Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: Episode 005(3)
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『Killingum Mayer』
The Deputy Administrator had first heard that name around the time he had just begun to grip a sword.
In other words, shortly after becoming a knight's squire.
Even back then, Killingum Mayer was a legend.
He was the leader of the Red Lion Mage Corps under the Jordic Family, known to their enemies as the Red Death... a living legend of the Jordic Family.
People said that even now, despite not being Jordic blood, he held the position of Chief Inspector in the Elder Council because of the merits he had earned back then.
He was an elder who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the Elder Council Leader, another Jordic legend.
"What do you mean...?"
At Killingum's words, the Deputy Administrator cautiously opened his mouth. His expression tilted in confusion, as if wondering if he had missed something.
Ignoring him, Killingum's head snapped around.
"You must have noticed it yourself, right?"
His gaze landed squarely on where Veil was seated. At Killingum's question, Veil nodded readily in response.
"Yes."
His voice carried a hint of affirmation. After a brief pause to choose his words, he continued.
"At the very least, it was clear he was sizing me up, comparing himself to me."
Though he couldn't compare to Killingum, Veil himself was one of the superhumans who had transcended human limits, a powerhouse who had reached the realm of Sword Master.
So there was no way he could have missed Kuhn's gaze.
For a mere trainee who hadn't even shed his trainee badge yet to dare measure himself against someone in the realm of superhuman...
'He seemed to be trying not to make it obvious...'
Even so, it was an insolent look.
Contrary to his muttering, a faint smile played at the corners of Veil's mouth.
"Exactly. That's what I mean."
At Veil's reply, the old man in the dark red robe, Killingum, chuckled and pressed on.
"I came out here looking into signs that part of an order from the Elder Council had been tampered with, but who would have thought I'd witness such an entertaining sight? Heh heh, his eyes were completely different from when he was back at the main estate."
Veil nodded silently in agreement.
He too remembered the gaze of the youngest young master that he had glimpsed from afar when the Lion’s Den had first begun.
Confusion and fear, of course...
'It was like he'd given up on the world entirely.'
Compared to that, Kuhn's eyes now seemed sharp and vigorous again... so it wasn't surprising that Killingum would say as much.
The change was so drastic that one could believe the person himself had been replaced.
As these thoughts lingered, Veil suddenly straightened his posture.
'But it's still strange. Unless there was some special trigger, it's never easy for a person to change that much...'
Had being exiled from the main estate to the Lion’s Den been such a shocking catalyst for the youngest young master?
'Considering the changes in the youngest young master, it's not an entirely implausible story.'
Perhaps that shock had awakened something dormant within him.
After all, lions never birthed kittens.
Regardless, the youngest young master was undoubtedly a cub of the lion, inheriting the blood of the lion!
But...
'What if that's not it?'
What if he hadn't changed, but had simply been hiding his true nature from the start?
Either way, it would be astonishing, but the latter was far more intriguing.
Because if that were the case...
'It would mean the youngest young master had been concealing his true self all this time.'
For such a youngest young master to now reveal his nature, his claws, there must be good reason.
'Now that the other blood relatives who were watching have disappeared...'
An illusion born of ignorance—that the shell was the same, unaware that the soul inside had completely changed.
With that misunderstanding came a chain of fascinating speculations.
And above all—
"Finally, there's one more thing I'd like to request."
Just before their conversation wrapped up.
Recalling Kuhn making his request for the rights granted to the top trainee of the first trial, Veil's lips curved into an odd smile.
'No matter the type or form, provide me with poison I can use for training during the closed-door seclusion?'
Using poison to advance one's Aura Breathing Method was undoubtedly an effective training method.
But it was also utterly mad.
And yet... to think there was someone insane enough to continue that madness even during closed-door training.
'Interesting.'
Wondering if Killingum shared the same thought,
the old man suddenly turned his head after bursting into laughter. He gazed out the window into the gathering dusk and muttered.
"It seems the report will need a few more lines added."
As Killingum muttered this, above his head—
the moon hung high, casting its light through the window.
4.
"Follow me once you're ready."
The next day, the place Kuhn arrived at under the Senior Instructor's guidance was the entrance to a massive cava located beneath the main estate.
The entrance was secured tightly with iron chains and padlocks.
And a cava was an underground storage vault kept cool for long-term preservation of foodstuffs, whiskey, or wine, among other things.
Kuhn stared quietly at the cava's entrance before tilting his head.
'Is this really the Lion’s Archive?'
The cava's exterior was far smaller and more shabby than he had imagined.
'Of course, I'd have to open the door to see the interior space...'
Even so, it seemed too modest to house the tens of thousands of books said to be stored there.
His muttering was brief. As Kuhn examined the area around the door, his eyes twitched faintly.
'This is...?'
He could sense an ominous flow of mana tracing the edges of the door sealing the cava's entrance.
A delicate yet powerful current of mana.
So subtle and refined that any ordinary trainee other than Kuhn would never have noticed it.
Feeling the hairs on his body stand on end at that flow, Kuhn murmured in a chilling gaze.
'Magic.'
It was magic, plain and simple.
'Magic, huh...'
The Jordics, a martial family unmatched in wielding any weapon.
The Jordic Family had certainly made its name through martial arts rather than magic.
But that didn't mean they rejected magic or mages outright.
'The Jordics simply worship the strong, purely and simply.'
They were not a house that distinguished between magic and martial arts when measuring strength.
Besides... if they had truly shunned magic from the outset, they never would have achieved such vast prosperity.
'Then there wouldn't be a Mage Corps among the family’s representative knight orders.'
As such, it wasn't particularly strange for magical measures to protect such a space.
'Alarm spells or wards against intruders?'
That resolved his questions about the lax security.
Which left only one lingering doubt.
'The scale of the archive...'
Just then, the Senior Instructor spoke up, as if reading Kuhn's mind, while Kuhn subtly cocked his head.
"It may look like an ordinary cava from the outside, but this is where some of the books from the Lion’s Archive have been relocated. Before the Lion’s Den began, we selected some decent martial arts tomes and moved them here first."
It was an explanation that seemed tailored to Kuhn's exact suspicions.
Kuhn nodded faintly at his words.
That was why the Chief Administrator had referred to it last night as 'part of the Lion’s Archive.'
"You know the rules, right?"
"Of course."
Kuhn gave a curt reply to the Senior Instructor's question.
He vividly remembered the rules explained the night before.
'One day inside, and only one book allowed to be taken out.'
They had said an hourglass would be provided to track the passage of time once inside the archive.
"Then..."
Clank, clank, click—
No sooner had the Senior Instructor unlocked the padlock than the magical flow sealing the cava's entrance began to fade bit by bit.
Soon, the heavy door creaked open with a resounding groan—kugrrrk—
The Senior Instructor jerked his chin toward the interior.
"Good luck."
A perfunctory tone devoid of any real warmth. Leaving those words behind, Kuhn stepped forward.
Step—
.
.
Kugrrrk—
The cava's door closed with the same heavy thud as when it had opened.
Now inside, Kuhn slowly scanned his surroundings.
The cava's interior wasn't as cramped as he had thought. In fact, it was quite spacious.
Bookshelves lined up like stacked dominos, filled to the brim with martial arts tomes.
By rough estimate, there were at least three thousand volumes.
As he had noted yesterday, it would be impossible to examine them all in a single day.
So...
'Shall I start with a quick skim?'
After a short deep breath, Kuhn headed first to the leftmost bookshelf and lightly browsed the tomes.
From the left side of the shelves toward the right.
He planned to check them in order.
Pulling out a few tomes with a glance, Kuhn flipped through their pages while standing.
Flip, flip—
Not a thorough read, but a way to gauge the overall quality of the martial arts tomes in the archive.
'Mostly mid-grade to mid-high grade tomes, it seems?'
Of course, considering they came from the Lion’s Archive, that alone would be an extravagant reward for ordinary trainees.
But...
'Nothing particularly remarkable.'
From Kuhn's perspective, who had lived a previous life as a hunting dog, these were on par with what he already knew—no great difference.
'Though some of the unique northern concepts are surprising—'
That was it; even those didn't fully satisfy him.
'They must have excluded the martial arts granted for major contributions or the secret arts passed only to direct descendants?'
He pulled out a few more books to inspect, but after confirming they were much the same, Kuhn let out a light sigh.
'This is tricky.'
His intuition told him it wouldn't be easy to select that one desired tome.
And...
The anomaly occurred about twenty hours later.