It was a full moon night. The night sky was clear, and the stars were faint—overshadowed by the bright moonlight.
The moon cascaded a gentle glow onto the flower that was slowly blooming, as if being nourished by the moonlight, absorbing it as nutrients while shyly striving to open its petals.
A sweet and delicate scent lingered as the flower gradually opened its petals.
The white, beautiful flower—also known as the Moonlit Orchid, which blooms once every fifty years—was surrounded by people from all sides, all waiting for the moment it fully bloomed so they could harvest it.
Aside from humans, beasts of various grades began to appear.
Instead of immediately starting a fight, the humans and beasts stood silently, waiting for the flower to bloom before engaging in battle to see who could claim the Moonlit Orchid.
Not only for humans, but even for beasts, the Moonlit Orchid could help increase their rank or grant them greater strength.
As the humans and beasts remained in a stalemate, the flower finally bloomed under the intense gazes of the onlookers. A burst of sweet and delicate fragrance erupted, and the grass beside the Moonlit Orchid began to glow green, as if it had gained a new property.
Austin's eyes lit up as he stared at the glowing grass. He clenched his fist to calm his restless emotions.
This was not the time to act impulsively.
Austin glanced around at the people and beasts. To them, he was nothing more than a mere ant whose life could be snuffed out at any moment. His eyes darkened as he once again clearly understood how weak he was.
Of course, considering his age, he was already far stronger than his peers, but that was still not enough. He wanted to become stronger—he needed to become stronger—so that he would not have to live in constant apprehension or cower before the strong.
It was unknown who made the first move, but a fierce battle suddenly erupted. Everyone aimed for the Moonlit Orchid while obstructing one another.
Zahia Elliohart, someone who had attained the position of High Elder of the Mage Tower before the age of forty, possessed considerable strength. However, those who came for the Moonlit Orchid were not easy opponents either. Still, compared to them, her strength stood above the rest, which was precisely why she faced more obstructions than others.
"Tsk… annoying as always."
The weaker ones who coveted things beyond their own ability.
She could handle them, but when ants gathered together, they could even bring down an elephant—not to mention that her obstructers were far from mere ants.
Even with her strength, she could still be hindered.
This situation only strengthened Zahia's resolve to obtain the Moonlit Orchid, which was why she had personally come here.
Pale blue mana enveloped Zahia, and destructive spells were cast one after another with effortless ease.
Zahia paused when someone rushed past her.
Turning her head expressionlessly, her eyes met a pair of deep blue ones.
"…Even if you are cherished by my disciple, I won't be polite with you if you covet what is mine," her voice was cold and domineering.
"I only want the grass beside the Moonlit Orchid for my mother,"
Austin replied. His expression remained stoic, showing no sign of cowering before her icy gaze.
Zahia slowly raised her hand, and her mana shot toward Austin. She expected fear—or at least surprise—but the child remained motionless, as if he felt no fear at all, or as if he already knew she would not harm him.
He had always been like this, maintaining a stoic expression as though nothing in the world could truly shake him.
Indeed, the mana was aimed at the beast behind Austin that attempted to pounce on him.
"You are as boring as my disciple, though she is cuter."
After all, her disciple's nonchalance stemmed from her laziness to express excessive emotions. Her face remained impassive simply because she found it troublesome to express herself and preferred living within her own inner world.
The child before her, however, was nonchalant because he genuinely did not care about anyone else. He gazed upon the world with apathy, like an ancient monster wearing the skin of youth, looking at people and the world as nothing more than gray mud.
A single-minded person obsessively fixated on only one thing—truly boring.
"Yuna is indeed cute."
Austin's eyes softened slightly, another emotion finally surfacing beyond apathy.
Zahia looked at the child who had finally shown a different expression. Just as she thought, he was the type to become obsessively attached to a single thing.
She felt a brief, fleeting pity for her disciple who had provoked such a monster, but it was her disciple's own problem. Zahia had no intention of involving herself further. As long as her disciple ate well, slept well, and learned properly under her guidance, nothing else concerned her.
In a way, she herself was also quite unfeeling and apathetic.
Still, the child before her reminded her of the other monsters that resided in the capital.
Hmm… perhaps she should warn her disciple not to poke her nose into such monsters. Provoking one monster was already enough. As a master, doing the bare minimum to watch over her disciple's well-being should suffice.
"Take the grass and leave." Zahia clicked her tongue. "My ears are about to get clogged from being constantly begged to look out for your safety. Return safely, or my disciple will surely whine again."
Austin smiled faintly as he thought of Yuna fretting over him.
Under Zahia's subtle protection, Austin quickly plucked a few blades of grass before retreating. His original companions—those he had guided—had long since forgotten about him, being preoccupied with their own goals.
He had claimed that they would protect him even though he knew he would be cast aside. He only said so to reassure his mother and Yuna.
Austin had not gone far when a deafening explosion echoed.
A barrier abruptly formed, trapping both people and beasts inside a dome-shaped enclosure. The ground lit up as strange runes appeared.
"Not bad, not bad. The livestock gathered here are quite decent."
A light voice descended from a nearby peak.
The people looked up to see a man draped in a green cloak.
He might have been considered handsome if not for the black and purple veins covering half of his face, twisting across his left side in a grotesque manner, like writhing worms beneath his skin.
"Who are you? If you want the Moonlit Orchid, fight properly instead of using such a disgusting, underhanded method!"
Someone shouted from below, pointing at the man, his voice brimming with anger.
The others stayed silent, yet they silently agreed.
The man in the green cloak looked at the person as if staring at an idiot.
"It seems you still don't understand your situation… no matter. As livestock soon to be slaughtered, I can afford to be tolerant."
He spoke lightly, his serene expression making it seem as though he were performing an act of great charity.
The expressions of those below shifted one after another as they stared up at the man who looked down on them with such arrogance.
They were about to curse him when someone suddenly called out his name, causing shock to ripple through the crowd.
"Louis Von Arryn, what are you doing here?"
"…Hmm, someone recognizes me…" The man glanced around until his gaze settled on an old woman. He squinted, trying to recall her identity, but failed to recognize her.
"As a defector of the Lalrem Empire, please obediently offer your head."
The old woman, Zahia, spoke coldly as she unleashed a powerful surge of mana imbued with a faint law of destruction toward the man on the peak.
The man narrowed his eyes and hastily formed a barrier. The purple diamond necklace around his neck glowed faintly, reinforcing the barrier against the destructive mana.
"This mana… it feels familiar… ah… Zahia… Elliohart."
He murmured her name, a faint smile forming on his lips.
"As expected of the genius Lady Zahia, you've already stepped into the realm of law—albeit only faintly."
Zahia did not respond and fired another destructive surge of mana.
The purple diamond necklace shone brighter as the man casually brushed the attack aside.
"Hahahaha… to think the quality of the livestock would suddenly rise. This truly calls for celebration."
Those trapped inside the dome could no longer remain calm upon realizing that the man before them was the infamous Louis Von Arryn, a top criminal on the Lalrem Empire's most-wanted list.
"…I remember… thi—this looks like blood runes,"
one person muttered with a pale face.
"Not a bad observation… then why don't you offer your blood?"
As Louis's light voice faded, the purple diamond necklace flared brilliantly, and violet light pierced into the Moonlit Orchid.
The orchid twisted violently as its color changed. Its roots expanded and grew at an alarming rate, waving through the air before lunging toward the people trapped inside the dome.
One unlucky individual was seized by the roots, which wrapped around him and drilled into his mouth, nose, and ears, greedily sucking out his blood.
He did not even have time to scream before his body was drained dry, leaving behind a bloodless corpse.
"What the—"
"NO!! Get away from me!"
Horror spread across the faces of the onlookers as they stared at the corpse, drained in such a gruesome manner.
They attacked the roots desperately, but it was as though they were reinforced by an impenetrable barrier, impossible to cut or destroy.
Soon, more bloodless corpses appeared, and the expressions of those trapped within the dome grew increasingly twisted with despair.