Free Web NovelChapter 3: Setting the Board [1]
The Dark Empire had five Great Houses, each of the houses having expertise into five different branches of Dark art.
Among those houses, House Orlok, was prominent in Necromancy Art.
Every new born member on their bloodline was given very strict and special training starting from the age of three.
By the age of seven they mostly awakened Dark Mana in them, and till they reach the age of ten they can perform Magic up to Grade 2.
The leader of the house was Orion leth Orlok, father of Rian and Lilly.
Since birth Rian had been a special kid among all of his other cousins.
Unlike them he was told that he didn’t awaken Dark Mana, but rather was born with it.
By the mere age of three where others show traces of Awakening, Rian was already able to perform Magic up to Grade 2.
By the age of five he reached Grade 3, by ten he could easily perform Grade 4, and by the age of 15 he could perform Grade 6 Dark Magic.
Rian was considered a Genius not only in his House, but in the entire Dark Empire.
Even the Empress herself thought very highly of him.
But even so, he was not liked by the people around him.
The reason all fell onto Rian’s attitude.
He was through and through.... A lunatic.
The entire state, Garissa (capital state of Dark Empire) had named Rian a lunatic.
He never listened to others, and just like a stubborn spoiled brat does stuff his own twisted way.
Even when the Empress called Rian over for tea, he simply wrote back to her... "No." in the entire letter.
The messenger nearly fainted delivering it.
’I did a good one on her.’
Sitting inside the carriage, Rian smiled to himself as he recalled the incident. Though, in truth, he’d pulled far crazier stunts back then.
’I’m a new leaf now, though.’
He repeated it in his head like a mantra. And he meant it.
After living through a war, after watching everyone he knew turn to ash in his arms, the old pettiness felt small.
He’d used corpses of his friends and families as undeads.
A man who’d been through all that didn’t have the energy to be a lunatic anymore.
’Though Jeanne kept calling me stubborn right up to the end.’
He clicked his tongue.
’...That woman... the nerve. Just wait.... Next time I see you, I’m telling her she snores like a demon.’
"What’s with this smile?"
Lilly had been watching her brother since the carriage first started moving.
She couldn’t say why, but Rian had been acting strange today.
For one, he’d actually agreed to attend a gathering this large, the Rian she knew would rather be buried alive.
But that wasn’t even the strangest part.
He’d been... nice to her. He hadn’t lectured her even once about wasting time. Heck he’d held the carriage door open for her.
The change was too sudden, but Lilly identified what might be the real reason.
"You know, I read in a book that men start acting differently once they fall in love."
"Burn every book you own."
"Heh. So it’s true, then?"
"...Why do you ladies always tie everything back to love?"
Rian was starting to get genuinely irritated.
Lilly raised both hands to her cheeks and tilted her head, her voice melted into something dreamy and theatrical.
"Why love, you ask? Because love makes the birds sing sweeter and the flowers bloom brighter! Brother! Just imagine holding hands under the moonlight and whispering each other’s names like a prayer! It’s, oooo~, it’s everything. One day a dashing someone will sweep me off my feet and we’ll dance until dawn and—"
"I’m getting out, we’re still moving but I don’t care."
"Hey! I was joking..."
. . .
"Wow. A lot of people came."
Rian couldn’t help the awe in his voice as he took in the grand hall stretching out before them.
Families of high-class aristocrats, some of whom even Rian recognized, were seated around round tables with their families.
Several waiters moved between them serving drinks, and an orchestra played a soft, sweet melody that filled the vast space.
Lilly glanced at him.
"Having second thoughts?"
"Too bad. I’m not letting you run."
"Lilly! You are finally here."
Two girls around Lilly and Rian’s age came hurrying over the moment they spotted her.
’Her friends?’
"Oh?" Lilly blinked at them, strangely his eyes settled on one of the girl.
’Huh? She is here too?’
" "Happy Birthday Lilly." "
The Two girls said at the same time.
"Mara and Juliana, thank you very much, and sorry I took so long, my brother here took his sweet time doing makeup."
She giggled with them, and held Rian close to her, because she thought he might run away.
Mara and Juliana both turned their heads to where Rian stood.
They both scanned him from head to toe.
Black hair, just like Lilly’s, and those striking ocean-blue eyes, the same shade as hers.
Standing side by side, he looked like nothing less than a male version of Lilly herself.
"This is my twin brother, Rian, meet Juliana West, and Mara Vaulcheër."
"No way. You’re Rian? Aren’t you that lunati—ow!"
Before Juliana could finish, Mara pinched her side, hard.
"It’s nice to meet you." Mara stepped forward smoothly, extending her hand.
"Happy birthday to you too, Rian."
Rian glanced at her.
Long white hair tied in a pony tail and those red-ember eyes which burned with grace. And not to forget her poised, athletic posture which looked as if she trained with blades everyday.
’Mara Vaulcheër.... If I remember it right, she had lot of scars on her arms and abdomen.’
He knew her well, too well, in fact.
The second in line to inherit House Vaulcheër, one of the Five Great Houses of the Dark Empire.
In his past life, she had served directly under him, ranked just below Rian himself, and proved an invaluable ally through the long years of war.
She had even played a crucial role against the Demon Lord of Pride.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that much of Demon Lord of Pride’s downfall had been all of her doing.
Rian reached out and took her hand.
"It’s nice to meet you too, Mara."
But above all else, he was simply glad to see his long lost companion and a dearest friend alive again.
"I’ve heard you reached Grade 6 in Necromancy." Mara’s grip was firm as she shook his hand. "Congratulations on that."
"And I’ve heard the same about you." Rian met her eyes. "Mastering Curse Art and Weapon Art together were said to be the most difficult, it’s not a small feat either to practice two Dark Arts."
"Hmph. It only looks that way to others. I’m merely Grade 5 in both. Though I’m still considered an expert, phenomenal, even, compared to the rest of my siblings."
Rian almost smiled.
That pride and unshakable confidence in her own ability.
To anyone else it might have come across as arrogance, but to Rian it was all but an absolute truth.
Mara, along with Rian and a handful of other heirs from the Five Great Houses, was set to attend Caelistra Academy this coming term.
’Which means she’ll be useful if I get familiar with her sooner.’
The more people he would get close to, the easier things would be for him at the Academy.
"Let’s get seated, we’ve been standing and talking for far too long."
Lilly looped her arms through Juliana’s and Mara’s, then glanced back at Rian.
"Oh, Father heard you’d come. He’s upstairs with the others, if you want, you can go greet him."
And then she was gone, dragging her friends along toward the tables.
Rian sighed.
’Greet Father?’
Yeah, no.
He had no interest in ruining his mood this early.
Besides, he had far more important things to deal with.
His eyes drifted to the balcony on his right.
Avoiding the gazes of the other guests, he made his way over and stepped out into the cool air.
He stopped at the railing.
There, perched in a tree just beyond it, sat a dozen or so birds.
Rian glanced around to make sure no one was watching. Then he raised his right hand toward them.
Curse Art: Deathtouch.
In an instant, every bird went silent and dropped, their lifeless bodies tumbling to rest along the edge of the railing.
He raised his left hand next, pouring Dark Mana into his palm.
Necromancy Art: Reanimate.
The birds twitched.
Their wings flapped in broken, grotesque jerks, and then their small bodies surged with dark energy.
One by one, all dozen of them came back.
Grrrr... Slrrrr...
The sound they made was all too familiar to Rian.
They had risen as undead, bound directly to his will, from this moment on, they would do exactly as he commanded.
"Scatter across the grounds, and alert me to anything that radiates a high density of mana."
Grrrr!
The birds took to the air at once, splitting off and vanishing into the sky in every direction.
What Rian had just done should have been impossible.
He had used two different Dark Arts, at once.
Curse and Necromancy, woven together in the same single breath.
In this era, that simply wasn’t done.
Most mages devoted their entire lives to mastering a single branch of the Dark Arts.
To touch even two with any real skill was the mark of a once-in-a-generation talent.
And both Deathtouch and Reanimation which Rian had just used were no ordinary techniques, they were high-class Dark Magic of Grade 10.
Grade was not a rank, it was never a measure of how much power one held.
It was a measure of intelligence and understanding.
To cast a Grade 10 art meant to understand that dark art completely, down to its very foundation.
Mana was nothing more than fuel.
By that measure, Rian was something that should not exist at all.
He had not mastered one branch of the Dark Arts.
He had mastered all five.
And then, even unsatisfied, he had gone further than any mage in history before him, and forged a sixth branch, far superior than others.
He named that Dark art...
Origin Art.
’Now then—’
"...Hm?"
Rian’s gaze fell to his left arm.
The Holy Mark was reacting violently, pulsing and bleeding a golden aura through his sleeve.
