In the northern Ice Mountain Valley, there was a secret place for Reke and Irtis.

There, inferior monsters that were easy to hunt gathered and lived.

That day was supposed to be a joint training session, but due to an urgent matter with Reke, Irtis decided to go first.

However, when he arrived, there was a young nobleman from that time.

Irtis, surprised, asked, “How did you find this place…?”

“Why, are you surprised?”

He said he found this place by following Reke.

And he already knew that Irtis had come here alone today.

“I’ll defeat you today, you monster-like guy.”

Saying that, the noble boy drew a knife from his waist.

But Irtis was not nervous; he was rather puzzled.

“Did Reke get betrayed by such a guy?”

That couldn’t be true.

Reke can detect the presence of high-level monsters that ordinary soldiers cannot sense, like a ghost. Moreover, the posture of the noble boy holding the knife was so messy that it was impossible to watch.

Reke being tracked by such a punk? It was unthinkable.

At that moment, the boy rushed at Irtis.

However, Irtis easily avoided him and struck the boy’s arm once.

He wriggled on the ground, dropping the knife.

“Ahh, I’ll kill you!”

“If you keep this up, you’ll get hurt. Go home when I’m telling you nicely.”

But the boy seemed to have no intention of giving up.

He grabbed the knife again and charged at Irtis.

Irtis leaped onto a tree to evade him.

Then the boy cheerfully shouted, “You’re just scared and running away. Can’t you come down quickly?”

Irtis sighed deeply.

Though a strong fighter, Irtis had his own principles.

He believed that his power should only be used against true evildoers.

That day, after attacking his peer, he regretted it for a long time.

That’s why, no matter what the noble boy said about evil, Irtis didn’t listen.

He lay down on a tree branch to take a short break.

When will Reke come?

While resting for a moment, I unintentionally fell asleep.

How much time had passed?

Suddenly, a piercing scream echoed in my ears.

“Kyaaaah!”

Irtis opened his eyes wide.

He had heard this scream before when exterminating Reke and monsters.

Something was wrong. Because this was…

“A high-level monster…!”

There shouldn’t be those monsters living here on the mountain peak.

There was no prey for them here.

At that moment, Irtis thought of the noble boy.

He hurriedly descended under the tree.

But a disaster was already unfolding before his eyes.

The boy was about to be swallowed by the monster’s throat.

“Aaaah, save me!”

Irtis quickly cast a spell.

A sharp blade of light struck the monster’s belly.

“Kyaaah!”
The monster writhing in pain kicked the boy to the ground.

Irtis, using the wind, safely lowered the boy to the ground.

Then, he delivered the final blow towards the monster.

Finally, the large body collapsed with a loud noise.

Irtis took a deep breath.

“Is it over?”

Is that guy okay?

More than that, why is that monster even here?

His head was filled with various thoughts.

At that moment, a voice from behind, waiting, reached him.

“Wow, I knew it, Irtis is amazing. I believed you could defeat it.”

“Re…ke?”

In Reke’s arms as she walked towards him, there was an egg of the high-level monster he had defeated a while ago.

Irtis’s eyes widened slowly at the sight.

“Wait, did you intentionally lure that monster…?”

Then, Reke smiled and nodded.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

She pointed at the unconscious boy.

“I wanted to show your strength to him directly. Then he won’t dare to attack you recklessly again.”

Irtis’s head became complicated at her words.

Indeed, Reke intentionally left the boy to follow him.

Irtis, furious, shouted, “You risked such a dangerous thing for just that reason? He almost died in front of me!”

But Reke’s response was incomprehensible.

“What does it matter? Anyway, he was going to attack you.”

“Even so, you shouldn’t harm innocent people!”

“Harm? I never directly touched that guy.”

At that moment, Irtis felt, for the first time, that he couldn’t communicate with Reke.

As if asking why he was making such an expression, Reke inquired, “Why are you making that face, Irtis? You would have done the same.”

“Me…?”

“Yeah. Just like when you dealt with that guy who was bothering you.”

She was talking about the incident that made Irtis infamous.

The event where he summoned a mad dog with the 7th Circle Illusion Magic toward his peer who was bothering him.

Since it was an illusion, it didn’t cause substantial harm.

However, after experiencing being bitten by the mad dog, the guy lost his mind.

It gave Irtis a terrible sense of guilt.

Reke continued, “When I heard that story, I thought it was really cool. Being able to eliminate evil without dirtying your hands.”

Reke, saying that, had an ecstatic look in her eyes.

Irtis finally realized.

Why Reke wanted to become friends with him and thought he was cool.

Suddenly, Reke dropped the monster’s egg she was holding onto the ground.

With a crisp breaking sound, the contents spilled on the floor.

While Irtis looked surprised, her expression seemed too casual.