Early spring.

The snow on the roads had just finished melting when a carriage convoy flying the banner of a chamber of commerce rolled slowly along the muddy ground, heading deep into the Cairo Forest.

The accompanying guards kept their hands on their pommels, eyes sweeping constantly toward the dark woods on either side.

Monsters fresh out of hibernation were foraging everywhere. Any caravan that dared travel the wilderness during this season was either recklessly bold or genuinely capable.

Inside one of the carriages, it was quiet enough to hear the wheels rolling through wet mud.

Then a little girl tilted her face up, eyes shining with adoration at the young man sitting calmly beside her. "Lord Hero! Lord Hero! Will you tell me the story of how you defeated the Great Demon?"

"Can't say no to you, can I. Come here, sit properly." The young man smiled, lifted her onto his lap, and cleared his throat. "It was in the autumn of last year..."

"Nora, you shouldn't do that." The blue-haired girl seated across from them put on a stern face, her tone serious. "We're outside the city. You have to stay alert at all times, don't bother Banxia."

"Yes, Master..." The little girl slid obediently off his lap and retreated to the side.

"Aren't you being a little too strict, Roxy?" Banxia glanced at the petite blue-haired girl beside him.

"No. You're the one who spoils Nora too much. In the wilderness, you stay alert." Roxy didn't budge.

"Fine, you're right." Banxia didn't argue.

Not everyone was like him. If the little one picked up the habit of letting her guard down, it could cost her her life someday.

A fair amount had happened over the winter.

Most of it had nothing to do with Banxia directly. Full of energy as he was, he'd spent nearly the entire season lying flat, indoors and at the pleasure houses.

Trading on his reputation, the Shinomiya master and servant had founded the Xiaye Chamber of Commerce.

Its foundation was still thin, but the title of "Hero" smoothed every road ahead of it, and it hadn't run into any serious obstacles.

Banxia had taken the opportunity to recommend Roxy to the chamber, and she'd agreed without much hesitation.

His recommendation was one reason. But the terms were genuinely good, she'd have more time to research magic and build her strength.

The only thing asked of her was to help cultivate children with magical aptitude.

Most of these children were orphans the chamber had taken in, with no one to rely on. Banxia would drop by occasionally to teach them the fundamentals of martial arts.

Just then, a long bestial cry drifted in from outside. The convoy rounded a mountain col and rolled on.

Their destination was a beastfolk tribe, the first trade run of early spring.

Winter had just ended, and many beastfolk tribes were running short on supplies. The chamber could exchange grain for their specialties at rock-bottom prices, then turn around and sell those goods to nobles and wealthy merchants in the city at a healthy markup.

Back and forth, the margins were considerable.

The problem was the season. Monsters fresh out of hibernation were at their most vicious.

At any other time, a caravan without a Gold-rank adventurer escort leaving the city might as well be walking to its own funeral.

But on this trip, none of the guards showed the slightest trace of worry.

The reason was simple: the legendary Lord Hero was riding with them.

The Lord Hero who had hunted down an entire dragon flock bare-handed. Who had vaporized an army of a million skeletons with a single spell.

With someone like that aboard, what monster could possibly touch them?

"...This is boring."

Banxia yawned inside the carriage.

He couldn't stand sitting idle. That was the real reason he'd tagged along, to collect some monster lifespan before heading north. A convenient detour.

Unfortunately, the entire journey had given him nothing. Not a single decent monster. Not even a beast that had overslept its hibernation.

Somewhat disappointed, he leaned back against the cushion and listened to the wheels crushing through spring mud, waiting out a journey that was turning out to be a little too uneventful.

"Banxia, making it through safely is what most people want most." Roxy's voice was quiet beside him.

Because of those rumors she had spread, the young man hadn't been able to step outside for a decent meal the entire winter.

Out of guilt, she had offered herself up as free labor, spending the whole winter as a cook in the old aristocratic residence.

Drawing on the skills she'd accumulated from years of solo adventuring, Roxy judged her cooking to be... barely acceptable.

Probably.

At least Banxia had never looked like he was about to be sick.

"Yeah." He didn't argue. But his gaze stayed fixed on the window, his attention somewhere else entirely.

He understood all of that perfectly well. Understanding it and doing something about the restlessness sitting in his chest were two different things.

"..."

Roxy watched him and sighed quietly to herself.

She was still too weak. She had given everything she had this winter, pushed herself with everything she had, determined to get stronger.

Yet whenever she raised her head, she still couldn't see where he stood.

After defeating the Great Demon Geist, Banxia had become the undisputed strongest on the entire Southern Continent. No qualifiers. No debate.

No one could understand what that kind of loneliness felt like.

Not even her.

She thought about this often.

Because the Banxia who hunted monsters and the Banxia sitting quietly in this carriage were completely different people.

She was still turning this over in her mind when the young man suddenly stood up.

"Banxia?"

She didn't get the chance to ask. A guard's shout tore through the air outside:

"Enemy contact! Large pack of monsters — Shadow Wolves!"

The guards drew their weapons and moved to form ranks.

Then the carriage curtain swung open from the inside, and Banxia stepped out, unhurried.

"Lord Hero, you don't need to come out. Leave this to us—"

"It's fine. I need to stretch every once in a while." He waved a hand and stepped down from the carriage.

Shadow Wolves. He had a vague memory of killing some before; the records were still on his panel somewhere. He couldn't really picture them.

Their coats were jet black and glossy, which made them stand out sharply against the dead grass and scattered snowdrifts between the trees. They'd probably fetch a decent price.

"Awoo—!"

The pack leader must have sensed it, that pressure radiating off the young man, deliberately reined in as it was, the kind that made the soul flinch. It reared its head and howled. Around it, the Shadow Wolves were already turning to run.

"You came all this way. Don't leave now."

Banxia's figure vanished without a sound.

The next moment, his broad hand closed around the pack leader's skull.

In the wolf king's terrified, contracting pupils, that hand tightened, slowly, unhurried.

Splat.

The head burst like an overripe berry.

[Ding, Shadow Wolf slain. Total lifespan 45 years, remaining lifespan 12 years. Now absorbed.]

The familiar chime rang through his mind after what felt like forever. The laziness in Banxia's eyes slowly cleared.

He swept his gaze across the surrounding woods.

Not one monster would meet it.

They'd watched the pack leader die in an instant. The remaining Shadow Wolves had lost their nerve entirely, scattering in every direction on pure instinct.

"What a hassle!" He glanced down at the new clothes he'd just put on. He wasn't about to dirty them over small fry like these.

He turned toward the fleeing pack and swung his hand out, light and easy.

"Slash."

An invisible blade swept out and carved through an entire line of monsters, cutting them cleanly in half at the waist.

[Ding, Shadow Wolf slain. Total lifespan 30 years, remaining lifespan 12 years. Now absorbed.]

[Ding, Shadow Wolf slain. Total lifespan 25 years, remaining lifespan 11 years. Now absorbed.]

[Ding, Shadow Wolf slain. Total lifespan 20 years, remaining lifespan 5 years. Now absorbed.]

[DING...]

One after another. Endless invisible slashes fanning out in every direction like an avalanche, chasing down every last monster that tried to run.

➤ Next: Heading North — Words Unspoken

Chapter 60 - Heading North — Words Unspoken

Alterna, Inner City.

The Xiaye Chamber of Commerce.

On a commercial street where every inch of land cost a small fortune, owning an entire chamber of commerce building was proof enough of serious wealth.

Kaguya Shinomiya stood beside the long table, slowly unfurling a roll of parchment and sliding it across to Banxia.

"The map is ready for you, Mr. Banxia."

Banxia took it and looked it over.

His gaze stopped on the marks dotted carefully in red ink. "What are these red dots?"

"Dangerous locations. If possible, please try to avoid them."

"Oh?" He looked up, interest catching. "What kind of danger?"

"Every high-risk monster in the south and the central region that currently can't be dealt with — I've marked them all." Kaguya let out a soft sigh. "Because no one can handle them, people have no choice but to go around. Over time, it became a fixed map of forbidden areas."

To the side, Ai Hayasaka, dressed in a maid uniform, moved quietly around the table, refilling their tea. The gaze drifted toward the map without quite meaning to.

In this era, an accurate map was already valuable. A freshly updated one like this was something else entirely.

Getting all the dangerous zones marked down clearly had cost Ai Hayasaka and the young mistress no small amount of money and effort these past weeks. They'd pieced the information together bit by bit from bards and traveling merchants, then deliberately cross-checked it with multiple sources before feeling confident enough to say where was dangerous and where was reasonably safe.

Ai Hayasaka set down the teapot and glanced at Banxia.

Once this map left their hands, this man truly wasn't coming back.

Banxia had never hidden the plan. Come spring, he was heading north. Heading north at a time when the north was torn by endless war and humanity was barely holding on.

Anyone with half a brain could guess why.

"Human Forbidden Areas." Banxia nodded, satisfied, eyes sweeping back and forth across the map.

"Mr. Banxia..." The perpetually cool expression on Kaguya's face finally softened, just slightly. "These places are genuinely dangerous. Please don't take them lightly."

She pointed to the red dot nearest the city. "This village is close to the Shrine of Flame. Rumor has it Xiaoyan has already revived there. The dragon's strength is said to be even more terrifying than an ordinary Great Demon."

"And here — this is the Mushroom Forest, created by the First Hero. The mushroom race inside is deeply hostile to outsiders. Merchants have walked in and never walked out."

The more she said, the brighter the young man's expression got.

Kaguya pointed to the most dangerous location. The words came a little faster than intended.

"The other places are one thing. But this one, Mr. Banxia — please go around it no matter what. The Grauze Forest, in the central region."

"You must have heard of the Great Demon Qual the Sage of Corruption. Word is that because of Great Demon Geist's death, the Demon King has already dispatched Qual south into the Central Continent to take revenge on humanity."

"One of the top mages in the Demon King's army." Banxia gave a slight nod, not particularly surprised by the name.

He'd long since had a vague sense of what world this was modeled after. Hearing "Qual the Sage of Corruption" only confirmed what he'd already suspected.

Even that rumored elf, the one said to have mastered every form of magic in existence, he already had an answer for that too.

Which was precisely why he needed to go north.

"I understand. Thank you for the map. I'll make it to the north in one piece."

At that, both Kaguya and Ai Hayasaka let out a quiet breath of relief.

Neither of them had been north. But they'd heard enough from the merchants who'd come south to know what it was like. The monsters up there, in number, in strength, were nothing like what the south had to offer.

If Mr. Banxia got hurt because he underestimated them, that would be a real problem.

"One more thing, Mr. Banxia." Ai Hayasaka turned and, with visible effort, dragged out an absurdly oversized pack from nearby. "The summer clothes you asked for, along with food for the road, it's all here."

Banxia looked at the pack. It was nearly half his height. The corner of his eye twitched. "...Isn't this a bit much? I'm not going on a picnic."

"...Is it too much?" Ai Hayasaka looked at his build. "I thought this would barely be enough for you."

"Fine, it'll do." Banxia waved a hand. The weight meant nothing to him anyway.

Ai Hayasaka handed the pack over, stepped back, and stood beside Kaguya Shinomiya.

"May fortune favor your blade."

"Yeah. I'm off."

...

He bid farewell to Kaguya and her maid, then swung back home first.

"Almost forgot about you." He rummaged through the room and turned up a white dagger.

This was the trophy he'd taken from Great Demon Geist, the blade that had once sliced clean through his flesh before he'd forged the Hundred-Forged Body. That alone said enough about how sharp it was.

A few days ago he'd spent good money having a scabbard fitted for it. Now it sat neatly at his waist, easy to carry on the road.

He lingered in the house a little longer, glancing around. Nothing else seemed worth taking.

He locked the door and walked to Roxy's place.

"..."

She didn't look particularly surprised when he finished explaining.

A soft sigh. "I always knew you'd go north. I just didn't think it would be this soon."

"Want to come along?" Banxia considered it. Having someone to cook on the road wouldn't be bad.

"I really do want to..." Roxy tightened her grip on her staff, hesitated, and shook her head. "But my magic isn't there yet. I'd only slow you down. If you ended up in danger because of me, I'd rather stay behind."

"Fair enough." Banxia didn't push. He just nodded. "Your call."

He'd spent enough time around her to know: Roxy was small, but she had more sense than most adventurers twice her size. Knowing your own limits clearly, not forcing it, not making things worse, that already put her ahead of a lot of people.

"One thing before I go." Banxia fished a key out of his pocket and tossed it over.

When he'd gone to find the old butler about collecting the magic grimoires, he'd been told that the books and the house had both been transferred into his name some time ago. He hadn't planned to accept it, but then again, he had killed Great Demon Geist. Taking some compensation wasn't unreasonable. So he'd let it stand.

"Keep an eye on the place for me. I don't want to come back to a courtyard full of weeds."

"Eh?" Roxy fumbled the catch, her blue eyes blinking rapidly. "Is this... mine?"

"Why would I give it to you? I'm asking you to watch it."

"Oh. Right." She nodded, a little dazed.

"And the clothes in my room, take care of them," he added, his tone surprisingly serious. "Those are my treasures from before I crossed over."

Roxy nodded earnestly. "I will."

"As for payment, the other room has every magic grimoire I took from the Alterna nobles. Read whatever you want." Banxia hitched the pack straps up on his shoulders and tipped his chin at her. "I don't care about anything else. Just don't let moths get to the clothes."

"Banxia..."

"All right. I'm heading out."

"..."

Roxy held the key tight. She walked to the doorway and stood there, watching him go until he disappeared.

On that quiet spring day, most people in Alterna still had no idea. The young man who had slain Great Demon Geist with his own hands had slipped away without a sound.

No fanfare. No announcement. Just a white dagger at his hip, an old map covered in forbidden zones, and one absurdly large backpack.

Direction: due north.

...

➤ Next: Legend of the Holy Spirit (Bonus)