Like a swift gale sweeping past, Eric’s axe showed no mercy.
Sparks flew as Roy barely managed to block with his broad blade, leaving a dense clatter of impacts.
His wrist ached from the shock!
Cassius watched Roy quietly—this interesting boy who had almost become his cousin’s husband.
The Lyoncourt family’s young master stood with hands on his hips, the long spear on his back gleaming with cold light, flickering along with the snowflakes in the world.
Even the shaft was gold-plated.
“Look at that—few can last ten rounds against Eric, the madman of the north—Roy… that’s the name, right?”
Cassius turned to the third member of the group and smiled teasingly.
“No wonder he’s the brave young man rumored to have slain a manticore… For that alone, I’ll take him.”
“I don’t care about your human affairs.”
The voice from under the hood was tinged with displeasure.
“Time is being wasted. All I see is humans bullying the weak—a bad habit that hasn’t changed in five hundred years!”
Yet it remained soft and low, like a nightingale in the woods.
Cassius said nothing and continued watching the fight—but something far more interesting had arrived beyond the battle.
Asuna, holding her grandfather Balisaihe’s hand, came to the front row of spectators.
The crowd was filled with whispers.
“Damn, that Morris is such a jerk. That red-haired kid is obviously a rookie—he’s bound to get beaten bloody by Blood Axe Eric!”
“Definitely. Eric is a veteran who fought for years in the northern rainforest against the Lizardman army…”
In a sense, the Patagonia Continent was indeed another world: the further south, the more desolate and cold the climate became, until the end was the Ice Sea, a mysterious land infested by the Demon Race. Conversely, the further north, the hotter and more humid it grew. On the northern frontier of the Kingdom of Norsenia was the brutal battlefield where the Border Legion clashed with the Lizardman tribes in the rainforest!
And Eric was one of the most renowned northern warriors among them!
“It’s been years since I went north…”
Balisaihe nodded, sniffing hard.
“Looks like that boy fighting Roy is a northerner. He smells of tree leaves and animal hide, and he’s also been drinking blood.”
Asuna looked up, her sapphire eyes meeting her grandfather’s.
“Drinking blood? That’s too barbaric, isn’t it?”
“I drank it too when I was young…”
Balisaihe said.
“There are plenty of rare herbs in the rainforest, along with many ferocious beasts. The legions stationed there and the locals—mainly Dark Elves, Drow—know how to brew all sorts of alchemical potions and stimulants. And we… learned those tricks.”
“That’s even more terrifying!”
Asuna stuck out her tongue.
“Fighting should be fair, not underhanded.”
“For the continuation of the human kingdom, it’s sometimes necessary…”
Balisaihe said.
“Certain potions can keep soldiers awake for night marches, others can make them hyper or numb… This is…”
Balisaihe hesitated, suddenly realizing he couldn’t even convince himself, let alone his innocent little granddaughter.
For the continuation of the human kingdom?
In the end, the very things Balisaihe wanted to protect had declared him guilty, stripped him of his wealth and status, and even his eyes…
The old man fell silent.
Cassius watched the pair from afar, frowning.
“Those two don’t look like adventurers…”
Cassius clicked his tongue.
“But what that girl is carrying seems…”
“Focus on the fight—Eric is about to lose!”
The third member, who had been uninterested in the battle, suddenly spoke.
Unusually, she extended a finger from her sleeve—slender and pale—and poked Cassius:
“Are you a pervert? So fond of looking at pretty little girls?”
“Food and sex are human nature!”
Cassius argued.
“What’s gotten into you, Evelyn?”
“Your teammate is about to lose—aren’t you going to do something?”
Evelyn, the third member of the group, said.
“Eric is still our teammate. Losing to some unknown brat would be so embarrassing.”
“With his constitution—drinking Dragon’s Blood Wine like water—how could he lose?”
He would lose.
In a corner Cassius hadn’t noticed, Balisaihe was explaining Dragon’s Blood Wine—but unfortunately, Asuna wasn’t interested and kept yawning.
“Dragon’s Blood Wine isn’t real dragon blood. It’s a medicinal brew made by Dark Elves… It’s famous for its blood-red color. Drinking it makes your blood boil, your body heat up, and your fighting fierce…”
Balisaihe said.
“Too bad it clouds the mind—you throw away your wits.”
The old man was right.
Roy lowered his center of gravity and gradually realized that while Eric’s attacks seemed fierce, they lacked any method—like a reckless instinct.
That meant if he could withstand the initial storm, what followed would be a fight full of openings.
Once the effects of the medicinal wine wore off, speed dropped, reactions slowed.
And then, Roy’s counterattack came.
A flame rose.
Let them see: was it the dragon’s blood boiling, or Roy’s Blazing Sword burning hotter?
An orange-red crescent flashed. In that instant, even the falling snow turned to steam and vanished.
Eric’s axe—slipped from his grasp?!
Was it the scorching flames, or simple shock? Or had the effects of the Dragon’s Blood Wine worn off?
No one knew.
The world only saw Blood Axe Eric—one of the north’s strongest and most talented young adventurers—defeated by an unknown nobody from the Barewood Adventurer’s Association?
His two axes flew far off. One fell into the snow.
The other hurtled toward the watching crowd.
“Watch out!”
Roy didn’t forget to warn the innocent onlookers—
“Watch out for what?”
Cassius, not paying attention, asked a stupid question.
Evelyn shrugged.
‘Arrogant humans.’
Then she raised her hand and snapped her fingers.
A visibly glowing rope sprouted from the girl’s palm, moving like a living thing toward the runaway axe. It caught it, stopping its flight.
“Ether is trembling—a spellcaster.”
Balisaihe easily sensed that strange power.
“And if I’m not mistaken, an old acquaintance…”
Evelyn’s eyes flicked toward Balisaihe among the crowd, but she said nothing.
She didn’t even want Cassius to notice…
At least in that regard, Eric hadn’t completely failed—the runaway axe had drawn everyone’s attention.
***
At first there was silence, but soon cheers rose one after another.
A young adventurer who had just registered at the Barewood Adventurer’s Guild—Roy.
He had actually defeated Blood Axe Eric?
Except for Cassius and a few others, it was simply unbelievable…
Morris, the station chief of the Barewood Adventurer’s Guild, might have a bright future ahead.
But Cassius had known all along.
Inside the tent of this temporary adventurer team, Roy signed his name and pressed his fingerprint, becoming the fourth member of the Wolf Slayer Squad.
Balisaihe and Asuna were left outside—they had to make do staying with Old Morris for now…
Once the Dire Wolf King Lubriz was dealt with, everything would be fine.
And the team’s leader, Cassius Lyoncourt, was full of confidence.
After all, he had heard of the name Roy.
First, he was a farm boy under his uncle, Count Brian—yet he managed to kill a manticore…
And in doing so, he rescued Cassius’s fiancée, Miss Xue La Linde.