DSB 103

“Why did we have to come all the way out here just to see that?”

“We are going to rescue our lord, right?”

“Will my son end up like that someday too…?”

“Get married first, then talk.”

Lebel looked at Yutis, then turned his gaze toward the knights.

Could he not hear the knights whispering behind us?

“I only needed you to tell me the location….”

“There hasn’t been any movement for a long time. And the atmosphere here isn’t normal. I needed to check it myself.”

Lebel’s eyes narrowed. There was a reason why he insisted on moving forward despite Yutis’s attempts to stop him. The demonic energy here was unusual.

It was originally a place where demonic energy was leaking out, but it wasn’t this strong. Since Norman’s appearance coincided with this, it was necessary to investigate.

“But….”

Yutis sighed.

He knew he was a powerful demon, but he still seemed small and fragile to Yutis. Even now, Lebel was sniffling and shivering from the cold.

Lebel suddenly turned his head and glared at Yutis.

“I said I’m fine. If you keep that up, I’ll get angry.”

“Oh wow, you’re finally getting angry.”

“I got sick of it a long time ago.”

“Birds of a feather, they’re both the same.”

“Can’t you stay quiet? Do you think I can’t hear you?”

When Yutis turned around, the knights turned their heads and whistled, acting as if they had no idea what he meant.

“My wife, please don’t pay attention to what they’re saying.”

“…Shouldn’t it be you who should be concerned, not me?”

It sounded like they were insulting you, not me. They said birds of a feather, so does that include me too? I don’t even know what they mean by “the same.”

“Aren’t you worried at all?”

On the way here, they had found traces of subjugated demonic beasts here and there. Each one seemed to bear witness to the fierce fighting, with the gruesome corpses and bloodstains of demonic beasts.

“Of course I’m worried. That’s why I came along.”

“I didn’t mean me. I meant father-in-law.”

Lebel shook his head. There were traces of demonic beasts subdued, indicating frequent fighting. Edmund’s presence, detected from afar, was undisturbed, but he remained motionless, he probably was resting.

The problem, if there was one, was the large amount of demonic energy hovering nearby. The bigger problem was down below.

“Over there.”

“We can move slowly.”

Lebel ran ahead and took the lead, and Yutis hurried after him. Some of the knights voiced their concern as well.

“Young Madam, wouldn’t it be better for you to fall back? We don’t know where a monster might appear.”

It was completely different from how they had gossiped about Yutis behind his back earlier.

“Powerful demonic beasts inhabit the Mountain of Death, so we must be especially cautious.”

The one speaking in an intentionally frightening tone was Bron. There was a reason Yutis and the knights had followed Lebel despite everything.

The mountain Lebel was pointing at was the problem.

“They won’t show up.”

Most demonic beasts were too intimidated by Lebel’s presence to even appear. He couldn’t exactly say that out loud. If he did, he would have to reveal that he was a demon whose demonic energy was stronger than that of most beasts.

“Worry about yourselves. Don’t collapse from exhaustion. It would have been enough with just me and Yutis.”

“What do you mean by that? The young master and the young madam are heading out, so how could we possibly sit back and rest?”

“That’s right. Forget about us and worry about the young madam’s condition.”

“But are you sure the lord is really here?”

“He usually doesn’t even come near this area….”

“We saw demonic beasts corpses along the way.”

“Well, that’s true. The only person who could take down monsters like that is the lord.”

“We’re almost there. That’s the place.”

Everyone moved toward where Lebel was pointing.

“Magic really is impressive. You can even detect the location of someone far away.”

“Then why can’t you do it?”

“It’s because the young madam is amazing!”

The knights mistakenly believed that Lebel could locate Edmund because he was a mage, not because he was a demon.

If Edmund hadn’t been a human who possessed demonic energy, Lebel wouldn’t have been able to track him. But none of the knights knew Lebel’s true identity.

He briefly wondered whether he should tell Bron and Theo, Yutis’s close aides, but he had missed the timing. He would tell them once things were more or less resolved.

“If I had come alone, this would’ve ended quickly.”

[That’s exactly what I’m saying!]

Lebel had originally planned to go alone and bring Edmund back. But Yutis stubbornly insisted that he couldn’t let him go alone. Saying that Karon would be with him and that it would be safe hadn’t worked.

“Father doesn’t know my wife’s true identity, so he would be startled if you suddenly appeared alone. It might be easy to go there alone, but shouldn’t we come back together?”

Lebel had been confident that he could bring Edmund and his knights back because he recovered most of his strength.

But if Lebel, who was said to be frail, suddenly appeared claiming to have come to rescue him, Edmund would naturally find it strange.

“Alright. I understand.”

What should I do? I had other business to take care of along with rescuing father-in-law.

“Take me with you too. You have business here, right?”

“…How did you know?”

“I can tell just by looking.”

Lebel silently stared at the mountain. Yutis had already followed him and won’t leave his side any time soon.

The Mountain of Death was where demonic energy was densest. That meant it was where the rift had opened, and where the northern demon resided.

‘I didn’t want to make him face that demon.’

Yutis had already wanted to meet the northern demon.

At that moment, Karon, who was being held in Lebel’s arms, lifted his head and spoke.

[Lord Lebel, it’s the smell of blood.]

Yutis, who was beside Lebel, also picked up on the scent of blood.

Walking a little further, evidence of a fierce battle emerged. Felled trees and clear footprints, as if someone had fought a giant creature. Around them were scattered swords and blood stains.

Everyone’s complexions turned pale. Unlike the traces found so far, there was no demonic beast corpse. This was evidence that they failed and the demonic beast had fled.

And this was the middle section of the Mountain of Death. No one knew what kind of powerful monster it might be.

“Search for traces.”

At Yutis’s command, the knights scattered. Lebel examined the trees, broken into strange shapes. The trees melted in the middle and were unable to support the weight above, collapsed or snapped.

Here and there, purple mucus, not blood, could be seen across the snowfield, and there were also patches of melted snow. Karon sniffed, then covered his nose with his forepaw.

[It’s venomous fluid. It looks like something that spits poison.]

“Seems like it.”

Edmund was a formidable knight, almost on par with Yutis. In terms of demonic energy, Yutis had far more, but Edmund was more refined through years of experience.

He was unable to defeat the demonic beast and avoided fighting it. This meant that it was a very strong demonic beast.

If a tree towering high into the sky was crushed beneath, it must have been quite large. The large footprints gave a sense of its size.

The subtle scent of demonic energy lingering in the air was thick. And among the ones he sensed upon entering this place, there was Norman’s.

[It seems Norman came here and did something.]

“But he isn’t nearby.”

While Lebel checked the demonic energy, the knights were identifying the beast’s characteristics.

“There aren’t many demonic beasts with venom strong enough to melt even swords….”

Yutis frowned. As the knights said, demonic beasts with that level of toxicity were rare. There was only one known example, but it wasn’t the time for it to awaken.

“This is a place even veteran knights avoid. It wouldn’t be strange if a new specimen appeared in the meantime. There was a reason father couldn’t return for so long.”

The appearance of a powerful beast even changes the habitats of other monsters. Those that flee from a stronger one covet other territories, usually places where people live.

The demonic beasts they had seen on the way up were either ones driven down after losing territorial battle, or ones that failed to escape a powerful monster that had awakened from hibernation.

[Why are you looking at me like that?!]

Karon noticed Yutis staring at him and glared back. At that moment, Lebel explained what he had sensed from the traces of battle.

“It wasn’t Karon. Karon only commanded the demonic beasts nearby, so this was Norman’s doing. His demonic energy is around here. It looks like he stopped by before heading to the northern castle.”

Just as Lebel had considered flying here, Norman also had wings, so it wouldn’t have taken him much time to arrive.

“The footprints continue this way!”

A knight found the trail at just the right moment. The direction he pointed matched Edmund’s location. Lebel and Yutis headed that way.

Following the trail farther up toward the summit, they came upon a large cave. There was a single knight stationed nearby.

The knight guarding the outside of the cave looked very nervous, as if he sensed someone approaching.

“Sir Fred is over there!”

Recognizing Yutis as a northern knight, he couldn’t hide his surprise.

“…Young master?”

“Where is my father?”

***

When the knight saw Yutis, his face brightened with relief, and he personally guided them into the cave.

“The beasts that lived on this mountain lost territorial battles and were driven down to the lower slopes. While subjugating them, we were attacked.”

“Was it necessary to come to the Mountain of Death?”

“Well, they were all the demons known to inhabit this place. Strangely enough, they even attacked us. This is the season they usually target weaker prey… Something seemed wrong, so we came up to investigate and encountered a basilisk.”

“So the poison traces were from a basilisk.”

“Yes. And the basilisk’s appearance was….”

“Yutis, why are you here?”

“My Lord! You mustn’t move.”

It was Edmund who appeared, interrupting the knight’s words. He was wearing a splint on his injured left arm.