Chapter 234

Chapter 234 - The First Lesson

Millesdusk’s Black Ship. With the exception of the Clone, who had not yet arrived, all the direct-line blood relatives gathered in one room.

It was extremely rare for them to gather in one room, and even when they did, it was usually a very uncomfortable occasion.

However, if the Youngest or his Clone was present, the atmosphere became quite comfortable, and arguments lessened as well.

Of course, they only lessened. It did not mean arguments disappeared entirely.

“Hey, you ghosts. Why are you so noisy in your sleep? I could hear you going on about Dante this and Dante that all the way from my room next door!”

“…Do not say ridiculous things.”

“Ridiculous? I heard it!”

“…….”

The Third Daughter was naturally quiet, and the Second Daughter followed her younger sister into a vow of silence.

Seeing those younger sisters, the First Son crossed his arms in the corner and gave a faint smile.

“It feels as though children are going on a picnic.”

“Hah!”

The Fourth Son snorted and immediately retorted.

“You are the biggest child here! You could not sleep because you were so excited about going to wage a conquest war against Wisdom, could you?”

“…The Second Daughter is right. What absurd nonsense.”

“The dark circles under your eyes are the proof!”

“…….”

The Daughters and the First Son fell silent. The Fourth Son giggled at his rare victory.

“Good day. I apologize for being late.”

The Clone Son was the last of the blood relatives to enter the room.

“I was slightly delayed because I was receiving interpretation materials from the main body.”

“No, no~. The waiting time was very enjoyable.”

“The enjoyable time was probably the last of it. I looked over the materials I received, and they were not easy.”

“Did the main body not do it? Then why are you having difficulty?”

“I do not know how to unfold the Six Paths. I do not know the reason, but it appears that Clones cannot do so.”

The blood relatives could not express it outwardly, but inwardly, they were all relieved.

If even his Clone could use the Six Paths, then he would truly be impossible to approach.

As the Clone said, if only the main body could use them, then they would have a chance after learning the Six Paths.

Of course, not long afterward, the blood relatives realized that even the possibility of gaining that chance was extremely faint.

“These are the sorceries within the Six Paths that the main body selected because they seemed suitable for each of you.”

The Clone Son divided a stack of papers and handed one set to each blood relative.

“Everyone, please check them.”

The blood relatives checked the name of the sorcery written at the top of their respective stacks.

“Are Melaine and I using different Six Paths sorceries too?”

“Yes. However, the system of the Six Paths is the same for both of you, the Path of the Human.”

“Ugh. Mine is the Path of the Beast?”

“Mine is the Path of the Asura.”

At the First Son’s words, the Fourth Son sharply turned his head. Then he looked back at the Clone Son, his gaze filled with grievance.

“Youngest Clone!”

“What is it?”

“You gave that lunatic something cool, and you gave me this?”

The First Son sighed.

“And you claim you are not a child?”

The Daughters were not much different; they turned their eyes away as if they were embarrassed on his behalf.

By contrast, the Clone Son smiled gently.

“The Six Paths only have differences in compatibility with one another. Their difference in power is not that great. It is like how the Path of the Beast is strong in prolonged battles, while the Path of the Asura is strong in short battles.”

“Then is the Path of the Beast stronger?”

“It depends on how it is used. If I tell you its uses, Fourth Son, you will create that method yourself.”

“Aah~! Then I do not mind! I am smarter than that madman!”

The Fourth Son thumped his own chest. Even so, because of his small build, he could not help but look only cute.

However, just as he said, the Fourth Son’s intelligence stat was superior to the First Son’s.

But the First Son had the best instantaneous sense, intuition, and sixth sense among the blood relatives.

A sixth sense capable of noticing even Ransis’s approach from the soul dimension suited the Path of the Asura very well.

Even if he explained this, it would only increase the Fourth Son’s complaints, so he quietly omitted it.

“I will give you time. Please read through your respective materials carefully in this room.”

“Melaine cannot see. It is fine if I read it to her, right?”

“Of course. Also, I will look over you starting from whoever comes first, so the order will be determined by arrival.”

At those words, the blood relatives scattered at once.

They retreated into corners, avoiding their blood kin, whose faces would only irritate them needlessly if seen.

Then, holding the materials the Clone had prepared, they began studying while taking notes with their own pens.

The Clone Son sat among the scattered blood relatives and waited for the first student.

Who would be first?

He pulled over two chairs and sat in one of them. The remaining empty chair was for the student.

.

.

.

“I have finished reading.”

Sure enough, the first to sit in the chair was the First Son.

“Did you understand it as well?”

“I believe I did, in my own way.”

The other blood relatives were so absorbed in the materials that they did not even notice the First Son had taken his seat.

They devoured the materials in their own ways, whether by lying down completely to read or sitting on a younger sister’s lap while reading.

The First Son had also leaned against the wall and dealt with the materials sheet by sheet before finally coming before the Clone Son.

“Tell me what you understood.”

“The name of the sorcery is the Path of the Asura: Three Heads and Six Arms. It means a total of three heads and six arms.”

“Would you like to attempt it once?”

“I will.”

The First Son rose without hesitation.

The Youngest Son added stability by forming Hand Seals with his skeletal hands, but the other blood relatives could not do that.

Synchronization with skeletal hands was something only the Youngest Son could do, because he shared the quality of blood with them.

Thus, for now, they had to do their best with the hands they were given.

SWISH—

The First Son interlaced the fingers of both hands and comfortably closed his eyes.

‘The First Son has experienced multiple wars, just like Gatekeeper Mesher Attica. With his innate disposition as a conqueror, he is a man accustomed to a life stained with blood.’

That was why the main body had matched First Son Hiler with the Path of the Asura.

Among its techniques, he had chosen a sorcery perfectly suited for one who wielded weapons.

“See the world with three pairs of eyes, and seize the world with three pairs of arms.”

The First Son slowly recited the activation words.

The concept of activation words originally belonged to the West, but the Youngest Son had added them in order to raise stability by any means.

Fortunately, it proved effective.

CRACKLE—

White bone overlaid the First Son’s face.

The white bone covering the entire front of his face, as though he wore a mask, had eye sockets as empty as the abyss.

CRACKLE CRACKLE—

Then, just as skulls were about to manifest over both shoulders—

CRUSH—

They fell away in fragments, along with the mask completed over his face.

“…A failure.”

“If you reached this point on your first attempt, it can be considered a success.”

“For me, success does not mean something like this.”

CRUNCH—

The fallen fragments were crushed into powder beneath the First Son’s sole.

“What must I correct?”

“You are too rushed. The life of the Path of the Asura is speed, but you must not neglect completeness.”

“…I understand. I will practice on my own and return.”

“You have already reached the foundation, so you may practice the rest wherever you like. If you do it here on the ship, please avoid rough actions.”

The First Son slowly nodded, then took his Scripture of the Dark Wheel and materials and left the room.

The Fourth Son and the Daughters were also devoting themselves to devouring the materials, and their speed was by no means slow.

The First Son was abnormally fast.

In truth, he had not failed to anticipate this situation, but now that it had happened, a hollow laugh escaped him.

The Clone felt the main body’s emotions exactly as they were and muttered his impression.

“An absurdly overpowered character….”

The main body did not tell him what the words meant, but they seemed to refer to an out-of-bounds genius like the First Son.

“I thought the First Son would be the person we would rely on most in this war. It will go just as you thought, main body.”

On the Millesdusk ship, the Clone waited for the next student, and waited for the Youngest Son’s next contact.

***

“It seems the education on the ship is going smoothly.”

The Youngest Son returned to his room while occasionally checking on the ship’s situation.

Outside, the sun was already rising.

Only after the crown of the sun became visible did he receive his coat back from the Princess.

Until then, the Princess had been unable to take her eyes off herself within the ice statue. Even most narcissists would not have gone this far.

Not that he meant the Princess was a narcissist, but for some reason, she did not turn her head.

She truly looked only at the ice statue, and even when she returned the coat, she did not meet his eyes.

“I should avoid doing anything that displeases the Princess for the time being.”

He had somehow gotten through it this time, but there was no guarantee it would be the same next time.

“My, my~. You are quite the player, are you not?”

When he returned to the room, Ransis was lying on his bed as if to make a point.

Seeing the Messenger, he remembered the words he truly wanted to say.

“Have you lost your mind?”

“My, my. Calling your teacher mad? Is that what I taught you?”

“Please leave before I show you what you taught me.”

Around the bed where Ransis lay, Exploding Bone Dust appeared like a swarm of fireflies.

“Whoa, calm down. The result was good, was it not?”

“Good? Hardly. I barely got through it, and she has clearly marked me now.”

“Marked you? The Princess liked it. Your relationship even progressed.”

“She would not even look at me, so what progression? Please get out of my bed. You smell of alcohol.”

“Tsk. You skeleton-obsessed bastard.”

Ransis kicked off the blanket and rose, then began changing her clothes again.

Now, she was returning to work.

And just as her student had tried to set off dust, she set something off as well.

“Oh, I heard you have a vampire fiancée.”

“…Pardon?”

It was an abrupt bombshell.

“Your mother said so.”

The Youngest Son’s body froze stiff in place.

At the reaction that came out exactly as she expected, the Messenger cackled and finished changing.

“She is the only daughter of the Grand Duke of Blood, though I do not know the details. She is five years older than you. An extremely late-born child.”

“That does seem to be the case.”

“Also, they said the Grand Duke of Blood was unbelievably pleased. That father-in-law of yours must be very fond of you.”

Recently, the Fifth Son of Millesdusk had drawn attention as a figure who had caused upheaval in the world.

However, he did not know whether that was also a reason for a father-in-law to like him.

“Well, that is how it is. After the war with the West ends, who knows? The Empire and the Blood Royalty might face off next~.”

“…Please do not say such dreadful things, and take care on your way back. Thank you for telling me.”

“Work yourself to the bone.”

SLLLRK—

Ransis disappeared into the soul dimension.

Finally left alone, the Youngest Son collapsed onto the bed, completely drained.

[You even had a fiancée?]

“…I do not know.”

[Is she pretty?]

“I said I do not know.”

Letting Enad’s words pass behind him, he lay on the bed and thought again.

“This has put me in a very awkward position.”

[Since you need to use the Empire, you postponed the marriage talks until you become Family Head. But if you postpone them, does that not mean you should marry the already arranged daughter of the Grand Duke?]

“That is exactly right.”

[Then I do not see what the problem is. There is a simple solution, is there not?]

“What is it?”

Enad spoke without hesitation, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

[Take one of the two as a concubine.]

“…….”

[Make one the principal wife and the other a concubine. What is the problem?]

He decided to ignore the Magic Sword from now on. After saying a few correct things, it seemed to be reaching its limit.

As a blood relative of a great family, it was not something that could never be said, but considering the people involved, it was something that absolutely could not be said.

Make the Princess a concubine? It made no sense. Then make the only daughter of the Grand Duke of Blood a concubine? That made no sense either.

When a problem made no sense no matter what was substituted into it, the correct answer was simply not to touch it.

“…I should sleep.”

Rather than agonizing over a problem that could not be solved, he would sleep.

That was far better for his brain and his health.

Since the sun had risen just in time, he pulled the blanket up to his head and closed his eyes.

[Really? Are you really sleeping?]

“Let me sleep. It has been two days.”

He had not realized it while he was awake, but once he said it aloud, sleep rushed in.

Before long, the room was filled with the sound of soft breathing, and during that time, several lines of carriages entered the Empire.

It was the return of the powerful ministers who had originally been in the Imperial Palace, but had been forced to leave for unknown reasons.