That Terren hated Leopold was something he had always known — yet seeing the color drain so completely from his face in person still left a bitter ache in his chest.
Leopold had rarely been hated in his life. A prince who was righteous, kind, clever, and handsome on top of it all.
Anyone who disliked him would have to be some kind of strange creature — and that creature happened to be Terren Meyer.
Leopold stood there, deflated, watching him in silence for a moment. He was afraid to say anything more, knowing that whatever he said would only be met with insolent profanity. As the silence settled, a drop of grimy water fell from somewhere above them, dripping down onto their heads as they stood beneath the dark bridge.
Leopold spoke.
“Terren, let’s get out of here for now.”
The children had finished all the bread and scattered at Leopold’s signal. Beneath the bridge, there was no one left but the two of them.
“It’s dark and it smells. Whatever it is, let’s get out first and think after.”
Fortunately, Terren complied without resistance.
Even after climbing out from under the bridge, the surroundings were still dim.
The rain had stopped, but the sun was slowly setting, and the air was thick with humidity.
In the gloomy weather, the hollow stares of the destitute sprawled across the ground were vivid. Leopold murmured.
“I never feel at ease when I come here. It’s heartbreaking that even in the most developed capital of the kingdom, the slums overflow like this.”
“…Do you come here often?”
Terren asked in a rough, strained voice. His face was hidden beneath the hood of his robe. For some reason, Leopold felt his mood lift, and he smiled faintly.
“Yes. I try to get around as often as I can.”
“Please don’t.”
“Pardon?”
Leopold frowned and asked again. Terren muttered in a low voice.
“The slums are a dangerous place for His Highness the Prince to be visiting. Wandering around anywhere without an escort borders on stupidity.”
“…Are you worried about me right now?”
He asked in disbelief. And then he found himself staring directly into Terren Meyer’s eyes, sharp with something almost lethal. Leopold couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.
“This is the single most touching moment of my life!”
Leopold bent his head and laughed in fits. What an absolute madman. Secretly doing charity work in the slums, talking to him with such brazen rudeness — and yet here he was, worrying about him.
As Terren stared at him in silence with unrelenting intensity, Leopold reined in his laughter and answered in an amused tone.
“It seems you don’t know that I’ve held the top rank in swordsmanship at the Academy. I appreciate the concern, but I’m more than capable of walking around on my own, so you can rest easy.”
“That’s still just skill among children. It’s because you don’t know how vicious and ugly people with nothing to lose can be, that you can say something so ignorant.”
Terren Meyer’s rude and insolent manner of speaking hadn’t changed in the slightest — but Leopold no longer found it unpleasant. Partly because he’d grown used to it, and partly because the words themselves weren’t something he could resent.
“That’s not true. I don’t say this to boast, but I’m strong enough. The Knight Commander once said I could hold my own against the palace swordsmen. Isn’t that sufficient?”
“Are you a Sword Master?”
“No, not quite.”
Terren exhaled.
“Then just listen to what I’m saying.”
Why had Terren Meyer attempted to commit that filthy crime in the slums?
Because it was something he had seen and learned.
No matter how corrupt the kingdom was, killing hundreds of people would make someone a wanted criminal in an instant. A way to kill enough people without being caught, enough to build a foundation of Dark Sorcery?
That would be slaughtering vagrants in the slums.
In fact, it was practically a foregone conclusion that Yuhan and Arnold — Dark Sorcerers who could no longer commit murder openly — along with other Dark Sorcerers, would soon be making their rounds through the slums. Terren had simply gotten there first.
Terren Meyer’s head, which had been pounding, was now spinning.
Leopold Delua was still as insufferable as ever. He didn’t want to exchange a single word with him.
And yet, Terren didn’t know whether Leopold was stronger, or whether the current Dark Sorcerers were stronger.
No matter how strong Leopold might be, he was sixteen years old right now.
He was just a boy, and not yet a Sword Master.
What if he wandered around the streets like a fool and ran into a Dark Sorcerer and suddenly died?
It was said that in his past life, Leopold had survived safely until he was nineteen — but was there any guarantee that fate wouldn’t change?
It was enough to drive him out of his mind with unease. Leopold looked at Terren’s dark expression. His face was still drained of all color, and there was not a single trace of light in those ash-gray eyes.
“At the very least, please stop wandering through the slums. To Your Highness, they may appear as nothing more than pitiful, unfortunate subjects — but the reality is different. Don’t act so recklessly when you’re not even a Sword Master yet.”
“A Sword Master is a level no ordinary person can attain. And besides — why? Are you worried about me, Terren?”
“Think whatever you like. Just listen to me.”
“I’d rather not. I honestly cannot fathom why I should be listening to a classmate as rude and ill-mannered as you.”
Leopold fired back in a cheerful tone. Terren’s body trembled with anger.
Even so, the two of them had been steadily walking — or rather, Terren Meyer had. He nearly stumbled when Leopold suddenly stopped in his tracks.
“Hold on.”
Leopold frowned and spoke.
“What’s that sound?”
From a cheap tavern some distance away, voices raised quite loudly could be heard. It appeared to have been set up by some pleasure quarter proprietor.
A crowd had gathered around a woman with a gentle, warm face and a man who wore a sword at his side like a mercenary.
Terren could hear what they were saying too.
“How are we supposed to live like this, it’s terrifying! If people keep dying in droves like this, shouldn’t the palace be doing something about it?!”
Terren turned his head at the words dying in droves. Leopold was already making his way toward the commotion, one step at a time.
It would have been the wisest choice to slip away while Leopold headed over there — but Terren found he simply couldn’t. He was far too sensitive right now to the sound of people dying.
Leopold fearlessly pressed into the crowd and stood right among them. He listened quietly to what they were saying.
“Remember last time, three of Eris’s sons from our neighborhood went up the mountain to play and were completely wiped out! We tell the kids to be careful so many times and they just don’t listen!”
“And it’s not just the kids, is it? What did the woodcutters do to deserve this? Are they supposed to starve to death?”
“James, you go up there and catch it. You’re a mercenary, aren’t you? Take out the bounty on the monster and buy us a round.”
“There’s a limit to what kind of joke you can make. That’s basically telling me to go die.”
Terren listened to the whole exchange and silently tapped Leopold on the back. When he turned around, Terren gestured with his eyes. Let’s go back.
Monsters, whatever — he didn’t care about any of it. As long as it wasn’t Dark Sorcerers, that was fine by him. He just wanted to get back to the Academy as soon as possible.
“Terren, listen. This is clearly something happening in the capital, and I had no idea about it whatsoever. This is absolutely unacceptable.”
Terren exhaled. Do as you please. There was no reason and no justification for him to stay by that man’s side anyway. Just as Terren was about to turn away without a second thought —
Leopold flashed a bright, mischievous grin and cheerfully called out to the people around them.
“Are there monsters appearing around here?”
A woman standing nearby who had been listening flushed briefly before nodding. Judging by her worn but neat clothing, she was almost certainly a worker at this tavern.
“Yes, that’s right. Monsters have been coming out of Mount Rande, which connects the capital to the outside — the people living there have been wiped out, and the hunters and herb gatherers are starving to death with no way to make a living.”
“…That’s terrible.”
“A bounty does get posted when a monster appears, but who’s going to go and catch it? You’d need to be at least at the level of a royal knight to kill those things! Other places are one thing, but the capital should be managed by the Crown, shouldn’t it?!”
Even at the remarks that amounted to an insult against the Delua royal family, Leopold remained unbothered. He nodded with a pleasant smile and even offered words of comfort.
“Please don’t worry too much. It’s dangerous, so please don’t go anywhere near the mountain.”
“What a sweet young man. Thank you.”
Leopold stepped backward and whispered to Terren.
“Let’s go.”
“I’m not sure what you mean…”
“Let’s go catch it. The monster.”
He grinned like an absolute troublemaker. Within those curved, upturned eyes, his blue irises glittered.
Terren Meyer refused point-blank.
“No.”
