Notification (3)
Ian and Sophia dashed across the mansion at full speed.
-tat! tat! tat! tat!
"H-huff! Young master! Faster! H-huff! Hurry!"
"Careful not to trip."
They crossed the garden, raced through the corridors, and headed for the mail storage room.
'If the Sword Dragon Hall admission notice ends up in Hugo's hands first, it'll be a hassle in many ways.'
He also simply didn't want to run into Hugo, but the worst-case scenario was Hugo burning the notice.
Ideally, he wanted to snatch the notice without seeing Hugo at all and slip back out of the mansion.
"H-huff! I'm g-gonna die! I'm out of breath!"
"Wait here. I'll be right back."
"H-huff, yessir!"
While Sophia caught her breath, Ian walked into the mail storage room.
"Huh? Young master... Ian?"
There was only one servant inside.
Luckily, Ian had indeed beaten Hugo there.
"The mail coach from Hisperion should've arrived. Where's the delivery?"
"A-ah... That, um..."
It wasn't even a difficult question, but the servant just fidgeted and couldn't answer.
Looking closer, Ian saw the Sword Dragon Hall notice gripped in the servant's hand.
"So you had it. Give it to me."
"W-wait! No, I can't!"
The servant stepped aside and tucked the notice into his coat.
"The master told me to bring it to him first!"
"If you give that to Father, you know he'll burn it. If that happens, I'll have a really hard time entering the Sword Dragon Hall."
"Umm... Even so, the master's orders are priority..."
Ian spoke with a blank expression.
"If you won't hand it over when I ask nicely, I'll have to take it by force."
Ian's current level was Aura User—Advanced.
To take a letter from a normal person who didn't even know any aura techniques was easier than breathing.
"Just give it over while I'm still talking nicely. I'll handle things with Father, so don't worry about that."
However, he didn't want to hurt a weaker person for no reason.
He was giving the servant a chance.
"Uh?"
But the servant, oblivious to Ian's mercy, just widened his eyes incredulously.
'Did this half-blood brat lose his fear just from spending some time outside the mansion?'
To the servant, Ian was nothing but a fourteen-year-old kid who hadn't even hit his growth spurt, while he himself was a burly young man of twenty-four.
Honestly, a kid who looked like he could be taken down with one hand was threatening him about using force—it was comical from the servant's perspective.
'Really acting out, huh? This is exactly why even the other servants ignore him.'
If you didn't know your place and acted cocky like that, it was no wonder that even the mansion staff looked down on you.
"Excuse me. Why don't you take that up with the master directly? Don't bother me. I'll get in trouble if I'm late. Step aside and don't meddle!"
The servant reached out roughly, intending to shove Ian aside.
-whoosh!
"Huh?"
But his hand just sliced through empty air.
-thwack!
"Gah!"
At the same moment, a counterattack flew in.
"Ah!"
-crash!
The servant lost balance and fell flat on the floor.
Ian roughly snatched the notice from the fallen servant's coat.
"I'll let this slide since you tried to lay hands on me. Just leave."
"Ugh...wh-what...!"
The servant grabbed his aching jaw and blinked in confusion.
Then, seeing the Sword Dragon Hall notice fluttering in Ian's hand, he opened his eyes wide.
"H-how did you—! Give it back!"
The servant scrambled up and glared at Ian.
"I said go."
"N-no way!"
But of course, even the servant had his pride.
"Give it!"
He screamed as he charged at Ian.
"Haa..."
Ian let out a quiet sigh and swung his fist.
-thwack!
"Guh!"
Struck squarely on the jaw, the servant's head snapped ninety degrees, his teeth flying through the air as he collapsed again.
-thud-thud-thud!
-plop!
"Tsk."
He'd probably be lying there for a while, having had his brains rattled.
Ian tucked the notice into his coat and stepped outside.
Now he just had to get out of the mansion and his business here would be done.
"Y-y-young master..."
"Ah. Great."
The moment he stepped outside, he spotted the head butler squared off with Sophia.
He wasn't fond of seeing that man either, if he could help it.
"Tsk tsk. Young master. Were you hiding? Tsk tsk tsk."
The head butler clicked his tongue as soon as he met Ian's eyes.
He looked at him like one would a troublesome brat.
Definitely not the expression of someone serving the heir of a noble house.
"Have you finished causing trouble? The master is very angry. You'd best head straight to his office."
Ian shook his head.
"Tell Father. I have no further—
"And Sophia. Answer me. What is that outfit? Where is your maid uniform?"
The head butler cut off Ian.
His attitude blatantly disrespectful.
"I said, tell Hugo."
Ian stepped forward, shielding Sophia, and repeated himself.
"And if you interrupt me again, I'll have to punish you as the future head of Greysel, so watch yourself."
"What?"
The head butler snorted and stared at Ian.
Then, as if it was just absurd, he broke out into a mocking laugh.
"Future head? Hahaha!"
The four servants standing behind the butler all wore sneers as well.
"Haha, oh my... Young master Ian. No—poor child..."
The butler took off his glasses and wiped them with his cloth.
"To not even know your own place this badly... If you just stayed quiet as usual, at least you'd be cute. A single trip to the main estate event, and now you're just a fool."
After sneering, the butler pushed his glasses back on.
"Ian. Today, the master will excommunicate you. He's already made it clear; you're not even his son anymore. So what could you possibly be relying on, acting so arrogant, tsk tsk..."
The head butler flicked his finger, signaling the burly men forward.
"Boys. Take this brat who doesn't know his place to the master."
"Yes, sir!"
"Aye!"
The four big men behind the butler cracked their fingers and necks as they closed in on Ian.
"Umm..."
Sophia anxiously eyed Ian, slowly inching backward.
"You shouldn't mess with the young master..."
After all, Ian once took down eight bandits bigger than these men single-handedly.
No matter how big these men from the peaceful mansion were, they'd be no match for the young master.
'So this was my standing fifteen years ago...'
Meanwhile, Ian was marveling anew at his own position.
Back then, he'd just spent his days quietly, not clashing with the servants, so he never realized how thoroughly he'd been dismissed.
Once he became a Swordmaster, his treatment inside and outside the family was entirely different, so he had even less reason to notice.
'I always knew I was ignored, but...'
He never imagined they'd look down on him this much.
It was like they viewed him as far beneath them.
'Still, these bastards living off the Greysel household's generosity... Is this really how they treat the eldest son? What a wonderful family.'
Ian clenched his fist tightly.
It seemed he really needed to educate these pests before leaving the mansion.
As the one who would one day be the master of Greysel, the sooner you dealt with such parasites, the better.
"Poor brat. Guess we won't be seeing your face anymore."
One of the burly men reached a giant hand toward Ian.
─《Power of Projection》─
[Strength of Orc Lv.15]
──────────
Ian grabbed the man's middle finger and twisted it back with a single motion.
-crack!
-snap!
"Aaah?!"
His finger joints burst like shrimp meat, fat and flesh bulging out alongside bone.
"Aagh! Agh!"
White flesh quickly turned red as blood spurted out.
"Wha—what?!"
"Wh-what the—!"
Seeing their comrade fall clutching his finger, the other three men abruptly stopped in their tracks.
Their sneering lips instantly wilted into petrified horror.
"I told you you'd regret it..."
Sophia shook her head in silent prayer.
"I'll give you three seconds."
Ian held up three fingers.
"If you kneel and beg for forgiveness within three seconds, I'll show mercy."
He had no hobby of tormenting the weak.
"H-how..."
"Butler, sir..."
The men dumbly glanced over at the butler for guidance.
".........."
But the butler looked just as shaken.
One of his men was writhing on the floor, cradling a twisted, broken hand.
The butler could do nothing but stand there, jaw agape, at the gruesome sight.
"Three seconds are up."
While he hesitated, the three seconds had passed.
"Fools."
Ian didn't like bullying the weak, but if it was the right thing to do, he didn't hesitate either.
"I hope you learn a lesson from this."
First, one of them.
-crack!
"Urgh!"
A knee kick to the face: broken nose and fractured eye socket.
"Next."
"Aaah!"
The second man tried an instinctive counterattack.
-crunch!
-crack!
"Ggyaaaah!"
A counter-grab: complete shoulder dislocation, pectoral muscle tear.
"N-no!"
The third tried to bolt.
-crack!
"Kk—gaaah!"
A front kick to the back: ruptured disc.
"Uh, ugh..."
Now only the butler remained, his teeth chattering as he crept backward.
"H-how... That half-blood can't even use aura, so h-how..."
"Still running your mouth, I see."
Ian's lips curled in a flat line.
"I'll have to discipline you especially thoroughly."
"W-wait! I was wro—! I was wrong—!"
The butler tried to drop to his knees in a hurry.
"Too late."
But it was already far too late for mercy.
Ian grabbed the butler's head in a rough grip.
"Aaah! My hair!"
"Grip your scalp tightly."
"W-what do you—!?"
-rip rip rip!!
"Aaaaaaaah!!!"
Ian tore a giant tuft of the butler's white hair straight from his head.
A huge bald patch appeared among what once was his proud, luxurious hair.
"If you don't tense your scalp, I'll rip it off your skin."
"W-wait! Young master I—!"
-rip rip rip rip!
"Kkkiiiiyaaagh!!!"
The torture-like lesson didn't stop until the butler was completely bald.
-tap tap.
Ian brushed off the tangled hairs stuck to his hand.
"Uuuhhh..."
The butler crouched, clutching his bald head, shivering in fear.
His scalp was bleeding in several places from being torn open with the hair.
"While your hair grows back, try to develop some respect for me. If I see you like this again next time, I'll just rip your scalp off entirely. Understand?"
"Whimper, uh..."
"If you don't answer, I'll do it now."
"Agh! Y-yes, sir! I-I'll develop respect!"
"Good."
"Whiiimper..."
Ian turned to look at Sophia.
"Uh... oh wow..."
She slowly looked over the wreckage, then quietly gave him a thumbs up.
"Let's go! The knights might show up any second!"
"No. I should see the knights before I go."
"Y-yes!?"
Originally, he planned to just take the notice and leave, but he'd changed his mind.
Now that he'd started their lesson...
Even if it was a hassle, since he'd gotten this far, he might as well finish what he started.
Seeing things through once begun was another of Ian's habits.
"I-is this really okay, young master? The knights are on a totally different level than those guys!"
"I know."
As Sophia said, the knights were on a completely different level.
No matter how big the servants were, if they couldn't use aura, they were just normal people.
Even ten at once would be no match for Ian.
But the knights residing at the mansion were different.
This was the Greysel mansion, one of the greatest houses in Hisperion's territory.
There were knights here who had reached middle-stage Expert—four levels higher than Ian's current level.
'But it doesn't matter.'
Ian had secret techniques he'd forged over countless brushes with death in his previous life.
'Frenzied Insight Style: Reversing Heaven.'
A supreme martial art that read the opponent's aura flow and counterattacked using that power.
It was a technique Ian had developed through pure desperation, always facing those stronger than him in his past life.
'With Reversing Heaven, anyone up to middle-stage Expert is easy to handle.'
Of course, even Frenzied Insight Style was not omnipotent and couldn't surpass an overwhelming difference in rank.
But with Authority of Projection and his other secret techniques, Ian could likely handle middle-stage Expert knights even as an advanced-level user.
'Wonder when they'll arrive.'
Ian simply waited for the knights to show up.
With the head butler having screamed his head off while being scalped, some knights were sure to come and check the commotion.
Since he'd started this lesson, Ian planned to instill some respect for the next head of the family in them too.
"Disgusting little trash..."
A familiar voice rang out at the mansion's entrance soon after.
A voice he hadn't heard in ages, yet felt not the least bit welcome to hear.
Hugo appeared at the entrance, flanked by his knights.