“Master Zhang─!”
Kail, standing in front of the lord’s castle, shouted with his Aura. His roar echoed throughout the entire duchy, and shortly after, a massive surge of magic power shot out from within the castle.
Kail immediately realized it was the Duke’s magic power. The overwhelming magic power that seemed like it would kill him any second disappeared quickly—perhaps because he was conscious of the onlookers, or maybe because he thought it wouldn’t be good for nobles to clash so openly.
Soon after, instead of magic power, the Duke began sending knights.
“Lord Kail Meyer, please return.”
“His Grace the Duke wishes you to leave?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
“If I had obediently returned when told, do you think I’d be here now?”
“…No matter how skilled you are, my lord, you won’t be able to overcome this situation.”
The knight gestured to the group of knights, squires, and soldiers he had brought along. Although there was a penalty against killing Kail Meyer, with this many troops, they believed subduing him would be more than enough.
That judgment was based on common sense. The fiancé of Lady Yuri Grace, a young knight beloved by the Duke, and a promising expert-level knight who could potentially become a Master in the distant future—surely such an opponent could be stopped.
Unfortunately, that assumption was wrong.
“So, that’s how it is, huh?”
“Please leave, my lord. No matter that you’re Lady Yuri’s fiancé, this land belongs to His Grace the Duke─.”
“Master Zhang─! If you keep pushing me like this, I can’t guarantee I’ll keep my promise!”
With those words, Kail drew his sword. The knights sighed at the sight of Kail, who was clearly ready to fight, but they tightened their grips on their weapons nonetheless.
Though it was the Duke’s command, beating up someone who might become the head of the family in the distant future weighed heavily on them—but what choice did they have? Orders were orders.
However, at that moment, Kail raised his sword above his head. The puzzled knights froze as they saw the Aura Blade emerge from Kail’s sword.
“…Wait, isn’t that…”
“W-wait a minute. How old is Lord Kail this year…?”
“He’s probably the same age as Lady Yuri─.”
Aura Blade.
The divine blade that proves mastery.
An existence all knights aspire to.
An Aura Master stood before them.
“Do you still intend to stop me?”
Kail smirked as he gazed at the knights blocking his path.
Shortly after, the knights quietly stepped back.
* * *
‘…So noisy.’
Yuri Grace, who had been trying to sleep in her room, quietly rose from her bed due to the bustling noise of the city. After waking up, she washed her face and finished grooming herself in front of the mirror.
It was a habit formed from being forced to wake up whenever there was commotion since she was young. Of course, being a daughter of the North, she never wore makeup or anything like that.
Removing the sleep from her eyes and applying moisturizing cream to protect her skin from the harsh northern winds was all she did. In other words, Yuri’s stunning beauty was 100% natural.
‘What’s going on…?’
After changing her clothes, Yuri quietly left her room and headed to a spot where she could see the city well. There were two reasons why the city might be noisy.
One, the barbarian tribes beyond the Great Wall had invaded.
Two, new recruits or distinguished guests had arrived from outside.
It wasn’t likely the barbarians—they had been weakened ever since losing their great elder.
That left either new recruits or visitors, and Yuri suspected it was the latter. No one dared to enter the Duke’s territory without prior notice—it simply wasn’t done. There were no nobles rude enough to disrespect the Duke like that.
That left only the possibility of new recruits. Even Yuri couldn’t know about it beforehand. Though she was the daughter of the Northern Commander-in-Chief, the Duke had always been reluctant to share military matters with her.
‘New recruits, huh… Guess I changed clothes for nothing.’
But Yuri wasn’t the type to flop back into bed after doing something unnecessary. Once she got up, she stayed up until it was time to sleep again—she was practically an iron woman.
Having already changed, Yuri stepped outside and saw the bustling maids and her mother directing them.
Approaching her mother, Yuri lifted her dress slightly and greeted her.
“Good morning, Mother.”
“…Yuri. It’s vacation, so why are you up so early instead of sleeping in?”
“Vacation doesn’t mean I can laze around forever.”
“Lack of sleep isn’t good for your skin. Go back to bed─.”
“Mother. You seem to want me out of this room.”
At those words, Yuri’s mother, Adeline, pursed her lips and looked at Yuri. Her words weren’t wrong, after all.
This child resembled her father so much—even in these aspects, she shared similarities with the Duke, which sent chills down Adeline’s spine. Adeline fanned her mouth with her hand and turned her head away.
“Stay inside, Yuri Grace.”
“I refuse.”
“…Are you ignoring my words right now?”
“It’s not ignoring—it’s refusing. I understand why you’re saying this.”
As Yuri spoke, she moved forward. Adeline tried to stop her quickly, but there was no way an ordinary person could restrain Yuri, a sorceress.
Thinking back, her mother hadn’t liked Kail for several years now. She never said why, but her expression had been sour from their first meeting.
Her mother trying to lock her in her room meant there was someone visiting the territory whom she didn’t want Yuri to meet. Someone who was causing a disturbance in the territory while also being someone her mother didn’t want her to encounter—there was only one person who fit that description.
─Master Zhang!
Kail Meyer, her fiancé.
Her betrothed had come to rescue the princess trapped in the duke’s castle.
* * *
Kail, guided by the knights who had initially tried to block his path, made his way into the lord’s castle. When asked whether it was alright to guide him despite their orders to stop him, the knights lightly smiled and nodded.
“Lord Kail… no, Sir Kail—if His Grace learns that you’ve become a Master, things will change. A Master is that kind of existence.”
“Oh, I see.”
In truth, he already knew. He couldn’t say he hadn’t known, even though people viewed Masters as dreamlike beings capable of achieving anything.
A star in the sky. From the perspective of someone who had become that star, there was no need to cut off the arms of those reaching out from below.
Thus, under the escort of knights and soldiers, Kail easily came face-to-face with the Duke. Upon seeing the knights who had escorted Kail, the Duke exuded his magic power.
“I explicitly ordered you not to let him in.”
“…M-my lord Duke. With all due respect─.”
“Silence. Leave at once.”
The Duke’s words carried power—the kind that forced listeners to obey. Trembling under his verbal command, the knights exited the Duke’s office.
Once they were alone, the Duke retracted his overflowing magic power and looked at Kail.
“You’ve finally revealed it.”
“Did you see it?”
“How could I not feel it with all that overflowing Aura?”
The Duke confirmed that Kail had used the Aura Blade in public and revealed himself as a Master.
The North was a closed society, so if the Duke exerted his influence, he could suppress the spread of the news that Kail was a Master—but for how long?
It wouldn’t take long before the entire Empire learned that Kail Meyer was a Master.
“If you proclaim yourself a Master, you won’t be able to live as freely as you do now.”
“Other people don’t say that.”
“Who says otherwise?”
“My father, or the knights of the territory?”
“Are any of them Masters?”
Exactly. The idea that becoming a Master grants ultimate freedom or makes one capable of anything—those were words spoken by ordinary people, not Masters themselves.
Ordinary people couldn’t describe what transcendent beings experienced, whether it was the abilities of Masters or the social gaze they received.
The transcendent being before him was speaking differently from ordinary people. He said that becoming a Master meant losing all freedom.
‘Come to think of it, the headmaster said something similar.’
If he proclaimed himself a Master, he wouldn’t be able to remain a student—the headmaster had said as much.
It was a completely different story from what Sir Leon or his tutors had told him. Kail asked how it would turn out that way.
“When you become a Master, you become a superhuman capable of anything, right? So why does this happen?”
“Well─ first, those who became Masters before you won’t welcome new Masters with open arms.”
“…What does that have to do with anything?”
“Are you the only superhuman in the world? To ordinary people, superhumans may seem otherworldly, but to other superhumans, you’re just the newborn baby of the group.”
To this newborn, the Duke, who could be considered a senior, spoke cautiously.
“I looked into Yuri, as you suggested.”
“Oh, that. What did you find? Was I right?”
“Reluctantly, yes.”
Perhaps because it concerned his daughter, the Duke admitted it honestly. Hearing this, Kail instinctively sensed that the engagement would be annulled.
But words aren’t final until spoken aloud. To confirm, Kail asked:
“─Then, the engagement is…”
At that moment, the door creaked open, and Yuri entered the office. Stepping inside, Yuri’s eyes widened as she stared at Kail and the Duke.
“…Annulment? What do you mean?”
