In the darkness of the cave, red glowing eyes flashed.
Yuri slowly opened his mouth.
"Come on, what kind of mage just throws around the word ghost?"
"If it's dead but still alive, then it's a ghost."
"You have to use the proper term."
"Death Knight?"
"Yeah, that."
As he said that, Yuri nudged Jared with his foot.
"Jared, wake up."
"Ugh… huh…"
"I said, wake up."
When Yuri gave him a sharp kick in the butt, Jared shot up.
"Where! Where am I!"
He looked around frantically and, spotting the Death Knight, jumped and drew his sword.
"Death Knight!"
Yuri calmed him down.
"Hold on a sec."
"Y-Your Highness, please get behind me."
"Oh, for crying out loud…"
Jared, tense to the core, swallowed hard.
A Death Knight literally meant a knight returned from death. It occurred when a knight with deep resentment was eroded by demonic energy or corrupted by black magic.
"It's dangerous."
Jared was confident in cutting down most monsters, but the Death Knight was an exception.
A knight who became a Death Knight became stronger than in life.
Long ago, there was the infamous case of Gert, a knight of Adelvine, who was resurrected and brought about the downfall of a kingdom.
"No."
Yuri shook his head.
"That one's not dangerous."
"How can you tell?"
"I just have a feeling."
Yuri walked forward.
"Why would the guardian of the progenitor's dungeon be hostile to me, Yuri Briol, blood of the progenitor?"
"That's too naive!"
"Just watch."
Yuri felt a strange confidence.
He had felt it ever since he drew the sword.
Who would've thought that old sword embedded deep in the earth would come free so easily?
Even when he fell into the underground, he felt as if the entire dark dungeon was welcoming him.
So that Death Knight wasn't a guardian here to block him, but rather a guide welcoming a descendant of Briol.
"Am I right?"
[Nope.]
The Death Knight swung his sword.
"…!"
A flash of steel gleamed.
Ernando muttered in despair.
"Wow, His Highness's head just got sliced in half…"
"Watch your mouth."
"Wow, His Highness's hair just got sliced in half…"
Yuri's bangs fluttered.
It happened with Jared too — his bangs never had a peaceful day.
"Seriously, you're not?"
[Actually, I am.]
The Death Knight replied.
His voice was deep and rough, as if rising from the depths of the cave.
[I just acted out 'cause your cocky attitude pissed me off.]
"Cocky?"
[You're just like him.]
"Who?"
[Erich.]
Ernando gasped.
"Ooh…"
Anyone from Briol would know that name.
Progenitor of the House of Briol, the first king of the Briol Kingdom, and the unparalleled swordsman who conquered the continent with a single sword.
Erich Briol.
"Am I the first to come here?"
[Yes.]
"Only Erich's bloodline can enter?"
[If you're not a descendant of Briol, you couldn't have drawn that sword.]
"Don't tell me… this is the supreme treasured sword the progenitor wielded…?"
[It's the sword I used.]
Startled, Yuri flung the sword away.
[…]
"S-Sorry."
[You got a problem 'cause it's mine?]
"No, it's just, you shouldn't touch someone else's stuff without permission. I didn't mean to."
[If you're gonna use it, go ahead. It's not mine anymore.]
Then the Death Knight turned away. His shredded cloak fluttered like rags.
Yuri picked the sword back up and whispered.
"Let's follow him."
"Will it be alright? Shouldn't we go back now and report to His Majesty…?"
"No."
Yuri shook his head.
"I'm going now."
"It's dangerous."
"Then how do you plan to leave?"
"…What?"
"That skeleton bastard…"
Suddenly, the Death Knight looked back.
Yuri flinched and froze. Fortunately, it didn't seem like the Death Knight heard him.
"…Do you think he'll just let us leave quietly?"
Jared quickly turned to the Death Knight and asked,
"Death Knight. We'd like to come back later if we can."
[What do you think this is, a neighborhood convenience store where you come and go as you please?]
His red eyes burned ominously.
[You think I spent all those years waiting just to crack jokes with the likes of you? You think this is a damn joke?]
Unable to bear his killing intent, Jared spoke.
"S-s-sorry."
He stuttered twice.
Yuri snorted.
"Scared, huh?"
"That's not it — it's for Your Highness's safety."
"Sure, sure."
Ernando, being someone who looked after his own skin, had been keeping quiet ever since meeting the Death Knight. But once Jared got scolded, he couldn't help but chuckle.
"Silence, Sir Ernando."
"S-s-sorry."
"Ugh…"
"L-l-let's go quickly."
Jared sighed. These people just wouldn't take things seriously.
Ernando began humming.
"A dungeon… how exciting."
"It's all thanks to me."
"Of course, Your Highness."
As he watched the excited Ernando and the bold prince from behind, Jared reflected on how things had ended up like this.
"Haa…"
Was it really okay to be doing this?
It had been just another normal commute home.
Then suddenly, he was brought to Sword Mountain and thrown into a mysterious dungeon.
It was unreal.
"This doesn't make sense…"
None of it made sense.
Yes, it started back then.
Since the day the Third Prince requested a spar, his life had turned upside down.
The royal guard life Jared wanted wasn't like this.
He wanted to work moderately, live in peace, and retire to enjoy his later years.
He had never dreamed of ambition.
And yet, here he was, in a dungeon left behind by the progenitor of Briol.
It felt like fate had twisted itself, and he was being swept up by the storm that boy created.
"Hey."
Yuri, who was walking ahead, looked back.
"You gonna keep us waiting?"
Jared took a breath.
It was dark.
Other than the faint sunlight leaking through the cracks, there was no light. The prince ahead was shrouded in shadows.
Yet strangely, that smiling face that looked back at him was clearly visible.
And over that image, something overlapped.
A face covered in blood.
'Hey, cut the crap.'
A fleeting hallucination.
Was that what the prince would look like as an adult?
A man with a beautiful face, soaked in blood, smiling as if exhausted. For a moment, Jared felt like he could risk his life for that boy — then the feeling vanished.
A strange déjà vu.
"Not coming?"
Jared couldn't answer.
His feet wouldn't move.
"Then wait here."
Just like that, Jared wanted to stay behind.
He didn't want to be wrecked by this reckless prince.
But if he did that…
'Wouldn't that be boring?'
The prince said so.
The familiar landscape of a predestined life flashed through Jared's mind. And over it, the face of the mad prince who had once charged at him with crazed attacks rose up.
Amid the tangle of countless thoughts,
His body moved on its own.
Without realizing, he took a step forward.
Once he moved, it was surprisingly easy.
"Your Highness."
"Huh?"
"I'm coming."
Yuri, who had been walking ahead, looked back and smiled.
"You should've followed me sooner."
Jared smiled back.
"I just needed time for my eyes to adjust to the darkness."
"You're good at making excuses."
"It's not an excuse."
"Hurry up."
"Yes, Your Highness."
And so, he ran toward the back of the reckless Third Prince.
***
The Death Knight led Yuri's group into a wide chamber.
A massive crystal on the altar emitted a deep blue light.
[So, the day has finally come…]
The Death Knight muttered. Yuri asked,
"What day?"
[None of your concern.]
"A good day?"
[Silence.]
Jared had stepped back a bit.
From his perspective, Yuri talking casually to the Death Knight seemed completely insane.
Ernando whispered to Jared,
"What if that skeleton suddenly stabs him while he's running his mouth?"
"That's a bit much, Sir."
"If His Highness's head and body go separate ways here, we're truly screwed."
"Enough."
"Or maybe he gets stabbed in the chest, blood gushes everywhere, and Sir Jared has to give him CPR with tears in his eyes…"
"Shut it."
The Death Knight stood before the altar.
Yuri spoke.
"Hey, Death Knight."
The Death Knight looked at him, and Yuri continued.
"I am Yuri Briol, descendant of Erich Briol, and the Third Prince of Briol. Hand over his legacy to me."
The Death Knight shrugged.
[Who gave you the right to take the legacy?]
"I'm a descendant of Briol."
[Briol, huh…]
His eyes flared.
[I too once bore that name.]
The weight of those words was heavy.
Yuri looked at him in surprise, and Jared and Ernando behind him froze.
No way—
Was the progenitor of Briol, Erich Briol, this Death Knight?
"You're not saying you're Erich Briol, are you?"
[That, I am not.]
"You scared me."
Yuri let out a sigh.
"There's no way our revered progenitor became a skeleton like you."
[You've got some nerve, talking like that.]
"Inherited every bit of it."
[Yes, you're quite alike in that regard.]
The Death Knight chuckled briefly. It wasn't a pleasant laugh.
[I don't trust you much, but the time has come, so I must fulfill my duty.]
"What duty?"
[I will give you what you seek.]
The Death Knight sat on the glowing crystal.
A tremendous flow of mana could be felt.
"Your Highness, back away…"
Sensing something off, Jared tugged on Yuri's collar.
Ernando said,
"It's a mana stone. I didn't think one that size could exist."
"That huge thing?"
"Yes."
Mana stones absorb and store mana on their own. Because one could use magic without mana, they were more valuable than diamonds of the same size.
"That thing can be that big?"
"Unreal. A stone of that size could probably buy a decent city."
"Why would someone bury that underground?"
"In other words, the progenitor left behind something even more precious than that mana stone."
The Death Knight looked at them.
[Are you all ready?]
A heavy silence fell.
The Death Knight did not wait for an answer.
[I pray you are worthy.]
As soon as he finished speaking, a brilliant light burst from the mana stone.
Yuri's vision turned white.
He closed his eyes, then opened them again.
...
The dungeon was gone, and a barren land stretched out before him.
"Where is this?"
Yuri looked around in confusion.
A wasteland and a straight horizon surrounded him.
Suddenly, he noticed a mysterious figure approaching from afar.
"Excuse me?"
Yuri called out.
"Stop, stop!"
But it didn't look like it would.
"Are you the progenitor?"
No, that couldn't be.
"What the hell is that?"
The approaching figure was not human.
Its body was translucent, and one could see through it to the other side — a humanoid shape of something.
The problem was that it held a sword.
"This is…"
Only then did Yuri notice that he, too, held a real sword in his hand.
It wasn't the sword from the tomb — just an ordinary military steel sword.
"So I'm supposed to fight?"
As if answering the question, the figure suddenly charged.
Yuri blocked its blade.
A simple exchange of attacks followed.
"Huh…?"
Something changed.
A bluish glow began to stir inside the figure's translucent body.
It began from the heart, swirled through the whole body, and extended into the sword as a stream.
Clang!
Each clash of blades was matched by the thumping of a heartbeat, and the blue energy expanded and contracted in sync.
Yuri realized.
"Mana Method…"
The dummy exposed its chest and began circling around Yuri.
Through its transparent body, the flow of mana was clearly visible.
Now Yuri could understand.
The swordsmanship, the mana method, the fighting style — all of it was Erich Briol.
Their progenitor, Erich Briol, had truly been a madman.
"So I'm supposed to learn by fighting directly?"
The only saving grace was that the dummy seemed to be going easy on him.
Tap, tap.
The dummy pointed at its heart, then summoned mana and demonstrated the spread of the bluish energy throughout its body.
"Hahaha…"
Once a mana method is ingrained in the body, changing it is nearly impossible.
So this must be training designed for someone who has not yet learned a mana method — but to sense and wield mana immediately?
It was an outrageous demand.
No one but a person on their second life could pull that off.
"Guess that's me."
Yuri immediately sat down on the ground.
The space was rich with mana.
Pure mana began to be drawn into him.
In his past life, Yuri had deeply studied mana methods to hide his identity. So he was confident in handling mana.
"So it went like this…"
He tried to mimic what he had just seen.
A kid without a mana method, controlling mana like a skilled knight — even for a dummy, that must've been surprising.
He glanced at the dummy.
"…!"
The dummy was frozen, with both elbows bent at ninety degrees — one hand pointing up, the other down. Looking closely, its mouth seemed to be wide open.
It had an impressive ability to express emotion.