"Well then... let's start with the story from the past... I don't think I've told you this yet, have I?" Myra said, hesitating slightly.

Faith nodded, gesturing for her to continue.

But just as Myra was about to speak, the mansion door was roughly pushed open. Elna, Cody, and Faith's two other subordinates, a girl named Ame and a boy named Stan, all stood up in alert unison.

A man in high-class noble attire entered. He wore small, round spectacles, his face stern and cold, and his most striking feature was the sword at his hip.

Immediately, Myra felt an immense pressure descend, making her unable to even lift her head; her entire body felt glued to the chair.

High-class Magus.

That was the only phrase that popped into Myra's head.

Although Myra wasn't yet a mid-class Magus, she was close to that threshold. So, the difference between her and a mid-class Magus wasn't so vast that mere aura could immobilize her.

To achieve this, only a High-class Magus could do it.

The teachers at Kanzax Academy were also High-class Magus, but in their normal state and when interacting with students, they naturally kept their aura tightly suppressed. This man, however, showed no such restraint.

Not just Myra, but even Faith's four subordinates—Elna, Cody, Ame, and Stan—were heavily pressured, though being mid-class Magus, they fared a bit better.

But the middle-aged man paid them no mind; his attention was solely on Faith—the only Sword Family member present.

The others were just trash, not worth bothering with.

"Faith, I didn't expect you to choose to return at this time. The game is about to begin, and if it succeeds this time, we might let you see Cecilia for a month." The middle-aged man spoke, and then, Faith suddenly burst into laughter.

A mocking laugh, as if the middle-aged man's recent offer was a joke so bland that its blandness was the funniest part.

Evidently, Faith's reaction displeased him.

"Faith, mind your attitude."

"Apologies, Uncle Budot, I just suddenly recalled a humorous old story."

The middle-aged man named Budot narrowed his eyes, radiating killing intent, but Faith seemed to have been immune to this for a long time. He made a gesture of wiping away tears from the corners of his eyes from laughing, then abruptly changed his tone.

"But Budot, are you an idiot?"

"Faith!!!"

This time, the middle-aged man was truly enraged. Budot took a step forward, and the terrifying pressure of a high-class Magus threatened to tear the living room apart. Faith's four subordinates and Myra were all struggling to resist. Even Faith at the center began to sweat, his expression hardening; it was clear that even he couldn't ignore this pressure.

A High-class Magus represents a complete transcendence compared to a mid-class Magus. At this stage, a Magus's ego and thought capacity can begin to directly reshape the world's rules, albeit within a very small, localized area.

Mid-class Magus can also do this, like Kain or Mera for instance, but it requires intense concentration, as their thought capacity isn't yet sufficient to continuously sustain such modifications. However, a High-class Magus can, from the outset, naturally cause the surrounding world to revolve according to their will and magic, as effortlessly as breathing.

This is the difference between power that needs to be actively controlled and power that is instinctual. And imagine if this instinctual power were to become actively controlled?

That is the immense difference between a mid-class Magus and a High-class Magus.

Yet, even in that situation, Faith kept a smile on his face, though it was now strained by the invisible pressure weighing down on him.

"Budot, are you an idiot? That 'game' is going to affect the resource distribution across all of Adia for the next three years. A colossal profit like that, such a difficult game, that's why you... or those behind you... have to rely on my intellect to win it."

"And yet you offer me only one month to see Cecilia? Even a child can see that's an unfair deal. And you're trying to trick me, the smartest person in this cesspool of a Sword Family?" Faith sneered, speaking without interruption.

"Faith, I can overlook your insults to the Sword Family; after all, the blood flowing in your veins is of the Sword Family. But you should know your place. You and your weak subordinates are nothing to bargain with the Sword Family, so us even offering you a deal is a courtesy."

Budot retorted, looking down coldly at Faith. If he didn't still need this brat's intellect, he would have sliced Faith into a hundred pieces like his mother.

Yes, Faith's mother was a Sword Family member, but she herself had been killed by the Sword Family, solely to protect Cecilia from being turned into a weapon.

Faith's father had been driven to despair and madness since then. He wasn't a Sword Family member, so he held no real power. He simply spent his days with alcohol to survive, until one day, while drunkenly strolling down the street, he was seduced by a prostitute who mistook him for a high-ranking noble. Selena, Faith's paternal half-sister, was also born from that accident.

Faith witnessed all of this, but he could do nothing at the time. He couldn't prevent his mother's death, nor could he stop Cecilia from being trained into a dehumanized weapon by this damned family, nor could he prevent his father from degenerating into a state of perpetual intoxication.

And from then on, Faith changed, transforming from a clever child into a monster who devoured others' minds with his intellect.

"Budot, I can overlook your insults to my intellect; after all, you old farts in the Sword Family have always been a bunch of idiots. But you should know your place. Your weak Sword Family is nothing to resist the laws set by the Kanzax Commander, which is why you need me, you need my intellect."

"Therefore, the one holding the hilt... is me, Faith, not you."