Chapter 281 - The Air Grows Heavy When He Speaks

  "This one is also sidered an exclusive spell of my family," Viktor said, showing it to us.

  We walked over, aood there with a fident smile.

  "This spell is called Bzing Fme Cye," Viktor expined. "It creates a massive, spinning tornado of fire capable of devastating a forest… or a city," he added with pride.

  We were ihe spell scroll and grimoire room. A scroll tain a powerful spell, while grimoires are books holding a list of spells. Each page of a grimoire tains a ruh a spell. Usually, a mage gains access to a simple grimoire, and as they progress through the pages, they unlock stronger spells.

  For example, I could go to a military shop in the kingdom, and depending on my noble rank's military access level, I could purchase a grimoire. Let’s say I buy a Water Element Grimoire—it would start with basic spells like Water Ball or Water Bsts. As I master those spells from the initial pages, I would gain the foundation to learn more plex spells that are in the sed half of the grimoire.

  Of course, a single grimoire doesn’t tain all the spells of a. There are grimoires with specific divisions for each mage css and types of spells, such as battlefield spells, elemental materialization, le spells, cle spells, animal attack spells, and many others. A grimoire could be specialized solely for Fire Bsts, taining multiple spells ranging from the simplest to the most plex within that attack category. There are also mana categories like Transmitters, Emitters, and Summoners, meaning there are tless types of teag grimoires.

  Scrolls generally tain a single specific spell, unlike a grimoire, which holds multiple. A grimoire is created with the bined efforts of a spell ior and a spell engineer who crafts the rune, sealing the spell’s knowledge within the grimoire or scroll.

  I couldn’t just steal that scroll and s it with a fake oo recreate the spell. First, it would take far too long to learn the rune’s knowledge. Mastering a spell isn’t simple and requires exteraining. Spells have levels of learning.

  Once you learn a spell with your mana, the process doesn’t stop there. Initially, you have to t long, plex phrases to execute it. Then, as your proficreases, you reduce it to shorter phrases. Eventually, with enough mastery, you won’t o t at all. This happens because mana is a unique nguage, and ting is a way to help it be spoken.

  Another factor is that even if a mage learns a spell from a scroll, they wouldn’t know how to recreate the rune, meaning they couldn’t fe another scroll. This is because the spell’s creator develops their own nguage. When they inscribe the ruo lock the spell’s knowledge, the apprentily learns the final result of a plex calcution. It would take years for someone who learned a spell through a ruo bee profit enough to engrave it onto a ruhemselves with the aid of a spell engineer.

  Many noble families have their own spell knowledge. I pn to create my own scrolls iure and store them in our vault. Unfortunately, my father passed away without leaving behind his thunder spells in our personal vault, so I had to create my own.

  "Viktor… this is a cssified military spell," Edmund said with admiration. "Was your family really authorized to dispy this? My family has a simir spell, but I don’t think they put it here."

  Viktor was smiling.

  "The Saul Duchy has other powerful spells; this one is simple pared to ours," he said arrogantly. "Did you fet that I’m a user of steam and scalding water? This is just a simple fire spell."

  "Simple…? I think this is quite plex," Kinue said. "It must be incredibly dangerous for just ao know how to do this."

  He positioned himself beside the dispy taining the spell.

  "That’s why only military families have this kind of knowledge. We are superior in our capabilities—even in this," he said. "My cousin is a master of this spell. His family serves as vassals to mine, ag as our royal guards, and he even became an Inquisitor."

  It reminded me of my own situation. My side of the family serves as protectors of the main branch. I was supposed to be Chloe’s guardian, but now... I don’t even know my role anymore, sidering I’m her fiancé.

  Either way, I’ll alrotect her… so nothing has really ged. But now, I’ve bee a duke…

  We tinued walking through the exhibition, looking at various scrolls and even ented relics. Most were inside dispy cases, but I was surprised when one of the staff members received authorization to demonstrate one of them.

  It ear that extended several meters at high speed when infused with mana. That could definitely do some serious damage.

  The staff member also expined aility of the spear—if the user ran and p into the ground while activating its extension ability, the rapid growth of the spear would unch them into the air, allowing them to leap h walls or obstacles. Not to mention the surprise factor of attag a distant enemy by making the spear extend suddenly at high speed.

  "That’s incredible," a noble o us ented. "Are you sure it’s not for sale?" he joked.

  "This spear belongs to the Valemont family… They’d never sell it. Only another duke could afford it," the staff member replied, ughing.

  "That on belongs to my family," Edmund told us. "My grandmother used to wield it."

  We watched as the staff member demonstrated the spear’s funs before carefully pg it bato the dispy.

  "I think it’s really beautiful," Melina said.

  "Me too," Kinue agreed. "I use a halberd, but that spear is really cool."

  We tihe tour aually found my aunt and my mother examining rare pnts from different duchies.

  Lately, my aunt had been buying seeds in bulk from all over the kingdoms. She even built a boratory for my mother in our dungeons. She wants my mother to tinue produg her corpse-hosting seedlings while she experiments with different seeds to enhaheir abilities using traits from other pnts.

  Ever since she overcame her war trauma, she’s beehusiastically tending to her bizarre pnts in the b—right beside her Giant Seed, which she sometimes talks to, calling it her daughter.

  Viktor Saul:

  I was at the exhibition, surrounded by artifacts from various duchies, absentmindedly analyzing some of the pieces while roup of friends had dispersed. Each had goheir own way, either meeting with family members or expl whatever caught their ihe most.

  As I walked, my eyes nded on the dispyed items from the Evenhart family.

  "Why didn’t they put that panther cub on dispy?" I murmured.

  That family possessed something truly rare—the most coveted magical beast in the world: a Moon Panther cub.

  When I first found out about it, about a year ago, I was stunned.

  Something that dangerous, living so close to me.

  I saw that gray cat every day, sleeping peacefully in the er of our dormitory, and I would have never imagined what she really was.

  I had heard that many schors and professors had attempted to approaathan Evenhart, eager to study the habits and abilities of his magical beast.

  However, he refused every single one of them.

  Notig how much this was b him, Headmistress Victoria eventually banned professors from using their authority in the to pressure him about his familiar.

  For a moment, I even sidered the idea of buying that animal. But what would be the point? Money wouldn’t buy the i of a noble like him. We are wealthy, but he already has everything he could want. Why would he need mold?

  I pushed these thoughts aside as I tinued walking through the exhibition, trying to focus on the event in front of me.

  My eyes sed the room in search of someone in particur, but I couldn’t find them. Further ahead, I spotted the Evenhart family’s demi-human servant standing in front of a dispy of old books. She seemed engrossed, them with curiosity.

  "Of course, it fits perfectly with a farming duchy… giving jobs to talking animals," I muttered with disdain, feeling a growing sense of repulsion. It was disgusting. I still couldn’t believe I had been in the same space as her, eating a meal nearby while exging words with roup of friends.

  "This book belongs to my family," I said coldly, letting my voice sound authoritative.

  She lifted her gaze, seemingly surprised. "It’s very iing, Viktor. It’s a bestiary from nearly a thousand years ago. I imagihe information inside differs from what we have today, and it might even taiures that were removed from moderiaries," she responded, her voice calm but with a touch of geerest.

  I clicked my tongue, irritated by her casual tone.

  "It’s Lord Viktor," I corrected with a look of superiority. "Remember that we’re not among our circle of friends. In this setting, you must address me with the proper respect due to my atus."

  "But you’re right," I tinued with a malicious smile. "This bestiary is quite old. Who knows? Maybe your species was listed alongside the other animals, as it should be."

  That’s when I heard a voice rise behind me.

  "Is there a problem?"

  The cold tone made my skin crawl.

  The instant I heard it, my entire body tensed.

  I turned around, and to my surprise, it was just Nathan Evenhart.

  I quickly masked my disfort.

  "No problem," I replied, trying to sound indifferent. "I was simply expining to the servant about this book from my family. After all, I don’t know if this dumb peasant even read."

  My voice carried calcuted pt, but Nathan didn’t seem fazed.

  He g Kihen back at me before breaking into a smile.

  But that smile… something about it was off. It was unnerving.

  He stepped closer, casually pg a hand on my shoulder and pulling me in as if we were old friends.

  "Then expin it to me too," Nathan said, his voice surprisingly gentle. "I’d love to watch you try to read… without both of your eyes."

  Did he just threaten me?

  I turo face him, ready to respond, but then—

  Something inside me recoiled.

  My chest felt pressed, and a visceral fear coursed through every fiber of my being.

  It was as if my entire body rejected the idea of fronting him.

  My lungs stopped w, my hair stood on end, and my legs threateo give out.

  Nathan’s smile was calm, almost friendly, but his eyes told a different story—ohat terrified me.

  What’s happening to me?

  "It’s okay, Nate…" Kinue said, tugging at his arm. "I’m fine. Let’s go! Let’s check out some other books together," she suggested, trying to dissolve the tension.

  "Okay, if you say so…" he replied.

  Together, they walked away, leaving behind an atmosphere thick with something invisible yet oppressive. I gnced around and noticed others looking pale, their expressions uled. Some had even taken a seat on a nearby bench, trying to catch their breath.

  "For some reason, I suddenly feel sick," a man muttered to a staff member who was trying to calm him down.

  I chose to ignore what had just happened and tioward my real objective. The animal servant had been a distra, but now my mind thoughts were focused once more. There was someone I had been looking for. And I finally spotted her, catg a glimpse as she examined a colle of wands and staves. The She ons gleamed uhe light, showg an array of powerful models desigo favor specific elements.

  I found you… Chloe Evenhart.

  "Or perhaps, Chloe Saul…" I murmured to myself, a satisfied smile spreading ay lips.