“Aaaaaaaaahh—!”

A pained scream burst out of Nine’s mouth.

“My, my hand, my hand!”

He stared at his right hand that was pierced by Choi Han’s sword and became swept up in fear.

Thud.

The sword that had been in his right hand had already fallen to the ground.

Choi Han pulled his sword out with a calm look on his face.

Chhhhhhhhhh-

Red blood splattered on the pure white snow.

Nine couldn’t even groan properly as his whole body was shaking. He clenched his right hand with his left.

He tried to stop the bleeding but it didn't seem to work as he put his hand into his pocket.

He seemed to be looking for something to heal the wound.

However, that was not easy to do.

Pow!

Choi Han kicked Nine’s stomach.

Nine’s body weakly fell to the ground.

“Ugh! This son of a bitch-”

Nine scowled and glared at Choi Han before lowering his gaze.

“…….”

Choi Han’s calm gaze that looked down at Nine held no emotions at all.

Nine could not keep looking into those eyes.

“Ugh……”

He could only clench his hurting hand.

However, unlike before, he couldn’t continue the action of trying to heal his hand. He could only curl his body up on the ground and stare not at Choi Han's face but the area around Choi Han’s feet.

“Are you done?”

Choi Han nodded his head after hearing the question.

“Yes. What about you, Miss Witira?”

Witira smiled in response.

“I’ll be done soon.”

It was at that moment.

Baaaaaang—!

There was a loud noise and the snow piled up by Witira shot up into the air.

White snow covered the area she had been standing in.

Tap.

However, Witira had already dodged and moved back.

She then looked toward the direction of the attack.

“Huff. Huff.”

Wei was breathing heavily while glaring at Witira. He bit down on his lips.

‘Shit!

That was a great shot while that woman’s attention was elsewhere for a moment!’

Unfortunately, his enemy had dodged the attack so easily.

Unlike him, whose whole body was covered in sweat, the woman was standing there looking the same as she had looked at the beginning of the fight.

“Ugh, uuuuugh.”

He heard Nine's pained groan.

‘Fuck! What the hell am I supposed to do?!’

He tried using force but this woman destroyed it.

He tried all sorts of spells.

This woman also easily dodged those spells or destroyed them with her water whip.

It made him try a teleportation spell to escape, but…

‘She needs to give me time to do that!’

She must have known as she did not miss those openings and continued her attacks.

She would only block and defend but attacked him whenever he tried to run.

‘Anybody would be able to tell that she is toying with me!’

However, Wei could not express that thought out loud.

“Huff, huff-”

He had to control how much of his strength he used.

His stamina was quickly falling as he used force and mana without stopping.

‘Shit!’

Wei could not hide his annoyance as he was the one with the lowest stamina in the Knights Brigade.

However, there was a smile on his face.

“I know who you are.”

He finally realized this woman’s identity.

“Oh. Is that so?”

Witira was surprised that it took him this long to figure it out.

She had found it weird because this smart-looking guy could not figure it out despite her bringing up the Beast people many times.

“Who am I?”

Wei spoke with certainty.

“You-”

This woman’s identity…

"Are an elf.”

He had not noticed because her ears looked normal.”

“That water whip must be the power of a highest-grade water elemental that I cannot spot.”

“…….”

The woman did not say anything.

Wei caught his breath and stood up straight.

“Furthermore, you must have experienced Dragon Fear a few times while assisting a Dragon-nim. That is how you know how to deal with force.”

He peeked to the side.

He looked not at Nine, but at Choi Han, before looking away again.

“Furthermore, the fact that a human can use both aura and force… That is proof that a Dragon-nim is involved in this.”

Although he knew this woman brought up Dragon blood and talked about how she could pummel a Dragon half-blood or even a Dragon…

How could that be true?

“I don’t know which Dragon-nim is out here to have some fun, but… The Lord-nim will not be happy that you are messing with a Knights Brigade from the Empire to have that fun.”

At first, Wei thought that this was some scheme the Haru Kingdom plotted and not a Dragon out for some fun.

However, that was wrong.

‘Because they defeated us so easily.’

This made no sense.

Something like this had never happened since the creation of the Knights Brigade.

There were humans who had similar skill levels as them, but nobody in this world could defeat Nine and himself as if they were playing with toys.

‘So the answer is Dragon.’

A Dragon was playing a trick right now.

Then it made sense.

Dragons had deep meanings behind their actions, but they also played cruel tricks from time to time.

“…The Lord will punish you if you get rid of us.”

That was the reason… He mentioned the esteemed name of the Dragon Lord.

Honestly speaking, the Dragon Lord probably wouldn't care much about Nine or Wei's death.

The Lord was tolerant with Dragons while stern with everybody else.

However, in order to survive…

“U, ugh.”

Because he didn't want to be in a ton of pain like that bastard Nine…

Wei mentioned the esteemed name of the Dragon Lord.

The blue-haired woman in front of him reacted.

“Ha!”

Witira looked up at the sky.

“Ha, haha–”

Her sigh-like laughter quickly became louder.

“Wow.”

She shook her head from side to side.

“I did not expect this at all.”

‘An Elf?

A subordinate of a Dragon?

I, a Whale, the Future Whale Queen, a subordinate of a Dragon?’

Witira finally figured it out.

She understood why this Dragon half-blood could not think of the Beast people while looking at her.

‘Beast people can’t be this strong in this world.’

That was the principle in this world.

That was the reason this Dragon half-blood was mentioning Elves despite it being completely absurd.

“Haha-”

She just kept laughing.

"W, what is it? Why are you laughing?”

Wei's face stiffened.

This did not look good.

He could feel anger behind that laughter.

His pupils shook but he could not look away from Witira.

Yes, he kept looking at her.

However-

“…….”

Witira stopped laughing.

She looked toward Wei and…

Tap.

As she gently pushed off the ground…

Bang!

The ground shook and Wei saw that Witira had taken just a moment to run right up to his face.

“S, shield!”

He barely shouted out for a shield.

‘I should be able to block it again. I won't be able to save my strength though.’

As he had that thought…

Baaaaang!

It was not a water whip but her fist that slammed against the shield.

Craaaaaaack-

The shield broke extremely easily.

In the moment he even forgot to use his force…

“Ugh!”

Witira caught him by the neck.

He saw the arm that had been covered by the robe until now.

That arm was full of all sorts of scars.

He finally realized it.

This woman normally fought like this rather than standing in the back swinging her water whip.

However, the cost of that realization was intense.

“Cough, ugh!”

He could not breathe.

It felt as if this woman's hand would break his neck at any moment.

Wei subconsciously teared up.

He might end up dying.

He then realized it.

This woman was not an Elf.

Elves did not have such strength.

And Elves-

‘They don’t have eyes like this!’

He had seen Elves a few times. They were basically attendants for the Dragons. Their eyes were not this vicious.

In fact, this woman’s gaze was more similar to that of Dragons.

They were the eyes of an wild beast that was ready to kill the creature in front of them-

‘Ah.’

Wei finally realized it.

At the same time, it was hard to believe.

He denied the thought in his mind.

‘No, that’s not possible!

That’s not possible at all!

I, is this woman, p, perhaps-’

An existence he could not think of at all.

Smile.

The woman started to smile.

“You can finally tell who I am?”

Wei felt the grip loosening around his neck. He also knew that she loosened her grip so that he could answer her question.

However, he could not speak.

“T, that’s not possible-”

Yes, it was unbelievable.

That was why he couldn't say it.

“Why? Why is it not possible?”

Witira gently asked. However, Wei felt suffocated despite Witira’s hand around his neck not choking him.

“H, how could a dirty blood-”

How?

“How could a damn Beast person-”

How could a Beast person be like this?

There was another reason Wei had thought that Witira was an Elf.

She looked dignified.

Although he thought lowly of Elves because they served the Dragons, Wei was jealous of the Elves who were confident and gave off a peculiar kind of elegance whenever they addressed him.

Such elegance…

He could also feel a presence coming from her that told him that she was not easy to defeat.

That was the reason Wei thought she was an Elf.

But it was a Beast person who was like this?

Those violent things that neither looked like animals nor humans, those dirty bastards, were like this?

“How old are you?”

The Beast asked Wei.

“Have you lived at least two hundred years?”

Wei naturally had not lived that long.

He was a third generation Dragon half-blood.

Wei looked to be in his late teens but he was actually in his fifties.

“I guess not.”

The Beast did not hear an answer but sounded as if she figured it out by his gaze alone. She then continued to speak.

“I am a Whale.”

The Whale informed him.

“My name is Witira.”

This Whale, Witira, told Wei the truth.

"And Beast people are normally like this.”

The Beast smiled at him.

“We share the same hot blood as you and the Dragons.”

The Whale let go of his neck.

The moment Wei staggered…

“Ugh!”

Wei was punched in the face and sent flying.

Boom!

He smashed into a wooden fence and fell down. Witira walked toward him.

Witira saw the blood coming out of Wei's mouth dying the snow red and calmly commented.

“See. It’s the same.”

Wei was shaking.

A shock greater than the pain he was experiencing swept over him.

Seeing a Beast like this…

He felt as if he was facing a large source of confusion and chaos.

However, he had no time to feel anxious about that chaos.

“!”

Witira used a casual strike with her hand to knock him out.

We grabbed him by the back of his neck. His blood was still dripping down.

She looked at the blood and raised her head.

She could see the snowy grey sky.

“Haaaaaaaaaa……..”

She let out a short breath.

It was the only way to contain her anger.

“I will bind him.”

“Thank you very much.”

She handed Wei to Choi Han, who had come over after binding Nine.

She then turned her head.

“Hello Mr. Knight, what is your name?”

“Ah-”

Sam, who had watched all of this, started shaking.

He could not believe what he had just seen.

He knew that he should answer Witira’s question, but his mind went blank and he could not say anything.

“Mr. Knight.”

A hand touched his shoulder at that moment.

He turned his head to see the Village Chief looking at him and nodding his head.

He didn't know what the Chief meant with that nod, but he snapped back to his senses after feeling the warmth on his shoulder and seeing the stiff look on the Chief’s face.

"M, my name is Sam.”

“I see. Are you a knight of the Haru Kingdom?”

“Yes ma’am.”

“You came here as a scout?”

“Yes ma'am.”

“You should be very familiar with the roads here?”

“I, I am!”

Sam didn’t know how he was answering these questions, but he answered diligently.

Boom. Boom.

His heart was beating wildly.

‘Those Dragon half-bloods- were that easily suppressed?

Who the hell are these people?

What are they?

No.’

He had heard a good amount about their identities.

A human who is a sword master and knows how to use force.

A Whale.

However, he could not believe those two things.

“Sir Sam.”

He heard the woman’s voice as he thought.

“Then there must be a second group coming here?”

The gentle voice continued before he could even answer that question.

“Sir Sam, are you able to retrace your steps?”

“…Excuse me?”

Step. Step.

He heard steps in the snow behind him.

It was not just one person.

He could hear many people walking through the snow.

Sam did not dare to turn around as he answered.

Had he understood her question properly?

“Umm, umm-”

“My name is Witira.”

“Ah yes, Witira-nim, are you asking me to take you to the rest of the group?”

Sam’s heart beat even wilder after asking that question.

His heart felt as if it would explode.

He was certain about the reason for this.

It was not because of fear or dread.

Sam felt an extreme sense of relief the moment he watched these two people suppress those Dragon half-bloods.

He at least knew that they were not enemies.

He also realized that their enemies were the approaching subjugation squad.

What would happen if these people went to the subjugation squad?

Boom. Boom.

His heart was beating fast.

This was definitely from anticipation.

No, maybe it was from delight.

Or perhaps it was hope.

It was at that moment.

Smile.

Witira smiled brightly.

Sam clenched his fists.

She looked past Sam’s shoulders as she spoke.

"Sir Cale. Sir Sam here is quite easy to talk to.”

Sam turned his head.

He saw a red-haired man coming through the white snow.

Sam thought of an old story.

It was the history of this place that he had to learn after being chosen to be a part of the subjugation squad.

‘The Archduke's House of Snow-’

He thought of that perished house.

The sword of the Haru Kingdom.

Sam saw the people around that man as soon as he thought of that story.

There was a white-haired man with green eyes and a more petite person whose hood was low and had a sword by their waist. Another man slowly walked behind them as well.

– Human, is it okay to go like this?

Cale nodded his head at the invisible Raon’s question.

– Mm.

However, Raon was thinking.

– …I'm fine with Witira and Choi Han! But adding Clopeh and Hannah to the mix… That’s a bit, a bit, mm. Then we have Rasheel as well……!

Raon could not finish his sentence after mentioning Rasheel, the Dragon with indomitability as his attribute. However, Cale was calm.

He spoke to the people in front of him.

“Shall we go?”

He looked at the peaceful looking houses that should be full of scared people quietly hiding inside.

"We can't fight in the village. We can’t let everything be destroyed.”

He spoke in a friendly tone to Sam.

“Now then, you have to take us to the subjugation squad. Please?”

* * *

Zenyu, the leader of the subjugation squad and the Captain of the Holy Empire's First Knights Brigade, stopped walking.

“…….”

They had yet to arrive at the village, but…

Some people were there to stop him.

“…….”

Furthermore, he could see that Nine and Wei were unconscious, bleeding, and tied up in front of them.

“We've been waiting for you.”

There was also a red-haired man smiling at them and saying that he had been waiting for them.

Cale greeted the subjugation squad on a wide plain covered in snow.

—

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