Obedient Only to Me! Sir Knight - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Nom.”
“W–What?! What on earth are you eating right now?!”

Crunch, crunch. A bone-chilling sound echoed through the room. Ban paled and lunged toward Lowie.

“Mmgh!”
“Spit it out! Spit it out! Why are you chewing on a stone?!”

Ban’s fingers plunged roughly into Lowie’s mouth, scraping insistently. Lowie shook his head desperately, but there was no escaping Ban’s grip.

“Mmph!”

Thick fingers mercilessly stirred inside his mouth. Reflexive tears streamed down Lowie’s face each time he shook his head. Seeing those tears at last, Ban jolted and withdrew his hand.

“A–Are you all right—no, wait, why are you eating stones?!”

Lowie began coughing violently, choking. Ban hurriedly offered him water, but Lowie pushed it away. Flustered, Ban rubbed his back until he finally calmed down.

“Ugh…”
“I’m sorry. I panicked.”

Eyes brimming with tears glared resentfully at Ban. Faced with that look, Ban unconsciously dropped to one knee in front of him, examining him anxiously.

“Are you all right? Mana stones—are they… meant to be eaten? No, that can’t be right.”
“I didn’t eat a stone. I was trying to absorb mana.”
“……”

Absorbing mana by chewing on a mana stone—Ban had never heard such nonsense in his life. Even without knowing much about magic, he could tell that was absurd. More importantly… was he even really a mage? Ban eyed Lowie with suspicion.

Mages—those who wield magic. Artifacts created by them were commonplace enough. Even now, the auction was being conducted with a voice-amplifying artifact.

But encountering an actual mage was exceedingly rare. Most spent their entire lives buried in research inside mage towers. Magic was their only interest. Ruined eyesight from years of study, stress-induced hair loss, hunched backs from lack of exercise—that was the typical image of a mage.

Yet the person before him was nothing like that.

Eyes like gemstones set directly into flesh. Silver-blond hair flowing in beautiful waves. A graceful line of the neck impossible to look away from, a straight spine leading down to pale, rounded—

I’m losing my mind.

Absolutely losing it. Just moments ago he’d been thinking of him as a child. Ban struck his own head hard. The blow was so strong it sounded like something cracked. Lowie, however, couldn’t have cared less—his attention was fixed elsewhere.

His gaze was locked on the remaining mana stones. Among the large and small stones, the fist-sized one stood out. Gulp. A sharp, tingling sensation lingered in his mouth, saliva pooling unconsciously. Seeing this, Ban gasped and grabbed Lowie’s hand.

“You’re not thinking of eating that huge one too, are you?!”
“Are you stupid? That wouldn’t even fit in my mouth.”

Lowie looked at Ban like he was an idiot. True enough… it wouldn’t fit. Ban’s imagination betrayed him—his mouth full to the brim, gasping, flushed tongue—

Stop.

Since when had he become this deranged? Ever since hearing the words bed slave, something had gone wrong. At first, he’d treated him like a younger sibling. No—just earlier, he’d thought of him as a child! This was all his master’s fault for constantly clinging to him and asking to be dressed. …Was blaming him really fair? Ban shook his head violently, forcibly clearing his thoughts.

“Ahem. Just because something fits in your mouth doesn’t mean you should eat it. And I’ve never heard of absorbing mana by eating mana stones.”
“I didn’t want to eat it either…”

Lowie replied sulkily. It wasn’t like he enjoyed chewing stones. He’d only been trying to replenish mana. Ever since leaving the island, the worsening headaches’ cause was—

Mana depletion, I think.

Chewing the mana stone had allowed him to absorb a small amount of mana, dulling the headache slightly. But it was far from enough. External mana could be converted into internal mana, yes—but the loss during conversion was enormous.

Mages accumulated mana within their bodies through training, then refined it into a usable state to complete spells. It was a far more delicate and complex process than one might think. Most mages stored refined mana inside personal magic tools beforehand, allowing them to cast spells with short incantations—or even silently, depending on skill.

Modern magic focused on how much refined mana one could handle, and how efficiently. Thus, most mages transferred as much mana as possible into their magic tools rather than keeping it within their bodies.

Lowie was no exception.

A prodigious mage, Lowie owned five magic tools: two bracelets, two rings, and one necklace. At present, however, all of them had been left behind on the island.

Even after filling his magic tools to capacity, Lowie normally retained far more internal mana than an average mage. That was why he hadn’t noticed anything amiss at first. But after leaving the island, as time passed, he belatedly realized something was very wrong.

The cause was simple—mana deficiency.

I’ve never lacked mana before. I had no idea.

A genius mage, experiencing mana exhaustion—who could have imagined it?

So when you run out of mana… your head hurts.

With that vague realization, Lowie reached for another mana stone. Ban, looking like he was about to die from anxiety, grabbed his arm.

I don’t like eating them either, you know.

Pouting, Lowie shook Ban’s hand off. If Ban had used real force, Lowie wouldn’t have budged—but seeing that Lowie had his reasons, Ban relented for now. At present, Lowie lacked the mana to refine stones properly, leaving him with no choice but this crude method of consumption.

“……”

As Lowie was about to put another stone in his mouth, he caught sight of Ban’s trembling eyes. Instead, he picked up a processed mana stone. Processed stones didn’t need to be chewed to absorb mana—though the amount gained was far less.

The stone glowed briefly in Lowie’s hand, then went completely black and dead. A brutish method. Utterly inefficient. Still, it was the best he could do right now. Even a small amount of mana restored some vitality.

If he absorbed all the smaller stones and then drew mana from the large one—

Even then, it wouldn’t be much.

It wouldn’t solve the root problem.

I really should return to the island early tomorrow.

What to do after returning was another matter… Lowie’s eyes glowed faintly red as he forcibly shoved foreign mana into his body.

“Next item—thank you for waiting! The Holy Sword, Ignis!”

The voice booming from the stage made both Lowie and Ban turn toward the window. A sword wrapped in black cloth was displayed on the platform. All eyes gathered on it.

“For our guests from the Empire, the Elysion Temple may be unfamiliar! After all, many of you are devotees of Solanis!”

Solanis was a faith rooted in the Empire. Among imperial nobles, it was tradition to visit the Solanis Temple at the start of the new year to pray—usually accompanied by generous donations. As a result, Solanis grew wealthy alongside the Empire’s prosperity.

With its abundant funds, Solanis expanded relentlessly and was now the largest religious order on the continent. In truth, Lowie was only just learning that religions other than Solanis even existed.

“Elysion is a small order based in the neighboring nation of Margen. Its main temple is used as a tourist attraction, so if you’re ever nearby, it may be worth a visit!”

Lowie recalled passing through Margen two years ago on his way to Seraphila—but no temple came to mind.

“Of course, you may be disappointed upon seeing it. It lacks the splendor of the Solanis Temple in the Empire. That is because Elysion offers the god a different tribute than gold.”

The auctioneer paused deliberately, sweeping his gaze across the audience before continuing.

“Namely… the blood of demons.”

A low murmur rippled through the crowd. The auctioneer gestured dramatically as he spoke.

“The Elysion Order has but one purpose—demon extermination! A temple founded solely for the annihilation of demons!”

Demon extermination?

“The pride of this small order is its Holy Knight Order. Trained from childhood for the Great Demon War, each knight is said to rival an imperial knight in prowess. And the sword granted only to their commander is—this blade!”

Spotlights flared to life.

“The sword that burns demons to death with holy flame! The only weapon on this earth capable of slaying demons! The Holy Sword—Ignis!”

With a dramatic flourish, the auctioneer tore away the cloth. Drawn in despite himself, Lowie leaned forward.