ULDEM 10

Damian took leave from the Royal Guard Knights for the sake of an assignment.

The other knights asked what was going on, since he never used his leave before, but he simply said it was for personal reasons. The younger knights who had approached him with admiration lowered their shoulders and went back.

“Sir Ksanov. At least try to be a little friendlier.”

A senior knight who had just finished sparring advised him. He didn’t seem to care much that the sword in his hand had been cut nearly in half. The broken blade lay rolling on the ground.

Damian looked down at his blackened magic sword, darkened by reacting to his mana, and replied,

“I’ll be going back to Ruxen after graduation anyway. Is there any need?”

“You never know. You might change your mind.”

He hated this. The king and the Royal Guards who followed his orders kept trying to persuade him to switch allegiance. Their suggestions clung to him like something sticky, and it made him uncomfortable.

For an ordinary knight, it was natural to seek a new lord who acknowledged his talent. But before being the Grand Duke’s knight, Damian was his disciple, and he owed the Grand Duke his life. There was no reason to change his allegiance.

“I don’t think that will happen.”

“How arrogant.”

The senior knight said so, but he didn’t truly dislike Damian’s arrogance. A rare magic swordsman on the continent, and a knight who had defeated a Southern Duke at sixteen—such a person deserved at least that much pride. It was a very noble way of thinking.

Guessing what he meant, Damian silently sheathed his sword. It wasn’t something that would stop just because he told them to. He would simply have to endure it until graduation.

He had been saving his leave, planning not to attend school at all around graduation. Since he had entered the academy, his master, the Grand Duke of Ruxen, had told him to live like other children his age. The Grand Duke agreed with this plan.

As long as the Parparnan War had not ended, there was no knowing what the king might do to gain a larger share of victory. It was better to get out as soon as possible.

Still, one day would be fine.

Arkin had asked whether it was worth taking risks just for an assignment, but that wasn’t the real reason Damian took leave.

Rather than the assignment…

He simply didn’t want to be disturbed.

As soon as class ended, Tisslin headed toward the Knight Department building.

The knight classes must have ended around the same time, because when she arrived, the students had already dispersed to their dorms and training grounds. The hallway where she was supposed to meet Damian was quiet.

Even so, Tisslin moved while slightly bending her body, trying not to draw attention.

“Where is it…?”

He said around here.

“Over here.”

Damian wasn’t training today. He was wearing a neat uniform without a single wrinkle.

He was dressed just like the other knight students who had passed by earlier, yet he stood out just by standing there. Fortunately, the hallway was empty now. But if anyone walked by, they would surely look at him.

There were still classrooms in session behind him. Tisslin unconsciously shrank her neck.

“C-couldn’t we do this somewhere without people?”

“Why?”

Sierra had been right—she should say it as soon as they met. Tisslin sighed and lightly tugged at Damian’s sleeve. He looked down at her in surprise but followed quietly.

After they walked far enough down the hallway so the classroom couldn’t see them, Tisslin finally spoke.

“I want to keep our engagement a secret. Can’t we?”

When no answer came, she grew anxious.

“Even if you won’t break it off, you can at least do this…”

She knew it sounded pitiful. But if rumors spread, breaking off the engagement would become much harder.

Even if she somehow managed it, there would be another problem. “The woman who broke off her engagement with Damian Ksanov.” That label would follow her until she passed marriageable age.

“…Fine. We can.”

After a long moment, that was all Damian said.

Tisslin quickly raised her head. He was looking down quietly, seeming somewhat troubled. No one would feel good about a fiancée who wanted to hide their engagement as if it were shameful.

‘That’s why we should just break it off.’

Since it hadn’t been long, and nothing had been exchanged between families yet, they could end it cleanly. In other words, the longer they delayed, the more complicated it would become.

“I understand you don’t want attention. Then let’s go somewhere else.”

Tisslin nodded quickly. He hadn’t given a firm promise, but she didn’t have the nerve to press him further.

As she followed his straight back deeper into the hallway, a metal door appeared—one she hadn’t noticed before. It clearly looked like it hadn’t been opened in a long time, but Damian casually pushed it open.

“Is it okay to open this?”

“It’s just kept closed for convenience. It’s not forbidden.”

That was a relief. Tisslin carefully stepped over the threshold.

“You think I’d take you somewhere dangerous?”

Damian said with a low laugh as he closed the door behind them. Tisslin stubbornly stared at her feet as she walked. If she looked up now, her face would probably turn red again. She didn’t want him to see that.

After walking along a deserted path for a while, an unfamiliar building appeared. From its architectural style and the ivy climbing its walls, it seemed quite old.

Tisslin briefly touched the worn wall and followed him inside.

The white stone building felt cold from the air itself, making her shrink unconsciously.

“It won’t collapse.”

Thinking she was scared, Damian tried to reassure her, then added after a pause,

“Even if it does, carrying you out wouldn’t be difficult.”

If she had truly been frightened, that might not have been comforting. But Tisslin simply nodded.

They went deeper inside and settled in an empty classroom. The building wasn’t completely unused—the magic lamps worked, and the classroom was clean.

Tisslin took out reference materials and a blank notebook from her bag.

“I thought about it. We can divide it like this: political system, geography, economy, culture, military, history. If we split it evenly, it should go quickly.”

“Alright.”

She had even brought a large map that filled two full pages.

“Rather than geography itself, what spreads from it is important. Developed waterways, military power strong enough to maintain a mage corps, a luxury-based economy, the provincial governor system. So maybe geography should be at the top.”

Her mouth began to hurt from talking so much. Watching Damian’s reaction, she wrote “Geography” at the top.

“For the military section, I didn’t think the library would have enough material, so I brought something useful. It could help with geography and administration too.”

Damian opened the books he had stacked on the desk.

“Oh—you did research?”

“It’s an assignment. Of course… Did you think I’d just rely on you?”

He laughed awkwardly as he understood her tone.

“No, you’re busy. Anyway, good thing you prepared.”

He seemed even more thorough than she expected. Tisslin flipped through the worn pages and nodded. He had probably been reading these since before participating in the Parparnan War.

There were several more books. She skimmed the tables of contents.

“If we try to include all of this… we might as well write a book.”

“Let’s not go that far.”

On that point, they agreed clearly.

“The political system… isn’t it just what we know? The Emperor, officials, provincial governors.”

There was a reason that was all they knew.

“Right. The rest doesn’t function.”

There was no diplomacy, so no need for a foreign ministry. Taxes weren’t collected by proper standards, so tax collectors were basically officials for exploitation.

The nation’s finances weren’t managed systematically. The Emperor used money however he wished. If there was a shortage, he squeezed his people or plundered foreign lands. Truly.

How had such a country lasted fifty years?

Because no one could rebel.

Hezra’s overwhelming power. With a single sword, he reminded people of ancient legends—mages who dropped meteors and summoned hellfire. That power made all rebellion meaningless.

There had been attempts in the early days. But after entire cities were wiped out as examples, people grew too afraid to even consider rebellion. They suspected and reported each other to avoid being implicated.

Such was the fear of Hezra, the unprecedented magic swordsman, that it immobilized half the continent. Though the younger generation who hadn’t seen him didn’t fully understand it.

“We should include that too.”

Damian briefly noted it under “History” and wrote down reference titles.

He also noted under “Military” that all external attempts to invade Parparnan had failed.

Some had partially succeeded, but that wasn’t important. He didn’t intend to go into detail about the last war in this assignment.

“The Emperor and your Duke’s profiles—at the beginning?”

“That makes sense.”

“There are only three Dukes now, not four. Let’s write three.”

Thanks to that, the assignment became slightly shorter. Tisslin happily crossed out “Four Dukes” and wrote “Three Dukes.”

Barbanote of the North. Taltaribray of the West. Horkinea of the East.

“You haven’t met the others, right?”

“No. I heard they didn’t even send reinforcements during the war in southern Parparnan.”

Strange. Were they fighting over power among themselves?

“The Western Duke is supposed to be a powerful mage. Even so?”

“Even so.”

Thanks to that, we’re still alive.

Tisslin tapped her pen against the paper, thinking of the Western Duke and Hezra, who had not shown themselves even when the south was nearly taken.

“Among the Dukes, only the Southern Duke was a magic swordsman, and the South had the strongest military. Doesn’t that mean Parparnan is quite weakened now?”

“If you’re wondering why no one attacks, it’s because the allied forces are just as weakened.”

Tisslin was speechless for a moment.

“…That much? But we won.”

“We were lucky.”

If the “slayer of the Southern Duke” said that, she couldn’t argue. There was no reason for false humility.

What a mess of a country…

Feeling frustrated, Tisslin organized their notes and stood up.

“I’ll step out for some air.”

When she opened the classroom door, a long hallway stretched both ways. She stopped with her toes on the threshold.

“Uh… which way was the door?”

“I’ll show you.”

In the end, they walked out together.

They walked in silence down the long corridor. Just as they turned a corner—

“Ohhh. It’s kind of creepy here?”

With an unfamiliar voice, the main entrance at the far end of the hallway suddenly opened.