Nevalis gradually regained consciousness, and pain surged through his body in a tormenting wave. The injury at the base of his neck was the most troubling, as if it was a reminder of what had just transpired. He gingerly touched the area with trembling fingers, as though the sensation would bring back the image of the tragedy he had just experienced, with every movement provoking new pain throughout his body. When he opened his eyes, a foul, pungent odor struck his nose, causing him to immediately cover it with his hand. The stench was so overwhelming that his stomach churned. He
muttered in a low, disgusted tone:
"Where the hell am I? What is this foul smell?"
Every movement was accompanied by a painful groan; even the simplest actions caused him discomfort. It took him a few moments to assess his surroundings.
Nevalis quickly rose, and instead of displaying the expected fear or panic, there was a strange mixture of confusion and questioning on his face.
He muttered quietly, with a tone of confusion and bewilderment: "Why did Edward do that?"
Despite his shock, he knew full well that he would get no answers unless they came from Edward himself. So, he breathed slowly, trying to gather his thoughts, then began to examine himself and his surroundings—skills he had learned well from combat books and from Edward's lessons in magic. Edward had always told him that a magician's condition and the environment around them greatly affected their strength and stability.
The place he found himself in was a dark alley, barely lit, filled with garbage scattered everywhere. The foul stench that had disturbed him since waking was still surrounding him, and he hadn't removed his hand from his nose for a moment. His face constantly wore a look of disgust, as if staying in this filthy place was more than he could bear.
He grumbled again, his voice heavy with disdain: "What kind of place is this? It's disgusting!"
After cursing his presence in this place, he went back to inspecting himself. He was wearing a single-piece outfit, slightly faded in color, with large sleeves covering his hands completely. He was surprised when his blue eyes caught something inside his clothes. There was a neatly folded piece of paper, carefully hidden.
He quickly took it out and unfolded it, as if clinging to any answer about what had happened. The moment he saw the handwriting on the paper, he immediately recognized it as Edward's. His curiosity peaked, and he began reading the message.
With every word he read, it seemed like the world around him was collapsing. His frozen face turned pale, and his hands trembled slightly as he held the paper. The first part of the message was enough to destroy everything he thought he knew. Nevalis lowered the letter slightly, his face drawn in a heavy silence. His eyes were filled with shock, but there was also a slight hint of fear beginning to creep into his features.
"The Oliver family has been wiped out..."
He repeated the phrase inside his mind, as though it needed time to sink in. His family... the family that carried the title of Count, a politically and militarily influential family in the kingdom, a great family whose power was rivaled only by the four ducal families or the royal family itself... wiped out completely?
The Oliver family was no ordinary family. It was one of the strongest noble families in the kingdom, holding the title of Count, which put them in a unique position among the nobility. The Oliver family represented a symbol of strength and stability, and their influence extended to almost every corner of the kingdom.
However, there were limits to their influence. Above them were the four
ducal families, who controlled the major regions of the kingdom, each representing a political, military, and economic power. These four families—the Vernston family in the south, the Brandel family in the north, the Klein family in the east, and the Malford family in the west—formed a layer above the counts, standing just below the imperial ruling family.
Even so, the Oliver family had always been respected, even feared at times, due to their power and influence that far exceeded that of any other count family. Rarely was any major political decision made without consulting Count Alfred.
Nevalis clenched the letter tightly in his hands, his mind racing at full speed. "What the hell happened? How could a count family be wiped out like this?"
As he finished reading the letter, the expression on his face had changed. It wasn't anger or sadness that dominated him, but rather a mixture of confusion, mystery, and deep astonishment.
"Wiped out... Damn, five years of work and adaptation to that filthy environment gone to waste." He placed his hand under his chin, questioning, "What do I do now? Should I go to Mother...?"
But he quickly discarded the idea. "No, that would be dangerous. And besides, I don't want to return having failed... of course, it wasn't a failure of my making, but it's still just failure."
"I need to find the main path in another way..."
He slowly lowered the letter, his eyes wandering as though searching for an explanation in the emptiness before him.
Inside, he was trying to understand the situation. "Was it one of the four ducal families?"
Doubts began to creep in, and questions swirled in his mind. But he knew one thing for sure: whatever the reason, his life had changed forever.
...
Nevalis stood in the dark alley, his heart submerged in a sea of conflicting thoughts. He stared at the torn piece of paper in his hand, and the sound of it tearing in the surrounding silence felt like the last remaining link between him and his past. He sighed deeply, contemplating the words he had just read. He didn't have any real connection to his family to begin with. He doubted there was anything that tied him to them, despite being the supposed heir. He had no one who cared about him there.
Even his parents, if you added up the time he spent with them throughout his life, it wouldn't even total two months. It was as though they were just names in a family ledger, passing responsibility toward him as if it were nothing more than a duty.
He recalled the words Alfred had once said to him: "The extinction of noble families isn't an unusual thing. It's the way things are settled in the noble world of this kingdom."
Those words, which once filled him with rage and fear during his lessons, had now become a part of the inevitable reality. Alfred had wanted him to embrace those ideas, to become capable of wiping out any family without hesitation or mercy.
That was the nature of the nobility, in his eyes: their blood was worth no more than their desires and ambitions. The brutality of the world he had grown up in was becoming painfully clear in this moment. The nobility, in his eyes, were like predators who wouldn't hesitate to kill each other for power and influence. This was the world he had been forced to live in, a world without mercy or compassion, where there was no place for the weak or the sentimental.
His gaze moved from the torn paper to his hand, where something else had caught his attention in Edward's letter.
It was a ring made of deep black metal, faintly shimmering. The edges of the ring bore ancient inscriptions written in a forgotten language, a language known only to a few. It was a Void Ring, one of the rarest items in the world, and many had longed to possess it, even from the ducal families.
In the world of the nobility, a ring like this was rare, and Nevalis wouldn't be surprised if one or more of the ducal families owned Void Rings. He was stunned by the sight of the ring. He knew it was something rare, but he never expected to end up owning one.
Pushing aside his scattered thoughts, Nevalis closed his fist around the ring and carefully followed Edward's instructions. He injected pure mana into it, as Edward had taught him before. Infusing mana into an object was no easy task, especially when it came to a Void Ring.
He drew the mana from within him and carefully placed it into the ring with full focus and precision. Despite his intense fatigue, he succeeded in completing the task. However, when he pulled something out of the ring, he collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. The process had been incredibly exhausting, and he felt as though all his energy had been drained.
After resting for a moment, Nevalis raised his head and glanced at the item he had pulled from the ring.
It was a slender bracelet made of dark metal, resembling a mixture of silver and black onyx. It glowed with soft lines that seemed like veins of living light. The lines shone as if they were directly touching his heart. At the center of the bracelet, there was a small, radiant stone that changed color depending on the light around it.
As Edward had described in the letter, it was an object used for shape-shifting. Edward had explained that it was a bracelet that could change aspects of his appearance, such as his hair and eye color. But there was a catch: the bracelet required mana to function. Fortunately, Edward had already infused mana into the bracelet and sealed it inside. Nevalis guessed that he wouldn't need to worry about the bracelet's mana for several months.
He took a deep breath and injected a small thread of pure mana into the bracelet. He didn't feel any immediate changes. After all, the change wasn't spiritual but physical. If there had been a mirror nearby, Nevalis would have been shocked—his hair and eyes had both turned black.
He took another deep breath, then slowly began to move out of the alley. His steps were slow and heavy, and his eyes gleamed with a dark color. When he finally stepped out of the dark alley, he felt something strange in the air, as if everything around him had also changed. He paused for a moment to clear his mind, then looked around slowly. He was stunned by what he saw.