Completely unaware of the knight's misunderstanding and malcontent, Kane simply nodded and stepped out into the training area to demonstrate the Kahn family technique.
Meanwhile, Carter stood there, waiting for Kane to learn his lesson. However, unknown to the two of them, their actions brought forth a huge commotion.
"Hey, isn't that the newbie?"
"What is he doing? Didn't Carter show him the cultivation technique just a few minutes ago?"
But as Kane started, gasps of surprise echoed throughout the training field.
"He's attempting the technique on the first day!"
The crowd was filled with voices of admiration until the inevitable downer spoke up.
"There's no way he can succeed. The only person to ever master the cultivation technique on the first day is the fourth captain: the kind of genius that only appears once every 4000 years. Do you really think this random brat can really be as good as the fourth captain?"
Hearing the man's words, the crowd couldn't help but nod. His words were truly reasonable, but most couldn't help but wish to witness a miracle today.
On the other side of the field, Jae, who was observing from a hidden alcove of the palace, couldn't help but stand up violently. "What the hell is Carter doing!"
Meanwhile, Kane, who was oblivious to the thoughts of all the onlookers, had just one goal: perform the technique! He started slowly, unused to controlling his body to such an extreme degree. But slowly, he found his rhythm. Sometimes his movements were as flexible as a snake, and other times they were rough and ferocious like a tiger. However, there was one thing in common between every movement: they were flawless!
At that moment, the cheers from the crowd were resounding. Carter's mouth dropped open. As someone who had just deemed Kane a lost cause, he was immediately proven wrong in the most spectacular way possible. Wasn't this the definition of jumping to conclusions? At the moment, Carter felt more than a little guilty. Because of mere speculation, he had endangered an outstanding genius like Kane.
In fact, now that he had time to think, he realized his train of thought just a moment ago made no sense. Kane had only stood in place for around three seconds. Assuming he was comprehending the demonstration, three seconds was a ridiculously short time to do so. It would make no sense for him to be impatient unless...
"Did someone manipulate my thoughts?" Carter wondered.
But that was impossible! As a knight captain, Carter was naturally privy to some secrets. As far as he knew, Lord Darius was an incredibly powerful magus in the magus world. None of them would dare make trouble in the castle. Unable to come to a conclusion, Carter could only attempt to reconcile with Kane before the boy realized the gravity of his actions.
Putting on his best smile, Carter sheepishly walked up to Kane.
"H-how outstanding! As expected of a geniu-"
"Carter!"
The smile on Carter's face immediately froze as he turned to the owner of the voice.
Seeing Jae storm over with a furious look on his face, Carter inadvertently stood at attention.
"What the hell are you doing!? Who told you Kane could start training techniques so early!?"
Carter did not dare look into Jae's eyes as he spoke.
"I don't know, sir! My mind wasn't my own!"
Jae's aura was flaring, but hearing Carter's words, he stopped and frowned. His mind wasn't his own? What was that supposed to mean? Jae knew Carter wasn't an idiot; as a knight captain, he had to be incredibly intelligent. For him to say something so strange... Jae looked to Kane, but Kane was even more clueless. He had just demonstrated a technique, and the next thing he knew, Jae ran in and started yelling.
But even more importantly, Jae was a knight!
[I knew it! Only a genius like me could guess that the servant would be a knight the moment I met him!]
The only problem was... wasn't it a little early for him to reveal himself? The servant was supposed to act as the perfect butler! During times of safety, the servant does all things perfectly, but when danger comes, the butler erupts with mysterious power! Wasn't that domineering? But what was this?
Seeing Kane's dazed look, Jae turned back to scold Carter again but was interrupted by yet another voice.
"It was me!"
"Milady!?"
Immediately, all of the knights and apprentices, except Jae and Carter, dropped what they were doing and kneeled. At the same time, Jae immediately dropped the topic and stood at attention alongside Carter. He watched Violet walk over from behind a weapons rack with a confused look in his eyes. As if she hadn't been hiding in such a strange place, Violet flipped her hair and grinned.
"I was testing a new spell. I wasn't sure if it would work on a knight, so naturally, I went to the training fields to find out."
As if by magic, all of the anger drained from Jae's face, and it was immediately replaced with a wry smile.
"Milady, if you needed a knight to test your magic on any of the knights here would be glad to volunteer. Why must you do so without informing anyone?"
Violet shrugged.
"It kind of ruins the point if they know about it beforehand."
Jae looked helpless. Clearly, he had long since gotten used to this young lady's antics. However, Kane, who didn't even know what was wrong in the first place, couldn't help but ask.
"Milady, what exactly happened?"
Violet smiled at Kane mischievously and shrugged. "Just a harmless little prank."
Kane didn't believe it for a minute. Looking at the stunned look on Carter's face and Jae's helpless expression, it was clear that the lady had just done something dangerous. A thought shot through his head at that moment, causing him to stare at Violet suspiciously.
"What would have happened if I'd failed the technique?"
"Oh, it's nothing bad; you probably just would have been crippled. But don't worry; you'd still have magic, right? Anyways I was confident you wouldn't fail."
Kane broke out into a cold sweat. He never knew that Violet could be this insidious!
[She and that asshole Darius are definitely related!]
Ignoring Kane, Violent turned back to Jae.
"Plans have changed. Father has decided that Nigel here must accompany me when I leave next week. Since he's talented enough to learn the family technique, I hope you can teach him everything before he leaves. Will that be a problem?"
Jae hurriedly shook his head. "I'll have it done immediately, milady!"
With confirmation, Violet confidently left the courtyard. Immediately, as if by magic, the crowd hurriedly dispersed from their kneeling stances before resuming their training. The only signs Violet was ever there were the three stunned men standing in the middle of the training yard.
A long while passed before Kane turned to Jae. "Has she always been like this?"
Jae scratched his head, unsure of how to respond. He had been exposed as a knight the day after he went undercover. So what happened to the super-skilled servant trope? Wasn't he supposed to be the perfect servant before exposing himself as a knight in a dangerous situation? So what was cool about this? Nothing!
"Umm, Sir Nigel...?"
Kane looked at Jae's awkward response and immediately realized what was wrong. Reaching out, he clapped Jae on the soldier.
"Relax! I might have a fancy title, but I'm just an apprentice right now. Aren't you a knight? Just treat me as an equal!"
Hearing that, Jae became even more awkward. Kane frowned. Why did Jae still seem uncomfortable?
[Did I become worse at talking after I died?]
Seeing the two men trying to communicate, Carter finally decided to step in.
"Sir Nigel, I don't think that would be appropriate. Sir Jae isn't an ordinary knight."
Kane looked at him curiously.
"How so?"
Carter coughed and looked at Jae as if asking for permission. It was only when he nodded that Carter spoke.
"As I was saying, Sir Jae isn't an ordinary knight. He's the previous knight captain! He resigned when he broke through to grand knight!"