“More power! Push yourself!” Greg yelled as Drac carved the cuts on a practicing dummy with his wooden sabers. Learning Saber play was initially invigorating, as it was something new and exciting. But now, with the constant yelling from Greg, it started to become a drag.

While plunging the sabers into the dummy, he glanced at the soldier standing not too far away. From an outsider’s perspective, the soldier was standing guard in one of the remotest areas of the castle. And was doing his job.

But he knew better, that guy was a spy.

When Harold attacked him about a month ago, he figured that something shady was going on with the guy. It didnt take him long enough to feel eyes on his back, someone was watching his every move. Before he knew it, he figured that 4 soldiers in particular seemed to coordinating with each other to keep an eye on him. They would have gotten away with it as well if it weren't for the mana.

After Harold’s attack, Drac remembered the funny feeling that he gets when he feels that something is keeping an eye on him, or wants to kill him. He didnt think this was blood magic of some sort because if it were, his father or mother would have boasted about it at least a thousand times during the family dinners. So he could only conclude that this has to do with the mana itself.

The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He could feel and see the disturbance in the air and mana when someone powerful gets angry.

This was enough proof for him to conclude that mana could be influenced by someone’s mood. And there is no need for that someone to be a mana wielder, any changes in emotion that are directed to him, he could feel it. He termed this phenomenon as Mana Sense.

He still doesn't know how it works, or whether he was the only could who could feel these changes. But figured he would research about it in the future.

As far as Harold and his goons were concerned, he was one hundred percent sure that they were all keeping an eye on him. There were too many coincidences to consider this phenomenon as his paranoia. But why they were keeping an eye on him, was beyond him.

But the problem arose when he found something extraordinary about the Sumor Family Cane. And he was not able to utilize his time to investigate anything because they were keeping an eye on him, even during the night time.

As soon as he understood that the people were keeping an eye on him, he immediately hid his satchel. But he left the red ring and the cane outside. He had to figure out, that he might need them. The ring was easy to carry in his pocket, but the cane was the difficult thing. It was big, and if someone found out that he was interested in it, the chances were that those people might steal it away from him.

To not gather any suspicious gaze, one day he acted as if he had broken his ankle. And then started using the old cane to walk around the castle. People did ask him about his leg from time to time, but no one asked him about his cane. As he had expected, one of the soldiers keeping an eye on him approached him to ask about his leg. And then indirectly asked about the cane.

Drac then showed the cane to the soldier, saying that he found the old thing in his room. Didnt know whether this little thing belonged to the Sumor Family or not. As there was insignia of the family anywhere visible, the soldier gave the cane back to him.

Coincidently, the day he chose to be injured was the day when he was overlooking the construction of the dome around the ballroom. He had planned to put the window panels all up the ceiling and convert the whole place into a greenhouse. Surprisingly Mikaila was on board with the plan and was surprised that he knew the use of greenhouses.

While walking around the ballroom, he felt it. The cane was producing vibrations. He could tell that the cane was reacting to the floor of the place.

It was weird, he could not sense any movement in the mana, or the air. So how the cane was vibrating was beyond him.

Upon walking around the ballroom area, he understood that the cane was directing him toward a particular area in the place. The closer he got to the particular spot, the stronger the vibrations of the cane would get.

He could not investigate the matter at the time, due to the presence of the workers, that Gregor had sent. As well, in the vicinity was the soldier that was keeping an eye on him.

Ever since he had been salty. These guys were not giving him a chance to investigate the area…

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After exhausting himself, Drac sat down on the ground. As he was huffing and puffing, Greg passed him some water and sat down beside him.

“You are doing good,” Greg said, “We can soon move on to practicing live,”

“I dont get Greg,” he said, “Why are we starting with dummy in the first place? Shouldn't you teach me some moves, I should practice those moves and then we would work from there,” From what he had read in books, Drac knew that this was the way that most protagonist learns swordplay.

“That is a bullshit thing, made for nobles who are just too lazy to work on themselves,” Greg said, “My father, his father, and my old mentor all said the same thing. The trick to learning a weapon is first, to get used to it. Get to know it. And then you make your own moves, when you start fighting for real,”

“So all the bullshit family martial technique is just nonsense,”

“More or less,” he said.

“Hmm.. That is interesting,”

They heard footsteps approaching, they turned to see Harold coming their way, “Good morning boys… You seem to be having a very productive day,”

“We are,” Both of them said simultaneously. Drac had sensed that Greg also didnt like the man that much, like him.

“Good. I want to have breakfast, Drac. Could you tell that useless cook of yours to make me some,”

With a fake smile, he nodded, “Sure,” he pushed himself up, and was about to go to the castle when they all heard a whistling sound.

It is then that they saw, from north something flying their way. It looked like a small green ball of fire. “What is that?” Greg questioned.

“Nothing good,” Harold said in a serious voice.

The ball of the fire changed its trajectory and started heading straight towards them. As it approached, fearing for his life Greg jumped away from them. While Drac and Harold remained glued to their places. The ball of fire came to a stop before them, as it floated in the air, they heard a voice coming from it.

“Gather your men, and meet us in the Hange Village. We are heading towards the Sanctuary. Come prepare for war,” the voice belonged to none other than Gregor Sumor himself.

Drac turned to him, while Harold did the same for a reason. It took them a few seconds to understand what was happening, then Gregor yelled to the nearest soldiers, “SOUND THE BELL. GATHER EVERY FUCKING ONE. I WANT THE HORSES TO BE READY, SUPPLIES PACKED, AND EVERY FUCKER IN MY INFANTRY ARMED TO THE BOOT IN AN HOUR,”

Drac and Greg immediately lept to action, along with the soldier present in the clearing. Soon the whole castle was in a buzz. With the help of the workers, they were able to set up the carriages, along with the relevant supplies in a few minutes or so. It only took the soldiers a few minutes to gather in their combat gear, and before they knew it, Harold along with his infantry were gone.

The last hour had been such a hectic and energy-draining experience, that they were all left huffing in the end.

“What do you reckon was all that about?” Greg asked as they left.

“Dont know. Maybe they found something in the Sanctuary, that might be worth something,”

The day carried down, as usual, that day, workers worked their assess off, and soldiers patrolled the hallways and kept an eye on workers, while Drac and the other servants worked hard to maintain the castle. But there was an unusual bounce in Drac’s steps that day. Mostly, because that day there were no eyes on him. So for the first time in a while, he felt truly free.

Which was why, that night when everyone had gone to sleep, he got to work. He enclosed himself in a black shawl, and made his way towards the ballroom…

***

It feels chilly tonight, He thought as he was walking his way through the dark corridors.

Dodging the patrolling guards was almost too easy, thanks to his shawl. And before he knew it, he reached the ballroom. Most of the place had been renovated. They were waiting for the glass panels from the capital, while the workers had completed the rest of the stuff.

He looked at the black floor before him, previously he had sealed the floor with black sealant so that Mikaila would not be able to see the Rose Insignia on the floor. Now, he wondered whether the sealant would temper his progress.

Won't know for sure, if I dont try, He thought.

Drac started walking around the room, tapping the cane lightly on the floor. The cane vibration brought him to a particular part of the floor beside the fireplace. A greenhouse doesn't need a fireplace, but they could not do anything about it was made from indestrutible material. He had planned to convert the part to a shelf later on, as it was one of those old and big fireplaces.

He tapped on the particular area where the cane brought him. Although the cane was vibrating, nothing was happening. There was a chance that the sealant might be getting in the way. But he came prepared. He sat down in the particular area and took out the hatchet that he had.

Very slowly he started grinding the sealant off. He felt that it would take a lot of elbow grease to tear the sealant off, but to his surprise, the sealant tore off the tiles very easily. It was as if, the sealant never got stuck to the tiles in the first place. After scraping for a while, he was able to uncover the tile beneath the sealant.

This time, when he tapped on the tile with the cane, out of nowhere a black dot appeared on the floor. The black dot was on same size and shape as the cane’s foot. As he put the cane on the dot, some bottom part of the cane went inside the tile. Before he could guess what he was supposed to do now, he felt it. Something was vibrating in his pocket. And there was only one thing that he had been keeping in that pocket, and that was the red ring that he got from the albino woman…