He glanced at her as if she were a nuisance, or perhaps just bothersome, and spoke at the same time.
“Hang onto my neck. With both arms.”
“Uh… my mom, my mom is over there…”
“Your mom, or whoever, is already dead. If you want to die too, I won’t stop you, but if you do, you better go over there first.”
The scarred hand that had just learned the name of the girl barely lifted her up.
The manner in which he carried her was like slinging a bundle of baggage, without a hint of caution or care.
However, it didn’t matter.
The order he received from the man who claimed to be Atar’s teacher was to bring her back, and the girl’s discomfort or wishes didn’t matter in fulfilling that task.
Soon, the sounds of monsters started to surround them.
At almost the same time, a dull sword was pulled from its sheath.
“…If you fall, you’ll only die.”
Atar, who had been looking toward the place where Asher was standing, spoke those words before finally pushing off the ground and running.
As expected, werewolves and other monsters rushed toward Atar, but—
Crack!
Atar swung the sword without a moment’s hesitation, and with one blow, the monsters split in half or were pierced through their vital spots, ending their lives.
The sounds of monsters’ screams continued.
Graaaargh!
The girl, Sharne, who had been clinging to Atar’s back, buried her face in his back, trembling uncontrollably.
It would be a lie to say that Sharne didn’t hinder Atar in the least.
It was only because he had to bring her to Asher that it didn’t matter.
Graaaargh!
“…There are so many of them.”
Atar continued to cut through the countless monsters blocking their path.
Without hesitation or doubt, he tightened his grip on the girl and raised his sword once more, drawing a bloody trail in the air.
Each time the sword flashed, a monster fell.
Atar carved through the enemy ranks, either crushing or slashing down every obstacle in his way, clearing the path to Asher.
The dull sword, once a guard’s, sliced through the air, and blood mixed with the swirling snow, scattering across the battlefield.
Finally, he reached the place where his so-called teacher stood.
He dropped the girl, still trembling and clinging to his neck, onto the ground with a thud.
“Are we done now?”
Atar gasped for breath as he spoke, and Asher nodded, seemingly satisfied with the result.
Then—
Snap!
“You should speak formally.”
“This, this crazy…!”
Atar, drenched in sweat, had a flicker of a smile on Asher’s face as he snapped his finger against Atar’s forehead.
Atar was left dumbfounded, utterly stunned, but he couldn’t protest.
In terms of sheer strength and power, Atar was no match for Asher, and the obsession with using polite speech had reached a point where it felt like madness.
A mad dog shouldn’t be dealt with.
Atar finally understood the meaning behind the harsh words that usually came his way.
Asher, meanwhile, turned his attention to the battlefield, casting a slow glance around.
After a moment, Asher instructed Atar to take a look around and asked how he would end this chaos.
“Think about minimizing the damage first.”
Click.
For an instant, Atar made an unpleasant face but eventually glanced around, as Asher had said.
Burning debris, bodies, and from a distance, a massive silhouette watching them.
“Is that… the Lord?”
The form of a werewolf lord appeared in the distance, and Atar’s battle instincts flared once more.
Either way, the surest way to end this battle was to defeat the leader of the monsters.
At that moment, Atar’s feet moved forward, but before he could take more than a few steps, Asher grabbed him and stopped him.
“I asked how to end this battle, but I never told you to act on it.”
“What do you mean…?”
“In other words, just watch for now.”
Atar was taken aback by Asher’s words, who reminded him that they were still in the middle of a lesson.
After all, Asher had never properly taught him anything up until now.
Actually, Atar had never thought Asher would teach him anything.
The strength Asher possessed was acknowledged, but it was a different kind of power from his own.
Asher, without any subtle tricks, wielded his weapon and broke through every danger head-on.
Warriors from the north, mages using spells from a safe distance, and soldiers all walked different paths.
With suspicion and a touch of annoyance, Atar asked in a blunt voice.
“What are you trying to do?”
In this strange lesson, using a burning village as the classroom, what was he supposed to learn?
“You’re not thinking of teaching me magic, are you…?”
“I never said I would teach you magic. You should listen to people till the end.”
At the same time, Asher extended his hand toward the air.
Soon, a massive axe slowly began to take shape in the empty space.
“…?”
Atar narrowed his eyes at the sudden appearance of the enormous axe.
‘Was Asher, a mage, really planning to fight the monsters beyond with that axe?’
“How could a mage…”
Atar’s voice was filled with disbelief, and understandably so.
If his arms were as thin as they looked, I doubted whether he could lift such a heavy axe.
What path Atar should walk and what lessons he should receive had already been decided the moment he was born.
The clumsy swing of the wizard’s axe could never have been considered a teaching for Atar.
However, as though he could see through Atar’s doubt and concern, “I never said I was a wizard, you know?”
“…What?”
Asher, holding the huge axe’s handle, smiled faintly and instructed Atar to focus only on protecting Sharne.
Then, in a quiet mutter, “Guess I’ll have to do it a little differently than I did with Karyan…”
With those softly spoken words, Asher’s body glowed.
Immediately, the mana began to coalesce, and a strengthening magic surrounded Asher’s entire body.
Atar, overwhelmed by the sudden change in atmosphere and momentum, involuntarily held his breath.
Asher’s magic wasn’t just any ordinary magic.
It was a magic that mimicked the frenzy of warriors, specifically designed for close combat with monsters.
Asher took a step forward, easily lifting the massive axe and said,
“I’m just mimicking it right now. So, watch carefully. One day, Atar, you’ll have to complete this on your own.”
“What… are you even saying?”
“Your future, I guess you could say. Would you understand if I said that? Well, you don’t need to get it right now, just watch for now.”
***
A moment later, Asher moved slowly toward the center of the battlefield, his steps light as always.
As expected, a group of remaining monsters charged at him.
But Asher advanced step by step, mercilessly slaughtering all of them.
The fierce onslaught unfolded before Atar’s eyes.
Boom, crack, snap.
Every time Asher’s axe cut through the air, the monsters’ bodies split, bones shattered and crushed, hot blood splattered everywhere.
The trajectory of that massive axe never once broke, continuing in a steady line, relentlessly severing every piece of flesh in its path.
At no point was magic used in any of the battles.
What appeared was pure martial prowess.
‘My… future? Is that what it is?’
The attack was violent but not exaggerated, vast yet efficient.
Each strike, from start to finish, was not based on instinct but on calculation.
A form that didn’t suit the title of wizard, covered in monster blood, finally faced the Werewolf Lord.
At nearly the same time, a huge fist flew toward Asher.
However, Asher, without dodging, lifted the axe he was holding to block it.
Boom!!
A shockwave echoed throughout the area.
The ground shook, and gusts of wind and vibrations whipped through the air.
However, just as it had before, the relentless onslaught continued uninterrupted, taking the form of a straight line as Asher’s axe cleaved through the Werewolf Lord’s head.
What was heard was the sound of something solid being crushed.
At that moment, everything stopped.
***
With a cold, almost disdainful sound, the battle ended.
Immediately after, Asher glanced around at the monster corpses, then retrieved his axe and returned to Atar.
Without a care, he said, “Let’s go.”
A teleportation circle, the one they had encountered earlier, opened once again.
Then, Asher, holding Sharne in a princess carry, looked at Atar.
“…Are you taking her with you?”
‘Yeah.’
Honestly, at this point, I didn’t care what Asher did.
Atar’s only instruction was to bring Sharne to Asher.
What Asher did with Sharne was none of Atar’s concern.
It didn’t matter if Asher took care of Sharne, taught her strange magic, or even gave her snacks.
None of that had anything to do with Atar.
Atar just had to prepare for the northern trials and train his body.
But then, why…
“From now on, you two will always move together.”
“…What?”
‘Why was he attaching this burden to me?’
I couldn’t imagine, nor did I want to imagine, what use that fragile, small girl would be to Atar.
“From now on, you’ll fight thinking that you’re doing the work of two people.”
“So, why am I!”
“Shh.”
“…Why am I!”
“Because I said so.”
There was something about Asher’s expression today that made him seem unusually firm.
His face, which looked perfectly composed, made it feel like I was losing my mind.
‘Or perhaps, I already had.’
“…W-well, please take care of her, young master…”
“Why am I your young master?!”
“But… everyone calls you that…”