The Knight Who Devours Magic - Chapter 28

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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 28. Enok Trian
Creak.
The moment the door opened, the Knight Klam walked forward briskly and bowed to someone.
Thud.
“I have completed the orders, sir.”
“Well done.”
A stern gaze swept over Klam, who knelt, then turned toward Muno.
A muscular old man with an imposing build, his snow-white hair combed neatly back.
The white whiskers that ran from his hairline through his philtrum to beneath his jaw made it immediately clear whom Kaine had been imitating.
His blue eyes also resembled Kaine’s, yet his expression was entirely different—where Kaine inspired caution, this man did not.
The moment their eyes met, Muno felt as though he were gazing into a vast, fathomless sea; the old man’s eyes were large and deep beyond measure.
‘What kind of eyes are those…….’
Only when the old man smiled faintly did Muno escape the pressure of that gaze, and he hastily dropped to one knee where he stood, lowering his head.
“Muno Drasen bows before the Rose Blooming Upon Steel, the ruler of the Northern Kingdom.”
The old man, upon seeing this, maintained his enigmatic smile and turned his eyes toward his Knight.
“……Klam. You may take your leave now.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Knight withdrew without hesitation, leaving his lord.
That he made no objection to an outsider like Muno meeting the old man in private while armed was telling.
And no one present found it unusual.
The man before him was Enok Trian—the Six-Star Knight, the bulwark of the North, whom legend said stood on the very threshold of the Seven-Star realm.
Creak.
Thud.
“Muno Drasen……. It seems like only yesterday that Raion was spouting that absurd notion about taking you as an adopted son…….”
Behind the closed door, the old man’s gaze held a deep, evident curiosity.
“……You’ve grown remarkably well.”
At the Count’s words, spoken with what seemed to be satisfaction, Muno could only respond with an awkward laugh.
The man’s eyes suggested he knew him, yet Muno carried no memory of the Count at all.
“You don’t remember me?”
“My father has only told me that you know of me, sir.”
“I see……. Well, true enough—the you of back then seemed quite unstable and dangerous. I couldn’t fathom why Raion would want to take you as his son.”
Dangerous……?
“I am always grateful to my father.”
“Yes, you should be. But now that I see you, it seems Raion made a fine choice after all. You’re a curious one, that much is certain. You seem dull at first glance, yet at times you see people quite well…….”
“He raised me well, sir.”
It was not that he saw people well—it was that he raised him well.
Watching Muno speak with courtesy yet say what needed saying, Enok Trian chuckled softly.
“Exactly. I’ve raised a man just like myself. Even that occasional rudeness—you’ve inherited it perfectly.”
“……My apologies.”
“No apologies necessary. If you were the sort to let your tongue run wild, I’d have had something to say about it…….”
The Count laughed again and ran his gaze over him once more.
“Your body is well-balanced, so it doesn’t seem you’ve chosen a one-sided evolution. And yet you’re quite solid—so it’s not simply that your mind improved as the rumors suggest. There’s a hint of Raion’s excess about you, but it’s distinctly different from him…….”
Caught off guard.
“……It seems you’ve taken his excess as a seed and cultivated something new from it. A Third-Stage Trait born from evolving that excess? Hmm. Yes. Well, you’d need at least that much. For a freshly awakened one to manage anything close to sparring with a Three-Star Knight…….”
He’d arrived at an interpretation remarkably close to the truth.
‘Hah…….’
Can a Six-Star Knight truly deduce all of this just by looking?
Though unsettled, one word the Count had spoken caught Muno’s attention.
“A Third-Stage Trait, you say……?”
At Muno’s question, which escaped him unbidden, the Count tilted his head.
“Hmm? You don’t know? Raion would certainly understand…….”
“I’ve never heard of it before.”
“Ah. He’s probably kept it from you so you wouldn’t grow conceited. It’s just like him. Even worrying over such unnecessary things. Though such distinction isn’t always a blessing.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Never mind. Ask your father about the rest.”
Just as Muno was beginning to relax despite his earlier anxiety, the atmosphere shifted.
“……I’ve no wish to advise the man who allowed my granddaughter to run away.”
The conversation, which had been flowing with good will, suddenly turned terse.
And then came the true subject.
As the Count, who had been smiling all along, began to glare at him, Muno had no choice but to laugh uncomfortably and offer an explanation.
“It was unavoidable.”
“Yet there’s no sign you tried to stop it at all? Your body is perfectly intact.”
The implication seemed to be: even if your body shattered, you should have blocked it.
What could he possibly say to that?
“My apologies.”
He’d hoped a simple bow would let him weather the storm, but the Count showed no intention of letting the matter pass gently.
“Did you not block it, or couldn’t you?”
An interrogating tone.
Those blue eyes fixed on him bore a striking resemblance to his granddaughter, and rather than offer further excuses, Muno Drasen withdrew Roanna’s letter from his breast and handed it over.
“I believe this will explain matters, sir.”
“Insolent whelp. An adult asks you a question and…. Tsk.”
He snorted dismissively, yet rose abruptly to accept the letter.
Thump.
In that single simple motion of standing, Muno felt as though a colossal mountain range were rising up to crush him.
‘Hm?’
It wasn’t merely the pressure emanating from his nearly two-meter frame and physique belying his advanced years.
‘Within that enormous body, something compressed sits tightly without a single gap.’
The mere act of rising from the chair sent a heavy tremor through the room.
The air displaced by that movement transmitted a weight entirely its own.
‘This is a Six-Star Knight….’
Having indirectly experienced the power of a high-ranked superhuman, Muno found himself naturally studying the Count’s entire frame with unblinching intensity.
Perhaps he’d been too obvious about it.
The Count glanced up from the letter, as if sensing that gaze.
Muno immediately lowered his head, yet in that brief moment, the Count’s expression seemed to be improving, growing warmer.
And that impression was no illusion.
“You’ve grown into a better young man than I expected.”
“Sir?”
“Most would avoid Roanna once they understood her abilities. But you didn’t.”
Ah.
“The young lady has always treated me with such kindness….”
“Even so, if you’d known where Roanna was going, you should have stopped her, fool. A man who read her ability at first glance—how could you not foresee this?”
Muno could only sigh inwardly at the Count’s lament.
‘He’s convinced I allowed it.’
He’d originally hoped to build an alibi by suffering a few injuries himself.
His body’s abnormal healing had momentarily seemed a curse, but now there was no way to deny it.
Resigned, he began laying out the truth.
“How could I have stopped her, sir? Especially when her destination was the Royal Palace….”
Watching the Count’s eyes narrow sharply, Muno’s words trailed away.
“You knew. You knew it was a prince who sent the proposal to Roanna.”
Damn.
He’d walked right into it.
“I don’t know who it is, sir! I never asked, and the young lady never told me!”
“Does that matter now, you fool!”
The Count’s craggy face drew impossibly close, and before Muno could so much as flee, a massive hand seized his left cheek.
“Three centuries our house has maintained neutrality, and now we’re about to be drawn into succession politics! At a time like this, when everything is so unstable!!”
Shouted directly into his ear, it felt as though his eardrums might rupture.
Worse still, the hand gripping his cheek by the fingertips was now lifting his entire body with terrifying strength.
He thrashed and struggled for resistance, but against those fingers—as unyielding as an industrial crane’s pincers—he could only grab at the arm and brace to keep his cheek from tearing.
“Ngh-agh-aaah. N-no. G-grandf-this isn’t r-right….”
“What do you mean ‘no’! Your father Raion, I’ve treated like a son. Your mother is my daughter. So what’s a little roughing up of my grandson!”
Though he was merely an adopted child with not a drop of blood relation, he’d suddenly been recognized as the Count’s true grandson—yet he felt no joy whatsoever.
‘What do you want from me! What was I supposed to have done!?’
Simply… tears threatened to spill, and all he felt was an overwhelming sense of injustice.
Yes, it was injustice that grieved him. Not the pain.
‘Just wait.’
He’d extract the full price from the young lady for this.
As he mentally fled the present horror by fantasizing about what recompense he’d demand from that monster’s granddaughter, the grip on his cheek suddenly relaxed.
The hand let go.
Thump.
“A man doesn’t cry over something like that.”
Muno ground his teeth and cried out as he watched the count—the man who had finally released him—click his tongue in disapproval.
“Ugh! I wasn’t crying! I was just upset, my eyes got a little wet……. Pah! A little! Just upset! And what was I supposed to do differently, sir!? She said she wanted to go! Knight Karina couldn’t even stop her……!”
He’d vented his anger in a rush of words, but the moment he caught sight of the count’s eyes narrowing dangerously, his voice shrank to almost nothing.
“Have you finished.”
“……There’s still a bit more, sir.”
“Go ahead. Say the rest.”
If his gesture resembled that of an executioner granting one final mercy to the condemned, that would be reading too much into it.
‘This is it.’
Muno felt an enormous weight pressing down on him, yet he forced his lips open anyway.
He had things to say, even if it meant taking more blows for it.
“If you truly cherish your granddaughter, then let her go. Restricting her freedom and forcing her into things she doesn’t want—that’s not how you care for her.”
Stress was inevitable in society, different for each person perhaps, but inevitable all the same.
Yet if the very family meant to soothe that stress and offer solace instead became a source of torment, even the strongest spirit would gradually wither.
That was the heart of what he meant to say.
The count’s reaction was not encouraging.
“What? What could you possibly know about Roanna—!?”
“I don’t know much. But the lady I’ve seen is like a wildflower slowly dying in a hothouse.”
The count’s mouth snapped shut, words caught before they could emerge.
It was bold—almost audacious—to compare the jewel of the count’s house to a common wildflower. Yet there was something undeniably persuasive in the metaphor.
The count, who had been staring at Muno in disbelief, let out a long, heavy sigh.
“Ha. I’ll take back what I said about you resembling your father.”
“……?”
“You’re far worse. Raion raised someone more stubborn than I am. When I used to get angry like this, he’d eventually give in. Tch.”
As if to dismiss his own anger retroactively, he let out a hollow laugh and patted Muno’s shoulder.
“Forgive an old man’s temperament. I spoke harshly.”
Just like that?
‘Does this old man have bipolar swings?’
The absurd thought naturally drew a glare from Muno.
Fortunately, the count accepted that irreverent look with a wry smile.
“I’ve spent my whole life looking forward, and now that I’m old and looking back, I see I’ve made a mess of raising my own children. I tried to hold my promising granddaughter close and warm, but she wants to escape my embrace. Perhaps my own failings are the reason my children went astray.”
“One hundred percent—…”
“What?”
“No, nothing, sir. I didn’t say anything at all.”
As the count’s gaze turned back to him with renewed suspicion, Muno kept his expression perfectly blank.
That earned a soft laugh from the count, who then sank back into his chair with another sigh.
“Perhaps you’re right. But I’m not just responsible for this household—I must also tend to state affairs. The royal succession is already in chaos; if that girl becomes entangled in it as well……. No, it’s pointless to say such things now. I suppose I simply…….”
Have no choice but to make the best of it.
The count murmured this with his eyes squeezed shut.
“So you’re willing to accept the lady’s wishes, then?”
“What else can I do at this point? With Jilpung beside her, she may already have reached the Royal Capital. Ha. That’s not what I appointed an escort for. Knight Karina is equally infuriating. Hmph.”
“Mm…….”
“And Roanna is a clever girl—she’ll conduct herself properly, I trust. That’s all I can do.”
Muno exhaled quietly in relief at the count’s surprisingly composed attitude.
“You’ve worked hard. Rest now. I’ll prepare a suitable gift for you, so don’t sulk about this.”
“Who’s sulking—!?”
“I know my hand was too heavy. I’m telling you this because I’m sorry. An old man made a mistake—accept my apology.”
Muno let out a hollow laugh at that.
It was strange to see a man of the count’s station set aside his pride to apologize, and yet it didn’t look bad at all.
‘This man really is completely smitten with his granddaughter.’
But before that realization, a far more pressing matter remained unresolved.
“Pardon me, Your Excellency.”
“I told you to rest…….”
“You’ve forgotten the most important matter. The Demon Cult. Surely your father told you about them?”
“Ah……!”
The fire that suddenly kindled in Muno’s eyes jolted the count’s mind back to clarity.

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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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