Irene Pareira has been having a mystical dream ever since the age of 15.
In a yard with an old shabby fence the dream of a mysterious man wielding his sword without rest.
It was strange but it was a daily thing.
Of course he didn’t have the dream during the five years he was trying to create his own sword.
However the night he came out of the world of sorcery the mysterious man appeared again and continued to wield his sword with the same stance until yesterday.
This time it was different.
A familiar sight familiar smell familiar character.
Honest swordsmanship training will soon begin.
Irene Pareira who had turned into a 21-year-old young man has watched that a lot.
He watched it. He watched it with concentration.
There were times when he was obsessed with the dream even in reality but not now.
He knew.
He knew the subtle differences.
About an hour after the dream began Irene could discern the smallest differences that no one but him would notice.
‘Eyes.’
Eyes.
For some it’s a simple sensory organ that can see objects.
For others it’s a mirror that reflects the heart.
For Irene it was the latter.
The faint emotions in the man’s eyes made him wonder.
‘Why do you feel so angry?’
The man had never revealed his feelings before.
As if his lifelong karma was to wield the sword he silently repeated the same thing every day without changing his expression.
The same thing every day repeating.
So now he was showing his anger?
It was unbelievable. Irene continued to focus on the man. He only looked into his eyes this time.
He was sure.
It was only a little but the man was clearly angry.
… and the dream ended.
“You move quickly!”
“Are there enough supplies?”
“Let’s finish preparing the meal quickly.”
The bustling sound of soldiers doing chores.
The young man realized that he was back to reality.
Originally he would have immediately stood up and moved his body.
Even if it wasn’t swordsmanship training he would try to relieve his stiff muscles.
However Irene spent some more time lying down.
Closing his eyes he thought.
‘Until now… every time the dream changed something always happened.’
It was definite.
From the moment he was able to maintain himself in the dream the swordsmanship training and the moment the man in the dreams looked at him he ended up immersing himself in the world of sorcery.
Given the past perhaps something would change this time as well.
‘No maybe the change has already happened.’
Irene began to think about what happened.
Something definitely seemed odd.
The fact that he showed a perfect performance beyond what he achieved in the world of sorcery.
It was strange that he didn’t seem elated especially when he should be happy that he raised his family’s honor with such an outstanding performance.
Of course it was a trivial matter so it could be his own delusion…
“… stop.”
Irene shook his head and got up.
The changed dream.
Right there was more to do than that. The subjugation of the demon.
Even though he was recognized by the vice-captain of the Twilight Knights he was still a beginner with insufficient experience.
He had to always keep that in mind.
To focus.
To never relax.
Thinking so he got up from the bed.
And slowly relaxed.
“Hey young lord how was your sleep?”
“Yesterday’s performance was amazing!”
Unlike the first day some of the Twilight Knights spoke to him.
Aside from them it seemed like a lot of people wanted to talk to him.
After addressing all of them with a moderate smile he looked towards his father.
A smile deeper than his own caught his eye.
Irene smiled broadly looking at that.
Sssss….
The necklace was dyed black again.
He felt good and bad.
It seemed like the malice would continue until the end of the subjugation.
‘You never know. They could try other means too.’
As he waited for the poison to detoxify he thought that he had to act more cautiously. That was when something touched his hand.
Irene Pareira was startled and he snatched it.
He laughed bitterly.
[It contains poison this time! The men are really bad! Always be on guard!]
The same writing.
It felt like Irene fell and got back up.
‘It isn’t like I don’t have anyone on my side.’
Whoever it was he wanted to thank them. And he would always be cautious.
Irene who thought so waited for the detoxification to be done and ate in larger bites than usual. Trying to put on an act.
Jack Stewart was looking at him with a stiff expression on his face when Phill Gairn approached him and whispered.
“Will it be effective this time?”
“I checked that the poison was added. If it’s any normal person it’ll be so bad that they’ll be exhausted with diarrhea for three days and nights…”
“You said that yesterday too! So why is he fine?”
“… if it doesn’t work this time I suspect that he may have an artifact which blocks poison.”
“Damn it shit! He has a high-level artifact that even we don’t have? Such nonsense! Another fail!”
Gairn opened his eyes wide as he cursed the Pareira family.
He spit on Jack Stewart’s face.
Gairn left the man who decided to stay silent.
He wanted to bring the downfall of the Pareira’s.
After confirming that Gairn left Jack pulled out a handkerchief.
He didn’t like it.
Even more than the saliva on his cheek the fact that he had to harm the one who was helping the subjugation more than the family he works for.
The second day of the demon subjugation march continued smoother than expected.
Not a single accident.
Perhaps because the two surprise attacks failed the demonic monsters didn’t show up.
Rather only a few monsters with no intelligence occasionally ran wild.
Neither Hill Burnett nor Irene Pareira had anything to do.
The monsters fell down dripping blood under the blades of the Twilight Knights.
Seeing that Irene’s complexion turned pale.
“You don’t look good. Are you fine?”
“Yes.”
Hearing that answer Hill Burnett nodded. Today was supposed to be insignificant.
When compared to the bloodshed the day before there was no reason to feel repulsion to killing the monsters.
That was right.
But the instinctive reluctance to kill.
Irene could feel bad.
‘What is up with me?’
Of course as he was unfamiliar with such situations it was natural to feel that way but he was fine yesterday so why now?
He spent the second day with that question and had another dream. The dream of the softly furious man.
And the third day of subjugation began.
Irene showed another great performance.
“I can feel magi from there. Perhaps there is something.”
“The demonic monsters are approaching from the left. I will take care of them.”
It was after entering the forest where the stronghold of the demon was.
Irene felt a change in his body again.
He was calm.
Incredibly sharp.
His senses were so keen that he noticed and prepared for the demonic monsters one step ahead of the rest with the help of the artifact.
And his sword didn’t know of mercy.
Watching him slice through the enemies without hesitation the vice-captain smiled.
On the other hand Gairn’s heart began to feel hot.
In a situation where there were no casualties because of Irene Pareira’s performance it was impossible for him to feel happy.
He stared at Jack Stewart with bloodshot eyes.
But there was nothing Jack Stewart could do.
No he didn’t want to do such a dirty thing to Irene who had managed to grow up and become such an excellent swordsman.
‘Even if the family I serve holds hostility towards them. I am still a knight!’
Honestly it wasn’t even the family. Phill Gairn specifically hated the Pareira’s.
Jack’s complexion darkened.
As the various groups moved with different thoughts they arrived at the demon’s stronghold.
A cave with a wide entrance that looked twisted.
Hill Burnett spoke to Irene.
“Let’s move together.”
A reasonable decision. It was natural to put the strongest and the most sensitive person in the subjugation squad at the forefront.
No one objected to a young man being given such a heavy task.
The entire subjugation troops already acknowledged Irene as a strong person.
“Yes subjugation commander.”
Irene didn’t refuse either.
The change he was so concerned about in the beginning was solved.
His senses became sharp and he kept his cool.
Confidence that told him he could deal with any kind of opponent.
Both of them entered the cave. Around 100 subjugation troops followed behind them.
For about a minute they walked with the help of magic lamps.
♩♪ ♬♩♪
Then music began to play.
Everyone’s footsteps halted at the same time. If the sound of an instrument came from somewhere other than the troops it meant that it was coming from the opponent.
People frowned.
“String instrument… violin?”
“I think it’s a piano…”
Some people who were good at music tried to identify the instrument being played and some quietly listened to the music.
It wasn’t bad either. They closed their eyes and began to appreciate the melody.
♩♪ ♬♩♪
“Isn’t it nice?”
“Quite skilled.”
As the melody continued peoples’ expressions relaxed.
Some who were on guard slowly began to focus more on the music.
What they all had in common was they were moving closer to the music little by little without even realizing it.
One step two and three steps.
As they moved the beat began to increase and the speed of the troops also increased.
So everyone kept moving.
“Haa!”
Whoo!
Hill exclaimed.
With the energy wave which spread in a wide radius the troops suddenly came to their senses.
They were shocked.
It was because they realized they weren’t in their usual manner.
“Is everyone fine?”
“Y-Yes!”
“We are fine!”
“Check if there is anyone around you who is still in a trance and shake them strongly. Irene Pareira are you fine?”
“I’m fine.”
Irene nodded his head. He was one of the few people including Hill Burnett who weren’t manipulated.
At that moment a woman who was playing piano in the huge space stood up.
The black dress and long black hair caught everyone’s attention.
The skeleton soldiers around her were quite shocking too.
They had strings in their hands.
“Guests have arrived. Nice to meet you.”
A being that was no different from a human except for its red eyes.
In a low voice Hill Burnett mumbled.
“… a much stronger demon than I thought.”
