WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Ceaseless
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ The Northern Grand Duke’s Mad Son-in-Law ◈
Chapter 45: Monster Tamer
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‘The Demon Realm...’
Galahad muttered as he looked at the castle veiled in ash.
The Demon Realm that had opened at the Seventh Battalion was the size of the area between the inner and outer fortifications. It had neither expanded nor shrunk.
Mana flowed from places with low concentrations to places with high concentrations. That was why the Demon Realm drew in the surrounding mana.
Once low-concentration mana entered, it mixed with the highly concentrated mana inside. That naturally lowered the concentration.
When the difference in concentration fell below a certain level, the flow stopped, creating disparities between regions.
That was how mana flowed.
Yet the Demon Realm drew in surrounding mana while maintaining a high mana concentration.
‘How is that even possible?’
Galahad narrowed his eyes and examined it, but he could not make sense of it.
That was the biggest reason he had proposed the Demon Realm Training Camp.
The Demon King would be somewhere deep within the Demon Realm. To approach that being, Galahad had to uncover the Demon Realm’s secrets.
And now he had even been put in charge of the Demon Realm Training Camp.
Galahad intended to make the training camp exceptionally harsh.
So that when they eventually entered a real Demon Realm, they would not panic and could show their skills.
Of course, the commanders would not comply without complaint, but persuasion was Galahad’s specialty.
And Galahad had received the Grand Duke’s recognition.
‘Hmm, we’re short on people.’
Galahad frowned.
They needed more personnel to study the Demon Realm and maintain the Demon Realm Training Camp.
By personnel, Galahad meant mages or people with comparable intelligence.
This place was full of people like Sir Gilbert. They were not manpower. They were just muscle.
‘Should I call in the ones from the Dark Magic Society branch in the Fifth Battalion...’
He was planning to properly make use of the Dark Magic Society branch to capture Dawn.
Still, keeping dark mages near the Demon Realm was hardly a good choice.
Was there no clever bastard he could recruit?
‘Ah, the Intelligence Bureau.’
Galahad still held a position in the Intelligence Bureau.
And it was a fairly high one. He could bring in a few people from the safehouse.
Naturally, the Intelligence Bureau would hear about it, but...
‘That can be handled with a little persuasion.’
Persuasion was Galahad’s strong suit.
Just then, a soldier approached him.
“Where should I put this?”
“Ah, set it down over here.”
The soldier lowered the luggage and gave a crisp salute. It was even sharper than the salute Gilbert had received.
‘So this is the Grand Duke’s recognition.’
Galahad casually waved a hand. The other soldiers immediately saluted him as well. It was starting to get annoying.
“Do you truly intend to manage the Demon Realm?”
Adrianna asked in her usual indifferent voice.
“I do.”
“It will be dangerous.”
Adrianna spoke seriously.
She was right. Keeping a Demon Realm within the front lines was extremely dangerous.
“That’s why we need to train even harder. How long are we going to keep doing nothing but defending? A war does not end by holding the line.”
“You sound certain.”
Galahad nodded. Even without what was written in the notebook, it was something he could predict.
“And shouldn’t we prepare in case something like this happens again?”
Adrianna considered his question for a moment before nodding.
“You have a point. Even so, maintaining the Demon Realm is dangerous. I will assign personnel from the First Battalion.”
“Thank you.”
There was no reason to refuse, so Galahad nodded.
At that moment, Gilbert approached them.
“Oh? When did you arrive, Lady Adrianna?”
Adrianna gave a small cough at Gilbert’s question. Galahad answered for her.
“She came with His Grace the Grand Duke.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Gilbert dipped his head.
“Why can’t I see the other members? Did you come without informing the battalion?”
Adrianna’s eyes widened slightly.
Galahad raised the corner of his mouth.
“I left a letter on her behalf.”
Adrianna looked slightly relieved, then suddenly looked at Galahad.
“What did you write?”
“Hmm, that’s a secret.”
Adrianna grew uneasy.
“By the way, have you seen the youngest? I can’t find the kid anywhere. I heard the kid went with the commander...”
Gilbert frowned, his face full of concern.
“Ah, Sir Noad?”
“Yes. The kid is nowhere to be seen. That scatterbrain did not get lost somewhere, did they?”
“You really are Sir Gilbert.”
“...What does that mean?”
“Nothing. I sent Sir Noad on an errand.”
“What? You sent the kid alone?”
Gilbert let out a deep sigh. Adrianna’s brows lowered slightly.
“The youngest can’t do anything besides use a sword. Can’t even hold reins or light a fire. Sending someone like that on an errand will cause a real disaster.”
“...I don’t think it’s that bad?”
“Huh? Do you know our youngest, Lady Adrianna?”
Adrianna’s lips moved, but she shook her head.
“Haah, the kid does work hard. The kid has simply never been taught. If you teach something, the kid memorizes it diligently.”
Adrianna’s brows rose slightly.
“Just stupid, that’s all.”
They immediately fell again.
Adrianna’s eyes turned sharp. Gilbert failed to notice her gaze and continued talking about the youngest.
“Ah, but the youngest has become rather famous in the Seventh Battalion.”
“Famous?”
“Yes, even if the kid is stupid...”
Adrianna gave a small cough.
“Are you all right? Ah, getting back to it, apparently the youngest is so skilled with a sword that the kid beat soldiers and knights without using aura.”
Adrianna’s brows lowered further. Galahad chuckled quietly.
Gilbert was far better at provoking people than expected.
“But apparently the kid is quite rough. Doesn’t even talk first, just swings the sword right away. A true man among men, that one.”
“A true man among men?”
Adrianna shook her head twice in quick succession.
“Wasn’t the situation urgent?”
Adrianna asked hurriedly.
“That’s right. The commander said, ‘I’ll handle it alone, so get there as fast as possible!’ But that kid...”
Gilbert trailed off.
“What about Sir Noad?”
“Apparently, the kid tears off the enemy’s ear and chews it up. Khuh! To think the kid was such a true man among men!”
A faint look of panic appeared on Adrianna’s face. She shook her head three times in rapid succession.
It was a common exaggeration on the front lines. Galahad laughed in astonishment.
“The youngest probably has a thick beard too.”
“...Sir Gilbert!”
“Yes, Lady Adrianna?”
“Let us spar.”
Sir Gilbert grinned in delight.
That smile did not last long.
* * *
Tom thought he had adapted to the Special Operations Unit fairly well.
There was Gwen, who wrapped herself in lightning and shot fire from her hands while claiming to be a maid, Damian, a boy who constantly ate while hunting Monsters with a rusty sword, and Sir Gilbert simply being Sir Gilbert. Tom was getting used to them.
Except for Commander Galahad, whose thoughts he could never read.
Every member was talented enough to seem completely out of place beside Tom, but they were still people, and they had their shortcomings.
They knew next to nothing about anything unrelated to fighting.
That was where Tom found his value. It was how an utterly ordinary person like him had found a way to survive among these monsters.
Tom knew how miserable it was to be useless. That was why he tried his best.
He found work somehow. He desperately made himself necessary.
Thanks to that, he thought he had adapted quite well to the Special Operations Unit.
Until Adrianna put on a strange helmet and insisted she was the youngest.
Her long legs could not be concealed even by thick armor, nor could her nobility. Anyone could see that she was Adrianna.
Besides, who else would Galahad bring from the First Battalion?
The strange thing was that nobody noticed.
Every time Gilbert berated the youngest for being stupid, Tom had to fight with all his strength to keep himself from screaming.
Gilbert had even entrusted Adrianna to Tom, telling him to teach her what the youngest needed to know.
Who was Adrianna?
The north’s rising, brilliant hero and the Grand Duke’s only blood relative. She was the exalted figure who would become the next Grand Duke.
And Tom was supposed to teach her. Worse, Adrianna applied herself earnestly to every lesson without voicing a single complaint.
Fortunately, she was immediately assigned to the Seventh Battalion, so it did not last long.
It had been a true crisis, but he somehow got through it.
Tom thought he had survived the biggest crisis.
Until just now.
“Where is he?”
The instant he heard that voice, Tom froze solid.
It was a deep voice one could never forget after hearing it once.
‘Huh? Why?’
Why was His Grace the Grand Duke standing in front of him?
Tom could still vividly remember the Grand Duke casually ripping off a Monster’s head.
Even that horrifying Monster, which had seemed like overwhelming despair, had been nothing more than a lump of meat to the Grand Duke.
No, even now...
‘...He’s holding one! A Monster!!’
Kereereereek!!
Tom desperately held back the scream threatening to burst out as the Monster struggled in the Grand Duke’s grasp.
That was Ssobaengi. It was smaller than other Monsters, making it even more dangerous.
It was a mid-ranking Monster that knights, not soldiers, had to fight.
Yet the Grand Duke was holding Ssobaengi like it was some object.
When Ssobaengi opened its mouth wide, Tom could not hold back any longer.
* * *
“Aaah!”
At Tom’s scream, Galahad finished organizing things and came down.
The Grand Duke stood before Tom, who had fainted and was foaming at the mouth, holding a strange-looking Monster.
‘What is he doing with a Monster...’
Galahad frowned as he assessed the situation.
Even at a glance, it was not a lower-ranking Monster. It was at least mid-ranking. Yet the Grand Duke held it as casually as a chicken brought home from the market.
‘He truly is a monster.’
Galahad shook his head in amazement.
“I found it.”
The Grand Duke spoke in a low voice.
The question of where one could possibly find a mid-ranking Monster rose to Galahad’s lips, but he forced it down.
Kireereereek!!
The Monster violently twisted its body. On closer inspection, it did not have a single wound.
‘Did he beat it up before bringing it here?’
Galahad swallowed.
“Thank you. But is this not a mid-ranking Monster?”
At Adrianna’s firm insistence, they had decided to fill the place with lower-ranking Monsters. Since this was a Demon Realm, even lower-ranking Monsters were dangerous.
Yet the Grand Duke had suddenly brought a mid-ranking Monster.
He seemed to think lower-ranking Monsters would not be enough.
Still, to just find and bring back a mid-ranking Monster...
“Is that a problem?”
The Grand Duke’s brows lowered slightly.
“Not at all. Frankly, if someone who cannot even defeat a mid-ranking Monster is sitting in the commander’s seat, that is the real problem.”
One corner of the Grand Duke’s mouth rose. Looking closely, it was a scar, deep enough to reveal yellow fangs beneath it.
‘Not bad.’
Galahad had been curious himself.
He rolled up his sleeves and approached the Monster.
The Monster opened its jaws wide and barked viciously.
“If you won’t stay still, I’ll neuter you too.”
It was a light joke, but the Grand Duke did not laugh. The Monster barked even louder.
Galahad clicked his tongue and took a Magic Stone from Tom’s bag.
“What are you doing?”
“I plan to carve a Monster Tamer’s magic circle.”
Monster Tamer?
The Grand Duke’s eyes narrowed.
Thump.
At the sight of the mid-ranking Monster, the Egg of Pain stirred.
It shook as if demanding it immediately.
‘No. This is not something you eat.’
The Egg of Pain went quiet. It seemed disappointed.
The Grand Duke stared intently at Galahad as Galahad reached toward the Monster.
He had presented a mid-ranking Demonkin, yet Galahad was not flustered. The man was smiling.
As though this had worked out perfectly.
“Ah, do you happen to have any more?”
The scar around the Grand Duke’s mouth deepened.
* * *
“I’m... exhausted.”
Jamit of the Intelligence Bureau frowned at the sudden outpouring of complaints.
James... no, Agent Galahad sat across from her.
James’s eyes, which had sparkled when he first joined the Intelligence Bureau, were now clouded with fatigue. His once lustrous blond hair was greasy and unkempt.
He looked like any ordinary new recruit in the Intelligence Bureau.
“I don’t know what everyone thinks mages are. They keep berating me over how long it takes to cast magic. Of course it takes time, it’s magic. I have to calculate mana concentration and chant spells! But they won’t even let me use a staff...”
James continued groaning miserably.
“And when I explain, they say, ‘Galahad does it.’ Galahad! Galahaaad!! Aaaah! That once-in-a-century genius!”
James abruptly stood and had a fit while shouting Galahad’s name.
It was the usual reaction of a new Intelligence Bureau mage.
“The section chief leaps up every time he hears the name ‘Galahad.’ Then he takes it out on me. He keeps yelling that he sent support!”
Jamit silently watched James complain.
‘What does this child take me for?’
Even the operations section chief James feared deferred to Jamit. Yet he had come to her to air his grievances. Jamit clicked her tongue softly.
If Galahad had not said that carrot-looking fellow was all right before leaving, she would not have indulged him like this.
“I don’t understand why they compare me to someone who is a once-in-a-century genius. We are entirely different people...”
James lowered his head.
‘Was I too cruel?’
Jamit clicked her tongue quietly.
Of course, as James said, Galahad was someone who fully deserved to be called a genius.
At the same time, he was someone the word genius could not fully explain.
“Do you know how Galahad casts magic without even chanting?”
“...Because he is a genius?”
“You are half right. You graduated top of the Academy too, didn’t you?”
“...Though I was six years older than him when I graduated.”
James looked uncomfortable for a moment, then nodded.
“I asked him once because I was curious. I asked how he cast magic so quietly and quickly.”
Jamit paused.
Without realizing it, James leaned forward.
“He said he kept casting until he could.”
Tap. Jamit swirled her teacup.
“...Excuse me?”
“Like a knight training until they can react to a sword flying at them without warning. He kept casting magic until it fired even with his eyes closed, without thinking.”
James’s face twisted at Jamit’s explanation.
“That is impossible. Casting magic does not consume only mana. It also drains mental strength. If someone used such a foolish method, they would surely go mad.”
Jamit pondered James’s firm words for a moment.
Had Galahad gone mad?
It did seem possible.
“Believe it or not, that is up to you. Bearing the weight of that name is your choice too. If you want, tell me. I can change it.”
Jamit wiggled a finger.
Changing an agent name was rare, but not unheard of.
There were cases where an agent name was exposed, or where it had to be changed for an operation.
James’s face crumpled. Amid his deep exhaustion, inner conflict appeared.
Jamit quietly sipped her tea.
James did not speak again for a long while.
“It’s fine.”
His blue eyes were clearer than before. He seemed to have made up his mind.
“I will become someone worthy of that name.”
As far as Jamit knew, he had only exchanged a few passing words with Galahad, yet he admired him this much.
“All right. I will look forward to it.”
Though it would never happen. Jamit swallowed those words.
He smiled brightly. He still looked every bit like a novice.
At that moment, the door flew open. A man with an irritable face entered.
“Jamit! What do you mean Galahad was dispatched to the north?”
The man snapped the moment he entered.
‘Ah, this one was here too.’
Jamit felt a faint weariness.
It was Agent First.
Ever since the Academy, he had always placed second behind Galahad. After learning that Galahad had joined the Intelligence Bureau, he had followed him there.
‘And he kept placing second behind Galahad in the Intelligence Bureau too.’
That alone was impressive. It meant he had always been right below Galahad.
The difference between them was simply far too great for a gap of one rank.
“This time, I would have beaten him!”
“Calm down. There is no use arguing with me.”
“Damn it! Who dared send my soul’s rival, Galahad, away? I cannot forgive-”
“It was an imperial decree.”
First stopped speaking. His eyes darted around. Silence followed for a moment.
“...Damn it! He received an imperial decree before I ever did!”
First erupted in jealous frustration, and Jamit frowned. Was that really the part he should be angry about?
“No, he cannot escape from me until our competition is over! Jamit! I am going north too.”
“Why are you telling me that? Go tell your father yourself.”
“That is what I will do.”
First nodded emphatically.
First’s obsession with Galahad was well known.
First was the Director’s son. Ridiculously, he had never borrowed the Director’s power, claiming he wanted a fair competition with Galahad. He was an idiot in the truest sense.
A position had recently opened in the northern safehouse, so he would find a way to take it.
To Jamit, who had been planning support with the Deputy Director, he was an unexpected complication.
“Galahad! Did you think you could escape from me? Wait for me! Even if it is the edge of the north, I will follow you! For the sake of our unfinished match! Hm? A new recruit?”
First, who had been shouting, looked at James.
“...Yes!”
“Good. What is your agent name?”
At First’s question...
“...James.”
James lowered his head.
A question suddenly came to Jamit’s mind.
Would Galahad remember First?
Hmm...
...He probably would not.
Footnotes:
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