Chapter 24
A pitch-black cave.
Lilian drifted in and out of consciousness after casting magic three times in a row.
As the dimming spirit’s light faded and Lilian began to stir, Leonah—who had been guarding her—found the torch Eric had dropped earlier and lit it.
Fwoosh—
“Sir Eric…”
In the flickering firelight, Leonah bit her lip as she looked at Eric, whose face was growing paler from the blood pouring from his torn shoulder.
For someone who’d only held a sword for barely a month, his achievement was astonishing.
He had slain not one but two named monsters.
True, unlike the rat-man incident last time, both she and Lilian had helped. But it was Eric who struck the final blow—against a creature so fast even she could barely keep up.
He had refused to retreat, climbing the still-smoldering fur of the beast and driving his sword into its vital point… after Leonah herself had been rendered helpless by the named monster’s power.
A knight brought low by mere ice, only to be protected by a so-called incompetent noble… Who here is really incompetent?
Just like in the sewers, she had failed to protect him even while standing by his side.
So much for calling herself the Grand Duke’s personal guard.
His injuries are worse than I thought. First, I need to stop the bleeding…
“Ugh!”
Shoving aside her self-reproach, Leonah dug through her half-burned pack for salve and bandages.
She cleaned away the clotted blood with water from her canteen, but when the wound was revealed she grimaced.
How… how did he even stay conscious with an arm like this?
From shoulder to elbow, the flesh was ragged, bone gleaming white through the torn meat.
That he could keep his wits and wield a sword with such an injury was beyond belief.
Young master, you…
Thud—
A presence!
After wrapping his arm with a hasty bandage, Leonah was about to carry Eric and Lilian out of the cave when she heard footsteps at the entrance.
She froze, looking upward.
Who could that be? More than one person… and during an avalanche, no one should be climbing this mountain.
She gently laid the two down and extinguished the torch, drawing her sword toward the entrance.
Even if the cave mouth had been exposed when they arrived, anyone coming here now was no ordinary traveler—especially not in a group.
“Well now. We weren’t the first here.”
A cool voice floated in.
Leonah swallowed as she saw someone appear, a floating orb of light revealing the intruders.
That outfit… from yesterday…
It was unforgettable: a woman in a black veil and a gown richly embroidered with gold.
Behind her stood knights in dark armor, perfectly arrayed.
Leonah’s vigilance sharpened; she recognized some of them as the ones who had politely given up their inn room.
“You said at dawn you were in a hurry. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.”
The veiled woman glanced around, then shifted her gaze toward something behind Leonah—Eric.
I thought we might meet again someday, but this soon…
Eric Ather.
Despite being the Grand Duke’s son and heir to the imperial bloodline, he was branded a failure, unloved by the goddess.
But what she’d seen yesterday was far from the rumors.
A brief conversation couldn’t reveal a man’s character, yet the monster corpses scattered around said enough.
Among wolves burned to charcoal and others neatly severed by blades, one body stood out: struck precisely in a vital spot and left whole.
Perhaps the knight killed that one… but that sword—
On the ground lay a sword sticky with some strange fluid, and Eric’s empty scabbard at his waist.
That meant the so-called wastrel had fought, not merely watched.
That intact corpse had to be his kill.
The Ather family’s “good-for-nothing” bringing down a monster—not a weak rat-man but an arctic wolf even seasoned soldiers struggle with… interesting.
Her eyes brightened with curiosity—until she noticed another fallen creature.
Could it be… a Named?
A named monster.
She studied its mangled body, narrowing her eyes.
“Did you kill this one, Sir Knight?”
“…I did. Is there a problem?”
Leonah’s voice was cold and taut.
What was the woman getting at?
The kill was Eric’s, but she couldn’t simply admit that to strangers.
If this veiled woman had any connection to the named monster trapped here, Eric’s life could be at risk.
“I see… you did, hmm?”
The woman—Isabella—smiled as if amused.
No sword wounds on the named beast. Judging by the burns, it probably died by fire. But…
Her gaze slid to Eric, noting the thick, blood-soaked bandages from shoulder to elbow.
The named one’s burns are mostly superficial. Something else finished it.
Then she saw it: beneath the ruined socket of one eye, a pool of the same viscous fluid clung—just like the substance coating Eric’s sword.
So the northern wastrel was hiding his claws all along.
An Ather son completely unlike the gossip.
And beside him, a fiercely loyal female knight—far too capable to be assigned merely to guard a “family disgrace.”
She had risked her life without hesitation, clearly not serving under the Grand Duke’s orders alone.
“We’ve found it!”
A knight’s call echoed from deeper in the cave.
Isabella turned toward the voice.
“As expected, here it is.”
It resembled a white-scaled lizard, its light extinguished, body charred and swollen like a drowned corpse.
This was indeed the spirit they had been tracking.
“It’s already drained of magic. That saves us trouble. Then…”
Step—
As she reached for their long-pursued target, someone suddenly seized her wrist.
“Don’t touch it. We defeated it.”
Well now…
She hadn’t even noticed Leonah move from her spot by the wounded pair—and yet here she was, closing the distance in an instant.
Shing—
“Lady Isabella!”
“I’m fine.”
Her knights started forward, swords drawn, but she raised a hand to stop them.
“We need this creature for our own reasons. Couldn’t the room I yielded you yesterday serve as payment?”
Even considering her brief lapse of attention, the speed of Leonah’s movement impressed her.
The clean cuts on the other wolf corpses had hinted at skill, but this was beyond expectation—far beyond what one would expect of a bodyguard to a disgraced heir.
“…I believe we already paid for that room,” Leonah said, shaking her head.
Whatever this spirit was, Eric’s reaction when they first found it made clear it was their real goal here.
“In that case, how about this?”
Isabella moved closer to the unconscious Eric and Lilian.
“Stop—!”
But a warm light suddenly enveloped Eric’s wounded shoulder, and Leonah blinked in surprise.
That gentle glow was unmistakably the healing magic of the Church.
“We don’t need all of it,” Isabella said calmly. “Just this ugly lizard. And don’t worry.”
Seeing that Leonah now understood she meant no harm, she continued,
“I’ll be sure to tell the Grand Duke of our wastrel young master’s deeds.”
“Wh-what…?”
Leonah’s eyes widened.
How could she know…?
They had called him “young master” often enough that his status might be guessed, but to link this wounded fighter to the notorious northern wastrel—after seeing him like this—was remarkable.
Drip… drip…
“Well then, our work here is done. We’ll take our leave.”
Finishing the healing, Isabella turned away, ignoring Leonah’s suspicious gaze, and rejoined her assembled knights.
“Oh, and…”
Clink—
Pausing at the cave mouth, she pulled something from her cloak and tossed it to Leonah.
“You don’t know when they’ll wake. If it’s too late, stay there for the night. Thanks to you, our search is over, and we no longer need to remain in this city. So you needn’t feel awkward like last time.”
It was a familiar key—a token of thanks for ending the long, fruitless hunt for the elusive spirit.
