The early hours of dawn return the city of Soroza to silence after the commotion caused by the explosion at the inn subsides. Inside one of the tall towers along the border fortress—constantly guarded by military soldiers—Liam, Damian, and Cedric move through the interior.

  “Tadaaa! I’ve got this thing now.”

  Cedric proudly shows off the dimensional bag he’s already bought.

  “I’ve stored a lot of stuff inside it. Now I can sleep comfortably, even on the edge of a cliff!”

  “And when you wake up, your soul will already be in the afterlife,” Liam adds.

  “Hey! That’s just a figure of speech—don’t ruin someone’s fun!”

  The three young men descend a spiral staircase toward the underground chamber. Their path is lit by the flames of torches hanging along the walls, with Damian leading the way at the front.

  Meanwhile, Cedric—walking at the very back—is still busy showing off everything he’s stuffed into his dimensional bag. Damian and Liam mutter quietly as they talk about him.

  “Impressive. You can really put up with an aide who dares to yell at his master.”

  “The only way to make him shut up is to kill him. But I’ve already invested too much money in him.”

  “A bad investment.”

  “Just one that hasn’t turned a profit yet.”

  Cedric looks offended. “Hey, do you think I can’t tell what you’re talking about?”

  “Ahaha, you heard that?” Damian sounds awkward. Liam doesn’t care.

  “Don’t keep secrets just between the two of you—if you know a good gambling house, I want in too. I want to make some profit!”

  “….” Damian and Liam are left speechless.

  “Just get rid of that idiot brain already!”

  “If you’re willing to cover my losses.”

  It’s as if they’re grumbling at each other through telepathy.

  Their walk reaches a fairly long underground corridor. The concrete-covered floor leads to the entrance of a pitch-black subterranean cave. Damian introduces the place.

  “This is it—the secret passage that leads to the jungle forest along the border region. I guarantee that hawk-eyed stalker won’t be able to find your trail again.”

  Cedric peers ahead. As far as his eyes can see, there’s nothing but darkness.

  “Why does this feel suspicious? Are you sure this isn’t where you bury the bodies of your abuse victims?”

  “Scared?” Damian taunts.

  “Who’s scared?!”

  Damian grabs one of the torches from the wall.

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  “Don’t worry, ladies, I’ll accompany you on the way.” He steps into the dark cave passage first, the torchlight beginning to illuminate the darkness ahead.

  “Lift your skirts—this place is truly unfriendly to your elegant gowns.”

  Cedric’s face twitches in irritation, veins bulging, even as he follows Damian’s lead. Liam doesn’t pay the remark any mind at all.

  The cave tunnel is thick with the scent of rocky earth. Though the path is gentle, it keeps sloping downward toward a lower area. Damian leads at the front, holding the torch as their only source of light. This time, Cedric walks in the middle, with Liam at the rear.

  “Hey, kid, I’ve got an interesting story for you.”

  Liam immediately assumes the two of them are about to talk about women again. He prepares to tune it out.

  “It’s about your master back there.”

  Liam startles, suddenly curious about what Damian wants to say about him. But Damian ends up correcting himself.

  “Ah, right—I forgot you never studied at the Verlyn Academy. You probably won’t understand it anyway.”

  Cedric bristles in offense. “I may never have studied there, but that doesn’t mean my brain is on the level of a donkey!”

  “Fine—human, not a donkey—listen carefully. At the Verlyn Academy, there’s an annual event called the Battlemage Competition.”

  “You think I’m some foreign tourist?” Cedric cuts in at once. “That one at the academy is only for students. Every three years in Carrion, there’s also a Battlemage Competition for military soldiers.”

  “Hey, I’m talking about the academy version. That’s why I thought you wouldn’t get it!”

  Damian stops walking and deliberately turns to face Cedric. The military man looks irritated.

  “It seems I need to tell you something so that brain of yours thinks before your mouth starts running. Listen—in the current military-level Battlemage Competition, I’m the winner.”

  The information instantly changes Cedric’s expression. He falls silent, tension etched across his face, as if he can’t believe it—exactly the reaction Damian was hoping for.

  “What’s wrong? It seems you didn’t watch my match back then. Do you realize who you’ve been arguing with all this time?”

  Liam, who already knows, chooses not to get involved. Cedric falls silent—being a citizen of Carrion, he understands exactly what it means to win a military-level competition.

  “So that means… you’re one of the High Council?”

  “Of course! Your brain finally started working!” Damian shouts proudly.

  Unlike Karsh, Argoust, and Cranoa—which all follow a monarchical system—Carrion has no king or single ruler. Governance in Carrion is handled by seven members of the High Council, each responsible for a different field.

  Lutzer Swan is the High Council member in charge of education. As for the military sector—given the natural temperament of battlemages, who refuse to be led by the weak—the position of High Council is held by the winner of the military-level Battlemage Competition, which in this period belongs to Damian Zelnoir.

  Winning the military-level competition proves that Damian’s elemental power is at a level no one can afford to underestimate.

  Even though he understands just how high the High Council’s status is, a single irritated sigh brings Cedric back to his stubborn, childlike attitude.

  “So what if I argue with a High Council member? The guy behind me is the son of a King.”

  Damian is utterly fed up. “You’re still bragging even after realizing who you’ve been picking a fight with? The day Liam digs your grave, I’ll be the one who throws you into the pit and buries you with slabs of rock so your corpse can never rise again.”

  “Oh yeah? But you two are older than me, which means you’ll die first.”

  “You little brat!!!” Damian’s patience finally snaps.

  Syaat!

  A beam of light fires from Liam, streaking past the bickering Cedric and Damian, and punches straight through the head of a one-eyed black creature that is just about to rake Damian’s back with its four sharp claws.

  Cedric and Damian’s argument stops at once. All eyes turn to the strange creature now lying motionless after Liam’s fatal strike. The blood flowing from its body is pitch black as well.

  “What kind of creature is that?” Cedric asks, intensely curious.

  The torchlight in Damian’s hand illuminates it more closely. In general shape, it resembles a human—about two meters tall—with its entire body pitch-black like charcoal, covered in hard scales along its arms, legs, and spine.

  There is only a single large red eye on its face. Its hands and feet each have four fingers tipped with curved claws, making it easy to climb or grasp prey. Judging by its rows of sharp fangs, the creature is clearly a carnivorous predator.

  “Calaviar,” Damian names it. “A monster that inhabits the border forest. Encountering this creature means we’re already close to the border forest—the lair of monsters.”

  Damian finishes his words with a chilling smile.