“This—!” The first one to notice the Duke’s strange reaction was Chiffon, who stood guard at his side.

“Your Grace?”

Despite Chiffon’s concerned inquiry, Duke Agnus remained intently focused.

Babel’s face squirmed; he itched to know what the Duke had found out. Joshua’s face, however, was wracked with worry.

‘Damn it,’ Joshua cursed internally. He didn’t bother worrying about the Duke’s grip on his wrist, because there wasn’t a single thing he could do about it. From the moment the Duke had his grip on his wrist, he had never ever thought of escaping for a single second. It was purely because he was currently Joshua von Agnus, the nine-year-old boy, and not Joshua Sanders, the strongest Spear Knight of all time.

‘There shouldn’t be anything special about my body….’

But when the Duke’s eyes popped out of their sockets, Joshua felt as if he had been dunked in ice water. If Duke Agnus sensed something he shouldn’t, all of Joshua’s plans would be thrown into chaos.

Or rather, with Duke Agnus’s fanatic obsession with martial prowess and mana, it would not be surprising for him to experiment with Joshua on the spot.

‘That’ wont do.’ Cold sweat trickled down Joshua’s back.

Duke Agnus mulled over it with his eyes closed for a long moment before speaking, “None.”

“Yes?” Chiffon asked blankly.

“Mana… none.”

Hearing Duke Agnus’s words, Babel smirked as if to say “of course there would be none.”

Chiffon burst into laughter.

“Your Grace, of course—”

“I’m not talking about the mana hall.” Duke Agnus quietly shook his head. “All humans should have some basic mana. But I can’t feel any of that.”

Chiffon’s eyes widened.

Mana.

Mana existed in every living creature in the world, even if they weren’t a knight or a mage. It was in the general populace, and even inside normal creatures.

Mana was a driving force of life. In other words, total absence of mana basically meant being an Undead, living off demonic power. That was why Duke Agnus was so intrigued when he examined Joshua’s body.

“What is this? Where the mana hall should be, there’s something… foul, sticky, and lumpy.”

Joshua had controlled his expression until now, but his eyes popped wide open.

‘No!’

Alarms rang in his head.

He had not paid much attention to the lack of mana in his body, because his mana technique, at a certain level, would assimilate his internal mana with the natural mana in the environment.

However, assimilation had not happened after his regression, and Joshua had not found it to be a huge issue. He was able to use a little handful of mana, so he was certain he could use mana. Yet, it was a different issue with regard to that disgusting lump that even he knew nothing of. Perhaps, that might be connected to his “regression”.

“Maybe…” Watching by the side, Chiffon picked his words carefully. “I’ve heard stories of children born without mana.”

“Well…” Duke Agnus swallowed stiffly upon hearing Chiffon’s words.

There were cases of children being born without an ounce of mana – about 1 in 100,000 – known as “congenital mana disorder”. It was said to be a curse from God, and would kill the child before they reached eighteen. There were no exceptions.

Given its rarity, Duke Agnus had only read about it in theory but had never seen it in reality.

‘But it doesn’t seem to be a disability. Instead…’ Duke Agnus murmured inwardly as he glanced at Joshua. As their gazes met in the air, Joshua was taken aback.

Duke Agnus stood with a smile.

“Your Grace?” Chiffon’s worried voice pulled him out of his musings.

“For now…”

“....”

“...Let’s watch.”

“What do you—” Chiffon asked cautiously.

“If the child really has congenital mana disorder, then there’s a higher chance that the rumors are false.”

“I’m going to behead those three right now.”

Hearing Chiffon’s impatient declaration, Duke Agnus shook his head.

“No matter what, a centurion is still part of the estate’s assets. They should not be disposed of over unverified facts.”

“I apologize for my moment of indiscretion.” Chiffon dropped to a knee with an regrettable expression. The Duke looked at Chiffon for a moment before turning his head to Joshua.

“In the meanwhile… You can stay here. There’re many empty rooms available….”

“Your Grace?” Babel jolted like a startled rabbit.

“Is there a problem, Babel?”

“That’s—” Babel bit his lips when Duke Agnus’s cold gaze fell on him. “There is none.”

“You can show Joshua the strings about living in the mansion.”

Babel took a minute to compose himself.

“Yes.” He replied weakly.

“Chiffon.” 

“Yes, Your Grace!”

“Starting tomorrow, give Joshua the basic knight training. If he has the talent, you can teach him the Red Knights’ mana techniques.”

“Yes? But, Your Grace, Young Master Joshua is obviously—!” Chiffon choked on the end of his sentence. He was afraid to say that Joshua might have congenital mana disorder.

“There is plenty of time. It doesn’t have to be done quickly. It will be even better if it turns out he’s not suffering from that curse.”

“—I obey, Your Grace.”

“And…” Duke Agnus looked at Joshua strangely. “I can’t wait to see what will happen in a year.”

“If something changes in you then—” Duke Agnus’s mouth hung open as if he was about to say something, but he turned away. “—I look forward to returning from Arcadia next year.”

“Chiffon, I will leave you to follow up on it.” Duke Agnus slowly walked away, leaving his final instructions.

“Yes!” Chiffon answered with vigorous enthusiasm.

All three watched the Duke’s figure disappear.

***

“You can stay here for a while.” Chiffon said.

“....”

Seeing the boy showing no response to his words, Chiffon frowned.

‘Were the rumors about him being a mute true?’ Chiffon thought to himself. He knew that Joshua had lived in the stable ever since they had been thrown out of the mansion. The current room they were in was more spacious and clean than a peasant’s entire home.

The boy remained expressionless. Chiffon sighed in frustration.

“Call me if you need anything.” 

Despite knowing that Joshua was of higher social status, he did not feel like lowering himself to display the supposed decorum required of him. Moreover, the boy was the child of a mere maid. It was even a stretch to consider him a concubine’s son.

Without saying anything else, Chiffon left the room.

Thud!

The door shut. When he could no longer hear any motion beyond the doors, Joshua let out a sigh.

Whump.

Joshua let his body melt into the bedsheets.

“I could fall asleep right now...” Joshua mumbled, fighting his heavy eyelids.

By 'returning next year,' Duke Agnus was probably referring to the time when he would return from the capital city of Avalon, the Imperial Castle Arcadia.

Duke Agnus spent most of his time there. He had probably returned to the Agnus estate for a break. Although, in Joshua’s memory, Duke Agnus was the type of person who did not understand how to rest.

‘He looks forward to seeing me in a year…’ Did the Duke know something that he didn’t? Whatever it was, it could not be good. The fact that anyone knew his hidden cards was a risk, because it had been his leash in the past.

‘I can’t come up with anything right now.’ Joshua shook off his restlessness.

“Babel von Agnus…” Joshua chuckled. Babel’s last words were still lingering in his head.

—Watch your step! You should live according to your status. I’ll cut your limbs off if you try to be funny. Same for your maid mother too…”

At the thought of Babel and his threatening expression, Joshua jumped off the bed and stood up.

“You are still the same as before. I can’t even be sympathetic to you even if I wanted to.”

Joshua looked out of the window. Strange things were happening inside his body right now and he had a feeling he could solve it.

“I need to restore my strength… and for that—”

Having just entered the Duke’s lair, Joshua knew he needed to stay low-key and avoid suspicion. That’s why he’d avoided seeing his mother, whom he missed so much.

“After midnight, I’ll go look for you.” In the dim setting sun, Joshua’s eyes glittered brightly.