ISMFB 32

CHAPTER 32

Clang—

Their swords clashed.

Dante and Kaas faced off.

“Your strength isn’t bad.”

Dante coldly assessed Kaas.

Linaria watched the two of them with anxious eyes.

It wasn’t fear of Kaas losing.

She was worried her father’s body might not hold up.

Dante would be hurt to hear it, but Linaria didn’t even consider the possibility of Kaas losing.

“Your fundamentals are solid, and you’ve got good instincts. You won’t be easy to take down.”

Clang—, clang—

He had drawn his sword intending to completely crush the confidence of a nobody.

But Kaas was unexpectedly decent.

“Victory goes to House Obel!”

“Lord Tower Master. The duel isn’t over yet.”

“Tch, Linaria. You’ve found a new way to waste time. Watching longer won’t change the outcome.”

Magnus’s words weren’t just bias.

Dante widened the distance between them and raised his sword.

Then—

“You have decent skill, but you’ll face more than just sword-wielders in the future.”

He infused his blade with divine beast power.

Dark energy rippled along the blade.

The reason the imperial family holds absolute authority and even dukedoms bow before them is all because of the power of divine beasts.

The outcome was set.

A commoner can’t defeat a noble.

That was an unchanging law.

That slave could never defeat him.

Dante didn’t think using Obel’s power was unfair.

If a bodyguard’s incompetence led to his daughter being harmed, that would be truly irreversible.

“Father!”

“It’s alright.”

He responded calmly, but Kaas’s sword was now glowing black as well.

Obel.

He had made a contract with the dark divine beast.

“Li-Linaria. What exactly is that thing?”

Magnus, who had been watching, was flustered.

He assumed Kaas had a contract with a light-type divine beast since he came from the imperial palace.

Just looking at him, he didn’t seem like someone who’d wield the power of light.

“A slave.”

“Linaria!”

“Right now, he’s my slave.”

Linaria replied lightly, intentionally evasive.

Realizing his opponent was also a divine beast contractor, Dante pushed Kaas harder.

As expected, Dante had the upper hand.

At the moment he moved for the final strike—

“…!”

The black aura on Kaas’s blade suddenly shifted. A bright white light exploded.

Dante couldn’t hide his shock.

“What are you…?”

Humans could only borrow power from one divine beast.

Only one person in all of recorded history had made a dual contract.

Maximilian.

The current crown prince.

Praised for his extraordinary power, Maximilian had made contracts with both the divine beasts of light and water.

“Kaas, when I said your power was like light, did you really mean you could control light?”

“I can control others too.”

“Others? Like, one more?”

“No.”

But as they say, there’s always someone greater.

“All of them.”

Watching the two men fight, Linaria thought:

‘A multiple divine beast contractor.’

Kaas—he had made contracts with six divine beasts. The only such person in this world.

“Father! I think that’s enough to test his skill!”

Linaria shouted to protect her father.

“No, not yet.”

Even after realizing Kaas had contracts with both light and darkness, Dante didn’t lower his blade.

The two clashed again. Blinding light collided with overwhelming darkness.

The force was so intense, Linaria had to shut her eyes tight.

And when she opened them—

“Linaria. You picked up something incredible.”

Magnus’s voice came from beside her. He hadn’t closed his eyes at all.

“To reach that level at his age… He wouldn’t lose even compared to a full army.”

Thankfully, Dante was still standing.

And so was Kaas.

But Dante no longer held his sword—while Kaas still did.

Dante’s sword lay discarded on the ground.

“Father!”

A startled Linaria rushed over.

But Dante stepped toward Kaas and stared coldly at him.

“You’re His Majesty’s illegitimate child, aren’t you?”

His expression was cold, almost as if he were someone else.

“I’ve heard nothing about there being another dual contractor. What were you thinking, approaching my daughter?”

“Father, let me explain.”

Sensing the tense atmosphere, Linaria stepped in.

“You knew?”

“Yes, I did.”

“How?”

“Kaas told me himself.”

“Linaria. This isn’t something that can just be brushed aside. A contract with the light divine beast means he’s of imperial blood.”

“And he can also use Obel’s power. But people are so stuck on the idea that you can only contract one divine beast that unless he reveals it, no one will suspect.”

At that moment, Dante realized—

The reason his daughter had insisted on Kaas being knighted directly by him.

Was the knighting a distraction from the start?

Kaas was a slave.

A slave was beneath even a commoner.

Of course, no noble blood would be found among slaves.

But if someone started to question Kaas’s origins, everything would change the moment he was titled “Knight of Obel.”

‘A person can only contract with one divine beast. All previous attempts at dual contracts ended in death.’

No one had ever imagined another Maximilian could exist. Everyone would just assume Kaas was a commoner.

It was the perfect way to hide his origins.

‘And the imperial family couldn’t demand Kaas be returned either.’

If a family head bestowed a divine beast contract, it meant complete affiliation with Obel.

“Father, please. Accept him as a knight of Obel. He’s stronger than any of the thirty knights you mentioned.”

“You truly believe this man will protect you to the end? I find that hard to believe.”

“Yes, Linaria. Just this once, Great Obel is right.”

Magnus, who had helped retrieve Kaas from the palace, spoke up in agreement with her father. Linaria felt betrayed.

“But is it true he refused to remove the choker?”

Sometimes, you need to hear the whole story. Linaria nodded.

“Yes. He refused himself. Said he never wanted to go back to where he came from.”

“Then that changes everything. That choker was made in our Ivory Tower, and defects are impossible.”

Magnus was still on Linaria’s side.

“Anyone who disobeys their master is immediately punished, so he’s forced to obey. Besides, if the master dies without removing the choker, the slave stays enslaved forever. He knows that, doesn’t he?”

“But still—”

“If you’re still worried, then you can watch him in your own way.”

With Magnus joining in, Dante couldn’t insist anymore.

He glanced briefly at Kaas’s blonde hair and golden eyes.

A dual contractor who could even use the light element. And golden features—the imperial family’s symbol.

Whether intentional or not, chaos was bound to follow.

“I appoint you as a knight of Obel.”

However—

“I’ll officially declare you as a knight who received a divine beast contract from me. No one will be able to look down on you as a slave anymore.”

His daughter hadn’t taken him in out of pity alone.

Which meant there was only one thing left to say:

“In return, protect my daughter.”

“…”

“Make sure your existence never brings her harm.”

Dante wondered what his daughter was truly thinking.

But he couldn’t ask—he was afraid.

She had recently canceled her engagement to the crown prince and now took in the emperor’s illegitimate son.

And that son was a dual contractor.

Could all this really be coincidence?

“By the way, Linaria.”

“Yes, Father?”

“You should consider dyeing his hair. No matter how well you hide it, golden hair and eyes will always stand out.”

“I was going to ask Lord Magnus for that. Oh, right. Kaas, if you get your hair dyed, what color would you like? Tell us now while the tower master’s here.”

“You’re using this old man like a servant!”

“How many chances do we get to meet the head of the Ivory Tower, the greatest genius of our era? We have to ask now.”

“Tch!”

“Any color’s fine.”

The three of them chatted together.

“If it doesn’t matter, how about black like Father’s?”

“I hate that! Black is the worst!”

“You’re not the one getting your hair dyed, Tower Master.”

Dante decided not to stop his daughter anymore.

Maybe…

Just maybe…

She had experienced the future through divine power and come back.

‘No. That’s impossible.’

He had worked so hard to seal that power. But since the seal began weakening recently, he was becoming fearful.

Had he failed to protect his daughter?

Had something terrible happened to her without his knowing?

He couldn’t bring himself to ask.

Because—

How and when did you die?

—was not something he could bring himself to ask while looking into the eyes of his beloved daughter.