Episode 260
“Oh, do you know me?”
Luther’s startled response was not only stammered but also oddly structured.
‘Judging by the Dortan accent, he doesn’t seem to be from the central continent.’
Zeke smiled warmly at Luther Zemben and said, “Of course. I was supposed to learn your special techniques, wasn’t I? I should have introduced myself sooner. My apologies.”
As he finished speaking, Zeke reached out and shook Luther’s hand.
‘Huh?’
The moment Zeke grasped Luther Zemben’s hand, he felt something strange.
Luther quickly withdrew his hand, stammering, “S-sorry. My hands are always sweaty. I just came to say hello. I’ll be going now…”
Luther glanced around nervously before disappearing into the crowd.
Zeke pondered the odd sensation he had felt when he shook Luther’s hand.
‘That was definitely… magic?’
Knights use aura, while mages use magic.
As far as Zeke knew, Luther Zemben was a knight, not a mage.
So it was impossible for him to have sensed magic from Luther.
‘Could I have been mistaken?’
Despite his awkward demeanor, Luther seemed to be hiding something extraordinary.
Zeke continued to greet others, all the while speculating about Luther Zemben.
The day after the banquet, Zeke set out to find Luther Zemben.
During his search, Zeke discovered that Luther had been appointed as an official knight of the Draker family through a special selection process.
Zeke himself had been appointed through a similar process, but he was a direct descendant of the Draker lineage.
Luther, however, had no known ties to the Draker family and no record of notable achievements as a knight.
Curious about how Luther had become a Draker knight, Zeke used his authority as a senior knight to investigate. To his surprise, Luther had been appointed directly by the head of the family.
Moreover, there was an exceptional clause allowing him to retain his knightly status without performing any Draker duties.
Such privileges were unheard of for a Draker knight.
This revelation left Zeke with a question.
‘If Luther hasn’t mastered the dragon-slaying techniques, how can he be a candidate for the special techniques?’
The special techniques were refined applications of the Draker family’s dragon-slaying methods, passed down through generations.
The Draker family, with its millennium-long history, had developed various applications of these techniques. Senior knights would refine these into what were called “special techniques.”
These techniques were passed down to future generations, contributing to the Draker family’s dominance in Midland.
It was only natural for Zeke to be puzzled. The foundation of the special techniques was the dragon-slaying methods, which Luther seemed to be outside of.
Arthur Draker, the head of the family, surely knew this, so why had he included Luther in the list of special technique candidates?
‘Luther Zemben, your true identity is becoming more intriguing.’
Luther Zemben lived alone in a house on the outskirts of Atlas.
After obtaining his address, Zeke rode Bucephalus to Luther’s residence.
The house stood alone in a quiet area, with little concern for security; the fence was flimsy, and the door was open.
Zeke left Bucephalus outside and entered the house.
It was a modest two-story building, hardly befitting a Draker knight.
‘He could afford a much better place. Perhaps he’s just frugal.’
Sensing no one inside, Zeke explored the area and noticed movement behind the house.
To his surprise, there was a small vegetable garden, and Luther was tending to it.
‘A Draker knight farming?’
The only farming Zeke had done was in a soma plantation in his past life on the southern continent.
Luther was focused on pulling weeds and catching pests.
“Phew.”
He straightened up, wiping sweat from his brow, and finally noticed Zeke watching him.
“Ah! Sir Zeke! You startled me!”
Luther exclaimed in awkward common tongue.
Zeke addressed him in Dortan, “If you’re more comfortable with Dortan, we can speak in that language.”
Luther was taken aback. “You speak Dortan?”
“Just a little.”
But as Zeke listened to Luther’s Dortan, he noticed something odd.
‘Even his Dortan is awkward.’
After a moment’s hesitation, Zeke asked, “Sir Luther, if you don’t mind me asking, where are you from?”
Luther hesitated, then finally spoke, “Actually, I’m from the Eastern Continent.”
“The Eastern Continent…”
Zeke switched to ancient Eastern tongue, and Luther’s eyes widened in shock.
“My goodness! Where did you learn that language?”
Zeke had learned it from a Highlander from Ishtar in a past life, but he couldn’t reveal that.
He tried to continue the conversation, but unfortunately, Luther didn’t know ancient Eastern tongue.
They decided to converse in Dortan, which was more comfortable for both.
They sat on chairs near the garden.
“Sigh, I’ve been learning the common tongue for years, but it’s so difficult.”
“The word order is different, so it’s challenging at first. But Dortan seems to have a similar structure to Eastern tongue.”
“Yes, many words are similar, so it’s easier to learn.”
Luther seemed more at ease speaking in familiar Dortan.
Zeke asked, “Sir Luther, before coming here, I looked into your records.”
Luther didn’t seem upset or surprised by this, nodding instead.
“As a pure-blooded awakened one, you must have found my records puzzling.”
“Forgive me for being blunt, but I was curious how your name ended up on the list of special technique candidates.”
Zeke didn’t beat around the bush and asked Luther directly.
Luther nodded and began to speak.
“To be honest… I was surprised too. That the head of the family selected me as a candidate for your special techniques.”
“What do you mean?”
“As you know, I’m not qualified to be a candidate for the special techniques. I’ve learned some basic dragon-slaying methods here, but I can only mimic the advanced techniques that official knights use.”
He paused before continuing slowly.
“I was puzzled about being named a candidate until I met you yesterday.”
“And what was the reason?”
Luther stood up slowly and extended his hand toward Zeke.
A hum filled the air as magic emanated from Luther’s body.
A nearby stick was drawn into his hand by magic.
Zeke was startled and took a step back.
But then something even more astonishing happened.
An aura blade formed around the stick in Luther’s hand.
‘What is this?’
Incredibly, Luther could wield both magic and aura simultaneously.
He gathered his energy and spoke to Zeke.
“Like you, Sir Zeke, I am an Irregular.”
Zeke, momentarily taken aback by Luther’s words, quickly regained his composure.
‘The true identity of the Mage Slayer wasn’t a dark knight but an Irregular!’
An entity capable of using both magic and aura, something that defied common sense.
Throughout the long history of the central continent, such beings had always caused upheaval whenever they appeared.
Luther Zemben was none other than a ‘Magic Swordsman.’
Zeke recalled how Duke had mistaken him for an Irregular when passing on the Gale Technique.
In the central continent, Irregulars were not well-received, so both Duke and the head of the family had hinted that it was best not to mention it to outsiders.
‘I thought Arthur Draker was against Irregulars, but maybe not. Considering he even had a child with a vampire maid, perhaps he’s more open-minded than I thought.’
Understanding Luther Zemben’s background made everything clear.
The reason he was granted privileges and made an official Draker knight, despite not being a Draker, was because he was a rare Magic Swordsman.
Irregulars were often seen as cursed and shunned, but their abilities were undeniably superior to ordinary people.
Being outside the norm, they exhibited extraordinary strength.
Arthur Draker seemed to have recognized Luther Zemben’s potential and brought him into the family.
Luther looked at Zeke and said, “As you saw, I’m a Magic Swordsman. I can use both magic and swordsmanship, allowing for unconventional attacks.”
He demonstrated by channeling magic in one hand and aura in the other.
“When we shook hands yesterday, I sensed an unusual power within you, not aura, and realized you were an Irregular like me.”
As a healer class, Zeke couldn’t form a lower dantian, so he had opened his middle dantian to train with mana.
Now that he was a Black Knight, he could wield aura freely, but considering his skills, it wasn’t much different from using magic.
Zeke turned to Luther and asked, “Is your special technique a combination of magic and swordsmanship, Sir Luther?”
Luther shook his head. “Though I’m called a magic swordsman, I can only manipulate magical energy. Casting high-level spells is beyond me. In battle, it’s more efficient to use artifacts engraved with attack spells.”
Zeke nodded in understanding. If a Blue Knight wielded a sword inscribed with a Fireball spell, he could use both an aura blade and Fireball. But he wouldn’t. The aura required for Fireball would be better spent swinging the sword for greater impact. Combining sword and magic was inherently inefficient. It was simpler to form units of knights and mages.
“Please wait a moment,” Luther said, scanning the area before retrieving an old sword from a storage room. It was a curved blade from the Eastern Empire, not the straight swords of the central continent. He drew the sword and assumed a stance.
“The threat of a magic swordsman isn’t in using both sword and magic. It’s in mastering the disparate forces of aura and magical energy simultaneously.”
He unleashed a series of powerful strikes, aura crackling around the blade. At the same time, he summoned magical energy with his other hand.
A low hum filled the air, and Zeke sensed the shift in the surrounding mana.
‘What is this?’ he wondered, recognizing the effect.
“It resembles the mana disruption of a pureblooded Draker,” Zeke observed.
Luther sheathed his sword and nodded. “Correct. Pureblood Drakers are said to disrupt mana flow. However, they can’t control it as freely as I can.”
Pureblood Drakers used gloves to manage their disruptive power, but it was uncontrollable without them. The effect was indiscriminate, affecting both allies and enemies, which is why they never removed their gloves in daily life.
Zeke realized how Luther had managed to kill hundreds of high-level mages in his past life. ‘He could manipulate the flow of magical energy as a magic swordsman.’
Recalling Luther’s demonstration, Zeke murmured, “Controlling the flow of magical energy…”
Unlike typical purebloods, Zeke possessed a mana reflection skill. If he could learn to harness it in battle, it would be invaluable against the Abyss.
Without hesitation, Zeke removed his gloves.
“Wait! If you take them off now, the mana lamps will—”
But nothing happened. As Luther blinked in surprise, Zeke extended his palm toward one of the mana lamps and activated his mana reflection skill.
Crackle!
The lamp sparked and exploded, belatedly showing the disruption effect. Luther, astonished, asked, “Sir Zeke, can you control the mana disruption ability?”