The Knight Who Devours Magic

Chapter 28: Enoch Trian

Kiiiiik.

As soon as the door opened, the knight, Klarm, walked purposefully and paid his respects to someone.

Thump.

“I have carried out your command, Your Excellency.”

“Good work.”

An imposing gaze that swept over the kneeling Klarm then turned to Muno.

A muscular old man with a robust physique and white hair neatly combed back.

The white sideburns that ran from his head down to his philtrum and under his chin immediately made him realize who Kane, whom he had just seen, was imitating.

His blue eyes also resembled Kane's, but his impression was completely different from the man who had inexplicably made him feel wary.

The old man's eyes were so large and deep that for a moment, meeting them felt like facing a vast, bottomless ocean.

‘What kind of gaze does a person have…….’

Muno, who was only freed from the pressure of that gaze when the old man smiled slightly, belatedly knelt on one knee where he stood and bowed his head.

“Muno Drasen greets the Rose that Bloomed on Steel, the ruler of the kingdom's north.”

The old man, seeing this, maintained a strange smile and turned his eyes to his knight.

“……Klarm. You may leave now.”

“Yes.”

The knight left without hesitation, leaving his lord behind.

He didn't seem to mind that Muno, an outsider, was about to have a private audience with the old man while armed.

And no one in that place thought it was strange.

Because the identity of this old man was the 6-Star knight, Enoch Trian, the bulwark of the north, who was said to be on the verge of the Seven-Star realm.

Kiiii.

Thump.

“Muno Drasen……. It feels like just yesterday that Ryan, that fellow, said the absurd thing about adopting you……”

The gaze that looked at Muno, with the closed door behind him, was filled with deep curiosity.

“……You've really grown up well.”

At the Count's words, who smiled with what seemed like satisfaction, Muno could only respond with an awkward smile.

His gaze seemed to know him, but Muno himself had no memory of the Count.

“Do you not remember me?”

“I only heard from my father that Your Excellency knows about me.”

“Oh dear……. Well, you certainly looked very unstable and dangerous back then.

So much so that I couldn't understand why Ryan, that fellow, wanted to adopt you.”

Hmm? Dangerous……?

“I am always grateful to my father.”

“Yes, you should be. Well, seeing you now, it seems Ryan, that fellow, made a good choice. Anyway, he’s a strange fellow.

He seems dull, but sometimes he's a very good judge of character……”

“You raised him well.”

It wasn't that he was a good judge of character, but that he had raised him well.

Seeing Muno, who was polite yet said everything he wanted to say, Enoch Trian chuckled.

“Right. He's raised a fellow just like himself. Even the occasional lack of manners is just like him.”

“……I apologize.”

“There's no need to apologize. If you were all talk, I would have said something out of spite……”

The Count smiled once more and scanned his appearance.

“Judging by your balanced physique, it doesn't seem like you chose a one-sided evolution.

And yet, you seem quite sturdy, so it's not like you just got smarter as the rumors say.

You have the feel of Ryan's gluttony, but you're definitely different from him……”

Hul.

“……It seems you've created something new from his gluttony as a seed.

A tertiary trait that evolved from that gluttony?

Heh. Right. Well, it has to be at least that much.

For a newly awakened fellow to even have something similar to a spar with a 3-Star knight, that is.”

He immediately offered an interpretation that was close to the correct answer.

‘Hah…….’

Can a 6-Star knight know all this just by looking?

While he was flustered, one of the words the Count had uttered caught his attention.

“A tertiary trait……?”

At Muno's question, which had slipped out unconsciously, the Count tilted his head.

“Hmm? You don't know? Ryan, that fellow, should know too?”

“It’s the first time I've heard of it.”

“Hmm. He probably didn't tell you for fear you'd become conceited.

Well, that's like him.

To worry about unnecessary things.

It's not like that kind of specialness is always a good thing.”

“Pardon?”

“Never mind. Hear the rest from your father.”

Just as Muno was inwardly relieved by the unexpectedly favorable atmosphere.

“……I don't want to give any more advice to a fellow who condoned my granddaughter's runaway.”

The conversation that had been flowing favorably suddenly ended bluntly.

The main point came in right after.

As the Count, who had only been smiling until now, began to glare at him, Muno could only smile awkwardly and make excuses.

“……It was unavoidable.”

“I don't see any trace of you trying to stop her. Your body is perfectly fine.”

It seemed to mean that he should have stopped her even if it meant his body would be shattered.

What could he say?

“……I apologize.”

He tried to avoid the storm by bowing his head unconditionally, but the storm that was the Count did not seem to have any intention of passing quietly.

“Did you not stop her, or could you not stop her?”

An accusatory tone.

The blue eyes staring at him looked so much like his granddaughter's that Muno, instead of making more excuses, took Roanna's letter from his bosom and handed it to him.

“I believe you'll understand if you read it.”

“You rude fellow. An adult is asking……. Tsk.”

The Count, huffing through his nose, suddenly stood up and took the letter.

Thump.

In that simple motion of the Count standing up, Muno felt a pressure as if a huge mountain range was rising up to crush him.

‘Hmm?’

It wasn't just the pressure from his nearly 2-meter height and un-elderly robustness.

‘Inside that large body, something compressed is tightly packed without any gaps.’

Just the motion of rising from the chair made a heavy vibration echo through the room.

The air displaced by that movement conveyed an unusual weight.

‘This is a 6-Star knight…….’

Muno, who had indirectly felt the power of a high-ranking superhuman, naturally found himself staring intently at the Count's entire body.

Was it too blatant?

The Count, who was reading the letter, seemed to have felt his gaze and briefly lifted his eyes.

Muno immediately bowed his head, but in that brief moment, the Count's expression seemed to be improving again for some reason.

And that feeling was not a delusion.

“……You've grown up to be a better person than I thought.”

“Pardon?”

“If one knows about Roanna's ability, they usually try to avoid her.”

Ah.

“……The Princess was so kind as to make me feel at ease……”

“Still, you should have stopped her if you knew where Roanna was going, you punk.

How could a fellow who noticed her ability at first sight not know that.”

At the Count's lamenting words, Muno could only sigh inwardly as well.

‘He's convinced that I condoned it.’

He had tried to create an alibi by getting a little hurt precisely for this reason.

He briefly resented his abnormally resilient body, but he couldn't deny it now.

He confessed his inner circumstances as if giving up.

“How could I have stopped the Princess?

Besides, the place she wanted to go was the royal family……”

As he trailed off, seeing the Count's eyes narrow sharply at his words.

“You knew that the one Roanna received a proposal from was a prince, didn't you?”

……Oh dear.

He was tricked.

“I-I don't know who he is. I never asked, and the Princess didn't tell me either!”

“Is that important now, you brat!”

The Count's rock-like face, which had been growling, was suddenly right in front of him, and before he could avoid it, a huge hand snatched Muno's left cheek.

“My family, which has maintained neutrality for 300 years, is about to get involved in the succession to the throne! And in these suspicious times, no less!!”

As he shouted into his eardrum, it felt like it would burst.

Not only that, but the monstrous strength that lifted his body by grabbing his cheek with his fingers was an even bigger problem.

He struggled in his own way, but the fingers, which didn't budge as if they were industrial robot tongs, were all he could do to hold onto his arm and prevent the flesh of his cheek from being torn off.

“Ughhhh. N-no. Y-your excellency. This, is not ri……”

“What's not right! I treat your father, Ryan, like my own son.

Your mother is my daughter.

So what's the big deal about roughing up my grandson a bit!”

He, an adopted son with no blood relation, was suddenly recognized as the Count's real grandson, but he wasn't happy at all.

‘What am I supposed to do! What should I have done!?’

He just, felt so wronged that tears welled up…….

Yes, it was because he was wronged. Not because it hurt.

‘Damn it.’

I'll make the Princess pay for this dearly.

Just as he was escaping reality by thinking about what kind of compensation he would receive from the monster's granddaughter instead of the monster in front of him.

The grip on his cheek loosened.

Thump.

“A man crying over something like that.”

Seeing the Count click his tongue as he let go of his body, Muno ground his teeth and shouted.

“Aghhh. I didn't cry! It was just a little……. Tsk! A little!

Because I was wronged!

Ah, and what was I really supposed to do!?

The Princess said she was going! Even Sir Karina couldn't win……”

As he shouted, showing his temper, his voice gradually faded as he saw the Count's eyes narrow again.

“Are you done?”

“……A little more left.”

“Right. Go ahead and finish.”

Was it a delusion that the gesture of his hand seemed like that of an executioner bestowing final mercy on a death row inmate?

‘Damn it.’

Muno, feeling immense pressure, still opened his mouth.

He wanted to say what he had to say, even if he got beaten up more.

“If you really cherish the Princess, just let her be.

Restricting her freedom and forcing her to do things she doesn't want to do is not the way to be for your granddaughter.”

There might be individual differences, but everyone gets stressed in society.

But if even the family, who should be relieving or comforting that stress, torments them, even a mentally strong person will gradually become worn out.

That was what he meant.

But the reaction was not so good.

“What? What do you know about Roanna……!?”

“I don't know her well. But the Princess I saw looked like a wildflower that would wither and die in a greenhouse.”

At those words, the Count, who was about to say something again, closed his mouth.

He had dared to compare the family's jewel to a wildflower, but the analogy was strangely persuasive.

The Count, who had been looking at Muno with an incredulous expression, let out a deep sigh.

“Hah. You, I take back what I said about you resembling your father.”

“……?”

“You're much worse. Ryan, that fellow, raised someone even worse than himself.

He would eventually break his stubbornness when I got this angry. Hsss.”

And as if he had never been angry, he let out a dry laugh and patted his shoulder.

“I'm sorry for being short-tempered, old man.”

Suddenly?

‘Does this old man have bipolar disorder?’

He found himself glaring at him with a strange thought.

Fortunately, the Count received his impudent gaze with a bitter smile.

“I've lived my whole life looking forward, but when I looked back in my old age, I found that I had ruined the most important thing, raising my children.

The granddaughter who at least showed some promise tried to escape my embrace when I tried to hold her warmly.

No, maybe it was because I was like this that my children went astray.”

“A hundred per……”

“What?”

“No, it's nothing. I didn't say anything.”

At the gaze that was glaring at him again, Muno put on a brave face.

At that, the Count, who smiled wearily at him, slumped back into his chair with a sigh.

“Right. Maybe you're right.

But I am a person who has to look after not only my family but also the affairs of the state.

The royal situation is already in chaos, and if that child gets involved……. No, it's no use saying this now. Just……”

There's no choice but to handle it as best as I can.

The Count muttered, squeezing his eyes shut.

“Then, are you going to accept the Princess's wishes?”

“What can I do now? With that child of the gale attached to her, she might have already arrived at the capital.

Hah. This isn't why I attached an escort.

That child, Karina, is also insolent. Heh.”

“Hah……”

“And Roanna is a bright child, so she will handle herself well. I have no choice but to believe that.”

At the unexpectedly cool attitude, Muno let out a sigh of relief inwardly.

“You've worked hard too. For now, rest. I'll give you a suitable gift, so don't be sulky.”

“Who's sulking……!”

“I'm saying this because I know my hand was excessive, you punk.

I'm sorry.

Consider it a mistake by an old grandfather and accept my apology.”

At those words, Muno let out a dry laugh.

The sight of someone as high as a Count setting aside his pride and apologizing didn't look bad at all.

‘This old man really is a fool for his granddaughter.’

Before that, there was a more important problem left.

“Excuse me, Your Excellency.”

“I told you to go and rest……”

“You've forgotten the most important point.

The Demon Cult.

You must have heard from my father, right?”

“Ah……!”

The fire that began to blaze in Muno's eyes made the Count's mind snap back to attention.