Adam returned to his guest room, and as expected, Jin was once again there.
"To get involved with the Rom family so quickly, you're moving fast," Jin slouched on a soft-cushioned chair, his voice tinged with amusement. "Are you sure you're not Doug's illegitimate son?"
"Don't joke around." Adam looked at Jin, who had sealed the room with black smoke, then said quietly, "We are of different bloodlines."
"So what if you are?" Jin laughed, "As far as I know, there are many nobles in the Kingdom of Loken who are also of different bloodlines."
"Not every one of them becomes a bloodline sorcerer. As long as they take the path of a knight and achieve merit, they can still be considered nobles."
"Your Trelindel family, for example, had one branch of bloodline become noble. I believe the family name is Ronni, right?"
"Who?" Adam suddenly turned, his memories of the night his bloodline awakened still a bit hazy. But with Jin's words, a name suddenly clicked into place.
Ralph Ronni Trelindel. This name, which appeared in his bloodline's legacy, indicated that this person should be one of his direct ancestors. However, his father's name had not carried the Ronni name, suggesting that a branch of their family had split off at some point and chosen not to inherit it.
And earlier, Adam had learned that the Count of Ronni from the Kingdom of Loken had gone missing, which had sparked the conflict between Loken and Saint Heavenly Sound.
No wonder the name Ronni had felt familiar.
Judging by the timeline, this Count Ronni was likely not the Ralph from his bloodline, but at least a distant relative.
"The Ronni Count who disappeared forty years ago?" Adam asked.
"You know about him?" Jin was surprised, then nodded. "Yes, that Ronni Count is from your Trelindel family."
"At the time, traces of divine magic were found on the borders, and after several assessments, it was concluded that the Holy Sound Church was behind it."
"The Church of Sound labeled the Ronni Count as a different bloodline, but they couldn't provide solid proof. This led to accusations of slander, and with some internal conflicts in the Kingdom of Loken, the First Northern Inquiry War was sparked."
"What about you, Jin? What brought you to Roya? Don't you want to return to Loken?" Adam still hoped Jin would lend his full support in helping him escape Roya.
"Wasn't it the Third Northern Inquiry War ten years ago?" Jin shifted in his seat, leaving an imprint on the soft cushions, and nonchalantly continued, "You have no idea how strong your teacher was back then—charging at the front, all the way into Roya City, where he fought for three days and nights."
"And then he stayed in Roya?" Adam watched Jin, who seemed to be lost in recollection.
"Not much I could do. I was heavily wounded, and by the time I was recovering, Loken's army had already retreated."
"Alone, with no support, and the frontier garrison had experts. Initially, I had similar thoughts to yours about Mansrath. I was only a little younger back then, but after ten years, I've slowly let go of those ambitions."
"Now, I'm here, where no one will find me. Even if I lose a fight, I can still escape. I help out other beings of different bloodlines when I can, training young and talented ones—it's enough for me."
Jin turned to Adam, sitting up straight, arms crossed. He asked, "Nesser, why are you in such a hurry to leave?
"You have the Tears of the Divine ritual, and a teacher who values you highly. Even in Roya, you could live comfortably."
"Is there something you're running from, Nesser?"
"I'm fighting," Adam lifted his head and met Jin's gaze. The seriousness in their eyes was mutual.
"I've been living in the Kingdom of Saint Heavenly Sound for thirteen years. When I chose to escape, I was choosing to fight!" Adam spoke with a deep sense of conviction, his presence radiating power.
The surge of power emanating from Adam also brought with it an undeniable charm, a strength that seemed to come from the very depths of his soul.
"Is that so?" Jin sank back into the chair, one hand draped lazily over his neck, muttering under his breath before falling silent.
"I can help you, but it might be dangerous. Mansrath has other powers backing him," Jin said, lowering his hand from his neck.
"Then we'll need to rely on Lord Doug's strength," Adam said with a smile, slowly laying out his plan.
"Not the immortality elixir that alters bloodlines?" Jin suddenly understood, his eyes widening. "No wonder only Shaya, that old man, fought in the war. If all three of them had fought, it's uncertain whether the latter two Northern Inquiry Wars would have even happened."
"Did Alva and the others remain silent before the war began?" Adam asked. Now that he had decided to use the immortality elixir as leverage to gain Doug's full support, understanding the details was crucial.
"That sounds about right. I had just come of age during the first Northern Inquiry War," Jin reminisced. After a brief pause, he added, "I would have been around twenty then."
If Jin wasn't lying, then he was over fifty now.
Adam, though, knew better than to believe that the man looked his age. Jin moved around at night through the streets, and he certainly didn't seem like a man in his fifties. But since beings of different bloodlines had longer lifespans, that was hardly surprising—many mages chose to transform into different bloodlines through rituals for that very reason.
Adam refined the outline of his plan, while Jin filled in the gaps, and once their strategy was roughly set, Jin began his lessons.
Tonight's lesson moved faster, and some advanced knowledge was introduced, mainly focused on bloodline sorcerers and knights. This would give Adam a basic understanding of how to form rituals for these two professions.
"Knights are a rather unique profession—or rather, every profession has its own distinct characteristics," Jin explained. "Other professions generally only have one ritual, but knights are different."
"A knight's ritual for merit, on its own, is usually not as powerful as other professions' rituals."
"But although it's difficult, knights can accumulate multiple merits."
"The top knights can gather several merits, and the abilities granted by these merits make them incredibly powerful. It is precisely these knights who, with their strength, have allowed the nobility to slowly wrest power from the Church."
"The key lies in the spread of these merits. A merit initially belongs to one knight, but once it is widely disseminated, the collective spiritual power of the people solidifies the merit, allowing the knight to accumulate more."
"I heard that the Kingdom of Loken was studying the accumulation of merit without territory."
"They sought to solve the problem of diminishing abilities when the merit loses its territorial bounds, though I'm not sure if they've made any progress yet."
"Because merit is territorial, many of the noble families in Roya trace their origins to war heroes," Jin warned. "Never underestimate nobility, even if they appear frail and weak now."
"I understand that," Adam nodded, his mind occupied with some other thoughts. Then he heard Jin's voice again.
"Although I agree with your plan, you don't need to rush."
After a brief pause, Jin continued, "I'll find a way to deal with the scars on your face."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Adam turned to look at Jin, but Jin had already disappeared from the window, likely turning into black smoke and vanishing into a corner, leaving behind only a pile of dirt.
Before this, Adam had never asked Jin about his motives for training him, and Jin had never asked Adam about his past. Though they were teacher and student, their relationship had always felt separated by an invisible wall.
Now, with Jin's words, that wall had a crack.
Adam smiled, walking to the window, brushing his hair back with the evening breeze, deliberately exposing the scars on his face.
"Anthony was right. Letting them show actually makes me look much better," Adam said, gazing at the blurred reflection in the glass, before letting his hair fall and closing the window.
Earlier, he had asked Jin to visit Room 17 of South River Road and leave the time and details for their next meeting.
This upcoming gathering would be the moment to rally everyone into his plan.
"And then, finally escape from Roya," Adam whispered to himself as he finished his brief moment of self-encouragement, turning to begin his meditation. He was not yet ready for battle and could not afford to falter before the war even began.