Around the time Zion had discovered the ruined fortress and just crossed the border.
“Missing…… you say?”
Mione’s face turned pale as she bit her lip upon hearing the report from her trusted aide.
The mission had been assigned to the twelve members of the intelligence organization known only to the royal family—the so-called Shadow Corps.
They were not even her direct subordinates; she had requested personnel from the king himself.
Failure was not an option, nor was it acceptable.
Yet what was the reality?
Long past the scheduled time, no success report had come through.
When Mione formed a separate intelligence unit to investigate, it was confirmed that all twelve members of the Shadow Corps were missing.
The likelihood was high that they were dead.
As for the most important Zion, fortunately, a body had been found, but after reexamination, it turned out it wasn’t Zion but someone else.
Mione felt as if she were trapped in a nightmare.
“Madam, there is one more important matter……”
Mione thought she would no longer be shocked today.
It was a naive thought.
Upon hearing her subordinate’s report, she widened her eyes and gasped.
“A monster?!”
“There are numerous signs pointing to a goblin horde. Also, traces of an unidentified large monster were discovered.”
Drowned in an overwhelming flood of information, Mione stood frozen, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish.
It wasn’t that she had given up thinking; rather, this was a peculiar habit she showed only to those closest to her while quickly sorting through complex thoughts.
“Prepare a report for His Majesty the King. No exaggerations or conjecture—only the facts, presented concisely.”
“You mean about the whereabouts of the Shadows and Zion’s survival, too?”
Mione bit her lip again.
Could a sixteen-year-old boy survive and escape from a vast forest teeming with monsters?
Most would say it was impossible.
But Mione could not accept that.
To bring the old but powerful weapon of the Aleph Count family fully under the royal family’s control without leaving any loose ends, she must never allow such a thing.
A pursuit team must be formed to cut off any chance of escape.
The problem was that King Simos of Illium was unlikely to think the same way.
King Simos showed little concern for Zion’s survival.
He thought it was fine to exile him abroad, letting him wither away and die on his own.
Even if Zion survived, what could he possibly do?
‘Such complacency. What if Zion is alive? Humans never forget the malice inflicted on them. If Zion lives remembering that he was almost assassinated, and begins to wield that monstrous talent for revenge……’
But persuading King Simos, who had developed paranoia from the fierce succession struggles of his youth, was not easy, even for family like Mione.
The disappearance of all the borrowed Shadows was also fatal.
The king, who trusted no one, relied solely on the Shadow Corps.
The issue was no longer persuasion but how to avoid punishment.
Yet Mione lacked the strength to unilaterally organize a pursuit squad.
If it was only about tracking a sixteen-year-old boy, her current forces would suffice, but if she had to search a forest rampant with goblins and unidentified large monsters, that was a different matter.
‘There must be a deadly variable I don’t know about. An accomplice? Could Zion have had an accomplice unknown to me? Impossible.’
To prevent such variables, Mione had thoroughly isolated Zion.
Though she had to operate secretly, avoiding the Count’s gaze, it was easier than expected because the Count was absent from the mansion more often than he was present.
‘I meticulously arranged that boy’s human relationships. Focused hostility on him and severed kindness. I even left a thin thread of hope so he wouldn’t lose it completely. So then? Just the work of monsters? Coincidence?’
The incident spiraled out of control.
After a long silence, Mione’s lips split, bleeding as she winced and finally spoke with a sharp sting.
“Abandon the pursuit.”
“Are you sure?”
“Torrian, do you think I’m asking because I don’t know? Of course, it’s not okay! But… it can’t be helped. Ugh, it’s the phrase I hate the most—’It can’t be helped.'”
Mione dropped her shoulders and sighed deeply, then after a moment raised her head.
The gloom vanished, replaced by a bright, cheerful expression utterly unbecoming of her twenty-three years.
“What could possibly go wrong? First, prepare to meet His Majesty at once. Inform the Count, and please control the information flow as well. Absolutely under no circumstances can anything like ‘Zion missing, fate unknown’ reach His Excellency’s ears. Never!”
“That has already been arranged. The Count will be informed that Zion’s carriage safely crossed the border.”
“Excellent. My personally chosen Shadows never disappoint.”
“That is the duty of the Shadows.”
Sharing pleasantries with a much brighter voice, Mione left the room.
Though deeply troubled, she knew that this minor misstep was hardly the spark of a major flame.
Her perfectionist nature had simply made her dwell on it longer than necessary.
‘Dead or alive, it makes no difference. Even without my intervention, Wasting Sickness will gnaw away at that boy’s body.’
How could a boy alone overcome a disease that even Almighty Naia Alkoth, the brilliant woman, could not conquer?
***
Illium Kingdom, the far west.
There stood humanity’s final bastion.
Beyond it lay wastelands—and countless monsters.
A land unfit for humans, forbidden to human blood and death.
A land tainted by demons, known simply as the Demonic Frontier.
The Aleph Count family had, for generations, borne the duty of defending Illium—and by extension humanity—from this Demonic Frontier.
For this reason, the title Border Count was reserved solely for the Alephs of Illium.
In other countries, a count guarding borderlands against external enemies was just called a count.
But there was a vast difference between protecting a country from enemy nations and protecting humanity from monsters.
This was also why Illium, despite being a kingdom, was counted among the great powers standing shoulder to shoulder with empires, considered a no-go zone.
Invading this land to weaken its national power brought no gain—only mutual destruction.
Yet the power enjoyed by the Count family was meager compared to their reputation.
More precisely, they wielded great power but never abused it.
They would never betray the royal family or Illium itself.
They understood that betrayal would mean abandoning all humanity.
Illium shared the same sentiment.
For hundreds of years, Illium honored the Alephs’ loyalty and respected their duties, never issuing unjust orders.
As Illium was regarded as inviolable, so was its relationship with the Alephs.
That balance shattered a few years ago.
When Naia died, Zion contracted Wasting Sickness, and the Count remarried Mione.
The long-established balance of trust began to tremble precariously.
***
“Ding ding ding ding ding ding!”
“Second-Class Monster Alert! Repeating! Second-Class Monster Alert!”
Monster attacks on the border paid no heed to human circumstances.
Along the lengthy walls that marked the boundary, an alarm rang out at a fortress midway along the wall.
Resting knights sprang into action, preparing for battle.
“Enemy numbers! Estimated: 14 orcs! 110 goblins! 50 kobolds! 2 salamanders! That is all!”
“Salamanders?! What the hell! Why is that a second-class alert? This will be worse than a third-class!”
“All reports submitted according to regulations! If you’re dissatisfied, take it up with the Count family!”
“You madman, trying to feed senior knights?! Sir Parramond, we let you out for a few days and look how you’re crawling back now!”
“Both of you shut your mouths and move your hands! The Count is coming soon! Do you want to disgrace yourselves?”
A brutal time passed like war itself, and all forces lined up in position. The Second-Class response force numbered 450.
No one worried about how many would survive today.
These were the continent’s strongest knights in name and reality.
“Men.”
And at their very front, the continent’s mightiest warrior always led the charge.
“Let’s sweep through quickly, then go inside to clean up and rest. I got hungry running out from lunch.”
“—Wooooooaaaah—!”
Though the speech lacked vigor, the reaction was explosive.
Spirits soared so high the air near the walls seemed ready to burst.
Count Pergio Aleph, aged forty-one, old enough to be called a veteran, laughed heartily and turned his back proudly.
About 350 meters from the enemy, the Count tossed off his cumbersome helmet and gripped a Felchion in one hand and a mace in the other.
He took a long breath.
His massive frame, defying his age, seemed to swell further, as a pale blue light crackled and sparked from the gaps in his armor.
In the next moment, lightning surged horizontally.
A martial technique forged by fusing long-practiced combat skills and his unique magical aptitude.
Clad in lightning, he darted across the battlefield like a ray of light, shredding the enemy lines.
A technique made only for Count Pergio Aleph.
He discarded his helmet to avoid limiting his vision and slow his speed.
He wielded crude weapons like the Felchion and mace because they were less likely to break.
Aficionados called this sight “The Living Blue Lightning.”
“Run! Faster! Don’t fall behind the Count! Those who kill fewer monsters than him today can expect extra training!”
“Gyaaah! Sir Parramond is abusing his authority!”
“I’ll tell the Count everything!”
The knightly corps, following the Count’s legendary prowess, soared with unbreakable morale.
Soon the two forces clashed in a massive battle.
Two or three ordinary knights tackled goblins and lower monsters, while one or two veteran squad leaders marked the powerful orcs to maintain strict numerical superiority.
Although two salamanders were a variable, the Count took charge of them.
Thanks to that, the knights held their lines steadily.
And at the front line, the Count fought two salamanders with overwhelming skill……
‘That Zion boy, he must have crossed the border by now.’
His mind wandered.
‘Is he eating well? Has he caught the sickness? He’s stubborn and won’t show his struggles… I should have assigned more servants. But if I had, Mione would have found some fault.’
Despite the sigh, the Count moved mechanically without error.
Soon one salamander fell, and at the same moment, the Felchion’s blade snapped in half.
The Count carelessly tossed the broken weapon aside.
The flying Felchion pierced an orc rushing to attack a fallen knight.
Without even looking, the Count faced the remaining salamander.
‘It will be a lonely and harsh time, but hold on, Zion. No matter how long it takes, I will bring you back to the family by any means.’
This too was a trial—a trial for a greater and nobler purpose.
If he did not see it that way, the Count’s patience would have worn out long ago.
What dangerous thoughts Mione and the royal family were harboring.
How Mione regarded Zion.
What she had done at the mansion while the Count was away.
Though not knowing everything, the Count was somewhat aware.
Whenever he found a moment of peace to return home, he checked the situation and had his own informants.
He could never abandon his duty to protect humanity from the Demonic Frontier.
He chose countless lives over his child’s suffering.
‘As a father, I’m not much…… wasn’t that what he said?’
The last conversation with Zion came to mind.
He was surprised by his son’s usual politeness and bluntness, but even more so because the words pierced through the truth.
He considered himself a lousy father.
But even a lousy father had not given up being a father.
‘I held out until now, Mione. I drove the boy away as you wished. That is the greatest compromise I could offer. Are you satisfied now? I hope you are. If you’re not, and you reach out your filthy hands to him again……’
A blue electric glow enveloped his tightly clenched fist.
The light that had been seeping through the armor grew uncontrollably strong, covering his entire body.
He flared up as living blue lightning, raising his fist.
The salamander grabbed by the nape roared furiously and writhed, spewing fire.
‘If you treat the long-standing trust as mere custom and betray it—’
“KRAK!”
His fist crashed down on the salamander’s skull.
The huge jaw slammed into the ground, and the creature’s body exploded gruesomely in all directions.
Blood and flesh that touched the Count’s electric glow burned away without staining him even slightly.
‘You will be the first to understand what it means for the Alephs to betray Illium, to abandon their duty.’
The royal family thought they held the leash, but in truth, the Alephs had been quietly ready to snap that leash at any time.
Pergio Aleph.
The living protector of humanity had little time left before he became simply a father.
***
The Republic of Wecos lay on the peninsula in the continent’s southwest.
Surrounded by sea on three sides except the north, its geographic features fostered flourishing fishing and maritime trade.
To the north alone it bordered the Prinzentahti Kingdom.
The two nations had long maintained mutual assistance and a non-aggression pact, so the border forces were merely token and lax.
Of course, this was relative, and the Republic was notorious for harsh punishment against illegal immigrants.
In other words, “This is the final boss, huh?”
In the trees slightly off the wide highway, Zion nodded, cleverly concealed.
“Hard to sneak through.”
It was an open field.
Unless one flew through the sky, there was no way not to be seen.
The Republic of Wecos was famous for ingenious new technologies, so perhaps there were even means to monitor the sky.
[There are too many to break through by force.]
“They’re very sensitive to illegal immigrants. I heard they’ll chase you to the ends of hell no matter how you get past by force.”
[What a strange country.]
“I’ve only heard rumors myself, so I don’t know if it’s true.”
But seeing how they rejected even slightly suspicious applicants mercilessly, it seemed far from baseless gossip.
Even large caravan merchants pleading desperately were unmoved.
[What will you do? Go around?]
“The whole border is open fields. No matter where we detour, we’ll be seen.”
[Oh. No stealth, no detour, no breaking through by force? We’re stuck, huh?]
“So, uncle, isn’t there a better way?”
[Ha! Only come to me when you need something? Do I look like such an easy man?]
“Come on, so you won’t help me?”
[Wait. Let me think.]
About an hour later.
“Yawn. It’s unusually quiet today.”
Yeah. No illegal immigrants in sight… hey, wait. Someone’s coming. Looks like a kid?
“Doesn’t the atmosphere feel off?”
Someone was running toward the gate beyond the highway.
Covered in blood and looking terrified at a glance.
The soldiers guarding the gate noticed the oddity and tensed.
“Ahhhh! Knights! Knights!”
Staggering as if about to collapse, Zion put on his full-act.
“Monsters, m-monsters have appeared!”