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“It might be hard to believe. I felt the same when my father passed this secret to me. However, Eusus, one of the Silver Sages is someone you know very well.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s King Hyde El Graim II of the Graim Kingdom, our sovereign. I’ve heard that His Majesty holds a mid-level position within the Silver Sages. This is directly from His Majesty, so there’s no room for doubt.”

The notion that a few mysterious sages could wield significant influence across the continent was unbelievable. After all, if they possessed such power, there would be no need for them to live in hiding. However, the narrative changes entirely if a country’s king is involved. It implies that other Silver Sages also exist in the world in other high-ranking positions.

Why a king would need to be part of a secretive organization, and the truth of him being a mid-level member was dubious. However, one thing was certain:

The Silver Sages indeed existed, and they possessed enough power to easily trample over a household like the Tenes.

Therefore, Eusus had no choice but to kneel hastily in front of this unidentified young man. The emblem was a testament to being a Silver Sage, and Eusus had to show the same loyalty as he would before the king, as it was part of the secret passed down to him.

“I greet the Silver Sage.”

Observing Eusus bowing respectfully, the young man with black hair silently handed over a piece of parchment.

“What is this?”

Inspecting the parchment, Eusus was perplexed. It contained information about an ancient ruin that had remained undiscovered until now. The details were so precise that it was puzzling why the site hadn’t been explored yet.

The young man said in a calm voice,

“I would like the Tenes household to undertake the exploration of this ruin, Elucion. All artifacts are yours to keep, except for one thing that I desire. What say you?”

Eusus was thrilled. If the information was accurate, there was no reason not to go on the expedition. The terms were too favorable. All artifacts could be taken except for one – a mysterious magical device named ‘Voice of Elucion’, as per the parchment.

He immediately accepted. There was no refusing a request from a Silver Sage, and besides, the offer was too good.

At that moment, Eusus didn’t pay much attention to the young man’s warning.

“Should you fail, the fate of the Tenes household won’t be smooth either.”

“Sigh…”

Eusus sighed again. If he couldn’t recover the the stolen relic, the Voice of Elucion, he couldn’t begin to imagine the disgrace it would bring upon the von Tenes family. The current king, Graim II, was also a member of the Silver Sages. Should he fail in this task, the repercussions might extend far beyond merely incurring the wrath of that mysterious young man.

“It must be a conspiracy by other families aiming to check the power of the von Tenes,” he concluded. There seemed to be no other reason why an Aura wielder, of all people, would steal that particular artifact.

“Such families would indeed have the power to employ an Aura wielder.”

Suppressing his frustration, Eusus continued to gaze outside.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door.

“Enter.”

It was Lento and Baras. The two knights entered with uneasy expressions. Lento spoke first after a hesitant pause.

“We have completed the interrogation, but…”

Baras continued with a troubled tone, “It’s just, the stories add up perfectly, but something feels off, it doesn’t seem quite right.”

“What do you mean?” Eusus asked, looking puzzledly at the two.

* * *

In a lush forest, with Viscount Kelberen’s castle visible in the distance, a tall, well-built young man and a petite girl barely reaching the young man’s chest walked under the afternoon sun shining through the leaves. They were Repenhardt, who had dashed out of the dwarf village upon hearing the news about Sillan and Siris, and Tilla, the dwarf girl assigned by Gelpheid to guide him.

Leading the way, Tilla suddenly looked back and asked, “But Repenhardt, if you’re in such a hurry, is it alright for us to be walking like this?”

Repenhardt had rushed until they passed through the tunnel leading out of the village to the surface. Tilla had struggled to keep up with his pace. Yet, once they had neared the forest close to the castle, he no longer hurried and walked at a leisurely pace.

At Tilla’s question, Repenhardt smiled warmly and replied, “No matter how urgent, it’s foolish to rush into a fight with the Golden Knight without having fully recovered. One act of folly is enough.”

“Folly?”

Tilla tilted her head, not understanding, but then shrugged it off. Dwarves, capable of hearing the truth, were not prone to prying into others’ affairs too deeply.

Repenhardt resumed walking, spreading his sense of aura broadly around him. Using his entire aura to maximize his sensory range, he felt the breath of the forest. Suddenly, he gestured to Tilla to stop.

“Could you wait here for a moment? Oh, and I’d be even more grateful if you could light a fire.”

“Will do.”

No sooner had Tilla answered than Repenhardt took off, dashing towards the other side of the forest. Watching his retreating figure, Tilla reached for her waist.

“Alright, then. Let’s get ready to start a fire in a proper way.”

She gathered the scattered pieces of wood and ignited a fire, breaking off branches from an old tree to keep the flames alive. There was no race on the continent as skilled in handling fire as the dwarves. In no time, Tilla had managed to light a splendid bonfire in a clearing of the forest.

After squatting down and waiting for about five more minutes, Repenhardt reappeared from the bushes. He had not just returned, but had something significantly large in his hand.

“Uh? Repenhardt, what’s that?”

“A deer.”

He was holding a large wild deer, its head completely severed, indicating he had been hunting. Of course, Tilla didn’t ask because she didn’t know what a deer was. She murmured in admiration.

“You, you managed to find a deer in such a short time?”

Although she had never hunted before, she knew well enough that hunting wasn’t something that could be done so easily. An experienced hunter would need to understand the prey’s habits and track it for days to aim for such a result. If wild animals could be caught in a matter of minutes, there would be no one starving in the world.

“How on earth did you catch it? And in such a short time?”

While hanging the dead deer from a tree to bleed it out, Repenhardt replied nonchalantly.

“It’s nothing if you have aura. Just expand your sensory field to pinpoint its location.”

The next issue after finding prey was approaching it without being noticed. This would be difficult for any hunter not skilled enough — considering the wind direction, terrain, and more — but Repenhardt easily solved this problem.

‘If you don’t approach, that’s the end of it.’

He shot an energy bullet from a distance far enough that the deer couldn’t even sense the danger, blowing its head off in one shot. Listening to the story, Tilla clicked her tongue.

“Hunting seems really easy for you. Professional hunters would feel wronged and might even get sick from frustration.”

“…It wasn’t that easy.”

In truth, it wasn’t as if Repenhardt had found the deer’s location in just a few minutes. His sensory field, when fully exerted, could detect up to a radius of about 100 meters. He had continuously walked through the forest, focusing all his senses on detection, for about 30 minutes before finally spotting the deer. So, contrary to Tilla’s assumption, it wasn’t a simple matter of stumbling upon it and catching it on the fly.

“Even so, if there weren’t so many game animals around, we wouldn’t have found them this quickly. There seem to be a lot of deer here.”

“Of course, it’s Viscount Kelberen’s hunting ground, so hunting is forbidden for others…”

Suddenly, Tilla frowned. She hadn’t thought of it until now, but hunting in this forest was legally prohibited.

“Speaking of which, since this is the lord’s hunting ground, if we carelessly hunt deer…”

“Ah, I’ve decided not to worry about such trivial things anymore.”

“…?”

Seeing Tilla’s puzzled expression, Repenhardt let out a bitter smile. Yes, there’s no need to worry about the trivial things. How could they liberate the various races if they were to strictly adhere to every law?

‘Slave liberation itself is clearly illegal according to the customs of the continent.’

In any case, there was no time to dawdle. Repenhardt began to process the deer he had hung up, intending to drain its blood more quickly. Tilla might think he appeared relaxed, but in reality, Repenhardt was hurrying.

‘I need to recover my strength soon.’

After draining enough blood, Repenhardt sharpened his hand. Following his chi, a golden aura shone sharply. With the guidance of his aura, Repenhardt sliced through the deer. The wild deer’s hide split instantly, as if it had been cut by a legendary sword.

After skinning the deer, Repenhardt quickly removed the entrails and emitted aura to scrape off the dirt stuck to the meat. Without brine to wash the innards, he did not hesitate to cut off the dirty parts, selecting only the clean meat, and skewering it by type to cook over a fire.

Watching Repenhardt swiftly disassemble a deer, Tilla clicked her tongue.

“You’re quite skilled, huh? Looks like you’ve caught and eaten a lot of deer before?”

“Ah, I learned it a long time ago.”

Repenhardt scratched his cheek. It was in his previous life, when he roamed the continent as a wandering sorcerer. He had incidentally met a master hunter while searching for ruins and learned from him how to survive in the forest.

“He was an amazing person. With just a knife and a flint, he magically managed to live well off the bare ground.”

When there was nothing to eat, he would eat bugs, rats, and somehow manage to find a place to sleep in the barren wilderness… Anyway, he was a person with exceptional survival skills. He even earned the nickname “The Bear Roaster” because he could cook a bear if he encountered one.

‘Thanks to him, I learned a lot. Though, I have no desire to live like that man, eating spiders to survive.’

Amidst this, the deer meat began to cook, releasing a savory aroma. Tilla inadvertently swallowed her saliva. Having lived as a slave, her meals had been limited to a few potatoes and gruel. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had seen meat.

“……Gulp!”

Any questions she had about why they were grilling meat in such a dire situation had already vanished from her mind. Repenhardt couldn’t help but smile fondly at the sight of Tilla drooling.

“Do you want some too, Tilla?”

“I would love to!”

No sooner had she spoken than Tilla squeezed into the seat next to him and grabbed a piece of meat. Holding a large front leg carefully, she began to nibble on it. Repenhardt smiled warmly again before starting to tear into the meat himself.

Chomp, chomp, smack, smack.

The two of them ate the deer meat, their faces smudged with soot.

After a while, Tilla, feeling moderately full, put down her hands with a satisfied expression. Eating too much meat after such a long time could cause stomach troubles, and despite looking like a young girl, she was a fully grown adult dwarf who wasn’t so immature as to ruin her health with gluttony.

But then…

“Re, Repenhardt? Aren’t you eating too much?”

Repenhardt was tearing into the meat relentlessly. While Tilla had been nibbling on a bit of the deer’s shoulder, he had already finished both hind legs and was now working on the ribs, moving on to the front legs.

‘I mean, it’s not like he’s been deprived of meat before, why is he like this?’

Astonished, Tilla looked at Repenhardt. It was surprising enough that someone could eat so quickly, but the fact that his stomach could hold so much food was even more astonishing. He seemed set on consuming an entire deer by himself. No, at this rate, he really would.

During this, Tilla noticed something unusual and her eyes widened in surprise.

‘His body?’

Repenhardt’s entire body was glowing with a faint golden light. As he continued to stuff meat into his belly, which swelled and then deflated, his rough skin regained its vitality, his muscles bulged anew, and a lively vigor returned to his entire body.