The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 11. Carina
“My lord!!! Master Muno!!”
Crash-bang-clatter.
“Ouch!”
“Watch out!”
“I-I’m sorry! It’s urgent……. No, this isn’t the time. My lord!!”
Esna raced down the castle corridor with her usual clamor.
Though today, she seemed even more frantic than usual.
She knew the young lord she was searching for would scold her for this, yet she couldn’t stop her feet.
And soon she spotted her target lurching unsteadily down the hallway, and cried out even louder.
“Master Muno! Big news! Huge news……!!”
Muno stared at the gasping Esna with hollow eyes.
“What……now?”
His pale face looked corpse-like, dark circles hanging all the way down to his nose.
Esna flinched for a moment, then forced a smile.
“Y-your complexion has gotten worse. But this news really will give you strength……I think. Probably.”
“So. What……is it?”
Faced with those lifeless eyes boring into her, her confidence evaporated.
Still, wanting to cheer up the young lord who’d been so dispirited lately, she gathered her courage.
But then.
“The Flower of Trian! The Grand Duchess of House Trian has arrived! She’s so beautiful——”
“Mmm. Right…….”
Before she could finish, the zombie-like young lord simply turned and walked away.
“Wait, my lord! The most beautiful woman in the Northern Kingdom has come to see you! You were going back and forth about whether to come because of ‘that incident,’ and she’s come to see you——”
“I heard you.”
His reply came without turning around.
The listless voice of the shuffling zombie made it clear he had no interest whatsoever in what she’d just told him.
In that moment, Esna couldn’t help but recall a recent conversation with her mistress.
— Muno doesn’t seem interested in marriage or betrothals. That worries me.
— Pardon?
— If Rian inherits House Drasen, Muno’s place becomes awkward. Even if Rian or we wanted to keep him here, Father and Uncle would never allow it.
— So……what should be done?
— Muno must marry into a good family as a son-in-law. It’s best for him too. And House Trian would be ideal.
— Do you think that will happen?
— Of course. Muno no longer has any weaknesses. And awakening before his Coming-of-Age Ceremony is an achievement Father will surely notice. I’ve spread word of it widely, so there’s every chance. As long as Muno is willing, that is.
— ……why does he keep refusing?
— I’m not sure……. Well, he’s still young. That must be it. Hmm……. Esna, why don’t you try to encourage him a bit.
— Me!? You want me to!?
— You’re Muno’s attendant, so the better match he makes, the better your own fortune becomes. Remember that.
Esna hadn’t fully understood the mistress’s earlier reasoning, so that last remark had hit her hardest.
‘I would have to leave House Drasen with Master Muno.’
A heavy sigh escaped her.
She’d never imagined herself departing from Drasen.
‘But if the mistress says so, then it must be so. She’s a clever woman.’
And truth be told, the thought wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
Esna knew well that few nobles were as patient with a loud, mistake-prone servant like her as Muno was.
More than that.
— W-winter, hunger, it’s a hard season. Your family……are you managing?
She didn’t want to be separated from a young lord so considerate that he ensured his servants’ families had food through winter and lean years.
‘When I think about it, he was clever even before——just spoke clumsily.’
There could be no better master than this one.
So for her own remaining life, and for the young lord’s sake as well.
‘Somehow, I must get him to meet a wonderful lady.’
Esna clenched her fists and hurried after Muno once more.
Only.
“The Grand Duchess is so beautiful, you see. Her face is round as the moon, and her skin is fair and porcelain-like…….”
All she could do right now was describe the lovely lady’s appearance, and that frustration gnawed at her.
‘Why must you be this way too…….’
Muno heaved an inner sigh and shot a sideways glare at the chattering Esna.
“A beauty I’ve never seen before…….”
Ah.
Her freckled face was flushed with excitement, and her red hair tumbled as if she couldn’t contain her joy—it almost seemed like she was teasing him.
But knowing that she spoke from genuine concern for him, he couldn’t bring himself to feel angry.
And the information she’d chattered through wasn’t entirely useless to him either.
‘The flower of Trian, or whatever they call her—she actually came? When they said she might not.’
That was the comment that bothered him most.
Under the County of House Trian, there were nine formal nobles in total: three counts and six barons.
Though a baron held a lower rank than a count, House Drasen—being a genuine noble with its own territory—had no reason to bow unconditionally to the houses of other counts.
In other words, the dignities of other nobles could be handled politely and sent on their way without any real consequence.
But a young lady of the House Trian was a different matter entirely.
Nominally his father’s father-in-law, but before that—his liege lord. The granddaughter of Count Enoch Trian.
‘If the eldest daughter happens to take an interest in me, things could get complicated.’
Of course, neither in his past life nor this one had he ever received particularly favorable attention from women, so he wouldn’t mind too much.
But right now he was essentially a commodity on the market.
A prodigy who awakened before his sixteenth birthday.
A wielder of power who subdued a 2-star Knight shortly after his Awakening.
An Adopted Son with no binding ties to House Drasen.
‘In other words, the perfect candidate for a husband to be married into another house.’
He could easily imagine how the story spread to suppress rumors of a mage’s terrorism had landed with the surrounding nobles.
If the eldest daughter was considering staying in Trian rather than marrying out to another territory, then the possibility of him being chosen couldn’t be dismissed entirely.
‘I just have to hope the eldest daughter of Trian shows no interest in a lowly Adopted Son like me.’
Even as he thought this, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the fact that she’d come all the way to Drasen again.
“Sigh…….”
A breath escaped him unbidden.
Noticing this, Esna suddenly changed the subject.
“Oh, right! The knights came with the nobles too! There’s this incredibly huge giant of a man, and even a female knight…….”
She’d brought up exactly the sort of thing that would pique his interest.
‘Right, of course.’
If the nobles had come, their attendant knights would have followed.
“……Tell me more.”
Ever since he’d subdued Ilai and beaten Lodny, the knights of the domain had begun avoiding sparring with him in an oddly deliberate way.
‘Well, I understand.’
The six ordinary knights had been no match for him even before his Awakening, and he’d since put on a performance that demonstrated he could now reliably subdue even 2-star Knights—so it was only natural.
Which meant the only people left who were worth sparring with were his father and Gunter, the knight captain and a 3-star Knight.
Lately both of them were too occupied with preparations for the Coming-of-Age Ceremony and the Monster Wave to spare time for sparring—buried under documents instead.
In other words, his stress from having to learn party etiquette that his mother deemed important was building to unbearable levels, and he had no outlet to release it.
But now, he had one.
“If they’re knights from other noble houses, they’d be curious about my skill, wouldn’t they?”
As he looked at Esna with a thrumming excitement, he watched her face drain of color in real time.
The thought ‘Oh no, I made a mistake!’ showed plainly on his expression.
Esna’s innocence drew a quiet laugh from him, but she panicked and waved her hands frantically.
“N-no causing trouble, you were strictly instructed! By the lady! Absolutely not!”
“I know, I know. I’m not that thoughtless.”
“But you look like you’d cause trouble!?”
“Come on, I wouldn’t.”
“Y-young master! Really!? You absolutely cannot cause trouble……!”
While letting Esna’s words go in one ear and out the other, his feet naturally carried him toward the guest quarters.
‘So what kind of skill do knights from other domains have.’
Just the thought of an exhilarating match was already beginning to ease the stress from his etiquette lessons.
But before he could even leave the manor,
two figures—one enormous, one smaller—blocked his path.
“Black hair, those distinctive Leg Guards and Wrist Guards……. Looks like a match.”
“Yikes!”
As Esna let out a cry of alarm and stumbled backward at the sight of a massively armored knight with a frame like a giant,
a strikingly beautiful female knight standing beside him spoke up.
“Are you Lord Muno Drasen?”
“Ah, yes, I am……but?”
Unable to ascertain the visitor’s status and suddenly approached with such politeness by a breathtakingly beautiful woman he’d never seen in this life, Muno found himself stammering slightly.
The moment he looked at the female knight with bewildered eyes,
“It is an honor to meet you. We are knights of House Trian: Rocam and Carina.”
Thump.
A towering giant who seemed to exceed two meters by a good margin, alongside a blonde beauty, tapped the armor over her heart with her right hand and offered a light bow in salute.
And at that same moment.
“By the order of the Princess Roanna of House Trian, I have come to assess the capabilities of the Young Prince.”
She spoke words he hadn’t anticipated.
“Well, this turned out well…….”
“Your pardon?”
“Ah, I only meant it’s what I’d hoped for.”
Muno grinned at the female knight Carina’s words and offered his reply.
“Are you in earnest?”
“Absolutely. I was already on my way to the guest quarters anyway.”
A flicker of intrigue crossed the eyes of both Rocam and Carina.
Frankly, their request—viewed from an objective standpoint—had been impertinent.
– Observing how he responds to such an improper suggestion is a fine way to gauge one’s character.
Carina, recalling the princess’s orders, laughed somewhat awkwardly.
She hadn’t anticipated that her opponent would actually welcome a sparring match.
‘Well, it shouldn’t be a problem?’
In any case, their primary objective today wasn’t to assess Muno Drasen’s character.
If the other party was willing, then all the better.
“……I heard you’ve only recently undergone your Awakening. And yet you subdued a 2-star Knight.”
“Well, it was largely a matter of favorable matchups.”
Watching Muno shrug, Carina offered a similar smile.
“That achievement caught the princess’s attention. Enough that she undertook this journey despite her father the Grand Prince’s opposition.”
“……That’s quite an honor.”
Even as he spoke, Muno’s brow furrowed slightly.
‘Haven’t you heard the rumors about the princess?’
Seeing his reaction, Carina tilted her head before continuing matter-of-factly.
“Should your capabilities prove inferior to the rumors, the princess intends to return to her house as is. The flower of House Trian, bearing such a reputation…….”
“Look, I hate needless talk. Let’s just spar already. That’s why you came, isn’t it?”
The moment Muno cut her off with a savage grin, the giant knight Rocam standing behind him also stepped forward with a fierce smile.
Thump.
“I am Rocam, a common knight of the Trian Knight Order. I challenge the Grand Prince of House Drasen to a duel.”
Rocam bowed as he planted a greatsword of truly enormous proportions into the ground.
A common knight of the Trian Knight Order, the finest in the kingdom, would certainly be a 2-star, and judging by the tremendous presence emanating from his massive frame and a face that appeared to be in his early twenties at most, he was undoubtedly a promising talent among them.
Yet Muno’s gaze was fixed not on him, but on Carina.
“I’d prefer to face you instead.”
At those words, both Rocam and Carina’s expressions darkened slightly.
“If you think Sir Carina is an easy opponent because she is a woman, you are greatly mistaken…….”
“No, you just look stronger. Aren’t you at least 3-star?”
“Ha…….”
When Muno cut off Rocam’s words with his response, Carina let slip a faint smile.
“You have good instincts. But are you aware how reckless that makes you?”
Her words were an acknowledgment that she had undergone three stages of Evolution and was a Superhuman.
The truth was that most people remained trapped at 1-star or 2-star for their entire lives, never advancing further.
But to be 3-star at what appeared to be mid-twenties was virtually impossible—the mark of a genius, and her confidence was entirely justified.
Yet for Muno, that could be no reason to decline a match.
“Reckless? That’s wisdom. When can you ever get a chance to spar with a strong opponent without worrying for your life? And if there’s no limit on the number of bouts, I’d like to face Sir Rocam too.”
At those words, smiles bloomed simultaneously on both Rocam and Carina’s faces.
There are differences depending on which Evolution Factor one inherits, but the Body Reinforcement Technique fundamentally means pushing the physical body to its absolute limits and transcending those boundaries.
Practitioners who evolved their bodies beyond the boundaries of ordinary humans this way—Superhumans—naturally tended to possess strong combative spirits by default.
Thus they could not help but sense a kinship in Muno’s response.
But then.
“Besides, getting to face such a beauty is an honor in itself.”
Muno had meant it partly as a jest and partly as sincerity—a lighthearted remark to ease the atmosphere.
The moment those words left his mouth, Carina’s expression visibly froze.
“A knight does not tolerate insult, Young Prince.”
Ching.
The fine sword she drew gleamed with a palpable aura of killing intent.
……Why?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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