Gara stepped into his dorm room and dropped onto the sofa.

He let out a long breath. His whole body felt drained. Today’s classes had been exhausting.

And on top of that, the after-effects of yesterday’s assault still lingered. He wasn’t physically injured, but the tension and hyper-vigilance he’d experienced had left a heavy weight on his body.

Niskara tea helped for a moment, but what he really needed was rest.

He closed his eyes for a bit while waiting for Madha and Fian. The two were still putting their things away in their room.

It didn’t take long before they arrived.

Gara brought them into his dimensional pocket.

Inside the dimensional home, spring was coming to an end. The air was getting warmer—so warm that even at night, the cold was almost gone. They were all wearing light short-sleeved shirts, just like when they lived in the village.

They walked toward the house entrance. At the same moment, the gate opened from the outside.

Agus Soren appeared with his signature smile.

"Congratulations, Gara."

Gara blinked. He tried to figure out if something good had happened to him. As far as he remembered, he had just been attacked by druid assassins for the first time in his life.

Then he remembered Duke Eshaan. His grandfather had just regained consciousness. As an important figure, it made sense that he and Agus knew each other.

"Thank you, Sir. I’m relieved that Duke Eshaan has awakened and can lead the duchy again," Gara replied politely.

Agus shook his head. "That’s not what I meant. I’m talking about you..."

"Me?" Gara pointed at himself, confused. He glanced at Madha and Fian—both shook their heads, just as clueless.

Agus wasn’t the type to make small talk, so he got straight to the point.

"You’ve been appointed as Duke Eshaan’s heir."

He pulled out a large parchment—today’s news sheet.

Gara stared, mouth hanging open, and took the parchment.

It resembled a newspaper, though it was made of treated parchment instead of paper.

Every article had a different size depending on its importance.

And the biggest headline of the day... had his name. And Duke Eshaan’s.

"Starting today, Gara Eshaan, first son of the late Commander Gavin Eshaan, is officially appointed as the heir of Duke Eshaan."

That was the essence of the main headline.

He blinked rapidly, hoping that if he blinked enough, the words would change. But...

No.

He really had become the heir of Duke Eshaan.

"This makes no sense!" Gara blurted out, his brain short-circuiting.

"Congratulations on your appointment, Gara."

Fian, standing beside him, didn’t seem to notice Gara’s reluctance at all. He simply smiled softly.

Madha, however, looked worried. He scanned the rest of the article intensely.

"Duke Eshaan revealed what happened eighteen years ago..."

Gara stopped internally cursing and read the long article himself.

Apparently, it wasn’t just about him.

"It seems that after returning from the brink of death, Duke Eshaan finally knows what he needs to prioritize," Agus said, his tone sounding sarcastic—but it was really just the perspective of someone who had lived for hundreds of years.

Gara nodded without thinking.

The article revealed everything.

Not a single secret was left hidden.

The article even stated clearly that the ones who murdered Commander Gavin—the man who protected every living being in this world from the mist monsters—were the druids.

Duke Eshaan wasn’t afraid of sparking an inter-race war or damaging the pact between the races.

Gara immediately understood that all of this was done to protect him.

Now the entire kingdom would feel obligated to safeguard Commander Gavin’s son—someone whose father had died in vain at the hands of druids.

And it served as a warning too: the druids were not to lay a finger on Gara. If anything happened to him, the whole world might retaliate against them.

But even so, Gara felt deeply uncomfortable with the heir status.

’What was Sir Karon thinking when he agreed to this?!’ Gara felt his mind spinning.

He quickly excused himself from Agus to contact Karon.

Inside the house, Wina, Della, and Ares had already heard the news from Tristan.

"I’ll contact Sir Karon first," Gara said, unsure what else to tell them.

The three of them, along with Madha and Fian, sat on the carpet on the second floor. There weren’t many sofas or furniture up here—this was the triplets’ play area.

"Sir Karon, I’ve already heard about my appointment as heir," Gara said immediately. "What exactly is going on? And how long am I supposed to hold this status?"

Karon answered calmly. "It was my suggestion to the Duke. If you think about it, the previous heir was the late Commander Gavin. So the rightful next heir should naturally be his child. And that’s you."

"You can’t be seri—"

Gara cut himself off, nearly blurting out what he truly felt.

"I’m not suited for this, Sir..." Gara tried to explain. He wasn’t fit for the role, and he wasn’t actually returning to live in the Esalavya Duchy. He only needed protection.

But Karon remained firm.

"Precisely because you need protection, this status is the strongest shield we can give you. As for anything that happens afterward, we’ll discuss it in the future."

The crystal ring dimmed.

Gara let out a heavy breath.

’Goddess Freya... don’t you think this is dangerous for the world? What if this leads to destruction? The cooperation between races is crucial for keeping this world safe...’

Panic began to swirl in him. Was he about to ruin the world just by existing?

But Goddess Freya did not respond.

"Gara, Mom thinks this status really is the most suitable for you," Wina said, patting his shoulder and breaking his daze.

Della nodded beside her, eyes sparkling with admiration. Even Ares nodded with a serious look.

Gara turned to Madha—the one person who hadn’t said anything yet. He hoped his fiancé would side with him.

But when he looked, the tan-skinned man was deep in thought, brows furrowed.

Gara was about to snap him out of it when Rea’s children suddenly rushed in, chirping frantically.

Normally, Wina, Della, and Ares would need a long time to decipher what the little squirrels were saying. But with Gara here, they didn’t have to overthink.

"Rea hasn’t appeared for almost a month?!" Gara yelped.

The residents of the dimensional home—those who rarely ever left the house—tried to recall when they last saw the mother squirrel.

"Rea really hasn’t been around for a long time," Della murmured.

"I thought she was just in the back forest... or wandering around the farm outside the gate," Wina pondered aloud.

"I just realized I haven’t seen her in the back forest for weeks," Ares added, his expression tightening.

Immediately, everyone began searching for the white squirrel.

Madha and Fian headed to the farm outside the gate to ask if anyone there had seen Rea.

Panic spread everywhere.

By the time the night grew late and all the lights in the workers’ and slaves’ houses outside had gone dark, there was still no sign of her.

In the end, Gara told everyone to report to him immediately if they found her.

That night, their search ended in failure.

Gara—despite his panic—somehow felt that Rea was still safe out there. Somewhere.

...

A month passed.

It was time for the last Class S Duel of this semester.

As usual, Vania became the primary target of students who wanted a chance to enter that class. A few challenged Xerath as well, though not as many as those chasing Vania.

Xerath’s Talent wasn’t one directly suited for battle, but his pure-devil trait was nearing full maturity. That alone allowed him to overwhelm opponents with ease.

But the most shocking match of the day was Madha’s duel.

"What’s wrong with Madha? Why is he struggling against someone like that?" Andine asked, genuinely confused.

"Madha isn’t normally like this," Revan muttered, worry creeping into his voice.

Gara was extremely worried too.

He had noticed Madha changing, little by little. The man seemed unfocused—lost in thought during many things.

Whenever Class S students made progress, Madha no longer felt happy for them the way he used to. Instead, he looked... frustrated. Almost tortured.

Gara wished he could help.

But the mixture of human race and Giant bloodline wasn’t something that could develop endlessly.

Madha had already reached the highest level he could—there didn’t seem to be a path upward anymore.

Gara let out a frustrated sigh.

Suddenly, the crystal ring on his finger glowed.

It was Langga. He sent only one short sentence—yet it was enough to make Gara immediately leave the training field.

Gara rushed straight to Langga’s office.

He pushed open the door. Two familiar voices greeted him.

Langga’s voice said, "Don’t even think about running. Gara’s already here."

And then came the chirping—sharp, frantic, unmistakable—coming from Rea.

Gara refused to translate the meaning, because somehow, somewhere, the squirrel had apparently learned curse words.

"Rea! We’re going home right now!" Gara marched in with his hands on his hips.

The ball of white fur chirped in annoyance.

"Kekk!" Suddenly, she chomped down on Langga’s finger.

...