Dark Sword Castle, Infirmary.
The third building in the castle was completely converted into a hospital. Here, priests specializing in Divine Power took care of all the patients in Black Sword Castle. It was midnight, so the infirmary was completely quiet.
Class A was currently prioritizing theoretical classes, so injuries were very few.
Finn was a third-year priest. He belonged to the Church of Light, which worshipped Luxuria, the God of Light. As a priest specializing in Divine Power, he was in the middle of the hierarchy in the castle. But he was on night watch.
Because his superiors had asked him to.
"I'm so bored."
He had nothing to do but read the scripture. He was about to fall asleep while turning to the next page of the scripture.
Bam!
The door to the infirmary burst open.
"Doctor! Young master!"
Finn jumped up in fright and looked at the nanny at the door. Her light-colored clothes were dyed dark red, and the worried look on her face was heart-wrenching. The little boy she held in her arms didn't even look ten years old.
"Calm down, what happened?"
But after a moment he too was startled.
"Wait, young master?"
Currently, there was only one young master in the Dark Sword Castle who was this age.
It was the seventh young master, Cain.
Finn jumped up from his seat and used the best spell a third-rate priest could use, the 'Healing Lantern', while channeling Divine Power through his body. This would buy the young master a few extra minutes.
"Get him on the stretcher now!"
Finn picked up a few magical stones and crushed them. He looked at the wounds on Cain's body as he continued to use the Healing Lantern.
"'My Goddess, what the hell is this?'
He had two different wounds, one on his abdomen. His abdomen had been pierced with a knife and a deep cut had been made from his right shoulder to his tibia. The cut was so deep that even the bones were visible.
'If it was a little deeper, I wouldn't have a chance.'
"Healing Aura, Purification, Healing Lantern..."
Both wounds on Cain's body were very dangerous. One pierced his stomach. The other damaged several tissues and almost cut his heart. Finn managed to stop the bleeding in time with his quick intervention.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The magical stones were shattering one after another, and Cain was collecting some of the blood he had lost. After about fifteen minutes, Finn removed his bloody hands from Cain's chest. There was a limit to what the Divine Power could do.
"We need to keep him under observation for a week. Now you must tell us what happened to the young master to bring him to this state."
Anna told the story from the beginning with teary eyes. Finn recorded the incident while listening to it from beginning to end. It was not his job, but knowing the condition in which the patient was injured could be useful in the treatment process.
"Stay calm and stay with the young master. I will inform the guards."
Finn hurriedly left the infirmary and set off to inform the guards. Anna looked at Cain lying quietly with sad eyes.
"Young master..."
---
Everyone in the Ashborne family knew how brutal succession wars were. It was rare for more than one sibling to be left. But this was the first time they had ever seen anything like this. Since Henry the Fratricide, this was the first time such an assassination had taken place.
Cain, the hero of the incident, was a very strange boy. His vast knowledge made him the theoretical equal of the A class. There had been more than ten assassinations so far. Each time several people had died. Among them were servants, guards, or attendants.
After the eighth assassination, Cain decided to use all the privileges of being Ashborne's matrilineal descendant. He killed anyone who showed aggressive behavior towards him on the spot and tortured the servants and attendants.
The hierarchy at Ashborne was very strict.
Anyone who was not a member of the family was no better than a slave. Therefore, even though Cain killed someone, he did not face any sanction other than a minor punishment.
He had many haters.
But there was also a considerable number of people who sympathized with him. From the moment he was born, he was attacked, ostracised, and oppressed in every way. It wasn't his fault that he had such a corrupt personality.
But none of his experiences had brought him closer to death than now.
A week after the assassination, Cain regained consciousness. Ten minutes after he regained consciousness, several people came to visit him.
One of them was a tall man with blond hair resembling a lion's mane and ocean-blue eyes. The man looked so delicate that he could have been mistaken for a woman.
"I greet you, Young Master. My name is Constantine, the administrator and acting commander of the Dark Sword Castle."
The Immortal Dark Knight, Constantine.
He was a veteran Dark Knight who had followed his family patriarch even in his youth. As a knight at the peak of Sword Master, he was the second most powerful person in the Dark Sword Castle. Since the commander of the castle only knew how to fight, Constantine was in complete command.
Cain straightened his body and looked intently at Constantine. His blue eyes were like an endless ocean. He was dressed like a butler, but his neck tingled every second he looked at him.
"Pleased to meet you, Constantine."
As his superior and elder, Cain was supposed to be respectful. But as expected, he ignored the entire hierarchy.
Constantine kept his cool.
"From what Miss Anna told us and the bodies, we have confirmed that the assassins were at the beginning of the Sword Expert level. The central area of the Dark Sword Castle is protected by a special formation. Unless a captain-level officer gives permission, people at the Sword Expert level and above cannot enter."
Cain laughed coldly, and Constantine continued without a care in the world.
"But today we see that the formation is not as perfect as we thought. They were able to create an opening in a node in the eastern region and break in. This kind of work can only be done by a professional Order Master or a person who knows the formation very well."
The meaning behind these words was not hidden at all. The templates of the formation had been leaked and there were very few people who could do it.
"I swear to you, we had nothing to do with this. I will investigate it thoroughly and turn the culprits over to you. I, Constantine, swear on my honor and dignity."
Constantine bowed his head and sincerely took his oath. A technique was working where even the slightest doubt in one's mind could disrupt the flow of Mana. For Constantine, an oath was as important as his life.
"This is not your fault, Constantine. It's quite possible that the assassins had a motive. After all, this is the Ashborne Family, not the Church of Light."
Constantine didn't speak for a moment.
"We may not have been able to prevent it, but I can vouch that no future assassin will ever get to you."
"How will you do that?"
"We will give you a manor house in the northern part of the castle. The manor will be in a heavily guarded area, so no entity will be able to approach you without my authorization."
Cain nodded. The room he was currently staying in was one of the rooms in the A-class dormitory. Since he would have his own private mansion, he would not be restricted by dormitory rules. He would have his own servants and guards to protect the mansion.
"You will also have a chaperone whose sole duty is to protect you."
"A chaperonen?"
"Chris, come in."
The door to the room opened and in walked an elegant knight who appeared to be in his early twenties. He had a metal breastplate and shoulder pads protecting his heart and brown eyes that glowed like fire. He was the color of chestnut. The aura emanating from his body signaled that he was at the early Sword Master level.
"Until a few years ago, he was a rising star among the Knights of Order. With a sudden order, he was assigned to the Dark Sword Castle and became the most talented officer under the command of the Dark Sword Brigade. Don't be fooled by his youth, he is quite talented."
Chris stepped forward and bowed with one knee on the ground.
"I salute the young master."