Inside the administrative registry, the fat clerk scrambled to hide behind a stack of parchment, his hands shaking violently. The groans of the kneeling guards outside filtered through the walls, filling the room with a suffocating tension.
"I thought the capital reports were exaggerated," the greasy-haired clerk whispered, his voice trembling as he gripped his table.
The fat clerk swallowed hard, peering out through the small cracks in the window shutter, "how can a kid release such a monstrous aura?"
"They said he cleared the Beast King gate," the third clerk whimpered, "we thought the King just made up a hero to scare us."
Merrick remained silent at his desk, his ink-stained fingers resting on the ledger while he listened to their panicked chatter. The rumors from the capital had not been exaggerated at all, they had actually understated the sheer weight of his presence.
