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The Black Dragon lowered the report he had been reading and spoke in a solemn voice.

‘Why does this guy keep showing up here? How annoying.’

Julius silently furrowed his brow.

Ever since the Black Dragon came, claiming he wanted to discuss the current mission, he had been visiting Julius’s office almost every day.

The problem was that there were far more conversations about Theo than about Edna Troyban.

Because of this, Julius was on high alert.

The Black Dragon’s greed for Theo was now blatantly obvious.

And it was the same now.

Julius couldn’t help but suspect that the report in the Black Dragon’s hand wasn’t just about the mission, but an observation log(?) on Theo.

As expected.

“Theo is truly a talent suited for our Black Snow.”

“Are you insane, human?”

“You won’t have anything to say once you see this report.”

The Black Dragon, unbothered by Julius’s irritation, handed over the emergency report submitted by Kleve.

…Even when suddenly confronted with the unexpected appearance of a Sacred Demon Church Blood Priest, he showed no signs of hesitation, and with sheer individual strength, he subdued the opponent with cold precision… Based on fragmentary clues, he deduced the current route towards the Ceres Trading Company heading north… He has shown a deep understanding of the Black Snow’s operations… Additional approval is required for this matter.

…As a result, the three examiners unanimously agreed to promote Trainee Swordsman Theo Ragnar to Practical Swordsman…

“This report is too long. So much formal nonsense. Summarize it.”

“It mentions the appearance of a Blood Priest.”

In an instant, Julius’s eyes sank deeply.

This heretical group, which had long plunged the Empire and the continent into chaos, had been a persistent headache for Ragnar.

Julius also had a deep, personal enmity with them.

“Are you saying the Director of Central Intelligence is secretly in league with the Sacred Demon Church?”

The Black Dragon remained silent.

The crease in Julius’s brow deepened.

“You knew already, didn’t you?”

“…”

“And yet you let it slide, waiting for something to fall right into your hands. Seriously, you’re more cunning than I thought.”

“No. I didn’t know.”

The Black Dragon simply shook his head and continued.

“I only anticipated that something was lurking in the shadows. The Sacred Demon Church was just one of the possibilities.”

This was confidential information he hadn’t even shared with No Snow , information only he knew.

Nothing had been fully uncovered yet, so it was too early to jump to conclusions.

Well, at least it had been.

“Anyway, what does any of this have to do with Theo?”

“Three Blood Priests appeared in total, and Theo apparently captured one of them alone.”

Julius’s stern expression instantly dissolved, almost as if it had been a lie.

His face split into a wide grin.

“As expected of our youngest. Causing a stir as soon as he joins. Do you know why that’s possible? Because I personally taught him swordsmanship. That’s right. He’s a perfect fit for our White Armored Dragon Cavalry.”

He deliberately emphasized the words “White Armored Dragon Cavalry,” drawing out each syllable.

The Black Dragon pretended not to hear and continued speaking.

“And then, he found out that the Ceres Trading Company was the one who put in a request with the Season of the Snake, and even suggested an immediate attack. His judgment, decisiveness, and mission execution were… flawless. At this point, wouldn’t it be the right thing, ethically, to transfer him to our Black Snow?”

“Ethically, my ass.”

Julius scoffed and slapped a report from Evelyn that had just come in on the desk.

“Enough nonsense. Take a look at this. The Director of Information won’t be able to keep up that ridiculous talk after seeing it.”

“By applying an auxiliary technique, The Meridian Enhancing Technique, he has integrated it into his swordsmanship… soon, his Aura will bloom… judging from his deep understanding of Wyverns.”

“You mentioned he urgently moved to the Ceres Trading Company’s headquarters for a surprise attack, didn’t you? Well, do you know how he’s doing it? We have a creature called Umbra in our stables. It’s about two to three times larger than your average wyvern. Theo tamed that thing, and now, he’s flying No Snow and the Plum Blossom Palace’s swordsman on it, all getting along just fine!”

“So?”

“His understanding of blitz tactics! His ability to utilize aerial forces! His capability as a partner for a Wyvern! This shows he’s an inseparable talent for the White Armored Dragon Cavalry!”

Bang!

Julius slammed his palm onto the desk, stood up with a roar, and shouted.

“Above all, Theo willingly kicked aside all other petty offers and joined the White Armored Dragon Cavalry by his own choice! So why do you keep lurking around the edges?”

“What? Petty?”

From behind the Black Dragon’s mask, one of his eyes visibly twitched.

“Yes, petty! What else would you call it?”

“Do you want to die?”

“Well, kill me if you can!”

Julius aggressively tore at the collar of his shirt and thrust his chest forward.

A clear challenge, daring him to try.

Julius looked ready to charge at him, and the Black Dragon, clearly annoyed, sharply turned his head to the side.

“It’s so noisy here, maybe I should just issue an order and transfer him from the White Armored Dragon Cavalry to Black Snow…”

Though he muttered to himself, it was obvious he intended for Julius to hear every word.

“This guy, seriously! I wasn’t going to say this, but—brother! This really isn’t right, don’t you think?”

“This is not a private setting. Watch your language, Captain of the White Armored Dragon Cavalry.”

“Oh really? Then shouldn’t our esteemed Director of Information also be speaking formally? By rank, we should be equals, don’t you think?”

“…”

“Oh? No answer?”

“The Information Bureau and Black Snow are independent institutions, established separately from other organizations, so the usual hierarchy does not apply.”

“You’re really shameless.”

Sigh!

Julius let out a deep sigh, staring at the white mask that revealed nothing of the Black Dragon’s expression.

“Brother, let’s stop this. Can we just have an open conversation for once? What’s your reason? Why are you constantly trying to claim Theo? Osa is already teasing me, saying she’s going to adopt him as her son, and it’s driving me mad!”

Ever since they took on heavy titles in front of their names, they rarely addressed each other as brothers anymore.

But in truth, Julius was the closest to the Black Dragon among all the members of Ragnar, including the Nine Dragons.

At one point, they had even sworn an oath of brotherhood.

Julius was also one of the few people who knew the Black Dragon’s true identity.

Kyle, the Black Dragon, Julius, and the Lord of Plum Blossom Palace.

The four of them knew each other far too well.

Too well.

But now…

“You know one thing but not the other, little brother.”

The Black Dragon, deciding to drop the formality, crossed his arms and chuckled.

“What don’t I know?”

“When an older brother likes something his younger brother has, he takes it.”

“You son of a—!”

“Let’s pretend I didn’t hear that.”

The Black Dragon burst into laughter right in Julius’s face, then disappeared from the office in an instant.

Whoosh!

Once again, he’d stirred up Julius and vanished just as quickly.

“Aaagh! These damned people are so infuriating!!”

Julius grabbed his temples and twisted his body in frustration.

* * *

Theo and his group, mounted on Umbra and Rangus (Evelyn’s partner), were moving swiftly toward the Ceres Trading Company’s headquarters.

In this mission, speed and timing were everything, leaving no room for hesitation.

However, they still managed to review their plan briefly during the journey.

The heat that had been radiating from Theo, making it difficult to even approach him, was now gradually being restrained.

“…What on earth did you do?”

Kleve, standing behind Theo, had a look of disbelief on his face.

Theo had not only mastered The Meridian Enhancing Technique and immediately emitted heat, but he had also changed the nature of his Thunder attribute. Now, he had even learned how to conceal the heat within his magic power.

More precisely, he had learned the method of trapping the heat inside his magic power.

Since heat was energy in itself, simply containing it significantly reduced the inefficient waste of energy.

This also eliminated the discomfort caused by overheating, which he had been suffering from.

No matter how blessed the body of a Ragnar was.

Wasn’t this almost unfair at this point?

“I wonder.”

But Theo could only respond with a smile, evading the question.

He couldn’t exactly admit that he had gotten a hint from the Blood Priest’s method of manipulating magic power.

‘As expected, the key was to maximize the density of the magic power.’

Bloodlight Convergence worked in a similar way.

It absorbed the vast amounts of divine power pouring through the Brain Gate, dissolved it into the magic power, and compressed it with extreme pressure, continuously rotating it within the body.

Of course, since this technique relied on the unique properties of the Sacred Demon Church’s divine power, it wasn’t something Theo could directly imitate, but—

Theo had a similar trait, Spiritual Essence, which allowed him to increase the viscosity of his magic power, thereby raising its density.

Thanks to that,

the emitted heat was trapped inside the magic power, and the increased fluidity greatly enhanced efficiency.

‘If I can make better use of this, I could create an excellent breathing technique and method of operation.’

For the time being, Theo decided to continue researching this subject.

Of course, those watching him were left bewildered.

‘Was the Head of House like this in his youth? The Commander must have witnessed it.’

‘The Palace Lord made the right choice. Theo Ragnar will write a new chapter in the history of the Plum Blossom Palace.’

Kleve and Hazel were now fully convinced that they had to bring Theo completely into their fold.

‘Black Dragon and Sword Dragon are probably fuming right now. I regret not seeing that…’

Evelyn clicked her tongue, feeling disappointed she hadn’t been able to witness Julius, who was likely grinding his temples in frustration by now.

Tsk!

At that moment—

Flap—

A black bird swooped down over Theo and his companions.

It was a messenger bird, a spiritual creature raised by the Black Snow for emergency communication.

Kleve quickly reached out, retrieved the letter the bird carried, and, after reading it, let out a dry chuckle.

“Why are you doing this?”

Kleve answered Theo’s question as she burned the letter with her magic.

“A report just came in. Apparently, the Ceres Trading Company is involved in some interesting matters.”

“Interesting matters?”

Confusion appeared on the faces of Theo and his companions.

* * *

The Ceres Trading Company.

For the past hundred years, this group had grown under the protection of Ragnar to become the largest trading company in the North. But its owner harbored one wish.

For the company to break free from the limitations of being just a merchant group and transform into a true family of horsemen.

And to establish itself as a prestigious house, comparable to the Six Snow Families!

This was why they had allied with the Central Intelligence Bureau.

No, this was the reason they had become the hunting dogs of Ed Troyban.

“But even that isn’t enough. To become a family of horsemen… we’re still lacking in history. Lacking in strength.”

The head of the trading company, Quadrach Ceres, murmured softly as he rubbed the two walnuts in his right hand.

“The fact that we were helplessly raided by a mere terrorist—that is the current reality our company faces. To change this, we need to accumulate more power.”

The hostage incident that had occurred not long ago had been a great shock to him.

It had further fueled his desire to transform the company into a military force.

“This marriage must succeed, no matter what.”

Thud!

Quadrach’s sharp gaze landed on the documents scattered across the table.

They depicted the relationships between various people and factions.

At the center was Soaring Dragon Ed Troyban, with ‘Kyle’ and ‘Ragnar’ placed at opposing ends above him.

Behind Ed, two branches extended—one leading to ‘Troyban’ and the other to the ‘Sacred Demon Church.’

Both of these were the sharpest daggers aimed at Ragnar’s heart, the largest forces supporting Ed Troyban.

The ‘Ceres Trading Company’ was depicted extending from Ed Troyban’s right side, connected to a category labeled ‘Gathering of the Hidden Dragons.’

And,

The Ceres Trading Company had a unique feature that couldn’t be found elsewhere.

It was linked by a branch to one of the Six Snow Families on Ragnar’s side.

The House of Bacchus.

Bearing a bull as their crest, they were known for their bold and vigorous image among the Six Snow Families.

However, a question mark was attached to the branch connecting the Ceres Trading Company to the House of Bacchus.

Thud.

Thud…

Quadrach tapped his index finger on the question mark and muttered to himself.

“No matter what, this marriage must succeed. Then, I’ll devour them. Not only will our company become one of the Six Snow Families, but we’ll even be able to replace Ragnar.”

Quadrach had already decided to turn his back on Ragnar.

Considering Ragnar’s stance of never forgiving traitors, this was an incredibly risky move.

But Quadrach, being a brilliant merchant, had already calculated everything.

“Troyban alone is already a great house, not inferior to Ragnar. On top of that, the Sacred Demon Church supports them, and various other forces have joined hands to carve up the North. A major upheaval is inevitable. There’s no reason our company can’t ride that wave. Moreover…”

Quadrach’s eyes glinted coldly.

“Isn’t ‘he’ behind all of this? ‘He’ is the true sovereign of the North. There’s no way we can lose this game.”

Quadrach shuddered as he recalled the first time he had met ‘him.’

The mental shock he had experienced back then still lingered intensely within him.

How could anyone possibly go against him after seeing that…?

It was at that moment.

“Master, a young member of the House of Bacchus has arrived.”

“Has it already come to that time? Understood. I’ll be out shortly.”

Hearing the voice of the steward outside the door, Quadrach flipped the chart back over and stood up.

“The time is near. The time when the Ceres Trading Company will be reborn as the House of Ceres…!”