Chapter 2: I Must Kill One summer day, Zebestian, the head of House Ebenholtz, paused while signing a document to ask a question.
"Where is Max?"
The knight standing before him, Edmond, replied immediately.
"He should be with the academy cadets."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, sir."
"So he's playing around."
Zebestian stood up and pulled back the curtains. Sunlight poured into the room, illuminating his heavy jaw, which tightened in disapproval. It was clear he was dissatisfied with every single one of his son's actions.
Edmond spoke up.
"Still, he did join the most prestigious knight order. There was no outside influence involved in the process."
"I suppose he'll be useful for propaganda."
Maximilian von Ebenholtz. Blonde hair, golden eyes, fair skin, delicate features, long limbs, and perfect proportions—he was the textbook definition of a 'Pure Imperial' as defined by ethnology.
In appearance alone, he was the very symbol of an Imperial, but to Zebestian, he was nothing more than that.
"His insides aren't like an Imperial's at all. He's far too weak."
"······."
Edmond silently bowed his head. Had Max been born into an ordinary noble family, he would have been considered an above-average scion, but Zebestian and House Ebenholtz were far from ordinary.
The title 'Bulwark of the Empire' was not given to just anyone.
"That is enough. You may leave."
Zebestian scribbled his signature on the document.
"Yes, Commander."
Edmond turned and left, clutching the approved documents to his chest. He climbed into the vehicle waiting outside the residence.
"Let's go."
"Yes, Major."
The adjutant in the driver's seat adjusted the rearview mirror.
"Oh, by the way, I heard the Young Lord passed the entrance exam for the Sentinel Knights?"
Edmond held up the document he had just received.
"This is the approval for that. In other words, the consent form."
"Aha. But... do you think he'll do well? I mean, it's the Sentinels. They won't go easy on him just because he's an Ebenholtz."
The adjutant stole a glance at Edmond. Edmond was a talent more suited for the Sentinels than anyone else, yet he could never join them. It was because he was a half-blood.
He had been rejected due to the Sentinels' Aranian Racial Purity and had chosen the Imperial Military instead.
"His father is the Mountain King. There's no need to worry."
Zebestian was not just a tiger; he was the lord of the mountains. Indeed, the Ebenholtz estate was surrounded by rugged mountain ranges, a setting that suited his fearsome reputation perfectly.
"Let's stop somewhere on the way."
"Yes, sir. Where to?"
"······The library."
As he spoke, Edmond quietly picked up a book.
Blocked by the wall of bloodline, Edmond had naturally come to harbor a different dream.
The grand ambition known as revolution.
* * *
On the sun-drenched training ground, I finished my morning run. My entire body was drenched in sweat. Cadets quickly approached and handed me dry towels.
"······Oh, thanks."
"It's an honor, sir!"
Their faces brightened at a simple word of thanks.
Three men and one woman. They were all students from 'Empire Point,' the pinnacle of the military academies, here for their field placement. It meant they were the brightest talents gathered from across the Empire.
"When does your apprenticeship end?"
Their assignment was to follow me—a newly minted Sentinel Knight—around for a week and learn from my example, and I was obligated to tolerate them. This, too, was a duty of an adult knight.
"It lasts until this Friday, sir!"
"I see."
I wiped the sweat off roughly and handed the towel back to a buzz-cut male cadet. He accepted it with both hands as if receiving a holy relic.
At that moment.
── Crunch!
A sharp, stabbing pain flared near my left collarbone. Reflexively, I pressed my hand against my chest.
"Oh. Sir, are you alright?"
The buzz-cut cadet flinched and studied my expression.
"······Ah, it's nothing. Just a bit of indigestion. I'm going to use the restroom."
I feigned composure and hurried away.
Ebenholtz Castle is vast. Ridiculously vast. It takes five minutes just to reach the nearest restroom from the training grounds.
Click.
I entered the restroom, locked the door, and threw off my shirt. Standing before the mirror, my sweat-slicked upper body was revealed.
On the left side of my chest, near my heart, a black object was squirming.
It wasn't a simple bruise or a mole. Like a living shadow, it pulsed minutely, writhing beneath my skin.
"Whew······."
It looked like a cluster of cancer cells, or perhaps a parasite. I didn't know exactly what it was, but I knew exactly where it came from.
A part of the 'Dimension Eater'—the thing that had tried to devour me in the ruined world just before I regressed.
A fragment of that extraterrestrial entity was now alive and moving inside me.
"······Stay still, will you?"
In a way, it was precious. It was the most undeniable proof that I had truly regressed.
I had returned to the past, to when I was twenty years old.
The Empire fell when I was thirty-three, so that was thirteen years. And from there, another twenty years had passed until the world ended. In total, I was thirty-three years in the past.
Thirty-three years.
A staggering amount of time.
I had been a worthless noble brat who hadn't matured even until the moment of my death, but no matter how much I racked my brain, the time I spent locked in that underground dungeon felt like only a year or two at most. There was a massive discrepancy with the twenty years Edmond had mentioned.
Suddenly, the voice of the hairless Edmond whispered in my mind.
'It seems you were born with some talent you weren't even aware of. That's the only way to explain this unrealistic situation.'
Taking a deep breath, I stepped out of the restroom.
Engie, the family butler, was waiting outside. A middle-aged man in his fifties with eyes as thin as threads, his familiar face broke into a gentle smile upon seeing me.
"Oh, Engie. What is it?"
"It is time for your lesson, Young Lord. Or should I say, Sir Knight? The Mana Theory professor is waiting."
I am currently twenty. I have even joined the Empire's finest knight order—the Sentinels. Yet, my private tutoring schedule was more rigorous than that of most cadets.
It was all forced upon me by the family. My father wanted me to bring glory to the Ebenholtz name not just with my appearance but with my skills, so he had assigned me tutors for every imaginable field.
Though it had all been useless back then.
"Is that so? Then tell those kids to follow along too."
I pointed to the trainees gathered on one side of the training ground.
"Will that be alright, sir?"
"Of course. I'm not that petty."
Thanks to that, those kids hit the jackpot today. They were about to receive a top-tier Mana Theory lesson—one that would normally cost $30,000 per session—for free.
"Yes, I understand. Please, head there first."
"Yeah."
I walked down the long corridor of the main house.
In this luxurious space that would be reduced to rubble thirteen years from now, I thought about the Empire.
'If only... if only the Empire had lasted longer, if only we hadn't brought it down, then perhaps humanity... might have survived a little longer.'
A despair-ridden Edmond had said those words, but the Empire had certainly been at its worst.
The Emperor and the sycophants surrounding him were all rotten to the core, and most of the prestigious families that claimed to support the Empire were nothing but trash.
Because I was weak and incompetent, I had been able to break free from their fanatical brainwashing relatively early. I had come to see their hideous flaws clearly.
Imperialism was an illusion, and the racial superiority they preached did not exist.
However, I never dared to oppose them. That, too, was because I was weak and incompetent.
The problem was that, just as a broken clock is right twice a day, their blind hatred and discrimination were actually correct regarding exactly 'one race.'
'The Izenheim... they were the disaster. They weren't human. Those damn bastards ruined the world.'
I looked down at my body.
It all felt like a midsummer hallucination. Like a nightmare I had been trapped in for too long while suffering from a fever.
"Ah······ my head really hurts."
I placed my hand near my left collarbone.
The only thing proving my existence right now was this strange black object writhing inside me.
* * *
"What is a Mana Circuit? It is a type of biological organ and tool that allows humans to sense the mana within their bodies and manipulate it quantitatively."
The Mana Theory professor, dressed in a crisp uniform, projected a diagram of the human body into the air. The complex network of blood vessels and organs vanished, replaced by simplified blue lines.
It was an organizational chart starting from the head and descending to the tips of the hands and feet.
"The Mana Circuit is a pathway that allows mana to move safely and efficiently within the body. By circulating mana through this circuit and concentrating it in specific areas, humans can exert superhuman strength or use magic to control natural phenomena."
Blue mana particles flowed smoothly along the circuits.
The single large circuit circulating throughout the entire body is called the 'Mana Circuit,' and the branches extending from it are called 'Auxiliary Circuits.'
"As the diameter of the circuit widens, the total amount of mana that can be moved at once and the speed of circulation increase. On the other hand, the more auxiliary circuits one has, the more sophisticated mana control becomes."
Ultimately, the Mana Circuit is what matters. Every element—its shape, length, and durability—is crucial.
Whether you are a knight or a mage, you have to be born with a good Mana Circuit.
"In the past, methods of concentrating mana at a hypothetical center point called a 'Mana Core' were researched, but due to severe side effects and low efficiency, they have mostly been abandoned. Now, I will begin explaining the theories in earnest······."
Formulas. A dense array of complex symbols and numbers unfolded. It was the self-reinforcement type of magic used by knights.
Self-reinforcement magic is the essence of memorization. You can only use it if you memorize it.
Being lazy, I hadn't mastered many of them.
The Mana Theory professor lectured passionately for forty minutes, and I, at the very least, managed not to doze off.
"······Then, after a short break, I will explain practical mana manipulation."
The first period ended.
I stood up from my chair and stretched. The four trainees approached me simultaneously and bowed.
"Thank you! Thanks to you, Sir Knight, we were able to attend such a precious lecture!"
"Thank you!"
"Thank you!"
── Cr-crunch!
Once again, my left collarbone twitched. This time, it wasn't just pain; it was a sensation of something churning inside. I pressed down on it, trying my best to look unbothered.
"Yeah. No need to thank me. Just work hard."
"Um, Sir Knight! May I use the restroom?"
The buzz-cut cadet asked with a nervous face.
"You don't have to ask permission for every little thing. Go ahead."
"Yes! Thank you!"
The four cadets scurried off toward the restroom. I stared blankly at the spots they had vacated.
Neatly arranged writing utensils. Diligently taken notes in their notebooks.
They were trivial things. Rather endearing, fitting for their age.
And yet, I suddenly felt nauseous.
An unpleasant sensation persisted, as if something were boiling hot inside my body.
"······."
The buzz-cut one, was his name Jacob?
I looked at his seat. I picked up the bag hanging from his chair and emptied its contents.
Thud, thud, thud.
Stationery, a sketchbook, a novel.
Among them, the novel caught my eye. I didn't know why. I simply picked it up and flipped through the pages. Faint mana markers were placed on specific words on a specific page.
[Soon, Re, un, ion, Pos, si, ble, Meet, Then]
[Com, mu, ni, cate, This, Way, Pass, To, Com, rades······]
It was disguised as a simple cipher, but it was a double trick. Beneath this mana, I could see an ominous 'trace' hidden even deeper.
A residue of cold, alien energy, completely different from ordinary mana.
I placed my hand over that section. A chilling voice flowed into my head. Simultaneously, the black fragment inside me writhd violently. The alien language was automatically translated.
━Hungry. Must eat fresh hearts to replenish mana. The younger and purer the child, the better. Their life force is required.━
━Since you will be selected as a Knight of the Empire, we will help you so that you can secure food at any time. Lexi will come to you soon. Follow her instructions.━
"······Ugh!"
I hurriedly pulled my hand away from the book. A splitting headache and unbearable nausea surged within me.
The Izenheim.
That race was hiding right here.
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