The moment Leviathan forced his unwilling feet forward, led the knights south, and arrived, the battle situation reversed in an instant.

He drove straight through the center with unstoppable momentum and settled the entire situation in less than half a day.

From what I hear, the men who mistook them for dark creatures couldn’t fight properly, like they’d been bewitched by something.

“So where the hell are these dark creatures?”

Leviathan muttered in displeasure.

There were only high-rank magical beasts whose numbers made them slightly troublesome.

“Your Grace, are you all right?”

Just then, Leon came running over.

“Khalid?”

“He’s coming now. The other knights are cleaning up the area nearby.”

“And the damage to the village?”

“We stopped them before the magical beasts could invade. There’s nothing notable.”

Khalid, who had been in charge of the western gorge, was galloping toward them from afar on a warhorse, kicking up clouds of dust.

Not a single drop of blood had splashed on him. He looked so sleek that anyone would have believed he had just stepped out of a banquet hall.

“I thought he was... insane.”

Leon muttered beside him.

He’s not the type to say things like that often.

It meant Khalid’s skill had been so extraordinary that even a veteran knight had been sickened by it.

Hm. What exactly did I raise?

All Leviathan had done was train him to grow into a strong, sturdy adult. The young man had grown up excessively strong and excessively sturdy.

Whether or not Khalid knew Leviathan’s thoughts, he swept an indifferent gaze over the devastated surroundings and said,

“There were no dark creatures here either?”

“No.”

“Then I suspect... they placed illusion magic, or something similar, on a few magical beasts to cause confusion. I felt something that wasn’t the magical beasts’ magic.”

“Illusion magic?”

“I don’t know the details either, but I’ve heard it’s a type of magic that digs into a person’s weak points.”

Leviathan thought for a moment, then asked,

“Leon, are there many soldiers in the southern forces who participated in the human-demon war?”

“Quite a few.”

“I see. So that’s why.”

If it dug into a person’s weakest point.

It may have shown them the image of the dark creatures they fear most.

Only then did the soldiers’ conflicting eyewitness accounts make sense. Leviathan let out a low sigh.

No matter how much time passed, the shadow of that terrible war left scars this long.

“And the whereabouts of the mages who broke the magical beast stones?”

“We’re tracking them.”

Leviathan clicked his tongue again.

The mages who had infiltrated through the gap in the south’s loosened guard had broken the magical beast sealing stones, and the chain reaction had awakened a horde of sleeping magical beasts and made them attack.

The problem was that they still had not caught the trail of those mage bastards.

“No matter how careless the southern forces’ security was... I don’t understand how they’ve managed to hide like rats until now.”

“Exactly. If they’d stowed away like the mage bastards I caught, they would’ve stood out at once.”

The soldiers had searched everywhere, but they could not catch even a trace of the people presumed to be mages.

That was when it happened.

“Khal?”

Khalid’s black warhorse moved.

He stood at the edge of a sharply protruding cliff. His dry gaze carefully scanned the sheer cliff face across from them.

“What is it?”

“Have you searched that cave?”

His gauntleted hand pointed somewhere along the cliff.

“There’s a cave?”

“If you look closely, there is.”

A shadowed place where sunlight did not reach.

Somewhere on the vertical cliff face, there seemed to be a small gap that could never be reached on horseback.

His gray-blue eyes languidly fixed on that spot.

“I can feel magic from there.”

Leviathan immediately moved his horse.

“Let’s go.”

*****

They hurried to the cliff on the opposite side. Leon said he would check first and climbed down the precipice.

“If you fall, death is the bare minimum.”

It was a place where a powerful updraft blew, making it difficult to even keep one’s body steady.

Leviathan sneered that, for mage bastards, they had chosen a rather courageous place for a hideout.

Meanwhile, Khal rubbed his throbbing temple with his fist. A faint headache that had started when he left the capital had been tormenting him.

“Hey, do you say ‘like a dog’?”

Why had that question suddenly surfaced?

What is this déjà vu?

It felt as though he had once said something like that.

And even worse...

To Ruby.

Had he gone insane?

He shook his head sharply.

“Khal?”

“...It’s nothing.”

Leviathan stared at him for a moment, then said,

“Once we check this cave, go back to the capital. Go stay by Ruby’s side.”

“...Are you not planning to go to the Magic Kingdom, Your Grace? Using one of those mage bastards as a guide.”

“I am. That’s right.”

His answer sounded loose, but the duke’s eyes gleamed sharper than ever.

“When that damned bastard seems to be sitting there calling me over, shouldn’t I answer?”

“Then I’ll also—”

“Sorry, Khal.”

Leviathan drew the line flatly.

“This is my business. You do what you can do.”

“But—”

“Go and do Ruby’s backup... what was it? Anyway, do a good job with that backup-whatever role.”

“...Backup battery?”

When Khal answered with a sigh, Leviathan gave a short laugh and slung an arm around his shoulder.

“Yeah, that. But only be backup. Got it? If you get cocky and cross the line... But... how do you do that backup thing?”

Leviathan asked as if the thought had suddenly occurred to him. He knew Rubian and Khal were exchanging magic through physical contact, but he did not know more than that.

Khalid glanced sidelong at Leviathan, then lightly pushed his arm away. The corners of his eyes, marked with two tear moles, curved faintly.

“Who knows.”

Good heavens.

Leviathan clutched his forehead.

“What the hell did I raise?”

“Your Grace!”

At that moment, Leon shouted from below the cliff.

“I found the entrance here!”

Khalid’s and Leviathan’s gazes met. They hurried down the cliff.

Fortunately, there was a flat space near what appeared to be the cave entrance, just wide enough for several adults to stand.

“As you can see, it’s blocked by a huge boulder.”

Leon tapped the gray rock.

“Judging by the presence I feel inside the cave, it’s certain those mage bastards are hiding in there. But we’ll need a magic tool or something that can blow it—”

Before Leon could finish, Leviathan lightly kicked Khal in the shin.

“Go. Backup.”

Tch. Khalid grumbled in dissatisfaction, but still placed a hand on the boulder.

“Step back.”

No particular magic circle was necessary.

All he had to do was lightly release the magic he possessed.

Kuuuuung!

The boulder crumbled into powder.

Pale gray smoke rose.

Leviathan adjusted his grip on his sword and gave Leon a low command.

“If anyone resists, kill them. One guide to take us to Arcadia is enough.”

“Yes.”

Just as his vice commander was about to charge forward to seize the opening—

“Wait!”

“Khal?”

Khalid’s slightly sharp voice stopped Leon in his tracks.

With a sweep of Khal’s hand, the dust settled at once. After checking inside, he murmured with a displeased face, “I thought as much.”

“What is it?”

“...Your Grace. Inside.”

The cave was dark and damp.

The instant Leviathan saw inside, his expression froze cold.

“This fucking...”

Leviathan had no choice but to admit it.

“That son of a bitch!”

The Mage King knew very well how to stoke his fury.

At the explosive surge of his aura, the children who had been crouched inside the cave, trembling, finally burst into tears.

“P-please spare us, mister.”

“We’re sorry... waaah.”

They were young boy mages, similar to Rubian when Leviathan had first met her.

Leviathan’s eyes rolled white with rage.