“You’re not my son. You’re not an Idicium… You’re only Viran.”

The emotionless words echoed out by his Father stunned him. Viran was unsure just why this all had to happen now? Renault was killed and Sir Leonard was thrown away in chains and now Viran himself was to be stripped of his own Noble name.

“W-hat?” Viran’s voice cracked underneath the emotions that weighed him down completely. Underneath all of those emotions that Viran felt in that moment was everything he had felt for years, things he had attempted with all of his might to push down. The pain of being ignored and hated, the pain of Marianne’s death. It was all simply too much, and Viran felt as though a demon was within him urging him on. The boy didn’t even notice that his Father had finally said his name, something that had never been done before.

Viran’s hand twitched as it reached downward…

“Don’t.” Ry’s words jostled Viran out of his mindless rage, and slowly his own consciousness took over once more. “You have a right to be angry, but attacking him now will not fix anything. Wait for him to finish speaking.”

As though on cue Lord Idicium’s apathetic face looks down upon Viran once more. Many would have mistaken Lord Idicium to hate his own son then, were it not for the twitching evident in his eyes. Lord Idicium’s pristine apathetic face over these years have fooled everyone into thinking he hated his son. Everyone, but himself.

“You may stay in the estate… For a few years.”

Before Viran could say anything in response his Father had already turned around. His attitude was clear to Viran in that moment, there would be no further discussion.

All the while Lord Idicium walked away Viran stood there motionless for a long time. Too many things had happened all at once and it came to the point where Viran was unsure just what he should do now, what he could do, rather. Except, within those few moments of stillness, the stern visage of an old man entered Viran’s eyesight.

There was only one thing Viran needed to know from that old man.

“Why?” Viran’s cold answer was answered only by a small shrug of the Elder.

“I wasn’t going to defend Leonard. He brought it upon himself.” Elder Nichols said plainly as he looked down upon Viran.

“What? That’s all you have to say?” Viran was fuming as tears brimmed his eyes. “He wouldn’t have known! How could he have known that Sir Leonard brought Renault here!”

Elder Nichols' eyes became stern once more as he looked dead on at the emotionally distressed child in front of him.

“Someone had to take the fall here, and Sir Leonard chose himself.” Elder Nichols said plainly as his hands reached into his pocket to take out a small piece of cloth only to then throw the cloth directly at Viran’s face.

“I wouldn’t have let Renault stay in the village if Sir Leonard didn’t take the fall in the future, there are simply too many risks considering the explosive anger many Nobles hold.” Elder Nichol’s eyes glared at Viran once more before he spat out. “And stop crying for God’s sake! Since you don’t have anything left but your own lonesome self you’ll need to grow up kid!”

Viran’s anger surfaced for a moment on his face before it calmed down a second later, in the end it did make sense to Viran. Yet despite it all Viran wasn’t willing to admit he was close to tears.

“I- I wasn’t crying!” Viran sniffled harshly only to be rebuked a second later.

“Tch, damn kid.” Elder Nichols clicked his tongue softly before walking away from Viran, and he left these parting words.

“It’s obvious you’re nothing without your Idicium name… If you need anything during your stay at Wakeford don’t hesitate to ask.”

Viran was completely shocked at those words. They were a curveball at the distressed Viran, and he couldn’t help but feel tears overcome him once more. But even so, Viran couldn’t force himself to forgive Elder Nichols. Even if he helped Viran in the future, it was him who was responsible for Sir Leonard’s arrest.

Viran’s gaze shook once more, and tears began to fall onto his hands.

Sir Leonard… Rather, Leonard now sat listlessly opposite of his Lord, Lord Idicium.

His gaze was calm and unforgiving as it stared directly through Leonard, and the old man couldn’t calm his beating heart. He couldn’t calm his own emotions at all, he knew what would come next… It was something he feared the most. The loss of his own life for giving a better education to a brat barely a sixth of his age, such a thing wouldn’t be possible were Leonard in his younger and more wild years.

‘I've really gotten soft since my younger years…’ Leonard thought as he waited for the inevitable outcome, his own execution and death.

Leonard was of commoner descent, yet had the luck to be born as a magic user. A talented one at that, and his parents quickly sold him off. Maybe being sold off to a mercenary band was where it all started for Leonard’s streak of selfishness? It came to the point where Leonard would repeatedly put his own wellbeing over others, and everytime he betrayed his own conscience it became easier. It was to be expected for someone who was sold off to mercenaries, in an environment where making money was the only ideal present, a child could only follow obediently to those ideals like the rest. A child is molded by his environment, such a thing was already known throughout the Empire. And molded Leonard was, and at an early age he was already proving his own ability by pushing those down around him. Yet for Viran, he betrayed the only ideal he held throughout his life.

Leonard’s mind wandered to an old friend of his, an old friend he was with that betrayed his own ideals just like him.

‘Although he betrayed that ideal without any help, I needed his example to follow.’ Leonard thought.

Unlike Leonard, Renault was not of common descent. Born in a poor Noble House Renault was similarly shipped off, only to the Noble equivalent of a mercenary band. A Knight Order was made up of only those with Noble heritage, yet only the spares a Noble family would own and exiles. Knight Orders themselves are of low quantity compared to mercenary bands, but that doesn’t get in the way of their effectiveness in the service of the Empire. Squires of these Knight Orders are taught on the fringes of the Empire and do constant battle with the mana beasts and calamities that threaten the frontier. Within these Knight Orders there is a strict code for hierarchy, and within this hierarchy the ones at the bottom always suffer. Whether it be crimes of extortion, murder, or worse; as long as it happens discreetly those on the top of the totem pole get away with it. In such an environment there lays a faint hope of escape, a hope that is abysmal at most. The children that are molded within an environment with no escape possible follow only a single creed, recognition and renown throughout the order.

In an environment where Renault fought tooth and nail to survive just for the most minor Noble rank, he willingly gave it up for a child he knew for only a single week.

Leonard wondered why Renault always came barging in to start an argument, and only now did the wizened mage realize that was simply Renault’s way of showing kindness to the solitude Leonard. The hate Leonard showed to Renault was not true hatred, he was merely reflecting the hatred he felt for himself. The selfish man he is.

“...Why?” Lord Idicium suddenly started the conversation Leonard dreaded.

Leonard never took a single second to deliberate on what he said next. He knew what the outcome of everything was anyway, there was no point in lying.

“Frankly, I should ask the same thing. Just what do you see wrong in Viran?”

“That’s not what I asked. If you wish to live-” Lord Idicium was suddenly cut off by the anger of Leonard.

“Hrm, I don’t wish to live! I’ve spent over a year with that child and I have seen first hand how he is! What about you? You throw him into some decadent house in your own estate, you intentionally suppress him! That’s something a real Father shouldn’t do.” Leonard’s angry rant caused his own face to flush.

As the apathy that stained Lord Idicium’s face remained Leonard could feel his own blood boiling in that moment. Leonard was a man thrown out by his family at a young age and neglected there after as though he were a commodity. After seeing the pure neglect that Viran faced all alone at such a young age, and without a mother no less.

“Just what have you done for Viran? Nothing! You’ve done nothing for your own son! All you ever do is put that apathetic mask over your fucking head and pretend everything is fine!”

His lungs burned, he had evidently screamed too much. His own aged body was aching, in the first place Leonard never put much work into making his body resilient like other magic users so his body was frail compared to everyone around him. Renault’s thin body was quite uncommon too, it even proved fatal in his last battle against those Knights.

“You really think I’ve done nothing for that boy?” Lord Idicium’s low growl sent signals running off in Leonard’s brain. He could tell he was in danger.

“Damn right I think you!-” The sudden cut off was met with the splattering of blood and the mushy sound of flesh being hit upon.

The anger Lord Idicium possessed was truly great, and within a moment he could find his own fist heading straight for the aged mage in front of him. His bloodline gift made the single punch fatal for the frail Leonard, and blood soon filled the entirety of the carriage. As Lord Idicium retracted his fist from the dead body, with a heavy thud, it fell face down onto the floor in between the both of them. The smell of blood that Lord Idicium couldn’t get used to made his nostrils flare in displeasure, it burned.

“I- I’m-!” Lord Idicium’s bloodied hand reached forward towards the mushy corpse in front of him, but the words never came out. They couldn’t come out. The blood that stained him was not the blood of a beast, or the blood of an evil person, but the blood of a teacher. The position the man held was one that Lord Idicium coveted, yet he knew he could never obtain that much.

Lord Idicium’s hands shook in terror as they climbed to his horrified face, a face horrified by the actions he committed. The pain and terror he felt for his own actions didn’t last for long; sadly, the divine presence of a God quickly filled the entirety of the carriage.

Feeling the pressure upon his bones, the creaking of wood, and the burning medallion tucked away within his clothes Lord Idicium frantically threw the medallion out on the floor in front of him. All at once, the anger of a God was directed at Lord Idicium solely.

“WE AGREED TO THIS.”

“THE BOY DOES NOT BELONG TO THE IDICIUM FAMILY.”

“THIS IS THE LAST TIME YOU DISOBEY ME IDICIUM.”

With a thunderous roar the hot anger that Craynor felt over Idicium’s disobedience was shown clearly in his voice. The pressure the God exerted wrecked havoc over Lord Idicium’s body as he gasped for air, only for his own windpipes to be covered in blood a second later as his body spasmed. The power exerted was enough to cripple a normal magic user, and was more than enough to kill even a regular person. Were it not for Lord Idicium’s bloodline gift and physical prowess he would likely choke to death on his own blood.

But the God that cherished Lord Idicium’s accomplishments knew clearly where the boundaries were. He wasn’t prepared to kill Idicium at this point yet, he could still be molded into a suitable puppet for the God’s presence in the continent.

“Don’t misunderstand me Idicium. You’re not the only follower that I have and if I wanted to I could kill that boy at any moment.” Craynor’s pressure receded slowly, as if to remind Idicium just how much power the God had over mortals such as himself.

“He has a Devil possessing his body, but I could simply overlook that. The boy staying within the South, however, I cannot overlook.”

Idicium emptied the blood that filled his lungs and throat out onto the ground, and as he gasped for breath he uttered out a single plea. A plea that would seal his fate.

“Time… What must I do for more time?”

No one would know that in this moment, Craynor’s twisted face would form into a devilish smile.