Rupert was an herbalist who had run an alchemy shop for forty years. His business reached a turning point five years ago, when the “Young Saint” appeared in the marketplace.
Nothing was known about the “Young Saint” except that he was young. Yet with his mysterious Awakened Ability, he healed the sick and caused an enormous sensation. When he brought an Overflow patient back to their feet, rumors even spread that he was Solitas reborn.
Perhaps because too much attention had been focused on him, the “Young Saint” vanished like a mirage one day.
It was around that time that Lucian Gray also vanished from the back alleys. Lucian paid massive compensation to the victims of his fraud and withdrew from every one of his illegal businesses.
All sorts of rumors spread over Lucian’s sudden change. Some said he had been possessed by an evil spirit, while others claimed that his new lover was keeping him in line.
Some people even insisted that the “Young Saint” had purified Lucian’s sin-stained soul. The timing lined up so oddly that it was difficult to dismiss the idea outright.
After the alleyways had been thoroughly cleaned up, order gradually returned to the market. That was when Rupert’s shop began to bustle with customers as well.
“Grandfather, I’m back.”
Caspar entered the shop, humming to himself.
“Yes, put what you brought downstairs.”
Rupert did not so much as glance at his grandson. He seemed too busy tending to the steady stream of customers.
Caspar carried armfuls of herb sacks bound with twine toward the cellar. He tossed the heavy sacks into their proper places with practised ease.
As Caspar dusted off his hands and emerged from the cellar, he finally noticed the customer speaking with his grandfather.
He was a young boy of around twelve.
The quality of his clothes made it clear that he was highborn. Yet it was not the clothes that caught Caspar’s eye, but the boy’s appearance.
Clear skin, delicate features as fine as Caspar’s own, eyelashes as lush as flowers in full bloom… The boy was more beautiful than anyone Caspar had ever seen in his life. It was as though the very word splendour had taken form.
Caspar stared at the boy as though bewitched, only coming to his senses at the sound of his grandfather’s laughter.
“I can see why you would think that. You truly are remarkable.”
“I am the one who is impressed. To think you could use Joseph’s formula in such a way.”
“Then what of a highland boar’s tusk? It is a prized material of mine, but I believe the current formula needs a stronger flavor.”
Caspar was surprised by Rupert’s words. Highland boar tusks were ingredients Rupert treasured dearly, ones he would not even mention to customers without discernment.
It could not simply be because the boy was a noble and Rupert wanted to entertain him. Rupert was the sort of unbending man who would stand straight-backed even before a duke’s son.
Moreover, the formula Joseph had mentioned was one that was only dealt with in intermediate alchemy courses. Caspar had been studying alchemy under his grandfather for seven years, and the boy’s knowledge at such a young age inspired not merely curiosity, but awe.
That was when the shop door jingled open, and four burly men and women entered, armed with longswords and axes. They wore black tunics emblazoned with ravens over their chain mail.
Caspar frowned. They were mercenaries belonging to the Ravenshade Trading Company, which was sponsored by Young Lord Chris Esterji.
The Ravenshade Trading Company had swiftly taken over the underworld abandoned by the Gray Trading Company, becoming a new cancerous presence in the Holy City.
“Hey, old man!”
A bearded mercenary shouted viciously. He pulled a potion bottle from his coat and slammed it down in front of Raven as though he were throwing it.
“Our youngest got a stomachache because of the potion you sold us. We bought it to cure an illness, and it made them sick instead! How are you going to take responsibility for this, huh?! How are you going to take responsibility?!”
When he slammed his fist down on the table, the potion bounced into the air and rolled across the floor. Customers who had been browsing the shelves began pouring out through the door.
“Out, all of you. We are closing up shop today.”
The female mercenary jerked her chin at the customers as though chasing away flies.
Caspar clenched his teeth. This was the Ravenshade Trading Company’s usual method: pressure store owners into handing over their shops for a pittance.
But he was only a merchant’s grandson. Even if the mercenaries possessed no Awakened Abilities, they had each swallowed at least one Source of Mana. An ordinary human could never hope to stand against them.
“Hey, kid! What are you still doing there? Can’t you read the room?”
The mercenaries shouted at the boy. Still, their voices lacked the force they had used when pressuring Rupert.
“Hey, he isn’t some noble, is he?”
“Idiot. Would a noble’s brat come to a filthy marketplace like this without a carriage or guards?”
“He might be a runaway.”
“Why would we care if he is a runaway?”
After whispering among themselves and reaching a conclusion, they shouted again with more confidence.
“Hey! You little bastard! Get the hell out of here right now!”
“Gentlemen, whatever happens to me, please do not lay a hand on this young gentleman.”
“Old man, you are not in any position to make demands. You should show us some good faith before you try that.”
“If only you had listened to us sooner.”
The mercenaries surrounded the boy, glaring at him. Rupert was beside himself with worry that the young customer might be hurt because of him.
Then Caspar ran over and stepped in front of the boy.
“S-stop it!”
Caspar’s eyes were wide with shock.
‘What the hell am I doing?’
His mouth was moving independently of his thoughts.
“I said stop! Aren’t you ashamed, full-grown adults picking on one child…? I-isn’t that embarrassing?”
“What? I can barely hear you. Your voice is too quiet.”
The mercenaries mocked Caspar. His face reddened as he lowered his head. His head burned. His heart pounded, and his limbs trembled like aspen leaves. He had no idea where this courage had come from.
But he did not regret it. If anything, he thought he should have done this long ago. He did not want to keep living as a coward.
“The potion is the problem, right? Then we can give you a new one.”
“You need to pay the medical costs too. My younger sibling is seriously sick.”
“How much are the medical costs?”
“A thousand baht.”
“Th-that is ridiculous!”
“This bastard thinks we are pushovers.”
The mercenary’s gaze turned chilling.
“Looks like life is too easy for you and you need a little adversity, huh?”
His hand moved toward the mace hanging at his waist.
“Gentleman, hit me with that instead!”
Rupert cried desperately.
“…Well, well.”
Then the boy, who had remained silent until then, let out a bright laugh.
“When the tiger disappears, the fox becomes king.”
The boy was strangely calm. In fact, he almost seemed to be enjoying the situation.
Just as the mercenary was about to shout something, an indescribable aura burst from the boy. It stole their breath, made the hairs on their bodies stand on end, and carried a presence that could never be mistaken for human.
“I-I can’t breathe…!”
“Ghk—!”
The mercenaries’ faces twisted in pain. Crushed beneath his aura, they were suffocating where they stood.
“Ravenshade, was it?”
The boy smiled coldly.
“Tell your master this. If his wish is to create adversity, then he has just achieved that wish.”
Caspar’s eyes widened. Long flowers of ice bloomed from the mercenaries’ chests. They dropped their weapons and howled in agony.
The boy possessed a Nature-Type Awakened Ability, one considered especially powerful. And when it came to wielding ice, there was one person so famous that no one in the entire duchy could fail to know him.
Iden Esterji.
The mercenaries turned deathly pale and fled the shop in a panic, ice still clinging to them. When the boy turned back, Rupert and Caspar startled as though they had committed some terrible crime.
“Well then. Let us continue our discussion.”
The grandfather and grandson’s minds went blank. They could not decide whether they should apologize for their rudeness or bow first. The boy looked steadily up at them, then asked in an eager voice.
“…Did you say highland boar tusk?”
***
Five winters passed. During that time, I completed most of my privately tutored subjects with excellent marks.
Swordsmanship had been among them. After Karoy confirmed that I had mastered the essence of the Crimson Blade, he left behind only one sentence.
“This will do.”
Then he left the palace.
He did not leave any particular destination behind. Like the wind, he simply vanished as he had come.
Some things had remained unchanged over those five years. With my hands behind my back, I looked down at the smoldering garden. A lizard just over thirty centimeters long was darting between the glowing red Firestones.
Over the past five years, Lunchbox had grown to about twice its former size. That might sound impressive, but in reality, it had merely grown from palm-sized to the length of my forearm.
“Here you are.”
Lucian approached from a distance, casually waving one sleeve. He came to stand beside me, watched Lunchbox scurrying around, and made a remark.
“He is growing little by little.”
“That he is only growing ‘little by little’ is the problem. At this rate, I’ll have to wait a thousand years before I see it become a dragon.”
“Forming an attachment is important. Everything grows faster when it is loved.”
“I’m only raising it so I can rip out its heart. Do you think that is possible?”
The lizard slowly edged toward me. It slipped between Lucian and me, rubbing its head against us.
Lucian smiled with his eyes.
“It seems more than possible to me.”
“It just wants food. It knows who feeds it.”
I fed it small pieces of chopped meat one at a time. He eagerly accepted every piece I gave him, though I had no idea where all that food went.
After filling Lunchbox’s belly, I began walking slowly along the path with Lucian.
“The ravens have been throwing their weight around in the commercial district.”
“You mean Ravenshade.”
“Yes. It is time to start considering our options.”
Over the past five years, Lucian’s business had grown spectacularly. He had faithfully kept his promise to me not to involve himself in dirty work.
Thanks to that, the Gray Trading Company had captured more than thirty percent of the “clean” businesses. But we had surrendered every shadow business we had spent so long building to Chris. Now, using the Ravenshade Trading Company as his banner, Chris was even beginning to reach into the daylight.
“You understand that dealing with a few mercenaries will not end this. The Raven Knight Order stands behind them. I am gathering mercenaries in my own way, but no matter how many I gather, mercenaries cannot stand against knights.”
Knights had manifested Awakened Abilities from childhood, then honed their martial arts while consuming expensive Sources of Mana. They were not opponents that common riffraff could face.
“We need knights too, then.”
“Yes. We can delay no longer.”
The sole reason the founding of a knight order had been delayed for five years was Lunchbox. Six hundred thousand baht a year went toward his heating expenses, leaving us in no position to turn our attention elsewhere.
However, thanks to Lucian’s meteoric growth, even after deducting the heating expenses, we now had an annual surplus of two million baht. This was the perfect time to pursue the long-delayed project.
“There are two things necessary to establish a knight order: exceptional Awakened Ability Users and Sources of Mana. We can obtain as many Sources of Mana as we need with money, but finding exceptional Awakened Ability Users depends entirely on you, Lord Iden.”
In other words, I needed to give them a reason to choose me over my two older brothers.
My brothers had been born several years before me and had long since secured the nobles and Awakened Ability Users. As the latecomer, I needed a powerful, decisive blow to overturn the situation.
“Leave it to me. I have something in mind.”
“May I ask what your plan is?”
“Just know that I intend to recruit someone very famous.”
“Someone very famous…… I am curious. How great must their fame be to catch Lord Iden’s eye?”
“You’ll know when you see them.”
I smiled.
***
The full-scale campaign to establish the knight order began. I set up a temporary headquarters in an unused meeting room of the palace and summoned the two guard knights who served as my right hands.
“Viten, Thalia.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“As you know, I have never handled practical work, so you two will need to become officers of the knight order… Viten, where did your beard go?”
Viten’s trademark red beard had been completely shaved off. His clean-shaven chin looked good, but it was startling to see someone who had never shown it before suddenly bare-faced.
“That is what I would like to know. Where did my beard go?”
Viten asked in a gloomy tone.
“Apparently, the reason for shaving it was his lover’s preference.”
Thalia answered for Viten.
“Ah, the woman you were introduced to recently?”
I vaguely recalled seeing Viten walking around with a beautiful young lady lately.
“I see… If the person you love wants it, shaving your beard is no great hardship.”
Come to think of it, he had not merely trimmed his beard. His mane-like red hair had been tied back as well, making his appearance much neater.
“She dumped me yesterday.”
“What?”
I was genuinely taken aback.
“Why did she dump you?”
“She said my chin was ugly.”
I stared at Viten with my mouth open. Had he not been standing before me, he looked as though he might have dug a hole and burrowed down to the underworld.
“If you want, I can give you leave, Viten.”
“It is all right.”
Viten said dejectedly.
“I will forget her through work. Please work me as hard as you please.”
“Are you really all right?”
“I do not think I will be. Not if I do nothing.”
Viten was almost eager to work. I decided to respect his wishes.
“Then let us return to the main point. I would like you two to take officer positions in the newly founded knight order, but I already have the right person in mind for the commander. That means you will have to divide the positions of vice commander and First Squad Leader between yourselves…”
I looked the two of them over in turn.
“Which of you is stronger?”
Viten, the “Red Wolf” said to be a legend among adventurers, and Thalia, the last survivor of Lester City.
They were talents personally selected from my father’s guard knights. Both of them likely possessed abilities that would be second to none in the duchy.
Yet I had never seen them fight, or even spar.
“Me.”
“I will win.”
Their answers came at the same time.
“Which of you will win?”
They glanced at one another, then once again answered almost simultaneously.
“Obviously, me.”
“Me.”
“Hey, Thalia. Why do you think you can beat me? Do you not remember that I taught you how to hold a wooden sword?”
“That was fifteen years ago, Senior.”
“Quiet. Fifteen years later, a senior is still a senior. Have you never heard that once a senior, always a senior?”
“Of course, you will always be my senior. I am simply more skilled.”
Sparks flew between the two of them. Normally, Viten would have given Thalia some leeway, while Thalia would have offered a few pointers at an appropriate point. But Viten was not his usual self, and Thalia was exactly as she always was.
Choosing who would sit in officer positions was an important matter. I could not approach it as though I were simply handing out positions to my close associates.
My brothers had already swept up all the established Awakened Ability Users. My knight order would mainly recruit young people who had only recently manifested their abilities. They needed role models they could trust and follow.
Young, capable figures worthy of admiration.
Such a person would be ideal as commander, but the vice commander needed to be an overwhelmingly powerful person capable of handling the knight order’s military force.
“Good. The two of you will spar.”
“Right now?”
“You cannot know until you compare. Come down to the garden. There is nothing left there to break anyway.”
I led the two knights toward the garden.
At the snap of my fingers, Lunchbox came pattering over from afar, ran up my leg, and climbed onto my shoulder.
To prevent anyone from taking the valuable ingredient from me, I had trained Lunchbox to hide in the safest place whenever I gave him a signal.
The safest place was, of course, in my arms. It might be called my greatest achievement of the past five years.
“All right, you can break everything now.”
For the duel, I temporarily dismissed the formation. The two faced one another atop the lizard enclosure, where the heat had faded.
“You would do well to give up, Junior. Once I get fired up, I do not know how to hold back.”
“I will hold back. You might get hurt, Senior.”
Flames crackled in Viten’s eyes.
“This is your last chance. Aren’t you going to admit defeat before you embarrass yourself?”
“I am giving you your last chance to avoid humiliation.”
An immense force began pouring from the two of them.
Awakened Ability Users were divided into five ranks: Low, Mid, High, Master, and Grand Master.
The mercenaries I had met in the market had been Low Grade at best. Ordinary warriors could struggle all their lives and still never escape the level of Low Grade.
Only a chosen few born with talent could become Mid-Grade Awakened Ability Users. Most of those called “knights” fell within that rank.
And only exceptional elites among knights were qualified to be called High-Grade Ability Users.
From Master rank onward, they were truly a heaven beyond heaven. In particular, there were only two Grand Master Awakened Ability Users in the vast duchy: my father, Duke Drek, and Karoy.
Crack… crackle….
Red fur sprouted across Viten’s entire body. His leather clothes tore apart, his muscles swelled, his fangs protruded sharply, and his nails lengthened like hooks.
An Enhancement-Type Awakened Ability.
‘Red Wolf.’
It was my first time actually seeing an Enhancement-Type Ability in use. Having completed his transformation, Viten was no different from a beast.
“Awooooo—”
Viten threw back his head and howled. Savage instinct flashed in his bright yellow eyes. It seemed that not a shred of reason remained in his head. Perhaps I would need to intervene to stop the duel from escalating out of control.
His rank was at the very edge of High Grade.
It was strength worthy of his reputation as a legendary adventurer.
And then…….
Thalia unleashed her power.
For a moment, I doubted my ears. I thought I heard an extremely pathetic yelp from somewhere. One thing was certain: Viten had been blown backward by Thalia’s aura.
A purplish energy billowed from Thalia’s longsword. I recalled the epithet I had heard in passing.
‘Irreverent Thalia.’
She wielded the Curse-Type Awakened Ability, “Irreverent Mist.” It was a terrifying ability that turned every component of matter into blood-red rusty water.
The superiority of Awakened Abilities was difficult to judge, but it was clear that her power had surpassed High Grade and entered the ranks of Master.
“Stop. That is enough!”
I intervened in the duel for Viten’s safety. Thalia glanced back at me, then slowly withdrew the energy she had released.
Viten lay sprawled out on the lukewarm lizard enclosure with his limbs spread wide. His transformation had already ended, yet he showed no sign of getting up.
“Did you inflict some kind of damage on him…?”
“I did not attack at all.”
Thalia said flatly.
I walked closer to Viten. His clothes had all been torn apart, leaving him naked. He did not appear to be injured. His large eyes blinked like those of an ox, but unlike before, his gaze was perfectly clear.
“Viten.”
“……Lord Iden.”
He spoke in a sorrowful voice.
“I think I will just take leave.”
“No, where are you going? You said you would forget her through work. Thalia will be vice commander, and you can be First Squad Leader.”
“Then make me the leader of the Tenth Squad—no, put the largest number you can think of before my title. Only then do I think I can accept it.”
Viten’s self-esteem had already fallen to the underworld.