"..."

For someone who had pestered her to show him, his reaction was terribly underwhelming. Lucia swallowed and looked at Kyle.

Before she summoned her aura, his golden eyes had sparkled like gold. Now, they hardly sparkled at all. His expression was no different. His mouth was hanging wide open, but something... something about it suggested neither wonder nor amazement.

'What is it...?'

Lucia's brimming pride began to falter. She glanced up at the aura wrapped around the hand she held at head height.

Red aura. It was no different from what she produced during her usual training.

"Wow."

At last, she heard the exclamation she had been waiting for. Lucia snapped her gaze back to Kyle. Considering that exclamation, his expression was rather odd.

Then, all of a sudden, his eyes began to sparkle. He was genuinely grateful to have been reincarnated as Kyle, and his heart raced as he imagined fighting the powerful opponents who must fill this world. Naturally, Lucia had no way of guessing what the Sword Demon inside Kyle's body was thinking.

"H-how was it?"

Lucia ventured the question. Only then did Kyle come to his senses and clap his hands.

"Amazing! That's so cool! So that's aura! Wooow!"

For now, he shouted out the sort of reaction a five-year-old boy seeing aura for the first time ought to have.

'Unstable, though.'

But he still had to judge it honestly. Lucia's aura—if that could even be called aura—felt unstable, at any rate. Still, considering that she was eight, it was an impressive feat.

"Thank you."

Feeling pleased with herself, Lucia withdrew her aura. Even for someone of mixed demon blood, manifesting aura for long was difficult. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she said,

"Now that you've earned the approval of the head of the house, Master Kyle, you should be able to learn a mana cultivation method whenever you like."

"Wow!"

Kyle exclaimed again. This time, it was heartfelt rather than something he did for Lucia's benefit.

'So I won't have to go through all that damn misery from my last life again.'

With his memories of that time, he probably wouldn't have struggled as much as before anyway. Still, why turn down a chance to learn systematically?

Looking back, he had never received systematic instruction in his previous life—not in mana, nor even in swordsmanship. He had learned a little from the adults when he was young, while his father was still alive and before the mercenary company fell apart.

After that, he had simply learned in actual combat.

Swinging a sword was all he knew, and the only people around him were other orphaned mercenaries' children. Adapting to the state of the world and their own circumstances, they had formed the Crow Mercenaries and wandered the battlefields to feed themselves, survive, fight, and take revenge.

"The third floor of the Sword Tower houses the quarters of the Funeral Knights."

Gladiheim had several fighting forces, five of which were knightly orders.

The Black Iron Knights, the White Night Knights, the Red Snow Knights, and the Aurora Knights.

And the Funeral Knights.

"The Funeral Knights are the personal guard directly under the head of the house. They are Gladiheim's most elite knightly order, consisting of thirteen members. They are always stationed near His Lordship or throughout the Sword Tower, protecting the purebloods."

"If they protect Grandpa, does that mean they're stronger than him?"

"Pardon? No, it doesn't. The first rule of Alastor is that the strong reign supreme. That means His Lordship is the strongest."

Lucia spoke in a dignified voice. She was doing her utmost to explain things simply enough for Kyle, who was three years younger than her, to understand.

In truth, that was also the limit of her own understanding.

"The purebloods live on the fourth floor of the Sword Tower. You will be living there from now on as well, Master Kyle. And the elders live on the fifth floor."

"Elders?"

"They belong to generations senior to the head of the house."

"Then are they above Grandpa?"

"Pardon? No, they aren't."

"But you said they were senior to him."

"That... I'll explain that another time. The head of the house holds the highest position in Alastor."

Lucia's gaze wavered. Of course, Kyle wasn't asking because he didn't know what an elder was. He had simply found her reactions amusing.

"Are the elders strong?"

"They are, but His Lordship should be stronger."

There was a battlefield maxim warning one to beware of old soldiers.

It carried two meanings: an old soldier who had survived the battlefield must be strong, and someone who stayed on the battlefield despite his age couldn't be entirely sane.

"You said you learn from the elders, right, Lucia?"

"Yes. I'm grateful for the privilege."

Pride returned to her face as she answered.

"Not only the elders. Lady Katarina instructs me as well."

"Aunt Katarina?"

"Yes, that's right."

Kyle recalled the tall woman he had seen in the corridor earlier. Her vivid red hair and golden eyes were impossible to forget once seen. If Arian's red hair was the color of roses and her eyes amber, Katarina's hair was the color of blood and her eyes the gold of a predator.

In short, of all his children, Katarina most closely resembled Julius, the head of the house, with his red hair and golden eyes. Kyle felt she might be stronger than even the bear-sized Varkas.

"The sixth through ninth floors are the Floor of Asceticism."

"What's that?"

"The Floor of Asceticism is a place of trials. I don't know much about it, so I think you should ask someone else."

'This place really does have everything.'

Apparently, the Dragon King had built it himself and given it as a gift. It really did have everything.

"His Lordship lives alone on the tenth floor. And the eleventh floor is the Ascension Platform—the highest and holiest place in the Sword Tower. No, in all of Vigrid."

"The Ascension Platform..."

Kyle unconsciously clenched his fists.

'The place where Ruin Alastor ascended.'

Arian had told him about ascension several times, but Kyle still couldn't shake his doubts.

What exactly was ascension? Was it different from death? According to the accepted account, Ruin Alastor had lived another fifty years after ending the forty-year Dark Age, then ascended at the very top of the Sword Tower.

'Ascension...'

The Blade Mountains had shaken, and lightning had surged from the tower's top floor to pierce the heavens. When his startled descendants went up to look, the founder's body remained, but his soul had already departed for somewhere far away.

'From the sound of it, he just died...'

If leaving one's body on earth while one's soul went somewhere far away wasn't death, what the hell was it? If that counted as ascension, then the Sword Demon had ascended five hundred years ago, too.

'Though I came back.'

Kyle smacked his lips and looked up at the Sword Tower's ceiling for no particular reason.

Even purebloods couldn't freely enter every part of the Sword Tower.

The only floors Kyle could visit without permission were the first, second, and third.

The fourth floor required an invitation from the Council of Elders, while the underground Sword Tomb and the Floor of Asceticism required permission from the head of the house. The same went for the tenth floor, where His Lordship lived.

And apparently, only the head of the house could ascend to the eleventh floor. In other words, Kyle couldn't even pay his respects to Ruin Alastor's corpse yet.

'Even purebloods have all sorts of restrictions.'

But those restrictions applied only within the Sword Tower. Outside it, there was nowhere in Gladiheim a pureblood couldn't go.

"The first floor is the only place I can show you. I'll begin the tour now."

Lucia spoke in her dignified voice.

Kyle wondered how big a single floor could possibly be, but it exceeded his imagination. It certainly hadn't looked this spacious from outside. Something was strange about the dimensions.

"Isn't it much bigger than it looks from outside?"

"It is. The Sword Tower is an artifact gifted by the Dragon King. Permanent spatial magic is at work inside it."

They left the hall and arrived at an enormous dining room.

"This is where the purebloods dine, but it's rarely used except when distinguished guests visit."

"Why?"

"Because everyone eats separately on the fourth floor."

"Then where do you eat?"

"In the servants' dining room on the first floor."

"Can't you eat with me?"

"Pardon? Th-that's not possible. You will be living on the fourth floor from now on, Master Kyle, and taking your meals there."

"Aren't there servants on the fourth floor?"

"The Sword Tower's servants also attend to the fourth floor."

"Then you can come and eat with me."

"I'm not a servant. I'm going to be a knight."

Lucia answered indignantly.

"I don't mean you should come eat as a servant. Couldn't you come if I invited you?"

"..."

Her indignation fading, Lucia hesitated for a moment before shaking her head.

"I appreciate the offer, but I can't. Let me show you the next place."

Judging by her reaction, he probably shouldn't ask further. Still, it wasn't hard to guess.

'It must be because she's half-demon.'

People who begrudged him even his hair and eye color weren't likely to look kindly on a half-demon. Of course, not all his relatives would be like that.

Neither the head of the house nor Cartan had shown any distaste toward Lucia, and hadn't she said Katarina and the elders taught her personally?

After following Lucia around the spacious first floor for quite some time, Kyle opened the door to their next destination.

"Huh?"

He saw Arian standing in the central hall they had passed through long ago.

Lucia looked briefly surprised as well, but quickly composed herself, turned to Kyle, and bowed.

"That concludes the tour. I'll see you another time, Master Kyle."

With that, she stepped aside. Bewildered, Kyle waved to Lucia and went through the doorway.

"See you!"

The door closed behind him. Curious, he opened it again, but Lucia was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, this was another feature of the Sword Tower's spatial magic.

"Mom, there's something strange about the door."

Kyle spoke as he scampered over to Arian.

"The Sword Tower is very big, you see. Finding your way to each place would be difficult, so various kinds of magic connect the passages. Just now, I connected the door you opened to the hall."

"Can I do that, too?"

"Only the adults can control the system as a whole. But once we have the Sword Tower recognize you, you'll be able to open doors to the places you want to go."

That sort of control was possible only on the first floor, the communal area, but not having to find one's way everywhere was convenient.

'Though there won't be much use for it outside times like this.'

As Lucia had said, purebloods spent most of their time in the Sword Tower in the residential area on the fourth floor. Unless there was a meeting, the first floor was hardly used.

"Did your talk with Grandpa go well?"

"Of course. Grandpa likes you very much."

"I thought so, too."

There was no way he wouldn't. Kyle grinned. Arian was alone in the hall. None of the other relatives were in sight.

"Where are my uncles and aunts?"

"They're talking with Father in the Hall of Sword Pinnacles."

"About me?"

"Hm? Yes, that's right."

"Grandpa likes me, but do my uncles and aunts hate me?"

It was a perceptive question for a child, but children were often quick to pick up on such things. They were especially uncanny at noticing when they weren't welcome.

"Some of them might."

Swallowing a sigh, Arian crouched down and hugged Kyle tightly.

"But you don't have to worry. You..."

"I'm not worried. Grandpa likes me."

Kyle's answer was a simple statement of fact.

He hadn't spoken with all his relatives, so he didn't know who bore him goodwill and who bore him ill will.

Nor did he need to find out. It was an unalterable fact that Julius Alastor, the head of the house, liked him. And Kyle was certain that Julius would like him even more in the future.

"Pfft...! Yes, Father likes you. And in the Sword Tower, that's what matters most."

Arian chuckled and stroked Kyle's back.

"Kyle. We're going to live in the Sword Tower now."

"What about Rose Manor?"

"We won't be able to go back... Hmm, how should I explain this...? Rose Manor is going to move inside the Sword Tower, all in one piece."

Just how the hell was this tower built? Kyle's curiosity about the fourth floor, which he had yet to visit, grew by leaps and bounds.

"Then won't I get to see Seril and the other maids anymore?"

The maids had lived with him at Rose Manor for five whole years. When Kyle mentioned them, Arian smiled and shook her head.

"No, you will. Seril and the maids were servants of the Sword Tower to begin with. Just think of it as all of us moving here together. Is that all right with you?"

"I'd love that."

Why would he dislike it?

Not only the Sword Tower, that enormous artifact, but the entire fortress of Gladiheim was one vast playground to Kyle.

The sights of Gladiheim he had seen from the carriage earlier. The interior of the Sword Tower Lucia had described. There was so much that he could hardly decide where to go first.

'I should start with the second floor.'

The books Alastor had collected. First, he would read up on mana cultivation methods.

"Kyle, there's something I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

"Which... would you like to learn? Swordsmanship or spirit arts?"

"Swordsmanship."

"What?"

Arian's voice rose slightly at her son's immediate answer.

"Swordsmanship? Don't you want to learn spirit arts?"

"It's not that I don't want to. I just like swordsmanship better."

"But Kyle, your talent for spirits is extraordinary! You saw it earlier, didn't you? The wolf in Fenris! That goblin!"

"I did."

"D-didn't you want to become that wolf's master?"

"I'll be able to become its master if I get good at swordsmanship."

"That's... That's a little different, I think. You need to learn spirit arts to form a contract with a spirit."

Though she said so, Arian wasn't certain herself. She had a strong affinity for elemental spirits, but none for goblins.

The same was probably true of nearly all spirit practitioners. Unlike elemental spirits, which were born from nature over countless ages and formed colonies, goblins did not come into being that way. Goblins weren't innocent like elemental spirits. They were independent, and therefore harder to commune with.

"..."

Deep down, Arian hoped Kyle would study both the sword and spirits. But she knew that desire came from being a spirit practitioner herself.

She mustn't force it on him. Reproaching herself for speaking as though she were trying to force him to learn spirit arts, Arian hugged Kyle tightly.

"I'm sorry. That was a strange thing for me to say, wasn't it? You don't have to learn spirit arts. Learn what you want to learn."

"I might want to learn spirit arts later."

Kyle could hear the self-reproach in Arian's voice.

"When I do, I'll ask you to teach me, Mom."

Five hundred years had passed, after all. This was a world where even an eight-year-old child, albeit a half-demon, could wield mana and produce aura.

'For all I know, swordsmen these days might shoot fire or water from their swords, not just aura.'

If that, too, was swordsmanship, then learning spirit arts might also help his sword.