Lord of Charm



After giving the few last instructions, Kisuke rushed to the prince's house and secretly got inside after the instructor left. Although his darkness affinity was low, he could make up for it with his strong connection to mana and pass unnoticed by the two guards.

"Tanjirou, I'm early today, how are you?"

"Big Brother! I'm glad to see you here."

Kisuke chatted with Tanjirou for a bit and waited for the play to start.

"Prince, today I'm going to teach you a lesson!"

A voice sounded from the door as someone opened it and came in. It was a thin man of average height, holding a wooden sword in hand.

"Kis..?"

The man stopped in surprise when he found out that the prince wasn't alone. But he soon stopped himself from saying Kisuke's name.

"Ahm, I'm going to beat you up!"

He ran toward the prince who stepped back. The man then coated his wooden sword with earth magic to turn it heavier and struck at the prince. He didn't mean to cause any real damage, but in his mind, the prince was a true mage.

"Prince, be careful!"

Kisuke pulled the prince and protected himself with earth magic, but his magic was too weak. Kisuke's defense crumbled and his shoulder got hit by the sword strike.

He collapsed on the floor with a groan, and the man looked at him in surprise.

'I get it, Little Brother must want to earn some merits too as the one to protect the prince with his body.'

The guard smiled when he understood Kisuke's plan and waved his arm to land another blow. To the prince, the smile seemed extremely scary; the man smiled after hitting someone!

"Traitor! How dare you attack the prince!"

The two guards who were earlier guarding the wall barged into the room. They were both expert mages, the wall required stronger guards than a private house inside the palace's territory.

"Wait, no, Sir! It was only a prank!"

The guard wearing the mask shouted, but the expert mage paid no heed to his shouts, and killed him with a single sharp wind blade, creating a huge cut from his back to his chest.

"Ah!"

The prince shouted in fright; it was the first time he saw someone gets killed, and it all happened too fast.

"Big- Kisuke! Are you ok?"

He almost called Kisuke "Big Brother" out of habit, but then remembered he shouldn't do it in front of the guards.

The guards raised an eyebrow when they heard the weird nickname.

'He isn't fat, why is he calling him big? Is it because of his height?'

The guards wondered to themselves but just quickly approached Kisuke to check on him.

As expected, nothing happened to Kisuke. After being strengthened by Earth mana to the fifth stage as a ruler beast, a weak sword strike couldn't injure him. 

It barely left a blue bruise on his skin, and that's because he hit himself after to make it look more believable.

"He is ok, just the bone might be broken. Here, take this potion."

The guard offered him a fourth-rank potion generously. He was going to get a lot of merit points for saving the prince, so he didn't mind giving a potion to the one who made it possible.

"Thank you, Sir."

"Your Highness, you can wait for the maids to come and clean the mess. You can either train here when it's clean or go for a walk instead to clear your head. We are going to report this incident to our commander."

The prince thought for a moment before answering.

"Okay, I think I need to go outside. Kisuke, you can come with me, I will make sure you get the same amount of merit points."

"Yes, Your Highness. You don't have to worry about my salary for today, it has been a great shock for you."

The two left the house for a walk outside, and on their way out, they also saw the dead body of the other guard.

Kisuke learned new things about the prince as they chatted. He learned that his instructor has been the same one ever since he was a child.

This instructor had limited potential in magic and was too old to advance any further. However, the man was obsessed with swordsmanship, so his expertise in the area was better than many magus'.

He also learned that the prince saw the empress only once a week when the whole family sat for a grand lunch together and that his father couldn't leave the concubines' chambers without the empress' permission.

It wasn't personal against his father, but all the Empress' men had the same treatment. He learned that the Empress didn't allow her men to enter the Magus Phase, so they won't get the status of an emperor.

It was a setback for the Dynasty since all of them had at least SS affinity, or else the Empress wouldn't make children with them. All of them had the potential to become magi.

"Big Brother, we have an hour left for our session. I've already calmed down from earlier events, so how about we train in the remaining time?"

"Sure, would you like to go inside?"

"No, this place looks nice."

They were near a large pool of clear water and watched the fish swim inside. They stood up and sparred until it was time to return.

"Tanjirou, I will escort you back to your house."

"All right."

When the two arrived at the house, they found one of the two guards that saved them earlier waiting at the door.

"Your Highness. New guards have been appointed for you."

The guard bowed first before turning to Kisuke.

"Kisuke, my commander wants to see you."

The two guards had the rank of Captains, which meant that their commander was at least at the Chief rank.

"I'm coming."

Kisuke followed the guard back to the imperial guard grounds and entered a separate building that wasn't in the area where he lived. 

"Must be your first time here, here are the offices of those in the Chief rank or above."