The attendant bowed slightly toward the Queen.
"Your Majesty, your loyal servant—Gorn Sotufi—stands ready to carry out your will. I shall be your sword and shield, never to betray you, and will sweep away any obstacle in your path."
"Gorn, your loyalty shines as brightly as the sun. And at present, I have a task that requires your execution," the Magic Mirror Queen said calmly.
"To serve you is my honor, my noble Queen," Gorn declared with utmost devotion.
Hearing herself addressed as "Queen", the Magic Mirror Queen showed not the slightest change in expression.
She merely said indifferently, "Levi, a servant I once trusted deeply."
"But he has betrayed me."
"I want you to go and cut off his head. Bring it back to me."
Upon hearing that the Magic Mirror Queen wanted him to kill Levi, Gorn was not alarmed—he was delighted instead.
"Filth like Levi, with his tainted blood, will never understand gratitude or loyalty."
"Your Majesty, you have simply been too merciful to people like them."
"Unfortunately, they do not know how to be grateful."
"Rest assured, before sunrise, I will bring you Levi's head."
The Magic Mirror Queen's expression remained as calm as ever.
"Then I shall await your good news."
"Knight Gorn."
The word Knight seemed to represent a promise from the Queen—a grant of land, perhaps an estate. For someone like him, the allure of such a reward was beyond imagination.
Gorn Sotufi, a noble's second son with no right of inheritance, felt his heart instantly ignite with fervor.
He solemnly assured the Magic Mirror Queen, "Your Majesty, I will not disappoint you."
With that, he gave a slight bow, turned, and left the palace, heading toward Levi's residence outside the royal city.
Gorn was extremely confident.
As a noble—even a second son without inheritance—he had been trained in the ways of a knight since childhood.
And the core of a knight's training was not swordsmanship, nor horsemanship, but the Knight's Breathing Technique.
It was a secret method that tempered the body to its limits, condensed life force, and allowed one to surpass ordinary physical strength.
Though he appeared slender rather than imposing, in truth his strength and agility far exceeded that of an average person.
Dealing with Levi, who was still just an ordinary man, was something he had absolute confidence in.
However…
Finding Levi's residence took him some time.
After all, who among those with noble blood would bother to take note of a commoner's dwelling?
But that small delay gave Levi time to prepare.
Standing by the window in his dark room, Levi watched as Gorn, torch in hand, advanced step by step along the street toward his house.
Detection activated.
[Gorn Sotufi has received the Queen's order to cut off your head.]
[You used Detection once. Experience +1. Current EXP: 7/200.]
Levi's expression turned cold. As expected—the Queen truly intended to take his life.
Level 2 Detection also displayed Gorn's physical attributes:
[Name: Gorn Sotufi]
[Identity: Member of the Sotufi family, attendant of the Magic Mirror Queen]
[Strength: 2.5]
[Constitution: 2.11]
[Agility: 2.61]
[Spirit: 1.45]
[Charm: 1.3]
[Abilities: Unknown]
[Note: Strength, Constitution, and Agility are more than twice that of an ordinary person. This is no human—this is a monster wearing human skin.]
Seeing these values, Levi's expression remained unchanged.
He had long known that in this world, there existed not only magic, but also knights.
Through a secret technique known as the Knight's Breathing Technique, knights could train their bodies to the limit and condense a seed of life force, allowing their strength to far surpass that of ordinary people.
Gorn's stats were not particularly exaggerated.
He had not yet reached the threshold to form a life force seed and truly ascend as a knight.
Levi had seen the physical data of genuine knights within the palace—and those were far more terrifying.
Even so, while Gorn's stats were nothing special compared to true knights, they were more than sufficient to deal with Levi.
In comparison, Gorn was equivalent to a top-tier athlete or special forces soldier from Levi's previous life.
A Strength above 2 meant he approached the limit of elite weightlifters—capable of easily lifting a 200 kg barbell, smashing wooden boards with a single punch, flipping a motorcycle barehanded, or subduing an adult man with one hand.
A Constitution above 2 meant he could endure blunt-force impacts (such as batons) without losing combat capability, fight or run continuously for hours without fatigue, and recover at a significantly accelerated rate—his wound healing speed doubled. His survival ability was also exceptional, allowing him to operate efficiently in harsh environments such as extreme cold or high heat, with resistance to disease far beyond that of normal humans.
Agility above 2 meant he could run 100 meters in close to 10 seconds, achieve a vertical jump of over 60 cm, perform high-difficulty flips or rapid directional dodges. In combat, he could easily evade bullets—of course, this referred to reaction speed faster than the shooter's trigger response, or rapid movement within confined spaces.
When all three attributes were concentrated in a single person, it was equivalent to the combination of a peak special forces soldier and a top-tier athlete—
He could fight multiple opponents barehanded, instantly taking down three to four untrained enemies.
He could move at high speed through complex terrain while maintaining combat effectiveness.
He possessed slight bullet resistance—if struck, the bullet would be lodged in muscle rather than pass through.
He had strong resistance to toxins and diseases.
His short-distance burst speed was extremely fast, capable of sprinting 100 meters in under three seconds.
Not to mention that Gorn had undergone rigorous training since childhood, was proficient in various killing techniques, and carried weapons.
With such strength, Levi—a lowborn who didn't even have a surname—naturally wasn't taken seriously by Gorn.
So after hearing Levi's steady heartbeat and breathing from inside the room, Gorn let out a cold laugh and pushed the door open without hesitation.
A simple mechanism.
A bucket of water poured down, drenching Gorn like a soaked rat and extinguishing his torch.
"Lowborn!" The rage in Gorn's heart could have burned Levi to ashes.
But before he could crush Levi's throat, he realized in horror that his entire body had gone rigid—he couldn't move at all.
Because it was a bucket of poisoned water.
[A bucket of poisoned water infused with failed batches of the Queen's potion. Upon contact, the victim's entire body becomes stiff within one second and suffers irreversible bodily damage.]
The deadly ointment, once diluted into water, had its effect weakened.
However, it was more than enough to deal with Gorn, who wasn't even a true knight.
Levi walked up to him.
Cold moonlight slipped through the window, falling across Gorn's face and draping over Levi's body.
Gorn could not move at all, but his eyes burst with desperate pleading—he was begging Levi to spare his life.
"But you wouldn't spare me," Levi said calmly. He drew his longsword and brought it down heavily toward Gorn's head.
Blood sprayed.
Gorn closed his eyes in despair and pain.
After confirming that he was completely dead, Levi nodded, then began looting the corpse.
Looting made Levi feel happy.
From Gorn's body, Levi obtained some spoils—
One gold coin, thirteen silver coins, and a dagger gleaming with a cold light.
These gains could only be considered better than nothing.
His thoughts raced as he quickly packed the items into his bag. Then he quietly stepped out the door and gently closed it behind him. He had to leave the royal city as soon as possible—before the Queen discovered what had happened—and the farther away, the better.
But before that, Levi thought of the third piece of information provided by Detection—it was something left behind by Snow White's mother in her youth: a knight's breathing technique.
This kind of extraordinary power held immense appeal for Levi.
After a moment's hesitation, he still decided to risk his life and head to the old tree on Leta Street to retrieve this treasure.
Leta Street was the very street he was currently on.
...
After successfully obtaining the yellowed manual of the Moon Wolf Knight Breathing Technique, Levi had already wasted quite a bit of time.
He had to leave the city as soon as possible—before dawn.
Levi stood on the dark and silent street, with only the moonlight providing a faint trace of illumination.
He had to rely on the power of Detection to guide his path.
As he looked in different directions, prompt messages appeared before him:
[In this direction, a patrol from the royal Iron Caltrop Guard will reach your position in three minutes.]
[Going straight in this direction for thirty minutes will lead you to the boundary between the noble district and the commoner district, where you will encounter a joint night watch formed by several great noble houses.]
[Going straight in this direction, then turning right and left, there is a vicious dog that has eaten human flesh.]
[This direction leads to a dead end.]
[Going straight in this direction for forty-five minutes, you will encounter a group of thieves dividing their spoils.]
[This direction…]
[This direction… leads to the slum district. There are no patrols, but you must beware of the foul miasma from all directions, as well as various "landmines" of excrement.]
[This direction…]
[You used Detection once. Experience +1. Current EXP: 8/200.]
Repeated use of Detection left Levi mentally exhausted.
But this was no time to rest.
From the many pieces of information provided by Detection, he found a safe route, then walked forward without looking back.
With Detection, Levi moved smoothly along the way, avoiding the various patrols within the royal city at night, as well as others who prowled the darkness, and successfully reached the vicinity of the city wall.
The city gates were tightly shut.
There were also true knight-level, inhuman beings with attributes exceeding 3 standing guard through the night.
Levi watched from afar in the shadows, his brows slightly furrowed as he grew troubled.
With no other choice, he had to use Detection once again.
He had already used Detection many times tonight. Each use placed a burden on his mind—it wasn't something that could be used endlessly.
If overused, he would be forced to rest, or suffer splitting headaches.
Levi was already at his limit.
But he had no choice. Remaining in the royal city until dawn was too dangerous.
The Magic Mirror Queen wanted him dead.
So he could only push himself one more time.
[Five hundred and thirteen meters to the left along the city wall, if you move aside a stone overgrown with weeds, you will find a hole just large enough for a person to crawl through—a secret passage used by those who cannot show themselves in the light to enter and leave the royal city.]
[You used Detection once. Experience +1. Current EXP: 9/200.]
Levi's eyes lit up.
The Detection he had copied from the Magic Mirror had not disappointed him.
Without hesitation, Levi turned and quietly left.
At the city gate—
The gatekeeping knight, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. He cast a suspicious glance toward the direction Levi had left, but found nothing. In the end, he merely muttered, "Just another sewer rat."
Then he closed his eyes again.
...
The deeper the night, the lower the temperature.
Fortunately, Levi successfully crawled out through the dog hole, arriving outside the royal city.
On the wasteland beyond the city walls, withered grass rustled in the night wind. From afar came a few wolf howls, making the scene even more desolate.
The farmlands had long since vanished into darkness, and the low farmhouses stood like rows of tombstones.
Only the spire of a monastery could be faintly seen, with dim yellow light spilling from within its walls.
Levi looked to the left. In the distance, the night hung like a heavy black curtain, pressing down upon the primeval forest. The last trace of daylight had been swallowed by the towering canopy, leaving only faint strands of moonlight filtering through the gaps in the branches, casting scattered patches of silver across the dim forest floor.
The outlines of the trees twisted into the shapes of giants in the darkness. Moss clung thickly to the trunks like the cracked skin of colossal beasts, while tangled vines hung like drooping tendrils, trembling slightly in the night wind.
This was the Whispering Forest, where Levi had once struck Snow White. The trees stretched endlessly, and the forest spanned vast lands, bordering multiple kingdoms.
Levi then looked to the right. At the far end lay a range of hills known as Indale Mountain.
Under the moonlight, the curves of the hills formed hazy silhouettes, like the slow, steady breathing of the earth in sleep. The slopes and shallow valleys blurred together into gentle undulations within the darkness.
Levi pondered for a moment, then, without hesitation, headed toward Indale Mountain.
There were many dangers in the darkness.
But Levi was fortunate—he reached the foot of the mountain without incident.
By this point, after using Detection so many times, Levi was already at the end of his strength.
But he had no choice—he could not collapse now.
Otherwise, even without the Queen making a move, the beasts lurking in the darkness would leave not even his bones behind.
Forcing himself, he used Detection one more time and found a hidden underground pit nearby.
He didn't know whether it had been left by a hunter.
Levi didn't have the luxury to care. He hid inside, sealed the entrance, and his eyes involuntarily closed as his consciousness sank into darkness.
...
The next day—
The Queen listened as the palace's chief maid, Freya, reported: "Your Highness, I regret to inform you that the body of your attendant, Gorn Sotufi, was discovered in Levi's room."
"And Levi?" The Queen did not care about Gorn's death. Instead, she asked about Levi.
"Levi was not found at the scene, nor has anyone within the palace located him," Freya replied truthfully. "Sir Marcus, the knight on night watch at the city gates, reported no abnormalities last night."
The Queen had intended to use the Magic Mirror to track Levi's whereabouts, but then felt it unnecessary.
After all, using the Magic Mirror required a price.
For beauty, she could pay the cost of magic every day.
But Levi was not worthy of it.
She thought for a moment, then said, "So, our dear Levi is still hiding somewhere within this city?"
"What a clever little thing."
"Unfortunately, Levi cruelly killed my stepdaughter and murdered my attendant. Such crimes cannot be forgiven." The Queen shook her head, the motion causing her waves of hair to sway slightly. "Notify the patrol guard. Before sunset, I want to see Levi's head."
"As you wish, Your Highness." The chief maid bowed and withdrew.
Very soon, the Queen's order was passed down.
A quarter of an hour later, the palace patrol guard, clad in armor, formed ranks and set out, beginning their manhunt throughout the royal city.