“Your Highness has rested too long. You’re not ready to spar with me yet.”
Kayan spoke flatly.
This was actually a line Ivnoa had ordered him to say. By now, the royal informant must be close, so he had to recite the prepared lines.
To be honest, Kayan didn’t like the idea of sparing the assassin who had tried to kill Ivnoa. But it was her order, so he had no choice.
“I’ll give you a toy first. Start training with this one. I’ll supervise.”
The royal informant’s presence was now close enough to be distinctly felt. It was obvious that they could hear everything.
“In the usual ‘play’ style of the North.”
“Great!”
Ivnoa beamed with a bright smile.
“Thank you! It sounds like a game of tag! How fun! This is going to be so exciting!”
She sounded genuinely delighted.
“You’ll teach me swordsmanship properly. And I’ll teach you knowledge, common sense, manners, etiquette, and all kinds of other stuff. It balances out nicely. What a great deal!”
“I wouldn’t say it’s balanced at all.”
“I don’t think friends should care about balance.”
“Your Highness and I are not friends. I am your vassal and must obey your orders.”
“Oh, really? Then what happens if I order you to be my friend?”
“Then you’ll be committing the tyranny of forcing friendship through power.”
Ivnoa squinted and frowned.
“You’re speaking politely, but it sure feels like you’re saying whatever you want.”
“Not at all. I haven’t even said half of it yet. Anyway, I can’t just give you a ‘toy’ as-is. For minimal safety precautions…”
Kayan kicked the assassin in the stomach, knocking him down. He spoke in a low voice.
“I’ll destroy his aura core.”
“…What?”
This part wasn’t in the instructions, and Ivnoa was visibly surprised.
But someone else was even more shocked — the assassin himself.
“Mm! Mmmph!”
The assassin’s eyes widened in terror, and he struggled, but he was no match for Kayan.
Expressionless, Kayan placed his hand on the assassin’s stomach and poured his aura into him.
“Ugh, cough…”
The assassin coughed up blood.
Aura was a mysterious energy that existed in nature.
With aura embedded in the body, humans could exhibit supernatural strength.
How well one could absorb and use aura depended on innate aura sensitivity. Channeling aura to various body parts was also a matter of talent.
But the most critical concept in human martial arts was the aura core.
The aura core collected and stored aura in the body and allowed it to be infused into mediums.
The most effective medium was the sword.
Thus, all swords on the market were designed to effectively receive aura emitted from the user’s aura core.
“Cough, hack…“
Destroying an aura core was simple: inject overwhelmingly stronger aura into it.
Kayan’s aura sensitivity was so high that destroying the assassin’s core was easy for him.
“Guh, urgh…“
The assassin vomited blood again.
Once the aura core is destroyed, a person can still use aura, but they can’t channel it into a sword — essentially crippling their swordsmanship. The despair in the assassin’s eyes was only natural.
“Hmm.”
Even though he had destroyed the aura core to prevent the assassin from using a sword, Kayan still didn’t feel at ease.
After a brief moment of thought, he added,
“I’ll destroy the aura flow in his arms and legs too. He’s still an adult male, after all.”
Disabling aura in specific body parts was easy — just inject more powerful aura that the opponent couldn’t repel.
Kayan’s aura settled into the assassin’s limbs, making it impossible for him to control his own aura there.
Ironically, this had been a game Kayan and Ivnoa used to play as kids — placing aura in each other’s fists and trying to repel it quickly.
But this wasn’t a game now.
Kayan poured a tremendous amount of aura into the assassin’s limbs. Soon, a strange, heat-haze-like disturbance appeared around the assassin’s arms and legs.
“Ugh…”
Aura didn’t inherently harm the body.
There were no injuries or external signs, and the assassin could still move — just without control over his own aura.
Huh?
But something unexpected happened.
Ivnoa, who Kayan thought would remain unfazed, turned her head and even began to tremble slightly.
Why?
She had watched worse things without blinking. Had her year in the palace softened her to blood?
“Clean that up.”
At Kayan’s cold order, a knight ran in and cleaned up the blood the assassin had vomited.
After disabling the assassin by striking his pressure points, Kayan quickly approached Ivnoa.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Ivnoa averted her eyes from the assassin.
After a brief hesitation, she suddenly asked,
“Can you tell me why Viscount Barcklith didn’t come with you? Why did they send you to the capital alone?”
It was an obviously out-of-place question.
She gave an awkward laugh and continued.
“I thought the viscount should’ve come with you from the North. No matter how strong you are, you’re only fifteen. You don’t have much experience with the palace or the capital.”
Kayan realized she was trying to change the subject. But still, he had to answer her question.
He responded calmly.
“My father is a little delayed because he’s still taking the Ogiano tribe’s base.”
“Ogiano?”
“Yes.”
Kayan answered with perfect composure.
“After defeating the Ranchina tribe, we split up. I pursued the fleeing Ranchina chieftain, and my father went straight for the Ogiano tribe’s base.”
Ivnoa tilted her head in confusion.
“Wait. Isn’t taking the base enough? Why chase the fleeing chieftain? And alone?”
“Well… it wasn’t really important. Just a personal reason.”
“And why the Ogiano tribe? The terrain there is harsh!”
“His Majesty once jokingly said that he’d grant an earldom to whoever captured the Ogiano tribe’s iron mine.”
At the word earldom, Ivnoa’s jaw dropped.
Understandable. It was something the emperor had only casually said to Arthur. The other nobles didn’t even know about it, so naturally, Ivnoa hadn’t either.
“After we took the Ranchina region, we had momentum. We were close to taking Ogiano’s base too. From our side, we needed a promise about the earldom before finishing the job.”
Kayan continued with a calm explanation.
“My father had already gained the upper hand, so I stopped pursuing the Ranchina chieftain and rushed to the capital.”
“Th-then… His Majesty…?”
Ivnoa’s eyes trembled.
Kayan replied with quiet pride.
“Yes, yesterday His Majesty said he would grant the earldom once my father arrived.”
An earl was a truly high-ranking noble.
A viscount could still be dismissed as a “barbarian who got lucky,” but earls were rare and highly respected.
That’s why, when buying this mansion, they had told the real estate agent to find a large estate “fit for an earl’s residence.”
“My father has already taken the Ogiano tribe’s base and is now on his way to the capital. I believe he’ll arrive in two to four weeks.”
Arthur had never been an ambitious man. He simply wanted to give his beloved son, Kayan, what he desired.
“Father, I want to become a higher-ranking noble… someone no one can look down on…”
So at this point, Kayan expected Ivnoa to ask, “But why did Arthur want a higher title?”
Instead…
“…What?”
Ivnoa’s face suddenly turned pale.
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