Chapter 26
“Hmm, still a rookie, huh. Pretty cute, though.”
Jeina wiggled her soft hands, lost in thought.
He had probably come to become the Tower Lord’s attendant knight, but he would soon be rejected for lack of qualifications.
For knights, exceptional skill alone wasn’t enough—they also had to have refinement.
Those who passed the knight exams would often study refinement under qualified mentors before being officially granted knight status.
The problem was that for a half-breed like Izren, learning refinement was practically impossible.
Not only the knights, but even the idle nobles spat out disgusting words and rejected Izren simply for being a different race.
That was also why he had come to the Tower, unrelated to swords, to try to become an attendant knight.
“Izren, I don’t think of you as non-human. I don’t think of you as different from others either.”
“Your Highness.”
“Not Your Highness… can’t you just call me Rozian?”
Izren, having been rejected even by the Tower Lord Diamid, wandered through the Empire until he met Rozian, the heir, and eventually became his knight.
It was an episode meant to emphasize that the protagonist, Rozian, did not discriminate against other races.
“I guess I won’t be entangled with him.”
From the intense reactions of the wizards, it was obvious that Diamid would react the same way.
Following the story, he would probably drive Izren out. Besides, since Rozian was supposed to die at seventeen, there was no chance their paths would cross.
Jeina let out a faint sigh as she was about to return to her room, when a voice reached her ears and stopped her in her tracks.
“Who let a half-breed like that into the Tower?”
“Just running into him is annoying enough. And now he wants to be an attendant knight?”
“Don’t say such nonsense. Just hand over those sparkling eyes of yours and leave. Might be valuable for research.”
Jeina’s eyes darkened as she looked down from the first floor.
“Did the other dragons look at me like that too?”
“Just looking at your eyes is enough to make me disgusted.”
“You’re not expecting the same treatment as other dragons, are you, you mutt?”
For a moment, she saw herself and Izren overlapped—both had blue eyes among the Black Night clan.
Jeina gave a sharp smile that didn’t suit her cute face.
“One side wants to kill as proof of injustice… the other wants to study those rare eyes and pluck them out.”
“I have come to become the Tower Lord’s attendant knight.”
“What did that vermin just say?”
“I have come to become the Tower Lord’s attendant knight.”
“Are you ignoring me? Why do you keep repeating the same nonsense?”
Despite the mocking words of the surrounding wizards, Izren repeated the same words like a parrot.
“I have come to become the Tower Lord’s attendant knight.”
It was a harsh reality for a sixteen-year-old boy to endure.
Yet he didn’t resist the wizards around him—he just stood in the lobby.
As if waiting for someone to take him to the Tower Lord.
“But no one helps Izren.”
The Tower Lord was away gathering materials in another region, but unaware of that, Izren waited day and night in the lobby where people could see him.
Hoping he might happen to meet the Tower Lord.
And by some stroke of luck, it worked…
When Tower Lord Diamid returned from the provinces, he immediately issued a dismissal order with a single word.
“I’ve come to become the Tower Lord’s attendant knight.”
“You didn’t come to be a material, did you?”
Izren froze at those words, but he didn’t even have time to react.
The Tower Lord’s gesture to have him removed came immediately.
“Get him out of here.”
Thinking he would be captured and used as an experiment, Izren quickly fled the Tower, and their encounter ended in just a few seconds.
All his efforts to become an attendant knight had been in vain.
“If I’m not going to become an attendant knight anyway, I’d better leave the Tower before hearing more harsh words.”
Mutt. Proof of injustice. Useless vermin.
Was it because he saw himself and Izren, suffering for nothing more than the circumstances of their birth?
Jeina gripped the railing tightly without realizing it.
Unlike her initial purpose—to just see the main character’s face—her gaze kept returning.
“Why not just gouge out those gem-like eyes? I hear people pay a lot for them.”
“Better yet, let’s sell him off as a whole slave since he’s got a nice face. Heh heh. Apparently it’s done secretly.”
“Don’t you have any curiosity as wizards? Eating the eyes of a different race supposedly cures all kinds of diseases. Let’s experiment.”
Ha ha ha.
The wizards laughed loudly.
The Tower’s wizards, following the law of power, casually said things that ordinary humans would never dare speak, as if joking.
At that moment, Jeina noticed something in Izren that she had never seen before.
“That is…”
She had thought he was fine because he spoke his purpose confidently before the wizards without changing expression.
But Izren was just a sixteen-year-old boy like any other.
He wasn’t fine. He was uneasy.
His hands spoke for him.
Repeatedly brushing the backs of his hands, clenching them, tracing patterns with his index fingers, his hands moved continuously behind his back.
It looked like he was silently hoping someone would save him…
“Phew.”
Jeina sighed and lowered her eyes, but Izren’s image kept lingering in her mind.
After thinking for a moment, she made a decision.
“Where would Michael be at this hour?”
She planned to contact the Tower Lord immediately through magical communication.
It would take just a few seconds—after all, the attendant knight wasn’t even needed.
“I should get him away from those wizards as soon as possible.”
Jeina turned and headed toward Michael’s room.
Knock knock.
Jeina knocked several times out of habit before opening the door and entering.
“Michael, please use magical communication to contact the Tower Lord.”
After all, he could sense who was coming through presence detection.
But today, Michael was startled by her sudden arrival.
“Ah! When did you get here?!”
“Couldn’t you hear me? I didn’t even try to reduce my presence…”
It seemed Michael had been deeply focused on something.
“Wait, hold on a sec.”
He waved his hands in the air as if hiding something, but Jeina ignored him and got straight to the point.
“I came to ask a favor. An attendant knight applicant has come to the Tower. Please ask the Tower Lord via magical communication what he plans to do.”
“What? Attendant knights are just told to build refinement before becoming full knights.”
Michael laughed dryly in disbelief, then spun his finger around his head.
“That kid doesn’t have anything in his head, does he?”
“He doesn’t look like it.”
“No, really. Many wizards have asked to be taken as disciples, but I’ve never seen a knight come here.”
Michael added, reminding himself that he alone had passed among countless wizards.
“There’s no need to ask the Tower Lord. As his disciple, I’ll half-kill him and send him away.”
“Don’t do that.”
“I don’t want to. What’s a little knight doing playing around in a wizard’s sanctuary?”
“It didn’t seem like playing. He really looked serious.”
“Ah, crazy people are serious in their own way.”
A strange light flickered in Michael’s eyes as his lips curled.
As if something interesting had finally happened.
“If not, why would a knight come here instead of the martial arts hall?”
Jeina remembered how Michael had been fascinated when she first visited the Tower and hurriedly spoke.
“It’s because he’s a different race.”
“Yeah, a different race… what did you say?”
“Those who are different are rejected. If they’re weak, they must follow the strong.”
Michael froze at her words.
In the suddenly quiet room, Jeina’s voice rang softly.
“Probably that attendant knight was rejected everywhere else and came here as a last resort.”
“…”
“I don’t think the Tower Lord will accept him, so it’s better he leaves quickly.”
Jeina hesitated, then added one more thing.
“He’s being harassed by the wizards right now.”
She carefully chose her words. Asking the Tower Lord to accept a half-breed as an attendant knight—would he even listen? Michael’s reaction could be severe.
“…Alright.”
Unexpectedly, Michael nodded willingly.
“I understand. I’ll tell the Tower Lord.”
Surprised by Michael’s compliance, Jeina asked suspiciously,
“You promise? You won’t forget or say otherwise later?”
“You don’t think I’m an idiot, do you?”
Though the answer was clear, Jeina felt uneasy.
She pulled Michael’s hand firmly toward herself.
But Michael’s hand was larger than the average adult male’s, and Jeina’s was smaller than most girls her age.
Even holding his hand with both of hers, a lot of space remained.
But she didn’t care. Michael wouldn’t understand the meaning behind her actions anyway.
It was just something she did for her own peace of mind.
“What’s this now?”
“It means we must promise properly.”
Unaware that Michael was staring, Jeina linked her pinky with his, determinedly.
As she turned to leave, Michael sat blankly, thinking,
“I was in the middle of communicating with the Tower Lord when she came suddenly. Did I hear Jeina’s voice?”
With a slightly nervous heart, Michael resumed magical communication with Diamid.
