Chapter 63

Chapter 63. The Yellow-Haired Beast (3)

Anis gritted his teeth just thinking about his first confrontation with Keter. It was only natural, as Keter had come to challenge him at his worst, exploiting the weakness of an archer in close combat.

Anis didn’t believe that Keter had won because he was stronger. He believed it was a matter of his condition.

So, after recovering his condition, he went back. His skills had also improved, which was a bonus.

But then, Keter knocked him down with an arrow thrown by hand. It wasn’t even that he failed to block it. He blocked it, but still fell.

The arrow he thought had missed hit a rock, and that rock hit his knee, causing him to fall.

‘I let my guard down.’

The first defeat was due to his condition—

The second defeat was due to carelessness.

And this was the third confrontation. This time, his condition was good, and he wouldn’t let his guard down. There wouldn’t be a fourth confrontation.

But Keter, visibly annoyed, said,

“I’m a bit busy, let’s do this later.”

“Don’t mess with me! You, who’s always lazing around and causing trouble, what could you possibly be busy with?”

“Causing trouble? That’s hurtful. Is capturing the knights of the Baydant family considered trouble?”

“No, that was a good thing, but that was outside. Here, you’re just causing trouble! And you were the one who told me to come find you first. Are you going to change your tune now?”

“Sigh. If you’re going to put it that way, I guess I have no choice. Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Follow me. Let’s settle this at the training ground.”

Anis immediately took the lead, frequently glancing back to make sure Keter was following.

Keter followed and struck up a conversation.

“Are you preparing for the Southern Sword Tournament?”

“I don’t know how you found out about that, but don’t worry about it. And! You, I heard you’re eighteen. Do I look younger than you to you?”

“You want me to call you ‘big brother,’ is that it?”

“I don’t want you to call me ‘big brother.’ I don’t consider you my younger brother. So, address me properly. Otherwise, I won’t respect you either.”

“I do have a few people I call ‘big brother,’ but you, Anis, won’t be one of them.”

“When you lose in a duel, you’ll naturally start using honorifics.”

As the two bickered and walked,

“Anis! Where are you going? Who’s that with you?”

Mail called out to Anis from behind. Anis naturally turned around at Mail’s voice.

At that moment, Keter, as if he had been waiting, struck Anis’s forehead with his fist as he turned.

Thud!

Anis’s legs lifted off the ground, and he spun halfway in the air. Landing on the back of his head, Anis passed out immediately.

“…….”

“…….”

The passing servants, the soldiers guarding the hallway.

Even Mail, who had called out to Anis.

Everyone looked at Keter.

Keter looked down at Anis and said,

“Don’t show weakness in front of me.”

As Keter was about to leave Anis lying unconscious, Mail grabbed him.

“Wait, are you Keter? I’m Mail. Mail El Sephira. The second son of this family, your second brother.”

“Since you introduced yourself, I’ll listen.”

“You’re as arrogant as they say.”

“Not as handsome as they say, though?”

Mail first checked on Anis.

There was a large bump on the back of his head. It wasn’t intentional, but he felt a bit sorry since it happened because of him.

“He’s just unconscious. Take him to the treatment room.”

The soldiers carried Anis away and disappeared.

Mail stared intently at Keter’s face. It wasn’t just out of curiosity.

He had secretly learned sorcery. It started when he accidentally found a sorcery book in the hidden shelves of Sephira’s library.

He hadn’t intended to learn sorcery from the beginning. But Mail felt frustrated that he couldn’t be of much help in situations where Sephira was always being taken advantage of.

He wasn’t as charismatic as the eldest, Hisop, nor as talented in archery as the third, Anis.

The fourth, Taragon, was still too young, so as the older brother, he had to fill in the gaps.

But no matter how hard he tried, Mail didn’t feel like he was much help to the family. So, after much deliberation, he decided to learn sorcery.

Primitive magic, as sorcery was called, consumed mental energy instead of mana stored in the body. Therefore, even without mana, one could use sorcery if they had the understanding and mental strength.

The effects of sorcery weren’t always intuitive, but some had effects that were impossible with regular magic.

The first sorcery Mail learned was the ‘Black and White Eye.’

A sorcery that allowed him to see the ratio of good and evil in a person through their eyes.

Using this, evil deeds appeared as black, and good deeds as white. Most people had an average of 60% black and 40% white.

Mail used this Black and White Eye to observe Sephira’s vassals and pick out those to watch closely. He didn’t trust or kept his guard up against those with a high proportion of evil deeds.

Perfectly good humans didn’t exist. Even his father, Basil, and himself.

On the other hand, notorious criminals or famous fraudsters had over 90% black.

So then…

‘What about Keter?’

Mail used the Black and White Eye to peer into Keter’s inner self.

“Ugh!?”

Mail looked at Keter and felt a burning pain in his eyes, forcing him to close them.

This was the first time something like this had happened.

Sorcery was hardly affected by the opponent’s realm. That was the greatest advantage of sorcery.

If the opponent was overwhelmingly strong, it might require more concentration and sometimes be detected, but feeling pain directly like this was a first.

But the real problem wasn’t the pain.

What Mail saw in Keter’s good and evil… was nothing.

‘Why can’t I see anything?’

No black, no white. Keter was a being who had committed neither evil nor good deeds. Like a newborn baby.

Was that even possible? But Mail had never seen a being without good or evil.

Meanwhile, Keter was dumbfounded.

The moment Mail stared at him silently, as if trying to pierce his eyes. An unpleasant sensation swept through his body. It was a familiar feeling.

‘This is the feeling of being targeted by sorcery.’

Having fought sorcerers in Ruquer, Keter was sure that Mail had used sorcery, though he didn’t know where he had learned it.

It wasn’t an attack or a curse, just a detection-type sorcery, but still, using sorcery right in front of someone you just met was beyond rude.

So, he destroyed the ‘thread of sorcery’ connecting his body and Mail’s eyes.

Mail clutching his eyes and crying out in pain was a result of Keter destroying the Black and White Eye.

“You used sorcery on me, didn’t you?”

Mail’s heart sank.

Most people didn’t even know sorcery existed. Even among mages, half didn’t know.

But Keter knew about sorcery and even saw through it. The pain in his eyes might have been a backlash from being countered.

“…I’m sorry. But I didn’t mean to harm you. I just wanted to see if you were a good or evil being.”

“Why should I understand your intentions? I’m uncomfortable.”

Mail pondered.

Keter had never hesitated to use violence since coming to Sephira. He didn’t think it would be any different even if the opponent was himself. Above all, it was undoubtedly his own fault for being rude first.

“Do as you please. It was my fault for being rude first, so I won’t ask for forgiveness.”

Even if everyone was watching, there was nothing he could do. If you don’t get caught, it’s not a crime, but if you do, you pay the price. That was Mail’s principle.

Thud.

Keter grabbed Mail’s right hand. The hand covering his eyes.

“Move it.”

“…….”

Mail obediently moved his hand. Bright red blood flowed down his cheek from his eye.

Keter placed his palm on Mail’s eye. Then, he channeled mana into it.

‘Just a burst blood vessel.’

Using mana to check the injury, he shaped the mana into threads to suture it. It was a medical technique he had used to treat the knights of Baydant, the Franken-style mana suturing.

“Done. Open your eyes.”

Mail couldn’t believe it. Not only had the bleeding stopped, but his vision was also immediately restored.

“What did you do?”

“Just reconnected the broken blood vessels. You admitted your fault honestly, so I’ll let it slide this time. Of course, next time won’t be so easy.”

With that, Keter walked away.

Mail couldn’t stop Keter.

He didn’t have the mental space to do so.

What Keter had done so casually was something only a top-tier physician could do. No, even a top-tier physician wouldn’t be able to perform such an on-the-spot treatment.

“Keter, just what… are you even human?”

Mail felt foolish for trying to ignore Keter’s existence until now.

Even though they had only met briefly, he could tell. Keter was someone who absolutely shouldn’t be left alone.

“Now I understand why Taragon and Anis changed so much after meeting Keter.”

Mail made a different choice than the two.

He realized and acknowledged that he shouldn’t go looking for Keter. He had to make Keter come to him for any chance of a normal conversation.

“But I can’t just be dragged around either.”

Mail immediately headed to the lord’s office. He planned to boldly declare his intention to learn sorcery.

It had been half a year since he found the sorcery book in the library, but he had only secretly learned two sorceries. Learning anything other than archery in Sephira was considered heresy.

He had been worried that if the lord found out, he would immediately be told to stop learning sorcery or that the sorcery book would be burned.

But after seeing Keter, his mind changed. Even his half-brother Keter was helping the family, so how could he, the second son, remain so passive?

Even if the lord opposed it, he would persuade him. And he would learn sorcery. Learning in secret wouldn’t help Sephira. He would learn properly and use it properly.

‘As an older brother, I have my pride too. Keter, I will make you address me with respect.’

Unintentionally, Keter had changed Mail’s future. All in just five short minutes.

* * *

Luke had realized early on that he was different from others. His appearance was different from the people of the Lilian Kingdom.

He had asked his father, Jacques, countless questions. Where is my mother? Why am I different from others?

Each time, Jacques would only say that Luke was special, that’s why he was different.

At nineteen, after his coming-of-age ceremony, Luke decided to stop caring about his origins.

His hometown was Sephira, his father was Jacques. That was enough.

But now, he was curious again.

“What am I?”

He had awakened the ability to sense misfortune and reflect his opponent’s attacks. No matter how he thought about it, his birth was anything but ordinary.

So why had his parents abandoned him? Was there some reason? Should I search for the secret of my birth, or not?

His misfortune-sensing ability even told him that.

Don’t search.

Just live as you are.

“Then I’ll search.”

As soon as he said that, his body reacted violently. Like the usual curse, it pressured him not to do it.

Luke suddenly remembered Keter’s words.

The first time is the hardest.

It was true. Once he went against the curse’s words, going against it a second time was very easy.

“I’ll live as I want.”

Luke, snapping out of his thoughts, got up from his seat. To live as he wanted, he would eventually have to leave Sephira. His father would surely be sad.

But he would do it anyway. That was his choice.

Knock knock knock!

Someone knocked on the door of the closed training room.

The curse told him not to open it.

“Son, it’s me.”

It was Jacques’s voice, but Luke knew it wasn’t Jacques. When he opened the door, as expected, Keter was standing there.

“Ah, boring. I thought you’d say ‘Father-’ and hug me.”

“What’s going on? You didn’t come because you were worried about me, did you?”

“People with abilities are always useful, huh? Look at your stiff neck.”

“I know it’s thanks to you. I’ll grant your request. What is it?”

“That’s for later. For now, come with me somewhere.”

“Where to?”

“My hometown, Ruquer.”

Keter briefly explained his situation.

He was going to participate in the Southern Sword Tournament, but he couldn’t participate as a member of the family. So, he decided to participate as an independent.

However, there were three conditions. The first condition was met, and he was going to get the remaining two. You come with me.

“Do I really need to go with you?”

“Partner… backtalk?!”

“No, that’s not it. You can handle everything on your own. You don’t need anything.”

“Ah, I’m so great that I can do everything on my own, huh?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Fine, whatever. You used to call me a friend, but now you’re saying to live on your own, huh?”

“Friend…? Us?”

“Now you’re pretending not to know… They say you shouldn’t take in a yellow-haired beast. That saying wasn’t wrong.”

“No, that’s not it. Ah, damn it, fine. Let’s go. I was just worried I’d be in the way.”

“Yay- I got a porter.”

“You can’t hide your true feelings, can you?”

Keter, regardless, started walking ahead.

If it were anyone else, they would have asked where they were going, but Luke realized that Keter intended to leave immediately.

“Wait. You might not care, but I need to report. Otherwise, it’s desertion.”

“Do it and come to my room.”

“Huh? Uh, okay.”

Luke, who expected Keter to say ‘Wait at the entrance, bring a carriage,’ was surprised.

Luke immediately headed to the Holy Knight Order headquarters, but he was worried about how to report to the vice-commander.

‘I’m just going out for a bit, I don’t know when I’ll be back.’

Would the vice-commander really allow him to leave like this?

‘Ah, whatever, I’ll just face it head-on.’

Luke’s worries were for naught, as the Holy Knight Order’s vice-commander easily granted him a long-term leave.

Keter had already told Basil that he was taking Luke with him, and Basil had informed the Holy Knight Commander to accommodate them, which helped.

The finance office even gave him a special allowance of 50 gold.

‘50 gold is a huge amount, but it looks small because of Keter.’

With the leave permit and ample funds, Luke happily arrived at Keter’s quarters.

Just as he was about to open the door and enter, he sensed an unusual flow of energy inside. He could tell that a third party, not Keter or his father, had arrived.

“Keter. This isn’t a request, it’s an order. If you don’t follow me, you’ll regret it.”

Someone was pressuring Keter.

Luke immediately recognized the owner of that voice.

The captain of the 4th Division of the Lunar Knight Order, Gant.

Leganon’s subordinate had come for Keter.