The backyard of the main castle of Intezeron.
Trichitas yanked hard on the cloth covering the large wagon.
When the servants and maids saw the dark-blue scales, the enormous three heads, and the solid carapace, their mouths fell open.
“What kind of monster is that?”
“There were things like that still left on our family’s land?”
“Weren’t they all supposed to have died out thousands of years ago?”
He then removed the covers from the ten wagons that followed in turn.
Corpses of scale-covered monsters modeled after the ancient ones were revealed beneath the evening glow.
“Good heavens… just how many are there?”
“Look at those scales. Bigger than the palm of my hand.”
“They look like the kind that could wield weapons too.”
The corpses, frozen right as rigor mortis set in, still looked freshly killed despite the forced march of over a month.
Some of the more faint-hearted maids screamed and fainted at the sight of the vertically slit eyes and glistening scales.
Trichitas spoke to the young frost mage who had accompanied him.
“You have worked hard until now. We will soon have an audience with the family head, so straighten your uniform.”
To the young mage from a minor noble house in a rural town, the family head was akin to a god.
He turned pale and neatly fastened the hem of his uniform.
Then the back door of the manor opened.
Argantius, his long hair hanging down to his waist, descended the stairs with indifferent eyes.
He had evidently had been in the middle of important business; faint displeasure at being interrupted lingered on his face.
But that displeasure melted away like spring snow the moment he saw the three-meter-tall green ancient one with four arms.
When his gaze landed on the three-headed serpent-turtle monster, a smile of ecstasy curled his lips.
Trichitas glanced at that expression, then immediately knelt and bowed his head.
Another mission success.
Argantius spoke without hiding his delight.
“Who sent me such a rare gift? I had no idea monsters like these still existed in this age.”
Trichitas kissed the signet ring of Argantius to show his loyalty and answered.
“These are tribute offerings that Sir Anplus, entrusted with the gratitude mission for the Serenus Marsh reclamation project, presents to His Excellency Argantius.”
“Anplus?”
Argantius briefly recalled what order he had given his son.
It was a matter tangled with the imperial family’s vile schemes, so blood would have flowed, but this was not the kind of treasure one would expect to be offered up.
“The report will be long, Your Excellency. If it please you, may I present it together with the documents?”
***
“So that’s what happened. A mental-attribute mage and chimeras modeled after the ancient ones. They used even more despicable tactics than I expected. Had it not been a knight of that child’s caliber, the damage could have been far greater.”
Argantius carefully read through Anplus’s report, Trichitas’s evaluation, and the various letters and petitions sent by the on-site supervisors.
“Raising noble pensions? To one-third of what he received in his heir days? How bold.”
“I beg your pardon. I truly did not expect he would say it with his own mouth.”
“No. If a man does not secure his own bread, who will do it for him? Especially for that child who once fell from my favor, this is exactly the kind of tenacity he must show at times like these.”
“Are you pleased with the tributes, Your Excellency?”
“Pleased, you ask?”
Trichitas watched Argantius pull out a palm-sized piece of leather and a single scale from a drawer.
“I knew he would be tenacious, but I never imagined he would send things like these.”
“I heard Your Excellency stayed in the backyard all night.”
“Of course. How could anyone sleep after seeing such things? Every single scale, every scrap of hide is fascinating and beautiful. Look.”
Argantius created a thin, sharp thread of wind.
The scale struck by the wind rang like a bell.
“When this scale receives an impact, it spreads the vibration throughout the entire body to reduce the shock, and this hide contracts in response to impact to increase its toughness.”
“Remarkable.”
Trichitas momentarily thought the family head was about to indulge in one of his favorite topics.
Everyone returns to childlike wonder before their hobbies—he even had the irreverent thought.
“Both heat and impact resistance are outstanding. The scales contain a large amount of metal components, so they also conduct electricity away. Unless one is a blue-blood officer-mage, the only attribute that could instantly kill these creatures is only frost, I think. Yet frost is difficult to sustain, so killing dozens in succession would be impossible.”
“Yes?”
That was why he was startled by what the family head said next.
“Do you understand? The imperial family created these creatures with that in mind. They deliberately forced our Intezeruto to deploy officer-mages. The power of these monsters was calibrated exactly to that line. A meticulous plan. That mental-attribute mage you and Anplus reported is merely the lizard’s tail.”
His gray eyes flashed with sharp intelligence.
Befitting the man who became the youngest family head in imperial history at the age of two hundred and has led Intezeruto ever since.
“Is there magic that manipulates life itself?”
“Not for me. But it might actually be surprisingly simple. Do we not all wield magic with the mana in our blood? There is no reason there cannot be an attribute that directly manipulates blood and flesh.”
“And he just happened to be born with the imperial family’s blue blood.”
“Exactly. Just happened to be.”
Argantius unfolded another letter.
Trichitas recognized it as the letter Anplus had entrusted to him.
“He says he needs a new sword. He wrote the details meticulously and even drew precise diagrams. Yes, with so many tasks ahead, I should naturally grant him at least this much.”
“I will take it down when I return.”
“No. This is not something that can be made by simply lengthening a knight’s sword. I don’t even know when he studied metallurgy; he wrote exactly which region’s iron should be heated to what temperature and forged in what manner.”
“Lord Seongbaek must have taught him.”
“Right. Tell him the sword will be given when he returns. But having received such tribute, I cannot possibly send him back empty-handed.”
The family head rang a bell and summoned an attendant.
“Deliver this to Anplus’s maid. And call the master armorer and the master leatherworker.”
***
I bowed my head and listened to the family head’s message.
The content itself was nothing special.
He had received the report well and praised the merit.
It was merely decorated with flowery rhetoric.
I even felt a slight twinge of disappointment.
“This is granted as reward.”
The messenger handed me a large wooden chest.
It was so huge that even by conservative estimate it had to weigh at least twenty kilograms.
“You were strictly ordered to open it only when completely alone.”
“Understood.”
I carried the chest back to my tent.
The lid was sealed with wax that, once melted above a certain temperature and cooled again, would never melt a second time.
It could not prevent someone from forcing it open, but the thick clumps of remaining wax would clearly show if it had been tampered with.
When I opened the lid, the box was filled with hardened wax.
A common method used when sealing something precious.
Just the wax alone must have weighed five kilograms.
I drew my sword, cut along the edge, and removed the wax block.
Then, using a dagger, I slowly shaved away the wax until the rough shape of the contents became visible.
It was a breastplate.
I broke the remaining wax shell with force and peeled away the layers of oiled paper that prevented direct contact between armor and wax.
The breastplate and the pair of gauntlets inside gleamed with a subdued, heavy luster.
It wrapped tightly all the way to the flanks, and both front and back plates were reinforced with wide, solid metal plates for added strength.
The cloak clasp was placed at the front, so when a cloak was worn it would naturally cover the entire body.
Lifting it, it was noticeably heavier than the breastplate I currently wore.
The leather straps that fastened at the waist and shoulders were engraved with a scale pattern.
Even at a glance, it was clearly not cow or pig hide.
“Bring me a cloth.”
A servant quickly brought a towel.
I applied a generous amount of mixed polishing oil and wiped down the gauntlets and breastplate.
That was when I noticed a white sheet of paper inside the waist strap.
[Your merit is great, so I send you a new breastplate.
The two knights who were with you said you would need a breastplate like this.
The inside is lined with the hide of the serpent-turtle you yourself felled.
Because I spared neither resilient steel nor hide, the weight has increased slightly, but now it can withstand one or two casual wind spells.
It is also strong against heat and electricity, so you will not fall meaninglessly to stray magic.
Do not think I doubt your skill.
Equipping oneself with good gear is also part of a craftsman’s skill.
I received your letter well.
I received your tribute well.
The sword you desire will be given when you return.
I will bestow it myself in the Hall of Glory, before the assembled nobles.
Do not make me regret what I once did.
All of it.
Every single word.
It was unmistakably the family head’s own handwriting.
Most blue-bloods left the writing to secretaries and only signed their name.
“Family head…”
Having lived nineteen years in this world, I knew exactly how tremendous an honor his personal handwriting was.
But I could not remain simply moved.
The phrase “when you return” implied there would be a next mission.
The fact that it was packaged so thoroughly showed how fiercely he guarded against interference en route.
He was clearly wary of spies from the imperial family or other great houses.
“Hm?”
There was one more letter tucked behind it.
Unexpected yet familiar.
[Young master, what in the world is happening?
The attendant sent by the family head gave me heaps of gold coins.
It seems to be one-third of what I received before you were fifteen.
You must have achieved some incredible feat that I know nothing about.
Young master, to be honest, the way you are advancing now feels like a miracle to me.
If I may be so bold, there were times I thought you would never leave your room again.
The way you now wield the sword is truly gallant and truly noble.
I will restore your room to how it used to be.
A place worthy of someone like you to stay, a place worth returning to.
So please, please return safely.
I will be waiting, pressing your clothes.]
It was from my maid.
I slowly folded her letter and tucked it away.
I muttered that I would be back soon, then unfastened the belt of the breastplate I was wearing.
I removed the old breastplate and slipped the new one over my head.
Though heavier, it fit my body so well that I barely felt the difference.
“Hah.”
I tightened the waist and shoulder straps firmly.
A pleasant weight settled over me.
It was a weight I would carry for the rest of my life, a weight that would follow me even if I took the breastplate off.
Trichitas arrived at the reclamation site a week after the messenger.
“The land has expanded a lot in the meantime. The reservoir is quite full too.”
“They said we’ll have to move the camp next week. This section juts out on the map, so we’ll work while moving a little farther north.”
“No particular problems in the meantime?”
“None.”
“How could there be none? A ruined knight who can’t even use magic is managing the site—how could there be no problems?”
I considered slapping his cheek, then let out a sigh.
“A few laborers who tried to steal carnivorous reptile eggs got bitten and dragged off, but that’s all.”
“That’s natural death.”
Trichitas walked toward a place with no people.
“You’re here to talk about the next mission, right?”
“How did you know?”
“The contents of the letter and the way you’re dressed?”
“Just because you have no magic doesn’t mean you have no eyes.”
“If it weren’t for this breastplate, I would have punched you in the solar plexus.”
Trichitas laughed.
Beneath the thin cloak he wore, the light breastplate worn by mages occasionally glinted.
“As you said. It’s a mission.”
“What kind of mission? More monsters appeared? Or hunting spies?”
“While searching the marsh to exterminate the remnants of monsters resembling the ancient ones, we happened to stray into imperial territory.”
He began speaking in a strange tone.
“And we happened to discover a camp where monsters resembling the ancient ones were gathered, and we happened to witness the monsters escaping.”
“And?”
“And in the ensuing chaos, several high-ranking imperial officials happened to be killed by the magical beasts.”
“By the magical beasts, of course.”
“Yes. Strictly by the magical beasts.”
“I understand perfectly. When was that again?”
“If I remember correctly, tomorrow evening.”
“Ah, right. Tomorrow evening.”
It was the beginning of the counterattack.