"Captain, have you heard about the army that recently appeared and destroyed many countries?"
asked one of the Lone Wolves members who was overseeing the training of a group of young recruits selected to join the unit.
They were in the open training grounds on the edge of the forest. The new youths trained under the supervision of the veteran members while Leon watched from his position.
He replied with an unmistakably dismissive tone.
"Ah, you mean that Puppet Army."
The warrior answered with unconcealed enthusiasm.
"Yes, Captain. I've also heard that it's extremely powerful, and that it moves swiftly without leaving anything standing behind it."
Leon responded with disdain.
"Calling them powerful is giving them too much credit. You could say they're unusual because of their methods, but in the end they're nothing more than insignificant puppets that lack a soul."
He paused briefly, looking at the Lone Wolves before him before continuing in a firm tone that left no room for argument.
"Don't even think about it, you bastards. We won't be getting involved in this matter."
In truth, he had learned about this rising force some time ago from his father, who had issued a direct order forbidding them from interfering and instructed them to let events proceed naturally for the time being. He believed that the family's intervention at this stage was unnecessary and would not serve their long-term plans.
The events unfolding in the outside world had their own logic and timing, and premature or reckless interference could disrupt many things in unpredictable ways.
However, their father had made one exception to this rule for a certain special younger son. In fact, he had told him to act according to his own judgment. If he wished to intervene in this matter, he could do so; if not, that was also acceptable.
This personal exception reflected Dan's deep understanding of this particular son and the unique nature that set him apart from his siblings in certain ways.
While Leon supervised training in the forest, far away in another part of the world, other events were taking place.
In a village that had recently been destroyed by a band of raiders who had passed through and left behind indescribable devastation, a young man dressed like a traveler entered the ruins. His clothing was simple and black, nothing that would attract attention. The strange thing about him was the long black cloth hanging over his face, concealing most of it without completely hiding his features. Beneath it, distinctive traits could still be seen: dark skin and short sky-blue hair.
The young man continued walking through the ruined village. Nothing remained except collapsed houses, piles of rubble, scattered corpses, and the ashes and embers left behind by the flames that had consumed everything once vibrant and alive. The smell of fire and blood hung heavily in the air.
He wandered slowly until he reached the center of the village, where he found what appeared to be the place where the villagers had gathered in their final moments of terror or perhaps where the bandits had assembled them before carrying out their massacre. There lay a heap of bodies . men, women, and children piled atop one another in a sight that spoke for itself without any need for explanation.
The young man stood silently for several moments. He neither moved nor spoke. He simply stared at the scene before him.
Then he knelt beside a small charred corpse. Judging by its size and shape, it had once been a little girl.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't help you."
The voice of a young man emerged from beneath the black cloth, heavy with sorrow. At the same time, tears began to fall from beneath the cloth onto the scorched gray ground below. One drop after another disappeared quietly into the ashes.
These were genuine tears from a young man whose heart had been shattered by witnessing the depths of human brutality a small child's corpse in a village that had been completely destroyed, leaving nothing behind.
At that exact moment, inside the Walt Family headquarters, Dan slowly raised his head from the manuscript in which he had been deeply engrossed, as though something far away had caught his attention.
Then he murmured quietly, so softly that almost no one could hear him.
"I hope you find your heart soon, my son."
He knew that this son's heart had always been different, carrying something that none of his other children shared. That was why he had allowed him to leave and travel through the outside world in hopes that the experience would benefit him.
This was an exception to the Walt Family's rules, which forbade anyone of that age from traveling alone or leaving the borders of the Blue Dragon Kingdom before reaching the age of thirty five.
But Dan had made an exception for this son because he needed experience. He needed to interact with people, witness their nature firsthand, and understand the world through direct experience rather than through stories and reports alone.
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