Chapter 58

"D-did you say those children were taken hostage by the bandits?"

Burren's blue eyes widened, nearly wide enough to pop out of his head.

"Rescuing the hostages means you've found the bandits! Stop lying!"

Martha shoved her face at Raon, telling him to stop speaking nonsense.

The two of them, no, every trainee in the foothold was stunned, unable to believe they'd managed to rescue the hostages from the bandits.

"Think whatever you want."

Raon snickered and brought the children near the bonfire.

"Rest here for now."

Letting them settle in front of the fire, he gave them some of the beef jerky that Sylvia and Helen had prepared for him.

"You can eat this for now."

"Th-thank you."

"Tank yuu."

The boy lowered his head and the girl copied him, lowering her head as well.

The two children started nibbling on the beef jerky. Their eyes were teared up with sorrow.

"Dorian."

"Eh? Yes!"

"Do you have a blanket? A clean one."

"Of course I do."

"Thank you."

Dorian took out a long green blanket from his belly pocket. Raon covered the children's shoulders with the blanket.

"Eat this, too."

Runaan met the children's eyes by kneeling down. She took out the ice cream box from her bag, opened the lid, and handed it out to them.

The last two remaining bead ice creams. Moreover, even though she'd kept her favorite flavors for the end, there was no hesitation in her gesture.

"What is this?"

The girl tilted her head.

"It's ice cream."

Runaan told them that it was cool and delicious, and cleaned the girl's hand before giving the ice cream.

"Aww!"

The girl screamed after trying to touch the ice cream with her tongue. Of course, it was a pleasant scream. Using her small tongue, she started licking the ice cream like a kitten.

"Woah!"

The boy's eyes were wide after taking a bite. However, he gave the rest of the ice cream to his little sister instead of finishing it.

Raon licked his lip as he watched the two children. He felt bitter.

'He became an adult.'

Just like with the bandits, he was thinking about his little sister before anything else. It seemed the boy that had lost his parents had already grown into an adult.

Raon thought he was better than his previous life, where he could only follow Derus Robert's instructions, and lightly tapped the boy's shoulder.

Huh. He actually managed to defeat the ice cream's temptation, one that even the King of Essence succumbed to. He is going to grow up splendidly, get him on your side. I like him.

Wrath murmured that he wanted to keep him as his underling.

"Sniff!"

Raon raised his head, hearing a sniffing sound. Dorian was watching the children with teary eyes.

"Eat this, and this. Eat them all!"

He brought out all his favorite snacks from his belly pocket and piled them up in front of the children. He was a kind-hearted guy.

"Rescuing the children is one thing, but we need to take care of the bandits. I'm sure they will try to run away once they realize the hostages have been rescued."

"Yes, where are those bastards? I'm going to snap the necks of that human garbage, no exceptions."

As Raon was watching the children eating snacks, Burren and Martha approached with feverish and angry eyes, respectively. They tapped their sword sheaths, signaling him to bring them to the bandits already.

"We don't need to."

"What do you mean we don't need to?! We need to finish the mission properly…"

"What's happening here?"

As Burren was about to argue, Rimmer and the instructors came out from a bush in the direction of the mountain. There were only three instructors missing, those who'd stayed behind to clean up the bandits' traces.

"Why are there children here?"

The instructors, including Rimmer, tilted their heads and pretended that they didn't know anything.

'Even though they already know everything!'

Raon wrinkled his mouth. He couldn't discern Rimmer's exact location, but he was certainly watching over him.

"You already know about it."

"What do you mean?"

Rimmer shrugged, feigning ignorance.

"We saved them with Raon."

"Did you save those children?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Didn't the other instructors tell you?"

"Ah, now that I think about it, three of them are missing. Where did they go?"

"Haa, I'll explain."

Raon sighed and stood up. Rimmer looked like he wanted him to explain it in front of everyone.

"We found the bandits' tracks in front of a forest inside the hills and started chasing after them. There were very small traces, but we managed to find the bandits deep into the forest after tracking them down and…"

He explained in detail everything that happened that day.

"So that's how we killed the Snow Tiger leader and rescued the children."

Silence filled the place as he finished his explanation.

"N-nonsense…"

Burren swallowed.

'How could he actually finish the mission while I was digging the wrong hole…?'

Raon was saying he'd rescued the hostages and annihilated the bandits while he was wasting his time. It was an unbelievable story, but he had no choice but to believe considering the circumstances.

"Damn it!"

Despite losing in spars and training, he'd resolved to get better accomplishments during the mission at least. He failed once again.

No, failing was an understatement. He couldn't even match up to him. Realizing how pathetic he was, he despised his arrogance in the past.

"Shit! Damn it!"

Martha turned around and punched a tree. It stripped the bark off the tree and it fell to the ground.

'That's not a lie.'

From what she'd seen so far, Raon wasn't somebody who would lie. She was certain that Raon really had rescued the hostages and exterminated the bandits, just him and Runaan.

'Fucking hell!'

Realizing Raon and Runaan were risking their lives while she was arguing with Burren like a child, she felt so frustrated that she wanted to cry.

'I wanted to end it.'

She wanted to cancel her promise to follow Raon by completing the mission perfectly, but it was her complete loss. There was no room for excuses.

"Haaaa…"

Acknowledging her loss, Martha sighed heavily.

"H-he annihilated the bandits on his own?"

"And he tracked them by himself, then also rescued the hostages…"

"Seriously, what the hell is he?!"

The trainees' chins trembled. Everyone was looking at Runaan and Raon, unable to hide their surprise.

"Is that true?"

One of the instructors came up to Raon. He looked like he really didn't know any of that. He must've been watching after the others.

"The Snow Tiger leader's might is at Sword User's mid-high level. How could you win against him? Are you sure it wasn't a mistake?"

"It's not."

"How can you be so certain?"

"You can check for yourself."

Raon pointed at the bag, which could be called his spoil of war.

"Hmm."

The instructor nodded and opened the bag.

* * *

'Red hair and a big scar around the eye.'

It matched the appearance of the Snow Tiger leader, which he had been given when he accepted the mission. His hands were trembling violently as he looked at Raon.

"...There's no mistake."

The instructor swallowed and turned to Raon.

"Hmm… It was just a verification for the mission, so please don't take offense."

"Of course."

As Raon nodded, the instructor nodded back and returned to Rimmer.

'Rimmer probably made him do that.'

Judging from Rimmer's playful gaze, Raon realized he was the one behind it. It was probably to convince those that couldn't believe it or were doubting him.

As a result, the gazes the trainees directed at him and Runaan were filled with admiration and astonishment.

'I wonder why.'

Rimmer had been kind to him, more than an instructor should've been. Since he was so different from the instructor in his previous life, he couldn't honestly understand why.

"Then, is the mission over?"

"But we didn't do anything yet…"

"Hmm, can we really leave now…?"

The trainees were glad that they could return to their homes and rest easy, but they also seemed worried since they hadn't done anything during the mission.

"Don't be so depressed."

Rimmer smirked, looking at the awkward trainees.

"It's pretty rare for anyone to skillfully complete their first mission. Those instructors also kept making mistakes, or couldn't do anything at all during their first mission."

The instructors nodded, confirming what he said.

"Then what about Raon and Runaan?"

"Yeah. They finished the mission by themselves."

"Well, you know, those are the rare people we call monsters. You should already be used to them, shouldn't you? Actually, I also did great on my first mission. It was a huge ruckus. I rushed at the enemies holding a single sword…"

Rimmer giggled and started describing his performance on his first mission.

That bastard's story isn't even amazing. Back in devildom, the King of Essence froze an entire castle during his first battle. It became a legend throughout the entirety devildom…

"Haa…"

Raon shook his head. His eardrums started to hurt because of how much Wrath was talking.

***

Rimmer announced the mission's completion and said they would return to the house the day after.

The trainees immediately started to prepare a meal, and Runaan—who'd already grown close to the kids—ate with them.

While Raon was eating dinner on his own, Rimmer came up to him.

"Good job."

Holding the bowl full of solid ingredients, Rimmer sat down next to him.

"Well, that was the mission."

"There are countless people that can't complete a mission despite being qualified as swordsmen, so you did really great in comparison. You could've done better in some aspects, though."

Rimmer spooned the soup and ate it. Murmuring that it tasted bad, he put the bowl aside.

"Bandits aren't easy opponents like in the stories. They can utilize the mountain as well as the elves, and their savagery doesn't lose to orcs. They are even worse if they belong to or are aiming to join the South-North Union."

"Yes."

Raon nodded silently.

"The decision to save the children worked out, but if they had a warrior above the level of Expert, you and Runaan would've died instead."

"So, you were watching us after all."

"Well, it just happened."

Rimmer grinned and continued.

"You did great today. However, in the future you should decide whether you should act alone or call the other people after confirming the enemies' number and might, as well as the presence of and the state of the hostages. Since you are the top trainee, you should improve your decision-making ability."

He wasn't wrong. Raon had countless experiences in killing, but he was a bit lacking since it was the first time that he had to rescue hostages.

Since he was going to have allies with him more often than he'd be alone while he was with Zieghart, it was important to improve his decision making accordingly.

"You don't need to feel dejected. Since you and Runaan chose the best course of action, you will grow up splendidly in the future."

"Thank you."

Rimmer put his thumbs up. Raon silently closed his eyes and accepted his compliment.

"Ah, and those children will be brought to the house. Apparently, they have nowhere to go since their entire family is dead."

"I see…"

Raon scratched the ground. He felt bitter oddly, despite it being a stranger's business.

"Since they got close to Runaan, I'm going to ask if House Sullion can take them in."

"That would be nice."

The children listened to Runaan, so that seemed like a good idea.

"Raon Zieghart."

When he was about to eat the soup to calm his bitter mind, Burren—who'd already finished eating—came up to him and opened his pouting mouth.

"I admit it. Today was my complete loss. You and Runaan finished the mission while I was as wrong as a broken clock. However!"

He raised his trembling fist.

"I won't give up. I'll catch up to you one day, even if that means I have to get rid of thousands of training shoes."

"Uh…"

Without even waiting for the answer, Burren turned around. He returned to the collateral trainees just like that.

"What was that?"

Why training shoes?

Since he couldn't understand what he was talking about, he decided to continue eating and picked up his spoon. At that moment, a snorting sound came from the wooden column to his right side. It was Martha. She was crossing her arms with a cold expression on her face.

"Pathetic."

Without specifying who she was talking about, she went into the forest.

"Your life is full of trouble."

Rimmer grinned and put down the bowl. Despite complaining about its taste, the bowl was completely empty.

"Whose fault do you think that is?"

Raon frowned. He was the one who'd stirred the trainees up by instigating an instructor. Yet he was talking like he didn't know anything about it.

"Whose fault is it?"

Rimmer giggled and asked back.

"You need rivals to grow properly at your age. They will become trustworthy allies in the future, so get along with them."

After saying that, he disappeared with a green wind.

Rivals, huh…?

As soon as Rimmer left, Wrath popped out of the bracelet.

The King of Essence also had six rivals. The strongest was obviously the King of Essence, but they weren't too bad…

"..."

Raon sighed and piled up the empty bowls.

'Why are there so many crazy people around me…?'

***

Raon and the trainees returned to the house in a week. Some trainees were worried about the fact that they didn't do anything during the mission, but they were mostly happy because they could rest comfortably once again.

Rumble!

Zieghart's main gate, which looked like layers of steel towers, opened majestically. As the gatekeeper was letting them pass, a big man over two meters tall came out from inside. He was Illiune, the foreign minister.

"Runaan Sullion, Raon Zieghart."

His eyes sparkled as he called for Raon and Runaan, who were standing at the very back.

"The head of house has summoned the two of you. Prepare to present yourselves at the lord's manor immediately."

"We've been summoned?"

Raon furrowed his brow, looking at Runaan, who was holding the children's hands. Runaan didn't seem to know the reason either as she tilted her head.

"You don't need to be surprised."

The foreign minister Illiune gave a refreshing smile.

"Awarding the most accomplished trainees in their first mission is Zieghart's custom."

"That's right. You don't need to be nervous since he must be calling you to compliment you."

Rimmer looked slightly excited as he nodded, murmuring that it wasn't a big deal.

However, there was one thing neither Rimmer nor Illiune had mentioned.

Complimenting the trainees that did well on their first mission had happened before but calling them to the lord's manor had never happened.

____

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