Chapter 188

Raon entered the restaurant called the Eastern Cockscomb with Wrath, who was dancing in the air in excitement.

Contrary to its large appearance and supposed popularity, there was barely anyone inside and the food’s fragrance couldn’t be found either.

“Welcom… Gasp!”

A middle-aged man with slightly droopy eyes seemed to be the manager. His jaw dropped after examining Raon, who was taking the lead.

“A-Are you actually the Young Sword Demon, Sir Raon?”

“Young Sword Demon?”

“The rumor spread that the young Sword Demon that defended Habun Castle was the vice-squad leader. That’s why people recently started calling Sir Raon the Young Sword Demon.”

Dorian silently stepped up next to him and whispered.

‘Young Sword Demon…’

It sounded relatively weak for someone that defeated an apostle, but it couldn’t be helped. The man that was called the Sword Demon was a powerful Grandmaster.

“Benefactor! My name is Twell!”

The manager introduced himself as Twell, then suddenly leaned forward and lowered his head.

“Benefactor?”

“My daughter safely returned thanks to the benefactor. Thank you very much. Belle!”

He shouted at the kitchen, his head still lowered, and a woman came out wearing a white bandana around her head. Her droopy eyes looked similar to the manager’s.

“Huh? Ooh!”

The woman named Belle hurriedly ran towards Raon upon recognizing his face.

“S-Sir Raon! You woke up.”

“Do you know me?”

“I was there when Sir Raon was fighting against the apostle.”

“Ah!”

If she was there, she must’ve been one of the hostages that couldn’t run away because of the aggravated situation.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“It was all thanks to Sir Raon’s consideration. You kept a distance from us in order to avoid harming us.”

“Hmm…”

Raon licked his lips. He did lead the apostle to a place with nothing behind them in order to avoid damaging the swordsmen and hostages around them, and she must’ve noticed his intentions.

“I’m really grateful. It was all thanks to you that I returned home safely.”

“I’d also like to express my gratitude, Benefactor!”

The father and daughter bowed at him. From the way their hands were trembling, Raon could tell at a glance that they were thanking him from the bottom of their hearts.

‘Hmm…’

Raon felt a tingling sensation in his heart. The gratitude from people who’d been saved by him was more impressive than the random people outside praising him as powerful and amazing.

‘I don’t even need to eat at this point.’

Although he hadn’t started eating yet, he already felt like he was full.

Stop saying bullshit and start ordering already.

Wrath frowned, telling him to cut the crap.

“Benefactor, we will do anything we can do for you!”

The manager spread his arms, telling him to say anything he wanted.

“No, it’s enough for me that your daughter is safe.”

Raon smiled at them, and their mouths became round open. It looked like they didn’t expect him to say that it was okay without making any requests.

“No, but still…”

“Then, please prepare our meal. We all came here to eat, after all.”

“Ah, of course. By the way…”

“Yes?”

“Our restaurant’s pride, the Lanchelin Stir-Fried Chicken, is unavailable right now. We are out of ingredients.”

The manager bitterly bit his lips.

“Are you out of ingredients?”

“When the White Blood fanatics set fires while running away, the food storehouse that we shared with a few other restaurants burned down.”

“Ah, that’s why…”

He thought it was strange that the restaurant was empty. It was because they ran out of ingredients.

Kuh…

A beast’s groan could be heard from Wrath’s mouth.

Again? Agaain? Agaaaain!

Just like the first time they met, Wrath puffed up and spread out a huge amount of coldness and wrath.

How could they burn down the ingredients? Why is the King of Essence never able to eat anything? All I want is a single dish, yet something stops me every single time! Does the world hate the King of Essence or something?

‘It can’t be helped if it’s burned down.’

It’s all your fault! Everything would’ve been okay if you were defending this restaurant instead of fighting that mongrel!

‘Stop being unreasonable.’

It’s not unreasonable! The King of Essence would’ve turned both of them into ice in an instant before coming here to extinguish the fire!

‘But I’m not you.’

That’s why! Give me your body! The King of Essence will catch everyone from the White Blood Religion or White Shit Religion or whatever, then separate them into bones and flesh!

‘Of course I won’t.’

Uuuh…

Wrath shrank like a flat balloon and sank on the floor.

It’s over now. I’m never going to believe you ever again, nor grant your requests.

‘But we still have the ice cream.’

……

Wrath didn’t respond, despite Raon mentioning the ice cream. He quickly turned his head, showing how angry he was.

‘Since I saw a few bead ice cream shops were open, I’ll buy two sets…’

“Dad, we’ve got Lantics.”

“Ah! You are right!”

As Raon was trying to cheer Wrath up with ice cream, the manager clapped his hands.

“We don’t have the Lanchelin chicken, but we have something even better.”

“What would that be…?”

“When the mountain next to the city collapsed, eight of the Lantics chickens were caught.”

“Lantics chicken?”

Raon tilted his head. Just like the Lanchelin, he had never heard about Lantics before.

“It’s an extremely rare chicken, to the point that it’s called the phoenix of food ingredients. Because of its rarity despite the amazing taste, it’s said that you have to be royalty to have it, and even then, they can only have it a couple times a year. The tender meat of the big and greasy chicken is one of the greatest delicacies.”

Ohh, how could such a chicken exist…?

Icy coldness was drooling from Wrath’s mouth, who jumped up to float in front of the manager.

“Since we’ve already finished reopening, would you like stir fried Lantics?”

The manager gathered his hands, pleading for him to let him repay Raon.

“Hmm, you don’t need to go that far, since it sounds like a precious ingredient…”

Ahem!

When Raon tried to refuse, Wrath cleared his throat while covering his mouth with his hand.

Refusing repayment isn’t a virtue. Too much modesty is a flaw.

He frowned, hiding his mouth with his hand.

“Not at all! Lantics chicken is nothing, since you’ve saved the entire city on top of my daughter! Please, wait for a little while, since I’ll prepare it right away!”

“Please, take a seat.”

The manager and Belle bobbed their heads, then ran to the kitchen at the same time.

Hmph!

Raon looked aside upon hearing a laughing sound. Wrath was trembling, covering his mouth.

‘Are you laughing right now?’

I don’t know what you are talking about. Don’t speak to the King of Essence.

Wrath was still pretending to be angry, but he couldn’t hide the happiness in his voice.

‘Let’s see…’

Raon put away the hand covering Wrath’s mouth. The corners of his mouth were raised so high that they looked like they could reach the ceiling.

‘The saltiness is gone so quickly. This demon king is really as light as a feather.’

Raon laughed bitterly because of how ridiculously fast his anger was gone.

Sh-Shut up. Go take a seat instead.

Wrath blushed. It looked like he was also embarrassed.

‘Haa…’

Raon shook his head, then went to take a seat at the table in the center. The other Light Wind members also took a seat.

“Please savor this in the meantime.”

The manager brought stir-fried pork, liquor, and some simple side dishes from the kitchen.

Ahem, just like I heard, this shop’s stir-fry is great. It’s properly fried at an intense heat without burning the vegetables and the meat.

Wrath smiled in satisfaction after trying out the stir-fried pork. The way he kept looking in the kitchen’s direction while licking his lips showed his anticipation.

After enjoying the stir-fried pork and liquor for about twenty minutes, a huge chicken came out on a big dish that an adult man could barely carry.

“Here is the Lantics stir-fried chicken that’s only available today! Enjoy your meal!”

“Enjoy your meal!”

The manager and Belle expressed their gratitude at each table while placing dishes.

“It has a nice fragrance.”

Dorian licked his lips from the stir-fried chicken’s fragrance.

“Indeed.”

The spicy and sweet fragrance was mouth-watering.

Q-Quickly! Eat it already! Fast!

Wrath stuck his tongue out and panted like a dog. He kept tapping on Raon’s shoulder, telling him that he couldn’t wait any longer.

‘Calm down a little.’

Raon pushed him aside with his elbow and picked up some of the stir-fried chicken. He placed the vegetables cut into small pieces on the meat, then put it in his mouth.

As soon as the garlic’s numbing spiciness and the hot pepper’s simple spiciness stimulated his mouth, the sweet taste of the sauce engulfed his tongue and neutralized the spicy taste. The harmony between the crispy skin of the chicken and the tender meat followed, creating a small explosion inside his mouth.

“Wow…”

Raon exclaimed. It was different from any chicken that he had tasted before. There was a good reason that it was a rare food even for royalty. Dozens of pieces of gold wouldn’t be excessive as a price.

“Woow!”

“Mhm!”

“I-It’s really delicious!”

“It’s my first time eating something like this!”

Dorian, Runaan, and the other swordsmen also widened their eyes upon eating the Lantics stir-fried chicken.

Because of the unbearably good taste, they started gobbling up the food with their faces on the dishes.

‘How about you?’

Raon looked at Wrath next to him. He looked like a man ascending, his eyes closed and arms open. His whole body was trembling in elation.

The King of Essence is glad to be alive. He saw the intensity of stir-frying inside this dish.

Wrath gave an extremely satisfied smile, slowly opening his eyes. He looked more like an angel rather than a demon king.

Did you see this, cub?

‘See what?’

The King of Essence fought against the world and won. Heaven tried stopping the King of Essence, but he pierced through the wall and obtained this heavenly taste in his tongue.

‘You didn’t do anything, though.’

Raon frowned. The Lantics chicken appeared because Rimmer and the tenth apostle destroyed the mountain, and the chicken was offered thanks to Raon’s deeds. It was nonsensical to claim it was his doing.

Everything is thanks to the King of Essence standing at the center. This is what you call charisma, and this is the Monarch of Wrath.

‘Monarch of Wrath or whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’m saying you didn’t do anything!’

Come at me, world! 

* * * 

Two days later.

Since Raon and the Light Wind squad had fully recovered, they left Porvan City amidst the crowd’s cheers.

“Hmm…”

The mayor Owist licked his lips, looking at the Light Wind squad as they got further away.

“What’s the matter?”

His secretary, Bayzon, stepped up next to him.

“You’ve looked troubled ever since you talked to the Light Wind’s vice leader.”

“Troubled? Yes, I’m troubled.”

“What? N-No way, did they actually make another request?”

Bayzon panicked and grabbed Owist’s sleeve.

“The requests he made are already enough to endanger our financial situation! We have to use all the budget we saved up last year!”

Every single request from Raon and the Light Wind cost a lot of money. Bayzon couldn’t express how glad he was that the request of giving them an ice cream shop wasn’t granted.

“Ah, it’s not about that.”

Owist waved his hand.

“However, it’s an even more difficult and troublesome matter.”

“What did he even say…?”

“It’s simple. He proposed that Porvan to only ask for help from Zieghart in the future.”

“Whaat?”

Bayzon’s jaw dropped.

‘That pretty much means that we will be affiliated to them.’

Asking them to only offer Zieghart missions meant that they were monopolizing the missions. It was a different story from rewarding them by using the city’s budget.

Moreover, Porvan was located between Balkar Kingdom and Zieghart, which wasn’t far away from the Owen Kingdom.

Since they were pretty much located at a crossroads, they couldn’t easily decide on an affiliation.

“I’m against it. Since we are located in the middle of multiple forces, a monopoly will most likely aggravate our relationship with other Kingdoms.”

Bayzon shook his head in denial.

“Actually, it’s not even worthy of consideration. Since we’ve always been neutral, we can stay neutral in the future.”

“Yes, that’s true. However…”

Owist looked at Raon’s back as he left the front gate.

“I have a feeling that man will open a new era.”

“Hmm…”

Bayzon followed Owist’s gaze to look at Raon.

“I’m also aware that he defeated an apostle, but shouldn’t it be a coincidence to some extent?”

“I suppose.”

“Moreover, there’s a rumor about a future archmage in Balkar. He can apparently use all four affinities, and even combat magic on top of that. Since we don’t know what is going to happen in the future, it’s too dangerous to choose a side.”

“That’s also true.”

“Then, there’s no need to think about…”

“However.”

Owist’s eyes sunk deep in thought.

“I’m not currently looking at the man named Raon.”

“What?”

“The future. I’m trying to look at the size of the mountain that man is going to climb in the future.”

“Did you manage to see it?”

“No, I couldn’t see it because it’s too high.”

He had met countless famous powerhouses and royals throughout his career as Porvan’s mayor, but Raon was more unpredictable than any of them. He couldn’t grasp where, and how high, he was going to reach.

“T-To that extent?”

“Yes. If I wanted to invest money, I would have invested my entire fortune in him.”

“Huh…”

Bayzon gasped. Despite his friendly and gentle appearance, Owist was judicious concerning money and investments. It was his first time seeing him make such an evaluation about another person.

“I understand what you mean, but isn’t it fine to maintain our current condition? It’s not like our city loses to any other…”

“There’s one city near us that is far better than ours. Cameloon.”

“Ah…”

The volume of trade in Cameloon was several times larger than Porvan, and they were even bigger in terms of population. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that they were on a completely different level.

“We will never be able to surpass them at this rate.”

“……”

Bayzon silently nodded.

“Keep gathering information about Raon Zieghart.”

“What information…?”

“About where he did which mission, and who he defeated. Make sure to properly confirm before recording them in detail.”

Owist’s eyes, reflecting the sunlight, were filled with passion.

“Since that information might contain the ladder that would allow our city to climb higher.”

* * *

Light Wind had returned to Zieghart.

Rimmer normally would have been the one leading the members from the front, but Raon had to take the lead upon reaching the front gate, since Rimmer was wobbling like a zombie.

“We can finally rest.”

“Porvan was nice, but home is the best.”

“Ah, I’m going to take a bath right away. I need to wash myself.”

Since they successfully finished their first mission, the members’ faces were fully blooming with smiles.

“Squad leader.”

Raon dragged Rimmer to the front before Zieghart’s front gate opened.

“We’ve reached the house. Please announce the end of the mission.”

“Eh, err…”

Rimmer raised his head, faltering like a marionette with broken strings.

Look at his face.

Wrath giggled while watching Rimmer’s unfocused eyes, since he managed to enjoy everything from the delicious food to the ice cream.

‘Hmm…’

Raon licked his lips while looking at Rimmer.

‘I should give him a few pieces of gold.’

He really looked like he was about to wither at that rate. Raon figured he needed to share some of the reward money, even though he would probably end up losing it while gambling.

“M-Mission is over. You can go rest now, and lend me some money if you have…”

As Rimmer was telling them to rest while begging for money at the same time, Zieghart’s huge front gate split into half and a man as large as a steel tower stepped out. He was Illiune, the external commander of the house.

“I’m sorry, but there’s somewhere you need to visit before resting.”

Illuine’s sharp eyes gladly examined everyone in front of the Light Wind’s formation.

“The head of house has summoned all of you.”

He raised his chin and smiled brightly.

“He’s probably giving you a gift, since you raised the house’s reputation.”

“Gift? Money? Gold?”

A spark appeared in Rimmer’s dead eyes.

***

If you find any errors or have suggestions, please feel free to provide feedback.

Thank you for reading!

[Author – Writing Ant, 글개미]

[Translator – Kyangi]

[Proofreader – Harley]