Chapter 12

The Lanches Nomad was a group of young, hot-blooded male nomads. Its membership numbered around thirty.

It was somewhat smaller compared to other nomads, but since it consisted entirely of young men with no children or elderly, their combat prowess was considerable.

In other words, while they called themselves a vigorous youth nomad, they were essentially no different from a gang of thugs.

Lanches, the leader of the Lanches Nomad, stroked Yuria’s cheek with his delicate hand.

“So why are you being so difficult? Did I ask you to sleep with me? I just asked you to come over for a bit, was that really so hard?”

His voice sounded sweet on the surface, but beneath the vulgar manner and languid tone lurked cruel threats.

“If yooou had just listened… then your friends wouldn’t have gotten beaten up like that, right?”

Lanches caressed Yuria’s hair while subtly stroking her ear. Despite that unsettling, skin-crawling touch, Yuria only glared at him with eyes frozen solid as stone.

“Hah… those eyes… you really have no manners, do you?”

Shaking his head in disappointment, Lanches removed his hands from Yuria as if promising not to touch her further and turned away.

With unhurried steps, he approached where Kallin and Mukuru were kneeling.

Lanches crouched down to meet the eyes of the badly beaten Kallin and Mukuru and grinned.

“You guys must have it rough too. She seems really difficult to deal with. How do you put up with that personality? Whew… it must be hard, right? As a fellow man, I feel for you.”

He put his arms around the shoulders of the kneeling Kallin and Mukuru in fake camaraderie while pretending to be sympathetic.

“Don’t you think so? Come on, tell big brother. How tough has it been? How much grief has that stuck-up bitch caused you? It’s okay, we’re all men here, right? I’ll listen to everything.”

Lanches grinned like a friendly neighborhood older brother. But when Kallin and Mukuru simply trembled without answering, he instantly transformed into something cruel.

“Not going to answer me, you little shits?”

Smack!

Lanches slapped Kallin and Mukuru’s faces with his palm. Blood spattered onto the ground.

Yet even as they were being hit, Kallin and Mukuru neither opened their mouths nor begged. They just took the blows helplessly.

Smack! Whack!

As the sound of flesh being struck cut through the air, Yuria, who had been keeping her mouth tightly shut, finally spoke.

“Stop messing around and say what you want to me directly! You monster-crotched bastard.”

When the crude insult burst from Yuria’s mouth, Lanches adopted a weary expression.

“Sigh… somebody shut her up. Pretty face, but ruins it when she opens her mouth.”

No sooner had he spoken than one of the grinning young men watching the situation drove his fist into Yuria’s stomach.

Whump!

“Ugh…”

There was a sound like a leather drum bursting as Yuria collapsed to the ground, vomiting stomach acid.

“Yeah, that’s it. Just don’t hit her face. But hitting her stomach keeps making her throw up. It’s so disgusting.”

Lanches frowned as he stood up.

Then he stroked Yuria’s back as she lay retching and said.

“Why are you acting like this? I haven’t even hit you, I’m treating you like a perfect gentleman.”

Indeed, at least Lanches himself hadn’t directly struck Yuria. He supposedly had a policy of not hitting women or something. Instead, his underlings beat her mercilessly, just avoiding her face.

Yuria defined such a man in a single phrase.

“Despicable… bastard. Ptui!”

She spat a glob of bile-laced saliva at Lanches’s face. But the spit didn’t reach him. Dodging it at frightening speed, Lanches’s face immediately twisted in anger.

“Hah… this girl really has no manners at all.”

Lanches roughly grabbed Yuria’s hair and tried to yank her up.

Or rather, he was about to yank her up.

“That’s far enough.”

Until a cold, sunken voice issued a chilling warning.

Click.

Swish.

The Sena School Nomad aimed their bows at the Lanches Nomad. Those with close combat skills drew their swords and spears.

The Lanches Nomad likewise raised their weapons toward the Sena School Nomad.

“Huh?”

Lanches released his grip, letting Yuria drop roughly to the ground, and stepped forward with a bright smile.

“Well, who do we have here? If it isn’t the esteemed School Nomad teacher with the broken head and crippled arm. Pleased to meet you. I’m Lanches.”

He sneered while pointing out Teacher Sena’s injuries.

I kept my bow aimed at him while shifting only my eyes to check on Yuria.

She was writhing on the ground with a pale face. I felt so furious that flames seemed about to shoot from my eyes.

Yuria was a tough nomad of the Star Continent, trained in magic. She wouldn’t react like this from just a few punches.

Unlike Kallin and Mukuru, her face was unmarked, but I could guess she’d been beaten just as badly in places that didn’t show.

Click!

My already fully drawn bowstring somehow pulled even further back. The arrow was drawn beyond what my normal strength should allow. My bow bent almost to breaking point as I aimed for the bastard’s heart.

Thwack!

If my father hadn’t reached out to grab my arrow, I would have released it, and a battle would have erupted between the Sena School Nomad and the Lanches Nomad.

Very regrettably, my father prevented that.

‘Don’t act rashly.’

My mother, standing beside my father, whispered in my ear.

And in that moment, I realized.

The adults didn’t want a fight right now.

“Yes. I’m Sena from the Sena School Nomad with the broken head and crippled arm. So what? I wonder what happened to the orc I fought?”

Snap!

Teacher Sena lightly flicked her finger. Boom—a small explosion erupted in the air. Explosion—among Gifts, an extremely aggressive one.

It was a Gift that even most Mana Users would struggle against without a corresponding Gift of their own, the kind that could deal with creatures like orcs from the Calamity of Night.

“Whoa, whoa, why so scary?”

Lanches grinned ingratiatingly as he raised both hands and took two steps back.

He glanced at the kneeling Kallin and Mukuru and at Yuria who still couldn’t get up, then said sweetly.

“Alright, alright, I’ll let them off since your grumpy old teacher’s here. Go back to your mommy. Let’s get along better next time, shall we?”

The bastard said this with a friendly face and voice.

Whether from anger, humiliation, or shame… Kallin and Mukuru hung their heads low, their shoulders trembling as they slowly stood up.

But their legs seemed cramped, making them wobble unsteadily. Lanches playfully kicked their behinds.

“Stop being dramatic, you little shits.”

Then he nudged Yuria with his foot.

“You go too. Come find me if you think of me.”

Teacher Sena warned the insolent man.

“You dare touch my student in front of me? Know your limits.”

“Yes, yes.”

Lanches answered dismissively and turned his back.

“That’s enough, now go away. Go get some sleep. What kind of harassment is this, all of you rushing over here? Inconsiderate people.”

The bastard waved his hand in annoyance until the end.

The Sena School Nomad helped the battered Kallin, Mukuru, and Yuria back to our area.

…And that was the end of it.

The adults explained.

That Lanches guy is also a Mana User, they said.

I already knew. I could see magical power overflowing from his entire body. Just like Teacher Sena.

People were injured, but nobody died.

…So what?

If a fight had broken out there, more than half would have been killed or injured. If the conflict escalated, we might have suffered near-total casualties.

That might have been possible.

But to take a beating and just walk away?

If this happens again, do we just swallow our pride once more?

If nomads shared travel routes, we’d need to fight to avoid being looked down upon, but we were just passing through.

We’d probably never see them again… so it was better to endure.

With thousands of miles still to travel, we couldn’t fight every battle if we wanted the nomad to survive.

Especially now, when the nomad’s very existence was in jeopardy.

True, it made sense. But that was just adult reasoning.

At least I couldn’t accept it. I refused to accept it.

I didn’t care about Kallin and Mukuru. But to touch Yuria?

There are things you can compromise on and things you absolutely cannot.

For me, the fact that Yuria had been harassed and assaulted was a non-negotiable issue.

I felt that if I let this pass… I would forever remain that kind of person—someone who backs down.

Magic practitioners face such moments.

Times when you must confront things, no matter how foolish it seems.

Only those who overcome such reckless challenges gain magic.

How could someone who can’t even protect what matters to them gain magic that moves the world?

So I secretly retrieved my sword while my parents weren’t looking.

It was the second night since arriving at the Red Tree Crossroad. Also our last night before departing.

Since that incident, the students had taken to gathering every night, and at that gathering, I stood up with my sword drawn and said.

“I’m going to kill those bastards.”

The children stared at me with wide eyes.

There were five of us at the gathering, including me. Yuria had shut herself in her tent since the incident and rarely showed her face, while Mika was bedridden after being paralyzed by the orc.

“B-but Lanches is a Mana User.” 

Monggu stammered.

I snorted.

“So what? Do whatever you want. If you’re truly fine with this, then do as you please. I’m going. I can’t live with this. I won’t bow my head to scum like them. So here’s my covenant. I will kill Lanches, at the very least.”

I uttered the word ‘covenant.’

At that moment, killing them and killing Lanches became not just a ‘challenge’ but a ‘promise.’

I felt the magical powers from all around focusing on me.

Their attention was higher than ever before.

Gazes that were curious about whether I could keep my promise, along with cynical looks.

And I sensed one more emotion.

The magical powers were expectant.

From the moment I killed the orc and gathered enough magical power to become a Mana User, they had been consistently expectant.

At first, I couldn’t understand what they expected from me, but now I knew. I had found the answer after pondering how to kill Lanches these past two days.

They were curious.

Whether I could awaken my Gift, whether I could become a Mana User.

My response was this.

‘Watch closely with those big eyes of yours.’

Can I become a Mana User or not, can I kill a Mana User or not.

This was a life-or-death challenge.

But… tension? Worry?

Call me a foolish kid if you want. But when you’re angry enough, such calculations become irrelevant—that’s something I realized for the first time.

Yes.

This is where I make my stand.