Chapter 12
The priest felt as though the world were collapsing around him.
The moment Havel returned alive, the priest's days were numbered.
Unless that bastard was an idiot, he couldn't possibly fail to know who was behind the incident. And he hadn't even returned alone—he'd brought that creepy evil-spirit bastard with him.
Just recalling the venomous gaze Ivan had directed at him made the priest's knees go weak.
‘If I had known this would happen···I never should have provoked him in the first place.’
Even the great chieftain seemed to have grasped the general outline of what had happened. There truly was no way out.
The priest was still barely clinging to life, but he was as good as dead already.
He wondered if it would be better to take his own life, but he could not summon the courage to do so.
Elena sneered as she watched him waste away.
Still, she couldn't let him despair over something this minor. She hadn't even begun to exact her share of revenge.
One of the tribe's warriors opened the door and entered.
“Priest, please come take a look at Havel's condition.”
A faint glimmer of hope appeared in the priest's eyes.
“···Did you hear that something was wrong with him?”
“Fortunately, he's perfectly fine. Still, you never know what might happen.”
The priest hurled every curse he knew at the idiot standing before him, silently.
“···I'm sorry. I'm feeling a little tired today. Could you come back another time?”
Ivan was obviously going to be at his side too. Was this warrior telling him to get himself killed?
If he went there now, it would hardly be surprising if Ivan beat him to death the moment their eyes met.
The warrior, who had never expected to be refused, looked troubled.
“But···.”
“Then I'll go in his place.”
Elena quickly inserted herself into the conversation.
“You don't mind, do you?”
Normally, he would have exploded in anger and demanded to know what she thought she was doing, heading off without even asking permission.
But he did not have the energy for that now, and he even felt grateful that she had taken care of something he needed to do.
“···Do as you please.”
The priest watched Elena walk away, looking somehow excited, and thought to himself.
Who knew? Perhaps she could even ensnare him with her charms.
***
“Hmm, you're completely healed.”
Even without any special first aid, the bleeding had stopped and scabs had begun to form in less than a day.
The warriors of the North were all exceptionally hardy, but Havel was especially outstanding even among them.
Could someone like this really be called human? Ivan was secretly impressed.
“···You're quite the monster yourself.”
“I don't think that's something you have any right to say.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. I had a vague feeling that you were hiding your true abilities, but you're a completely different person from when I last saw you. What on earth happened?”
Ivan briefly considered how much it was safe to reveal.
‘He probably wouldn't believe me even if I told him···.’
Well, it didn't matter. There was no reason to deliberately hide what had really happened.
At this point, Ivan was sick of hiding things. He honestly told him everything.
Havel's jaw dropped.
“···So you're saying Valdor personally taught you?”
“To put it simply, yes. He also left me this sword.”
When Ivan casually held out the red sword, Havel nearly had a fit.
“My God! I never thought I'd see Hrundal while I was still alive!”
So this sword's name was Hrundal? Ivan had learned something unexpected.
“I thought it felt familiar somehow···Oh, great Valdor···.”
Havel's voice trembled as though he were deeply moved, and he grabbed Ivan's shoulders firmly.
“Ivan, you have to keep this hidden from everyone else, no matter what. Even if people grow suspicious, insist that it's merely a similar sword.”
“Do we really need to go that far? Surely no one would be stupid enough to try anything.”
“Isn't that obvious? If that sword really is Hrundal, there are countless people who would kill you just to take it.”
Ivan thought about it for a moment, then accepted the explanation.
If it was truly the sword once wielded by the god of war, it was certainly something anyone would covet.
‘Maybe I still can't grasp it because I've gotten so used to that old man.’
Havel was still too moved to calm down, rejoicing like a child.
“I've really got myself one fine brother. It makes me incredibly proud.”
Ivan felt tempted to expose the old man's ugly true nature in full, but decided against it.
When he was that happy, there was no need to shatter his fantasy.
“I understand now. If Valdor personally taught you, then it makes sense that you would be so strong. Was there anything else?”
Ivan put on a sly expression and whispered conspiratorially.
“This is a secret from everyone else, but it looks like you're going to have a sister-in-law soon.”
“···Even for you, that's hard to believe. Did you really have a chance to meet a woman while living holed up in the forest?”
“That's nothing. When you're someone like me, women naturally flock to you.”
Ivan boasted without the slightest shame.
Havel wanted to argue, but he had nothing in particular to say. That only made it more irritating.
“···Well, if you say so, I suppose it must be true. Nothing surprises me about you anymore.”
“I wonder what she's doing right now. She was making quite a fuss about liking me.”
No sooner had he finished speaking than the door opened with a creak.
“Really? Did I ever do that?”
Elena looked down at Ivan with a cold smile.
‘What is this? Some kind of insanely hilarious hidden-camera prank?’
His mind froze on the spot. Anyone would have reacted the same way in his position.
The corners of Ivan's eyes began to twitch.
“···This isn't a dream, is it?”
“Who knows? Do you wish this moment were a dream?”
Chilling. It felt as though a dagger had flown into his chest and lodged there.
There was no point in saying anything now, so Ivan immediately dropped to his knees.
“I'm sorry.”
“What did you do wrong?”
“···Please spare me.”
“I'll let it slide just this once. There won't be a next time.”
Havel, who had witnessed the entire exchange from the front row, wore a bewildered expression.
“···Surely by ‘sister-in-law,’ you mean···? No, more importantly, did the two of you already know each other?”
Ivan hung his head in shame and humiliation. Damn this big mouth of mine.
“Yes, I fell for her at first sight and kept throwing myself at her.”
“That's right.”
Elena nodded with satisfaction.
“Anyway, we'll discuss those trivial matters later. I came because there's something I wanted to say.”
“Something you wanted to say? What is it?”
“The priest. What are you planning to do about him?”
Ivan answered without much thought.
“Obviously, I'll play with him until I've had my fill, then kill him. Why do you ask all of a sudden···? Do you have any relation to the priest?”
“If you want to be technical, he's my father.”
“···I had a little misunderstanding with my father-in-law. Isn't the greatest revenge forgiving your enemy?”
Elena chuckled.
“I'm joking. We're not related by blood anyway, and I have some grudge against him myself.”
Ivan let out a sigh of relief. His mind reeled as he swung between heaven and hell in an instant.
“As it happens, I've got a good plan. Want to hear it?”
“Sure. You probably know better than I do.”
“Now that you've been accepted as a member of the tribe again, you'll soon be undergoing the coming-of-age ceremony.”
“The coming-of-age ceremony?”
When Ivan blinked, Havel explained it for him.
“The coming-of-age ceremony is the rite by which one is recognized as a full-fledged warrior of the tribe. It's a ritual commemorating how Valdor, when he was young, beat one hundred enemies to death with his bare fists.”
“Ah, that old man···.”
“···The initiate faces one hundred warriors in succession, and the more victories they earn, the more accomplished a warrior they are deemed to be. I defeated fifty.”
It sounded like an utterly absurd requirement.
Was it realistically possible for one person to defeat one hundred opponents, especially seasoned warriors?
“That makes no sense. Has anyone actually won all one hundred fights?”
“In the long history of the North, there have been exactly two.”
“Two?”
“Yes. One was the great Valdor. The other was Eirik, the great chieftain of the North—and my father.”
“Then there will be three now.”
Anyone hearing him would have laughed at such absurd boasting, but Ivan was completely serious.
Of course, neither Havel nor Elena doubted that Ivan would win.
“It shouldn't be difficult for you. Winning the coming-of-age ceremony is the first part of the plan. I'll tell you the rest afterward.”
“Why? You can tell me now.”
“Then it wouldn't be fun. I'm leaving now, so see you next time.”
Elena gave him a little wave as she said goodbye.
‘What kind of plan is it, anyway?’
Ivan had an ominous feeling, but he made an effort to dismiss it.
Surely nothing too serious would happen.