Chapter 81
To get straight to the point…
The knights Kabil brought were no match for the Veratis Guild.
‘So you don’t just become a Ranker for nothing….’
I mean, they were adventurers who fought dangerous monsters for a living. Maybe this was only natural.
“Khahaha! What a bunch of pathetic weaklings!”
Lucas didn’t even bother drawing a weapon—he simply grabbed the knights with his bare hands, hoisted them up, and hurled them aside.
“Hm. They’re much weaker than I expected.”
Dante moved with effortless grace, wielding sword and magic in seamless tandem as he subdued his opponents with absurd ease.
“…….”
Mikhail looked faintly annoyed, barely moving his left hand as he dealt with his share.
“Argh!”
“Ack!”
An iron net—summoned from somewhere through teleportation magic—dropped over the knights.
Mikhail’s expression soured faintly as he looked at the six knights who had been caught all at once.
“They couldn’t even dodge that…?”
And Allen…
“Mikhail, I’m sorry….”
“There’s nothing to apologize for.”
He wasn’t part of the combat force, so he stayed behind Mikhail, protected.
As for Daphne—there was no need to explain.
Fwish!
Thwack!
“Ghk!”
An arrow pierced straight through a knight’s forearm. His sword clattered to the ground as he staggered back.
Daphne never missed.
Every shot, dead on.
She deliberately avoided vital points, disarming her opponents with uncanny precision. It was almost supernatural.
‘How is that even possible…?’
But it was too soon to be impressed.
There was one person in particular moving like a fish in water, practically soaring across the battlefield—
“Ah, so close…. I could’ve sliced it off….”
“I-Is this woman insane?!”
Camilla.
At this point, I was starting to wonder if she wasn’t a tank at all, but a berserker.
“Never seen a crazy woman before…?”
She smiled sweetly. Her eyes were brimming with madness.
Terrifying titmouse. Completely unhinged titmouse.
Note to self: never, ever mess with Camilla.
‘Thank God she didn’t actually chop off their wrists….’
Letting out a quiet sigh, I turned toward where Tierra and Nikke were.
Crack—!
“Ugh!”
Tierra wielded a steel-spiked whip like a serpent, lashing it through the air and sending every knight who charged at her and Nikke flying.
‘So Tierra’s weapon is a whip.’
It didn’t quite suit her gentle image—but in a strange way, it looked rather cool.
‘At least Nikke’s safe with Tierra protecting her.’
The fight unfolded on a razor’s edge, narrowly avoiding a bloodbath. Not that there wasn’t any blood at all—but nothing beyond shallow cuts and scrapes.
‘At this rate, the Veratis Guild won’t have anything the Tierney family can use against them.’
They attacked first. We defended. And it wasn’t excessive force.
Besides, the Veratis Guild belonged to the Grastea Empire.
If the Tierney family provoked them, they’d be clashing with the Empire itself.
‘Duke Tierney may be greedy, but he’s no fool… He won’t pick a fight he’s guaranteed to lose.’
Well… unless the old man’s gone senile.
In any case, the Veratis Guild was a vital asset to the Grastea Empire.
The current Emperor was said to be pragmatic and rational. He’d protect valuable talent.
“Damn it! What are you idiots doing? Fight properly!”
Kabil, who wasn’t even fighting, barked orders at the top of his lungs.
The sword in his right hand looked more like decoration. He stood all the way in the back, safely shielded by his knights. Pathetic.
‘Do the knights who have to serve that thing as their master ever question their lives?’
Sure enough, their expressions weren’t good.
Not that I was surprised.
Truth be told, Kabil wasn’t exactly respected by his subordinates.
He relied entirely on his powerful father and ruled through tyranny. People simply kept their heads down to avoid becoming targets.
‘Who would genuinely respect a spoiled, incompetent degenerate who’s drowning in excess and vice?’
I clicked my tongue.
Fwish!
An arrow suddenly shot toward me.
Lycian caught it midair without hesitation.
Judging by the angle, it had been aimed at my shoulder.
“That bastard….”
His voice dropped, lethal.
The one who had fired it was none other than Kabil.
He stood hiding behind a mage, already nocking another arrow.
That was when I remembered.
‘Right. If nothing else, he can handle a bow.’
Still, what Kabil truly wanted was to excel with a sword. His lack of talent in swordsmanship was a deep-seated complex.
He avoided using a bow because he hated the implication—that he resorted to it only because he lacked skill with a blade.
And yet, here he was, bow in hand.
…He must be furious.
‘He can’t stand losing. What a joke.’
Just as Kabil began drawing the bowstring again—
Lycian, still holding the arrow barehanded, swung his arm.
The motion was clean and powerful. Like throwing a baseball.
The arrow flew straight toward Kabil’s forehead—
Fwoosh!
A burst of blue light wrapped around Kabil in an instant, melting the arrow before it could hit.
‘Of course.’
There was no way Kabil would act so brazenly without something to rely on.
The mage’s protective spells must have layered around him—tenfold at least.
That coward wanted to harm others, but feared being harmed himself. A vile creature.
“Th-That! He tried to kill me! Me—the heir to Duke Tierney!”
If not for the protection magic, Lycian’s arrow would have pierced straight through his skull.
Lycian had truly meant to kill him.
“Mage! Capture that platinum-blond bastard at any cost! I don’t care if you cut off his arms and legs! As long as he’s breathing! I’ll drag him to Lapienne myself and execute him!”
Kabil raged, practically frothing at the mouth.
I arched a brow and glanced sideways at Lycian.
He stood there, cold-faced as ever. Not a flicker of emotion.
‘This is bad.’
I wouldn’t mind if Kabil died.
But I didn’t want Lycian’s hands stained because of me.
I didn’t want him put in a difficult position.
Of course, Lycian wasn’t human… and likely of very high status.
‘What do I do? Even if I try to talk him down now, it won’t work.’
If only I could fight directly myself—
That was when—
“…!”
A circular magic array suddenly flared to life beneath Lycian and me.
Glowing blue lines—letters, formulas, geometric patterns—rapidly etched themselves into the ground.
The mage Kabil brought was casting something on us.
“Lycian…!”
At my urgent call, Lycian let out a scoff, as if the situation were almost laughable.
He lifted one leg.
And stomped down—hard—on the nearly completed formation.
‘Huh…?’
Crack—
Something shattered.
No—an actual spell had just been crushed to pieces.
With that simple motion alone, Lycian had completely destroyed the magic.
“That’s impossible….”
The mage’s stunned whisper echoed my own thoughts.
I couldn’t see his face beneath the mask, but I could imagine the shock.
“How…? He didn’t even move his left hand….”
‘Come to think of it….’
When casting magic, moving the left hand was almost always required. Nearly every case.
It was only “nearly” because there existed certain beings who could use magic as effortlessly as breathing—without any gesture at all.
A thousand years ago, the great archmage who married a dragon had been one such being.
And so were the descendants born from that union.
“…….”
I stopped thinking for a moment and simply stared at Lycian.
His pale yet radiant golden hair. Eyes that seemed to hold the sun itself.
Surely, somewhere in this world, there might be others with similar coloring.
But with that appearance—and abilities beyond human?
That was exceedingly rare.
And then there was the title.
“Your Highness.”
“…….”
‘I’d already suspected as much….’
I think I may have tamed something truly dangerous.
“Let’s start by removing that insolent mask.”
As Lycian raised his left hand, a full-moon-like golden light swirled at his fingertips.
“Unique mana…?”
The mage muttered in confusion.
In the next instant—
A beam of golden light shot forward in a straight line.
It struck only the mage’s white mask.
The mask shattered.
White fragments crumbled to the ground, revealing the face beneath.
My eyes flew wide.
‘That person is….’
The right side of his face—burn scars stretching from his forehead down below his eye.
I had never met him in person.
But I knew the rumors.
“…Malreia Senior?”
Ten years ago, he was the one who burned Raul’s parents alive.