"Young Master—!"
Vestia, a maid who worked at the lord's castle of the Grand Duchy of Esseldria, shouted. Every time she called desperately for the Young Master, her breath spread in white clouds.
"Damn it......"
Ryuslagen, a knight of Esseldria who was searching for the Young Master with Vestia, muttered a curse.
"In this weather, of all times."
The person they were searching for was Raizel Esselklein.
The only son of the Grand Duke of Esseldria, returning home from the Imperial Capital for the first time in seven years.
Raizel, who turned sixteen this year, had left for the Imperial Capital seven years ago.
The official reason was his education.
A pleasant-sounding pretext: that the Imperial Family, out of goodwill, wished to show the heir of a frontier grand duchy a wider world.
In reality, he had been little better than a hostage.
For the Imperial Family and the Grand Ducal House were all but sworn enemies.
Then how had the Grand Duke's heir, sent away as a hostage, come to return home after seven years?
Many would surely wonder about that.
Some gossipmongers claimed that relations between the Imperial Family and the Grand Ducal House had improved, and that was why Raizel was coming home.
Of course, reality was not so kind.
Two months earlier, in the Imperial Capital.
Raizel Esselklein's mana heart was ruined in an accident, and he became a mana cripple.
Without a working mana heart, one could not become a knight.
Of course, knowing how to handle mana did not make someone a knight overnight.
Those who could not manifest sword energy remained apprentices or squires for years on end, and only once they could produce sword energy on their own were they finally recognized as full knights.
And the first stage of that was the 1-Star Knight.
Without becoming a knight, being the heir of a military stronghold like Esseldria was all but impossible.
An heir who could no longer fulfill his role.
What good was half a man like that?
And so the Imperial Family had sent Raizel back into the arms of his family.
"What do we do, Sir Quint? He should have reached the inner castle long ago......"
Vestia stamped her feet anxiously.
It was especially cold today. Snow had fallen all day yesterday, and the blizzard had only just stopped after dawn this morning.
"The Imperial Family said they'd send plenty of guards and attendants. It makes no sense for him to be this late."
"Yes, I think so too. These sons of bitches......"
An accident on the snowy roads would not be strange, but if that were the case, they would at least have sent word.
Attendants provided by the Imperial Family would surely carry a communication magic tool.
Yet not a single message had come. Not a word.
There was not even a carriage track in sight. And that was after dozens of soldiers had been sent out to search.
Under these circumstances, it was entirely possible that Raizel had frozen to death on the road.
On top of that, the fog was viciously thick. Frost upon snow.
Awoooooo—!
Just then, the howling of a wolf pack rang out.
"Hk......!"
Startled by the wolves, Vestia shrank back.
"Sir Q-Quint. Wolves......!"
"Yes, I heard."
Ryuslagen's expression grew even more grave.
Of course, to Ryuslagen, a pack of wolves was no dangerous foe. As a knight, he was a mana user.
But to Raizel, who had become a mana cripple, a pack of wild wolves would be a very dangerous opponent.
"We'd better head toward the howling first."
Vestia said.
The wolves might have run from a monster.
Ryuslagen nodded.
After all, starving wolves hunting for prey would find the boy more easily than two humans searching for their young lord.
Before long, they found where the wolf pack was.
Parting the thick fog, a pack of gray-furred wolves came running toward them. Ryuslagen raised his sword.
"Get behind me, Miss Denawi."
But Ryuslagen did not need to fight the wolves.
For some reason, every wolf racing across the snow ran straight past Ryuslagen and Vestia, as if it had not even seen them.
Ryuslagen, who had raised his sword ready for battle, awkwardly lowered it.
"What in the......"
"Could there be a dangerous monster over there?"
Vestia rummaged through her coat and took out a magic tool. It was a weapon that could save her life once, in an emergency.
She spoke with grim resolve.
"A monster might be after the Young Master."
Ryuslagen nodded. They moved on.
They advanced like that, on edge, for some time.
Crunch.
The very faint sound of a single footstep reached them.
"Sir Quint. Didn't you hear something?"
"Hear what?"
"Footsteps. They sound like a person's."
Crunch.
Crunch.
Crunch.
The footsteps drew steadily closer.
"There......!"
Vestia pointed ahead.
A shadow in the shape of a person.
Beyond the white fog stood a hazy shadow.
"I think it's the Young Master."
"Let's hurry."
They quickened their pace. And at last, the figure beyond the fog revealed itself.
"There......!"
Cutting through the fog, a person finally appeared.
Vestia's and Ryuslagen's eyes went wide.
"Young Master!"
"......Young Master?"
Hair as white as snow, and cold silver eyes. A boy with a face paler than the blizzard.
It was an unfamiliar face, but every one of those features pointed to a single fact.
It was Raizel Esselklein.
The boy had been hugging himself and shivering, and when he came face to face with people, he parted his lips.
He seemed to be trying to say something, but no voice came out.
There was not a trace of color in his face.
The clothes he had on were so shabby that no one would believe he had been living in the Imperial Palace until recently.
It was a wonder he had not frozen to death dressed like that.
And yet, even so, his eyes alone were piercing.
Even Ryuslagen, a knight, was inwardly startled when he met those silver eyes.
It was like facing the fighting spirit of a battle-hardened veteran.
'......This boy is the Young Master? That Young Master?'
That those were the eyes of a sixteen-year-old boy made no sense at all.
"Look at the state of you, Young Master. This, what is this...... What on earth happened...... How dare they do this to our Young Master......"
Only Vestia, who had not noticed the chill in Raizel's eyes, burst into tears, took off her fur cloak and draped it over his shoulders.
'......Did I see wrong?'
A beat late, Ryuslagen tore his eyes from Raizel, hoisted him onto his back and set off for the Grand Ducal Castle.
***
"Raizel!"
Grand Duchess Alicia came running, holding up the hem of her skirt with both hands.
Her curly brown hair streamed behind her as she ran.
Ordinarily she was so strict she seemed born to be a noblewoman, but today, etiquette did not matter to her in the slightest.
"Oh, Raizel......!"
That was why the first person the Heavenly Demon, Raizel, came face to face with upon entering the castle was the Grand Duchess.
"Ahh......"
The last time she had seen her son was seven years ago. Compared to back then, he had changed almost beyond recognition.
But he was still her one and only son.
How could she possibly keep her throat from choking up?
Meanwhile, the Heavenly Demon, Raizel, watched the Grand Duchess, who could hardly get a word out, and sized up her aura.
But Raizel's body had long since become that of a mana cripple.
What remained of his sense of qi was barely enough to pick up killing intent.
'A feeble body.'
Fortunately, he felt no killing intent from the Grand Duchess. The man and woman he had met a little earlier had none either.
He did not know who these people were, but it was fortunate they showed no killing intent.
Had they done so, he would have had to kill them, whether he wanted to or not.
Knowing none of that, the Grand Duchess took her son's cold hands, her eyes brimming with tears.
"Raizel, it's your mother. You've grown so much I'd hardly know you."
'She is this body's mother?'
His real mother had died long ago. The noblewoman welling up with tears before him stirred nothing in him.
However.
"My poor boy......"
The Grand Duchess reached out and pulled Raizel into her arms. His shoulders flinched on reflex.
Only after a long while did the Grand Duchess let him go.
'......'
The Grand Duchess's warmth clung to his body, which had gone cold from wandering the snow for so long.
It was uncomfortable.
The son that woman had longed for was not him.
"Raizel is back, I hear."
Just then, a low, weighty voice rang out. Its owner was a middle-aged man who, like Raizel, had white hair and gray eyes.
Raizel frowned.
'In a space this open, I did not even sense that man come in. This is serious.'
The man was Raizel's father, the Grand Duke. Raizel saw at once that he was a martial artist.
But the Grand Duke was maimed. He was missing an arm and an eye.
And Raizel had failed to notice even a man in that state approaching.
In this condition, he could not have handled a green drifter fresh into the Murim Alliance, let alone the Murim Alliance Leader.
"What does that look mean?"
The Grand Duke asked. Yet the Grand Duke's own expression as he said it was every bit as gloomy.
Not knowing who the man was, Raizel went on frowning and watched him closely.
The Grand Duke sighed.
"Let me see."
"Kailan!"
The Grand Duchess tried to stop him. But the Grand Duke paid her no mind and reached out to Raizel.
Thump.
The Grand Duke's palm covered Raizel's heart.
Sensing no killing intent, Raizel did not bother to evade.
Right after, a wave of mana began to rise through the Grand Duke's palm.
The mana flowed in and seeped into Raizel's heart.
Gently.
Slowly.
The flow was like the slow current of a vast river. Endlessly calm and restrained.
Raizel was a little impressed.
'......Not bad.'
In quantity it was paltry next to his original self, but in purity alone, the Grand Duke could even be called a cut above.
The Heavenly Demon had begun his martial arts on the third-rate heart method of bottom-feeding bandits, so it was a weakness he could do nothing about.
The Grand Duke's mana went on probing Raizel's insides.
It wrapped around his heart and spread deeper still.
Probing.
It was meticulous control, as though it meant to read everything about Raizel.
'In purity of energy and precision of control, he is at a decent level.'
But why the heart, and not the qi center?
Raizel wondered.
Once he was done, the Grand Duke withdrew all of his mana.
Then, letting out another slow sigh, he studied Raizel's face.
The Grand Duke's hand drew away from Raizel, and two identical pairs of silver eyes regarded each other.
A subtle tension hung in the air.
The Grand Duchess stepped forward, looking uneasy.
"Kailan, I know what you're going to say. But Raizel only came back today. Later......"
"My lady."
The Grand Duke spoke without looking at the Grand Duchess. At that, she stepped back, looking hurt.
"His mana heart is completely ruined."
Words that fell like a thunderbolt from a clear sky on anyone who hoped to become a knight.
The Grand Duchess staggered.
Vestia, who had been reading the mood from a step back, quickly caught and steadied the Grand Duchess.
But the Grand Duke still would not look at anyone else, his gaze fixed on Raizel alone.
"From now on, you will not be able to hold even a single handful of mana."
The words that followed sounded like a curse.
"No matter how long you train, no matter how fine a sword you obtain, your sword will be no different from the knife a farmhand uses to butcher chickens."
Raizel stared at the Grand Duke.
"......Why do you not answer?"
He had never been a man of many words, but that did not mean he was refusing to answer on purpose.
Regrettably, he could not speak.
Since he could not yet use his inner arts properly, it was not an exact diagnosis, but he seemed to have come down with aphasia.
He had kept trying to speak until now, and it had been impossible.
To convey his diagnosis, Raizel opened his mouth and went through the motions of making a sound. Nothing came out.
Then, as the Grand Duke understood what he meant, his face slowly crumpled.
As though he were weeping.
The Grand Duke gazed at Raizel for a moment. Then a voice came out that sounded as if he were holding back his feelings with all his strength.
"......Esselklein is finished."
The Grand Duke turned away. At that, the Grand Duchess crumpled to the floor. Servants gathered around.
Raizel stared at the Grand Duke's retreating back and thought.
'Why the heart, and not the qi center?'
What the Grand Duke called mana was inner arts.
'He cannot even tell the qi center from the heart, and he calls me a cripple?'
It was a pathetic body, but it was no cripple's.
After all, his qi center was clearly still working.
'It is strange, too, that someone who can wield inner arts at that level cannot tell the qi center from the heart. There is no way he could not...... Could it be that here, inner arts gather in the heart instead of the qi center?'
Raizel took his eyes off the Grand Duke and looked around.
He was looking for a quiet, safe place for qi circulation.