The couple who greeted the returning maid waved their hands with bright faces.
"So, did you meet Julian?"
At Cedric's question, Sophie shook her head vigorously and smiled brightly.
"The Young Lord is doing very well. It seems Grandmaster Vaelor's teachings have made the Young Lord positive and diligent! The Young Lord is currently having the happiest and most active moments of his life."
"Is that really true!?"
As the couple rejoiced, Sophie also nodded her head vigorously with a happy face.
"Ah! The Young Lord said that it would be best to minimize contact with the outside world in order to focus on his aura training. So... I think we should refrain from visiting him for the time being, for the Young Lord's sake."
"What a praiseworthy and joyous occasion! Yes, I can't hinder Julian's future because of my selfish desire to see my son!"
Cedric gripped Eleanor's hand tightly and nodded with a resolute face.
"My love!"
"My dear!"
Sophie, who was watching the happy couple awkwardly, scratched the back of her neck.
'It'll be... okay, right?'
Meanwhile, Julian, holding a wooden washing bat that felt as heavy as a lead ingot, had to do the piled-up laundry again today.
But his face looked brighter than usual.
"When Sophie comes back... sniff! I'll be able to go home... Let's just endure it until then! Sniff!"
Julian cast his gaze far away, as if chasing after the family estate that was impossible to see.
But all he could see were trees and bushes.
"Sophie... I believe in you."
****
Half a year passed.
On the snow-covered mountain slope, a snow hare that had failed to hibernate came out into the outside world.
The hare, which was looking around the world with its red eyes, kicked the frosted earth with its large hind legs.
But this was the hare's last powerful leap.
Whoosh— Thud!
Something sharp that flew from somewhere accurately pierced the hare's neck.
"Hoo—!"
A boy jumped down from a pine tree in the distance.
It was a rather tall tree, but the boy's movements were as light as a feather.
The boy pulled out the sharpened stick that had pierced the hare's neck.
It was the boy's wooden aetheric blade, which he had carved from oak.
"This solves the stew... but there's no way that gluttonous old man will be satisfied with a single hare."
—Is there no meat? Ugh, you brat! A meal without roasted meat cannot be called a meal! Do you understand? Get me some venison or boar, no matter what it takes! Dig a trap, or go into a bear cave, whatever it takes to get it!
The name of this boy, who frowned as he recalled the old man who would spit while nagging him to bring meat, was Julian.
He was an unfortunate boy who had been betrayed three times by the maid he trusted and abandoned deep in the wilderness.
"...A ghostly old man."
Julian glared at the snow-covered mountain with a sharp gaze.
It wasn't that Julian hadn't tried to escape in the meantime.
But every time he did, Kaelen, who somehow knew, would appear like a ghost and drag him away for forced labor.
After doing this a few times, Julian, who had become too lazy to even try to escape, decided to submit to his fate.
"Hoo... it's already winter."
It had already been nine months since he was confined to the mountain.
The useless body that had only existed with softness and weak bones was no more.
The past nine months of martial conditioning had created something called muscle in Julian's body.
Julian, who was looking around with a much firmer physique and sharpened senses, quickly lowered his posture and brought his ear to the frosted ground.
Thud— Thud—
A faint tremor in the earth.
'This is... an elk!'
Julian's eyes changed as he realized there was an elk nearby.
Julian took out two wooden aetheric blades from his belt and roughly wiped the saliva that had gathered at the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.
"Let's solve dinner and breakfast with this!"
Even to feed the old master, whose stomach capacity and gluttony surpassed that of any young knight despite his age, Julian had to catch the elk.
But unlike other hunters, Julian did not move.
He just sat in place and focused his senses on the smell of the elk carried by the wind and the faint sound of its hooves treading on the snow.
This was a hunting method that Julian, who found even the slightest physical movement troublesome, had devised to obtain food without moving from his spot.
'Location is northeast... distance is one hundred and fifty paces.'
Even though the distance was a whopping one hundred and fifty paces, Julian accurately calculated the elk's location and distance.
"I wonder if this much aura will be enough."
He focused his mana core, channeling energy to his fingertips.
Finally, Julian, who was feeling the flow of the wind on his skin with his eyes closed, launched the wooden blade with his mind at the exact same time as he snapped his eyes open.
Whoooosh—!!
The wooden aetheric blade, wrapped in a thin layer of sharp aura, flew at a speed strong enough to pierce even the wind, accurately striking the nape of the elk that was standing one hundred and fifty paces away.
"Caught it!"
Julian burst out with joy at having secured food and jumped up and down.
But Julian's joy did not last long.
Grrrrr—!
Uninvited guests who had smelled the blood had come to the side of the dead elk.
"Hey! That's mine!"
Julian glared at the five timber wolves surrounding his catch.
For the current Julian, dealing with the wolves was nothing more than a troublesome matter, but finding another elk was even more troublesome.
For Julian, who was a lazy bum by birth, any more trouble was out of the question.
"Move!"
Julian and the pack of wolves began a bloody food competition over a single carcass.