Chapter 44

“My lord, what do you plan to give me?”

At that one sentence, the atmosphere in the area turned cold.

Never before had a Young Master demanded a reward in front of Simon Eurasia, the absolute ruler of the family.

‘Even the three Matriarchs would find it hard to do in a formal setting… Fourth Young Master, you've really done it now.’

Loen swallowed dryly.

She was not a warrior, but she could feel that the Mana the Head had used just a moment ago was imbued with a formidable aura.

Even though she wasn't directly exposed to the aura, she was suffocating.

‘To withstand this power means that the Fourth Young Master is also…’

She composed her trembling emotions and looked at Killian.

Even under the Head's aura, his presence was unwavering and firm.

The Head had tested him, and the Fourth Young Master had passed the test.

Demanding a reward was likely an action stemming from that meaning.

However, it seemed that not many had realized that fact.

“Fourth Young Master! What is this disrespectful behavior!!”

An old man with white hair among the elders shouted and stepped forward.

It was Mul Millitos, the head of the Milgeomhoe , which was in charge of the family's discipline.

He was a man who had dedicated himself to the family since the time of the previous Head, not by learning the sword and Mana Heart, but through scholarship, and he was more sensitive than anyone when it came to discipline.

“This is a place where only eternity is promised. Fourth Young Master, show respect to the master of the family!”

He shouted with such force that the brown robe he was wearing fluttered.

“……”

Only then did Killian turn his head in the direction from which the loud voice had come.

‘The head of the Milgeomhoe?’

There were over twenty elders of the family gathered here.

Escardo and Loen aside, the others had no connection with Killian.

Also, they would not have understood the meaning of the exchange that had just taken place between him and the Head.

‘An elder should have this much spirit.’

After briefly meeting the eyes of the old man glaring at him, Killian bowed his head politely.

Mul's pure white eyebrows twitched at the unexpected apology.

‘I thought it was a childish act, trusting in his merits in the subjugation… Fourth Young Master, what are you up to?’

It was when his mind began to grow complicated at the Young Master's incomprehensible behavior.

“Enough.”

Simon's voice, imbued with Mana, echoed in Eterno Hall.

His gaze turned to Mul Millitos.

“Head of the Milgeomhoe, I was testing that child, so there is no need to be angry.”

“…Understood, my lord.”

After Mul Millitos stepped back, Simon's gaze once again turned to Killian.

“Not long ago, you surprised me with your foolish actions, and now you surprise me in a different sense.”

Simon waved his hand once.

With just that, the aura that had been pressing down on Killian disappeared.

Escardo, who was next to him, let out a shallow breath.

“Master Swordsmith, bring the Aether.”

At Simon's words, several of the knights standing in line held their breath.

Soon, the Master Swordsmith stepped forward with a new sword.

“Fourth Young Master, receive the sword bestowed upon you by the Head.”

“……”

Killian received the sword being handed to him with both hands.

The scabbard was engraved with black and white dragons, symbolizing Eurasia.

“It is the sword of the Annihilation Squad.”

The Annihilation Squad.

They were knights of the shadows who did not belong to any of the family's knight orders and moved directly under the Head.

There was no place in the Eurasia estate that they could not go, and no one except the Head and Escardo could command them.

They were also given the independent authority to annihilate the family's outsiders on their own.

The only thing that proved their veiled affiliation was the sword Killian was holding, the Aether.

“Draw the sword.”

At the Head's command, Killian drew the sword from its battle-scarred scabbard.

Sreung.

With a clear sound, a well-honed blade was drawn.

‘This is…’

Killian's eyebrows twitched.

Mana was being drawn in through the hilt.

The sword was coveting its master's Mana as if it had a will of its own.

Although there were no outward signs, the rate of absorption was unusual.

“Thank you.”

He would have to handle it himself to know for sure, but he was confident that it would not be inferior to the Cheonghwageom in any way.

Killian performed a polite sword salute at the satisfactory reward.

Simon, who nodded with an indifferent expression, scanned his surroundings.

“This concludes the summons. Everyone, return to your original positions and faithfully perform your duties.”

“We will obey the Head's command!!”

“Endless glory to Eurasia!!”

Leaving behind the resounding answers of the elders, servants, and knights, Simon left Eterno Hall.

And behind him, the Matriarchs followed with complicated expressions.

***

The evening of the day of the Eterno Hall summons.

Simon visited the Commander of the Knights' office with a bottle of Baekhapmyeongju.

Glg-glg-glg-glg.

The bottle, having filled two glasses to the brim, settled on the table by itself.

It was the 8-star Mana, which had entered a stable state, that was controlling the Baekhapmyeongju without a single tremor.

“You have a complicated expression.”

“You didn't discuss a single word with me regarding the Fourth Young Master's reward.”

“Weren't you the one who told me to give him a chance?”

“……”

Escardo sighed at Simon's playful words.

He had expected the rewards for the three young masters, Demian, Paian, and Julian, to some extent.

But Killian was different.

“It is an excessive sword.”

A single sword that had returned without its master during the time when Eurasia was publicly focused on the subjugation.

The Aether given to Killian was the memento of the former Annihilation Squad leader.

A famed sword with an outstanding ability to absorb Mana, to the point that the Master Swordsmith himself had called it his greatest masterpiece, and even possessed the ability to store Mana.

Of course, it was not unusual for a sword that had lost its master to be given to a new one.

The problem was the timing.

“The surviving members of the Annihilation Squad are not yet in good health. If you officially bestow the Aether upon Killian in this situation…”

“Escardo, you worry too much.”

“……”

“Also, unlike your words, you treat Killian like a child.”

“That is…”

A smile appeared on Simon's lips as he emptied his glass.

“Did you see the color of that child's Mana?”

“It was blue.”

“Yes, it was blue.”

Simultaneously, Mana rose from Simon's body.

Blue.

The most basic color of Mana.

However, the method to make that color one's own was not known to the public.

Thump.

As Simon put down his glass, the color of the Mana rising from his body turned ashen.

“The Mana I used in Eterno Hall was that of a 6-star. But I definitely mixed in my aura.”

Simon had overcome the symptoms of Heart Break and reached the mid-8th star.

Even if he had controlled his power, a level of at least a 6-star master or higher was needed to block his aura.

And Killian had defended against it with only blue Mana, without a single change in his facial color.

“It must be one of the two.”

Glg-glg-glg-glg.

The Baekhapmyeongju, floating in mid-air, refilled the empty glass.

“Either that child, who had a Great Awakening, has made blue his Mana color, or he is at a level where he can block my aura without imbuing his Mana with color.”

“That is…”

Escardo swallowed his words.

The former case was rare in the history of the continent, and the latter was impossible without breaking through the wall.

‘Don't tell me Killian's Mana color is really blue.’

Simon's Mana color was ashen, Escardo's was red, and the Mana color Demian had awakened was white.

The more solid a person's mental image, the more vivid their color becomes, and the concentration and color itself can change with enlightenment.

‘Killian has built up his skills by gaining enlightenment in succession, so it's plausible that he has awakened his Mana color.’

Among the knights who had made a name for themselves in Eurasia, the only one whose unique Mana was blue was Edan Eurasia, who was called the King of National Salvation.

“Isn't it interesting?”

If the Fourth Young Master was not able to use Superhuman-level Mana without revealing his true skills, then it must be assumed that he possessed the same Mana color as the ancestor who had reached the 9th star.

“Either way, we must assume that he has far surpassed our expectations.”

“……”

Escardo could not say anything to Simon's assessment.

After the subjugation, he had thought he had grasped everything about Killian.

‘I've repeated the same mistake, unlike myself.’

He couldn't even let out a hollow laugh at Killian's unpredictable growth.

‘Both the Head Apothecary and I have looked down on that child too much.’

Until a few days ago, he was a child who couldn't even use Mana due to his reflux symptoms.

But if he had reached the level of a Superhuman in just a few days, there were only two possible reasons.

The enlightenment from the subjugation and the Head Apothecary's recovery potion.

‘It's clear that Killian accepted the recovery potion better than the Head Apothecary thought.’

He recalled Killian's physique, which had grown significantly in just a few days.

It was not a guess, but a conviction.

Killian had digested the Head Apothecary's recovery potion no less than he had.

‘He withstood the Head's aura and yet did not show me his level. Quite impressive.’

“Whether the level that child has reached is an incomplete 7th star or a complete 7th star, unfortunately, there will be no time to celebrate his achievement.”

Simon mentioned the Superhuman of the Empire that the Annihilation Squad had recently fought.

A 7-star mage who had been grasping Eurasia's movements for the past few years and reporting to the Empire.

In the mission dispatched to hunt him, numerous members of the Annihilation Squad, including the leader, had lost their lives.

“The surviving members of the Annihilation Squad are recovering from their injuries and managing their anger. If Killian appears with Bastian's sword…”

Perhaps the blades honed to hunt Superhumans will be turned towards Killian.

Escardo deliberately did not finish his sentence.

“You are the only one who worries about that child, now as in the past.”

“……”

They were the same words he had heard from Simon after he had finished his seclusion in the past.

“Now as in the past, my lord, you are strict with your sons.”

“All I need is you.”

“The Matriarchs would misunderstand if they heard that.”

Simon smiled and emptied his glass.

Even as he made idle jokes, the person who came to his mind was the woman who had freely handled blue Mana.

‘Does that child also inherit her blood?’

As if he wouldn't get drunk no matter how many glasses he emptied, he continuously refilled his glass.

“Aren't you curious? How far a beast that doesn't hide its fangs can go.”

“But the Carpe that the members of the Annihilation Squad use is…”

“How he will take control of the organization is a problem for that child to solve on his own.”

Escardo, recalling the Annihilation Squad's initiation ceremony, sighed again.

“My lord, no, brother, you are truly mischievous, even to your own knights.”

“The blade we should be worried about is not that of the Annihilation Squad.”

“……”

“The Empire has started to move again. For now, the Magic Tower of Cornelia is protecting us, but we don't know when that blade will find its way into the frontier.”

The war for the throne among the princes to seize the emperor's seat.

And in the process, the rebellion of the princes.

For now, the Empire did not have the capacity to worry about a family on the frontier, but it was not a situation where they could be completely at ease.

“Actually, I have something to tell you regarding that. It is about Demian and the eastern branch of Henessy…”

It was when Escardo was about to bring up the conversation he had had with Hera Eurasia before Simon came out of the Pyeongwandong.

“Oh dear, the alcohol has dwindled a lot before we even got to the heavy talk. I'm so sorry, what should I do?”

Simon shook the bottle of Baekhapmyeongju.

The sloshing sound was light.

“……!!”

Simon hurriedly filled the glass of his sworn brother, who had emptied his own.

‘Escardo, you man. You are as constant as ever.’

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