Chapter 5

After the hobgoblin incident, Rian began to act with even greater precision. He no longer stopped at the vague thought that he needed power; he began to make concrete plans. The first step to forming his own organization was to find reliable “eyes” and “ears.”

Years passed, and in the year Rian turned twelve, an opportunity arrived as if by chance.

That day was a small market day in the domain. Holding his mother Serena’s and his younger sister Lily’s hands as they went to see the market, Rian’s eyes caught sight of a noisy commotion.

“You little brat! How dare you steal my goods?”

A greasy-faced merchant was grabbing and shaking a scruffy-looking boy by the collar. The boy, held by the merchant whose hand was at least a head taller than him, shook his head desperately.

“No! I didn’t steal anything!”

“Shut up! Do you think pickpockets like you are few and far between? Take him to the guards at once!”

The gazes around them were cold. It was not uncommon in this domain for a hungry orphan boy to resort to theft. Soon, two patrolling guards approached and roughly seized the boy’s arms.

It was then.

“Wait a moment.”

Everyone’s attention turned to where the voice had come from. There stood the lord’s second son, Rian Aster.

“What seems to be the matter, Young Master?”

The guard bowed respectfully. The merchant, seeing the lord’s son appear, shouted with renewed confidence.

“Young Master, this boy stole a silver ornament from my shop!”

Rian looked at the floor the merchant was pointing to. A delicate silver ornament lay there. Rian approached the boy and asked.

“You said you didn’t steal it, didn’t you?”

The boy looked at Rian with frightened eyes, then bit his lip and nodded as if resolved. From that look, Rian read not a lie but a sense of injustice.

Rian turned to the merchant.

“Mister merchant, where was that silver ornament originally placed?”

“It was—it was on that shelf over there. That brat was loitering around and it vanished in an instant!”

Rian glanced briefly at the shelf the merchant pointed to, then indicated the silver ornament on the ground.

“That’s odd. That shelf is much higher than my height, so if the child had reached up and stolen it, the ornament should have followed a parabolic path and landed near his feet or behind him. But the ornament is directly below the shelf, having fallen vertically.”

It was physics from a past life, the most basic principle of free fall. At Rian’s words, the crowd began to murmur.

“And looking at your hands, there’s a lot of white powder under your nails. Did you happen to move a sack of flour?”

“W-what…?”

The merchant’s face went pale.

“You likely accidentally struck the shelf while moving a heavy sack of flour, and that impact caused the ornament to fall. It seems you were trying to pin it on this child passing by to at least avoid paying for the item.”

The merchant could only gape at Rian’s coherent deduction. As the situation turned, the guards glared fiercely at the merchant.

“I-I’m sorry!”

In the end, the merchant hung his head and fled as if driven away.

The boy left alone stared blankly at Rian. Amid the contempt and suspicion directed at him, this small noble young master had been the only one to take his side. Gratitude and reverence shone in the boy’s eyes.

“What’s your name?”

“…I have none.”

“Then from today your name will be ‘Kael.’”

Rian extended his hand to the boy.

“Would you work for me? I won’t let you go hungry.”

Kael hesitated for a moment, then firmly grasped Rian’s hand. A faint tremor passed through his small hand.

From that day on, Kael became Rian’s invisible hand within the Aster manor. Rian taught him to read and write, how to gather information without being noticed, to muffle his footsteps, and to move like a shadow.

Kael absorbed everything at a rate that exceeded Rian’s expectations. The keen awareness and agility he had honed to survive hunger and cold found wings when combined with Rian’s instruction.

One late night, Rian stood on the manor’s roof and quietly looked down. In a corner of the training grounds, Kael was practicing stealth techniques exactly as Rian had taught him.

Four years after feeling the urgent need for a shadow organization, his plan finally fit together with its first piece.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Rian’s mouth. It was only the beginning.