Chapter 39
His words were cut short.
Refined killing intent instantly enveloped the mercenaries.
If it had been emitted by bandits or monsters, they knew they should immediately adopt a battle stance, but the mercenaries' bodies didn't budge.
Even right before Kain's voice was heard, the mercenaries hadn't realized they were holding their breath.
"I clearly warned you. Be careful with your words and actions."
Only then did the mercenaries' gazes move towards the direction of the voice.
Thwack!
With the very faint sound of dry sand being stepped on, Kain appeared.
The mercenary leader, realizing that Kain was the source of the killing intent, barely managed to open his mouth.
"What..."
But his words were cut short again.
He had already noticed an almost stinging chill settling around his body.
'Chill...?'
The inside of his mouth, which he had opened to say something, felt parched. It was as if frost had formed in his throat.
'Is this possible?'
He was a mercenary who had reached the level of 3-Star Mastery.
Thanks to the dense mana residing in his dantian, he could largely ignore the cold of the snowy mountain region.
But the chill he felt now relentlessly pierced through his skin as if he were naked, giving him the illusion that it was seeping into his very bones.
"If anyone utters another word, I will immediately and permanently impair their ability to speak."
Simultaneously with Kain's words, all the mercenaries felt something sharp and pointed touching the back of their necks, precisely behind their vocal cords.
'Crazy.'
The mercenary leader was aghast.
'I didn't even sense it.'
He had grown up in the slums, but with a talent for 'fighting' itself, he had experienced many battles, big and small, since a fairly young age as a mercenary.
Therefore, he prided himself on having a sense for combat that wouldn't lose out to even a decent 4-Star knight.
Yet, he hadn't even sensed the magic activating, and his neck had been seized.
'There wasn't even a chant.'
If it had been a real combat situation, he would have tried to find an opening and escape somehow.
'If I move rashly, it's over.'
His instincts, honed by surviving life-and-death situations several times as a mercenary, were telling him.
If he moved now, it would be the end.
And Kain had clearly said he would impair their ability to speak, not kill them.
'Stay calm. For now, I should just do whatever the opponent wants...'
The mercenary leader looked into Kain's eyes.
'...I can't read them.'
He had felt it before they departed, but he couldn't read any emotion in Kain's eyes.
He racked his brain as hard as he could.
'Apologize. Yes, not just a half-hearted apology like before, but a sincere one, even getting on my knees... No, but didn't he tell me not to speak?'
For some reason, he had a feeling that if he even started to say he was sorry, Kain would pierce his throat, saying he had told him not to say a word.
'But I can't just stay still...'
The chill surrounding him continued to gnaw at him.
He even felt like his lungs would freeze over, and he wouldn't be able to breathe if things continued this way.
'...Wait a minute. Freeze over?'
Only now did the mercenary leader realize something was strange.
'The Siers clan is a Fire-element family.'
The other kids had clearly been practicing Fire-element magic earlier as well.
But what he was feeling now was definitely a cold chill, unless his senses were playing tricks on him.
'How did this happen?'
He had been so flustered earlier that he hadn't even thought to find it strange. His throat was about to be pierced in the blink of an eye; he didn't have any time to think calmly.
He felt an urge to turn his head and see with his own eyes what kind of magic was aimed at his neck.
But he soon realized there was no need to do so.
Whoosh.
Because the mana of fire was now flickering above Kain's hand.
Although it wasn't a completed spell, the high-purity fire mana, clear enough to see, could turn into any magic with a single incantation and engulf the mercenaries.
Everyone knew that Fire-element and Ice-element magic could absolutely not be learned together.
'I have no choice but to think my head has gone crazy.'
Even while he was thinking this, the chill relentlessly dug in.
'Damn it, I can't take it anymore...'
Whether it was life or death, he decided to bow his head and apologize immediately, but when he tried to speak.
His throat, already dry, wouldn't even produce a proper voice.
"...Keuh."
Only a bizarrely cracked sound escaped.
The moment he felt he had reached his limit.
Kain slowly opened his mouth.
"I don't need your apology. It would just be a life-begging apology devoid of any sincerity anyway."
Whoosh.
The fire mana above Kain's hand dissipated.
At the same time, the chill that had been constricting the mercenaries vanished.
"Huk, huk, huk..."
"Kehk. Kehk."
Clutching their chests, the mercenaries finally gasped for breath freely, and several of them collapsed onto the spot.
The mercenary leader, barely standing, caught his breath and looked at Kain.
Kain spoke.
"An old friend once told me. You are excessively merciless once someone crosses your line, so it might be good to give even enemies a chance, up to twice."
Kain turned and said,
"That was twice. There won't be a next time, so remember that."
Thwack. Thwack.
Kain disappeared back the way he had come.
"......"
Once Kain was completely out of sight, the mercenary leader sat down heavily on the ground, as if all the tension had drained from him.
And he mumbled blankly,
"An old friend... Wasn't he, like, twelve or thirteen?"
Just then, Kain poked his face out from between the trees again.
As the mercenary leader, startled, shut his mouth, Kain added with a blank expression,
"And, do the search properly. Follow the rules."
Then he quickly withdrew his face and left.
***
The disciples, who returned to the wagon together after the search, felt that the atmosphere had completely changed.
"Master Kain, the thorough search is complete. No anomalies found."
"The merchants say the preliminary inspection is finished."
"We've all gathered, so we can rest a bit more and then depart."
"If you wish to rest longer, we will inform you."
The mercenaries, who had been casting displeased glances from inside the guard compartment just moments ago, reported to Kain with a disciplined air.
Kain waved his hand dismissively.
"There's no need to report to me or ask for my permission for every little thing. Just share important information with each other. We simply have the same goal; you and we are independent groups, so I won't overstep my bounds."
"Yes, understood!"
After what had just happened, it was absurd that he said he wouldn't overstep his bounds, but the mercenaries answered without complaint.
-What the hell was that just now...?
-Honestly, I don't even remember it well. I was just barely breathing.
-I couldn't move. Damn it, even when I messed with a 4-Star knight and got my ass kicked, it wasn't this bad.
-It felt like my whole body was freezing solid.
-But is that even possible? He's a Fire-element mage. He looked like he was about to throw a fireball at us any second.
-I don't know. Maybe the killing intent was so strong that we just mistakenly thought we were freezing. When it was over, there were no signs of magic being used.
-Yeah, I didn't hear any chanting either. To actually freeze all of us without chanting, even a 5th Circle Ice-element mage would have a hard time.
-Ice-element... Damn, it's been so long since I heard that. Are there any left...?
-Whatever. Let's just not mess with him anymore. That was our last chance, he said.
What had happened in the search area remained a mystery.
Considering that it was absolutely impossible to learn both Ice and Fire magic together, and that even if it were Ice magic, it wasn't a level a sixteen-year-old could use, they concluded that it was more reasonable to think that there might have been some hallucinogenic properties in the mushroom stew they had eaten for breakfast.
In any case, the mercenaries decided to heed Kain's final warning.
As the mercenaries finished their reports and returned, the disciples eagerly questioned Kain.
"What was that, Kain? What happened?"
"Th-those guys suddenly became so polite."
"What did you do again? While we were separated?"
Bolio, who had already experienced Kain's solo actions in the snowy mountains, asked with sharp eyes.
"I encountered them in the search area, and they weren't searching properly, so I gave them a warning."
"That's all?"
"......"
As Kain subtly turned his head away, Bolio sighed.
"You definitely did something again. Seeing that they're intact, it probably wasn't anything too severe..."
"That's right."
"Th-this is a relief."
Then Anias made a slightly dumbfounded expression.
"What? Why are you all so understanding? Is Kain always like this?"
"Yeah."
"Uh-huh."
"...Okay. I see."
At the firm answers, Anias seemed to give up on understanding.
A moment of awkward silence fell.
"Um, Young Master."
Alice's voice came from behind.
Alice was holding a basket.
Inside were delicious-looking butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies.
"I baked some cookies for a snack. You must be hungry; would you like some?"
Kain's expression brightened slightly at those words.
"Good. I was just about to..."
Kain, who was about to say he was hungry from using more mana than planned, quietly picked up a cookie.
Crunch.
Kain, after eating a chocolate chip cookie, smiled.
"It's good."
"Really? Hehe, the Young Master complimented me... Oh, Young Master Edward, Young Master Fohn, please have some too! And Miss Anias and Master Bolio! I brought plenty."
Pleased by Kain's praise, Alice quickly offered the cookies to the other disciples, noticing their gazes.
"Really? Can I have one too?"
"Th-thank you."
"I'll enjoy this!"
"Miss, won't you have one? Please don't hesitate!"
"...I'll have one."
Anias reluctantly took a cookie.
Crunch.
"Wow. It's delicious."
Anias's eyes widened.
She munched on the cookie and looked at Alice.
"Young Master, please try a butter cookie too!"
"Hmm... This one is also quite good. Your cookie-baking skills have improved a lot overall."
"Wow! The Young Master praised me twice in a row!"
"...Though the shapes are still a bit inconsistent."
"If even that was perfect, Nefty wouldn't have anything to do. Hehe. As her older sister, I should make some concessions."
Alice puffed out her chest, looking proud.
'They get along well.'
Come to think of it, it was a little strange.
Whether she observed him from afar or spoke with him directly, the Kain Anias had seen was always calm, even cold.
'But even though he seems aloof, his relationships with the people around him seem quite good, surprisingly.'
Putting aside his personal maid, Edward, Fohn, and Bolio also followed Kain very well.
'...I'm not even close with my personal maid.'
She had deliberately kept her distance to avoid being caught training alone while using her lazy genius strategy, but fundamentally, for Anias, her personal maid was merely a medium for conveying Cristan's instructions.
And for Anias, who had grown up like that, this kind of interaction was a little unfamiliar.
'A little... No, never mind.'
Anias swallowed her cookie and quickly shook her head, banishing the distracting thoughts.
'Well, that maid Alice, Kain did protect her from Hayden once... And Edward, Fohn, and Bolio are probably sticking to Kain to learn his training methods.'
Anias herself had come to this place to figure out those training methods.
So far, he was only making them do seemingly pointless, crude training.
'But there must be something to it.'
Don't get distracted by unnecessary things and miss it.
With that resolve, Anias looked at Kain with sharp eyes.
Then Kain, feeling her gaze, looked back at Anias.
"......?"
And after a moment, he made a face as if he understood something and took out a cookie from the basket, offering it to her.
"There are still plenty of cookies left, so you can have more. Here, it's a butter cookie."
"......"
"Never mind if you don't want it."
"...I'll eat it."
