Chapter 54

Chapter 54

I pulled out the Behemoth and held it up to the flute.

A moment later.

A white whale appeared and began devouring the flute ravenously.

[Yes. This is it! This is my power!]

An overwhelming magical energy surged from the sword. Even at a glance, it was clear that this power was different from before. He had truly succeeded in recovering a part of his soul.

‘How does it feel?’

[It’s incredible! Just a little more, and I feel like I won’t have anything to fear!]

It had grown significantly larger than before, but it was still only about the size of my head.

‘Alright. A promise is a promise, so I’ll make sure to find the rest of your soul. I’ll have to travel all over the place to recover the Behemoth’s soul and the belongings of our companions.’

The flute was no longer usable. An artifact containing a shard of a Mythical Age magical beast’s soul had turned into trash in an instant, but it couldn’t be helped.

‘Now it makes sense. If it held a fragment of the Behemoth’s soul, then its power was completely reasonable. It even drove an entire village into madness.’

I approached Cecil and asked,

“Cecil, where’s Attica?”

“She was sleeping soundly, so I left her in a safe place.”

I was curious where that safe place was, but since I trusted Cecil, I didn’t ask. If Attica had joined us, we might have resolved things even more easily.

Though she wasn’t yet in her full form, she was undeniably a dragon.

But she still hadn’t fully mastered her power, and more importantly, she’d suffered so much at the hands of humans. I wanted her to experience a bit more happiness—only good things from now on. I believed Cecil had sensed my feelings and deliberately chose not to bring Attica here.

Grandfather spoke.

“We need to gather the surviving warriors.”

“We should. And we need to collect the bodies of the dead, too.”

“I know it’s shameless of me, but… would you help us?”

“Yes. I can’t just turn away now.”

I said to Cecil,

“Cecil, could you go outside the village and bring a priest? I think we need to treat my sister’s arm.”

“Understood.”

---

Two days passed.

During that time, I worked with the village warriors to handle the bodies and help with the rebuilding. Thanks to the priest Cecil brought, Lin Winterbell had her arm safely reattached.

Of course, it came at a hefty cost, but compared to the wealth of the Winterbell family, it was a drop in the bucket.

The Halla Clan decided to prohibit the entry of outsiders for the time being. The village was officially closed off.

Since the problem had originated from within, they had decided to cut off all contact. The stated goal was to reorganize during that period, but I had a feeling we wouldn’t be seeing them again.

With everything taken care of, we also began preparing to leave. Originally, this trip had been to find a way to suppress the madness, but it had taken far more time than expected.

It wasn’t like we had gained nothing, but my distrust of humans had only deepened. I thought I had finally met a proper blood relative...

But in the end, she too was a monster consumed by inferiority.

Grandfather came to see us off at the village entrance, wearing a sorrowful expression. Always so stiff and distant, he seemed to have warmed to me through this incident.

Now that I was essentially his only remaining blood relative, that must have made it all the more so.

“Ran, it feels like I’ve done nothing but receive your help. I was so harsh to you when we first met… I’m truly ashamed of myself.”

“It’s alright. Thanks to you, I was able to resolve my madness.”

“…Take this.”

What Grandfather handed me was a wooden box with an ornate design. I opened it and checked the contents.

Inside was a small, red pill-like item.

“What is this?”

“It’s Blood Demon Pill.”

“This is my first time hearing about it.”

“It’s an elixir made from spiritual herbs gathered around this village. I hope it can be of some help to you.”

“Thank you.”

He added that the elixir was extremely rare—something you couldn’t buy even with money.

The way he spoke with such emphasis made it clear how valuable it was.

“Travel safely.”

“Please stay healthy.”

I bowed to him at a ninety-degree angle.

Because I knew this would be our last meeting. From his perspective, I might well have been nothing more than a disaster.

If I hadn’t come here…

At the very least, wouldn’t the incident have happened on another day?

I didn’t believe it would have never happened.

She had been a ticking time bomb—one bound to explode eventually. Her inferiority complex stemmed from the entire village. The madness born from that complex had long been eating away at her.

I concluded that it hadn’t been passed down through the blood of the Halla Clan, but was something she had created herself.

“Old man, live a long, long life. I’ll come back again, and next time we’re gonna have a proper match, alright?”

“You impudent wench. Can’t you do something about that filthy mouth of yours?”

“Hell no. It’s my mouth, I’ll say what I want.”

“Tsk tsk. So different, that one.”

Snorting through her nose, Lin Winterbell also said goodbye to the warriors she’d sparred with. On the surface, she was a madwoman, rude to the bone, and unbelievably prickly, but in her own way, she had a sense of affection and attachment.

“Well then, we’ll be off.”

The warriors of the Halla Clan and the villagers all waved us off. Leaving them behind, we exited the village.

Step. Step.

“Sis, is your arm doing okay?”

Lin Winterbell twirled her arm around and shouted.

“Of course! Who do you think I am? I’m Lin Winterbell, the next head of the Winterbell family!”

“Do you really think you can become the head of the family?”

“Of course I do! What kind of stupid question is that, brat!”

“Honestly speaking, aren’t you way behind compared to Brother Ryan or Brother Lux?”

Lin Winterbell hesitated for a moment, then thumped her chest and shouted.

“Sure, for now. I’m younger than them, aren’t I? If I were born earlier, I’d be just as strong as they are. So once enough time passes, I’ll beat them both! I’m the best, anyway!”

I stared at her.

Her eyes were filled with certainty.

She had no doubt that she would become the family head one day.

Really, in many ways, she was an impressive person.

“Sis, have you ever heard of an organization called Pandemonium?”

“…Isn’t that the group that red-haired son of a bitch mentioned?”

“Yes.”

“Never heard of it. First time. Hell, that bastard was the first I’d seen of him too. Said he was from a collateral branch of the Winterbell family, didn’t he?”

“Yes, I believe that’s what he said.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard to track him down. But… honestly, I don’t get it. If he’s that strong, why the hell would he hold a grudge against the family and go on a rampage like that?”

“Seeing how much resentment he had, I’m guessing it’s because he was discriminated against for being from a collateral line.”

“That doesn’t make sense. Don’t you know the Patriarch’s personality? He doesn’t give a damn whether you're main or collateral—if you’re strong, that’s all that matters. If you’re powerful, he’ll acknowledge you. Power is everything.”

Well…

I didn’t think Arkan, the current Patriarch, was the type to discriminate over something so petty.

What the Winterbell family valued above all else was ability.

In other words—power.

“That’s true. Then why did he make such a mess? What is that Pandemonium group really about?”

“Probably some bottom-feeding criminal gang made up of idiots. Nothing worth worrying about.”

Lin Winterbell spoke dismissively, as if it were nothing, but I didn’t feel the same.

Pandemonium.

For some reason, the moment I heard the name of that group, I had a bad feeling.

A sense that they’d become a serious obstacle in the path I was meant to follow.

“You felt it too, didn’t you, Sis? How strong that red-haired man was. A group that uses someone like him as a subordinate isn’t some disorganized gang of fools. And do you remember the Sword Demon and the Witch from back then?”

“Yeah. Rude bastards.”

“If we think back on what they said at the time… I have a feeling they might also have been part of Pandemonium.”

Only then did Lin Winterbell respond with a serious expression.

“Hold on. You mean…”

“Yes. I think Pandemonium’s target might be our family. Whether they’re aiming to take down the entire Winterbell family or just a specific person in it is unclear.”

That was only my speculation.

So far, we’d only encountered them twice. And even then, it wasn’t certain the Sword Demon and the Witch were affiliated with Pandemonium.

But still, I was nearly convinced that they were.

Because my instincts were screaming it.

And I trusted my instincts.

Even back at the Bakal Mountains, when the Sword Demon and the Witch first appeared, they spoke as if they were following someone’s orders. Could all of that really be mere coincidence?

Lin Winterbell said,

“A bunch of worthless criminal scum dare to target our family? The Winterbell family? Ha! Do they even hear themselves? Unless they’ve completely lost their minds, there’s no way they’d pull such idiotic shit!”

“Maybe they have lost their minds. And maybe they’re doing it because they actually believe they can bring down Winterbell. After all, there’s no shortage of groups out there who’d love to see our family fall.”

“…W-Well, that may be true, but I still don’t get it. I mean, if some criminal organization comes charging at us so blatantly, wouldn’t everything be over the moment the Patriarch steps in?”

“That’s what I’m wondering too. I don’t understand why that red-haired man would reveal the name of Pandemonium himself. It’s not like he expected to lose… but even so, was there any need to mention the name of his organization out loud?”

“He’s probably just an idiot.”

I stared at her, dumbfounded.

Isn’t Sis the idiot here? I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut. Then, Lin Winterbell asked,

“…You’re cursing me in your head, aren’t you?”

At times like this, her intuition was eerily sharp.

---

The return trip went smoothly without any incidents.

We stopped by a village to rent a carriage, then traveled back at a relaxed pace. We took time to enjoy the scenery, eat good food, and play with Attica, using the journey to recover from our exhaustion. Sometimes I’d fall into deep contemplation, almost like spiritual training—but fortunately, I no longer felt any effects from the madness.

‘After going through all that hell, if I still got swept up by the madness, I might as well just go die.’

Like that, we finally returned to the Winterbell family estate. But somehow, the atmosphere felt... off. As if something had happened.

I grabbed a servant nearby and asked,

“Did something happen?”

“Ah, Young Lord! The First Young Master has returned!”

Ryan Winterbell.

The eldest son of the Winterbell family had returned.