“The first warehouse?”
Marcos let out a disbelieving chuckle.
It was because Rodos had asked for something he had never expected.
“It seems you have something else in mind.”
“Yes.”
Rodos nodded.
The treasures of the North that Marcos had taken were kept there.
He wanted to see for himself exactly what was inside.
“What is it that you want?”
“I need something that can strengthen my body.”
Marcos smiled.
After spending so much time at the Training Grounds, Rodos seemed to have forgotten that he was a Young Master of House Augustus.
“Interesting.”
It intrigued him.
He wanted to see how far Rodos could go after choosing a path other than Magic.
“Take one thing you want from the first warehouse. I do not know whether you will find what you are looking for there.”
Marcos spoke in a flat voice.
Even he did not know exactly what was stored in the warehouse.
The mages of the House had amassed far too many things over the years for him to keep track of them all.
By his standards, most of them seemed useless, but there might be something Rodos could use.
“Thank you.”
Having said all he needed to say, Marcos used Teleportation Magic and left the Dueling Arena.
The Dueling Arena he left behind was still filled with ash.
Harka remained sprawled on the ground, the whites of his eyes still showing.
Rodos paid no attention to any of it and spoke to Kshar.
“Let us go immediately.”
“Yes. I will guide you.”
With the tomahawk strapped across his wounded back, Rodos left the Dueling Arena.
The members of the House watched Rodos with curious eyes as he followed Kshar away.
“What is in the first warehouse?”
“One thing is certain. Everything related to magic should be in the Magic Tower.”
“Except for the eldest Young Master, I think everyone asked for something related to magic.”
“The eldest Young Master said he wanted to leave, while Young Master Harka said he needed every existing spellbook on Flame-Attribute Magic.”
The blood relatives of House Augustus wanted things related to magic.
It was only natural.
They were the children of a prestigious family of mages, so it was only natural for them to crave even greater magic.
“But he wants to strengthen his body?”
“He really has become a Knight to the bone.”
The members of the House merely shrugged.
They did not know exactly what had happened, but one thing was certain: Rodos had changed.
Of course, they did not expect too much.
After all, they knew very well what Rodos had been like until now.
“I cannot believe Young Master Harka lost!”
“We even spared no expense on his equipment!”
By contrast, the members of the Flame Faction could not hide their distress.
“This will damage the reputation of our Flame Faction.”
“But what can we do? He lost.”
They shook their heads.
It was a result no one there had predicted.
Who could have imagined that the once-incompetent Rodos would split Young Master Harka’s magic in half?
“Do not be too disheartened. We are still fine for now. From what I can see, Young Master Rodos is hiding something.”
Everyone nodded in agreement.
He must have gotten his hands on something forbidden.
There was no other explanation for how he could have displayed such ability.
“For the time being, let us keep a close watch on Young Master Rodos.”
“Yes.”
***
The House’s warehouses were located beneath the manor.
As they descended underground, Kshar asked Rodos a question.
“How much do you know about the first warehouse?”
“I only know that it is where the House stores its treasures. I assume most of them are related to magic.”
“Not necessarily. The treasures inside were obtained by the House’s mages through battle. Therefore, there are also many weapons, including swords. You can think of them as spoils of war.”
Rodos nodded.
They were quite literally spoils of war.
How often would mages ever have occasion to use weapons such as swords?
The people of House Augustus had no interest in anything except magic.
That was probably why they had shoved everything down here underground.
“From time to time, swordsmanship families and other Houses have demanded their possessions back. They asked us to return what had been taken from them. However, the Head of the House has no intention of doing so. Every item in the first warehouse was rightfully claimed through battle, not through plunder.”
The rumors that House Augustus was as obsessed with fighting as it was with magic appeared to be true.
That only made Rodos more curious.
How many treasures were there?
How much had they taken from the North?
Before long, he also began to sense an energy he could not possibly fail to recognize.
‘I can feel it.’
The closer Rodos came to the warehouse, the stronger that familiar energy became.
‘The energy of the North.’
There was no doubt that the treasures of the North that had disappeared after Marcos’s visit were here.
Kshar stopped at the end of the underground corridor.
“We have arrived. It is here.”
As Kshar channeled Mana into it, the heavy door opened, revealing the warehouse beyond.
Unlike the underground passage, which had been dark and gloomy compared to the surface, the interior was brilliantly illuminated.
It was a single chamber constructed of white marble and lined with pillars.
Magic lamps powered by magic stones illuminated the warehouse as brightly as daylight.
‘There are so many.’
Countless items collected by the House were displayed throughout the chamber.
To Rodos, it looked more like an exhibition hall than a warehouse.
“All of the treasures are protected by Preservation Magic, so they will remain intact even after hundreds of years.”
“It is well maintained.”
“The Head of the House may have little interest in them, but they are the spoils of the House. They are almost symbols of House Augustus itself, so we take good care of them.”
Rodos stared at the treasures without any change in expression.
He did not know whether he should be pleased that they had been so carefully preserved or offended that they were regarded as nothing more than spoils of war.
“Then please look around at your leisure and take whichever one you want.”
Rodos nodded and strode forward.
He already knew what kind of reward he intended to take.
‘Where it feels strongest.’
Rodos moved quickly in the direction where the energy of the North grew stronger.
He passed countless swords that appeared to have been taken from Swordsmen and stopped at the far end of the warehouse.
He could feel it.
An energy that was bitterly cold like a blizzard in the North, yet scorching hot like lava, existed there at the same time.
It was the energy of the North.
Treasures of the North imbued with mysterious power stood before his eyes.
‘So they were all here.’
A considerable number of the North’s treasures had been lying dormant beneath the House.
Rodos’s gaze sharpened.
Marcos truly had taken them.
Treasures that Rodos had heard had disappeared back when he had been the Great Warrior were now right before his eyes.
‘Better that I use them than leave them with those mages.’
If they were destined to be forgotten underground, it would be better for him, their former Great Warrior, to use them.
He could simply return them to the North when he eventually went there.
Of course, he could only take one for now.
He needed to choose carefully.
‘What I need right now.’
Rodos passed over the other treasures of the North.
They were not what he needed at the moment.
‘I need something that can strengthen my body.’
Although he had defeated Harka, Rodos had come face-to-face with his own limitations.
He had tried to dictate the flow of battle through the exceptional stamina and powerful physiques characteristic of the warriors of the North.
However, he had been unable to do so perfectly.
His body could not withstand it.
The longer the battle continued, the more wounds he accumulated from Harka’s magic.
If his final attack had failed, he would have lost without question.
He had succeeded in rapidly developing his body with his own training method.
However, he had been unable to obtain the extraordinary regenerative ability characteristic of northerners.
That regenerative ability was a trait found only in those who had been exposed to the powerful life force emanating from the North.
Therefore, anyone who had not been born and raised in the North could not acquire it.
‘Only the outward form.’
He had merely imitated the outward form.
Without a regenerative ability, he could not make proper use of the fighting style of a warrior of the North.
He would simply be throwing himself recklessly into danger.
Yet Rodos’s expression remained calm.
The solution was right before his eyes.
Without deliberating for long, Rodos picked up a black horn about the length of his forearm.
The Horn of the Frostwind Divine Beast.
The Frostwind Divine Beast was a goat-shaped divine beast worshipped by the Frost Mountain Goat Tribe of the North.
The horn, said to have been given to them as a gift by the Divine Beast long ago, was a sacred relic that the Frost Mountain Goat Tribe had protected for generations.
Mountain goats possessed a life force more resilient and tenacious than that of any other creature in the North, allowing them to freely traverse cliffs battered by knife-like winds.
This was the horn of the Frostwind Divine Beast, the leader of those mountain goats and a being possessed of mysterious power.
‘I can feel its powerful life force.’
Simply holding it for a moment was enough for Rodos to feel its immense power flowing into him.
Rodos tightened his grip around the horn.
‘If I absorb the life force within this horn.’
It was the only way for someone who was not a northerner to develop a regenerative ability.
Rodos raised the horn and showed it to Kshar.
“I’ll take this.”
“Understood.”
Kshar nodded.
There was no particular change in his expression.
The Head of the House had ordered him to allow Rodos to take anything he wanted.
“I’m leaving.”
“Yes.”
Suppressing his reluctance, Rodos left the warehouse.
If he had followed his desires, he would have taken everything with him, but he understood greed all too well.
There were many items he could not yet handle at his current level.
‘I’ll wait for the right time.’
There was still time.
If he advanced one step at a time, it would not be long before he could obtain the others as well.
“I cannot imagine what he intends to use that for. Not that it is any concern of mine.”
Kshar muttered as he watched Rodos rapidly disappear into the distance.
To him, it looked like nothing more than an animal’s horn.
He did not know whether Rodos intended to use it as a decoration, but it was none of his concern.
As the Chief Steward, he simply needed to perform the duties entrusted to him.
“I should report this, at least.”
Kshar quickly headed off to make his report.
***
Rodos firmly locked the door to his room.
He crossed two axes against the door to prevent it from opening.
No one usually came to see him in the evening, but it was better to be safe.
During the process of absorbing the energy contained within the Horn of the Frostwind Divine Beast, he would be left completely defenseless.
Since there was still no one within the House whom he could trust, precautions were essential.
‘Let’s begin.’
Rodos sat down at the desk.
The enormous horn rested on top of it.
The method of absorbing the horn’s power was simple.
Grind it into powder and eat it.
Of course, no one had ever attempted such a method.
Naturally, no northerner would ever grind such a precious sacred relic into powder and swallow it, and the process of absorbing its power was also extremely dangerous.
Without hesitation, Rodos drew a small knife.
Nothing could be gained without adversity.
SCRAPE, SCRAPE.
The horn was hard, but as the blade moved back and forth across its surface, powder began to fall from it.
‘That’s enough.’
Once a sufficient amount of powder had accumulated, Rodos poured it into his mouth.