“It’s magic.”

Nocturne blurted out upon seeing the strangely enormous black bear.

Dietrich immediately drew Harpe from its scabbard.

The sharp tip of the sword glinted ominously as it caught the light.

Though unsure who had cast a spell on that black bear, judging by the drool dripping from its mouth, it seemed the bear had already spotted its prey.

Dietrich gave a brief warning to Nocturne.

“It’s coming.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the black bear charged towards Nocturne, baring its sharp claws.

The startled horse neighed loudly and reared up on its hind legs.

Nocturne, suddenly in danger of falling to the ground, sighed.

Neigh!

The poor horse let out a final cry before being crushed under the black bear’s front paws.

Nocturne, who had moved using teleportation magic, was safe.

Of course, he was about to be unsafe soon.

“You’re not getting off?”

Dietrich coldly asked Nocturne, who had somehow mounted his horse and was holding onto his waist.

Even in this situation, he wanted to play around.

While clicking his tongue at Nocturne’s incorrigible personality, the black bear now glared at Dietrich.

“This looks like an event the emperor prepared for us, doesn’t it?”

“It’s so obvious, it’s boring.”

The black bear let out a fierce roar and pawed at the ground aggressively.

It looked ready to pounce on the two of them at any moment.

Dietrich, who had been considering simply beheading it, suddenly remembered his promise to Heidi.

‘I said I’d come in second.’

Facing this black bear, the emperor’s obvious scheme became clear.

“Dietrich. This would kill most people if they encountered it.”

Nocturne was right.

It seemed it would take several imperial knights to deal with the black bear before them.

“Grrrr……”

The bear circled around the two, seemingly looking for an opportunity to attack.

At that moment, Dietrich asked Nocturne in a low voice.

“Are you interested in marrying Princess Ariana?”

“Are you crazy?”

Nocturne was genuinely horrified at Dietrich’s out-of-nowhere question.

Needless to say, it wasn’t that he disliked Princess Ariana.

Princess Ariana Zeneger was extremely beautiful, as well as incredibly intelligent and quick-witted.

“She’s not my type.”

But Nocturne was adamant. How to put it, Nocturne preferred someone brighter and more cheerful.

He was attracted to people who made him smile with their innocent and pure charm. Princess Ariana was beautiful and strong, but not pure.

It was unavoidable, given that she had to survive in the treacherous imperial court.

Dietrich nodded as if he had expected this response.

“That’s a shame. I asked just in case.”

“What about you?”

“I’d rather die.”

“Yeah, I know.”

The black bear seemed displeased that the two were having such an irrelevant conversation in front of it.

It threatened the two by raising its sharp claws that had roughly scratched the ground. Now it really was about to charge.

Dietrich calmly observed this and pointed his sword at the claws.

“There’s blood on those claws. It seems to have attacked humans elsewhere.”

“We should look for them. With a bear that size, there’s a high chance they’re dead.”

“Let’s deal with this one first.”

The black bear’s dark eyes fixed on Dietrich as it planted all four paws on the ground. Then it charged, attempting to pounce on Dietrich.

Thunk. Slash.

The series of stabbing and slashing movements was like an elegant dance.

Beautiful swordsmanship, no matter how many times one saw it.

Even as he was splattered with blood from the bear’s belly, Nocturne couldn’t take his eyes off Dietrich’s sword aura.

The massive, pitch-black sword aura that seemed to swallow everything around it was awe-inspiring.

The bear collapsed to the ground with a loud thud. But it wasn’t dead yet.

“This bear, it’s not dead?”

“I deliberately didn’t kill it.”

Dietrich focused on the sound of hoofbeats coming from a short distance away.

It seemed someone would arrive here soon. From the faint energy he sensed, it appeared to be an ordinary noble’s heir.

It was easy to distinguish them from imperial knights, whose energy felt somewhat different.

Dietrich turned his horse and began to gallop in the opposite direction.

“We’re leaving it like that when it’s not dead yet?”

“It’s fine. Let whoever finds it kill it. It’s fatally wounded anyway, so it can’t attack anyone.”

“That’s sad.”

“I don’t know what kind of person it is, but casting magic on animals… what a vicious hobby.”

Though he knew what kind of person it was without saying, he refrained from adding anything.

Behind them, they heard someone shouting, “Oh? A, a bear!”

It was a voice full of hope that they could take first place.

Dietrich planned to search the forest a bit more to find people who had fallen victim to the bear.

Not far from where the bear had appeared, he finally discovered two men lying on the ground as if dead.

Their bodies were covered in blood. The bleeding was so severe that blood had pooled on the ground.

Their injuries were serious. Dietrich calmly examined them.

Both men were unconscious. They were barely breathing, but so weakly it seemed they might stop at any moment.

“Strange. It didn’t kill them completely.”

Nocturne, who had leapt off the horse, approached the fallen men.

“Can you use healing magic now?”

“I’m terrible at healing magic.”

Nocturne muttered, lacking confidence. Dietrich gave him a look of exasperation as he hoisted the men onto his shoulders.

After loading the men onto the horse, he gave Nocturne a quick nod.

It meant to try using magic since it was urgent.

Nocturne scratched the back of his head and said.

“If I’m caught using magic in the imperial palace, my master in the magic tower will kill me. Magic is forbidden here.”

“I saw you use it earlier.”

“Such simple magic doesn’t get detected!”

“Then make this undetectable too.”

Grumbling “You’re so shameless, really shameless,” Nocturne lightly flicked his fingers.

Despite his complaints, an incredible magical power enveloped them.

There was a flash of light, and then only leaves floating in the wind remained in that spot.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Your Majesty! Young Master Dietrich Delgado and Viscount Nocturne Frey have returned with injured people!”

The emperor, Leyan, frowned at the unwelcome news before quickly smoothing his expression.

It was an act for the sake of those watching.

“Is that so? And the injured? Are they alright?”

Feigning surprise as he inquired about the injured, his inner thoughts were complex.

‘Dietrich Delgado has returned already? And empty-handed?’

It was a completely different outcome from what he had planned.

Less than 10 minutes after the Stevens heir had run back, saying a huge monster had appeared, and gone to receive treatment, Dietrich Delgado and Nocturne Frey had returned.

“Your Majesty. There are injured people.”

The emperor surveyed the two tall men standing before him with a displeased gaze.

The two were immaculate, without a single injury.

‘Damn it. I was hoping they’d either capture the black bear or preferably die by it.’

In truth, he hadn’t expected the latter. There was no way Dietrich, a swordsman capable of wiping out entire units single-handedly, would fall to a mere black bear.

That ice-cold fellow surpassed human limits, after all.

[Young Master Dietrich Delgado is not human. He uses swordsmanship more cruel and merciless than anyone I’ve ever seen…]

Jacob, the vice-captain of the Imperial Knights, trailed off and shuddered.

With a serious expression, as if he had goosebumps, he continued.

[Have you ever seen someone smiling as if enjoying themselves on the battlefield?]

According to Jacob, Dietrich’s swordsmanship was beautiful enough to instantly captivate one’s attention.

However, as he cut down enemy soldiers, he showed not a shred of mercy, as if disposing of insignificant insects.

Moreover, in a situation where surprise attacks had resulted in over half becoming casualties or fatalities, Dietrich had faced that many enemy soldiers almost single-handedly.

Too quickly for Jacob to even intervene.

[It was truly astounding. Befitting of the Delgado family, known for their swordsmanship.]

After completely annihilating the enemy forces, he didn’t even blink despite being covered in blood from head to toe.

Even the emperor felt chills at the statement that Dietrich showed no emotion whatsoever, even as the knights slain by his sword piled up like a mountain of corpses.

Dietrich Delgado was dangerous.

If left unchecked, he might one day try to devour even the imperial family.

Dietrich had to be restrained before that happened. There were two ways to do it.

Either push forward with his marriage to Princess Ariana, binding the Delgado family to the imperial family as in-laws.

‘Or kill Dietrich.’

However, killing Dietrich would require quite a lot of time and effort.

So now, while the succession war for the Delgado family was not yet over, was the perfect time to deal with Dietrich.

Dietrich would need power to become the duke, and the imperial family could provide that power.

If that became impossible, there was also the option of making Yurian Delgado the duke and killing Dietrich after he lost the succession battle.

Having finished his various thoughts, the emperor first encouraged Dietrich and Nocturne with a friendly smile.

“Thank you. The Imperial Knights had gone to search for the injured, but you’ve saved them the trouble.”

“…It was nothing.”

“…”

In response to the insincere encouragement, Nocturne replied reluctantly, while Dietrich completely ignored it.

To ignore the emperor’s words.

If it had been any other family, it would have meant immediate punishment, but because it was Dietrich of the Delgado family, the emperor suppressed his rising anger.

“Haha, I see. I heard there was some kind of monster in the forest. Did you happen to see it?”

Dietrich’s emotionless blue-green eyes flickered slightly.

“I didn’t see it.”

This time he answered firmly.

‘That can’t be right.’

The emperor’s jaw clenched. Dietrich should have encountered that black bear.

Yet he says he didn’t even see it?

Just then, a servant’s booming voice shattered the emperor’s suspicions.

“Your Imperial Majesty! The Anderson heir has ca-caught the black bear!”