“Killingham Mayer.”
This was the first time the deputy had heard that name—back when he had only just begun holding a sword. In those days, he had been nothing more than a young squire serving a knight.
Even then, Killingham Mayer had already been a legend. The head of the Red Lions—the magical corps of House Zoldic—known among enemies as the Scarlet Death... the living embodiment of the family’s power. It was said that he had taken the position of Chief Inspector of the Council of Elders without being a blood relative of the Zoldics, purely through his extraordinary achievements. An old man whose authority rivaled that of the council’s own leader.
“You mean...?” the deputy began cautiously, reacting to Killingham’s words. He tilted his head slightly, wondering whether he had missed something important.
Killingham abruptly turned his head.
“You noticed it too, didn’t you?” His gaze was directed at Vail.
Vail nodded calmly in response.
“Yes,” he confirmed in an even voice that carried a note of approval. “It was quite clear he was trying to measure his strength against mine.”
Although Vail could not compare with Killingham, he was still a superhuman, a Sword Master who had surpassed the limits of ordinary humans. He could not fail to feel Kun’s gaze upon him. A boy who had not even completed his basic training yet dared to assess the strength of a master and weigh it against his own.
He tried not to show it, but... Vail silently noted the audacity of that gaze, though a faint smile played on his lips.
“Exactly,” Killingham snorted, adjusting his dark crimson robe. “I came here to investigate rumors about forged orders from the Council, but I didn’t expect to see such a spectacle. Heh-heh. His gaze has completely changed compared to the time he was in the castle.”
Vail nodded silently. He too remembered Kun’s eyes when the boy had first arrived at Lion’s Moat. There had been confusion, fear, and... detachment, as if he had already given up on himself.
Now Kun’s gaze shone with newfound strength. The change was so striking it was easy to believe they were looking at a different person entirely. Vail straightened slightly in his chair, lost in thought.
Remarkable. A person does not change so easily without a powerful reason...
Could exile from the main family to Lion’s Moat have been such a shock for him?
Considering his current state, it doesn’t seem impossible.
Perhaps that shock had awakened something dormant within him. After all, a lion would never give birth to a cat. Whatever the case, Kun had truly proven to be a young lion with the blood of House Zoldic flowing through his veins.
But what if not?
What if he had not changed at all, and had simply been hiding his true nature from the beginning? Either possibility was astonishing, but the second was far more intriguing. Because that would mean...
...that all this time he had lived with his claws hidden.
And if he had chosen to reveal them now, then there had to be a compelling reason.
To reveal himself precisely now, when no other members of the family were present to observe him...
Vail did not know that before him stood the same shell but an entirely different soul, and that misunderstanding gave rise to ever more interesting conjectures. And most importantly...
To request poison in any form so he could use it during closed training to improve his breathing technique?
Vail recalled Kun’s face at the end of their conversation, when the boy had asserted his rights as the top trainee. Using poison to temper Aura was an effective method—but also a mad one. And yet here was a lunatic willing to continue that madness even in solitary isolation.
“Interesting,” Vail murmured.
Killingham, as if reading his thoughts, gave a short laugh and looked out the window at the deepening twilight.
“It seems I’ll have to add a few lines to my report,” the old man whispered.
Outside the window, the full moon shone, bathing the office in its cold light.
4.
“If you’re ready, follow me.”
The next day, accompanied by the senior instructor, Kun approached the massive doors of a huge cellar located beneath the administrative building. The entrance was wrapped in chains and secured with heavy locks. Normally such rooms were used to store food or wine in cool conditions, but Kun merely raised an eyebrow in confusion.
This is the Lion Library?
From the outside, the cellar looked far more modest than he had expected.
Of course, what matters is what’s inside... he thought, yet the scale still did not match the rumors about tens of thousands of books. However, when Kun looked more closely at the door, he felt a faint tingling.
What’s this?
An unusual mana pulsed around the entrance. A thin but incredibly powerful current. An ordinary trainee would never have noticed it—the weaving was that subtle and skillful. A chill ran down Kun’s spine.
Magic.
Pure magic.
Hm...
House Zoldic was famous as a family of warriors for whom there existed no weapon they could not master. They valued martial arts above all else, but that did not mean they despised magic.
The Zoldics simply worshiped power itself.
For them, there was no difference between magic and the sword if it brought victory. Otherwise they would never have become a great family or maintained an entire corps of mages within their ranks. Installing signal or protective spells in a place like this was perfectly logical.
The question of security was resolved. Only the question of scale remained. As if reading the doubt on his face, the senior instructor spoke.
“It looks like an ordinary cellar, but a portion of the works from the Lion Library is stored here. We selected worthy manuals especially for the trainees of Lion’s Moat and moved them here.”
Kun gave a brief nod. Now Vail’s words about a “portion of the library” made sense.
“Do you remember the rules?”
“Of course.”
One day inside. One book to take out. And an hourglass to keep track of time.
Scrape. Clank. Click.
As soon as the instructor removed the locks, the magical currents around the door began to fade. The heavy door opened with a deep rumble.
“Good luck,” the instructor said dryly.
Kun stepped inside. The door closed behind him with the same heavy sound.
The cellar inside turned out to be far from cramped. On the contrary, the space was enormous. Rows of shelves packed tightly with books stretched into the distance. At a glance there were around three thousand volumes here. It would be impossible to examine them all within a day.
Let’s start with a quick survey, Kun decided.
Taking a deep breath, he approached the far-left shelf. The plan was simple: move from left to right, checking every section. He pulled out books and flipped through them quickly, assessing their level.
Most were of medium or above-average quality.
For an ordinary trainee, it would have been an invaluable treasure. But for Kun, who retained the experience of his past life as the Calamity-Class Hound, these techniques differed little from what he already knew.
Some ideas from the northern masters are interesting, but nothing more.
It wasn’t enough. Apparently the techniques granted for special merit and the secrets passed only to direct heirs had not been included here. Kun sighed after reviewing several more stacks.
This won’t work.
His intuition told him that finding something truly worthwhile would not be easy.
About twenty hours passed.
And that was when something unexpected happened.