10

Two Knights were beaten in the blink of an eye. One was stabbed in the neck and killed instantly. And the other was seriously injured, making it hard to fight anymore. They were members of the Red Lion Order, who had long been trained in a devil-like manner beyond human limits by Andrew. It was hard to believe the current situation in which they were beaten so one-sidedly.

“Be careful. He is incredibly fast.”

The alert knights lifted their swords to protect their bodies. William swung his sword to shake off the blood that had been clinging to its blade.

“Actually, I feel sorry for Marquis Adelians family. My family never believed the gold mine was rightfully ours.”

“Then why?”

William spoke to Andrew mockingly.

“Don't be so naive.”

William continued, enjoying the puzzled expression on Andrew’s face.

“For a long time, we wanted to take the gold mine by force, but we didn’t have enough strength for that. But if suddenly you acquire an incredible pillar to rely on, isn’t it natural to covet that which you can easily take by force?”

“A backer?”

William nodded, smiling wickedly.

“You are currently looking at that incredible pillar of strength are you not?”

As soon as William finished his words, his long sword was covered by a blood-like dark red ardor vibrating forebodingly. Then, a bloody beam stretched out of the blade’s tip, which made the body of the longsword twice as long. The Knights’ eyes were filled with astonishment.

“What the……”

There was a rumor among the Knights. 

‘Even though it looks beautiful, the Aura Beam is a fatal power that destroys everything. And the swordsman in control of Aura Beam becomes an invincible being, capable of even nullifying even the legendary seven-circle Wizard’s magic.’

A Knight screamed.

“It’s an Aura Beam.”

“I can’t believe this.”

The Knights realized what exactly this ‘reliable Pillar’ was. They were terrified, and their will to fight evaporated in an instant. But William didn’t give them another choice.

“Since you have already sided with the Adelian family, even resigning from the Imperial Order, you can’t blame me for what happens now.”

A nightmare followed. Knights tempered by severe training collapsed one by one. No one was able to defend against a single stab or a swing of William’s sword even once. The Aura Beam was the cursed harbinger of death. Anything that came across the red Aura Beam was cut. A sword, a shield, plate armor and trained bodies…... None of them stood a chance.

The Knights were wiped out in an instant. William killed even the injured Knight, who was stabbed in his shoulder at the start of the fight, if it could even be called a fight. There was a tragicly comedic element in his figure screaming in horror at the last moment. The slaughter ended with him. None of the twelve Knights, who came to help the Adelian family, survived.

“It can’t be. I can’t accept this.”

Angry at the death of his men, Andrew lunged in with his longsword. But the bloody Aura Beam was indomitable. Neither the swordsmanship of his family, which helped him become the Knight Commander of the Red Lion Order, nor the muscles of his body tempered like steel armor by extreme training, was meaningful in front of the Aura Beam.

His sword broke the moment it hit William’s blade. At the same time, his arm was cut off near his elbow. Looking at Andrew, who was standing absent-mindedly in front of his men’s bodies and his detached arm on the ground, William sheathed his longsword.

“I’ll keep you alive. I want you to be able to watch your family’s downfall firsthand.”

William turned his body, a sadistic grin plain to see on his face. In that situation, Andrew couldn’t move at all. His eyes were red and bloodshot, and blood was flowing from where his arm had been cut off, but he didn’t notice anything as he stared absent-mindedly.

******************

The memory of that day was always agonizing for the old man, Andrew Adelian. He shook his head and blew away his thoughts, but he still felt uncomfortable. Suddenly he got thirsty. The water bucket inside the house was empty. The water tub outside must also be empty, as he remembered he had poured all the water left in the tub into the bucket yesterday.

“I need to go to the stream to fetch some water.”

It was still dark outside, but Andrew went out frowning. Since he didn’t participate in meetings or events of the village, he couldn’t use the well in the central area. So he had to go to the stream located a couple of kilometers away from the village once every three days to fetch water. Andrew’s eyes widened when he came out. Id was sleeping on the ground, wet from the morning dew, and the large tub outside was full of water. He must have made at least three round trips to the stream all night. Frowning once again, Andrew drank water from the tub. Andrew’s eyes trembled slightly as he looked at Id’s tiny body, exhausted and asleep.

It was Id’s ninth birthday, which nobody celebrated as Julia and George had passed away. But Id’s wish came true. The old man uncharacteristically yielded to Id's stubbornness and allowed him to stay with him.

“You little rascal, you won, but this is a contract. So don’t be lazy in doing the housework. Otherwise, I’ll kick you out in a heartbeat.”

Id nodded with a bright face.

“Thank you, sir. I won’t be lazy.”

So, Id stayed in Derevnya, living with the Old Man in the northern area. The chief didn’t say anything about it. He just thought it was unexpected that the old man, who didn’t enjoy the company of other people, accepted Id. 

Id lived in a hut that had been used as a warehouse since Andrew didn’t allow him to enter his log cabin. After cleaning up the shabby warehouse and laying down a mattress made of straw, Id could have a somewhat cozy space for himself.

Id worked hard all day long. He always got up early in the morning and fetched water from the stream. Filling the tub with clear water was the beginning of his daily routine. Cooking and laundry were also Id’s responsibility. The food was always plentiful. Each time Andrew entered the forest, he returned with a few wild animals on his shoulder. Id cut the meat and smoked it to store it for a long time. 

Three days after Id started to live with him, Andrew had a nightmare. It was the same nightmare he had dreamt of hundreds of times for the last twenty years. He woke up, drenched in cold sweat and let out a deep sigh. Although more than twenty years had passed since that nightmarish day, he could not forget the terrible moment that had changed his life forever.

“I want to forget it. I really want to forget it now.”

Andrew growled and wrapped his hands around his head. He knew he would never forget the incident until the end of his life. It was why the former Knight Commander of the Red Lion Order and the successor of the prominent Marquis family was hiding in the remote village deep in the Forest of Evil Spirits.

Andrew recalled the time with a haggard face. He had been able to survive with the help of a territorial guard. The bleeding was so severe that he would have died on the spot if the guard had found him a little later.

The Adelian family was eventually defeated in the feudal battle. William Cronos, who turned Andrew into a wreck, appeared on every important battlefield and unleashed the Aura Beam. His sword killed more than eighty Knights of the Adelian estate. Having lost almost all the Knights belonging to his estate, Marquis Adelian surrendered. Ownership of the gold mine, which had started the conflict, was transferred to Duke Cronos' family.

After the ownership of the gold mine was transferred, the Marquis family's power and influence fell sharply. Right after the feudal battle, Marquis Adelian, Andrew’s father, passed away. He was ill for a long time and the shock from the defeat in the feudal war became the final blow. Andrew succeeded the title following the funeral. A month later however, he handed his Marquis title over to his brother, Peter.

“I have to solve the mystery of the Aura Beam. Otherwise, the Adelian family will never regain its former glory.”

Having been freed from the obligations of nobility, Andrew concentrated on collecting information related to the Aura Beam. 

Manna, the origin of energy for all living things, flowed in the air. It constantly moved, going up and coming down, going straight in every direction, making turns sharply or gently and sometimes gliding, circling and swirling. Mages implemented magic by rearranging the essential elements that made up manna. In other words, in the background of unimaginable chemical and physical phenomena of magic was the vitality of manna force. To make rearrangements of manna outside of their body, mages first absorbed manna into their bodies by breathing, then refined and concentrated it to carve a manna circle on their hearts. The circle functioned as a trigger when mages rearranged manna surrounding them. Usually, it took seven to ten years to carve a circle on the heart, although the period varied by a lot depending on the mages’ affinity to manna. When people talked about a mage’s talent, they meant the intensity of his affinity to manna. To be a Wizard with seven or more circles carved on his heart, mages had to learn and train themselves for a long period in isolation.

However, manna was not the exclusive possession of mages.