“What do you mean ‘Edria is on the verge falling?’” I asked incredulously. I've never noticed any signs of it in my travels before I arrived in Wildpost. The villages and towns I passed by functioned normally and with the exception of Halros, I didn't sense any discontent coming from the people.

“You don't notice it much because the southern regions of the kingdom are far from any conflict, but the rest of the country is in shambles,” Esta said, her demeanor turning serious. “A famine is devastating the northern regions, leaving thousands of people starving, most of whom are turning to banditry. While our people starve, the nobility are either busy attending pointless parties or selling off the kingdom to the Empire. Behind the scenes, the largest criminal syndicate in the country, the Hoods, is also busy tearing us apart, but the events in Halros had thankfully ended up destroying their headquarters and temporarily sending them into disarray.”

“It is pretty bad,” I muttered. “But that doesn't sound like a nation-ending situation.”

“I haven't mentioned the biggest of our problems yet,” Esta said. “Which is you.”

“How the heck am I contributing to the kingdom's downfall? I'm just living quietly out here in the woods.” I didn't mention the fact that I'd be returning to Halros along with my Wildpost buddies to retaliate against the Hoods. I don't think she'd respond positively to that.

“When we discovered your existence, the King was forced to invoke the ancient accords. All the other countries in the continent were then required to send aid to subjugate you, usually in the form of elite troops. But the King and I are confident that they won't stop the subjugation with your death. With their people already in perfect position to attack, we wouldn't be surprised if they decided to invade us the moment the truce ends while we're weakened, especially the aggressive Empire.”

“You could've just not invoked the accords and let me live in peace. Then you wouldn't have had to worry about all this shit,” I grumbled.

“You think we wanted to do this willingly?” Esta said with annoyance. “If we could, we would have kept silent on your existence and take care of you ourselves. But we cannot, because we are bound by magic oath to report instances such as these.”

“What are the accords, anyway?”

“It's an ancient agreement between countries that in the appearance of a massive threat, such as a rogue Ascendant like you, everyone would stop stomping on each other's foot and unite against the threat,” Esta explained.

“That would have been a pretty nice agreement if I wasn't its current target,” I muttered. “So what's stopping you from just killing me, then? From what I understand, you could just call off the accords once I'm dead and everybody will have to go back home.”

“That course of action is impossible now,” Esta said. “Because they're already inside the kingdom's borders.”

I didn't miss the implication in Esta's words that she did consider killing me before the troops from the foreign countries arrived. I couldn't really blame her because the fate of her country was on the line, but holy fuck that was terrifying. Esta mentioned earlier that she'd been looking for me all this time, and I had a very good feeling that she wasn't planning a friendly conversation initially. Right after I spared her back in Halros, I grumbled internally.

“Let me guess, you want to employ my skills to go against these foreign troops so they couldn't take over the kingdom?” It was already an obvious course of action if I was in Esta's shoes. The real ‘threat’ to the kingdom here wasn't me, but rather the ‘reinforcements’ who were supposed to take me out, which was pretty damn ironic. I fucking hate politics.

“I'm glad you're quick on the uptake,” Esta grinned.

“May I ask what's in it for me?”

“Aside from your continued survival?” Esta said with a raised eyebrow. “You do know I could just kill you right now if you chose to refuse, right?”

Squeaky and Mr. Marion tensed at her words, and I'll admit that a wave of fear went over me as well, but I knew she couldn't do it. Not because of sentimental shit like that, but rather because I held too much value. “You wouldn't do that. I'm your only hope of turning the tides against the inevitable fall of your little kingdom.”

I flinched when Esta frowned deeply at my choice of words. Note to self: don't call a patriot's nation ‘little.’

Esta and I entered a staring contest for a full minute. I was actually starting to think that she'd go on through with just killing me to be done with it all, but in the end, she sighed. “Fine. What do you want?”

“I want the kingdom to leave me alone,” I immediately said. “I want immunity from whatever law that persecutes me for simply being an Ascendant.”

“Done,” Esta replied without hesitation.

“Wow, I didn't expect you to agree that quickly,” I said with surprise.

“The King already knew you would ask for it and he's already given me authorization to add it to the negotiation table if you demanded it,” Esta shrugged. “Is that all?”

“I want official ownership of this land,” I added. Even though I ‘claimed’ the area where my headquarters was as my territory, there were no official papers or deed attached to it since that area was practically uncharted territory. Even though I was sure that I was the first person to lay claim on that particular plot of land, the last thing I wanted was some random idiot blundering into my home and declaring that the place belonged to their ancestors and therefore belonged to them.

I thought Esta would easily agree with my second demand since it was far easier to grant than my first, but she actually raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you sure you want that boon?”

“Uh, why not? I get my own private land where no one can disturb me and I can do whatever the hell I want,” I said, before adding “within the bounds of the law, of course.”

“Of course,” Esta chuckled. “But do you even know how ownership of land works? There are only two ways to own land in the kingdom, Brogen. The first is to become the King. The second is to become a noble and be granted a territory by the King.”

I frowned. “So you can't grant my request?”

“I didn't say that. We could definitely give you that,” Esta said before grinning widely. “But we'll have to make you a noble as well.”

A noble, huh? My first thought was to drop my request altogether. Being a noble had lots of responsibilities that I knew nothing about, and the biggest one would be taking care of the people within the territory. I refuse to tackle a responsibility like that.

But then I realized that the land I wanted to claim ownership to was in an uncharted corner of the kingdom. The only people living here were me, my puppets, and a bunch of stupid goblins. Even if I became a noble, my responsibilities would basically remain the same, but I would still gain the benefits of having a title. Additionally, it would grant me the power and influence I was seeking all this time so that people couldn't easily have me executed. It was a big win for me, and it just landed right on my lap.

“Alright, I'll agree to being a noble,” I finally replied. “On the condition that I have no superior or boss other than the King.”

Esta tilted her head as she mulled over my words. “I'll have to talk about it with His Majesty. The only nobles who have no superior other than the King are dukes. Obviously, the King can't just give away ducal titles like that.”

“I don't want to be a duke anyway,” I added. “I just want a position with as few people above me as possible who have the authority to fuck me over.”

“Only dukes have the things that you're asking for. But I guess we'll see what we can do once everything is done,” Esta said. “The King could just make up a new title specifically for you that grants the powers you request. The nobility would normally oppose that, but worrying about consequences is pointless when the only possible outcomes in the foreseeable future is our kingdom's continued survival or the fall of our nation as we get split among our enemies like pie.”

“So how do we do this cooperation thing?” I asked. “Should we just go ahead and kick the foreigners' asses?”

“That's just about the gist of it, although there's just one important misunderstanding. You're the one kicking their asses, not we.”

“Wait a minute, you're leaving me to fight them all by myself?!” I shouted. “I thought this was supposed to be a cooperation!”

“It is a cooperation, although our assistance won't involve direct battle,” Esta said. “I will inform you of your enemies' positions at all times. I will give you their compositions, their strengths, their numbers. I will give you all the information you'll ever need to defeat them, but the task of defeating them is all up to you, Brogen.”

I felt my temper rise at her words. She would come here just to saddle me with the job of defeating her enemies and still have the gall to call it cooperation? And here I thought she was sympathetic to my plight.

“Meanwhile, you and your useless King will just sit back and relax while I work my ass off to save your kingdom,” I spat angrily. “You think I'll just allow myself to be used as a tool by your incompetent King?”

“You watch your mouth when you talk of the King, rogue,” Esta growled, the shadows covering her body roiling like angry snakes and her voice turning lower in volume but no less threatening.

I had a lot of other misgivings about this damn kingdom that made my second life such a bitch to live through, but pushing the deadly shadow assassin who could kill me in my sleep too far was a very bad idea. I settled with giving my own dark glare.

Esta's shadows finally turned calmer a moment later as she sighed. “I know leaving you to fight the kingdom's enemies by yourself seems like we're simply using you as a tool, but I promise you that's not the case. The reason I can't help you fight is that we, as in the Kingdom of Edria, is supposed to be asking help from other countries to help subjugate you in the first place. On paper, I'm supposed to be on the side that is hunting you down. But what do you think will happen if the other countries find out that we're working with the target we're supposed to take down?”

I breathed out slowly as my anger slowly left. She had a very good point. If the other countries found out we're collaborating secretly, I won't be their only target anymore. The entire kingdom would suffer, along with the thousands of innocent people just living their lives. That would defeat the very purpose of our cooperation.

I still had my misgivings, of course, most of it coming from my Authority's damn urges. Most of the time, the urges were manageable and usually harmless, like me getting easily irritated from witnessing atrocious clothing. But this time, I realized another type of urge decided to join the mix: an intense paranoia that other people were out to control me. My Authority demanded that I be the one who should be doing the controlling, not the other way around, so it abhorred even the slightest chance that I was letting myself be manipulated.

Esta's plan reeked of subtle manipulation to me, but I forced down my urges and decided to accept her proposal. So far, she had shown herself to be a person who always abided by her word, so I decided to trust her one more time. Besides, rejecting her proposal doesn't mean I would no longer have to fight off the people hunting for me. It just means I'll have to fight them without receiving any valuable intel from Esta, and going to war without information about the enemy was a surefire way to die quickly. “Alright, I'll accept your proposal for cooperation.”

Esta gave me a genuine and relieved smile. “I'm glad you did. I'm getting tired of having to fight for this damn country all by ourselves.”

“I'm not fighting for our country, I'm fighting only for myself,” I replied.

“Well, seeing as how Edria will be the only country that will unofficially allow you to exist as an unaffiliated Ascendant after all our problems are dealt with, I think you'll come to realize that protecting the kingdom that tolerates you is a far better alternative than having to go back to hiding if we fall to Imperial rule.”

I frowned at Esta's annoyingly accurate words. I was used to hiding my secrets from society, but I'd be lying if I said I was fine with doing it forever. I could have continued hiding my secret from Bran, but I decided to tell him anyway despite the risks. That was proof enough that even if I sometimes abhorred social interactions, I still craved for society's acceptance.

“So how are things gonna go from here?” I asked to change the subject.

“As of today, the reinforcements from Fjellheim, Zurath, and the Free States have arrived,” Esta replied with a frown. “I have no solid intel on Fjellheim's forces as of yet, only that they sent experimental weapons to use against you. Meanwhile, the Free States have decided to send two of their strongest and largest mercenary companies, a veritable army numbering several thousand. Lastly, Zurath sent two Holy Paladins.”

“Hold on, did you just say that somebody sent an entire army against me?!” I asked incredulously. How the fuck was I going to fight an army several-thousand strong?!

“Believe me, the mercenary army will be the easiest to defeat,” Esta said. “What you'll have to worry about are Fjellheim and Zurath. Fjellheim is known for their arcane weapons and machinery that are on par with Ylvengard's magic in terms of raw power. Holy Paladins, on the other hand, are the strongest soldiers of Zurath. The weakest Holy Paladin that I know of is a peak Fourth augmenter. Unfortunately, they didn't send their weakest.”

Holy shit, am I actually fucked this time? The Holy Paladins alone sound almost impossible to defeat, and I still have Fjellheim's secret weapons and the Free States' mercenary army to worry about. And it turns out Esta wasn't finished yet.

“I still have no intel about the Empire's reinforcements, but given their obvious intention to take over our kingdom, it's almost certain that they'll probably send an Ascendant or two. And knowing the Hegemony of Vaspolia's ancient feud with the Empire, they'll probably try to match the Empire's reinforcements.”

The forest was still as I quietly stared at Esta. I wasn't actually worried about her warnings when we first met in Halros, but now that I was hearing the kind of forces they were sending to stop me, I realized that I might as well kill myself now to save everyone time. I had no fucking chances of winning against that. Oh, how arrogant I've been.

For a moment, I seriously considered abandoning everything I built up until now and run away. Although there was still a high chance that I'd get caught, at least there was a freaking chance of survival, no matter how small, instead of the inevitable death that would come if I chose to stand and fight.

But I had too much to lose. I found a community that welcomed me, built a new home, made (literally, in the case of my puppets) human and nonhuman friends, met people who accepted me for what I was, and constructed an entire damn factory for my budding company. Unlike in my previous life, I actually fucking got up and did something after my mother's death instead of surrendering to despair.

I wasn't about to give up again. I've faced a lot of enemies since leaving Erfeld, and this new batch wouldn't be my last. And even if it was and I ended up dying, I already made a promise to Mom when she died. Before I leave this wretched world, I'll make sure it'll regret ever messing with me.

“How soon do you think I should strike them?” I asked.

Esta made a surprised face at my question. “Wow, I was actually expecting you to suggest running away. I didn't think you'd be eager to face them.”

I coughed awkwardly. She didn't have to know that running away was the first thing that appeared in my mind.

“The foreign reinforcements currently in the kingdom are still waiting for the Empire and Hegemony's arrival. There's no set rule that they couldn't start hunting for you right away, but it's more like an unspoken agreement that they should wait for the two strongest nations on the continent to arrive. I suggest you strike as early as possible before the Empire and Hegemony arrives.”

“I never thought I'd ever be grateful for petty politics,” I muttered. “I'll follow your suggestion and strike as soon as I can, although I still have a few other responsibilities I have to do first.”

“Just inform me of your plans before you act upon them,” Esta said, triggering my paranoid urges again, but I forcefully ignore them. “I'll give you intel so you could execute your plans in the best way possible.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

Esta didn't stay long after our conversation. After the customary goodbyes, she summoned her familiar with a whistle and they both left through a shadow portal. I loved my powers, but holy shit that looked convenient.

For a moment, I simply stood in the gentle breeze and listened to the relaxing sounds of rustling leaves as I digested everything Esta and I discussed. I should always do introspections like these when faced with big problems. Gives me time to think about what decision I fucked up this time.

And as if on cue, I made a terrible realization that made me freeze. My enemies this time weren't criminals but legitimate soldiers. People who were simply following orders to eliminate a dangerous rogue Ascendant and maybe take over a kingdom on the side. If I killed them, would that mean I'd be killing innocent people? Or is it fine since they attacked first and I'd be killing them for my own survival?

I already lost count how many times I sighed today. I added one more to the count as I resumed my trip back home.

●●●

Emily's funeral the next day was a long affair. With my Preservation spell in effect, Emily was as beautiful in death as she was in life as we carried her high up the mountain. The procession had more than fifty people, most of which were hunters. It made the climb relatively faster even with the path overgrown with shrubs and trees, although we did have to constantly adjust our pace for Belka, who was finally out of bed rest.

Much to my delight, my diagnosis spell on Belka that morning revealed that she was healthy enough to undergo the operation to remove the bone shards from her body. Unlike the surgeries on Earth, the operation I performed on Belka was significantly quicker. With the help of magic, surgeries required far less skill and fine control. All I had to do was use my diagnosis spell to locate the bone shard, cut her flesh open, retrieve the bone shard, heal the cut, then rinse and repeat. Even if I made small mistakes, the damage could be easily healed with magic.

Stodge helped with the operation as well. He was just a mundane healer and was not a Life mage like me. But where he lacked an affinity for magic, he made up for it in skill. Knowing that I could easily heal the cuts, Stodge made incision after incision and picked bone shards from Belka's body with tweezers. For every bone shard I retrieved, Stodge would retrieve five and would never make mistakes. He may be young, but Stodge was on par with an expert surgeon.

Before we began our trek up the mountain, I thought I'd still have to carry Belka since her body was strained from the constant healing during the operation. I was rendered speechless once again with the tenacity of augmenters' bodies. A mere hour after the operation, Belka was walking again, although she required the assistance of crutches. Her flesh may be healed, but her bones were brittle, cracked, and pocked with shallow holes that couldn't be healed with Life magic. Even with her augmenter body, she'd need weeks, if not months, to fully recover.

But Belka didn't let her frail body stop her from climbing the mountain with her own two feet. She pointedly refused my offers of assistance even after several instances of her falling to the ground from exhaustion.

“You're pushing yourself too hard, Belka,” I told her during one of our respites.

“Thanks for stating the fucking obvious. I didn't notice that,” Belka deadpanned.

“I'm just saying. I'll be honest, I didn't expect you to be this determined in doing the climb yourself,” I said. “You don't remember who Emily was, right? Yet you still push yourself way past your limits for someone who is supposed to be a stranger.”

“Bran said Emily was family, and according to everyone else, she sacrificed her life for my sake. Even if I don't remember her, I'll fucking carry the world on my back if it's for her sake,” Belka said solemnly. “Bran said you're family as well. I don't have a single idea who the heck you truly are, but if Bran said you're family, then you're family.”

I was rendered speechless by that. I remembered Bran saying that I was part of the village, but not anything about being part of some family. Still, it evoked a very positive feeling inside me.

“I'm glad to call you family as well, Belka,” I said seriously.

“Ew, stop being fucking sentimental,” Belka said as she stood up to resume the climb.

We completed the climb after two grueling hours, and our final destination was a large clearing on a cliff that overlooked the entire Wild Woods.

The sight was majestic.

The sea of green swayed with the wind as the spring breeze blew over the Wild Woods. Trails of smoke rose in several spots of the large forest, coming from other villages smaller than ours. The forest looked calm and peaceful, although I knew that was definitely not the case. Underneath the peaceful canopy was a forest overflowing with monsters now that the Edrian army drafted the Exterminators whose jobs were originally to cull the monster populations.

In the very far distance, I could spot the walls of Halros. Black smoke rose from the criminal-infested city. Surely, the smoke was just from a massive barbecue party as they celebrated the downfall of their oppressors. Surely.

The clearing we were in turned out to be the graveyard for Wildpost's fallen hunters. Marble headstones dotted the landscape at uniform intervals, the names of the deceased etched in the stone with flawless lettering. They were buried here with the highest level of respect for their sacrifices in defending the village. Soon, Emily would be buried along with them for her brave sacrifice in fighting against a Night Warden Captain even despite the threat of certain death.

Samantia and Kazimir were here as well to pay their respect. The other hunters, after learning of the two's decision to turn their backs on their organization and side with Wildpost during the conflict in Halros, welcomed them wholeheartedly.

Belka's opinion was a different story though. The goodwill she developed for the two Night Wardens over the past weeks was lost along with her memories. The only thing stopping her from outright attacking the former Night Wardens was her frail body.

Everyone gathered around at Emily's burial spot: a freshly-dug grave with a decent view of the Wildpost at the base of the mountain. Dalton, as the acting Head Hunter, stepped forward and faced the gathering.

“It is only for two reasons that we hunters visit Hunter's Grove,” Dalton began, gesturing at the peaceful graveyard. “Either to mourn our fallen brethren, or to join them in their place of honor in the Holy Mother's embrace. Whatever the reason may be, a visit to Hunter's Grove means there is one less courageous individual to defend our beloved home.”

The hunters murmured in agreement.

“However, visits such as these do not only represent great tragedy. They represent our community's survival, for our mourning means our brethren's sacrifice has allowed us to mourn,” Dalton continued. “A visit to Hunter's Grove signifies that our fallen brethren's sacrifices were not for naught. They gave their lives so that the rest of Wildpost may live. That is the true purpose of our profession, and only with our dying breaths are we released from that purpose. Emily, adopted daughter of Belka Baldric and protector of Wildpost, I hereby give you the surname Wildhunt in honor of your great sacrifice and release you from your duty. May you find rest and peace in the embrace of the Holy Mother.”

All the gathered hunters murmured in unison. “May you find rest and peace in the embrace of the Holy Mother.”

I repeated the words as well as Emily was lowered into her grave. I may not have known Emily for long, but that didn't mean I felt nothing from her death. In the short time I've known her, Emily had shown fierce determination, even having the courage to declare her intention to become a Night Warden in front of Belka despite knowing the woman's hatred for them. Her death was a big loss to Wildpost.

I expected the funeral to last longer, but to my surprise, everyone started getting ready for the trip back to Wildpost right after Emily was buried.

“Are hunter funerals always this quick?” I asked Belka, who was using the remaining time to rest her sore body.

“Why the fuck are you asking me? I forgot all the shit about Wildpost, remember?”

Oh, right.

“But I have a good idea as to why,” Belka muttered a moment later. “The Dalton I knew was a bright-eyed young man who greatly cherished everyone he knew. He may be older now, but I bet he's still the same man who greatly mourned every death of our group. Eventually, the numbers of death in our organization rose and rose until he could no longer take it. Every time we held a funeral for one of our members, Dalton would offer only a few words and move on as fast as possible. I think the same is happening here.”

I could only imagine what kind of hardships someone has to go through for a supposedly bright-eyed man like Dalton to turn into the strict and intense person he is today.

The trek back to Wildpost was easier thanks to the downward slope, although we got attacked by monsters several times. With most of the group composed of battle-hardened hunters, the attacks were easily repelled, although Dalton looked worried.

“The monsters are getting braver,” I heard Bersk mutter.

“Probably couldn't stand Luth's atrocious smell,” Belka joked, eliciting a glare from the old tanner.

“No, not braver,” Dalton said softly. “They're getting desperate. They're multiplying too fast and the competition is turning fiercer. They know we aren't easy prey, but they attack nonetheless, for their alternative is dying of hunger.”

“Then we're looking at another monster attack on the village soon,” Bersk said with surety.

“Definitely,” Dalton nodded. “The hunters are gonna have to work double time to cull the nearby monster populations before that happens to lighten the impact.”

It seems that the monster population in the Wild Woods is increasing further. I'll have to send some of my puppets on culling missions around the village to help them with their monster problem, although I'll have to make sure they're never seen. It would serve as good experience for my puppets, and unless the monsters in the Wild Woods could light them on fire, my puppets were practically indestructible.

As soon as we got back to Wildpost, I quickly said my farewells and made my way back home. Tomorrow, I would finally begin working my way down my to-do list.

First item on the list: meeting with the Matriarch of the Dayadra.