Chapter 17: Quarreling at the Head of the Bed, Reconciling at the Foot

“Why?”

Gwen was a little puzzled.

Victor had come along with the knight order, yet now he suddenly wanted to leave and act alone.

She didn’t quite understand. If Victor didn’t need the protection of the knight order, then why did he travel with them in the first place?

Or could it be—?

What exactly was his purpose in coming to Mount Vesuvius?

“I need to head to the crater ahead of time.”

That was Victor’s response.

Under Gwen’s sense of justice, all lies were laid bare.

But he wasn’t lying, which meant that Victor did indeed intend to go to the crater.

Gwen recalled Victor’s initial reason for joining them.

“Could it be that the kind of monster you mentioned is at the crater?”

“Hmm…”

Victor was silent for a moment. At this moment, the image of that terrifying beast surfaced in his mind.

So, he answered,

“Something like that.”

…What do you mean, “something like that”?

Yet, he wasn’t lying. Gwen was curious, but she wasn’t the type to pry into others’ privacy.

This was, after all, an extinct volcano. Besides, Victor had already mentioned that he was very familiar with Mount Vesuvius’ terrain.

There shouldn’t be any major issues.

Gwen nodded, agreeing to his request to leave the group.

“Once I’ve finished my business, I’ll come find you all.”

As soon as Victor finished speaking, a blue magic circle flickering with starlight appeared beneath his feet.

A flash of blue light, and his figure vanished without a trace.

Seeing a living person disappear right in front of her eyes left Gwen momentarily dazed.

A knight who had observed their entire exchange approached her, noticing her distracted state, and asked,

“Knight Captain? Did you two… have a fight last night?”

Gwen turned her head, opening her mouth to respond.

“No, it’s not what you think—”

Before she could finish, the knight continued,

“Ah, couples arguing is normal. I argue with my wife all the time, and we already have an eight-year-old son.”

“Quarreling at the head of the bed, reconciling at the foot—there’s no lasting grudges between husband and wife.”

The more Gwen listened, the redder her face became.

“Enough nonsense! Let’s move out!”

She scolded the knight and quickly walked away.

“Huh? Knight Captain Gwen! Did I say something wrong…? Ah, girls these days are so sensitive. Judging by her reaction, I must have hit the mark.”

Whatever else the knight was saying, Gwen had already tuned it out.

Her face was flushed, like a girl whose thoughts had been exposed.

But in reality, she knew better than anyone—

There was nothing between her and Victor.

Just as she would never fall for Victor, he would never fall for her.

Gwen mounted her white horse, feeling a bit melancholic.

If nothing unexpected happened, she would probably end up marrying Victor in the end.

After all, the engagement between their families had been set long ago.

As the second daughter of her family, she could only obey the family’s decisions, unable to change them.

Gwen didn’t want to marry, especially since the Victor from before had left an extremely bad impression on her.

‘How could I possibly marry such a scoundrel?’

This thought flashed through her mind, but then she recalled the events of the previous night.

He had acted like a refined noble, his every movement exuding gentlemanly grace.

And at some point—she wasn’t sure when—he had even given up the only bed for her.

When she woke up, she found Victor quietly sitting in a chair, reading a complex and obscure magic book, having spent the whole night there.

She had felt guilty, but Victor reassured her, saying that mages had their own methods of resting and only needed a quiet environment.

Was he really a scoundrel?

Gwen couldn’t help but ponder.

Aspiring to be a knight of absolute justice, Gwen had never truly hated anyone.

Not even Victor.

‘At least I should have been quiet last night…’

Shaking off her unnecessary thoughts, she raised her silver sword and swung it forward.

“Move out!”

---

A cascade of blue light fell from the sky, forming a teleportation array mid-air, revealing Victor’s figure.

He opened his eyes, and the surrounding landscape had visibly changed.

The barren land stretched endlessly, with only a few scattered, charcoal-like stones standing on the slopes.

He was now halfway up the volcano, far ahead of the knight order.

This was the furthest range his teleportation magic could reach.

Teleporting directly to the summit was still too unrealistic.

Seeing no one around, Vega, perched on his shoulder, croaked,

“Why did you choose to separate from them?”

“The knight order’s route should be the same as mine. Traveling with them, we would have arrived here sooner or later.”

Victor stroked Vega’s head and explained,

“I don’t need their company.”

“There are some things I need to investigate on my own. No need for others to know.”

Vega found this strange. From the way Victor was acting, it seemed like he had planned this for a long time.

Recalling how he had shown interest upon hearing about Mount Vesuvius, Vega couldn’t help but suspect that Victor knew something.

Man and bird advanced up Mount Vesuvius.

This volcano had erupted once in the past.

However, after that eruption, it lost its ability to erupt again and became a dead volcano.

The townspeople at its base had built settlements here, and for hundreds of years, they had lived without fear of another eruption.

After centuries of exposure to the elements, the ground had turned into a gray, cracked landscape filled with volcanic rock.

Finding any plant life here? That would be difficult.

But with the passage of time, no one worried about another eruption anymore.

The volcano was only a few hundred meters high, and soon, Victor reached the summit.

The closer he got to the top, the more he could sense the overwhelming fire element.

Not only him—Vega felt it too.

The raven turned its head, eyeing Victor with a complex gaze.

“Interesting. I really want to crack open your head and see what made you think of coming here.”

“You actually discovered a ‘Calamity.'”

Victor remained calm, and Vega understood—he had known all along that something was here.

Calamity.

More precisely, this was the recorded name for Forge Beasts in history.

In this world, there were six Calamities, each corresponding to an elemental magic type:

Wind, Wood, Fire, Earth, Water, and Thunder.

And sealed within Mount Vesuvius was the Fire Calamity—Gul’dan.

A towering behemoth, its body engulfed in molten fire, resembling a demon from the flames.

Calamities were so named because their appearance brought natural disasters and chaos to the land, striking terror into all who heard of them.

Their existence brought only destruction, never benefit.

That was why they were called “Calamities.”

“I’m curious, it’s been sleeping here peacefully—what do you want with it?”

Vega asked Victor.

“To collect some early interest.”

Standing at the crater’s edge, Victor peered into its depths.