Alright, then, I thought.

I slowly turned my head, surveying my surroundings. Aaron watched me with eyes full of expectation. Bella let out a sigh, her expression saying, “Here we go again.” Raios crossed his arms with a cocky smirk, while Laneige looked on, clearly worried.

Under the weight of all their gazes, I turned to face the reptilian monster, the one with seven gleaming eyes that glowed like sickly jewels in the dark. Lowering my sword until its tip grazed the ground, I deliberately exposed an opening.

The creature let out a piercing screech, its body tensing as it lunged toward me. I thrust my sword forward to meet it. Using its tail like a springboard, the monster vaulted upward, narrowly avoiding my strike. It had quick reflexes, fitting for a seven-eyed demonic monster. But I wasn’t done.

Berald Combat Style: Falling Leaf.

My leg swept low, almost grazing the ground. The kick struck the monster’s tail, the very thing supporting its leap. Its balance shattered, and the monster tipped over helplessly. Where it fell, my sword was waiting for it, raised and gleaming in anticipation.

A strangled scream escaped as the monster’s head flew free from its body.

Silence ensued, thick and heavy as a curtain. Aaron, Bella, and Raios all stared at me, eyes wide with disbelief.

Bella stammered, looking completely lost. “Y-you. What was that just now?”

Aaron let out a sigh. “Hah!”

He glanced down at the reptilian monster’s severed head, his expression complicated. Rubbing his chin, he replayed the brief fight in his head, eyes flicking between my sword and the corpse.

“You lured it in by showing an opening, then used a hand-to-hand combat technique on top of that. Ah, and when you swung your sword earlier, that was to bait it into using its tail for support, wasn’t it?”

“It was just luck,” I said modestly.

Aaron gave a faint laugh and shook his head. “No, not luck. Your sword was placed exactly where its neck would fall. You predicted everything.”

His eyes gleamed, voice rising slightly with excitement. “So, the rumors were true, huh?”

“Rumors?”

“Yeah. Word is, you’re a swordsman on par with Yuren Helios.”

Well, considering I had trained alongside Yuren for quite some time, it wasn’t too strange that such rumors had spread.

Aaron continued, chuckling, “I thought it was nonsense, but it looks like there was some truth to it after all.”

“There are still plenty of things I lack compared to Yuren,” I said.

Aaron’s eyes sparkled as if he had just uncovered a hidden treasure. “Hahaha! Humble too, huh? I’m really starting to like you, junior. So, have you thought about what you’ll do after graduation?”

“No, not yet.”

“Haha, then how about joining my party? We could really use someone reliable on the front line.”

Just moments ago, he had been sizing me up like, “Let’s see what this kid can do.” Now, he was openly trying to recruit me. Considering how the Baek family had been losing ground lately compared to others, he probably didn’t want to let a promising talent slip away.

“If you join us, I can personally train you as a private coach, outside the mentoring sessions,” Aaron added.

“A personal coach?”

He nodded confidently, a faint grin playing on his lips. “Yeah. If you learn under me, by graduation, you’ll surpass even Yuren Helios.”

I couldn’t help the quiet laugh that escaped me. Who’s teaching whom here?

However, from his perspective, it was only natural. He hadn’t really seen what I was capable of. While I hadn’t gone out of my way to hide my strength, the opponents so far just hadn’t been worth showing it to. Joining Aaron’s party? That wasn’t even a consideration.

Still, I thought I should maybe play along for now. I exhaled softly, putting on a thoughtful, conflicted expression. “I’m sorry. It’s hard to decide right now.”

Aaron said warmly, clapping me on the shoulder. “Haha, no rush. Take your time. Anyway, I’m starving. Training’s great and all, but...”

He turned toward Laneige. “Let’s eat first.”

Laneige, who had been staring at the scattered monster corpses with a pale face, jumped at the sound of his voice. “Ah, y-yes! I’ll start cooking right away!”

She hurriedly opened the backpack she was carrying and pulled out her cooking tools. But even as she moved, her hands trembled slightly. Maybe that short rest hadn’t been enough; her face was drawn, exhaustion clearly etched across it.

I said, “Should I help—”

The words had barely left my mouth before I froze. Help her?

Suddenly, memories from a previous life surged to the surface. An endless white plain, and a blizzard raging across a frozen world. Frosted breath escaping cracked lips, and feet sinking into snow, knee-deep. It was a silence so complete it felt suffocating; it was a white, endless, merciless world.

Uncontrollable hatred burned through me. My teeth clenched, my fists tightening until my nails bit into my palm.

Don’t you dare pity her, I said to myself.

The monster before me, that girl, was the witch who would one day annihilate half the world. Sure, that event hadn’t happened yet. But that didn’t make it any less real, nor did it make her any less monstrous. Even if she had forgotten everything, I hadn’t. I remembered clearly. That terrible calamity, that bottomless despair, and that unending nightmare. I remembered it vividly.

Also, the reason Laneige was truly dangerous wasn’t that she held the power to freeze half the world within her. If that alone made her a threat, then what would that make me, the one who carried the Primordial Flame itself? No, what made Laneige so dangerous wasn’t her Blessing of Frost. It was the fact that she couldn’t control it at all.

Even when she betrayed humanity and became the Witch of the Night, she couldn’t master her power. It wasn’t rare for her to accidentally kill her own allies, and she nearly ruined the demonkind’s long-awaited plan to free the Demon God. To both enemies and allies alike, she was nothing short of a walking catastrophe.

That was Laneige Maram, the Witch of the Night. Killing her was the right choice. I couldn’t just leave a bomb lying around, not knowing when it would explode.

Aaron said, “Haha! Well, Laneige’s cooking isn’t half bad. You can look forward to it.”

I glossed over Aaron’s words and turned my gaze away from Laneige. “Yes, I suppose I’m looking forward to it.”

Soon, the savory scent of soup drifted through the air.

“Alright! It’s done! I’ll serve it right away!” Laneige said.

She hurriedly ladled soup into bowls and ran around to hand them out one by one to each party member. At that moment, she didn’t look like a comrade-in-arms, but more like a maid brought along for the journey.

After handing bowls to everyone, she finally walked toward me. Suddenly, she tripped over a monster’s corpse. The bowl in her hands tipped, spilling hot soup straight toward my thigh, and her face turned deathly pale. “Kyaaaa! S-sorry! I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking for a moment!”

Before I could reply, she added, “I-I’ll wipe it off!”

“No, it’s fine,” I said.

I had stepped aside just before the soup hit me, so only a few drops splashed on me.

Nevertheless, she frantically rummaged through her bag. “W-where did I put my towel? Ugh, I’m really sorry. Just give me a second and I’ll clean it.”

Aaron smiled faintly at her. “Laneige.”

Laneige flinched.

“Dale said it’s fine, didn’t he?” he added.

“B-but...”

“Sit down.”

“Uh, okay.” Laneige sat down, trembling like a scolded child.

Aaron turned to me. “You okay?”

“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”

“Haha. Sorry.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. Why would he be apologizing right now?

He handed me a new bowl of soup. “Here.”

“Thank you.”

As he had said, Laneige’s cooking really was good.

After we were finished with our meal, Aaron stood up. “Well, now that we’ve eaten, shall we get back to hunting monsters?”

Just as Laneige finished packing up and was about to put her backpack on, a voice called out to her.

Aaron walked over to her. “Give me that.”

He slung the heavy backpack over his shoulder.

“Aaron?”

“You’re tired, aren’t you?”

“B-but...”

He lifted the backpack with ease, showing off his strength. “Haha, it’s fine. I’m strong, remember?”

Laneige bowed her head slightly in gratitude. “Uh, okay. Thanks, Aaron.”

“Let’s move out.”

Then, we continued deeper into the jungle.

“Grrrgh!”

The same lizard-like demonic monster from before reappeared, alone this time. I reached for my sword, ready to deal with it quickly, when Bella spoke.

“Wait.” Bella turned toward Laneige. “Laneige. You take this one.”

“W-what? Me?”

“You’re part of this party too, aren’t you? Stop freeloading and do something for once.”

“T-that’s why I was carrying the backpack.”

“The backpack? Aaron’s carrying it now, isn’t he?”

Laneige’s face was drained of color. “N-no, I mean, that’s not what I...”

“What? You want me to die fighting while you just stand there? Don’t worry, we’ll help if it gets bad. So you should do something too.”

“I...”

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re hesitating because it’s your cousin?”

“C-cousin?”

Bella’s lips curled into a mocking grin. “Pfft! Why not? You’ve got demon blood, don’t you? Makes you and that demonic monster family, huh?”

“Ah!” Pushed forward by fear and shame, Laneige stumbled toward the monster.

I turned to look at Aaron. He stood there, arms crossed, quietly watching the scene.

“Senior Aaron,” I said.

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t you going to stop this?”

He smiled faintly. “Ahh! Laneige made a mistake with you earlier, right?”

“You mean spilling the soup?”

He nodded casually. “Yeah, that. These kinds of things happen when she lets her guard down.”

A strange, creeping unease spread through me. It was a sticky, crawling disgust that slid down my spine.

“It’s the same as training a dog or a cat. If you don’t punish them properly, they’ll just make the same mistake again later.”

“Huh!”

His calm tone twisted my stomach. A bitter laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it. At that moment, a memory resurfaced, a memory of a conversation I had with the witch.

“Yes. It’s very cold.”

That was how it was.

“For a long time, I was... always... so cold.”

You, too, were living inside a nightmare, an endless, unbroken, and mercilessly long one.