Chapter 232 The Weight of Farewell (2)

Far from the outskirts of the city, back at Hunters’ Paradise, another residence was witnessing a different kind of family moment.

This time, between a brother and his sister.

Alicia Heart had always been a hesitant girl.

Timid, shy, indecisive, and so soft-spoken that her voice could barely be heard.

Yet beneath all that uncertainty lay a skill that couldn’t be underestimated, along with an exceptional lightness of movement.

On the night of her return, Alicia put that agility and skill to use, helping her younger brother sneak into her room so she could spend the one day she’d been given with him.

Her brother was still very young, even younger than Chai, and he was deeply attached to his older sister.

His disappointment had been immense when he learned that the sister who had finally returned after such a long absence would be leaving again the very next day.

Worse still, she was heading to the land where the people responsible for their mother’s death lived.

Alicia’s family had a terrible history with the Arden family. One of the princes had once exploited the curse to subject their mother to horrific things, things that eventually led to her death.

And now, Alicia was about to come face-to-face with that very same family.

She was frightened.

Terrified to her very core.

She wanted to cry. More than anything, she wanted to spend the entire night weeping until she had no tears left to shed.

But she couldn’t.

Not in front of her little brother, at least.

She had to be strong for him. She wanted to be the strong older sister he could always depend on.

Because if she couldn’t hold herself together, how could she expect him to?

And so, she had no choice but to hold back her tears and suppress her emotions until the very last moment.

Alicia and Chai weren’t the only ones spending their remaining time with their families.

Moon and Luna were doing the same.

The two sisters had two younger brothers, Sol and Star, children who had been raised under the care of Vanessa, the Witch of the Forest.

Fortunately, they were safe.

But neither Moon nor Luna was doing particularly well, despite their attempts to pretend otherwise.

After all, their parents had died in the very capital they were now preparing to visit.

They had died defending that city and the Arden family.

Their worries were shared many times over by the old drunkard, the Uncrowned Emperor, Asterion.

He was a man who had already lost his daughter, and he had no desire to experience that same tragedy again with his grandchildren.

Every one of them carried fear and anxiety in their hearts, along with grief and longing.

Even Raiden, who had no family left, spent his remaining time with the younger hunters who adored him and affectionately called him their big brother.

Meanwhile, somewhere inside an abandoned tower, Verso was cheerfully singing as he dismembered the corpses of his victims, preparing to conceal his crime and carry on with his life.

"I wonder how much blood I’d need to turn that beautiful moon red?~"

As the cursed hunter’s laughter echoed through the tower, time continued its march, and the following day soon arrived.

...

In Ashvarn’s Grand Square, where people gathered for the most important occasions and the city’s most significant announcements were made, a large crowd had assembled.

They watched from a distance as the hunters who would be sent to the capital were selected.

Their destination was the city where the Emperor resided.

A place known as the Land of Gold.

To the people of Ashvarn, the Land of Gold was a place they knew only through stories.

Imagining what it looked like was all most of them could ever hope to do, for members of the Heart Clan were forbidden from traveling there or entering its gates unless summoned by the Emperor or a member of the ruling family.

It was a privilege granted to very few.

Yet it was hardly something to be proud of.

Because being chosen meant nothing more than exchanging the hunting of monsters for the hunting of humans.

Those selected became knights in the service of the princes, fighting in wars and becoming entangled in political struggles that had absolutely nothing to do with them.

This time, two squads had been chosen.

The Second Hunting Squad and the Third Hunting Squad.

Side by side, the two squads advanced toward the center of the square, led by Verso and Moon respectively.

Most of the hunters wore stiff expressions that betrayed their nervousness.

With one exception.

Verso was actually laughing.

The members of Moon’s squad were already familiar faces, Ethan among them.

However, Ethan was seeing several members of the other squad for the first time.

Verso’s squad consisted of five members, just like Moon’s.

Besides Verso himself, there was Luna, who had recently joined his squad, along with three others.

One man and two women.

The man was enormous, even taller than Raiden.

His hair was pitch-black, indicating that he was of mixed blood. His features were rough, his eyes narrow, and there was something distinctly strange about his face.

At least, that was Ethan’s first impression.

In fact, the first thing that came to mind when he saw the man was an orc.

Unlike the orc-like man, the two women in Verso’s squad had relatively ordinary appearances.

One of them was casually reading a book, seemingly unconcerned with everything happening around her.

She wore glasses and had long red hair.

Judging by the book in her hands, Ethan assumed she was a mage, much like Luna.

The other woman, however, appeared to be a fighter.

Her remarkable physique made that obvious enough. She had more muscle than most of the men Ethan had encountered.

A long spear rested across her back.

’So this is the Second Hunting Squad...’

They were the squad that had taken responsibility for hunting throughout the months Ethan and his companions had been absent.

Judging their true strength wasn’t easy, but the fact that they’d managed to shoulder the burden of hunting alone for so long told him that their abilities were not to be underestimated.

While Ethan was still assessing the Second Hunting Squad, two men stepped forward, drawing more attention than anyone else.

They were the elders who would accompany the hunters on their journey.

The first was Kevin Heart, the man responsible for overseeing most of the clan’s affairs.

He remained as stern and cold as Ethan remembered from their last encounter.

Kevin took his place beside Verso’s squad.

As for the elder assigned to Moon’s squad, he was a familiar face who arrived late, dragging a rather strange-looking suitcase behind him.

"Hey, old man... What are you doing here?"

Ethan asked the question the moment he spotted the one-armed man.

"How insolent, boy! Is that any way to address your elders?"

It was none other than Asterion himself.

Dressed in his hunting attire once again, the old man had decided to accompany the Third Hunting Squad on their journey to the Land of Gold.

"I wasn’t expecting you to come. Actually, I thought you’d go back to spending your days drinking yourself into a stupor and doing absolutely nothing."

"It’s been a long time since anyone showed me this much disrespect... I think you need to be taught a lesson, boy."

With those words, Asterion approached Ethan.

Ethan immediately understood what the old man wanted and leaned closer, offering him his ear.

That was when Asterion revealed the contents of the suitcase he’d brought with him.

"Let me teach you a valuable lesson in life. No matter where you’re going, you must always be prepared. Understand what I mean? Hehehehe!"

The old man chuckled as he revealed dozens of bottles of exceptionally strong liquor, the sort that could leave even the mightiest bull completely intoxicated.

Asterion laughed like some shameless beggar who had stumbled upon a fortune.

Ethan could only stare at him, utterly lost for words.

"If the battles don’t kill you, those things definitely will..."

"Excuse me for a moment..."

Out of nowhere, Moon stepped between them and seized the suitcase from Asterion’s hand.

The moment the old man saw his granddaughter holding his precious treasure, sweat began pouring down his face.

"Moon... Sweetheart, wait just a moment... Your grandfather needs to—"

"To hell with you and your filth."

With a single motion, the flames of the Phoenix erupted, immediately engulfing both the suitcase and Asterion.

The alcohol inside the bottles was highly flammable, causing the glass containers to explode one after another.

The resulting blaze only grew larger.

In the end, Asterion extinguished the flames with a single sweep of his hand, pushing the fire away.

But it was already too late.

Every last drop of his precious liquor was gone.

"Ah... It’s all gone!"

As Asterion mourned his terrible loss, Kevin slapped a hand against his forehead, as though he’d known this would happen from the very beginning.

"Be serious, Asterion. We’re not here to play games."

He tried to remind the old man of his responsibilities.

But Asterion paid his words absolutely no attention, letting them go in one ear and straight out the other.

The old man only spoke to his granddaughter and Ethan, the two people who addressed him with such casual familiarity.

And between this version of Asterion and the revered Uncrowned Emperor...

Ethan much preferred the former.

Asterion was a man who knew when to be serious and when there was no need for it.

And what happened next was proof enough.

His eyes suddenly narrowed, taking on a sharp, murderous intensity as he turned toward the platform that had been prepared for a particular guest.

A man had stepped onto it, revealing himself to the assembled hunters and the people of Ashvarn alike.

Dressed in luxurious garments that spoke of his noble origins, with distinctive silver hair, the man appeared to be in his late thirties.

One glance was all Ethan needed to understand who he was.

’There’s no doubt about it... He’s one of them...’

A man descended from that family.

The Arden family.