Mount Everest was the third highest mountain on the continent. It was nearly 9,000 meters above sea level and covered in snow. Among the Alps Mountain Range, which was one of the 10 restricted lands in the world also known as monsters’ paradise, Mount Everest was exceptionally dangerous.

A silver-haired girl wearing a white dress, holding a white parasol, stood atop Mount Everest and gazed at the scenery beneath the mountain as if she was trying to capture the scenery in her eyes.

“Yuria?”

Under the summit, a white-haired boy garbed completely in black and holding a black parasol was waving and running while calling the girl’s name.

Yuria sighed lightly as she watched the boy running toward her.

“Alphonso, what if you fall down?”

No sooner had the words been uttered than the sprinting boy tripped over a pile of snow and fell down. Taken aback, she ran to her twin brother. Fortunately, the snow lying everywhere cushioned his fall.

“Ahhh… It hurts.” Alphonso cried out as he looked at his palms that had been scraped when he fell.

Yuria let out a small sigh and held Alphonso’s scraped hands. “Healing.”

Her palm glowed and the scrape disappeared.

Alphonso clasped and unfolded his hand to confirm that the wound had healed. “Hehe, thank you.” He naively smiled and thanked Yuria as she slightly smiled and stroked his head.

“Alphonso, your dream is to become a knight. How could you be a knight if you become tearful with a small wound like this?”

Alphonso blushed.

“I can become one!”

Yuria laughed when her brother turned his head away.

“Yes, yes. It’s definitely possible. That’s why you’re going to the capital.”

Alphonso got up and shouted, “That’s right! I’m going to become a knight that fights against the Demon’s Territory like my uncle, Bloody Blade!”

Yuria smiled but sighed inwardly.

The reason Alphonso yearned to become a knight, as well as wear black clothes and parasols instead of white that was considered sacred by the tribe, was because of the man called Bloody Blade. The Butterfly Tribe that the twins were a part of had been sending men to the empire, generation after generation, to maintain their ties.

William was one of the strongest men in the tribe and also their uncle.

The problem began four years ago when William invited his friend, Bloody, from the capital to the Butterfly Tribe’s village.

-o-

Four years ago – Inside the village

William and Bloody came out of a warp gate connected to the capital.

“Oh? This is really convenient. Can you set one up in our village too?”

When Bloody asked William, the latter shook his head and yelled, “Are you kidding me? How do you set up a warp gate in Olympus? Even if I were to manage to set one up, I could end up lost in the void.”

“Oh, really?”

Bloody told him he hadn’t been serious and started looking around the room where the warp gate was stationed.

“But there’s no one here. I thought someone would come to greet you.”

“Of course, long-distance teleportation is delicate magic that’s only possible by getting rid of as many variables as possible. If someone touched something wrong in this room or used magic, it would be over for the person passing through the gate.”

Bloody thought about William’s explanation for three seconds, then spoke with a solemn face as if he had been explained how an infrared refactor works.

“It would be a good idea to omit any further details.”

“Yes, I will. Phew! You don’t understand even if I give you an explanation.”

William shook his head and opened the door to go out of the room. The outside was covered with white snow.

Bloody followed after William and commented while admiring the scenery.

“Everything is white.”

His admiration was not only due to snow. The exterior walls of the house, the roof, and even the smoke coming out of the roof were white.

“No, that’s just steam. How can we obtain firewood here? Everything has to be solved with magic.”

The Butterfly Tribe’s village was located about a kilometer from the peak of Mount Everest.

“Oh, I thought you guys turned the smoke white to match it with the scenery.”

“No, why would we…. No, would that be possible…?”

William was about to deny it but then carefully considered and felt that the smoke could actually turn white if they used firewood.

“Uncle William?”

A boy was running from afar while waving his hands. He had white hair, white mufflers, and clothes, and was calling out William’s name.

“Alphonso?”

William called out and opened his arms to hug his nephew. But then the sprinting figure suddenly crashed. He fell down.

“Alphonso?”

This time William called out with a different meaning and ran towards him. Then, he wiped Alphonso’s tearful eyes and cast a healing spell on his body.

“How does it feel? Does it still hurt?”

“Nope!”

Alphonso smiled brightly and William laughed along with him. From behind William, Bloody opened his mouth as if he were having a cultural shock.

“What’s wrong?”

“Did he get hurt just from falling down? And started to cry?”

William chided Bloody for being as surprised by something trivial and said, “It’s common for you to get a knee scrape when you fall down. Besides, the kid is only twelve. They can cry if they get hurt.”

Bloody lashed out at William’s words. “My nephews get thrown in front of dragons when they turn twelve. To think the kid would cry just from falling down…”

“What?”

William thought he had misheard. Sudden changes in altitude could cause occasional ear problems due to the difference in internal and external pressure. Although the pressure had been stabilized in the village through magic, an error in the system seemed more realistic than what Bloody had just said.

“Huh? What?”

“What did you just say!”

“Throwing the kids in front of a dragon at the age of twelve?”

William had no choice but to be frightened at Bloody’s words.

“Human sacrifice? Something even the Dragon Tribe who worships dragons don’t do!”

“Who said anything about human sacrifice? We just let the kids experience a dragon in advance according to my brother’s unique educational philosophy. We only let them get scared and then retrieve them right away.”

“It’s a miracle for them to not suffer from PTSD.” William rebuked as he hugged Alfonso.

“Pee, what?”

“PTSD. A mental trauma. It’s like the occasional nightmares you have about fighting against your brother.”

Bloody roughly understood and then told Alphonso who was in William’s arms.

“Anyways, kiddo, men do not cry.”

Alphonso’s moist eyes widened, and he asked, “Huh? Why?”

“You know… how should I explain… like, you know… Ah! You won’t be able to become a knight if you cry like that.”

Bloody racked his brain at the sudden question and said the first thing that came into his mind.

“What’s a knight?”

Bloody laughed at Alphonso whose innocent eyes were wet with tears.

“A knight is someone on the side of justice who protects people from bad monsters and demons.”

“Wow! Is Uncle a knight too?”

Alphonso looked at William with sparkling eyes.

“Haha, yes. I’m a knight.”

It was a bit misleading to call William knight, but the work he did was not very different.

“Wow?”

Alphonso was delighted to hear that William was a knight and clapped his hands.

“This kid.”

Neither William nor Bloody expected that their casual words would turn into a grand dream in the child’s heart.

William lifted Alphonso and nodded towards the center of the village.

“Since I’m visiting the village, I should go to the senate building and say hello.”

Bloody lightly nodded at William’s words.

“Mister? Tell me more about knights!”

Alphonso asked Bloody while being in William’s embrace and Bloody told him about the first things he could recall doing at work.

“First of all, we wear armor.”

“Oh?”

Alphonso started imagining an armor he had never seen before. In his imagination, the armor was a dazzling cloth.

“And we swing a sword.”

“Sword?”

Alphonso had never seen a sword.

“Uncle, what’s a sword?”

William was embarrassed by Alphonso’s question. The Butterfly Tribe’s village did not have a kitchen knife, let alone a sword.

“It’s a piece of iron with a sharp edge.”

Due to finding all sorts of solutions with magic, it was not uncommon for common objects in the outside world to be absent here in the village.

Bloody took out his sword from a little magic pouch attached to his waist.

“This is a sword.”

“Wow!”

Bloody let Alphonso hold the sword.

“You, I told you not to bring any weapons.”

Bloody slightly smiled when William started to freak out.

“Hey, it’s fine. My body itself is a weapon in the first place.”

“You~”

Bloody interrupted William as he was about to reprimand him.

“And, if the leader of the Butterfly Tribe tries to kill me, I should at least try to resist.”

William let out a sigh after Bloody winked at him.

“Don’t worry, my father is a gentle man.”

“Really? That’s not according to what I heard.”

“What? Says who?”

In response to William’s question, Bloody opened the entrance to the senate building.

“I’ll put this item away.”

Bloody took the sword from Alphonso’s hand and put it back into his magic pouch.

“Ah.”

Alphonso regretfully stared at the magic pouch.

Bloody stroked Alphonso’s head.

“Hey, I asked you who said that?”

Bloody feigned ignorance to William’s questioning.

“I heard it from a magician I know. Let’s quickly go give our greeting and then rest. I haven’t had a chance to rest after arriving at the capital so I’m tired.”

“Where is the magician that you know?”

William gave up questioning Bloody and put Alphonso down.

“Would you like to go home first?”

“Ummm~~”

Alphonso thought for a bit then shook his head.

“Grandfather told me to bring Uncle with me.”

“Really? Then shall we go together?”

William took Alphonso’s hand and headed for the senate office where his father was.

“Mr. William?”

A secretary who had been sitting at a desk in front of the senate office immediately got up to welcome William.

“Long time no see. How have you been?”

The secretary shook William’s hands and smiled happily.

“Hahaha, It’s always the same for me. Mr. William is the one having a hard time. I heard that you are going up to the Demon’s Territory soon.”

“Yes, I’ll send you some demon’s blood that can be only found in the Demon’s Territory.”

The secretary started to drool. “Really?”

Demon’s blood could be used as a valuable magic ingredient if it was refined well. In the Alps Mountain Range where the Butterfly Tribe’s village was located, it was difficult to hunt demons because of their rarity even though monsters were in large numbers.

“Oh, you’re standing here because of me.”

The secretary knocked on the door while being happy about the demon’s blood she would be able to obtain later.

Knock, knock!

“Great Elder, it’s William, who was dispatched to the capital.”

“Come in.”

At the sound of the voice coming from inside the Great Elder’s office, William and Bloody opened the door and went in.