Nigel scowled and glared at Zeke's sudden question.
"You rotten bastard... Why the hell are you curious about that in the middle of eating?"
"No matter how I look at it, Master doesn't seem human... I don't sense any dragon aura from you either. I'm just curious, that's all."
From his previous life, Zeke had always wondered about Nigel's true nature.
After regressing, he had suspected she might be a dragon or dragonkin, but upon meeting her again, he could not detect any dragon aura at all.
Nigel took a big bite of her bread and chewed slowly before clicking her tongue and looking at Zeke.
"Living this long, I end up doing all sorts of things... Calling a disciple like you."
"It's pure curiosity. If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."
Zeke spoke nonchalantly as he picked up a piece of bread and started eating it too.
Nigel stared at him for a moment before standing up from her seat.
"Eh, fine. I've lived too long anyway."
She untied her bound hair and approached Zeke, showing him the crown of her head.
"Hey, take a look. What do you see?"
"Huh? What's this all of a sudden, Master?"
"You said you were curious!"
Zeke examined Nigel's crown closely as she thrust it toward him.
'Huh?'
A clear trace of something severed marked the top of her head.
Zeke unconsciously reached out and touched it, which caused Nigel to flinch and shudder.
Thwack!
In an instant, Nigel punched him square in the solar plexus.
"Urk!"
Clutching his chest from her powerful blow, Zeke barely endured the pain and lifted his head.
Nigel covered her head with her hand and looked down at him with a disgusted expression, her face slightly flushed.
"I said look, not touch, you pervert. Want to die?"
She quickly tied her hair back up to cover her crown and returned to her seat.
As his breathing finally returned, Zeke looked at Nigel and said,
"That... is it a trace of a horn?"
Nigel tore into her bread roughly and replied,
"Yeah, it's from a horn that was cut off my head. First time seeing one?"
"Of course it's my first time seeing someone with a horn on their head. There aren't any races with horns in the Phenomenal World. If there are, maybe demons... or something?" Nigel clicked her tongue as Zeke glanced at her cautiously.
"Damn it, that's why I didn't want to show you. Stupid kid. I'm not a demon." She hesitated for a moment before slowly opening her mouth.
"I'm from the One-Horn Tribe."
"The One-Horn Tribe?"
Zeke had never heard of the One-Horn Tribe before, so he could not help but look puzzled.
She patted her full belly and said curtly,
"It's a race from the Eastern Continent, so it's not well-known here. I was exiled from my homeland after my horn was cut off."
"So you're from the One-Horn Tribe but not really one of them anymore?"
"Tch, at my level, racial concepts like that don't mean much anyway."
Zeke repeated the word "One-Horn Tribe" to himself before looking at Nigel and asking,
"So, does the One-Horn Tribe still exist on the Eastern Continent?"
"Who knows? It's been so long since I left home that I'm not sure. We weren't a numerous race to begin with, and I was one of the youngest, so they might have died out by now." Hearing that, Zeke asked one more thing.
"Then, is the Full Power Technique something passed down in the One-Horn Tribe?" Nigel shook her head at his words.
"No, that's a unique technique I developed over hundreds of years. My tribe originally had abilities to manipulate ghostfire or conceal their bodies, but I was exiled and lost my power. So I researched ways to handle mana by opening the Middle Dantian."
"So you didn't start with the Middle Dantian open from the beginning either, Master."
"The One-Horn Tribe can freely manipulate mana through their horns by nature. But without mine, I had to find another way."
It seemed Nigel had her own circumstances, having been exiled and lost her horn.
'One-Horn Tribe. Like the Third-Eye Clan, was it an ancient race that had vanished? I had figured she wasn't human, but I had never even heard of this race before.'
Zeke had learned something new that he had not known in his previous life.
After finishing her meal, Nigel sipped the tea Zeke had offered her and continued,
"Well, you've learned the basics of the Full Power Technique. What now?"
Once someone mastered the Solo Spell, all that remained was to cultivate one's will and add characters one by one, so there was nothing more for her to teach.
Zeke looked at Nigel and said,
"I still have business in the Forest of the Forgotten."
"Huh? What business do you have in this cursed forest?"
Zeke pulled a ring engraved with the emblem of the Absolute Sword House Draker from his inventory.
"Have you ever seen this emblem before?"
Nigel took the ring from Zeke and examined it, then flinched in surprise.
"Why... do you have this?"
Zeke was surprised in turn to see Nigel's reaction to the Absolute Sword House emblem.
"You've seen the Absolute Sword House emblem before?"
Nigel's expression grew complicated at Zeke's words.
She thought for a moment before looking at Zeke and asking,
"Do you know about the Sword Saint?"
Sword Saint Shattan Draker had founded the Absolute Sword House Draker family and left his insights in the secret cave containing their legacy.
Zeke had come to the Forest of the Forgotten precisely to find that secret cave.
Zeke looked at Nigel and said,
"Actually, I'm the successor of the Sword Saint." Nigel showed surprise again at his words.
"You're the Sword Saint's successor? Hmm... Ha, so that's how it is."
Nigel muttered to herself before setting down her teacup and standing up.
"Come with me. I have something to show you." Nigel shot into the forest.
Zeke followed her, unleashing his Gale Technique.
*
Rumble!
A massive vibration echoed from deep beneath the imperial citadel of Rom.
In the past, this had been the site of an altar where Emperor Nero had the cultists perform suspicious rituals, but it was occupied by Lopocale, disguised as an apostle.
On the altar lay a magic circle drawn in blood, along with grotesque, unidentified organic matter scattered messily.
Lopocale gripped a dagger filled with the power of a constellation and chanted a sinister incantation.
The altar vibrated once more.
Rumble rumble!
Soon, black miasma rose from the magic circle.
Lopocale took a petrified egg from his pocket and placed it on the magic circle.
The black miasma was then sucked into the egg.
Ssssh...
The petrified egg, having absorbed all the black miasma, turned a dark, murky color.
Moreover, its surface, which had been as hard as stone until moments ago, had become like tough rubber after absorbing the miasma.
Screeech—
A grotesque sound emanated from inside the egg, as if something writhed and tried to break out.
Lopocale lifted the black egg in his hand and carefully placed it into a box beside him.
"It's not time to hatch yet. Stay put a little longer."
He muttered softly before closing the lid on the box containing the egg.
He gestured to the dark mages behind him, and the waiting dark mages approached to carry the sealed box to the next room.
Surprisingly, the next room contained dozens of similar boxes.
Lopocale was methodically preparing to lure Zeke Draker to Rom and capture him, under orders from his master, "The Squelching Pit of Darkness."
'The high priest seemed to have noticed my true identity... but since he wasn't saying anything for now, I'd wait and see.'
If the high priest overlooked the fact that he was a demon, it suggested the high priest had his own ulterior motives.
But for now, fulfilling his master's command took priority, so he decided to think about that later.
As Lopocale descended from the altar after completing the summoning, one of Narak's mages hurried over.
"Apostle, Azmun Barrios, the corps commander, has come to see you." At those words, Lopocale unconsciously clutched his head.
'What nonsense was that headache of a man spouting now?'
While Lopocale handled palace affairs in place of the mentally unstable Abel, military matters were commanded by Azmun Barrios, the corps commander of the Capricorn Palace.
As a demon, Lopocale knew little about human military organization, so extending his influence there would have been burdensome.
The problem was that Azmun was no ordinary schemer.
As a vassal of "The Squelching Pit of Darkness," Lopocale was intimately familiar with humans of this type.
'He would do anything for his own gain. He was easy to tempt since he wanted so much, but he had been a real pain when it came to contracts.'
With an unhappy expression, Lopocale headed to the imperial palace reception room where Azmun waited.
Since Abel and the Siemens side had seized Rom, the atmosphere in the palace had grown heavy and subdued overall.
With people dying in the palace almost daily, only silence and gloom remained.
The grandest palace on the continent resembled a magnificently adorned, solemn tomb.
Ignoring the mood, Lopocale entered the reception room, where Azmun rose from his seat.
"Greetings to the acting consul from corps commander Azmun."
Lopocale's current position was acting consul, filling in for the exiled Julius.
The fact that an unidentified dark mage had been appointed acting consul of the empire spoke volumes about how chaotic Rom had become.
But Azmun intended to exploit this unstable situation in the empire as an opportunity. Lopocale looked at Azmun, who bowed his head without hesitation in greeting.
His roughly tousled hair, thick eyebrows, beard covering his face, and imposing build gave the appearance of an outstanding warrior rather than a scheming plotter.
But that was just another tool in Azmun's arsenal.
He dressed to look like a straightforward soldier, but inside coiled more than ten serpents.
Those unfamiliar with Azmun often tried to exploit what they saw as brute strength, only to be used and discarded in turn.
Knowing Azmun's true nature, Lopocale sat down warily, returning the greeting without showing it.
"What brings the corps commander here in person? You must be busy handling the Cancer Palace legion's affairs."
It was Azmun who had proposed sending the Cancer Palace knight order to establish a foothold in the northern continent, striking Himonas from above and pressuring the central continent from below.
But the knight order captain, Frets, whom he had sent, was killed, and most of the legion's forces were lost to Zeke Draker and the Barkal citizen militia, with only a remnant returning.
Rumors spread that the Cancer Palace knight order had allied with dark mages to summon monsters and attack Barkal, turning public opinion sharply against them.
As a result, Rom had cut ties by blaming it on Frets's individual deviation, and the Siemens family had to manipulate things behind the scenes to divert attention.
Lopocale started by prodding Azmun's sore spot before even hearing the reason for his visit.
Azmun scratched his head awkwardly at his words and said,
"Sigh, that's exactly why my head hurts. In the end, it must be my failing as the final commander that things went wrong."
Azmun had yielded first, bowing his head in response to Lopocale's words.
Seeing Azmun's reaction, Lopocale furrowed his brow instead.
'He was truly the most troublesome type of human to deal with.'
Since Azmun harbored even more insidious intentions than the demon Lopocale, he had no choice but to remain on guard.
At that moment, Azmun looked at Lopocale and said,
"Actually, I came to request something from the acting consul." Lopocale eyed Azmun with displeasure.
"Even as acting consul, I'm just an ordinary dark mage. I don't see what I can do for the corps commander who commands the empire's entire military."
Azmun then looked at Lopocale with a meaningful expression and said,
"Zeke Draker. Don't you want to capture him?" Lopocale fell silent at his words.
'What was this human bastard up to...'
Azmun, with a serious expression, said to Lopocale,
"I want revenge for Captain Frets. Help me capture Zeke Draker."