Chapter 260
“Ah, you know me?”
Listening closely to the startled Luther’s words, Zeke noticed that not only did he stutter, but his word order was also strange.
‘I can sense a Dorta Republic accent, so I don’t think he’s from the Central Continent.’
Zeke smiled brightly at Luther Zemben and said,
“Of course. Didn’t I decide to be taught your special technique, Sir Luther? I should have visited and greeted you first, I’m truly sorry.”
As he finished speaking, Zeke took Luther’s hand.
‘Huh?’
But the moment he held Luther Zemben’s hand, Zeke felt a strange sensation.
Luther Zemben hastily pulled his hand away and said,
“S-Sorry. There is a lot of sweat. On my hand. Always! I! Just came to say hello. Well then……”
Luther Zemben glanced around nervously and then quickly disappeared into the crowd.
Zeke replayed the strange sensation he had felt when he held Luther Zemben’s hand.
‘That feeling was definitely… mana?’
Knights use aura, and mages use mana.
As far as Zeke knew, Luther Zemben was a knight, not a mage.
Therefore, he shouldn’t have been able to feel mana from him.
‘Could I have been mistaken?’
He didn’t know what it was, but it seemed he was hiding an extraordinary secret, unlike his simple-looking appearance.
Zeke continued to make various speculations about Luther Zemben while cheerfully shaking hands with other people.
***
The day after the banquet ended, Zeke set out to find Luther Zemben.
In the process, Zeke found out that Luther Zemben had become an official knight of Draker through a special appointment.
Zeke had also received the rank of an official knight through a special appointment, but he was a direct-line pure-blood Awakened from the beginning, a Draker by birth.
However, Luther Zemben had no connection whatsoever to the Drakers, nor did he have any record of previous achievements as a knight.
When he looked into how such a person had become a Draker knight using his Senior Knight authority, he found that, surprisingly, he had been appointed by the direct authority of the clan Lord.
He even had an exception clause attached stating that his knighthood would be maintained even if he did not perform missions for the Drakers.
It was an incredible benefit that ordinary Draker knights could not even imagine.
After confirming this, Zeke had a question.
‘In the first place, Luther Zemben hasn’t learned the Dragon Slayer Arts, so isn’t it impossible for him to pass on a Special Technique at all?’
A special technique referred to the secret teachings refined from the applied styles containing the deep insights of successive generations of Draker clan knights.
The Draker clan, which had continued for a thousand years, had various Dragon Slayer Arts applied styles that had been refined over a long period of time. And the signature ultimate techniques created by Senior Knights based on those applied styles were called special techniques.
Senior Knights pass down those special techniques to future generations, and the developed applied styles are in turn passed down to the next generation.
There were some who found the reason the Draker clan stood tall as the master of Midland in these special techniques.
So it was natural for Zeke to have questions. In the first place, it was possible to be taught the secret teachings after becoming a Senior Knight because the root, the Dragon Slayer Arts, was the same, but Luther Zemben was completely outside this scope.
There was no way the clan Lord, Arthur Draker, wouldn’t know this fact, so he couldn’t understand why he had put him on the list of special technique instructors.
‘Luther Zemben, your identity becomes more and more curious.’
Luther Zemben lived alone in a mansion located in the outskirts of Atlas.
After receiving the address, Zeke rode Bucephalus to the place where Luther lived.
When he arrived at the address, he saw a single clan standing all alone in a quiet area of the outskirts.
As if he didn't care much about security, the gate to the wall, which might as well not have been there, was open.
Zeke left Bucephalus in front of the mansion and went inside.
It was an ordinary two-story clan, too small to be called a mansion.
‘An official knight of Draker could have lived in a much better clan than this, is he just frugal?’
When he extended his senses, there was no one inside the clan. After looking around the vicinity, Zeke sensed movement from behind the clan and went around to the back.
Surprisingly, there was a small vegetable patch behind the clan, and Luther was farming in it.
‘A Draker knight is farming?’
The only farming Zeke had ever done was raising Soma at the Soma Farm when he was dragged to the Southern Continent in his past life.
Luther was focused on pulling weeds and catching pests in the vegetable patch.
“Hoo.”
He straightened his back, stood up, and wiped his sweat.
Only then did Luther notice Zeke standing beside him, staring at him blankly.
“Gasp! S-Sir Zeke! Y-You surprised me!”
It was Luther, startled and speaking in the awkward common tongue.
Zeke looked at him and spoke in the Dorta language.
“If you are more comfortable with the Dorta language, you may speak in it.”
When Zeke spoke in the Dorta language, Luther was taken aback.
“You can speak the Dorta language?”
“Just a little.”
However, while listening to Luther’s Dorta, Zeke felt something strange again.
‘His Dorta is awkward too?’
He hesitated for a moment, then asked Luther.
“Sir Luther. Forgive my asking, but may I inquire as to where you are from.”
At Zeke’s words, Luther was flustered and hesitated before barely opening his mouth.
“Actually, I am from the Eastern Continent.”
“The Eastern Continent…”
When Zeke spoke this time in the Ancient Eastern tongue, Luther was so surprised his eyes could have popped out and asked.
“Good heavens! Where did you learn that language?”
He had learned it from a Highlander from Ishtar in his past life, but he couldn't tell him the truth.
Zeke tried to gloss it over and continue the conversation, but unfortunately, it was Luther who didn't know the Ancient Eastern tongue.
The two decided to converse in the Dorta language, which was easier for them to communicate in.
The two men sat down on chairs placed near the vegetable patch.
“Phew, I’ve been learning the common tongue for several years now, but it’s so difficult.”
“I hear it’s like that at first because the word order is different. Still, it seems the Dorta language has a similar word order to the Eastern tongue.”
“Yes, there are many similar words, so it was easier to learn, relatively speaking.”
Luther looked a bit more comfortable, perhaps because he was conversing in the familiar Dorta language after a long time.
Zeke asked Luther.
“Sir Luther, I actually looked up your records a bit before coming here.”
Even after hearing that Zeke had viewed his records, Luther didn't seem flustered or displeased, but rather nodded his head.
“As a pure-blood Awakened, Sir Zeke, you must have had questions about my record.”
“Forgive my impertinence, but I was wondering how your name came to be on the list of special technique instructors.”
Zeke didn’t beat around the bush and asked Luther the question he was curious about directly.
At that, Luther nodded and then opened his mouth.
“To be honest… I was also puzzled. That the clan Lord had selected me as a candidate to be your special technique instructor, Sir Zeke.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“As you may know, Sir Zeke, I do not meet the qualifications to be a candidate for a special technique instructor. Although I have learned the Dragon Slayer Arts after coming here, I can only perform the basic forms, and I can only imitate the advanced forms that official knights learn.”
He paused for a moment, then slowly opened his mouth.
“I, too, kept wondering after hearing that I had become your special technique instructor, Sir Zeke, but after meeting you in person yesterday, I realized the reason.”
“What is that reason?”
Luther, who had been sitting, slowly rose from his seat. Then, he extended a hand toward Zeke.
Woooong!
Mana was discharged from Luther’s body.
A fire poker lying on the ground was automatically drawn into the hand of Luther, who had conjured the mana.
Zeke, flinching in surprise, was about to step back.
But then, something even more surprising happened.
A distinct Aura Blade arose from the fire poker held in Luther’s hand.
‘What is that?’
Amazingly, Luther could use both mana and aura at the same time.
After retracting his energy, he spoke to Zeke.
“Just like you, Sir Zeke, I am also an Irregular.”
Zeke, who had been momentarily flustered by Luther’s words, snapped to his senses.
‘The Mage Slayer’s identity wasn’t a Black Knight, but an Irregular!’
A being who could use both mana and aura, which shouldn't be able to exist according to common sense.
A heterogeneous being that had caused a great upheaval whenever it appeared throughout the long history of the Central Continent.
Luther Zemben was none other than a ‘Magic Swordsman.’
Zeke remembered that Duke had mistaken him for an Irregular when he was teaching him the Gale Technique.
He recalled that both Duke and the clan Lord had spoken with the nuance that it would be better not to mention it to outsiders, as the reaction to Irregulars on the Central Continent was not very good.
‘I thought Arthur Draker ostracized Irregulars, but perhaps that’s not entirely the case. Then again, he had an illegitimate child with a vampire maid, so maybe I should see it as him having no prejudice in such matters.’
Once he learned Luther Zemben’s background, everything made sense.
The reason he was kept as an official knight of Draker with benefits despite not being a Draker was none other than because he was a rare being, a Magic Swordsman.
Although Irregulars were avoided as cursed beings, the abilities they possessed were certainly outstanding, beyond comparison with ordinary people.
Because they were beings to whom common sense did not apply, they sometimes showed strength that was beyond common sense.
It seemed Arthur Draker had recognized Luther Zemben’s potential and had drawn him into the family.
Luther Zemben looked at Zeke and said,
“As you can see, I am a Magic Swordsman. Because I can use both magic and the sword, unorthodox attacks are possible.”
He conjured mana in one hand and aura in the other.
“When I shook your hand yesterday, Sir Zeke, I felt that you held a heterogeneous power other than aura in your body and realized that you, like me, are an Irregular.”
Zeke, being of the Healer class, could not create a lower dantian, so he had opened his middle dantian and trained his sword with mana.
Now that he had become a Black Knight, he could also use aura freely, but considering the skills he possessed, it wasn’t much different from using magic.
Zeke asked Luther,
“Is your special technique, Sir Luther, a skill that uses both magic and the sword together?”
At those words, Luther shook his head.
“Although I am a Magic Swordsman, I am only able to handle mana; using high-level magic is impossible for me. If I had to use magic in the middle of a battle, it would be more efficient to use an artifact engraved with attack magic.”
Zeke nodded at Luther’s words.
If you assume a Blue Knight is holding a sword engraved with Fireball magic, he can certainly use both an Aura Blade and a Fireball.
But they don't bother to do so.
This is because if one has enough aura to cast a Fireball, it would be more powerful to simply swing their sword.
In many ways, using a sword and magic together was an inefficient method in itself.
After all, the problem could be easily solved by simply mixing knights and mages to form a unit.
“Please wait a moment.”
Luther looked around, then went to a storage shed and brought back an old sword.
It was not a Central Continent-style sword, but a curved, Eastern Empire-style sword.
He drew the sword and took his stance.
“The reason a Magic Swordsman is threatening is not because they can use a sword and magic. It is because they can handle two heterogeneous powers, aura and mana, at the same time.”
He conjured his aura and swung the sword. A series of threatening sword strikes followed.
At the same time, Luther conjured mana with his other hand.
Woooong!
Because of Luther’s mana, Zeke felt the wave of the surrounding mana change in an instant.
‘This is?’
Zeke recognized what could produce a similar effect to this.
“It seems similar to the Mana Disruption effect of a pure-blood Awakened?”
Luther retracted his sword and nodded.
“That’s right. I heard that the pure-blood Awakened of Draker possess a power that interferes with the flow of mana. However, I also heard that they cannot control that power as freely as I can.”
The pure-blood Awakened of Draker control the Mana Disruption phenomenon with gloves.
But it was impossible to control the phenomenon itself.
Unless they wore gloves made of dragon leather to block the ability itself, the effect spread in all directions.
Therefore, the effect applied not only to enemies but also to allies.
This was the reason why the pure-blood Awakened of Draker did not carelessly take off their gloves even in their daily lives.
Zeke realized how Luther had been able to kill hundreds of high-ranking mages in his past life.
‘It was possible because he was a Magic Swordsman who could adjust the flow of mana.’
Zeke recalled the movements Luther had just shown and repeated them to himself.
“Controlling the flow of mana…”
Unlike ordinary pure-blood Awakened, Zeke possessed the Mana Reflection skill.
If he could learn how to properly utilize this skill in battle, he felt it would be useful in the fight against the Abyss.
Zeke immediately took off the gloves he was wearing.
“W-Wait a minute! If you take them off now, all the mana lamps will burn out…”
However, even when he took off his gloves, nothing happened.
As Luther blinked his eyes in surprise, Zeke extended his palm toward one of the mana lamps.
Then, as if to show off, he activated his Mana Reflection skill.
Crackle!
The mana lamp that Zeke’s palm was pointing at exploded with a shower of sparks.
Seeing the Mana Disruption effect appear belatedly, Luther asked in surprise.
“Sir Zeke, are you able to control your Mana Disruption ability?”