First Step, Predator Fang

Representatives periodically visited the mansion that had become the Rebound Legion House.

They weren’t members of the Rebound Legion, nor were they helpers like the magic tower mages who assisted the House.

These representatives dropped in in the morning or afternoon as if going to work, then left before dinner.

Mages who’d found it strange at first came to accept it. Whatever the reason, these people were authorized by Kim Han, so as long as they caused no trouble there was nothing for the mages to worry about.

So the representatives who came and went from the Rebound Legion were treated with disdain by the mages, as if they were nothing.

The reason this is told in the past tense is that recently some of those representatives had become friendly with the mages.

Among them, Rachel was particularly close to the mages.

She believed it was due to her lively way of speaking and cute appearance.

Today Rachel arrived at the Rebound Legion House almost at dinner time.

She’d been delayed by some morning business, but on entering she went straight to Snow, the tower mage she was closest to.

Snow, as usual, had finished work and sat on the mana-accumulation formation installed in the garden.

“Snow.”

“Oh? You’re here? You’re late.”

At Rachel’s call, the woman mage called Snow opened her eyes and greeted her warmly.

“Yeah, I had things to do. How’s today?”

“We’re always the same. As always, today’s good too.”

Snow’s expression was sincerely content.

Rachel truly envied that.

At first she had been surprised to discover that not only Snow but all the mages living at the mansion seemed genuinely happy; later she began to envy them. Not a single mage showed any sign of displeasure.

A mage corresponded to a kind of nobility. Snow, who spoke with her now, was a disciple of the tower elder—the next elder herself. At that level she wasn’t merely noble; she was nobility.

Yet Snow said she not only had no complaints about doing maid tasks like tidying a representative’s room, she actively worked to keep that position.

Even to Rachel it was clear the Rebound Legion House was a dream place for mages. Their happiness wasn’t just due to improved ability. Emotionally, unlike people from other continents, the continentals who stayed here lived with a sense of stability.

“By the way, Rachel?”

At Snow’s call, Rachel—about to leave because it was time—stopped.

“Yes?”

“Why do you go back at dinner time?”

“Ah… that’s because I’m not part of the Rebound Legion.”

“Really? That’s strange…”

“Huh? What’s strange?”

“No, nothing.”

Snow shook her head and tried to focus on her mana breathing, but Rachel’s nature couldn’t stand the curiosity.

After whining and fussing for a long while, Snow raised both hands in surrender.

“Hmm… I might be mistaken, so you should check. I only report what I saw.”

“Okay, fine. What is it?”

“It’s about Johan, right? The representative who leads your group.”

“Yes, Mr. Johan.”

Although Snow spoke informally about Johan, Rachel didn’t look displeased at all. She herself referred to Kim Han by name when talking with White Lightning Clan members; she just emphasized the honorific for Johan a bit more.

“That person used to eat dinner and sleep over sometimes. According to what I—no, what we were told, they were to be treated on par with Rebound Legion members. I heard rumors that this Johan might transfer to the Rebound Legion soon, so I assumed you would too. But since you’ve kept leaving as soon as the time comes lately… I was curious.”

“What?!”

Rachel, who had been sitting beside Snow, sprang to her feet and shouted.

A flicker of doubt rose in her, but she denied it, insisting it couldn’t be true. Who was Johan? Wasn’t he someone who had worked to the end with her and the other White Lightning Clan representatives?

‘Yes, no matter how impressive the Rebound Legion is…’

“It can’t be… ah…”

As she muttered that it couldn’t be, Rachel saw Johan entering through the mansion’s main gate.

He was sweating as if he’d been training, and importantly, he wasn’t going back to the inn where the White Lightning Clan stayed—he was entering the Rebound Legion House.

He chatted merrily with Rebound Legion members.

Suddenly Rachel recalled the remarks Johan had often made about Kim Han.

“He’s like a venomous snake. So don’t be deceived by appearances and always be on guard.”

But Johan, walking beside Kim Han, looked anything but wary—he looked very happy, laughing boisterously and wearing a broad smile rarely seen even with them.

“Rachel…?”

Despite Snow’s worried call, Rachel couldn’t easily come back to her senses.

She stared blankly until Johan had passed through the gate, then wandered out of the mansion in a daze.

Snow’s gaze sharpened for a moment as she watched Rachel leave, then softened again.

Since temporarily entrusting his organization to the Rebound Legion, Johan had been having generally satisfying days.

The Rebound Legion House’s training facilities were top-notch, and there were many representatives suitable for sparring. Most of all, the practical sparring yielded much for Johan—there was no better place to experiment and refine his family’s secret techniques.

The only caveat was Kim Han’s occasionally unpredictable moods—otherwise it was so good it made him uneasy.

On some days Kim Han would approach warmly and offer inexplicable kindness; on others he would be utterly cold and not even return greetings.

Johan didn’t know how to deal with Kim Han’s daily changes, and over time Kim Han became increasingly difficult for him to read.

Above all, shortly after the start of the fifth year, on the day Johan saw Kim Han’s true nature, he realized Kim Han was far more terrifying than Benialis or Violentia.

That day, strangely, everyone else was barred from visiting and only he was allowed to enter the Legion House.

When he entered, the Legion House had many representatives who appeared uncomfortable, and people whose hands and feet—presumed to be alive—had been severed.

Those with limbs were tied by their hands and feet; those without were bound by their bodies, all lined up in the garden.

“Ah, you’re here?”

At Kim Han’s greeting they couldn’t show discomfort; they merely greeted politely and forced smiles.

Kim Han turned away coldly, ignored Johan’s greeting, and ordered, “Begin.”

Then the Rebound Legion members approached the representatives lying helpless on the ground.

They laughed as they cut open the representatives’ chests and pulled out their hearts, moving as if performing a ritual.

With the word “absorb,” the blood-smeared hearts vanished all at once.

Whether Johan was shocked or not, the mages standing by the gutted corpses cast preservation magic, bound them with thick ropes, and took them away. Where were they going?

The next morning the answer was obvious.

About fifty corpses were hung wide across the fortress walls flanking the gate of Kim Han’s mansion.

Wooden plaques were tied to the ankles detailing the crimes each representative had committed.

What shocked Johan most was seeing Exorsus citizens of all ages spitting and throwing stones at those corpses.

A fanatical devotion toward Kim Han. It resembled a sect that carried the fervor of a religious organization.

The dozens of citizens in the morning swelled to hundreds by evening when he finished training. Citizens lined up to throw stones and shout insults.

Kim Han dispatched mages to maintain order so the crowd wouldn’t injure itself.

Good grief—mages lining up commoners.

After that day, Johan found Kim Han even more inscrutable and frightening.

All the more so because Johan knew how cruel and terrifying the man who always appeared cheerful and kind before the citizens could be.

Today was strange again.

That day, Kim Han—unusually cordial—said he’d show him the workshop, stopped by the workshop instead of going straight from the training ground to the mansion, and even gave him a potion as a gift.

Johan laughed louder at Kim Han’s unfunny joke, circled the mansion, entered through the gate, and had dinner.

After drinking at dinner, Johan naturally fell asleep in a room on the mansion’s third floor.

Unaware of what his companions thought in his absence, he enjoyed pleasant dreams, satisfied by Kim Han’s seemingly sincere friendliness.

He didn’t enter the place where the representatives who called themselves the White Lightning Clan lived—no legion had formed yet; it was just an inn rented for an extended stay.

Rachel grew more anxious with time. She hadn’t noticed she’d bitten her nails until they bled.

A woman nearby, startled by the sight, approached Rachel.

“Rachel!”

“…Huh?”

“What are you doing! Your hands are bleeding!”

“Ah…”

“Huh? What’s wrong with her today? Is something the matter? Surely… did something bad happen at Kim Han’s mansion?!”

But Rachel couldn’t speak and only teared up.

Perhaps thinking her suspicions confirmed, the woman called the group together in a sharp voice.

Because they had rented the small inn long-term, the party gathered in an instant.

“Rachel, who did this to you? Huh? Tell us! What kind of bastard was it?”

“…No.”

“Don’t say no!! You can’t hide something like this. We should catch that bastard and cut him so he can never do this again!”

The woman’s high tone made the male representatives flinch; they subtly shifted in their seats.

“Okay, tell us what happened. We need to know before we protest or go to war.”

“…Sigh.”

“Rachel…”

“It’s not that. It’s just that I saw something unbelievable.”

At Rachel’s words most sighed in relief or scolded the woman who’d overreacted. But a few representatives’ expressions grew serious.

“Rachel… could it be about Johan?”

A man with heavy muscles—his huge frame and bulging biceps that seemed like they’d tear leather armor—asked in a low voice.

“Huh? Kantu, did you hear too?”

“Yes, I heard. But did you see it?”

“…Yeah.”

“What did you see?”

Those who had been relieved now grew serious as Kantu and Rachel spoke—perhaps because it concerned Johan.

“What on earth are you two talking about?”

The woman who’d called the group, impatient by nature, alternately looked at Kantu and Rachel and asked. Both remained tight-lipped.

An awkward silence settled over the entire first-floor hall used as a tavern.

“Tsk. I heard it too.”

A middle-aged man spoke in a hoarse voice, drawing everyone’s attention.

“No one told me. I overheard it. And this is what I heard the mages working at the Rebound Legion House say, so take it to heart. I’ll only tell you what I heard.”

The man continued in his hoarse voice.

“At the time I was gathering divine power in a corner of the garden where the spirit accumulation formation was set up. Even now, there’s something about Rebound Legion members that makes them hard to approach, so I usually gathered where people’s footsteps were scarce.”

Several who agreed nodded.

The woman who had pressed Rachel swallowed loudly, her Adam’s apple bobbing.

“At the time the mages thought I wasn’t in the garden and were chatting, and Johan came up in their conversation. According to them, Johan was flattering Kim Han to join the Rebound Legion.”

“That’s impossible!!”

“Bullshit!”

“Yeah, I thought that too. Even if Johan had a room at the Rebound Legion House unlike us, even when he freely sparred with Rebound Legion members, even if other Rebound Legion members favored only Johan—”

“…”

“But if there’s information, I—or rather, we—have the right to hear it. Even if it’s false.”

At the middle-aged man’s low voice, everyone’s gaze turned to Rachel.

Some looked curious, others couldn’t hide worried expressions. The man’s words sounded like he trusted Johan but didn’t believe the rumor.

“What I heard was similar. I heard it from the mage I’m closest to. They asked why we go back every day. They said Johan doesn’t do that. He eats dinner and sleeps over, and he was ordered to be treated like a Rebound Legion member. That mage said it. I thought I’d become part of the Rebound Legion too, but there was no word.”

“Oh, no!”

“Right! Johan couldn’t possibly do that!”

“But… the Johan I saw today looked very affectionate with Kim Han, unlike his usual attitude of speaking ill of the Rebound Legion leader. He couldn’t see me, but I watched him from afar—entering the mansion with a broad smile unlike when he’s with us.”

“That can’t be… it can’t be!!”

“Yeah, that’s right! Rachel, you must have seen wrong!”

“Yeah, Rachel. Did you drink somewhere?”

“Hmph!!”

Rachel had only told what she saw and heard—admittedly a little distorted—but when the other representatives blamed her, she grew worked up and pointed out Johan’s actions even though he wasn’t present.

“But!! Johan isn’t here now!”

The inn fell silent at Rachel’s shout. They verbally denied it, but couldn’t completely dispel the unease lodged somewhere in their hearts.

“…Johan doesn’t come back here at all these days. He spends more than five days a week at the Rebound Legion mansion!”

Having said that, Rachel slammed her seat and stood up.

Rachel disappeared for a while.

Where she reappeared was unexpectedly the Rebound Legion House.

She greeted her former comrades—not as a White Lightning Clan visitor but as an official Rebound Legion member—her face cold.

The White Lightning Clan representatives who saw her had varied reactions.

Some trembled with betrayal they couldn’t show, some wore strange, distant expressions, and others simply watched with worried eyes.

After that day, more people requested private interviews with Kim Han, Lee Hyo-ju, Hazel, Merus, and the others at the Rebound Legion.

When Johan tried to manage the situation after Rachel suddenly became a Rebound Legion member, 17 existing legion members defected to the Rebound Legion.

About fifty people joined the Benialis faction, neither Rebound nor White Lightning Clan.

From over a hundred members, about seventy left, leaving only around thirty.

Johan stopped visiting the Rebound Legion House with the remaining members and vanished from Exorsus as well.