Long, long ago, in a certain forest of a certain kingdom.

There was a monster called a man-beast that was feared by people.

The story of a boy who looked human but couldn’t understand human speech, possessed physical abilities stronger than magic beasts, and ate raw meat like a wild animal circulated like a ghost story among the local residents, and this story reached the ears of a curious prince.

The prince fearlessly visited the forest where the boy was said to live, and was nearly killed by the boy’s hands.

If it weren’t for the loyal guard knights serving the prince, the prince’s head would have been crushed like an apple by the boy’s fists.

However, no matter how excellent the boy’s physical abilities were, it wasn’t enough to overcome skilled knights.

Rejecting the advice of his ministers to execute the boy for the crime of attempting to assassinate royalty, the prince took the boy in.

The boy, who had not known civilization, learned many things under the prince.

Language, academics, etiquette, swordsmanship, horsemanship, and many other things.

There were many who questioned and expressed dissatisfaction with giving noble-like education to a mere boy of unknown origin, but the boy silenced all those murmurs by demonstrating an astonishingly fast learning speed.

Before long, the boy grew into a beautiful young man who possessed grace and learning no less than anyone in the kingdom, and also gained strength that no one dared to approach.

Moreover, the prince, who had selected such a young man and given him the name Geisel, had now become the king of a nation.

It was an era of chaos where various nations competed and devoured each other, and Geisel repaid the king who had taken him in with military achievements.

A cruel and hateful, ferocious beast to enemies.

An undefeated general who always brought victory to allies.

It was on one of those days when Geisel was steadily accumulating victories that he encountered his fated opponent.

A mercenary wearing red armor who had repeatedly inflicted defeats on his nation on a different front from where he was fighting.

Hearing this news, Geisel confidently set out to find the mercenary, and soon had to overcome a life-and-death crisis.

That mercenary was a being far more powerful than Geisel had expected.

The battle with the mercenary, which he thought he could easily win, didn’t reach a conclusion even after three days and nights, and was forcibly ended by the enemy nation’s strategy to use the mercenary as bait to bury Geisel.

Fire attacks, arrow showers, magic bombardments, cliff falls.

Amidst the intense onslaught that seemed determined to kill them by any means necessary, the two people ,who were already exhausted from the long duel, were severely injured and isolated in enemy territory.

It was undoubtedly a great crisis, but at the same time, it was also a great opportunity.

After all, the enemy side that had hired the mercenary betrayed first, the mercenary no longer had a reason to fight Geisel, and Geisel in turn was very interested in the mercenary who had fought him as an equal.

The mercenary’s name was Kalidahs, and she was a beautiful woman with red hair and violet eyes.

But that wasn’t all.

Kalidahs had no memories.

The only thing she knew was that she had fought something huge, very huge.

That she had fallen into a very long sleep at the end of that fight.

That she had worked as a mercenary to make a living after waking up from that sleep.

That was all Kalidahs knew.

She said she didn’t know who her parents were, where she was born, or anything at all.

Geisel felt a sense of kinship with her words.

He, too, had vague memories from before meeting the prince.

That someone very dark, solemn, and incredibly intense had told him to “live freely”.

That was Geisel’s oldest memory.

Geisel couldn’t remember anything about whether the person in his memory was his parent, why they had sent him away, or how he had been left in the forest.

Was it the result of trying to get close many times, or did having to cooperate for survival play a big role?

The two became intimate, and this continued even after escaping the encirclement and returning to the kingdom.

Since Kalidahs always stayed by Geisel’s side and was always in armor without revealing her true appearance, there were those who mistakenly thought Kalidahs’ achievements were Geisel’s, saying, “The Lion Duke of the Lydia Kingdom has golden mana like flames and violet mana like lightning,” but Kalidahs didn’t seem to mind.

As if to say that as long as she could be by his side, the world’s gaze didn’t matter.

Geisel loved such a woman very much.

It seemed like happiness would continue forever.

But catastrophe came suddenly.

One day, while preparing to formally propose to Kalidahs, Geisel had a nightmare.

It was a dream where a powerful monster wrapped in an emerald light threatened him, brandishing sharp teeth and claws.

To survive, he struggled desperately, and soon after a fierce fight, he plunged a blade into the monster’s chest.

However, what awaited him when he woke from the dream was the sight of his lover stained with blood and himself having stabbed her with a sword.

Geisel couldn’t understand what on earth had happened.

The sword he had plunged into Kalidahs’ chest turned into light and was absorbed into his body.

Kalidahs made an expression full of betrayal upon seeing the violet lightning dwelling in his body.

The mournful scream leaking from her mouth, none of it felt real.

She cried out, asking if this had been his intention from the start.

She wailed, asking if he had coveted that power so much.

Geisel wanted to answer no.

He wanted to deny it, saying this was nothing compared to her.

But before he could utter words, an intense flash of light enveloped Kalidahs’ body, and the next moment, Kalidahs’ figure had vanished without a trace.

After that, Geisel’s life was a long journey to find his lost lover.

He went anywhere rumors of Kalidahs were heard, even if it was in the heart of enemy territory.

If there were those who blocked his way, he swept them away without exception. The new power he had inherited from her made this possible.

But he couldn’t find her. No matter how much he searched, he couldn’t even find a trace of her.

As if Kalidahs had never existed on this earth to begin with.

Thanks to Geisel’s exploits, the kingdom was reborn as an empire, and the young prince became an emperor beyond a king.

He gained greater glory than anyone as a founding contributor and hero of the empire, but there was always emptiness in his heart.

He gained a new family due to the encouragement of the emperor, who felt sorry for the suffering of his friend and loyal subject, and the realistic reason that he couldn’t continue to be a lifelong bachelor as a minister of a nation, but still, the longing didn’t disappear.

Then one day, a fortune-teller came to see him.

A fortune-teller once told him.

— Kalidahs was a heavenly angel, and after being active in a war long ago, she had fallen into a long sleep on earth due to its aftereffects.

— When the heavenly realm confirmed that the angel they thought was dead was alive, they urged Kalidahs to return, but she refused.

— To turn her heart back, the heavenly realm had devised a scheme to drive a wedge between you and Kalidahs.

— Not only that, but they had planted a terrible poison in your bloodline, which will soon become a core force on earth, intending to drive the earth to ruin.

— That lightning is a seed of destruction. It makes the emotions of its possessor run to extremes, and also makes them prone to going berserk. Your descendants will easily prosper with power more excellent and stronger than anyone else’s, and due to that volatility, they will bring great calamity to the earth. The earth’s powers will weaken, and civilization will stagnate. They have always sown such seeds on earth. Because it would be easier to manage that way. Because then they wouldn’t dare to issue a challenge to the heavenly realm.

— But be at ease. I will help you. I will strengthen the power flowing in your blood. Your bloodline will endlessly go berserk under the instigation of lightning and rush towards ruin, but there will also be those who carry the golden flame and stand in their way to restrain them. As long as the two are in balance, your bloodline may fall, but will not perish.

The fortune-teller was a very suspicious being, but Geisel trusted him.

No, he wanted to trust him.

To Geisel’s request to meet Kalidahs and clear up the misunderstanding, the fortune-teller answered.

— I feel inclined to respond to your request, but it is too difficult a task. Terrible waiting and loneliness, suffering, endless temptation towards corruption will befall you. This is not because we want to torment you, but because it is the nature of the power we possess. Also, there is no guarantee that you will certainly be rewarded even after waiting like that. Still, do you want to try?

Geisel didn’t hesitate.

Although Geisel had repaid the empire and the emperor, his benefactor, throughout his life, he wanted to use at least the end of his life solely for himself and his lover.

— O’ creation brought forth by our great king, one who shares the same roots though we cannot call you our brethren. May your wish come true.

The fortune-teller.

The shadow prime minister whose features couldn’t be properly discerned answered thus.

And then, a long waiting time passed.

The power of the underground that enveloped Geisel’s soul like a shell was both a protective barrier and nourishment that allowed him to endure for as long as possible, but at the same time, it was also a terrible poison.

Endless hatred towards the heavenly realm. Resentment and vengeance against those who had stolen ■■■ ■■■■■■■ that was originally theirs. Intense longing for the abundant and warm earth.

Absorbing the emotions of those who hated the heavely realm, the contradiction of longing for Kalidahs, a celestial being, was enough to wither and twist the soul of the great hero, but still, he didn’t give up.

To convey the truth.

To clear up the misunderstanding.

For his lover who might still be bound to the heavens, being used without knowing the truth.

Enduring, enduring, and enduring.

“Great Lion Duke. A crisis has come to Lennart. The Imperial Family has forgotten your military achievements and betrayed us, and now they’re trying to eliminate us. Please save your descendants…!”

When he realized that all that suffering had been in vain and even the one and only chance had disappeared.

Something that formed the core of the hero collapsed.

Pride as the empire’s hero was no longer present.

Discernment that there might be innocent victims crumbled along with fragments of reason.

What remained was one thing.

Only a monster that would destroy everything bearing the name Lennart until its strength gave out.

The eyes of the monster that was once a hero saw the golden hair resembling himself.

He saw violet eyes resembling his beloved lover, and which he had unwillingly taken.

If so, what he had to do was as good as decided.

《──■■■■■■■!!!!!!!!!!!!!》

[The ‘Tin Knight’ declares a raid battle!]

***

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