Chapter:1.3

‘Fucking assholes…….’

Lucas, hardened to most killers, has a serious look on their face.

Maybe he should start to suspect everyone he’s ever worked with. There’s no guarantee that this man is the first and only Ganja they’ve caught, and if there are others, they’ll be even more determined to hide their identities. It may be a longer fight than we think.

“How many have entered the castle recently?”

“Thirty or so users alone, well over forty if you count the departments.”

“…….”

“Well, if we start with the most recent hires-”

“Kill them all and we’ll be done.”

“Your Excellency……!”

Lucas, who’d thought it would be a firing at best, cut Derek off in disbelief.

Annihilation. It was a last resort, even on the battlefield.

He glanced at his aide as if to say, “So what?

“…….”

No, that was wrong, no, but still…….

Lucas swallowed hard, the words rolling around in his mouth for the umpteenth time. It was not an order he would have understood, given the circumstances of his master’s life.

Derek Frit was a man who had spent a third of his life on the battlefield. Killing and being killed was not a good place for a growing child to learn. Fifteen. While his peers were chasing girls up and down the dance floor, he chased down a retreating enemy soldier and finally decapitated him.

What mercy for a dying man, who was surely dying himself, to be the final bomb and charge into the Kryant Imperial Army’s camp. It was only as Derek embraced his bloodied men that he realized the importance of confirmation killing.

For a man of his age, decapitating 40 men of unknown affiliation was no small feat.

“Do you think he’s going to get married like that?

Lucas’s eyes suddenly turned serious as he looked at his lord. To be honest, there was no way a woman could ‘voluntarily’ fall in love with Duke Frit without going insane.

‘You could spend years around him and still get the creeps…….

What’s the point of whispering your love to a woman with such a ghastly glare when all she can do is to faint or piss herself?

But as a loyal servant, he can’t stand by and let the Frits’ lineage end. Lucas spoke with sincerity.

“There is no need for you to stain your hands with blood, I will have them all dismissed as soon as tomorrow morning, so please rescind your order.”

“You want me to watch a show about blowing up a peacock castle tomorrow morning?”

“I’ll be sure to finish this …… by this evening.”

“It has to be as fast as possible.”

“Understood. What about the interest, by the way?”

Derek stepped forward without a word, and in a flash, he drew his sword and plunged it straight through the already dead man’s heart. It was a grisly confirmation kill.

“……!”

“Burn him.”

“……Yes, yes.”

Drawing his sword again, Derek turned away without a second thought.

Lucas stared off into the distance, his pores unnecessarily puffy and covered with a fuzzy blanket over his heart.
I wanted to punch him in the mouth, to ask him how in the hell he’d gotten the nerve to say that to me. At the same time, I felt a strong sense of identification.

‘No matter how you look at it, you shouldn’t be in a relationship.

After all, no woman would be thrilled to see such a vicious and persistent man. No woman could be excited about a man so vicious and relentless, who was closer to death than love.

Lucas worried about the Duke of Mottasolo, who was twenty-five years old, without a lover, as I was twenty-seven. It was like a mouse thinking about a cat.

“* * * * *

Audrey frowned at Hans, who stretched out as if it was his room.

“What’s the matter, why aren’t you going?”

“…… You ask so soon. It’s bookkeeping day.”

“Oh, right.”

Hans shook his head and rummaged through his luggage.

“It’s not like I’m some kind of germ or…… bad acorn.

If only he’d come to visit and have a little fun while he was here, he thought, with a sneer on his face.

Hans grumbled to himself about the words he couldn’t bring himself to say. Then he pulled out a thick brown leather-covered notebook.

This month’s ledger was thick again, and he could already smell the money. Audrey took it, smiling happily.

“So, let’s see, what did you do best this month?”

Their relationship was a bit unique. For ten of the fifteen years they’d known each other, they’d been enemies, and for the last five, they’d been business partners, running a shop called Lockt.

It all started six years ago when Hans discovered her secret.

＊ ＊ ＊ ＊

It was another day like any other.

Audrey, now fourteen, has many secrets, and Hans, seventeen, likes to play dirty pranks, the most popular of which is to barge in on a lady’s visit without any pretense of popularity.

“Acorn, what are you doing-”

“……!”

But that day, he couldn’t prank Audrey as I usually did.

The room looked like a bomb had gone off, Audrey was sobbing like an abandoned baby animal, and blue particles were floating around the room. Hans instinctively realized that this was a secret he would take to the grave.

Just then, he felt a knock at the door.

“Miss, can I get you a snack-”

“……!”

─Bang!

Hans hastily slammed the door shut, blocking the way. Somehow, he didn’t want anyone else to see this scene.

─Snap.

“Miss? Master?”

“…….”

The hand that gripped the doorknob so hard that it couldn’t be opened from the outside was white-knuckled. Hans barely managed to squeeze out a voice.

“……It’s okay, I’ll call you if I need you, just rest.”

“Okay, okay.”

The large hand didn’t let go of the doorknob until the figure was far enough away, and Audrey still stood there, helpless.

Boom, boom, boom.

The particles of light emanating from the tiny body continued to spread out and hit everywhere. The objects in the room were broken, torn, and overturned along with the collisions. Audrey’s face contorted in horror as the situation reached a fever pitch.

Hans, on the other hand, held on to the doorknob even as flying objects tore at his face. Until the bizarre bursts of light subsided.

Power surge.

It was a word he had never heard before. It was a condition in which a person’s body would explode if they didn’t regularly drain the fluctuating energy within it. Audrey had told Hans everything she hadn’t told her family.

Her powers manifested when she was about 10 years old, and she hid them on purpose because she didn’t want to go into the tower.

“I won’t blame you if …… turns you in.”

“What?”

Stupid Acorn. She looked like she was pretty sure he was going to report her.

Hans’s mouth dropped open in disbelief. He didn’t want to send Audrey to the tower.

He didn’t know why. They bickered every day, but that didn’t mean he wanted her to disappear from his sight. Besides, the thought of having to clean up after her every spike in power made him feel uncomfortable like a weight had been placed on his chest…….

The first mages had appeared nearly a hundred years ago, and since then, the empire had enforced special laws requiring magic wielders to report to the Tower of Magic. Refusal or concealment was rumored to result in imprisonment in the palace dungeons.

But Hans was convinced by Audrey’s words that he didn’t want her to go to the Tower. He was willing to be an accomplice.

“Don’t bother reporting it. Did you steal something? Why do you look so scared?”

“…….”

“I didn’t lose anything.”

“You…….”

“What is this mess anyway? I’m too embarrassed to ask anyone to clean it.”

“…….”

“What are you doing, pick up a broom, this is your room.”

And just like that, Hans became Audrey’s biggest cheerleader.

Together, they put their heads on and began to study. The tower had a monopoly on magic, so they had to scrape together books from other countries.

Hans scoured his maternal grandfather’s library for information, and he made some significant discoveries.

He learned that wizards are divided into different families and that Audrey is a ‘hybrid’ wizard. It was the most practical ability, though less obvious than attack, defense, or healing. Audrey could use magic as if she was breathing, and she could process magic stones to create tools.

“I’ll ask my maternal grandfather for the magic stones.”

“……Thank you.”

Hans was inwardly relieved.

The acorn had thought it could hit him, not kill a single ant. If it had been an offensive type, he would have been in trouble.

“I’d have been knocked out in less than ten minutes if I’d gone out hunting like that.

The next year passed. Audrey’s fifteenth birthday arrived.

“What’s with the blindfold, are we there yet?”

“Almost.”

Hans arrived in the morning, blindfolded, and led her somewhere. As soon as he lowered his giant hand, she saw a shop called Lockt’s.

“Happy birthday, Acorn.”

Hans pulled up his pants for his friend, who was still underage. At the same time, he gave Audrey the title of chief researcher.

“You’re the head researcher from now on, and this shop is going to be very famous, so you’re going to have to keep your eye on the ball.”

“You mean I’m going to slave over ……?”

“Yes. You’re a slave now, and I’m going to treat you like a dog until I recoup my great-grandfather’s top investment.”

“Then it’s not a birthday present!”

“Dude, I gave you the lead researcher position, what more do you want? That’s a gift, you idiot! Don’t you have any sense of humor?”

The two still argued, but Audrey understood her friend’s feelings. Hans had set up this shop to prevent her from going on a magic rampage.

His prediction was spot on. The magic was released naturally in the process of making the tools, and the spell was soon over.

Meanwhile, the adults didn’t criticize Hans for giving his friend a shop for his birthday.

“Well, it’s your friend’s birthday, of course, you should give him a shop.”

“Ho ho. That’s how kids grow up.”

“You’ve been like that since you were a little kid, it’s nice to see.”

“Is there anything else you want, Audrey? Should I buy the building next door?”

“Boys. What a bunch of little boys!”