Chapter 103…………………………………………….
“Our grandfather?”
Lyn’s eyes widened at the unexpected change of topic.
“You heard from Merok about our parents’ accident, right?”
“Merok? Oh, you mean your knight!”
At the unfamiliar name, Lyn tried to recall, remembering the story she had overheard while returning to Pegasus Castle with Kaidan after the assassin attack.
“Merok, the current regent of the Tigris family, has always been a petty man jealous of his lord.”
From the very start, Merok, the knight, had firmly declared that the Tigris regent—Kaidan’s uncle—was an unworthy man, incapable of being trusted. His story was about the suspicious truth behind Kaidan’s parents’ accident.
“He constantly coveted my lord’s position and didn’t even try to hide it. He aimed for the head of the family and had my lord assassinated! It was never an accident.”
On the day of the accident, Merok had been excluded from the escort because he wasn’t feeling well, yet he insisted strongly.
It was an environment where such an accident could never happen.
The Tigris head couple, rulers of the Northern Mountains, were traveling. Naturally, they were accompanied by a heavily armed escort, using horses and carriages meticulously managed by the family.
There was nothing unusual in the ordinary provincial trip.
“Does it make sense that the lord of the Northern Mountains died in a carriage accident? It was definitely staged! The regent’s lackeys inspected the scene and covered up all the evidence, those filthy dogs!”
Merok’s voice, full of anger, carried a certainty that his lord and companions could never have vanished so tragically by accident.
“They exploited the fact that young Master Kaidan was still a child to take control of the family. I have been tracking the truth they tried to hide ever since.”
After the sudden death of the Tigris couple, Kaidan’s uncle had swiftly assumed the regency and seized the family. The one who gained the most from the carriage accident was obvious.
For now, Merok only shared this much.
“Merok didn’t know how much we cooperate. He only spoke about internal family matters.”
“Just the family?”
“Yes. Anything about the Holy Nation… who knows where its followers might be. He kept quiet.”
That caution was so deeply ingrained in Merok that it had become an unshakable habit.
Kaidan explained why.
“After the excommunication decree from the Holy Nation, there were traitors even within the family.”
That was the power of the decree that the Law King had proclaimed across the continent.
The Holy Nation’s doctrine, spread across the continent for a long time, had produced countless followers who prioritized their faith over family or organization.
“They must have been involved even in the carriage accident.”
Kaidan’s crimson eyes flared at the word “accident.”
“The Law King’s followers were so widespread that you couldn’t track them at a glance. To uncover the truth of that incident, I had to suspect everyone.”
“Kaidan…”
“In any case, that’s why Merok didn’t mention the Holy Nation, even though he was sure my uncle and the Holy Nation were involved in that accident.”
Lyn glanced at Kaidan’s tightly clenched fists, white-knuckled despite his calm expression, and bit her lip in thought.
“Kaidan’s enemy… so that’s why he told me not to trust the Holy Nation.”
The enemy who had killed his parents.
Whenever Kaidan spoke of the Law King of the Holy Nation, his eyes darkened.
The anger he had nurtured for so long was cold rather than hot.
“They erased all the evidence of our parents’ murder. Just like they did to everyone who tried to access their fake rituals.”
“Evidence… but Kaidan already knows they’re the culprits. In the future, it will all be revealed, right?”
“Yes. Your grandfather, the Mercenary King, has returned. Along with the truth.”
“!”
Lyn realized why his grandfather’s return had to be expedited. As she expressed her surprise, Caligo, who had already guessed some of it, spoke up.
[Of course. Because he’s the only one who could return from the Eastern Continent?]
“Yes. And everyone knows that the Mercenary King went to the Eastern Continent.”
The great lord of the Pegasus family, Felord Pegasus, who led the Pegasus domain and had once earned the fame of the Mercenary King.
Everyone on the beastman continent knew the story: he had gone to the Eastern Continent to obtain a medicine that could save his dying granddaughter at the request of his daughter.
“No matter how precious the granddaughter was… the Eastern Continent? That’s absurd.”
“The Mercenary King was overconfident in his own strength. Still drunk on the adventurous spirit of those days, maybe.”
“Tsk tsk… only the people of the Pegasus domain suffered, though.”
Those who were skeptical at first eventually just clicked their tongues over the years.
The tale of a once-great continental hero’s fall became a mix of pity and ridicule.
“When Mercenary King Felord returned, no one could deny he had gone to the Eastern Continent.”
“Right! Grandfather really went there!”
“Yes. Completely different from the drifting people of the Eastern Continent who had no influence.”
Continental-wide recognition.
It gave Felord immense influence when he spoke. Even when he revealed the truth about the “Divine Beast” he discovered in the Eastern Continent, the same applied.
Some zealots tried to cover it up, but Felord was not one to be swayed easily.
Felord had conquered the beastman continent with force in his youth.
And in the Eastern Continent…
“The Mercenary King became the strongest in the Eastern Continent to obtain your medicine.”
“The strongest?”
At the unfamiliar term, Lyn tilted her head.
The word’s significance reached the nearby Divine Beast.
[What! A new strongest has appeared?]
“Caligo, do you know what the strongest means?”
[Of course! It’s a position in the Eastern Continent that’s existed for centuries. Not always, though.]
Caligo, suddenly excited, closed his eyes and spoke as if recalling a fond memory.
[Some had earned that title before. They were all worthy.]
He grinned.
Opening his eyes, Caligo’s face held a joyful smile.
[Otherwise, they couldn’t have survived countless challenges.]
“A title you earn through challenges? Like our grandfather, the Mercenary King?”
[Even more than that! The strongest literally means claiming to be the strongest under the heavens!]
Hahaha!
Caligo laughed heartily.
Given Caligo’s usual sharp personality and habit of calling himself the best, it seemed he had considerable respect for those who earned the title of the strongest.
Lyn’s eyes sparkled at the explanation, and she asked excitedly:
“Wow! So our grandfather is the strongest even in the Eastern Continent?”
[If he claimed that title, then yes, he was acknowledged as such.]
Tap tap.
Caligo’s excited puppet tail tapped the table.
[In my time, we gave that title to the one who destroyed all martial arts and sects. Did they choose the strongest in the same way this time?]
“No. I heard he won the Grand Martial Tournament hosted by the Eastern Royal Family.”
Kaidan, flinching slightly under the Divine Beast’s gaze, answered.
[Ah, the Grand Martial Tournament.]
“The prize was the elixir your grandfather went to get.”
[Indeed! If it’s hosted by the royal family, that’s to be expected. Otherwise, those hiding in mountain caves wouldn’t appear.]
Leaving Caligo’s joyful laughter behind, Lyn’s lips parted as she guessed at the “elixir.”
“The elixir… could it be…?”
“Yes.”
Kaidan nodded, confirming her guess.
“The Mercenary King obtained the elixir that will restore your health, Lyn.”
“!”
A shiver ran through Lyn’s small body.
