The quests that had previously appeared were calculated and distributed following the event.
However, because Cain’s defeat of Primundi was unexpected, the quest that appeared beforehand was not displayed correctly.
Cain chuckled and focused his gaze on one spot.
Primundi Ethelred.
He assumed that even a witch was once a normal person, so she would have a last name. But he didn’t expect the last name to be ‘Ethelred’.
Cain frowned.
He had never heard of another family with the same name as Ethelred.
Furthermore, Primundi had displayed an unusually affectionate demeanor.
“Is that why she was so kind?”
At first, he thought she was crazy, but as he looked at this, he wondered if there was a story he didn’t know.
Cain pressed his temples.
Families with mysterious powers were common across the continent.
He had never imagined that the first witch, Karen Myer, and the second witch, Primundi, would be from the same family.
‘Father…… wouldn’t know.’
If it were the Edmund Cain remembered, he wouldn’t be interested in the family history.
Just as he was to Cain.
Just as he was to his biological mother, Chloe Lamaring.
He was the family’s head, but he was only interested in wielding a sword.
He turned his head to the other side as he thought about ransacking the library as soon as he got back to the castle.
Sssssss━.
Cold air flowed.
A black sword was stabbed into the floor of the carriage.
+
Sword of despair. 『Agweska』
A sword modeled after the ‘sword’ the witch Primundi saw when she was young.
As long as ‘Cain Ethelred’s’ will remains intact, so will his despair.
*Connected to 『Four Seasons』.”
+
It wasn’t the greatsword he normally used.
The blade was too thin, but it was long enough to be functional.
‘It’s good that it doesn’t break.’
Cain’s swordsmanship was the type that concentrated enormous power in a single blow.
As a result, durability was very important.
Even during the recent fight with Arthuan, the three swords were unable to withstand the force and broke.
However, he couldn’t always use Vanderbilt’s greatsword, and if it wasn’t a sacred treasure, it could only take a few blows.
However, Cain couldn’t help but smile, knowing it would last as long as his will.
As the carriage carrying the two of them moved, Oleciren, who had been watching Cain for a while, muttered.
“……Thank you.”
Cain responded nonchalantly.
“I know.”
Oleciren’s eyes narrowed.
“Seems like your tongue got cut in half, why is your speech so short these days?”
Cain raised his mouth corners and turned his head in response to Oleciren’s characteristically blunt remark.
“It gets the point across even if it’s short.”
“That’s…… true.”
Oleciren avoided Cain’s gaze.
The outside of the carriage came into view naturally.
Before they knew it, the narrow path along the cliff had come to an end, and wooden fences marking Ethelred Castle’s direct territory appeared here and there.
Oleciren smiled slightly at the sight.
“It feels like I’m going home.”
“Isn’t your home the royal palace?”
“It’s the feeling, the feeling!”
Cain chuckled.
He, too, muttered as he looked at the familiar Ethelred landscape, which he had grown to recognize.
“I feel that way too.”
The land where he had wandered for a long time before returning.
And the land where he was making the most of today while creating a new past.
He had entered Ethelred’s territory.
The people of the territory, who were raising sheep or working in the fields, were perplexed by the carriage they had never seen before, but waved their arms when they realized Cain was riding in it.
Oleciren spoke as if she was curios.
“I suppose it’s because we’re in the countryside. Even though a count is a fairly high-ranking noble, he appears to be close to the territory’s people.
“It can’t be helped since this place is different from other places where trains are coming in and commerce is developing.”
The Airian Kingdom was also heavily involved in the railway industry, albeit not as much as the Kreuz Empire on the continent.
Because it was impossible to connect all regions, the first attempt was to link the royal capital, two marquises, and five counties.
Other places had been connected for a long time, allowing them to travel by train.
However, due to the dungeon problem and Count Edmund’s lack of interest in such calculations, Ethelred County was the only one without a train lines.
‘When I was younger, I thought it was stuffy.
Cain’s mouth turned up.
Trains belching out steam and endlessly long passenger cars. Train stations where people bustled about and where meetings and partings occurred.
It was romantic enough to set a young boy’s heart racing.
Unfortunately, Cain’s first encounter with a train station was at a small abandoned station he had found after being swept away by the waves.
Because he had lost it, he understood how valuable this peaceful scenery was.
“There’s nothing wrong with being innocent like this.”
Oleciren nodded as Cain spoke.
The expression ‘innocent’.
It was an expression she had only seen in books, but she realized for the first time that she could apply it to people in Ethelred’s territory.
City life. The inhabitants of the royal capital.
Ethelred was breathing in something that those who had become worn and torn could never have.
“Right. The knights are like that too.”
“Why does that last part sound like you’re picking a fight?”
Even a fool could recognize that knights who had to fight were not innocent.
Oleciren shrugged and stuck out her tongue, and Cain clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“To think that a grown-up princess would act like a child like this.”
“Who’s the real child?”
“What did that child do to Primundi?”
“…….”
Oleciren couldn’t bring herself to keep speaking and turned her head away.
She had never lost a verbal fight before, but she couldn’t win against Cain.
They rode a little further before arriving at the castle. The first thing they noticed was.
Clang━!
Cloyd’s sword slashed through the air.
Thud.
The head of a noble he’d never seen before fell to the ground.
Cloyd, Commander of the Knights, knelt on one knee, a radiant smile on his blood-stained face.
“Welcome back, Young Master.”
Oleciren muttered weakly, staring at the blood-red floor.
“I take back what I said about being innocent.”