Dragonslayer’s Class Regression Chapter 64

Chapter 64

“Welcome, Zeke.”

Principal Flaubert greeted Zeke warmly.

The Principal personally poured tea and placed it in front of Zeke.

“I heard you like tea, but I’m not sure if this will suit your taste.”

Zeke wondered how far the fact that he liked tea had spread.

While Zeke was thinking about this, the Principal smiled and said to him.

“The reason I called you separately is because of this recent mission.”

Upon hearing Flaubert’s words, Zeke tensed slightly.

As someone with battlefield experience, Zeke thought his actions during this mission would be difficult to receive a good evaluation.

Once on the battlefield, following superiors’ orders was the right thing to do, regardless of circumstances.

Personal actions that ignored superiors’ orders were strictly forbidden as they could harm the entire unit.

Zeke waited for Flaubert’s next words.

“You did excellently.”

“Pardon?”

Surprised by the unexpected response, Zeke asked without thinking.

Flaubert held his teacup with a satisfied expression.

“Professor Andrei documented everything very well. The Delpoa Inspection Unit even sent a separate thank you note and situation reports.”

At Flaubert’s words, Zeke breathed a sigh of relief.

‘I guess Draker Knights have broader command authority that allows for this level of discretion.’

The North where he stayed in his previous life was so harsh that a moment’s mistake could cost one’s life.

Therefore, military discipline was stricter and the scope of command authority was very narrow.

Flaubert looked at Zeke and said.

“It’s a shame the Black demon died during transport.”

Zeke felt slightly guilty at Flaubert’s words.

In fact, he hadn’t died.

As planned during the initial capture, he had Syndicate personnel fake Black demon’s death during transport and smuggled him to the South.

The plan was to bring him back to the Central Continent after laundering his identity there.

Currently, only Feinan knew that Black demon was an Imperial Intelligence agent.

But since he too had become Zeke’s man, there was no risk of the secret leaking.

Since he had planned to bring the Black demon over from the start, he had Feinan hand over only corruption-related documents to the Inspection Unit, excluding materials connecting the Empire to Black demon from Delpoa’s files.

Along with the Empire’s human experimentation data discovered in the South, the recently discovered stimulant experiments and Black demon as a witness could be sufficient cards to pressure the Empire.

While Zeke was thinking about various matters related to, Flaubert spoke.

“Zeke. Considering the various qualities you showed in this mission, the faculty council proposed a different type of test.”

“What kind of different test do you mean, Principal?”

“Magical beast hunting.”

At the Principal’s words, Zeke felt slightly doubtful.

It seemed too easy for Valhalla’s special graduation exam.

While hunting magical beasts wasn’t easy, Valhalla’s graduation missions were famous for their high difficulty, so a magical beast hunt for early graduation felt relatively simple.

Then the Principal added.

“It’s not just simple hunting, it’s an unsolved case. And you must do it alone.”

Zeke nodded at those words.

Unlike monsters, magical beasts had no fixed species or types.

Therefore, it was difficult to identify characteristics or predict movements through habits.

While ordinary magical beasts were highly aggressive and attacked indiscriminately, there were also those that didn’t.

Unsolved cases like the one Principal Flaubert just mentioned were mostly problems caused by highly intelligent magical beasts.

Sometimes humans caused problems and framed magical beasts, but there were clear differences between human-caused and magical beast-caused incidents.

“In which region did the incident occur?”

“The Principality of Troy.”

The principality of Troy was Draker’s direct territory and also where Draker’s ancestral home was located.

For there to be an unsolved case in such a place, it must be no ordinary magical beast.

Flaubert continued speaking to Zeke.

“If you pass this test, all other types of tests required for graduation will be waived. In essence, this test alone will fulfill the graduation requirements.”

Actually, one of Zeke’s jobs in his previous life was investigating and tracking unsolved cases caused by such magical beasts.

It was essentially his field of expertise, and with the added condition of quick graduation, there was no reason to refuse.

“I swear on my honor as a knight to solve this case as soon as possible so that the people of the Principality who are trembling in fear can rest assured.”

Flaubert showed a proud expression at Zeke’s answer.

After scoring plenty of points with the Principal, he returned to the mansion.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

“I’ll be departing tomorrow.”

Zeke, recalling the schedule received from the Principal, planned to pack lightly and head straight for the Principality of Troy.

As he entered the mansion while organizing his plans, someone was waiting for him.

A slim young man with narrow eyes wearing light armor.

He greeted Zeke.

“Sir Zeke Draker. It’s an honor to meet you. I’m Felix, dispatched as a guide for this mission.”

Zeke looked at Felix and asked.

“No surname?”

“It’s Valencia.”

Though he slowly recalled the name Felix Valencia, it wasn’t one he’d heard in either his past or present life.

Zeke tilted his head at the energy he sensed from him.

Unlike other knights, Zeke’s sensitivity to Aura was much keener due to his opened Diantans allowing him to detect mana, and Felix’s energy felt unusual to him.

‘I sense an unsettling energy from his body, but maybe not. It’s subtle.’

For such a young knight who wasn’t of Draker bloodline to possess this level of energy meant something was unusual.

‘I’ll need to look into this separately.’

Zeke asked Felix.

“As a guide, are you from the Principality of Troy?”

“Yes. I’m a native. I learned family swordsmanship since childhood, completed training at the Swordsman’s Guild, and now work for the Atlas Guard.”

“I see.”

Being from the Principality of Troy while working for the Atlas Guard would certainly help in solving the unsolved case.

The reason for Felix coming as an assistant made perfect sense.

Zeke told him.

“We’ll depart early tomorrow for the Principality of Troy, so let’s meet at Central Station.”

“Understood, Sir Zeke.”

* * *

The next day, Zeke boarded the train heading to the Principality of Troy with Felix.

Once again, he was able to use the first-class cabin thanks to his Valhalla student privileges.

Felix said to Zeke with an excited expression.

“Wow. I didn’t even know trains had places like this.”

Though his expression and gestures seemed innocent, Zeke wasn’t fooled by outward appearances.

‘Even the information provided by the Syndicate didn’t turn up anything special.’

If information couldn’t be found even through the Syndicate, it meant one of two things.

Either he was an Atlas guard who hadn’t yet awakened to his talents, or his identity was created by an intelligence organization superior to the Syndicate.

‘The second possibility is more likely than the first.’

Zeke thought that with the currently unreadable Felix accompanying him, this mission would likely be more challenging than the previous one.

When the train arrived at the Principality of Troy, Zeke and Felix immediately took a carriage from the station toward the northern region of the Principality where the incident occurred.

It was close to where the Giant Mountains began.

Though smaller in scale than Atlas, the Principality of Troy, where the Draker family residence was located, was safer than any other city.

Having an unsolved case occur in such a place was nothing if not a blow to the Draker family’s pride.

Zeke and Felix arrived in the northern region of the Principality and immediately went to find the sheriff’s office.

The chief sheriff welcomed Zeke with delight as soon as he saw him.

“Sir Zeke! We were informed of your coming in advance. Goodness, to think a pureblood awakened one would personally visit this remote place – what an honor!”

In the Principality of Troy, the bloodline of the Dragon Slayers was practically divine.

With the arrival of a precious direct-line pureblood awakened one among the Dragon Slayer bloodline, the gloomy atmosphere of the village seemed to come alive just from his presence.

Zeke realized this was also part of what Flaubert had anticipated.

‘That old man is no pushover.’

Zeke listened to the details of the case from the sheriff.

“It started a few weeks ago. At first, livestock began disappearing little by little, and lately people who go into the mountains don’t return.”

Livestock, children, women, adult men.

Over time, it was targeting larger prey.

“I’d like to see the crime scene.”

The sheriff nodded and brought horses to take Zeke and Felix to the farm that was first attacked.

Currently, the surviving livestock had been moved elsewhere and entry to the farm was restricted.

Zeke skillfully examined the area around the farm.

Then he discovered bloodstains on the fence connecting to the mountain.

Zeke used his dragon eyes to look around.

His more refined eyes caught sight of some traces.

‘Footprints?’

There were traces of prints larger than human footprints left in the ground.

Zeke bent down to examine the traces left on the ground closely.

He tried to identify the beast through his memories from his past life.

‘The footprints are deeply embedded. Suggests considerable weight. It didn’t break through the fence but climbed over it. The blood traces were left by livestock being carried over.’​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Zeke imagined what happened by following the footprints.

After secretly climbing over the farm’s fence, the culprit immediately broke the sheep’s neck, carried it over their shoulder, and returned to the mountains by climbing back over the fence.

Zeke tilted his head.

‘This isn’t a typical magical beast pattern.’

Even intelligent magical beasts Zeke knew wouldn’t move this stealthily, nor would they bother jumping over fences.

Just then, the sheriff approached Zeke.

“Did you find anything?”

Zeke stood up and asked.

“Does this connect all the way up to the mountains?”

He nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. If you go up the mountain that way, the terrain gets quite rough. Villagers don’t go up that far since wild monsters sometimes appear.”

Zeke nodded and said to Felix who stood beside him.

“Felix, guide the way. We need to check up there.”

Felix hesitated and said.

“Sir Zeke. Are you sure it’s alright to climb the mountain right away? From what I know, the northern terrain is quite treacherous, so I think we should prepare first.”

“Everything needed for camping is in my bag with spatial magic, so it’s fine.”

Though it was actually in his inventory, he couldn’t explain that so he fibbed, which surprised Felix.

“Goodness. You’re more thorough than me, the guide.”

After sending the sheriff away first, the two began climbing up the mountain following the traces.

Zeke examined the traces left on the path with his dragon eyes while pointing directions to Felix.

Felix skillfully navigated the mountain path, proving his claim of being a Troy Principality native wasn’t a lie.

That’s when it happened.

“Felix.”

Zeke called out.

“What is it?”

He raised his hand to stop Felix and slowly entered the forest.

Zeke approached a large tree blocking the view while holding a dagger.

There was something behind the tree.

‘Oh no…’

That something was a corpse, shriveled like a mummy with its bodily fluids drained.

Zeke looked around for magical beasts but didn’t sense anything unusual.

He gestured to Felix.

Felix frowned upon seeing the corpse following Zeke’s gesture.

Zeke slowly approached the corpse.

The first place he checked was the nape of the neck.

When attacked by vampires, all blood drains from the body and in unfortunate cases, they end up mummified like this.

However, there were no marks on the corpse’s neck.

Zeke examined various parts of the corpse’s skin but found no fang marks from fluid drainage anywhere.

His expression darkened.

‘I thought it wouldn’t be vampires since they rarely come down from the north. Could this magical beast be…?’

Felix stood behind Zeke and shook his head saying.

“Good heavens, I’ve never seen a corpse like this before.”

Zeke stood up and said.

“Looks like we’ll need to camp around here today. We’ll resume tracking when the sun rises.”​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​