Tiok Baltran stormed to Gion's office. He knocked on the massive door.
Knock. Knock.
"My lord. It's Tiok."
"Come in."
Permission given, Tiok opened the door and went in. He strode straight up to the family head's desk.
"A Succession Ceremony for Rohan! This absolutely cannot happen!"
Tiok planted a hand on the desk as he spoke. Gion, who had been looking over documents, turned his gaze to that hand.
"What do you think you are doing?"
At the same time, Gion released his magic power. Tiok's arm shook uncontrollably. Still, Tiok held on.
He knew. If he backed down here, he would get nowhere. To push his opinion through with his father, he had to show he was worthy of it.
Veins bulged on Tiok's forearm. The blue veins were turning a dark red.
His eyes went bloodshot. Blood had already pooled in his mouth, and only by clamping it shut was he barely keeping it from spilling out.
It was the first time in his life he had ever defied his father. That was how furious he was.
Having recently reached the 5th Stage of the White Ice Ring, he had planned to open a stone gate in time for his coming-of-age ceremony next month.
But the youngest had beaten him to it, and taken the heirloom from the very cave he had quietly marked for himself.
It was unthinkable. To be overtaken in the order of Succession Ceremonies by the youngest, of all people.
THUD!
But what was truly unthinkable was him withstanding Gion's magic power.
Tiok sprawled pathetically on the floor.
His arm twitched and jerked on its own, and a mouthful of the blood he'd spat up pooled on the floor.
Looking down at him, Gion spoke in an indifferent voice.
"Rohan opened the stone gate, and as family head I am merely holding the Succession Ceremony according to the family's rules. There is no place for you to interfere in this."
Tiok cried out in protest.
"Before Rohan went to the annex, he hadn't even reached the 1st Stage. There's no way a child like that could produce 5th-Stage power."
"Do the family's rules require reaching the 5th Stage? The Succession Ceremony is simply a rite held for a Baltran who opens a stone gate and claims the heirloom inside."
"B-But it makes no sense. Opening that gate takes power of the 5th Stage or higher. Someone must have helped him—."
Gion raised a hand and cut Tiok off. His eyes made it clear he would tolerate no more insolence.
"Go."
Gion's gaze had already returned to the documents on his desk. Leaving the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, Tiok stared blankly at him.
He had never expected fatherly affection. He had only thought his father would at least show fairness as the family head.
'So as long as it doesn't break family law, anything goes?'
In that case, killing Rohan under the pretext of the contest for the headship wouldn't break the rules either.
When a rival who had finished the Succession Ceremony was still young, the unspoken rule was to wait until they'd had their coming-of-age ceremony, but family law specified no age.
'Then I'll just have to deal with the youngest myself.'
Not right away. He hadn't held his own Succession Ceremony yet.
Only after the Succession Ceremony was one considered a candidate for the headship. For now, Tiok had no right to kill Rohan.
'No need to make a move now and draw suspicion.'
If he killed Rohan now, anyone would suspect him first. Then his eldest brother and his second-born sister, handed a justification, might step in at once.
'There's plenty of time anyway. It'll take the brat a while to build a proper faction.'
Tiok picked himself up. Then he bowed to the family head. When he straightened, Gion was still looking at the documents on his desk.
Indifferent to his own child.
He hadn't expected much, so he wasn't disappointed. With a small sigh, he turned and left the family head's office.
***
When word of the Succession Ceremony spread, Croseor Castle, the main castle of the House of Baltran, grew busy. The five elders visited the castle, and dishes of food to entertain them were carried into the dining hall without end.
Outside the outer castle, Rohas, the Baltran family's eldest son, was returning at the head of the 1st Corps of the Black Wolf Knights.
The castle gates were thrown wide, and the guards lined up in a row to welcome Rohas home.
Through the north gate came Yohana, the sixth child and Gion's third daughter, hauling on her back the carcass of a monster that looked three times her size. An odd sight for a sixteen-year-old girl.
"Did you go over the Wall again?"
Gion's fourth son, Mehais Baltran, came over with a smile. He stroked the gray-furred beast's carcass with curiosity.
"Careful not to damage the hide. I'm going to make the youngest a jacket out of it."
"What about me?"
"I'll make you one too once your Succession Ceremony's done."
"Tch. But how did Rohan open a stone gate? Even you haven't opened one yet, Sis."
Yohana fell silent, lost in thought as well. But she soon spoke again.
"We can just ask the youngest."
"Must be nice being so simple, Sis. Once he finishes the Succession Ceremony, he's in the contest for the headship. Like he's going to kindly explain it to us."
"Hmm, is that so? Then I'll just fight him."
Mehais was at a loss for words. He envied her simplicity, but since she really might start a duel out of nowhere, he also worried about what was to come. But there was a bigger problem.
"What about our third brother?"
"Tiok? What about him?"
Yohana called everyone by name except Rohas, the eldest son, and Roselin, the eldest daughter, so the way she referred to him was no surprise.
But not even knowing what the problem was? That was a bit much.
"He lost his turn for the Succession Ceremony. Anyone can see our third brother's after the headship, and now the youngest has dented his pride"
Roselin had built no faction beyond a single Guardian Knight. Until now, Tiok had been the only sibling able to keep Rohas, Corps Commander of the Black Wolf Knights, in check. But now Rohan had entered that contest.
"Why would that hurt his pride? Isn't it good if your sibling is strong?"
Yohana still looked as if she had no idea what the problem was.
"If it bugs him that much, he can just fight him."
Mehais shook his head, fed up. She was like Roselin, who walked the warrior's path with no hunger for power, and yet cut from a different cloth.
"Sis, don't ever build a faction."
He said it not out of rivalry, but out of genuine worry.
Unlike Roselin, who showed no gap an assassin could exploit, Yohana was strong on her own but careless somewhere, and a careful look would likely find an opening.
If Rohas and Tiok came to see her as a rival, her life might be in danger.
"Why? I want my own army too."
"Then you'd have to fight Brother Rohas and Brother Tiok."
Tina Baltran, the second daughter and fourth child, said as she came out of the castle. Brushing back her long curled hair, she came down the stairs.
Mehais ran to her side as if he'd met his savior. Tina smiled and stroked her little brother's hair.
"Why would I have to fight them?"
At some point Yohana had started up the stairs with the monster still on her back. Tina helped from below by lifting the bottom of the carcass.
"You'll understand when you're a little older, Yohana."
"You always say that! Yohana's already all grown up. She even brings back huge monsters like this."
At times like this, even Tina couldn't help being at a loss.
She was only a year older than Yohana, and she wasn't confident she could cross the Wall and bring back a monster this size herself.
Mehais watched the two of them with an amused look. Fortunately, a savior appeared.
"Saying you're all grown up just because you caught one measly monster proves you haven't grown up yet."
It was a woman taller even than the knights guarding the castle entrance. Her snow-white face stood out between strands of fluttering deep-blue hair.
It was Roselin, the eldest daughter, who resembled Tina, the second daughter, and yet, unlike Tina's gentle air, gave off a cold impression.
"Sis!"
As her little sister dropped the carcass and ran to her, Roselin rapped her on the head with her knuckles.
"Ow! What was that for!"
"Talk back to Tina again and it won't end with that."
Flustered, Tina hurried over and rubbed Yohana's head.
"I'm fine, Sis."
Roselin shot her a sidelong glare but said nothing more. After watching the two of them for a moment, she turned away.
"Let's go in."
Yohana and Mehais promptly followed her inside, and Tina went in later, after asking the nearby knights to carry the monster's carcass to the storehouse.
Tina passed through the lobby into the hall where the Succession Ceremony was being held. Deeper inside the hall she saw the faces of elders one was lucky to see even once a year.
Above all, the Grand Elder, who rarely showed herself.
Jaymin Baltran's appearance was unusual.
Her white hair falling long past her shoulders, she sat quietly gazing at the center of the hall.
Beside her sat the Corps Commanders of the White Wolf Knights in order. Four Corps Commanders in all. Every commander but the 4th Corps Commander had gathered.
That the five elders' seats were filled with those of Corps Commander rank or higher meant this Succession Ceremony had caught the elders' attention.
"Leon!"
Mehais waved at a little kid who had just entered the hall. It was Leon, Gion's fifth son.
He had probably come with Rohan, but the star of the Succession Ceremony would have his own preparations to make.
Leon ran over to Mehais, his face lit up.
"Long time no see, brother."
"Yeah. Anyway, what happened? How on earth did that kid open the stone gate?"
Leon looked hurt that his brother launched straight into asking about Rohan.
Normally Tina would have gently chided him, but she was just as curious, so she quietly listened in. Even Roselin was stealthily edging a step closer to the two.
Of everyone here, Leon was the sibling who spent the most time around Rohan.
"I don't know either. It happened in the middle of the night."
At night?
Tina tilted her head slightly. Why would the youngest go there in the dark of night, of all times, to open a stone gate?
"Actually, Rohan's been a little different since then too."
"How?"
"How do I put it. Kind of scary, I guess? He even feels a bit like our eldest brother."
Huh. Nonsense.
Tina snorted. There was no way their cute youngest could feel anything like their eldest brother.
"The family head enters!"
Everyone in the hall rose to their feet. Even Jaymin, the Grand Elder, stood out of respect for the family head.
The seven siblings, all but the fifth, who was away on a mission, and Rohan, the youngest and the star of the ceremony, lined up in a row.
Rohas called out loudly.
"Salute Duke Gion Baltran!"
As one, everyone shouted loud enough that the hall's ceiling might have collapsed.
"Glory to the North!"
Gion strode in. He first gave Jaymin a light bow. She bowed in return, and Gion took the seat of highest honor.
"Bring Rohan in."
At his command, Rohan appeared at the entrance of the hall. Tina's eyes went round at the sight of the youngest.
'He looks different somehow.'
She couldn't put her finger on it. His body was still small, and his cute face hadn't lost its baby fat yet.
'He's not nervous at all.'
Yet there was no trace of tension in him, hard to believe for a ten-year-old. Rohan walked confidently to the center of the hall and stood there.
Gion spoke.
"Bring the heirloom Rohan chose."
Strictly speaking, it wasn't a choice. There was no knowing what lay inside until one opened the gate.
So the siblings, too, were privately curious about what Rohan had obtained.
The one watching most intently of all was Tiok, the second son. Had it not been for Rohan, the treasure would have been his.
Soon a knight came in carrying a small cushion in both hands. On the cushion lay a lustrous jade-green egg.
'What is that?'
Every one of the siblings, Tina included, thought the same thing. When anyone said heirloom, they naturally pictured arms and armor.
But what the knight had brought was far from anything of the sort.
Most of the siblings looked puzzled, while Tiok looked secretly relieved.
"Is this the heirloom you obtained?"
Gion asked, and Rohan answered without hesitation.
"Yes, it is."
At Gion's gesture, the knight walked up to Rohan. Rohan carefully picked up the egg with both hands.
Applause filled the hall for a while, and Gion waited for it to die down before speaking.
"At a Succession Ceremony, besides the heirloom, the family head grants one request by his authority. Speak your request."
Rohan seemed to hesitate for a moment. Unlike the confidence he'd shown so far, he looked flustered.
Even the stern Gion softened his tone this time, as if he understood.
"You were too young when the first and second held their Succession Ceremonies. So you would not have known this custom, and could not prepare. If you truly cannot think of anything, you may take your time and tell me later."
"Um... C-Could I maybe ask for two things?"
Rohan's way of speaking had suddenly turned childlike. No, he had been a child all along, so nothing had changed. It was his earlier maturity that hadn't suited him.
Gion was momentarily at a loss for words and stared blankly at his youngest son. The elders were much the same; only Jaymin watched Rohan with an interested smile.
"Tell me first. I will hear them and grant one."
Looking disappointed, Rohan spoke in a noticeably lower voice.