The Talentless Inheritor

The month passed quickly. Sebastian had almost no rest as he continued making preparations against Gilbert.

His energy managed to reach the upper levels of Novice-level but he couldn't quite go past it. Pine had helped him craft bone plates for his hands and made him customized lightweight armor. He also bought a spear and a few other weapons to hide in his body.

If he went into the forest now, then he wouldn't have to fear anything so long as they weren't at the level of an Adept. He could handle Apprentice beasts but only because they weren't very smart. If the beasts were as smart as humans, then Sebastian wouldn't have stood a chance.

"I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

It's the night before the duel. Sebastian knew that Amy would come and meet him today but he didn't want to feel her warmth only to lose her again. He sat above the highest building he could climb without any repercussions, the church.

—Your mentality has changed greatly since I first met you.

Sebastian was meek and his actions could easily be influenced by others. He didn't act like he was his own person.

"Don't you realize that you're the reason?"

Ever since Balanos had given him the stigma, his personality underwent a great change. There weren't just a few occasions when people who knew of Sebastian said that they couldn't recognize him.

True, he had gotten taller and his body had more muscle than before. But, if it was just that, then nobody would mistake his identity. Something else changed and even Sebastian did not know what it was.

—As long as there aren't any unforeseen circ.u.mstances, you'll have a chance at winning. I'd put your odds at half.

Sebastian chuckled, "I see, so it's that high, huh..."

Of course, Sebastian knew that Balanos was lying. Forget half, he probably only had a quarter chance at winning. He was inferior to Gilbert in experience, energy, and adaptability.

Even if he were to take Balanos' trump card into the equation, he still wouldn't have that high of a chance, or so he thought.

Sebastian looked down from the church and while tuning his eyes with energy, he could see a thief running away while a woman tried chasing him.

"I suppose I do need the exercise," he spoke.

Sebastian loaded the energy into his body and surrounded himself with it and leaped off the church's peak. If it was day, then there'd definitely be a commotion but luckily, the darkness of the night covered his figure.

Sebastian wore a white mask with markings. It was a custom-made mask in the form of a wolf. Pine made it for him and only he could wear it so comfortably.

The mask wouldn't easily be removed from his head but he still wore a cloak made from fabric that couldn't easily be torn.

Just the simple disguise cost him over 30,000 Aur. Then, he had to buy lightweight armor and weapons. There was also the fee for creating the potion and many other things. He had thought that being given 100,000 Aur a month was too much but who knew that he'd spend it all?

No wonder his father didn't have any qualms about giving such a large amount. It was only barely enough if he wanted to provide weaponry and armor for himself.

Before Sebastian landed, he used some wind to slow down his descent and land on the floor without noise. Many people looked over at him who suddenly appeared but before they could take a closer look, Sebastian ran toward the thief while accompanied by a flurry of wind.

The bystanders only saw Sebastian's figure momentarily before he disappeared. All those he passed by felt a cold wind sweep past them along with a silhouette but before they could turn, Sebastian would have already disappeared.

"Stop!" The woman chasing after the thief stopped. She couldn't run anymore. The thief had already gained ground and she would soon lose sight of him. Although the other people who heard her also tried to stop the thief, he was just too fleet-footed.

"What did he take?"

The woman looked at the source of the voice and saw a masked man.

"My... purse..." she responded subconsciously.

"Got it," before the woman could ask who he was, Sebastian already continued his pursuit and in just five seconds, he arrived at the thief's tail. Sebastian took out his spear and hit the thief with the shaft to stop him from going forward.

"Don't block me!"

The thief took out a knife and turned around to stab Sebastian but as soon as he thrust the knife at Sebastian's c.h.e.s.t, it stopped because it hit something insanely hard.

Sebastian took the opportunity to step closer and hit below the man's chin with his palm. The thief was instantly neutralized with just that one hit.

Sebastian released the energy surrounding his body and took the purse back from the man. He gave out a sigh before turning around. There were already quite a few people who noticed the commotion and some moved to restrain the man until the guards arrived.

In the past month, he had also trained himself in close combat. He had a lot of theoretical knowledge but didn't know anyone who could train him. He met Lyons during school but if he were to show his improvements all of a sudden, then Gilbert would definitely catch wind of it.

That's why he donned the mask and cloak. He hunted criminals at night and tested his physical prowess against them. Needless to say, he gained a second identity, under the alias of Night Hunter. He was a vigilante.

The guards were troubled by his sudden appearance and he had to leave the scene immediately after dealing with the crimes. Although he did help, it was still troublesome having an unknown person roam around at night. This has continued on for more than two weeks now.

Seeing as how the guards hadn't arrived at the scene yet, Sebastian returned the purse to the woman who kept on thanking him while bowing her head. It seemed like there was something important in her purse for her to react so intensely.

Once he finished, he climbed the tallest building he could see via the various platforms nearby. It was obvious from how he easily got up the buildings, that he was an 『Inheritor』. The speed could've been explained as he was still in the limits of training but his jumps were way higher than what a normal human could ever do. Not just that, he didn't even need any time to build up speed or leverage.

Once Sebastian got up the nearest building, he heard a commotion behind him. He turned his head, expecting the guards to have arrived and sure enough, they were rushing to apprehend the man.

"I'm going to head home," Sebastian turned around but as soon as his sight left the guards, he heard tiles being stepped on behind him.

Sebastian looked back and saw several of the guards point their swords at him.

"..."

It took just one look for Sebastian to know they were from the Walt House. Since he couldn't recognize their faces, they were most likely from a branch family.

"Stop right there, Night Hunter!"

Sebastian grimaced at being called by that nickname. When he first heard of it, he wanted to throw a rock at whoever made it.

"It's best if you cooperate with us."

"Nobody has to get hurt."

Two of the three men from the Walt House spoke while drawing near him—swords brandished.

"They did say that actions spoke louder than words", Sebastian scoffed and ran off. If they were just normal people, he would've lost them in an instant but they were from the Walt House. They followed Sebastian without any trouble.

It made Sebastian take for granted how great his stigma actually is. To be able to copy the abilities of other houses by just thinking about the principals behind it.

"Stop!"

One of the pursuers yelled out again. In response, Sebastian stabbed his spear at the roof tile in front of him and knocked it towards the pursuers. With his aim, it landed on the pursuer's face and the other two stopped for a moment to check on him.

He jumped a few more roofs before diving into an alley. After confirming that they weren't following him, Sebastian moved through the shadows to get home.

If it were the old him, he would've been caught the moment they saw him.

"...Do I really stand a chance?"

Sebastian murmured. Although he really had become stronger than he ever dreamed of, the gap between him and Gilbert didn't seem to be closing at all.

Even if he became stronger, even if the flames of his determination burned brighter than they ever could have before, he still couldn't escape his pessimistic self.

—Are you going to keep repeating that? I've been with you for more than a couple of months. It isn't a day without you saying something along those lines.

"..."

When he first trained, Balanos had told him that she was incapable of feeling emotions but contrary to her words, she had shown him many different ones. What was her reason for hiding it?

Sebastian entered the open window of his room and removed the mask and cloak. He was about to go to sleep but then he saw a letter with a blue rose seal. One part of him told him not to open it while the other part was yelling at him to open it.

Throwing caution to the wind, Sebastian ripped open the seal and read the letter in its entirety. His face didn't have much of an expression while reading it but once he reached the end, he had his brows furrowed.

"Is this some sort of secret code?"

At first, he had thought the letter used a poem as an opening but it continued until the very end of the letter.

He wanted to throw it away but would the Blue Rose send a random letter just to mess with him?

Sebastian sighed and sat down on the desk. He took his pen and a piece of paper and began trying to think of possible ways to decode the poem.

He first tried seeing if the capital letters had any significant meaning but as expected, it wasn't that easy. He tried looking for other methods but none of the books he read about this seemed to apply.

"Could they really just be messing with me?"

It was unlikely.

Sebastian shook his head and focused again. It took him an entire hour to figure it out. Once he finished, it was already near midnight.

"...Beware of the banquet."

That was the warning he received. He had planned to rest for tomorrow but it appeared that he couldn't do so just yet.