Zenyu, the person in charge, looked away from Cale.

“Something definitely happened in the Erghe Mountain Range.”

Although he was speaking calmly, the other members’ reactions were not so calm.

Nine and Wei's fellow third generation Dragon half-bloods could not hide the disturbed looks on their races.

“Hey. What am I looking at right now? That’s Nine and Wei, right?”

“Ha! Seriously, what the hell am I looking at right now? Is this a dream?”

In between the Dragon half-bloods asking if this was a dream, the first generation Dragon half-bloods stood there with their mouths closed and their faces stiff.

The First Knights Brigade of the Holy Empire.

Their members could be up to fourth generation Dragon half-bloods.

Only the most talented of the applicants made it to this brigade.

“Boss.”

Zenyu kept his gaze forward even as a first generation Dragon half-blood quietly called out to him.

The members of the subjugation squad from the First Knights Brigade currently consisted of first generation and third generation Dragon half-bloods.

The second generation knights and the Vice Captain were currently on another mission while the fourth generation was left at the palace as they still had a lot to learn.

That was how three first generation and four third generation Dragon half-bloods ended up coming as members of the subjugation squad.

The youngest two of the third generation, Wei and Nine, were tied up as they appeared with these people.

“Boss! What are you doing?!”

A member, who was hot-tempered but not as much as the trashy Nine and Wei, raised her voice.

“Let’s fight! We can't just stand here after seeing them like this!”

She could not hold back her anger and an intangible aura started fluctuating around her. Her force was roaring as well, potentially because of her uncontrolled emotion. No, to be more accurate, she had no thoughts of recalling her force.

“Ugh.”

The regular members of the subjugation squad who were not Dragon half-bloods and some of the people from the Haru Kingdom groaned after feeling the aura, but the Dragon half-blood did not care.

All she could see right now were Nine, whose whole body was bound and his hand was pierced and Wei, who looked like a mess and was bleeding.

“You dare, you dare to do that to a Dragon half-blood-!”

She was not angry because Nine and Wei were injured.

It was because they injured the body of a Dragon half-blood, the select few who have carried on the great blood of Dragons…

It was also because members of the strongest Knights Brigade of the Holy Empire, the Empire that serves the great and mighty Dragons, were kneeling.

Those two reasons filled her with rage. She could not accept either of those things.

“Ugh.”

The Haru Kingdom's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bailey, was holding back a groan.

‘What is going on?’

She felt suffocated from the force suppressing her whole body, but her mind was a complicated mess trying to assess the situation.

She clearly remembered Wei and Nine taking Sam to go scout the area.

‘Although they called it scouting, I was sure that they headed to the village first to cause a ruckus!’

That was the reason that Bailey, who had been trying her best to slow the subjugation squad until then, increased her speed to quickly take them to the village.

However, once they got to an open field not too far from the village… They found Wei and Nine kneeling on the ground.

Well, it was called an open field but it was just a flat area in this barren wasteland. It could never be a fertile farming area.

Red blood was dripping out of the unconscious Wei and Nine was dying the snow field red.

Red.

Bailey did whatever she could to raise her head the moment she thought of the red blood.

The force that an angry Dragon half-blood subconsciously released wasn’t too strong, allowing Bailey to at least move her body.

She overcame the fear pushing down on her whole body and raised her head.

She finally saw it.

The two kneeling Dragon half-bloods…

Standing behind them was a red-haired man.

‘No way-’

She knew it was impossible, but Bailey couldn’t help but think of the perished House of the Archduke after seeing the red hair.

The Archduke's House of Snow.

The members of that family had such red hair.

Unlike the common red hair, their hair was darker and reminded people of blood.

That was the reason that people who met any members of the House of Snow remembered the afterimage that this red color left behind even if they remembered nothing else.

‘No, there’s no way.’

She was denying her thoughts as she questioned what was going on.

‘Who is that guy?’

Who was he that he captured Dragon half-bloods to greet the subjugation squad?

He even said that he had been waiting for them. He greeted them looking extremely relaxed.

The red-haired man was still leisurely standing there without saying anything.

He looked as if he was completely chill, waiting to see how the subjugation squad would act.

Bailey looked around.

‘A black-haired swordsman.

A white-haired swordsman.

Mm.’

She flinched after seeing Clopeh.

‘Thankfully, his eyes are green.’

If his eyes were grey instead of green, Bailey would have been flustered.

The Haru Kingdom's King Dennis… He had white hair and ash-colored eyes.

However, Bailey was unable to look away from Clopeh.

‘White hair…’

There were quite a lot of people with white hair on the continent.

However, the people who carried the blood of the Haru Royal Family had white hair as well.

That fact gave her a feeling of déjà vu.

‘He is not a member of the Royal Family.’

As Bailey was in charge of Foreign Affairs, she was well aware of the living direct and collateral lines of the Royal family.

She had never seen such a face among them.

‘But-’

A red-haired man reminding her of the Archduke's House of Snow and a white-haired man reminding her of the crown’s black hair.

Was it a coincidence that these two people appeared?

Bailey’s heart started to beat wildly.

He could see the others as well.

There was a petite swordsman whose face and body was covered by a hooded robe and an extremely beautiful woman with blue hair.

There were five unfamiliar people.

She then saw someone she recognized.

‘Sam!’

Sam looked extremely tense as he looked around.

She then made eye contact with Sam. He still looked anxious. But he looked at her with an extremely heated gaze.

Normally, she would have thought about the meaning behind his gaze, but she did not have the time to do that.

Bailey had a different thought instead of thinking about that.

‘He’s alive.’

Sam was not killed by the Dragon half-bloods.

She was relieved that their future talent had survived.

Bailey realized something at the same time.

‘Shit.’

The group blocking the subjugation squad…

These people who seemed to be enemies left Sam completely unharmed unlike the Dragon half-bloods.

What would that mean?

Bailey looked away from these people to look somewhere.

She looked at the only calm individual in the middle of the Dragon half-bloods and the rest of the subjugation squad.

Bailey flinched after looking at Knight Captain Zenyu.

‘!’

He was already looking at Bailey.

He stopped being quiet and started speaking.

“So it was the Haru Kingdom’s betrayal.”

Zenyu was saying that the Haru Kingdom betrayed them because Sam was with the enemies.

Although anybody would be able to see that Sam looked extremely tense to the point that he was sweating bullets in this cold weather…

Furthermore, he should speak to the representative of the Haru Kingdom, Bailey, before declaring that this was the Haru Kingdom’s betrayal, but…

Zenyu didn’t go through all of that.

‘Ah.’

Bailey realized something after seeing his reaction.

‘He’s certain.’

Whether the Haru Kingdom actually betrayed them or not…

Zenyu determined that this situation was the Haru Kingdom's betrayal.

It also meant that he would kill the enemies and the people from the Haru Kingdom.

He would believe his judgment to be the truth and report it to the Holy Empire as such.

And the results of that-

‘No-’

Would be the Holy Empire suppressing the Haru Kingdom or declaring war on them.

Bailey urgently opened her mouth.

She had to tell him that was not it.

She had to quickly say that they did not know these people.

However, she hesitated for a moment.

The people who saved Sam…

Was it really okay to shun them?

Of course, Zenyu was going to kill these people whether Bailey said she knew them or not.

That was why her answer would not largely influence anything.

‘But-’

She still couldn't help but have a moment of hesitation.

That small opening made her face the worst situation.

“Ah.”

Bailey saw the black aura fluctuating at the tip of Zenyu’s sword.

She realized it the moment she saw it.

‘Shit!

Zenyu was the angriest of everybody here.

That was why he said what he said, in order to turn it into the truth.

With two Dragon half-bloods ending up in such situations on the Haru Kingdom's territory, he was planning on making the Haru Kingdom pay the price.

And-

‘He's planning on killing me as well.

Yeah, he needs to shut me up first.

Crazy bastard.’

She couldn't help but swear.

Zenyu, this bastard, was the most arrogant and the craziest of the group.

The black aura wrapped around the sword and then disappeared.

As Bailey was not a swordsman, this was the limit of what she could see.

Nonetheless, she knew the results.

‘That aura will pierce through my neck.’

That would be the start of him killing everybody here from the Haru Kingdom and those mysterious people.

Bailey felt wronged and angry that she could not close her eyes.

Baaaaaang—!

She then heard a loud noise.

“Ugh!”

The aftershock of gust from the explosion pushed her body back.

However, she still could not look away from what was in front of her. It hurt her eyes but she felt as if she could not miss this moment.

“Minister-nim!”

Her aide supported her from being pushed farther back, but Bailey could only look forward as she could not believe what she just saw.

“…Aura-”

Zenyu's aura had exploded in the air.

Drip. Drip.

Water drops fell from the air and froze, creating ice crystals in the sky.

A water whip suddenly flew over and grabbed Zenyu's aura; the clash of the aura and water whip led to a small explosion.

This explosion would not have been a small one had Zenyu not launched only a small amount of aura as it was to kill just Bailey.

“…….”

Bailey's shaking eyes looked toward the blue-haired woman.

She looked so beautiful that she reminded Bailey of an Elf.

However, she was definitely not an Elf.

“Minister-nim, are you okay?”

Her aide and the Haru Kingdom's knights who had snapped back to their senses surrounded Bailey.

Bailey. She was an extremely important figure for the Haru Kingdom. King Dennis had told the guard knights something.

Bailey had jumped into a deathtrap but he had no alternative to stop her.

That was why she told them to protect her as if they were protecting him.

“M, move-”

However, she pushed the knights blocking her back.

She then walked forward.

“Minister-nim, if you push yourself too hard-”

"That water whip-”

“Excuse me?”

“And that blue hair-”

Who among the humans on the continent knew the most about Beast people right now?

If someone asked Bailey that question, she would answer that the person would be in the Holy Empire's Central Temple.

The inquisitors. The twenty four priests, who, in addition to the First Knights Brigade, were considered the strongest fighting force of the Holy Empire. She thought that one of them would be the most knowledgeable expert about Beast people.

But if you asked her who was second when it came to knowledge of Beast people…

She would answer without any hesitation.

She would answer that it was her.

—

Translator's Comments

Well, how lucky they found the Beast person expert.

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