“My most precious treasure. Don’t worry. This father will surely cure your illness.”

Count Felix Ideana was an infinitely affectionate father to his only daughter.

He could do anything for his sickly daughter since she was young.

Louise respected and loved such a father.

Until that incident.

That is, in the winter of the year she turned fifteen.

“What is this……”

Louise collapsed on the spot upon seeing the corpses piled up like a hill behind Paradel Castle.

People whose faces were difficult to recognize were stacked in layers.

“Recently, I’ve heard that Lupus have been disappearing.”

Louise recalled what Sched, the slave who followed her, had said.

So, the Lupus who disappeared from Ideana.

They were here, dead.

‘Why is this exactly like my dream?’

Louise tightly closed her eyes.

Nightmares were projected onto countless deaths and arose.

She often had nightmares.

When her illness worsened, nightmares always followed, and after having nightmares, her symptoms would improve, but she couldn’t sleep at night.

And most recently, the nightmare she had was about the death of the Lupus.

To be precise, it was a dream where she massacred the Lupus.

In the nightmare, her body would go out of control and rampage at will.

Her mind was forced to submit as if being toyed with by the rampaging body.

She indiscriminately slaughtered the Lupus.

Even as the Lupus resisted, stabbing her with knives, fleeing, and screaming, the massacre did not stop.

The pain of the blades of those resisting piercing her body was so excruciating it felt like her breath would be cut off.

But it was nothing compared to the shock of taking so many lives.

Even after waking from the nightmare, all those sensations remained vividly, tormenting her.

It felt as if her hands were still full of blood, and screams could still be heard in her ears.

Still, it was a dream.

Because it was a dream, it could become nothing after crying and beating her chest all night.

But before her eyes, deaths that could not be erased with a few tears were unfolding.

Louise wished this too was a nightmare.

There’s no reason for so many Lupus to die.

It’s not like an epidemic broke out, and there hasn’t even been a war recently.

‘I don’t understand at all what’s happened…’

At the same time, the face of Sched Lupus flashed through her mind.

“Parmen is not in sight. May I go look for him for a while?”

Two days ago, Sched had asked for permission to be absent for a while, saying that the Lupus who was like his sworn brother had disappeared.

And he hadn’t been seen since then.

Louise snapped to her senses.

Could Sched also be among those mangled corpses?

Louise tightly closed her eyes in front of the corpses whose faces couldn’t be seen.

That can’t be. Sched is strong and clever…

She wanted to believe he wasn’t dead.

That he wouldn’t be among them.

But… they’re Lupus. They’re slaves.

In Ideana, the position of Lupus was like that of beasts, and they were sometimes used as bait or shields for knights when sent into battle as mercenary slaves.

Sched was no different.

He had gone to battlefields as a boy soldier since he was ten, and had overcome dangerous crises many times.

And he could be slaughtered by the sword of power at any time.

When slaves brought back spoils of war or hunted game from battlefields or hunts, Louise would first check if he had returned alive.

Yes. He was a slave, and she was the young lady of the Ideana count family.

Although she knew she shouldn’t, she…

“Louise, why are you here?”

Then a familiar voice was heard.

Louise turned her head.

“…Father?”

“I’m asking how you came out all the way to outside this mansion.”

Count Felix Ideana was standing in front of the foul-smelling corpses.

With a face as if an annoying problem had occurred.

“What’s going on here…?”

Louise asked Felix while still collapsed on the spot.

Recently, she had asked her father to investigate the Lupus disappearance case after hearing about it from Sched.

“You’re truly kind to care so much for the slaves, Louise. Since you ask, I’ll look into it.”

He had certainly said that.

“…”

Felix kept his mouth shut in front of her.

The silence that settled on the bloody waters seemed to be choking Louise.

“Please, say something!”

The stench from the corpses was making the nightmare more and more vivid.

It was as if the nightmare had been reality.

Felix lowered his eyes for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.

“Yes… There’s no need to hide it anymore. It’s time for you to know now.”

He muttered softly and then gently caressed her cheek.

“Rejoice, my beloved daughter.”

In front of the corpses piled like mountains, Felix smiled.

“You have been completed.”

Felix said, gently holding Louise’s kneeling hands.

Louise’s mind froze.

She couldn’t understand what her father was saying.

“What do you mean… completed?”

“My daughter, the most perfect being in the world.”

Felix lifted Louise up and looked at her with warm eyes.

The affectionate smile seen against the background of red corpses looked only bizarre to Louise.

“It was an unavoidable sacrifice for you.”

He said, embracing his daughter.

For Louise Ideana, the Lupus had to be killed.

“For me…?”

Louise couldn’t understand at all.

Even her father’s smile felt unreal, and everything seemed to be floating.

“Yes, Louise. You have become the strongest human in the world.”

Father continued to whisper words she couldn’t understand.

As Louise became confused, Felix grinned and then took Louise’s hand and began to walk.

Louise had to follow behind him with trembling steps, as if being dragged.

“The unstable period was a bit long. But in the end, we succeeded like this.”

Felix said as he leisurely walked between the corpses.

His relaxed gait was as if strolling through a fresh, fragrant morning forest.

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Louise was confused and confused again.

It was as if she had been thrown into a twisted whirlpool of time, encountering random moments unexpectedly.

“I told you that from last year, Ideana no longer needed mercenary slaves for beast hunting.”

Felix said.

From last year, Felix had declared that he would no longer use the Lupus mercenary slaves mobilized for beast hunting.

The mercenary slaves were either abandoned without receiving any compensation or had to serve as slaves in other poor positions.

Louise remembered that incident clearly.

At that time, Louise had begged to be allowed to use Sched for herself.

“Even though the beasts haven’t disappeared, the fact that Lupus are no longer needed is all thanks to you.”

Felix took her beyond the hill of disgusting corpses.

And there, corpses of beasts were strewn about, with bright red blood flowing like a stream.

At that moment, Louise vomited onto the ground the nausea she had been holding back.

“Ugh, urgh…!”

Even after emptying her stomach on the ground, the nausea didn’t subside.

The nightmares she had in the past resurfaced, tormenting her.

So, at that time, Louise Ideana slaughtered the beasts that pounced on her.

Even those sensations began to emerge clearly, little by little.

“There’s no need to be afraid. You did it.”

Felix whispered, looking at his daughter like that.

He gripped Louise’s shoulders as she breathed heavily, making her face death directly.

More precisely, the beasts hunted by Louise Ideana’s power.

“Ancient sorcery has powerful strength. It needed a few sacrifices, but that’s not a problem for our family.”

Felix whispered affectionately.

In the world, only holy power and aura were common, but in ancient times, there existed tremendous power that surpassed holy power and aura.

Many coveted that power, and also obtained it.

However, now ancient sorcery has disappeared into the annals of history.

It was because of the scars that power left on history.

Ancient sorcery required life as a sacrifice in exchange for great power.

This led to terrible massacres and wars, and the temples called it black magic and strictly prohibited humans from ever touching that power again.

A power that had been taboo for so long.

Felix Ideana had coveted that power.

“Lupus were especially good. They’re a species with very strong vitality. They were a great help in making your power stronger.”

He sacrificed hundreds of Lupus as offerings to make his daughter stronger.

Louise shook her head in front of her father’s calm smile.

“This is madness, why these people, ugh…!”

“They’re Lupus. They’ve just made a noble sacrifice unbecoming of slaves. They must be overjoyed to have given their lives for such a great cause.”

Felix gazed at the dead in the distance with an expression devoid of any guilt.

To him, Lupus were not human.

To him, Lupus were, if anything, beings like this:

A sheep sacrificed to the temple for human happiness.

A pig placed on the altar of the dining table for human joy.

“Isn’t it amazing that you can gain such power without sacrificing other people?”

The ‘people’ he spoke of did not include Lupus.

Louise felt dizzy.

Those people died because of me?

I never wanted something like that.

I don’t have any such great power…!

“You don’t seem to believe it.”

Felix gazed at Louise’s confused face and gently extended his hand.

As Louise flinched and stepped back, Felix smiled as if to reassure her.

“Come, try it. Your power.”

Felix supported her to stand up, then called for the knights of House Ideana.

Then, a Lupus was dragged out in the hands of the knights.

A body limp as if unconscious.

“Sched…?”

The one she had been looking for was in her father’s hands.

Felix leisurely adjusted his clothes and looked at Sched.

“That fellow tried to kill me last night.”

Felix said.

“A traitor deserves proper execution.”