How The Sub-Male Lead’s Stepmother Teaches Love

<The Tomb of the Wreck>

 

As its name suggests, the environment of the dungeon adjacent to the Hiyela Gate is a deep, deep sea where ghost ships roam.

 

As a result, the monsters that popped up in the dungeon were of two types. The skeletons of the ghost ship and the water elemental monsters in the sea.

 

Among them, even if water-type monsters in the sea jump out, they die soon after because they cannot withstand the rapid environmental change.

 

However, in the case of water monsters that can breathe out of water, or an entire ghost ship pops out, it creates a wave with nearby snow, causing an avalanche.

 

It would be fortunate if they went to the White Land, but if they came towards the Hiyela Gate, Ajas had to prepare for a fierce battle.

 

But even then, the power of the Knight and wizard of Ajas is enough to deal with them.

 

The worst situation that even they hoped to avoid was a top-level monster running out of the dungeon.

 

There are five types of top-level monsters that appear in the tomb of the wreck.

 

Each one of them is named, and each one is difficult to deal with, but the name that scared the knights the most was ‘Siren charm’.

 

The scary thing about them is that they seduce the opposite sex with their enchanting singing voice and use them as their shield.

 

Those who fall under their spell become knights of the Sirens and defend them.

 

There is still no known way to solve the spell other than killing the Siren, so a knight and wizard of the same gender must step forward to defeat the Siren.

 

But as if to mock the humans who have come up with such a plan, the Siren always appears in pairs, male and female. There is nothing more troublesome than that.

 

Therefore, when the Siren appeared, the course of action was as follows.

 

Retreat unconditionally. When they spot that monster, they immediately call Marquis Ajas. 

 

Why should they call the Marquis Ajas?

 

Because Leonhard, the Sword master, can manipulate his five senses to his liking, allowing him to completely deafen himself and not hear the song. He also has a highly developed sixth sense that allows him to sense danger without hearing anything.

 

Therefore, upon receiving the report that the Siren had appeared as soon as he arrived at the Hiyela Gate, he withdrew all his men and went out to hunt the Siren alone.

 

It was three days later when he returned to the Hiyela Gate with a body covered in blue blood.

 

* * * 

 

“Captain, someone has arrived from Ajas Castle.” 

 

The barbarians who had brought monsters and persistently attacked the gate also retreated, and the top-level monsters that came out of the dungeon were also annihilated.

 

Since the fire was quickly extinguished, it will be peaceful for tonight anyway. 

 

In the meantime, Leonhard, who was processing paperwork in his office, pricked up his ears at the sound of people’s voices coming from outside the door.

 

“Come in.”

 

As soon as those words were out, the door to his office opened and Iron, the vice-captain of the Heilang knight, and a messenger in full military regalia came inside.

 

Because His helmet was pressed tightly against his face, there were freckles in his face. The soldier, who looked like he was an adult, saluted Leonhard with a frozen expression.

 

“Peter from Ajas Messenger! Greeting His Excellency the Marquis!” 

 

“Ajas Messenger?”

 

Ajas Messenger was the external name of the intelligence group. On the surface, he is supposed to travel around the Ajas and deliver letters and messages from the Lord to his vassals, and they didn’t do just that.

 

Their most important task was to gather the information the Marquis wanted. Secretly, of course.

 

“I’ve never seen you before….Are you new?”

 

“Yes, I am, I’ve been a Tail after Skull Senior!” 

 

Tail is their own slang for the youngest member of an intelligence group. 

 

Leonhard, smiled and held out his hand to Peter. Peter approached him and handed him the letter with trembling hands. 

 

“You’re going to be a junior for a while. Do your best.”

 

“Yes! I will do my best!”

 

“What…?” 

 

“yes? Am I missing something?”

 

Had he done something wrong? Peter looked at Leonhard with slightly frightened eyes.

 

Leonhard waved his hand saying it was nothing before he got even more scared.

 

“I will write a reply right away, but I want you to stay back and wait.” 

 

“All right!”

 

He answered loudly, saluted sharply, and left the office with creaky steps.

 

Iron, who was standing next to the door, smiled at him and closed the door. 

 

He soon came to the desk where Leonhard was sitting. 

 

“Has something unpleasant happened in the capital?”

 

The fact that an intelligence group has stepped forward means that there is something to secretly collect information about. And the kind of information that needed to be gathered in secret was usually far from trivial.

 

As if to prove that his guess was correct, Leonhard handed him a document that he quickly flipped through. Iron quickly read the documents he received and blinked in surprise.

 

“This is….”

 

Traces of people regularly entering and leaving the dungeon beneath the deep Anild Canyon were discovered.

 

It wasn’t just that. A number of strange-shaped monsters were found inside the dungeon.

 

A wolf-shaped beast monster that was supposed to have horns on its head now has a snake tail on its butt, and a turtle-shaped monster with a lot of horns on its shell has 8 spider legs.

 

Even the known weaknesses of those monsters did not work, so the knights who went in to investigate eventually decided to retreat and came out. 

 

“Cloud said that the wizards called those modified monsters chimeras.”

 

“chimeras….I don’t understand, why did they make those things?”

 

“There’s an answer there.”

 

Leonhard pointed with the tip of his chin at the document in Iron’s hand. 

 

“The Silver Leopard Knights of the Cloud have received training that is as good as that of the Heilangs, and they clean the dungeon on a regular basis. But if they can’t help but retreat, what will happen if they head to the capital? No way….”

 

“It’s already happened once.”

 

At that time, the Thunderbird simply had Stonesnake’s poison on its claws.

 

‘It’s only a guess, but when things go wrong, what if they sent out chimeras that they cannot control?’

 

‘In that case, it makes sense to create a chimera in the dungeon beneath Anild Canyon. If something goes wrong, they can just run away.’

 

Except for flying monsters, monsters won’t be able to climb up the canyon, so they won’t have to worry about being caught.

 

“Who in the world would do this nonsense? Do you have any idea who it is?”

 

“No, but we’re about to find out.”

 

When Leonhard arrived at the castle, Leonhard entrusted a task to Crow, the head of the messengers.

 

After delivering a letter to each of the vassals of the Marginal Territory to investigate the dungeons in their fiefdom and their surroundings, they will investigate whether any monsters have appeared in their fiefdom.

 

“Are these chimeras already active?” 

 

“No, that’s not right, these monsters are not chimeras.…but on the way to the castle, Cloud’s daughter was kidnapped by a monster.”

 

‘Lady, who was supposed to be protected more safely than anyone else, has been kidnapped?’

 

Iron made an absurd expression.

 

“What did Cloud’s knights do while Cloud’s daughter was kidnapped?”

 

“It happened so suddenly that they were unable to do anything. More than that, the kidnapping was….”

 

Leonhard told his trusted subordinate the full story of the kidnapping incident and how wizards were able to do strange things like modifying monsters in the dungeon.

 

“The power that was said to have been lost was actually continued. These people are using that blood to modify monsters, while also looking for Sesto’s bloodline.”

 

“then…There is a high probability that the owner of the blood that created the bloodstone and the Sesto bloodline they are looking for are the children.”

 

Leonhard nodded.

 

“Considering that Cloud’s daughter was kidnapped, the person they are looking for is probably around 20 years old. I’m not sure yet if their gender was specified as female.” 

 

“For now, we have no choice but to narrow things down by collecting clues as to whether a monster has appeared in each village or not, and if they do, who the monster came into contact with.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Leonhard sighed in frustration, because it was all just speculation based on a few clues.

 

Iron looked at Leonhard like that and raised a question.

 

“But it’s a little strange. If blood is drawn to make a bloodstone, the parent’s identity must already be known to them, so why don’t they know anything about the child?”

 

If they knew exactly who that bastard was, they wouldn’t have kidnapped Cloud by mistake.

 

“Now that I think about it,…. They have even checked it against a young lady of a certain noble family.”

 

There are two things Leonhard can think of.

 

Either Cloud’s daughter had some sort of condition that made them suspicious, or they were grasping at straws and checking everything they could find.

 

“If there are parents but the child cannot be identified, that means the parents of the child doesn’t know about their child, either.”

 

“It looks like someone stole the child right after birth.”

 

Leonhard nodded his head. That was all he could guess for now.

 

“If the child was stolen, who stole her/him?” 

 

“Well… they must be an insider.”

 

“An insider?”

 

Iron shook his head as if he didn’t know. 

 

Not really expecting an answer, Leonhard sat down in his chair with his arms crossed.

 

‘What was clear, though, was that it had been 20 years since the child had disappeared, and they hadn’t found him/her, and they were still looking.’

 

 ‘Well, if Sesto’s blood even manifests the pattern, it will be a big problem…’ 

 

To this day, the sixth power remains only a rumor. In the old days, it was six, not five.

 

Moreover, the power of the pattern was completely unknown. If the owner manifested the pattern or used his power without realizing it, there would be an uproar around him. Because monsters will flock.

 

“Captain. How about looking here first? Since their ages are certain, gather men and women around 20 years old and—” 

 

“What plan are you making?”

 

Gathering 20-year-old men and women from every village in the north to check whether a monster is attacking or not?

 

Before attracting the attention of the wizards, people will be anxious and wondering what is going on.

 

‘Wait, if I think about it…my wife also turned 20 this year.’

 

The sudden realization made his index finger, which had been habitually tapping on the desk, stopped.

 

“Captain?”

 

“I have to tell them to strengthen the castle’s security.” 

 

Ajas Castle developed from a fortress surrounded by several layers of walls. And Ajas’s guards, including a third of the troops’ Ajas wizard, are guarding the castle.

 

‘There is no way my wife, who is in such a safe place, is in danger. but…Cloud’s daughter was also kidnapped while she was off guard.’ 

 

‘I guess I have to give this warning to the guards protecting my wife and the castle guards.’

 

While thinking that, he took out a new piece of paper, but the first name Leonhard wrote on the piece of paper was…

 

Raenel Ajas

 

Not the guards who protects his wife, not the castle guards, but his wife.

 * * *