The Goddess's Blessing
The faint glow of the divine blessing from the Goddess of Fortune, Vespera, shimmered faintly on the back of Ethan's hand.
It was clear that her immense power had settled into the tattoo there.
Yet why was Ethan struggling?
*How exactly do I use this?*
The Goddess of Luck hadn't provided any user manual.
Ethan had never used a dagger in his previous life.
He'd sweated through dagger practice in his private room.
And he'd followed Caion's moves while watching.
Thud!
“Grrrr!”
A gap of decades couldn't be closed in a single day.
“Stop swinging like that!”
Ethan barely dodged the wildly swinging dagger.
“Still acting all high and mighty like before!”
Caion growled even fiercer.
*
The ideal target in dagger art against a thief.
It was to attack without fear of missing.
No, to strike with even stronger and more precise momentum.
*Caion is pushing me... In a mental duel, I might actually have the upper hand.*
But that didn't mean it was the correct theory.
*Why... why is this happening!*
He charged forward bravely.
But clearly, in the current situation, the one who looked impatient was Caion.
*Why aren't you falling! Ethan Cass!*
His teeth ground together.
From the start, Caion's goal had been clear.
To make the son of a minor border viscount pay for picking a fight with the third son of the Northern Archduke in front of all these young students.
And to make them thoroughly submit.
*Why... why is there such a gap, and yet he won't give up!*
Ethan was clearly being pushed back.
But for some reason, after one counterattack, his movements gradually became more skillful.
The number of wounds appearing on Ethan's body was rapidly decreasing.
*This won't do.*
A killing intent swirled in Caion's eyes.
*If this continues, I'll be abandoned by my father again...*
He swung his northern-style sword down once.
*Impossible. Why am I here!*
A start.
Ethan sensed something and jerked his body far backward.
Whoosh!
The blade whistled through.
In an instant, a wooden dagger aimed straight at Ethan's abdomen.
“Gah!”
He barely parried it, but the defense had already been pierced.
Blood sprayed from the pulled-out hilt.
Even without a sharpened edge, a deep wound remained.
Pliiiing.
Ethan's stamina bar dropped sharply, and his body's center lost balance.
Caion's lips curled up.
“It ends here, Ethan Cass...!”
For a moment, Lena Croix's eyes widened.
“End the spar!”
Killing blows were prohibited during sparring sessions.
Because they were thieves' students.
They had learned assassination techniques.
And by accident, they had lost their lives in brawls among the students.
“Both of you, lower your weapons! And Caion, I'll impose a punishment for using prohibited moves!”
Lena stopped the spar and stepped toward Caion.
“I'll continue!!”
Ethan's boastful shout rang out.
“How could I retreat in the middle of a battlefield!”
“W-what?! You're disobeying the instructor's orders...!”
“I know. I'll receive punishment for insubordination! But!”
Ethan met Lena's eyes.
“Please end this spar!”
Why end it now.
“Protect my honor, Professor!”
I need to obtain the Piece of the World.
I need to steal the Imperial Seal hint.
The words spilling out didn't match what was in his mind.
“If you return like this, not only the Cass family, but the entire continent will mock us!”
“...”
“Protect the family's honor, Professor.”
Lena's pupils trembled.
“Please.”
She bit her lip hard.
*Ethan... you are truly...!*
He wasn't a knight who protected chivalry.
In this Thief Academy, there was a student who knew the value of honor.
In such a place of unchecked arrogance, a student who understood honor.
*Amazing... you are a wonderful man, Ethan.*
Lena's heart was moved by the emotion.
A smile appeared on her lips.
“I understand! Regardless of the punishment, this spar will continue to the end!”
Lena glared at Caion.
“Caion. If you use prohibited moves one more time, this time I won't punish you—I will recommend expulsion. Got it?”
“...Yes.”
“Then begin!”
The unfinished spar.
The sound of a shiver ran through the training ground just from hearing it.
Clang! Thwack!
The groans and cheers of the students occasionally slipped in.
The spar continued for a long while.
Wooong.
The tattoo on Ethan's hand gradually turned a greenish hue.
*
Characters continued to float on the wall.
[Ethan Cass: Left little finger hit]
[-2]
[Ethan Cass: Central chest graze]
[-1]
As Ethan's stamina bar shrank, Caion pressed harder and harder.
But by now, the rate at which Ethan's stamina dropped was clearly decreasing.
*Just a little... just a little more.*
Ethan glanced at the tattoo rising on his hand.
“Where are you... looking?”
He ran forward and stabbed toward his side.
“It ends!”
This was the 'feint stab' he had hidden as a trump card while practicing northern-style dagger thrusts.
Caion's left hand angle twisted slightly.
*Both blocking and countering this hit.*
With this, Ethan couldn't get back up.
*Farewell, Ethan Cass.*
But Ethan had no intention of leaving.
“It’s filled.”
“Huh?”
Swish.
The circle at the top left of the tattoo was completely filled with bright lime green.
Chirrrrit.
Ethan realized.
It was this.
It was this.
The stars he had carved into his skin a hundred thousand times in his private room floated before his eyes.
In an instant, a fog entered Ethan's vision, and Caion's movements became clear.
“Not the side, but the left shoulder.”
Ethan's body twisted at a grotesque angle to dodge the dagger.
“W-what?! You dodged it?!”
Caion's brow furrowed deeply upon seeing his family's secret attack thwarted.
“H-how?!”
“With that kind of motion, how could you use it.”
A satisfied smile appeared on Ethan's lips.
The task was clear.
“I got you.”
Hundreds or thousands of repetitions of the motion left in the private room.
The dagger scars left by the mysterious young prodigy.
*First star in the constellation on the wall.*
Each and every one of those stars was traversed by Ethan's dagger.
Whoosh!
Thwack!
Thump!
Ethan's daggers relentlessly pierced Caion's upper body vital points.
[Caion: Right side flank stab]
[-10]
[Caion: Central solar plexus stab]
[-30]
[Caion: Right armpit artery stab]
[-20]
One by one, constellations appeared etched on Caion's body.
And between those stars, the last one remained.
Soon, Ethan gripped his dagger in a hammer grip to thrust the final star on the constellation.
The hilt of the dagger.
At its end, the weight added for balance struck Caion's temple with perfect accuracy.
“Ugh!”
For a moment, Caion's firmly fixed right leg wobbled.
*When...*
Normally in dagger sparring, the center wouldn't break even when defending.
Not with heavy cold weapons like halberds or battle axes.
With a thin, light dagger, you couldn't steal an opponent's balance.
That was why such a situation in a knife fight was completely unexpected.
Ethan had made Caion completely defenseless.
“Artery's empty.”
Followed immediately by the next precise point.
Just once.
Ethan's slash struck Caion's carotid artery.
“Gah!”
Caion's body was flung to the ground in the speed Ethan slashed.
[Caion: Carotid artery stab]
[-40]
Pliiiing.
Caion's stamina bar on the training ground floated empty.
“Huff... huff...”
Ethan panted while checking his stamina bar.
“It's hard to take down with only one point...”
Caion staggered to his feet.
“How... how...”
He knelt on one knee and shook his hands.
“This... how is this possible...!”
His tightly clenched fist scratched his nails, and blood droplets fell onto the training ground.
“Damn...!”
The burning pain was one thing.
But greater humiliation and disgrace wrapped around Caion.
And then.
“Caion.”
Ethan's emotionless voice came out.
“That was a good fight.”
Caion slowly looked up at his face.
No resentment in the expression.
That emotionless face made him even more pathetic.
Ethan extended his hand.
“Later, can I teach you dagger art?”
Clang!
Caion threw the dagger away.
“You... where do you think you're humiliating me...!”
“Do I look like I'm mocking you right now?”
“Of course...!”
Caion looked into Ethan's eyes and gasped.
Those eyes weren't emotionless.
“I heard the knight's way is to answer with a sword.”
It was the eyes of someone who sincerely saw him as an equal.
“I want to hear a proper answer with your sword next time.”
Tap tap.
Ethan tapped near his own collarbone with his fingers.
*A northern greeting saying I want to become friends with you.*
Caion's eyes widened.
*This guy... he knew I was attacking with full intent...*
Killing emotions and treating things lightly.
Accepting defeat in a match and acknowledging those stronger than oneself.
That was how the north survived.
But even in the north, it was unimaginable to extend a hand after a life-or-death fight like this.
*Ethan Cass... you are truly someone I have no choice but to recognize.*
A hot-blooded, expressive young man.
Not the typical northern type, Caion.
But...
A tick.
The words from earlier had provoked Caion's arrogance.
He would give this young genius expectations for being even more northern than him.
From Caion's mouth came the first northern dialect for a short time.
“I'll make sure to answer you.”
Ethan helped him up.
“I'll be looking forward to it.”
Caion shook off the hand holding him and turned away.
“Don’t misunderstand.”
He turned his head back and growled.
“I acknowledge your strength, but that's all.”
“...”
“Wait at the Sapphire Dorm training ground. We'll finish the conversation then.”
Ethan thought.
*You're being evasive.*
You're already halfway into my jewel box, Caion.
Don't even think about joining the Imperial infiltration team later.
The surroundings fell silent.
“It ended...?”
“Did Ethan win?”
“Uh... it looked like it...”
Lena Croix's eyes widened greatly.
In her eyes was Ethan.
And overlaid on top of him was the figure of a young thief student.
“That movement of Ethan Cass just now.”
Lena's hand trembled.
“Valois Solitaire...?”
The legendary thief master of the original hero party.
The 0th seat of the Round Table, and the one who had once been the emperor of the empire.
Valois Solitaire.
The moves of that hero were faithfully reflected in this young top student.
Lena, who had watched every scrap of data about his legend since childhood, would not have missed the original master's style.
*Really... Ethan Cass, you are...!!*
A thrill of excitement ran down Lena's spine.
*What are you trying to make me expect from you!*
She slowly lifted the corner of her mouth.
“The result of the first spar in the dagger arts class this year is...”
She grabbed Ethan's arm and lifted him high.
“Ethan Cass's victory!”
A thunderous cheer erupted.
“The top student from the border defeated the northern ash-blade dagger!!”
“As expected of Ethan! Ethan Cass!”
“Hic... hic... I'm really glad I entered this class. What an historic victory!!”
Ethan whispered with a dying voice.
“Tha... thank you...”
Bang!
He collapsed right there.
*
When he opened his eyes, he saw a strange ceiling.
“I... I died and this time I went to another world?”
*What nonsense.*
He lifted his head. Lena Croix was sitting there.
“Professor... ugh!”
“Your condition isn't good. Lie down.”
Probably because he had overdone it in the spar with Caion.
It seemed he had fainted after the spar ended.
“Having pushed your body to its limits and fought seriously in the spar, I'm extremely happy and proud of you.”
“Is that so.”
“That is why I came to look for you myself.”
Crack.
“You've worked hard.”
The spatial pocket rose onto the table.
“Ah... thank you.”
“But first.”
Lena Croix flicked the pocket with her palm.
“That last strike from Student Ethan. It seemed to be the style of Valois Solitaire.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“How did you perfectly execute the Solitaire style, a technique that has been obsolete in the empire for a very long time?”
Ethan swallowed hard.
“Tell me, Ethan Cass.”
Her eyes sparkled more than ever.
“You... are a descendant of the emperor?”
Bang.
Lena Croix had no idea what euphemism was.
Goddess's Blessing