N/T: Translation made by our friend 'Irving'. A big round of applause for him :)
Chapter 571
Raon lifted his trembling eyelids.
‘Indeed, it wasn't a dream.’
A raccoon with a few leaves on its forehead was standing there, looking at him as if it were a human being.
'Wrath. You were right.'
He patted Wrath, who had perfectly predicted this situation.
'Wrath?'
Ugh...
Wrath let out a groan as if stabbed by a knife and fell to the ground. He seemed to have fainted, probably startled by Merlin's appearance.
‘To think a human could make the demon king faint...’
Shaking his head, Raon picked up Wrath and slung him over his shoulder.
"Come this way for now."
Raon gestured to Merlin and entered the interior of the abandoned inn, where the debris was yet to be cleared.
After putting up a barrier so that no one else could hear, he sat down on a chair that still looked intact.
"I like this kind of consideration."
Merlin sat down in a chair across from him and grinned.
"Whatever. Have you been here the whole time?"
"Yeah. Why would I leave when you're here?"
She swept her hair back elegantly, seemingly forgetting that she was a raccoon right now.
"First of all, I should thank you. Thank you for stopping Rector."
Raon bowed his head to Merlin.
'It would have been much harder if Merlin hadn't been there.'
It was Merlin's appearance that allowed the executives of the Holy Sword Union Union to discuss retreat with Rector. It's not an exaggeration to say that everyone owed their lives to her.
"Why such formalities between us?"
Merlin waved her furry hand, indicating not to thank her.
'Between us...'
He wanted to ask what 'between us' meant, but there was something he needed to say first.
"Are you okay like this?"
Raon narrowed his eyes as he stroked the armrest of the chair.
"Huh? What?"
"Back in Barena, you interfered with the White Blood Religion, and now you've intervened with the Holy Sword Union Union. Isn't that causing trouble within Eden?"
"No.”
She shook her head firmly, not seeming bothered.
"I lived my own way even before I met you. Just think of it as a crazy woman doing crazy things."
"Hmm...."
"It's nice, though. That you worry about me...."
Merlin stroked her arms and blushed. He never thought he would see the day when
a raccoon's cheeks would turn red.
"And even if problems arise, it doesn't matter. I can just leave Eden. The only reason I'm in Eden now is to help you."
She waved her hand, saying she didn't care about Eden's goal of Restoration.
"What I'm worried about isn't that."
Raon sighed and covered his head with his fingers.
“The Fallen or other Eden executives might have put constraints on you.”
“Yeah. They did.”
Merlin nodded with a faint smile.
“But I lifted them.”
“Huh?”
Raon’s eyes widened as he looked at Merlin, who was smiling nonchalantly.
“T-The Fallen did that?”
"Yeah. It was a constraint so subtle that it was hard to detect, and it was complex, so it took a long time, but I eventually removed it."
The more Merlin spoke, the more she made Raon laugh.
“Was it something like brainwashing?”
"Not brainwashing, but a constraint that prevents one from telling lies even unconsciously."
She explained the method, but since it was related to magic, Raon had difficulty understanding it.
‘To lift The Fallen’s magic, she’s really amazing. But…’
Did The Fallen only leave that one behind?
The Fallen is the head of Eden, and one of the greatest magicians and sorcerers on the entire continent. It didn't seem likely that he would have imposed just one constraint.
‘He smells like Derus.’
Satisfied with breaking the brainwashing from my previous life, I had only waited for the day to leave the Robert family. But Derus had used the Rage Worm, which could even read emotions, to read all my plans and thoughts, taking me by surprise.
The Fallen was no easy opponent either, I had to be extremely cautious.
“There might be other restrictions or constraints besides that magic. So, examine yourself thoroughly, not just your mind but your heart and organs too. The Fallen could have inserted a Rage Worm."
Raon gave Merlin the advice he had realized in his previous life.
‘Did I talk too much?’
He thought it might be considered meddling if he said unnecessary things.
“Yeah. Got it!”
However, Merlin smiled brightly as if she was happy. She seemed to be in a very good mood.
“You be careful too. Three of the Five Demons are after you.”
Merlin patted Raon’s hand in return, telling him to be careful.
“Is it true that the White Blood Religion, the Holy Sword Union, and the Black Tower have joined hands?”
Raon tapped the armrest with his fingers as he spoke the names of the three Five Demons that Merlin had mentioned.
“It’s likely. I don’t know exactly about the White Blood Religion, but I heard that the Holy Sword Union Leader and the Black Tower Master met separately.”
Merlin nodded calmly.
“I see.”
The alliance between the Holy Sword Union and the Black Tower, which he had guessed from the reaction of the Dragon Swordmaster, was true. It seemed that the situation on the continent would be shaken up greatly.
“What about your Eden?”
“We don’t seem to have any plans to form an alliance with anyone else.”
Merlin shook her head slowly.
“The Fallen and the other executives’ only goal is restoration. The same goes for the Heavenly Demon, so there’s no reason to form an alliance with other forces. However….”
She raised her hand and tapped her cheek.
“We might be able to take advantage of the events that others have caused.”
“So you’re saying that Eden needs to be careful too.”
"Yeah. The Fallen is waiting for the Holy Sword Union, White Blood Religion, and Black Tower to clash with the Six Kings, while seizing the opportunity to execute his own plan."
“What plan?”
“I don’t know.”
Merlin shrugged, indicating that the Fallen’s plan was known only to himself.
"Oh, right! I'm late with congratulations. Congratulations on becoming a Grandmaster!"
Merlin suddenly clapped her hands and shouted congratulations on Raon becoming a Grandmaster. She truly was an unpredictable woman.
“T-thank you.”
Raon grinned awkwardly. Unexpectedly, Merlin was the first person to congratulate him on becoming a Grandmaster.
“I’m sure you can reach Transcendence too.”
Merlin's eyes sparkled with sincerity as she spoke. However, she couldn't overcome her animal instincts and scratched her stomach.
“Ah, I don’t know why good times go by so quickly. I should go now.”
Raon gulped as he looked at Merlin’s mouth.
‘Is it asking for food? Or to groom it’s fur?’
He felt a sense of tension, as if he was about to fight, because he didn’t know what the raccoon would ask for.
“This child wants to go to the hot spring.”
“Oh, hot spring…?”
The word that hadn't even crossed his mind made his head go blank.
“Give this little one a bath!”
“Wait!”
Raon tried to stop her, but Merlin had already disappeared, leaving only the raccoon, who, unlike her, moved on four legs.
“Coo.”
The raccoon patted Raon’s ankle with its chubby hand, urging him to make a hot spring quickly.
‘Do I have to dig the ground and heat up the water at night….’
Raon closed his eyes tightly once again.
* * *
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After the intense battle, The Light Wind Division returned to the family without even being able to take a proper rest.
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the wide-open gate of Zieghart.
‘Why is the gate open?’
It is not uncommon for the gate of Zieghart to be open.
Even if you are a member of the family, the gate will only be opened after your identity has been verified, so it seemed that something had happened.
As he approached the front gate, predicting what might have happened, Illiune the Foreign Minister, suddenly appeared like lightning. His left eye socket was darkly bruised, indicating something had happened.
"You've arrived!"
Illiune bowed his head so low that his back was perpendicular to the ground towards Aris.
“Oh. Foreign Minister, Thank you for your hard work."
Aris smiled brightly and lightly patted Illiune on the shoulder.
“Yes!”
Illiune did not raise his back, but only trembled the shoulder that Aris’ hand had touched.
“Huh….”
Raon sighed at the sight.
‘What’s going on?’
He didn't know that he would see Illiune, the Foreign Minister, who never loses his dignity even when faced with a strong outsider, cowering like a bug.
"Don't worry about it. He's still sulking from the little argument we had before."
Aris read Raon's puzzled look and smiled.
"It wasn't just a little argument. Didn't he get beaten up one-sidedly?"
Rimmer scratched his head with his left hand and shook his head.
"I remember the Foreign Minister was in the infirmary for over two months with broken arms and legs. Judging by the fact that his eye socket is bruised, he must have been beaten again."
He recounted the old incident in detail and clicked his tongue briefly.
"Shut up... huh?"
Illiune started to retorting Rimmer, but then his eyes widened.
"Your arm!"
He trembled his lips as he looked at Rimmer, whose right sleeve was empty.
"Well, that's what happened."
Rimmer chuckled lightly, suggesting that losing an arm was better than losing his life.
"This crazy bastard! How can you say that!"
"It's okay. The guys with bright futures all survived. One of them even jumped over the wall."
He lowered his eyes, saying that it was enough that Raon and the Light Wind members had all survived.
"Hmm."
Illiune glanced at Raon standing behind Rimmer and then at Aris, his eyes trembling as he did when he faced Aris.
"He really did become a Grandmaster."
He couldn't hide his astonishment for a moment.
"It seems like just yesterday he left this door as a trainee, and now he's a Grandmaster. The word 'monster' doesn't even do him justice."
"I was lucky."
"While luck can make you a Master, it can't make you a Grandmaster."
Illiune straightened his back and pulled his chin up.
"I thank you for taking care of the idiot. I welcome your return."
He took the sword of Zieghart, placing his hand on his chest.
Raon gulped as he received Illiune's respectful greeting.
"Foreign Minister?"
Although Illiune had been somewhat polite to him since he became the vice squad leader, this was the first time he had been so respectful.
"No need to be surprised."
Rimmer smiled faintly and grabbed Raon's shoulder firmly.
"That's just how high you are now, your current realm warrants this level of respect "
He muttered that there would be a lot of fun things ahead, telling him to look forward to it.
"But who are you talking about when you say 'idiot'?"
At Rimmer's question, Raon and Illiune looked at him at the same time.
"T-these damn bastards! Why am I the idiot!"
Just as he was about to explode, Aris stomped her foot.
"Hurry up, won't you? The head of house is waiting!"
Aris raised her fist, saying that she would drag him if he didn't run right away.
"Let's go."
"Ughhh...."
Raon walked down the central avenue leading to the lord’s manor, taking the red-faced Rimmer with him.
“It’s Lady Aris….”
“Her aura is definitely different.”
“Even the division leaders, no, the palace masters aren't at that level....”
The swordsmen of Zieghart passing by the avenue could only express admiration as they saw Aris. However, she wasn’t the only one who received Zieghart’s swordsmens’ exclamations.
“I-is that Raon Zieghart?”
“His aura has completely changed.”
“So it’s true that he became a Grandmaster….”
“T-then that means he really did killed the Dragon Swordmaster!”
“A Grandmaster at 21? That’s unheard of.”
“It’s fortunate that he came from our family. If he was from another family or kingdom, he would have died of jealousy.”
Raon narrowed his eyebrows as he listened to the swordsmen's intense reactions.
‘The reaction is different from before.’
There had been many times before when he returned from a mission and saw the swordsmen surprised or impressed. But back then, both the direct line and collateral line always looked at him with jealousy and disdain, which was completely absent now.
All of Zieghart’s swordsmen standing on the street now only showed him looks of awe
That’s only natural.
Wrath nodded as he looked down at Zieghart’s swordsmens.
Humans, even demons, cannot help but feel overwhelming awe and respect for overwhelming power and talent. Now, they can't even see you as beings in the same dimension anymore.
Wrath waved his hand, asserting that the number of people respecting Raon would increase in the future.
‘I see.’
Raon headed towards the lord’s manor, realizing that not only his internal world (mental word) but also the external world had changed a lot
“You’ve arrived.”
Roenn was waiting in front of the lord’s manor. He bowed to Aris and then glanced at Rimmer before briefly closing his mouth.
"...Thank you for your hard work."
Roenn greeted Raon and Rimmer with eye contact and then guided them to the audience chamber.
The door of the audience chamber was also wide open like the main gate of Zieghart, and the executives of the family were standing on both sides of the red carpet in the center.
In the center of that, on the raised platform, Glenn Zieghart was resting his chin on his hand with an empty look in his eyes, as always.
“The Light Wind Division has returned after completing the mission.”
Since Rimmer was injured, Raon stepped forward as the temporary leader and knelt down in front of the platform.
Following him, all of the The Light Wind Division members knelt down and bowed their heads.
“Raise your heads.”
Glenn nodded indifferently and frowned when he saw Rimmer’s right sleeve.
“The Light Wind Division leader. What happened to that arm?”
“My skills were lacking.”
Rimmer bowed his head without making any excuses in front of Glenn and said that his own abilities were lacking.
“The Light Wind Division vice leader.”
“Yes.”
Raon raised his gaze at Glenn’s call.
“There are some things that aren’t written in the report.”
"I intended to inform you of the unfavorable matters in person."
Raon recited the thoughts he had when writing the report.
"Aris."
"Yes."
"You stepped up as if you would solve everything, but you couldn't even stop something like that?"
This time, Glenn frowned as he looked at Aris.
"That's..."
"It's not my aunt's fault."
Raon stepped forward to cut off the criticism directed at Aris.
"Aunt?"
Karoon emphasized the word 'Aunt' strongly.
"Umm..."
Raon chewed his lip as he looked at Karoon.
'To make such a mistake….'
On the way back, Aris had forced him to keep calling her aunt, so he blurted it out without thinking.
"Did you just call her aunt?"
Karoon curled the corners of his lips as if he had caught him.
"Where is your aunt here! You ignorant fool who doesn't know his place!"
"Hey."
The moment he tried to use the opportunity to pressure him, Aris stepped forward and lifted Karoon's chin.
"If you don't want to get smacked, shut your trap."
Aris glared at Karoon fiercely, as if she was truly irritated.
"I'm the one who wants to hear him call me aunt, so why are you yapping!"
"Ugh..."
Karoon couldn't even close his open mouth and trembled his chin at the eerie aura emanating from Aris.
"Esteemed Sister."
Denier lowered his voice as he looked around the silent audience chamber.
"This is in front of the head of house. Such disrespectful words..."
"That's why I didn't say 'mouth', I said 'trap'! Do you want to fight me!"
“…”
The audience chamber became even quieter.
