Evermore Royal Palace, Throne Room
Three men who look like they're in their late 20s were found having a discussion. One of them was sitting on the throne with a crown on his head, his short golden hair and eyes shone through the glass panels that surrounded the wall.
At his right is his most trusted advisor, Marquis Malford Adlard, with long black hair, red eyes, and a calm expression that shows intelligence.
And last but not least, a man who's kneeling with one knee facing the throne, with short black hair that has been combed back and sharp blue eyes, is Viscount Demacia Campbell.
"So, Viscount Campbell, explain everything you found."
"Yes, Your Majesty. It looks like the bandit that kidnapped Princess Charlotte is using some kind of Illusion Magic Tool to hide their camp."
"Illusion Magic Tool? Do mere bandit brigands have the resources to afford such a thing?"
"After further investigation, it looks like one of the bandits was a former member of the Hooded Brotherhood; most probably he is their leader. There's a chance that he stole the Illusionary tool before running away to the forest after he got kicked out of his group."
"Tell me everything about this man—who was he and why he get kicked out?"
"The man himself is not a high profile; he was a second-rate assassin working under the name of the 'Hooded Brotherhood' before he got kicked out because he killed the wrong target, an innocent civilian."
"The Hooded Brotherhood... I know those Vigilantes will screw up one way or another. We need to expand our effort to search for their hideout, we cannot let them run rampant any longer. Is there anything else, Viscount Campbell?"
"Of course, Your Majesty. We also found the Laures Family in the Bandit Camp, it looks like their carriage got attacked during the trip to the Capital."
"Laures Family, it's been a while since I heard that name."
"Yes, Your Majesty. After the death of Henry Laures three years ago, his wife, Abigail, has been laying low for years and has decided not to continue her husband's business; instead, she's been spending time with her daughter in her mansion. To think this is how we'll meet again."
"Henry Laures was a great man, I still remember the time when he was still a small merchant before becoming one of the most influential in the kingdom."
"Yes, he used to be a good friend of mine."
"Viscount Campbell, do you think all of this is a coincidence?"
"Not at all, Your Majesty. Princess Charlotte getting kidnapped is already suspicious enough, and then the Laures Family on the very same night. Even though the Laures have weakened considerably, most regular bandits would not attack a carriage guarded by a Knight. Though they have a superior number at the time, a regular Knight could take on more than thirty people by himself. Except for the former Assassin, they have no combat prowess at all to risk such a target."
"Then, a third party is definitely pulling the strings here."
"Most probably, I already sent my men to survey the whole area, but we couldn't find anything else."
"Is there any chance that this third-party individual or group is the one sending them the Illusionary tool?"
"The chances are high, though considering we found no gold coin at all, there's a chance they got bought by the magic tools, we will continue the investigation."
"I'll leave that to you then, Captain of the Blue Knight Order's 4th Division, Viscount Demacia Campbell; find out who dares to plot my daughter's harm. That's an order from your very Monarch."
"Understood, Your Majesty. This subject will not disappoint you."
As Viscount Demacia left the room, the man who's kept silent all this time finally spoke:
"Your majesty, the Maid who manipulated Princess Charlotte into running away from the castle has been executed."
"To think the enemy would have reached the inside castle of the Royal Palace...is there anything you got from her during the interrogation?"
"Unfortunately, no, your majesty. We've tried a lot of methods, but the maid refuses to say anything. No, rather than not saying anything, it's more like she couldn't say anything. Looks like the true mastermind has broken her mind with Mental Magic."
"That's truly a shame, doesn't it, Marquis Adlard?"
The King looks into his most-trusted advisor's eyes, locking them in search of suspicion.
"It is Your Majesty, I advise you to double our spy inside the palace, increase the number of night watchmen and patrols, and keep a trusted knight with Princess Charlotte at all times."
Marquis Adlard replied with his usual poker face.
"Very well, let's do that."
"Understood, then this subject will carry out your order immediately."
Looking at his subordinate walking out of the room, King Arthur thought to himself.
'Don't you dare disappoint me, Adlard.'
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"Onee-chan, you're way too strong~"
"Get up Finn, you should be able to do at least this much."
Hello there, this is Finn. As you can see, I'm still in the middle of getting beaten up by my older sister.
"There's no way I'm able to beat Onee-chan though~"
Yes, you're exactly right. This is the process that I have to do to play my role fully: to be a Mob That Operates In the Shadow, I have to show complete mediocrity of my skill when I'm in the light.
I called it the "Mediocre boy who's actually very powerful" operation. I have a good naming sense, as expected of me.
Apparently, I got reincarnated into a house of a Viscount family, House Campbell, which is the house that for generations has been proud of its Knightly Legacy.
So for me to live up to their name, I have to train myself in order to become a Magic Knight in the future.
"Onee-chan~ I'm tired, you've been beating me over and over again for two hours. Can we stop?"
"Not yet. Stand up and prepare your magic."
Let me introduce you to my sister, who is two years older than me. Her name is Valentina Campbell, and she's a really talented person compared to others who are her age.
Since she shows quite a tremendous amount of talent, the expectations of others towards me have also increased, only for them to be disappointed by my very ordinary skills.
At first, everyone seemed kind of down, but after a week passed, they managed to calm down quite easily. Maybe because of my Sister's existence, my family must have thought their family name and future would not be in shambles. How rude of them.
"Aghh-, hiks, hiks."
As I purposefully fell to the ground, I let my tears fall from my eyes.
"Huft can't be helped. Let's stop this for today. Are you okay? Let me help you up."
"Thank you, Onee-chan..."
"I'm worried about your future Finn. If you don't step up your skill, you'll be looked down on by the others, and Onee-chan can't protect you forever."
"But, Onee-chan is just too strong. It's not fair."
"And that's exactly why, I'm more talented than you, so you have to keep up with hard work so you don't fall behind!"
"Fueee~, but I don't like fighting."
"Huft, enough. Just go back to your room and think about what I said, you need to stop slacking off every time you have the chance."
"Y-yes!"
And that's how my acting training today ended, just like the usual day.
Now that the nuisance finally gone, let's talk about something more important; Magic.
Yes, just the thought of how I would use this new power makes me tremble with excitement. This opens up a whole new door of possibilities for me. I feel incredible.
There are many types of magic in this world, the most common of which is physical enhancement, which, as the name implies, enhances the body of the caster. I don't really know how it works, but it just does. Who cares about the complicated stuff? Basically, when I concentrated this thing called "Mana" into my body and focused it on a singular part, my body became incredibly strong, like really strong. I could punch down a tree as an 8-year-old.
The other common one is elemental magic, there are 7 types of elemental magic in this world: Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Light, and Darkness.
Which element did I learn, you ask? Darkness, of course; what else? It's darkness after all!
Darkness attribute is a pretty rare one to have since one attribute depends on one compatibility with the elements, and Darkness being as the rarest one.
When I got my compatibility checked with the Mana Crystal, it turned a dark blue color.
Meaning my compatibility is Water, followed by Darkness.
I told my parents that I only wanted to learn the Water attribute because I wanted to focus on one element only, and they agreed since Water is indeed my strongest compatibility.
Though of course I only do that because I don't want to catch any unwanted attention.
Water is one of the most common compatibilities out there, and with this, I could blend in perfectly with the others.
Behind the scenes though, my mastery of Darkness Magic is already at a high-intermediate level.
Don't get me wrong, this is by no means an easy feat. To achieve such a level at the age of eight, I need to sacrifice my sleep hours significantly, and even though I manage to keep up because of the Stamina Potion that I bought secretly from the market using the money from Bandit Hunting, the Potion effect has definitely decreased since I consumed so much of it.
Well, now that my mastery of Darkness is already high enough, it is time for me to focus on water instead. It would be bad if my sister came nagging again about me slacking off training, and it's not like I could improve my Darkness Magic anymore, not now at least. Let me explain!
For the Basic Level Spell, it is indeed possible to learn one without any support, but for the higher level one, like Intermediate for example, one will need a spellbook to learn it, and spellbooks are really expensive.
The only reason I could reach the High-Intermediate level of Darkness magic was because I stole a Darkness Spellbook from the Mansion Treasury.
Ah-, don't worry. I already returned it after I learned every single Spell in it, so it doesn't count as stealing; it was just borrowing without notice, that's all.
By the way, there are Nine Tiers of Magic in this world:
1st:Basic
2nd:High-Basic
3rd:Intermediate
4th:High-Intermediate
5th:Advanced
6th:High-Advanced
7th:Master
8th:High-Master
9th:Legendary
Most Magic Knights in this world stopped their progress at the 4th Level, some because of talent and some because of money, since an Advanced Level Spellbook is really hard to get.
So yeah, to count my power level, I would be on equal footing with a common adult Magic Knight in the Kingdom.
My Sister will reach 2nd tier on her Lightning attribute soon, by the way. What a tremendous talent she has, she's only ten and already that strong.
Usually, you'll need another three years to even learn your first 2nd Tier Magic. When she grows up, she might end up casting 6th-tier magic on a daily basis. Truly terrifying. I mean, she's already terrifying to begin with, but still.
There are still a lot of types of magic out there, like Illusion, Summoning, Charm, etc.
And, yes, I do think to spread out my branch of magic to not just darkness and water but illusion too. In my past lives, I went through a phase of wanting to be a cool Illusionist you know, and now that the chance is right in front of my eyes, I deserve death for letting it slip.
I've learn it a little on my own, but since there was no Illusion Spellbook in the Treasury last time I visited, I have to make do somehow.
At first, I'm thinking to buy it or even steal—I mean, borrowing it for a moment—from a store that sells magical stuff, but Illusion Magic is pretty uncommon, so I'm not too surprised to not find it.
"There's no helping it, looks like I have to visit the Black Market auction pretty soon and hope for Lady Luck."
With this in mind, I stand up to the window in my room with a deep face and look all mysteriously.