pained smile.
After all, it was for the knights who had been injured protecting the village, and they were dealing with the esteemed Clayton family.
At times, human greed seemed boundless, but in the end, this was just another aspect of the many facets humans possess.
However, before the knights could depart, Wayton’s employer from the Havoc merchant guild covered the costs.
He was busy praising the Clayton family who had devoted themselves to protecting the village.
Meanwhile, Klein looked out the window at Alex who was sitting in the coachman’s seat of the carriage that was carrying the injured knights and asked Shane,
“Why did you assign that person to me?”
Before leaving the village,
Shane had approached Alex to ask if he was interested in becoming Klein’s squire.
In truth, it wasn’t really a question.
It was more like an announcement.
It was a one-sided statement that could be considered rude but Alex quickly nodded his head at Shane’s words and joined the group.
“He’s a talented one. Keep him close and nurture him well.”
“Is that so…?”
Klein was really puzzled but he nodded his head for the time being.
Shane’s reason for bringing Alex wasn’t solely due to past life connections.
Alex had changed from then to now.
He hadn’t experienced the deaths of family, friends, or comrades in the village, nor had a crisis befallen the world like in his previous life.
So it was unclear how Alex had encountered a fateful opportunity in his past life that made him stronger.
However, Shane’s eyes could see through the souls of humans.
And Alex possessed a remarkably pure soul.
Of course, compared to Klein, its brilliance was somewhat diminished.
Even when he was captured by the dark spirit, he was fine.
Although he was shaken, he did not fall to his knees.
Shane gave Alex a passing score just for that.
After all, those with pure souls always overcome trials and grow stronger.
How immaculately pure had the souls of the countless heroes he had seen in his past life been?
Shane was confident in his intuition.
If he was raised well, he would shine even more brilliantly than his in his past life.
That’s why he was placed beside Klein who had the brightest soul.
For a pure soul is naturally drawn to and grows with another pure soul.
The carriage continued to roll its wheels ceaselessly, and soon, the cityscape began to appear in the distance.
One could only see the massive city walls and the numerous soldiers standing on them if they looked up.
Upon seeing this, Klein seemed to suddenly remember to ask Shane a question.
Lately, Shane had been quick to answer Klein’s questions.
Though his responses were brief, they no longer carried the displeasure they once did.
Klein was able to ask more comfortably than before.
“What department are you thinking of entering this time, big brother?”
Shane quietly opened his mouth and his answer was immediate as if he had already considered it.
“Command.”
“Really…?”
“We will take the entrance exam together, Klein.”
A different choice from his past life.
Klein who didn’t know what was going on could only stare at his brother with wide eyes.
“This year, in many ways, is the golden age for the Department of Command.”
The half-bald headmaster of the academy, Hausen G. Chronos, uttered these words while sitting on a large sofa.
And Levi Benjamin, the middle-aged man who was sitting across from him smiled and looked at his old master.
“A golden age, you say?”
“Yes. You’ve come to this place at a very good golden age.”
Just like headmaster Chronos said, the academy was indeed experiencing its greatest golden age with the students’ caliber being exceptionally high.
“Starting with the daughter of the commander of the Knights of Judgment who protect the empire, our academy is home to a variety of talents. Among them, the second son of the Clayton family is particularly remarkable.”
“Ah, I have heard that name. The professors say he’s someone who makes them reveal all their cards.”
“That’s right. Especially in swordsmanship and magic control, he is said to be superior to many professors. They say if you teach him one thing, he doesn’t just learn ten; he learns a hundred. There’s a buzz among the professors calling him a genius of the century.”
“Are you saying that student is coming to the Department of Command?”
“Yes. So you’ll need to be extra careful not to show all your cards too!”
Benjamin gave a wry smile at Chronos’s words.
“I am merely here to teach the students’ character. With such a student, I might not have much to meddle with.”
“Oh, what are we to do if you say that? Aren’t you the former commander of the Imperial Knights?”
“Nothing but a quitter who couldn’t adapt and ran away.”
“Tsk tsk… Didn’t I tell you back then? You were more suited to be an adventurer than a member of the Imperial Knights.”
“Haha, I should have taken your advice at that time.”
Was it because he had not seen his master in a long time?
Benjamin spent time exchanging stories with Chronos.
“It’s about time the students will be coming.”
“That’s true.”
“You do have an eye for talent, though. Especially the Gale Knights you were part of; I hear they were comprised of remarkably talented individuals.”
“The talent of those who step into the palace is all the same, isn’t it? They just bring in already polished gems.”
“Always so humble.”
“Still, it might be fun to spot a rough gem every now and then.”
“That’s the way to do it. Sometimes you find a gem that was overlooked.”
“Yes.”
With that, Benjamin bid his master farewell and stepped outside.
“Gems…”
Benjamin who was tired of the imperial power struggles and now retired, harbored a modest hope.
It wasn’t anything grand.
Just to find someone younger than himself stuck in the middle of that disgusting power struggle.
If there was a talented individual who could help that person, he wanted to persuade and attach such a talent to them.
He hoped to find someone strong, not a weakling who would flee halfway like he did, but someone capable of steadfastly supporting the people by his side.
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