The western forest was unusually dense. Massive, ancient trees grew so closely together that it was dim even in the middle of the day. If a beast were crouching in the brush just a few steps away, it would be almost impossible to notice.

Walking slowly through the eerie silence, a silence so thick that even the footsteps of his colleagues sounded unnervingly loud, Isaac took a deep breath of the dense forest air.

It felt as though he were standing beneath the light of the dark moon. It couldn’t compare to the actual night of the new moon, of course, but it felt as though something was faintly, subtly tapping against senses that were not entirely human. Every living thing in nature possessed magic to some degree, meaning the forest itself held a lingering magical aura. Especially a forest as ancient and dense as this one.

‘This refreshing, tranquil—pleasant magic.’

Like savoring a sweet piece of candy, Isaac inhaled the forest air deeply as he followed behind his colleagues. Ordinary humans seemed to enjoy the forest air well enough, but it was nothing compared to what Isaac was experiencing. At times like this, he was sharply reminded that witches were fundamentally more sensitive than humans.

「Ah, this is nice. Good forest.」

「Hmm, hmm. Nice and gloomy. I like it.」

“……”

It would have been better if he had never gained the ability to understand these little monsters.

Trying his hardest to ignore the three cats that had somehow attached themselves to his side and were trotting along just a few steps away, Isaac could only throw them dirty looks out of the corner of his eye. Oblivious or simply uncaring, the cats were busy chattering amongst themselves.

「It wasn’t too long ago that forests like this were common, but now they’re hard to find.」

「The humans have been chopping them down like crazy. If you cut down ten trees for every one you plant, of course they’re going to run out.」

「Tsk, tsk. Even the spirits are packing up and leaving, saying it’s unlivable…… Things are getting so harsh.」

「Tell me about it. Even if the humans hadn’t hunted down the witches like rats, they probably would have all left eventually anyway. Yup.」

「Humans are bad.」

「Humans are bad.」

Isaac didn’t want to engage with them, but since the conversation had taken that turn, he didn’t exactly have anything to say in defense. He just kept walking quietly. A few steps ahead, Chico suddenly looked back at the cats.

“My, these fellas sure are friendly. Following us around like little ducklings this whole time. How cute. Come here, little guys.”

Completely unaware of what the cats were actually saying, Chico smiled warmly, pulled some jerky from his pocket, and tossed it to them. The cats, who had just been aggressively trash-talking humanity a second ago, instantly snatched up the jerky and even rubbed their heads affectionately against Chico’s ankles.…… ‘You little monsters.’

Isaac stared at their blatant hypocrisy with utter disgust before he couldn’t stand to watch any longer and turned his head away.

“Anyway, this place always gives me the creeps no matter when I come here……”

“That’s exactly why the people looking to score a massive feat in the tournament come this way. It wouldn’t be weird if a monster popped out at any second.”

When Chico muttered, looking around the dense forest with a frown, Rauder replied. The way Rauder unconsciously kept resting his hand on the hilt of his sword betrayed his underlying tension.

Still, there was comfort in numbers. It wasn’t just the royal guards searching; several of the Prince’s servants had tagged along as well. They were carrying food and wine to offer the Prince the moment they found him, emergency medical supplies just in case – though no one genuinely believed they would be needed – and a fresh set of clothes, assuming he would need to change.

“You said it was around here? That you lost him?”

Olsen turned to the guard who had accompanied the Prince this morning.

“How did you manage to lose him?”

“He spotted something in that direction and suddenly spurred his horse forward. I chased after him immediately, but he just vanished into thin air.”

Muttering the explanation without an ounce of confidence, the guard still looked completely baffled. This was the exact same story repeated by all the attendants who had been with the Prince. There had only been three or four of them, but they were all tilting their heads with expressions that clearly said, ‘We have no idea what happened either.’

“We all know His Highness is incredibly fast. But considering there’s not a single trace left behind, maybe he went much further out? Or maybe he didn’t even take this path.”

Olsen clicked his tongue. Just as he said, they hadn’t seen a single obvious trace or track on their way here. Not that anyone was actually worried for the Prince’s safety.

“We still have to find him. It’s going to take more than one or two people to drag back all the beasts he’s probably slaughtered by now.”

“Ugh. We’re going to be doing hard labor.”

The guards groaned as they imagined their imminent future of stringing up and dragging heavy animal corpses back to camp. Isaac sighed in agreement, praying to the gods that he would only have to carry a single deer. Turning his gaze away, he noticed the cats were thoroughly enjoying their jerky, their massive eyes narrowed in bliss as they chewed. In between bites, their ears would twitch and perk up, as if listening to something only they could hear. He didn’t want to admit it, but it was…… well, slightly cute.

‘Dammit, why do I feel like I just lost…..?’ Isaac frowned, wrinkling his nose in inward defeat. It was then that a faint sound brushed past his ears.

He couldn’t tell what it was. It was incredibly faint, thin, and blurry, and it disappeared in an instant—assuming he could even call that bizarre, chilling sensation a ‘sound.’

“What is it?”

Noticing Isaac suddenly stop in his tracks and stare intently into the distance, Chico looked back in confusion. Isaac blinked and finally turned his gaze to Chico.

“No, it’s just…… I heard a sound from over there……”

“A sound? …… What kind of sound?”

Chico listened closely for a moment before shrugging. “I don’t hear anything?” Following his words, Isaac held his breath and strained his ears toward the seemingly dead-silent distance.

From that place where nothing could be heard—there it was again. An incredibly faint, sluggish sound that gave him an inexplicable feeling of dread.

“You really don’t hear it? This sound? It sounds like something massive is moving…… slowly…… very slowly……”

“…..? …… …… I really don’t hear it. Hey, do you guys hear anything?”

Perhaps sensing Isaac’s serious demeanor, Chico lowered his voice and asked the others. The other guards also held their breath and listened, but soon shook their heads.

“Are you sure you aren’t just imagining things? The forest is creepy enough to make anyone jump at shadows. Besides, the brush over there is way too thick for there to be any kind of path. Only small animals could get through that.”

Imagining things? Maybe. The sensation was so faint he wasn’t even sure if it was a sound. It was incredibly sporadic—just as he thought he heard it, it vanished into silence again, and the moment it brushed past his ears, it was already gone.

But……

“…… Give me a second.”

Isaac, staring intently into the deep shadows looming in the distance, took a step forward. He heard someone call out, “Hey, Isaac,” from behind, but he simply raised a hand without looking back. He could have just ignored it and kept walking, but something about it was gnawing at his nerves. To put it in perspective: it was bothering him even more than the three little monsters hopping along right behind his heels.

Just as his colleague had said, the path – if it could even be called that – was covered in thick brambles, suitable only for small animals, and the brush only grew denser the further he went. Rough weeds wrapped around his ankles, fighting his every step.

「Why is he coming this way when there’s a perfectly wide, open path right there?」

「He always takes the hard way. Ignoring the nice path everyone else is happily walking down.」

「It’s because he has a twisted personality.」

“——You guys followed me entirely on your own, so why are you nagging me?! Did I ask you to follow me?! Go away, shoo! Shoo!”

No matter how used to them he was getting, annoying was still annoying. Annoyed, Isaac tried to kick at the three cats trotting along right beside him, but his ankle got caught on a thick vine, sending him tumbling straight to the ground. He must have caught himself on a sharp rock, because his palm was scraped, and a few drops of blood welled up.

“Ah! …… Hsss, that stings…… Ugh, seriously, I’m going to ring your little——”

「See?! You tried to kick us, didn’t you?! The heavens were watching and delivered divine punishment!」

「And look at him trying to blame us for it.」

「See? What did I tell you? His personality is twisted.」

‘If I stay with them any longer, my personality really is going to get twisted.’

Swallowing a groan, Isaac quickly licked the drops of blood off his palm. ‘Whatever. This barely counts as a scratch.’ Though he figured he should probably put some ointment on it just in case. Remembering there was some antiseptic in the medical pouch tied to his saddle, Isaac stood up and turned around to head back to his squad.

At that exact moment.

His vision wavered, exactly like a heat haze rising from the ground.

It lasted only a split second. Once he blinked, his vision returned to normal. However.

He couldn’t hear anything. The sounds and presence of his colleagues, who had been just a short distance away, vanished entirely, as if washed away. It was exactly like a thick fog had rolled in; he couldn’t see more than a few steps in front of him. It felt exactly like he was trapped in the forest.

…… No, it wasn’t ‘like’ he was trapped.

Even though nothing around him appeared to have changed, the instinctual, full-body sensation that he had just been locked inside an invisible cage slammed into him.

「Welp. It closed.」

One of the cats muttered.

「I knew this was going to happen. This is what happens when someone who isn’t quite a proper witch, but isn’t quite a proper human either, wanders around on top of a barrier.」

「I’m telling you, the phrase ‘digging your own grave’ was practically invented for him. By the way, who do you think set up this barrier? It’s actually pretty well-made.」

「You’re right. It’s a bit sloppy, but for a magic circle drawn by a human, it’s quite decent, don’t you think? I’d say this deserves at least an intermediate-level rating.」

“Hey…… what the hell is this?”

As Isaac muttered, the three cats stared up at him with their massive eyes and replied: 「What do you mean, ‘what is this’? It’s a barrier.」

“I know that! I’m asking why it’s here! Did you guys do this?!”

It felt as though he were standing in the exact same physical space, yet occupying an entirely different dimension. He had memories of crossing through barriers when he followed his mother as a child. This bizarre, suffocating sense of isolation was incredibly similar to that feeling.

「We didn’t do it?」

「Yeah, exactly. If we had set up a barrier, it wouldn’t be this sloppy, would it?」

「Yup, yup. First of all, we wouldn’t have set it up so blatantly obvious.」

“If it was blatantly obvious, you should have told me beforehand!”

「We did, didn’t we? We asked why you were coming this way when there was a perfectly wide, open path over there.」

「We told you not to take the hard path, and you yelled at us for nagging!」

‘God…… Please, I’m begging you, take these beasts away……’

Isaac, clutching his forehead, mentally traced the character for ‘patience’ three times for each cat, a total of nine times, before forcing his clenched jaw open.

“Alright. I understand. Just tell me how to get out of her—”

It was then.

A thick, overwhelming stench suddenly hit him, cutting off his words. It was an odor so vile and foul it literally stopped his breath. A putrid, sickening stench, exactly like rotting raw meat.

Accompanying the nose-piercing stench was a faint sound tickling his ears. Coming from just a short distance away, it was the sound of a long, heavy exhale after a bout of intense exertion. Followed by a voice.

“Incredible. I never imagined you would finish it this easily.”

A sharp, ringing voice laced with pure awe echoed from the direction of the stench.

Turning his head, Isaac saw a dark shadow shifting through the thick brush. It was a robe. A wizard’s robe. The distinctive purple embroidery along the hem of the sleeves identified the wearer as a court wizard. And standing roughly ten paces away from him was……

A tall man, completely drenched head-to-toe in a dark, watery mud, rendering him almost unrecognizable.

Isaac quickly realized the thick, tar-like substance dripping from the man was not mud. There was no way mud could produce a stench that horrifying. No, that was the blood and mangled innards that had poured out of the beast lying dead right next to him—a beast the size of a bull, collapsed like a massive boulder. No, it wasn’t a mere beast. It was a demon beast.

And that tall man, who had undoubtedly just slaughtered the demon beast, swung his massive sword to flick off the thick blood, then casually wiped his blood-drenched face with his hand. Beneath the gore, flawless, porcelain-like skin and a pair of terrifyingly deep blue eyes were revealed.

“You are…… ah, yes. The wizard contracted to Granian. Did he order you to kill me?”

The voice was calm, low, and entirely composed, exactly as it always was.

Isaac didn’t even need to double-check those piercing blue eyes. The man who had supposedly vanished without a trace in the forest was right here. Kyan. Radiating steam into the air, completely drenched in the fresh blood of a slaughtered demon beast.

‘…… My god.’

Isaac unknowingly gasped and quickly crossed himself.

「Look at him. A witch doing something as blasphemous as crossing himself in broad daylight,」

Isaac grabbing the chattering cat by the throat to silence it was purely reflexive.

‘I cannot be caught.’ Isaac knew this instinctively.

It wasn’t just because the Prince, who had effortlessly slaughtered a bull-sized demon beast and walked away without a scratch, was more terrifying than the monster itself. What had he just said? He said Granian’s wizard. Had the wizard hired by the Prince’s own uncle, Grand Duke Granian, tried to assassinate the Prince……?

He had just heard something he absolutely should not have heard.

“Oh, no, not at all! This has absolutely nothing to do with Lord Granian. I, High Court Wizard Volkan, simply had a private request for you, Prince Kyan, and sought you out personally.”

Isaac squatted in the brush, holding his breath, perfectly motionless.

It was obvious the wizard had set up this barrier to isolate Kyan and summon the demon beast. Even Isaac had heard the name Volkan; he was a highly capable court wizard. Which, of course, was exactly why he had been able to secure a contract with someone as high-ranking as the Grand Duke. ‘Why would a wizard like that do something this insane?’

“A wizard has a private request for me…..?”

Kyan murmured lethargically. Volkan let out a raspy, metallic laugh.

“I was fully aware that a demon beast like Kredalaus—the Hell Bull that breathes fire—wouldn’t be able to lay a single finger on you, but I never expected you to end it so effortlessly. You truly live up to your name, Prince Kyan. As expected of the one who received the prophecy upon birth: ‘That which is not human shall be born wrapped in human skin.’”

Isaac’s breath hitched.

That was the ultimate taboo in the royal palace—a fact everyone knew, but no one dared speak.

‘That which is not human shall be born wrapped in human skin.’ That was the prophecy the temple delivered at dawn on the day Prince Kyan was born. As if to prove the prophecy true, he had been born without crying or smiling, possessing a terrifyingly overwhelming power, to the point that even his own parents and siblings feared him. It was rumored that this was the very reason he had been sent away to the harsh, distant frontier at such a young age.

Kyan said nothing. Casually flicking the remaining blood from the blade of his sword, he looked exactly as he always did—bored to death by everything.

“Besides, kill you? How could you say something so terrible? You know full well that we court wizards must swear an Oath of Loyalty upon entering the royal palace. I, Volkan, am no exception. Not only would I never dream of harming you, but unless the Oath carved into my heart breaks, it is fundamentally impossible for me to do so.”

Volkan bowed his head deeply. It was true; court wizards were required to swear a magical Oath of Loyalty, meaning they could not use their magic to directly harm royalty. Unless the Oath, branded over the heart with an iron dipped in royal blood, was broken, it was impossible for him to directly harm the Prince. However, that only meant he couldn’t ‘directly’ harm him.

“I know better than anyone that you would never be harmed by something of this level. Every predator and beast in this world is nothing more than tedious, boring prey to you, Your Highness. But surely…… Kredalaus was at least somewhat entertaining? I saw it clearly. In the exact moment you cleaved Credalaus in two, I saw the euphoria that flashed in your eyes. ——Tell me, how was it? Was this not the gift you truly desired? A gift that brings you far more joy than any gold or jewels…..?”

Volkan’s eyes, gleaming with a mad fanaticism, narrowed as he stared at Kyan.

“This Volkan himself knows the truth. This is what you truly desire, Prince Kyan. The dizzying thrill and exhilaration that cannot be tasted in ordinary daily life. The thick, suffocating stench of hot blood, and the final, desperate writhing of dying flesh——”

Kyan simply stared back at him with an unreadable, emotionless expression. Volkan dropped his voice to an even lower, conspiratorial whisper.

“There are very few people in this entire kingdom capable of summoning a demon beast on the level of Kredalaus. But I can. Whenever you wish, I can prepare this kind of entertainment for you. In absolute secrecy, of course. You will gain a loyal servant to whom you can entrust your darkest, most secret desires—if only you forge a pact with me.”

‘Oh my god.’

‘What an absolute lunatic.’

Isaac wasn’t sure which thought hit him first. Crouched behind the bushes, Isaac’s jaw literally dropped open.

‘I will let you enjoy slaughtering to your heart’s content, so make a pact with me.’

Setting aside the incredibly bold assumption that the Prince was a bloodthirsty maniac, the insane proposition of ‘I will set up slaughter arenas for you’ was the ramblings of a complete madman. This is exactly why people whisper that wizards are a cult of lunatics…… But.

‘Surprisingly, against this Prince…… that might actually work.’

The thought crossed Isaac’s mind for a brief second. ‘It’s actually a pretty convincing pitch…..?’

He had heard rumors that every wizard was desperate to forge a pact with Kyan, but he never imagined he would witness it firsthand like this. To think a wizard already contracted to someone else – and the Grand Duke’s wizard, no less, whose wealth and glory must already be astronomical – would desire the Prince so fiercely that he was willing to break the ultimate taboo of summoning creatures from another realm.

Isaac, swallowing dryly, watched them closely. Behind him, the cats were rustling around in the brush, playing amongst themselves. What on earth they were doing, Isaac had no idea, but they were aggressively digging in the dirt, chattering “Here, here” to each other. Thankfully, the two men standing off in the distance didn’t seem to notice. The only person whose nerves were completely fried to the point of snapping their head back in panic was Isaac.

‘You guys, stay quiet for one second!’

Isaac screamed silently with just his lips, but regardless, one of the cats, which had been hopping between the tree roots as if hunting for bugs, actually waved a paw at him.

「Hey, hey, can you pass me your sword for a second? This little squirmy thing in the dirt is playing hard to get, I’m going to have to dig a hole.」

‘There are plenty of worms in the graveyard in our front yard, so catch them later and stay put right now!’

「It’s not a worm, though?」

‘Whether it’s a worm, a centipede, or a spider, I don’t care!’

「Did you hear that? He says he raises bugs in his front yard.」

「Oh my, raising bugs because he has nothing else to raise? I knew he was lacking upstairs, but what on earth is with that bizarre hobby? Who would ever want to marry him……」

*shrankkk!!!*

Isaac slammed his sword directly into the ground right in the middle of the cats, who had been huddled together whispering. Only then did they go dead silent. Gripping the hilt of the sword buried deep in the dirt, Isaac’s white-knuckled fist radiated a clear threat: ‘If you say one more word, I will slice you in half.’

In that heavy silence……

“If you make a pact with me, I will give you whatever you desire, Your Highness.”

Volkan’s low, sweet, seductive whisper reached Isaac’s ears again. After a short pause, Kyan replied.

“This is not enough.”

A violent chill ran down Isaac’s spine, and he hunched his shoulders. Leaking out of that short sentence was pure, unadulterated bloodlust. It felt exactly as if a murderous intent that had been tightly chained away had been unbolted by the slaughter just moments ago.

Volkan’s face drained of color, his lips trembling slightly. Facing that terrifying, overwhelming bloodlust head-on, it was no wonder. Yet, despite his fear, he seemed completely convinced that the bloodlust guaranteed his success. His lips stretched into a wide, unnatural smile.

“——Of course not. Which is exactly why I prepared something else. You will undoubtedly be satisfied this time.”

His voice was hoarse, a twisted mix of terror and euphoria.

The thought that the grating voice sounded deeply unpleasant crossed Isaac’s mind for a split second, but that was the least of his problems.

The most immediate problem, which Isaac realized instinctively in that exact moment, was……

“…… What is this?”