Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Ludger Stark.

He was a Margrave who enjoyed far greater power than other counts, and at the same time, a Sword Master who was both revered and feared.

Transcending human limits, he was not easily surprised by most things.

However, at this moment, he could not hide his shock as he looked at his son, Khal, who had completely changed since their last meeting.

‘I’ve never seen him like this before.’

Even Luke, who had served the Stark family for a long time, had yet to adjust to the reunion between the father and son.

Khal, who used to greet his father in a shrunken state, was now sitting across from him, calmly sipping black tea…

If the people of the Stark family heard of this, they would surely scoff and tell them to stop talking nonsense.

In fact, considering that not only Khal but all his brothers usually trembled and watched their every move around Ludger, it was a truly shocking sight.

What was even more surprising was that Ludger was watching his son with a bewildered expression.

“You have changed much since I last saw you,” Ludger said.

Khal replied with a nonchalant expression to Ludger’s words.

“I thought I should change what was bad, and the transformation followed naturally.”

“…A positive change is good to see.”

Is this really my son?

Ludger narrowed his eyes and looked at Khal with a suspicious expression.

Red hair, and crimson eyes that seemed to burn more intensely than before.

There was no reason to deny Khal, whose genetic traits unique to the Stark family were clearly evident, but he couldn’t help feeling a sense of unease.

On the other hand, Khal’s inner thoughts while watching Ludger were indifferent.

Even with a glance, he could grasp Ludger’s principles of action.

‘Only the strong can survive. Even if they are of his own blood, the weak are excluded. He gives trials, and if they pass, they are recognized as members of the family, but if they fail, it doesn’t matter if they die.’

He doubted if these were thoughts a human could actually harbor.

However, Khal didn’t even consider him a father to begin with, and since Ludger’s thoughts aligned with the values of the Demon Realm, he had no reason to feel hesitant.

Perhaps having finished his assessment of Khal in that brief moment, Ludger chuckled and stroked the stuffed head of the Orc Lord.

“I quite like the gift.”

“I am glad you find it to your liking.”

“However, the management of your territory is a mess. What do you plan to do if a foreign country invades in such a situation?”

As Ludger slightly opened the pathways of his energy throughout his body…

Rumble.

“Gasp!”

The overwhelming pressure made the surrounding vassals choke for air.

‘…This is completely forced.’

Luke, listening to the conversation between the father and son from behind, frowned.

Where in the world is there a madman who would send a son who isn’t even an adult to a place where many people die every year even with a massive budget?

If things went wrong and Altair Castle was lost to monsters or foreign soldiers, it would cause enormous damage to this country, Lucon.

Pushing his son into such a place was not because he believed in him, but to eliminate him quickly.

Slurp.

But what was happening?

Despite Ludger’s pressure, Khal leisurely finished his tea and set the cup down.

“I would like to make a proposal.”

At those words, Ludger withdrew his energy as if intrigued and asked Khal back.

“A proposal? What kind of proposal?”

“I need time to grow.”

“Ho, is this a trick to escape Altair with some absurd excuse?”

‘As expected.’

A brief flash of disappointment crossed Ludger’s face.

“Didn’t you give my other brothers time to master the sword or pass down the family’s secret arts?”

“You have no talent for the sword. Therefore, you don’t need time to devote yourself to it either.”

“I thought so too, but then a thought suddenly occurred to me.”

“A thought?”

Grin.

Khal raised the corners of his mouth teasingly and threw out a provocative sentence.

“The thought that your insight, Father, might have been wrong.”

Boom!

At those words, Ludger tensed his facial muscles and exploded the energy he had been suppressing.

“Oh? In the time I haven’t seen you, your arrogance has pierced the sky.”

“P-please, calm yourself, Margrave!”

The panicked soldiers all tried to restrain him at once.

Swish.

Khal raised his hand as if telling them not to interfere, stopping the soldiers.

‘…?’

The soldiers looked puzzled at the incomprehensible behavior, and Khal spoke with a calm expression.

“Send me to Partes. After spending three years there, I will return to the Altair territory and show you achievements that our kin have never reached before.”

“…”

At the confident request, Ludger’s face turned red and blue with varying emotions.

“Do you understand the meaning of what you are saying now? Partes is a place where it is difficult to survive in a different sense.”

Partes.

It was an academy located in Isilia, an island nation where intermediary trade was active.

It was a place where anyone, regardless of nationality, gender, or educational background, could learn advanced academia and swordsmanship, and most of those who completed the curriculum were making a name for themselves in this era of chaos.

Due to the nature of Isilia maintaining neutrality, students active in Partes could not assert authority or rely on the prestige of their families.

They had to rise to the top solely through their own skill.

This was the same for the Stark family, which was known as the strongest martial family in Lucon.

Among Khal’s brothers, only three had completed the course.

Of course, Khal’s brothers who had graduated from Partes were knighted and gaining fame. However, they were not the best there.

This was inevitably a humiliation for Ludger.

“Are you saying you can be the best there?”

“I have no intention of being the best.”

Grind!

Ludger gnashed his teeth and said.

“So you made a reckless provocation to me without even having confidence?”

“It’s enough to be the strongest, not the best. Since when did you become obsessed with the evaluations of others?”

“…”

Ludger looked stunned for a moment at Khal’s words.

It was because Khal had hit the nail on the head.

The strongest, not the best…

Why hadn’t he thought of those words until now?

Weren’t these the words that truly aligned with the values of the Stark family?

And since when had he been obsessed with the fame gained from the evaluations of others?

No matter how highly one is evaluated at the academy, there are certainly cases where they cannot perform in real combat.

To begin with, graduating from Partes is merely a standard to judge whether someone is a useful human being.

Thinking this far, Ludger could naturally realize Khal’s intention.

Khal intended to prove his worth through Partes and then perform on the real stage of Altair.

‘Did he speak to me with all that in mind?’

Surprised by the unexpectedly meticulous plan, Ludger unconsciously stroked his beard while looking at Khal.

No matter how he looked at him, his physique was gaunt and pathetic.

He wondered if such a figure could really become the strongest warrior.

Glance.

As he looked down unintentionally, the stuffed head of the Orc Lord he was stroking caught his eye.

It looked like it was roaring quite fiercely.

However, if one looked closely at the movement of the facial muscles, one could roughly read the emotions hidden within.

It was horror and dread.

Why did the great Orc Lord feel such horror toward such a scrawny human?

Moreover, to give this as a gift.

‘It’s a gift with an obvious intention.’

The words he spoke were by no means a bluff.

To prove that fact, Khal had presented the head of the Orc Lord to Ludger.

‘Quite impressive.’

Grin.

In Ludger’s eyes, which had been full of anger, a slight sense of joy and expectation now filled them.

” I will give you three years. During that time, I will leave Altair to Lamas and Frua.”

Lamas and Frua.

They were Khal’s half-brothers and at the same time knights produced by the Stark family.

The eldest brother, twenty-seven-year-old Lamas, was a Sword Master currently active on various fronts, and the fourth brother, twenty-one-year-old Frua, had graduated from Partes and was a knight with a promising future as the youngest Sword Master.

Of course, even these two great brothers were far from catching up to their father, Ludger.

“Thank you…”

As the negotiation was settled, Khal bowed his head.

However, he overlooked one very minor detail.

“Shall the price of failure be your head?”

It was the fact that Ludger was even more cold-blooded than Khal had expected.

“M-Margrave!”

Murmur, murmur.

Vassals, including Luke, were flustered by Ludger’s sudden statement.

Khal was also taken aback for a moment, but soon let out a small smirk.

‘He’s laughing?’

Everyone who saw the scene was dumbfounded.

Who would think that this was a conversation between a father and son?

Their conversation was like watching a fight between violent beasts biting and tearing at each other.

But why was it?

In this dynamic, it seemed that Khal was the one pushing the opponent into a corner.

“You can take more than that if you wish, for that will never happen anyway. I shall take my leave now.”

Having finished speaking with an indifferent expression, Khal rose from his seat.

“…Your mother has come along as well, so go see her.”

“I understand.”

Khal performed a polite salute and then withdrew.

Step, step.

Khal’s footsteps heading outside echoed deeply, making the Stark vassals nervous.

In particular, Luke, who was watching the situation from the closest distance, had his jaw dropped in disbelief.

‘Good heavens, that weak young master succeeded in negotiating with the Margrave?’

Because it was a fact that was hard to believe…

Pinch.

More than half of the vassals even tried pinching each other’s cheeks.

What followed was a sharp pain from the rough grip, as if their skin were being torn off entirely.

Luke muttered with a tear in one eye.

“…It’s not a dream.”

However, the most surprised person among them was none other than Ludger himself, who had been negotiating until just a moment ago.

Glance.

He looked at his hand with an indifferent expression.

As a warrior who had held a sword for a long time, it was covered with rough and hard calluses, but no matter how much he swung his sword, not a single drop of sweat had ever formed on this hand until now.

But what was going on?

Now his hand was moist with sweat.

In his head, Khal’s eyes, which were like crimson flames, still remained.

A chilling gaze that felt like it would burn everything to the ground if one got too close.

Those eyes never looked at someone like himself.

‘It felt as if I were being used as a stepping stone.’

Those eyes were looking at a future further than him.

While harboring the confidence that he could easily overcome any obstacle in front of him.

Even if just for a moment, Ludger had been overwhelmed by the spirit of his youngest son.

Realizing that fact only after Khal had left.

“Heh.”

Unable to contain the gradually trembling emotions…

“Hahahahahaha!”

He burst into a very satisfied laugh.

* * *

After finishing the negotiation with Ludger.

“Mother…”

Khal was making a more uncomfortable expression than at any other time.

Demons are born from the fruit of Sefirot, the giant tree of the Demon Realm.

And from the moment they realize their own existence, they grow by absorbing the nutrients of Sefirot…

When he, the Demon King of his previous life, was born, the nutrients of Sefirot had dried up so rapidly that the branches and roots became gaunt.

Fortunately, it was lucky that he was the only one born at the same time; otherwise, Sefirot, the foundation of the demons, would have withered to death.

Anyway, for this reason, demons are a species capable of group activities, but families do not exist.

Of course, demons were capable of the act of reproduction like other species, but they didn’t feel the need for it.

Demons are a species made of combat and madness.

They live to kill; a life spent protecting someone does not exist.

‘The life of the Stark family won’t be much different from that of a demon anyway.’

Khal thought of it as nothing special and stood in front of the room where his mother was staying and knocked.

“It is Khal. May I come in?”

“…”

Is no one there?

As the silence stretched on, Khal was about to walk away again.

Click!

At that moment, the door burst open, and a woman with an exhausted look threw herself at Khal and hugged him tightly.

“Khal. Are you okay? You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”

She wept as she touched Khal’s face here and there, checking his health.

“…”

Flustered, Khal couldn’t even reply and thought.

How dare she put her hands on the face of the Demon King…

‘Things I could never have imagined in my previous life keep happening.’