Chapter 7

[Progress on the Seal 2nd 67%]

Almost another month had passed. Mordred accepted the Academy's offer. He wanted to refuse at first. But he wanted to get rid of Morgan's influence, create his own income and environment.

Mordred continued to squeeze the neck of the bandit who was writhing in his hands. The bandit squirmed. "Please... Have mercy..."

Mordred ignored what the bandit said. He broke the bandit's neck with a single hand movement.

Mordred let go of the bandit's neck. The bandit fell to the ground lifelessly.

"It's finally over." Mordred looked at the four dead bandits behind him. For the last month, he had been learning Magecraft with Morgan, training with Accolon, and reading more books in the library without any problems.

Mordred hunted bandits non-stop in his spare time to gain more souls.

"It's done, my lord." Blood dripped from Lucas's face as he knelt and saluted Mordred. Lucas had managed to get Mordred to accept him to Morgan with his efforts.

Morgan had agreed to let Lucas be Mordred's servant.

Lucas had a monstrous power that even Morgan had to admit. He preferred to fight with a dagger even though he was more talented in Magecraft.

Lucas was ruthless and emotionless when fighting. He killed his enemies regardless of whether they were innocent or guilty.

But Mordred was sure of Lucas's loyalty. Lucas had a emotionless face, but he had a trace of emotion inside.

Lucas had respect and loyalty for Mordred.

The reason he had this emotion was because Mordred made him feel the love he had never seen in his life.

"Well done Lucas." Mordred stroked Lucas's head. Then he vaporized all the blood on Lucas with fire.

Mordred's training with Morgan had been very beneficial to him. Mordred showed great sensitivity and could control the fire enough to destroy the poison inside a person.

"Thank you, my lord." Lucas thanked Mordred emotionlessly.

"Lucas, this is the seventh time. Why do you dirty yourself when you kill your enemies?" Mordred raised one eyebrow. He was sure that Lucas could kill the bandits without getting dirty.

Looking at Lucas who was still emotionless, Mordred did not expect him to be a sadist who tortured his enemies.

He narrowed his eyes with doubt. "Lucas, do you like spilling the blood of your enemies?"

"No, my lord. I feel very peaceful and happy when I feel your magical energy in my body." Lucas said emotionlessly.

Mordred thought for a moment. Fairies could use mystery without Magecraft. He also thought that Lucas, who was a half-fairy, had a very strong connection to magic.

Technically, Mordred was also a half-fairy. His mother Morgan could use mystery as she pleased without Magecraft. After all, she was one of the Great Mothers.

"Lucas, I want you to do something for me." Mordred looked at Lucas. He stated in a calm tone of voice.

Lucas nodded. "What do you want me to do, my lord?"

"Now, raise your hand and imagine a big fireball going towards the tree opposite. Imagine the destructiveness and power of the fire. While doing this, focus on the Fairy Patterns inside you." Mordred stated.

Technically, Lucas shouldn't be able to do this. He had to draw oxygen and use some concepts for the fire to form.

Lucas closed his eyes. He imagined a big fireball as Mordred said. He started to draw mana from the Fairy Patterns inside him.

Contrary to Mordred's expectation, a deadly fireball appeared. It flew towards the tree.

Mordred thought a little. He couldn't have Fairy Patterns even though he was a half-fairy.

The only thing Mordred could think of was that the Pendragon blood outweighed the fairy blood.

Lucas looked at Mordred emotionlessly. He saw that Mordred was thoughtful. "Is there a problem, my lord?"

"No problem Lucas. I'm just thinking a little." Mordred felt that it was time to go.

"Let's go Lucas." Lucas followed Mordred.

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Lucas, as he walked, the people he encountered looked at him with disgust. It was something he was used to. People had always looked at him with a disgusted face. Lucas was used to this situation.

Lucas knew from the things his grandfather told him that he was a half-fairy. He could last a month without eating.

But contrary to what they thought, Lucas was not weak. He was just an emotionless and pure child. He had no expectations or ambitions. He had no hope, no desire for revenge.

Lucas only knew to listen to the words of others. If they didn't tell him what to do, he would just wait to die. This was like Lucas's daily routine.

He worked like a slave for the villagers, slept in the mines, hunted in the forests. This continued monotonously.

Until he heard his grandfather's last order.

"Kill everyone"

That night the whole village was on fire. Everyone, old and young, was killed. Lucas killed every living thing he saw. He fulfilled his grandfather's last command.

He continued his massacres without mercy. The villagers tried to escape, but Lucas had set fire to the village exits, surrounding the whole village with a ring of fire.

Lucas threw the priest's severed head. Blood was flowing from Lucas's entire body. "Mission accomplished."

Lucas went to his grandfather's old hut after completing his mission. Along the way, there were human limbs scattered around. The corpses of children and adults were lying on the ground.

Lucas passed through the pool of blood without being affected by the bloody sight. After a while Lucas arrived at the hut.

After opening the door, Lucas's eyes slid to the old and fragile-looking man lying under the quilt. "Grandpa, I'm here. I completed the mission."

Grandpa lifted his tired eyes and looked at Lucas's emotionless face. The old man sighed. "Well done Lucas."

"I wish it hadn't been like this. Maybe you could have grown up differently." The old man looked at Lucas with regret. Then he ordered with a deep determination. "Be free no matter what."

Lucas listened to his grandfather's order. But he didn't know what he wanted. He just stood there confused.

The old man used his last strength and brought his hand to Lucas's head. "Know that I will always love you Lucas."

The old man's hand slowly lost its strength and fell. Lucas just stood there.

Lucas didn't know what to do. He looked at his grandfather lying on the ground and said helplessly. "Grandpa, what should I do?"

Lucas waited for an answer from his grandfather. But his grandfather didn't give any answer.

Lucas didn't notice, but tears were falling from his cheeks.

Lucas didn't understand why he was crying. He had this feeling for the first time. He had never experienced anything like this before.

A week later, the knights came and saw a child sitting in front of his grandfather.

A blond young knight wearing a silver armor with flower patterns over his black and navy blue jumpsuit entered the door and looked at Lucas's blood-covered body. The blood on Lucas's body had dried up after a week, causing the hut to be enveloped in a heavy smell.

"Kid, what's your name?" The knight asked in a calm voice. The intense smell of blood around him didn't seem to affect the knight.

"Lucas." Lucas said in an emotionless voice.

The knight looked at Lucas's grandfather lying dead in bed. "It seems that you are the only one left in this village."

The knight expressed with a bit of disgust. The knight, who had fought all his life, felt bad again when he saw so much blood.

The knight suppressed his emotion and knelt in front of Lucas. The knight reached out his hand. "Come on, come with me."

Lucas looked at the knight in front of him. Then he took his hand and got up.

The knight smiled kindly. He left the hut with Lucas. The knight's subordinates knelt respectfully in front of the blond knight. "Sir Gawain, we couldn't find anything about the monsters that slaughtered the village. It's as if they went to another dimension."

Gawain narrowed his eyes. "This is strange, it should be impossible for the being that killed all the people living in the village to escape without leaving any trace."

"Yes, sir. It should leave a trace. But we couldn't find any sign. Our only hope is the child in your hands."

Gawain knelt in front of Lucas. "Lucas, do you know who this person is?"

"No." Lucas lied with a white lie. He was smart. If he told the truth, there was a chance they would imprison him.

Lucas remembered his grandfather's last order as if it was yesterday.

"Be free no matter what."

Lucas dedicated himself to living as he wanted. He didn't care about anything as long as he was free. He didn't care about the villagers he killed.

Gawain wanted to get more information from the child named Lucas. But when he saw Lucas's emotionless eyes, he felt a bit of pity. The child had lost everything. Gawain didn't want to upset the child again. "I understand."

Gawain looked at his subordinate who looked at him with respect. He ordered in a stern voice. "Get ready, we're leaving."

"As you command, Sir Gawain." Gawain was left alone with Lucas. "Lucas, what do you want to do now? If you want, you can come with us. There is a town near here. We can send you to one of the orphanages there."

Gawain could only do this much for the child. He had come to track Morgan's trail. He couldn't follow Morgan's trail if he dealt with Lucas too much.

Gawain felt a bit of peace if he could ensure the child's safety by leaving him at the orphanage.

"Sir Gawain, the preparations are done. We can go whenever you want." Gawain nodded to his subordinate. "Let's go."

Gawain took Lucas's hand and set off for the town with his subordinates.

After arriving at the town a while later, Gawain looked at the orphanage staff and handed Lucas over. "Take care of him. He lost his family and the whole village was slaughtered."

The old woman covered her mouth with sorrow. "Don't worry Sir Gawain this child is entrusted to me!"

"Good, I trust you." Gawain handed Lucas over to the old woman. Then he knelt in front of Lucas. "This will be your new home Lucas. This is the only thing I can do for you."

Lucas stood as usual emotionlessly. "I understand."

Gawain smiled kindly. "Well done. Be a good child and don't cause trouble for the orphanage staff."

Gawain checked Lucas once more and left the orphanage. "Let's go."

"Sir, don't you think the child looks very strange? He stood calmly despite the bloody scene."

"He's just a broken and lost child." Gawain said kindly. His subordinate nodded and mounted his horse. Then they left the town.

Days passed and the orphanage's expenses increased and the children's situation worsened due to the Anglo-Saxon invasion. Living in the countryside became difficult because the local lords did not help.

Lucas was discriminated against because the children there were afraid of him because of his red eyes and black hair.

Lucas didn't care about this situation. The children's daily meals decreased due to the decreasing food reserve every day.

The orphanage could last at most another year. The number of adopted children decreased due to the worsening financial situation.

This situation continued to worsen every day. King Arthur's calling more soldiers, the money used for military equipment for the new soldiers, inflation and supply-demand imbalance were the main factors that caused the living conditions to drop rapidly.

King Arthur's spoils from the wars began to decrease, and the royal treasury continued to decrease every day due to the riots that erupted every day.

Until there was no money left. Artoria, who had abandoned human emotions, did not notice this situation, which was one of the main factors.

Artoria sacrificed his humanity to become the Perfect King and lost his ability to understand people.

Artoria's wars destroyed the lives of innocent people. Those who saw the destruction left behind by the king's victories began to question his claim to be the perfect king. Was a king who had lost his humanity really worthy of the kingdom?

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"Let's go Lucas." Mordred, after packing his belongings, stood in front of the horse carriage that would take him to the Academy with Lucas, who was wearing a servant outfit.

Lucas had tied his long hair in a ponytail, and wore a servant outfit that Mordred himself had made. His sharp red eyes made Lucas look very attractive and threatening.

Mordred, on the other hand, had left his long blond hair down, and wore a very elegant and graceful dress.

Mordred had learned not only Magecraft, but also Briton etiquette from Morgan. His movements were graceful and impressive.

As for the horse carriage, it was made of pure gold and a special magical alloy. It looked very noble.

Morgan had assigned more than 20 knights to protect Mordred. The knights wore a white and blue mixed armor.

As far as Mordred understood, they were powerful people.

Mordred also knew that Morgan had not assigned these knights just to protect him. They were also in charge of monitoring Mordred. They were there to prevent Mordred from rebelling against Morgan.

"Let's go." Mordred's order made the knights in front raise the flag of the Lothian Kingdom and wave it in the sky.

Technically, Lot, who was Mordred's stepfather, accepted Mordred as his stepson.

Mordred didn't know how this happened, but now he was the son of Lot and Morgan in the eyes of the people.

This was actually a cover for Mordred. Morgan had formalized Mordred as the youngest Prince of the Lothian Kingdom. This would prevent people from arguing about who Mordred's father was.

"Now is not the time to think about these things." Mordred thought he would reach the Academy in at least 3 days.

To describe the road, the farther it got from human settlements, the worse it got. This meant that logistics was bad.

After a short while, there was a strange silence along the road. This seemed strange to Mordred. As far as he knew, one of the biggest problems of Albion was the bandits.

The convoy carrying Mordred had not encountered any danger along the way.

Until this silence ended with some bandits blocking the road.

"Royal Highness, some bandits have blocked our way. What should we do?" The bandits were more than 100 people. Mordred thought these bandits were former soldiers.

But Mordred felt no worry. He even felt a wave of excitement for the war. He smiled slightly and looked at Lucas sitting across from him. "Lucas, finish their job."

Mordred was too lazy to clean up the bandits. He let Lucas do it.

"As you command, Royal Highness." Lucas bowed respectfully and got out of the carriage.

Mordred didn't know what was going on, but the screams of pain from outside told him what was happening.

After a while, Lucas returned to Mordred's side with his almost clean clothes.

Mordred had told Lucas not to dirty his clothes again. Apparently Lucas had succeeded.

Mordred smiled slightly and stroked Lucas's head. "Well done Lucas, you did a good job."

Lucas looked at Mordred emotionlessly. But Mordred could feel a bit of happiness from Lucas.

Mordred remembered something he had to do and pulled out the death book. The souls were naturally drawn to the book.

[Progress on the 2nd 98,7%]

Mordred cursed his luck."I can't open the Seal just because of one soul!"

After that, they continued their journey.

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At the end of the 3 days, Mordred sighed. There had not been a single bandit along the way. Luckily, he had arrived at the Academy. Apparently, only Mordred had come with the knights. Everyone's eyes were on the horse carriage. As the carriage passed, everyone moved away from the road.

"Do you see that carriage!? It's really amazing!"

A noble said to his friend excitedly.

"Yes, I see it. And look at the flag, the flag of the Lothian Kingdom. The person inside the carriage is either a bad person or a spoiled bastard."

These kinds of conversations were heard everywhere. Morgan and Lot's reputation was not good. They both opposed King Arthur, who still had a great reputation among the people.

The whispers stopped when the carriage stopped. The nobles and some of the commoners who had gathered there looked at the carriage curiously.

The door of the carriage opened and a servant in a chic outfit came out. Despite his young age, his red eyes aroused fear and respect in everyone. Fortunately, the servant's gaze did not linger among them.

Mordred put on a serious expression and slowly got out of the carriage. A short scream came from the women when Mordred showed his face.

"Look at him, he's so handsome!"

"I know he came from the Lothian Kingdom, but he's so handsome!"

The men could only stand there with envy. They could only sigh helplessly.

Mordred accompanied by the knights to the place where the opening speech would be.

Mordred arrived in front of the Great and Magnificent Academy shortly. Some of the sons and daughters of the great nobles had already arrived. Mordred was the last to arrive.

A guide greeted Mordred right away. "I offer my respects, Royal Highness. I'm here to accompany you."

Mordred nodded and made a hand gesture to the knight who followed him to go.

"Please follow me, Royal Highness." Mordred came to the front row. Lucas also followed Mordred quietly. Mordred's seat looked a bit more chic than the others. No one could miss it.

Mordred thought this was because he was the grandson of the founder of this school, Uther. He sat in the seat and waited for the time to come.

After a while, an old man with a beard, blue eyes, and a kind look came out. Mordred thought this man was the HeadTeacher of the Academy, Gwydion Cadwallader.

The crowd that was chatting stopped when Gwydion came. The HeadTeacher seemed to have a great prestige in the Academy.

HeadTeacher Gwydion took a deep breath and started his speech. "First of all, I congratulate the new year students...."

Gwydion gave a speech that bored most of the students. Some of them even continued to talk among themselves. Gwydion didn't seem to care.

After a while, the speech ended. "Now, I would like to thank Prince Edward of Gwynedd, Princess Cassandra of Essex, Prince William of Deira, Prince Aaron of Sussex, who joined Arcadia Academy this year and honored this school."

There was applause for a while after Gwydion's speech ended. It ended when Gwydion raised his hand. "Now, "I call on Mordred Le Fay, grandson of Arcadia's founder, Great Lord Uther Pendragon, and son of Lady Morgan Le Fay, to deliver the new year's speech!"

Mordred felt a bit strange. He didn't want to make a speech. Unfortunately, he had to.

Mordred, as he walked towards the podium, a big wave of applause came. After a while, Mordred reached the podium. The applause subsided.

Mordred took a breath and assumed an authoritative posture. "I am honored to be here as the grandson of my grandfather Uther Pendragon."

"I wish success for the new years, and a better life for the graduates. I came to this Academy to gain something..."

Mordred made as magnificent and noble a speech as possible. He made the shortest and most beautiful speech he could to say no more and end it quickly.

After talking for a while, he ended his speech.

Mordred went back to his place under great applause. After a while, Gwydion continued his speech. He finally finished.

"Now, teachers, please take the students to their newly assigned classes."

Mordred continued to his class under the leadership of his new teachers.

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Author's note: I know, it's a very unnecessary and information-dumping chapter. I wanted to write as long as I could to make up for it.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know in the comments. I will pay attention to all of them.