Chapter 1

Leonida and Kaon Ferdinand were a pair of siblings who had little to fight about.

First of all, Leonida was not the kind of person who treated her younger brother carelessly. Kaon also respected and followed his sister. The considerable five-year age difference also played a part.

In addition, the siblings had lost their parents three years ago. Naturally, they could not afford to fight and complain for childish reasons.

Although the occasional quarrel happened, the two consciously tried to understand and put up with each other because they knew there was no one else in the world they could trust with private—even embarrassing—matters.

“Leo, have you gone crazy?” Kaon finally asked after replaying his sister’s words for the tenth time in his head.

He couldn’t just let it go this time. For sure, the problem was either within his ears or within her mind.

“I’d honestly rather be crazy, but that’s regrettably not the case.”

“You want me to marry an Ingelos girl?”

“I told you to get engaged. Though if you want to get married right away, I won’t stop you. Oh, but of course, you’ll still have to wait until you officially come of age.”

“Leo!” Kaon wasn’t in the mood for semantics.

Wasn’t timing the only difference between an engagement and a marriage?

“Are you done with your tantrum?”

“Oh, come on! Are you kidding me?”

His sister, the one who said something absurd first, was still at ease. In fact, she had been busy looking at documents throughout their conversation, so calm that he debated whether the person he was talking to was really a person and not a wall.

He thought of the events that led up to his current dilemma.

***

It was a normal, leisurely spring day. The midday sun felt hotter than usual, and Kaon, done with morning training, was pleasantly lounging on his bed.

“Young Master Kaon, Lady Leo is looking for you.”

“My sister?”

“Yes, she’s waiting in her office.”

‘I wonder what for; she always has a set reason for calling me.’

Kaon stood briskly, guessing that it was probably to admonish him for having faked sickness last week to get out of march training. Today was probably the right day for a scolding.

‘Well, I managed to get some rest for a day, so even if I get in trouble…’

He humbly accepted his fate.

However, Leonida remained silent despite his arrival, staring at paperwork and leaving her brother to agonize over his impending punishment.

Perhaps it was a new sort of discipline?

Many thoughts running through his head, Kaon elected to also remain silent. It was painfully boring, yes, but it seemed only fair that he endured as much for his wrongdoing.

Leonida finally looked up by the time he had counted thirty-three folders stacked on the desk.

“Get engaged to the Ingelos family’s second child,” she said bluntly, then turned back to her work as if that was the only thing she had to say.

***

So that was why Kaon was now doubting the mental state of his highly respected sister.

“Get engaged with an Ingelos? Why are you suggesting something that would make our parents roll in their graves if they knew?”

“If I had known of such a marvelous method earlier, I wouldn’t have let them stay in their graves for three years.”

“That’s not what I meant!” he retorted hotly.

The feud between the two families was engraved into their bloodlines. In the Gaius Kingdom, their relationship was so infamous that it was more common to use it as a metaphor as opposed to something like “cats and dogs”.

As a descendant of Ferdinand, renowned for producing knights, Kaon had grown up listening to gossip about the mages of Ingelos.

They were allegedly cowardly, selfish bastards who callously regarded knights as worth less than insects. Social misfits who had no loyalty…

Merely thinking about their name sent curse words bubbling up his throat. To marry one of them was incomprehensible to him.

Instead of explaining the situation, Leonida picked up one of the folders from the stacks and threw it at Kaon.

He caught it easily, scowling as he scanned the first page of the document inside. He wasn’t fond of papers and letters, but his sister didn’t look like she would open her mouth anytime soon, so he was more or less forced to read it himself.

<Request for a higher wage for dispatched mages>

While the Ferdinand estate was a good place to live in with its fertile land and mild climate, its forests held the largest population of monsters in the entire kingdom. The family itself had a long history, being one of the founders of Gaius, and it had been subduing monsters for hundreds of years.

And as much as Kaon hated to admit it, mages were essential, all the more so because monsters were difficult opponents in close combat. Long-distance firepower was undeniably useful in dealing with that particular problem.

Unfortunately, mages were rare in any era. Although they were supposedly more common than swordmasters, the comparison was meaningless considering that there were never more than five of those across the whole continent within a generation.

One could not become a mage if they were not born with mana, and even being born with it was not a guarantee that they could use it.

In its entire history, the Ferdinand family had never borne a single mage, and understandably so, because mages generally came from families of mages. However, problems arose when there was no mage in the land and they had to be recruited via the Magic Tower.

“What? Thirty percent more? Isn’t this just a robbery?” Kaon exclaimed, itching with annoyance—the request for increased salary and improved conditions might as well have been demanded with a knife in hand. “They’re asking us to build a branch of the Magic Tower here? On the eastern part of the land? Have they gone mad? At this point, this is basically asking for autonomy in someone else’s territory.”

His outrage was not just because he was a Ferdinand. Objectively speaking, such requirements were excessive.

Ferdinand had met their demands last year, and even the year before that. The incentives were also raised each time!

‘Ignorant bastards…’

“Please read through the entire proposal.” Leonida observed her resentful younger brother, shaking her head.

Kaon obeyed, looking back down at the papers. As he read on, his jaw tightened and his eyes turned cold.

“…So if we let royal knights garrison in our land, they’ll provide support for the royal mage? And then we have to grant them an equal share of the mana stones?”

The document was a proposal from the king himself.

At first glance, it seemed benevolent, the words praising the Ferdinands’ efforts against monsters and recommending that they accept assistance. In reality, though, letting in any of the Royal Knights was practically welcoming their interference; it would be no different from letting in an informant. Not only that, but the matter of the mana stones was…

Mana stones were obtained from the corpses of monsters, and they were extremely valuable due to the low probability of finding one. Their family was already supplying the Magic Tower with stones in exchange for dispatching a high-ranking mage—and they didn’t even ask for an equal share.

“This is…”

Both the Magic Tower and the Gaius Royal Family were in a frenzy over Ferdinand. Since Kaon’s parents’ passing three years ago, there had been a void that Leonida was struggling to fill, one that many people tried to take advantage of.

Kaon ran a hand through his hair as he set down the folder. “Why does it have to be Ingelos? There are other mage families out there.”

“Because we share a somewhat similar situation.”

He came to understand why his sister had suggested something so ridiculous and extreme. They needed mages on their side who would not be swayed. He didn’t know what exactly was going on, but if the Ingelos family was having the same troubles, then they would be the best partner to cooperate with.

“Is there really no other way?”

Rationally, Kaon understood, but he hated the idea of marrying an Ingelos, and that she would be a mage.

Love and romance didn’t feature in his dreams, but it still didn’t seem like a good choice to spend the rest of his life with someone he disliked on a fundamental level.

“There may not be any.”

“Fine! If that’s the case, then…”

“Raise your sword, Kaon.” Dark brown eyes that resembled their father’s stared back at him solemnly. “Knock me down and take my seat. Our uncle wants it too, so there are probably no objections to that.”

“Leo.”

“Or maybe there’s a way for me to marry the Ingelos family’s third son. I heard he was turning nine this year? I suppose a twelve-year gap is fine, so long as I wait ten more years.”

That made even less sense. As common as arranged marriages were, it was very rare to have such a large difference in age.

“In that case, I’ll have to step down, and Uncle will have to take over as your deputy until your coming-of-age—a position that will surely delight him.”

Kaon bit his lower lip.

Leonida looked exhausted.

He was well aware that their uncle was aiming for the lordship of the estate, and well aware of his sister’s efforts to stop him.

In Kaon’s eyes, Leonida was best-suited for that seat despite the opposition of their adult relatives, who didn’t like the idea of a woman leading a knight family. Even now, she was still not officially acknowledged as anything other than a deputy head, a proxy.

Nevertheless, he was confident in his sister, who was responsible, dedicated, perceptive, and disciplined. For all of their sakes, she was the only true candidate for the succession.

He, on the other hand, had neither the desire nor the ability to be one.

“What should I do…?” Kaon murmured to himself.

Thoughts tangled in his head and made him dizzy, and then they were resolved at once. After a long sigh, his decision was made.