15 – 15. The Great Colony

“Hah! Hah!”

Heaving breaths, he stares at the transcendent skewered on the spear.

The way it stood there, like that, almost made it feel like a tomb unto itself.

‘Thank god.’

He couldn’t say it out loud, his breathing too ragged, but Isaac felt it deeply, a sincere relief.

If only he could reach Uldir, the Caldeas, he was certain he could kill the transcendent.

No matter how powerful they might be, Uldir was definitely strong enough to subdue them.

‘That one wasn’t such a big deal among the Transcendent.’

Judging coldly, it hadn’t been all that strong compared to others Isaac knew.

“Are you alright!”

“We’ll get you out of here immediately!”

The door to the tightly sealed barricade swings open, soldiers rushing out. Isaac points in the direction he had come from, shouting.

“The injured first! Quickly!”

Starting with Jonathan, then.

Silberna and the adjutant, Anna, the nobles and their guards, too.

So many taken down by a single Transcendental.

He himself, truth be told, had mostly just minor scrapes, the worst from the fall.

Right now, others were more important than him.

Following Isaac’s words, the soldiers rushed toward the foot of the mountains.

“You alright?”

Uldiran approached Isaac, who was sitting and trying to compose himself.

Isaac tried to hurriedly rise, but Uldiran’s hand gently pressed his shoulder, letting him rest.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Hm, that demonic beast?”

Even Uldiran seemed to be seeing it for the first time.

Isaac, a bitter taste in his mouth, stared at the corpse and answered,

“A Transcendental… they’re like humans, but like beasts at the same time.”

At Isaac’s words, Uldiran crossed his arms, studying the corpse as if savoring a thought.

“Hm, you seem to know a good deal about this one, then?”

“I’ll explain later.”

Isaac rose slowly.

Seeing the man lying on the soldiers’ stretcher, Isaac wanted to run to him at once.

Uldiran chuckled at such a raw display, nodding.

“Don’t mind it, go on. It’s only natural to worry for a comrade.”

“Thank you.”

Leaving Uldiran behind, Isaac hurried to Jonathan.

“Jonathan! Are you alright?!”

Jonathan, being carried on a stretcher, gave a faint smile with a thumbs up.

“I am a knight of Helmont, am I not?”

“Ha, haha… yeah, good to hear.”

A knight of Helmont, for Isaac, wasn’t the most pleasant association.

But still, Jonathan was alive, so that was enough.

“What in the world happened?”

The transcendent beings he knew never let humans live.

They showed no mercy, their hatred for humanity felt like a primal, instinctual craving.

Jonathan, still lying down, scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“Truth is, I don’t know either. I saw Isaac go off, and then that thing’s greatsword was at my neck.”

Jonathan tilted his head slightly, showing the wound on his throat. A bit of blood was crusted there.

“But then, it just looked at me, and left.”

“Left?”

“Yeah, it called me a filthy thing and then just walked away.”

“A filthy thing?”

Isaac tilted his head in confusion at Jonathan’s words.

A transcendent had just passed up a clear chance to kill a human?

‘What is this?’

It didn’t fit within his realm of understanding.

“Isaac, sir! I’m alright! Don’t you worry!”

“Ah, please, try to stay still.”

“You should get checked out by a healer, first.”

Jonathan was being pulled away as he spoke.

Seeing him alive was a relief but there was no room to relax. The questions piled on top of each other and sunk him into thought.

From behind, someone suddenly hugged Isaac tightly.

“Isaac!”

“Silberna?”

Isaac turned, startled.

Silberna was holding him close, clearly relieved.

“I’m so glad! I’m really so glad, Isaac! I thought you were done for!”

“Well… that’s… “

He glanced behind him, feeling self-conscious.

Uldir Kaldias was staring at them intensely.

‘If I’m not careful, I might end up on a skewer like those transcendent beings.’

He didn’t want to share the fate of the ones impaled on spears, so he tried to gently push Silberna off, but…

“Ugh.”

Isaac, outmuscled, couldn’t pry her off.

He was stuck, puzzling over how to unstick her from this bear hug.

“Ahem, Silverna.”

Finally, Uldiran Cardias sidled up, throat-clearing, and called to his daughter.

“Ah, s-sorry! I’m so sorry!”

Only now did Silverna realize what she’d done, shamefacedly pulling away.

“……”

Uldiran’s gaze turned to Isaac. He looked like he had something to say, but then.

“Uhm.”

Isaac scratched his neck, casually displaying the ring on his left ring finger.

That seemed to soften Uldiran’s gaze a little.

“The Holstein relic?”

Uldiran, back to business, asked. Silverna snapped to attention and reported.

“Recovered, and Anna is safeguarding it for now. However, she’s injured and needs immediate assistance.”

“Very well, I’ll go myself.”

Silverna was startled by the news that Uldiran himself would be moving.

“We cannot be careless.”

A raw pain laced his deep voice as he gave his assessment of the situation.

“The so-called transcendent beings are concerning, but the number of mana beasts is far more worrisome.”

Indeed.

Even Silverna thought the number of mana beasts near the barrier seemed excessive.

“You mean –”

“Silverna, prepare a message at once.”

Appearing after a long, long 23 years.

“It’s a grand swarm.”

* * *

Helmunt Manor.

“Gwaaah!”

A man’s groan echoed through the air.

Considering it was early morning, one might mistake the shriek for a rooster’s crow.

The scream’s owner was the third son, Alois Helmunt.

He was, recently,

doing daily morning spars.

With none other than, the eldest daughter, Rianna Helmunt.

*Whoosh!*

Rianna sheaths her greatsword, ‘Ragnabel’, and sighs.

“Get your stance right, Alois.”

Rianna’s words hint at more to come.

Her eyes, which Alois usually raves about as being like jewels, seemed recently to be stained with a crimson hue.

“S-sister! We’re sparring every single day! I’m going to actually die!”

Spending time with Rianna was good, but not like this.

He was feeling a pain that made his whole body want to shatter each and every day.

But Rianna didn’t give an inch.

“I spar with you every day, and you don’t improve even a little.”

“No, that’s-.”

*It probably looks that way to you, Sister*.

Alois swallowed the words he wanted to say.

Strictly speaking, Alois had improved.

It’s just that, from Rianna’s level, he seemed to be stuck in the same place.

“Grab your sword.”

Rianna didn’t yield.

Her impassive expression only amplified the feeling that she was serious.

*Bringing up remarriage…that was a mistake.*

Alois was paying the price, for days on end, for his talk about remarriage and for his words disrespecting Isaac that he’d said before the lilac trees.

And another person.

In the Helmunt mansion, Rianna and Alois weren’t the only ones whose minds were troubled because of Isaac.

The second daughter, Sharen Helmunt, too.

She was the youngest girl in the Helmunt family, at seventeen, except for the youngest brother, fifteen-year-old Edel Helmunt.

Right now, in her room, she was lying on the bed and kicking the covers.

“aaargh! Where is heeee!”

If one had to assess her.

A tomboy, a whirlwind.

If not born a Hellmunt, just a common, headstrong girl you’d see in the countryside.

But born a Hellmunt, she was somewhat extreme.

The moments she grew most extreme were when snacks were involved.

“Where is it, damn it!”

There was a certain treat she particularly adored.

Lately, Sharen hadn’t been able to get her hands on it at all.

“Where on earth did Isaac even buy it from!”

Because.

Isaac, whom Sharen treated like a lackey, had been dispatched to the Malidain frontlines.

Which meant, Sharen couldn’t have the treats Isaac used to bring her.

Bakeries usually baked sweets alongside bread, so she’d checked every bakery nearby, but couldn’t find it.

Just as Sharen was fretting over this.

Her personal maid, Kelsie, bursts through the door and urgently calls out to Sharen.

“Lady! The Lord has summoned you!”

“Father?!”

With the Sword Oath still a month and a half away.

It wasn’t close enough for the Lord to summon everyone, so she knew something else must be afoot.

And so, the direct descendants of the Hellmunt were called to the Lord’s study.

Eldest son, Loengrin.

Eldest daughter, Rianna.

Second son, Armin.

Third son, Alois.

Second daughter, Sharen.

Youngest, Edel.

It had been a long time since they’d all gathered, outside of breakfast, so a somewhat awkward air hung thick.

Arundel, propped on his elbow, spoke with a clearly troubled expression.

“A messenger arrived from the Malidain Wall.”

Instantly, everyone’s eyes flickered to Rianna, sideways, assessing her reaction.

Isaac, dispatched to the Malidhean Wall in their stead.

Had news come of his death?

Probably the highest probability, she thought.

Rianna clenched her fist, desperately trying to quell her hammering heart.

“The Malidhean Wall’s monster cluster has been confirmed as a Great Cluster.”

A different kind of tension shifts the air.

A Great Cluster, after a whole twenty-three years.

That meant there was only one reason for the messenger’s arrival.

“They say they need more support.”

The request from Caldias, relayed through the kingdom to the nobles, was blunt.

When it was just a monster cluster, they could send hopefuls for real combat experience.

But now that it was confirmed as a Great Cluster.

Send personnel who could be a real force.

“Huu.”

Arundel, too, was regretful that this had happened on the eve of the family’s main event, the Sword Festival.

But with the confirmation of the Great Cluster, he couldn’t make a decision just for Helmunt’s sake.

“We must dispatch to Malidhean. Are there any volunteers?”

And so Arundel posed the question.

“I will go.”

“Father! Send me!”

The only two women in the room.

Rianna and Sharen answered at the same time.