Chapter 36

The next morning, before dawn broke, Rian awoke. Thanks to months of forced rest, his body felt as light as a feather and his mind as clear as ice. The mana, quietly flowing within him and far stronger than before, felt like a loyal beast waiting on his slightest gesture.

As he rose from the bed, a girl who had been quietly waiting in a corner of the room approached.

“Young master, are you awake?”

It was Elise, his personal maid who was the same age as Rian. She had tended to Rian since childhood and knew him better than anyone outside the family. Clever and quick-witted, her only flaw, if any, was being overly talkative and nagging.

“You went to bed late last night, so how can you get up this early? The royal physician would scold you if he saw. You look worse since returning from the capital.”

Elise poured out a worried scolding and wiped Rian’s face with a warm towel she’d prepared. Her touch was familiar and comforting.

“I’m fine, Elise. I slept enough.”

“Enough? You were chatting with Miss Lily until nearly midnight yesterday. And now you say you’re going for a walk in the forest today? Absolutely not. I’ll tell the Count—”

“Not a walk, a hunt.”

Rian said indifferently as he dressed. The clothes he put on were not the finery of a noble young master but a black, lightweight special outfit that could blend into the darkness like a shadow.

Elise’s face went pale.

“H-hunting? Are you crazy, young master? Hunting in that condition! Take those clothes off at once! Before you tear them to pieces!”

She truly looked ready to leap at him to strip the clothes off him. Rian snorted and lightly pushed Elise’s forehead with his finger.

“Enough with the nagging. Tell Father and Mother that ‘I’m going out for a light walk to enjoy the estate’s air after a long time.’ Say I’ll be back before lunch so they won’t worry.”

“But…!”

“Elise.”

Rian’s voice dropped low. It was not his usual playful tone. Elise suddenly fell silent. Sometimes when Rian showed this side, the boy before her felt like a completely different person, sending chills down her spine.

“Don’t worry. It’s just… I’m going to chase away a stray dog that came into our property without permission.”

Rian stroked Elise’s head once, then slipped silently out the window. Left alone, Elise sighed softly and neatly folded his discarded pajamas.

At the agreed spot behind the manor, Kael was already waiting, having completed all preparations. In his hands were a black dagger for Rian and specially made leather armor.

“Master.”

“So, what’s the situation?”

“There were no additional movements overnight. But the forest’s aura has become more ominous.”

“Let’s go.”

The two slipped away like beasts, avoiding the eyes of the royal guard, and headed into the monster forest.

The moment he set foot in the forest, Rian felt a completely different unease. Mana particles drifting in the air trembled as if terrified. The forest, which should have been brimming with life, was silent like a vast corpse.

“This isn’t the curse of a necromancer. It’s a more primal power, one that seems to rot existence itself…”

Rian scooped up a handful of soil. The earth, which should have been fertile, had lost its life and crumbled to dust.

Then Kael pointed ahead. An ogre lay there, fallen in a gruesome state. A large hole had been torn near its massive chest, and the surrounding flesh was blackened and rotted, as if exposed to a powerful acid.

“To fell an ogre of this size with a single strike…”

Kael’s voice was choked with shock. But Rian was looking at something else.

“Look around the wound.”

Where Rian pointed, on the rotting flesh, very fine, black, spore-like things were sprouting.

“This is not simply the result of force. It’s contaminating the whole forest and ‘cultivating’ something.”

Rian frowned. This was a far more primal and dangerous enemy to take on, on a different level than the political struggles of the capital. He left the rotting ogre’s corpse behind and moved deeper into the dark heart of the forest.

The shadow finally realized. What had entered his hunting ground was not a mere stray dog. It was a stranger, like a plague, trying to claim the entire forest as its own.