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Chapter 28
“Hey! You blockhead!”
Mirea wanted to protest at why he was swearing at her the moment he saw her, but since she didn’t know what exactly had offended Raked, she kept her mouth shut and just peeked out nervously from behind Shio’s back. Shio, who was shielding her, would have liked to run away, but Mirea clung tightly to him and refused to let go, so he missed his chance to escape. Raked waved his arm irritably.
“Shio Midor, move aside!”
“I’d like to, but Mirea Jainster won’t let go of me.”
“Mirea Jainster, I’ll say this nicely once—get over here!”
“Eek!”
When Mirea flinched in fright, Raked rolled up the bundle of files he was holding into a tube and whacked Shio, Laila, and Mirea on the head in turn. It wasn’t so much that it hurt, but it was humiliating, so they yelped and whined as they were hit. Raked almost smacked Aris too, but gritted his teeth and barely restrained himself, pulling back his trembling hand.
As they rubbed the sore spots and stared at him in confusion, still fuming, Raked pressed his finger hard against each of their foreheads.
“Hey, you three idiots!”
Since he excluded Aris, it seemed his anger wasn’t only directed at Mirea.
“Especially you, Mirea Jainster! Didn’t I tell you to get your head screwed on straight?! Huh?! How many days has it been since I said that, and look at this mess! And don’t you dare try to smooth things over with that ‘I’ll correct myself’ crap again! You think I’ve let you off once or twice before?”
Mirea felt wronged—she had no memory of him ever letting her off. She just wanted to at least know what exactly she had done wrong before being scolded.
“You two are just as bad! Instead of stopping her, you egged her on?! Are you out of your minds?! If this one isn’t in his right mind, shouldn’t at least the rest of you be?! How can three people all be this stupid?! Shio Midor! As her senior, shouldn’t you be showing some better judgment? And Laila Publekins! Didn’t I tell you specifically not to have unauthorized contact with… this guy? Can’t you separate work and personal matters?!”
While Raked rattled off a barrage of complaints, none of them had any idea what had triggered his explosion. In the end, Shio timidly opened his mouth.
“Sir Raked—”
“Shut it!”
“Yes, sir.”
Shio suddenly missed his mother back home.
“And as for you, Subject of Special Management, Number One!”
When Raked snapped at him this time, he meant Aris.
“If you agreed to cooperate, then cooperate properly! Stop making things worse!”
Unlike the others, who were under his command, Aris was more of an ally. So when Raked glared at him, Aris returned the look just as coldly.
“I am cooperating, just as you asked.”
That earned him a smack on the head as well.
“Did I ever say to have a sword fight in the training grounds?! What, are you so desperate for attention?! Why not just go spread your wings and fly right across the main square while you’re at it?!”
At last, they understood why Raked was angry.
“It was just a sparring match…”
Mirea muttered under her breath, earning herself another smack from Raked.
“When you show up at the training grounds, the whole crowd gathers to watch! Didn’t I tell you that the Number One Subject of Management is to keep things as quiet as possible? Did that ever make it into your brain? Why not just put him on display for everyone?!”
Among themselves, they had only agreed not to use magic in public so as not to expose Aris’s identity. To Raked, that plan was far too careless.
“Now do you get what the problem is? Why do you even carry a head on your shoulders if you’re not going to use it?”
“Sorry.”
“We’ll correct it.”
“We’ll be more careful in the future.”
The three bowed and scraped reluctantly, trying to appease him. After grumbling a while longer, Raked finally got to the actual reason he had come.
“Anyway, I was going to summon you all, so I suppose it’s convenient you’re already together. Follow me, all of you.”
They hesitated a few seconds, worried this was just a trick to drag them off to be tortured by this resentful dragon, but since hesitation wasn’t going to change anything, they silently followed.
Raked led them to the old quarters. After passing down a dusty-smelling corridor, they arrived at a small, dilapidated meeting room that wasn’t used much. Inside, Rivielo and Kundulen were already seated and looked up when the door opened. Mirea blinked at Rivielo in confusion.
“Rivi, why are you here?”
“It just turned out that way.”
“Kundulen, long time no see.”
Mirea and Shio tapped their foreheads lightly twice with the side of their hand—a traditional Obin greeting. Kundulen returned the gesture, then gave Aris a formal bow as well.
“An honor to meet you, Your Highness, Grand Prince of the Ruaad Empire. I am Kundulen.”
“That title was stripped from me long ago. I am Aris Kleinshard now.”
Kundulen smiled gently at Aris’s equally formal tone. He was far larger even than tall Shio, with a massive build. Like most Obin, he bore a pair of imposing horns curving upward in a full circle. His frame was packed with muscle, yet his face was neat and well-kept, with reddish-brown hair and beard trimmed and combed neatly.
Since there were no assigned seats, everyone sat where they pleased. They dared not chat idly under Raked’s glare, so they waited in awkward silence until two more people entered. Paulo came in first, waving cheerfully, followed by Sephyros, who closed the door behind him.
With a series of clicks, the room’s security magic activated. Sephyros counted heads, then, satisfied, sat at the head of the table.
“Anyone here meeting someone for the first time without having introduced themselves yet?”
When everyone shook their heads, he smiled, pleased.
“Good. Then let’s begin the First Meeting of the Klein Expedition. The first group consists of: Ludekias Reminna Ryu Fanidrau, Paulo Lima, Kundulen, Shio Midor, Mirea Jainster, Laila Publekins, Rivielo Ram, and Raked. Eight in total.”
People inhaled sharply when they realized Raked was included. Sensing the sudden drop in morale, Sephyros quickly added:
“Raked’s position is temporary. A dragon has to accompany the party, but we haven’t yet found a suitable candidate, so he’ll stand in for now.”
Everyone silently prayed Sephyros would find a replacement soon.
“Expedition leader will be Paulo Lima. All matters regarding magitech consultation will be handled by Laila Publekins. Ram will accompany her due to technical reasons they discussed together, and since the priestesses of the Frost Church who can move are limited, he’ll likely stay with us to the end.”
Rivielo shrugged.
“Kundulen will be responsible for general matters of magic. Mirea Jainster, Shio Midor—you two will serve as escorts, alongside Paulo Lima.”
Aris finally realized that Kundulen was a mage, and was surprised. From appearance alone, he seemed more a battle-hardened warrior than a magician.
“In addition to the first group, there will be a separate detachment. Since the Rashvalen battle unit specializes in fighting humans, they lack experience with magical beasts, so this detachment is reinforcement. They’ll join us later, but until then their identities must remain secret. Any questions?”
No one spoke, so Sephyros turned his eyes to Aris.
“Ludekias—or rather, since you asked us to call you Aris, I will. There’s something I need to ask you first.”
Aris inclined his head, signaling for him to proceed.
“Do you know exactly where the Demon Sword is right now?”
“I do not.”
Everyone turned to look at him with expressions that said, If you don’t know, who possibly could? But Aris only tilted his head slightly and replied calmly:
“Somewhere in the Klein Wastelands, I’d imagine.”
Raked quietly swallowed hard. But Sephyros, instead of being surprised, merely nodded as though he had expected that answer.
“That’s the problem. No one knows the current location of the Demon Sword, Fanidran.”
“Why not?”
Mirea asked, but it was Aris who answered.
“Because Fanidran doesn’t stay in one place. It’s constantly being moved. If it’s ever seized by a magical beast, its mana will be drained and the sealing barrier will break. That’s why a spell was placed on it to ensure its location keeps changing.”
“Then how was the Emperor planning to find it?”
Paulo asked, and Sephyros responded.
“Since that land was already a target for beast eradication, they figured if they divided the region and carried out extermination, the sword would eventually be uncovered. But with fewer people and no way to move openly, if we try the same method, the other side will just beat us to it. And it’s not as if we can just drop into the middle of the Wastelands from the sky either. That territory belongs to Ruaad, so we can’t deploy an Association airship.”
“But you said we had a detachment. Weren’t we just going to go in and search? If we can’t even enter, how are we supposed to find it?”
“Even with the beast-fighting detachment, if we enter the Wastelands with this many people, lasting three days would already be a miracle.”
“But we’ve got Raked, don’t we?”
At Mirea’s words, Raked snorted.
“I can take care of myself, but dragging along a whole load of baggage for three days in there? Not happening.”
Areas tainted by magical beasts could often heal naturally once the beasts were eradicated, as the elemental sources of nature recovered. But if those sources were completely drained, the land would move beyond mere corruption into decay. In decayed lands, the psychic elements that formed the basis of life itself were gone—nothing could grow, and even the laws of physics themselves began to warp.
