Bale, looking at Tie as she sniffled and once again adjusted the skull’s jaw, frowned.

What did the proverb about blood and water have to do with anything?

But soon, the reason became clear.

“Actually, Tie has a dad.”

The child whispered, then added:

“He’s veeeery strong.”

As if it were a terrifying secret, the girl kept glancing warily around.

“They say he’s the strongest between worlds. A very strong holy knight!”

Basto’s face froze.

He remembered Tie’s words on the day they first met — that her dad was in the Capital.

At first, he had thought the child had simply gotten lost near the gate and separated from her family.

But now...

“If Tie inherited Papa’s blood, then of course her abilities are like this! Like father, like daughter!”

The more he listened, the more the thought crept into his mind that things might be far more complicated.

Bale’s face darkened as well.

‘If this kid’s father really is the strongest holy knight...’

There was something in that picture that did not add up.

There were two kinds of awakened power in the world.

Holy power, and magical power.

Holy knights were those who awakened holy power and wielded a sword through it.

But Tie had just awakened magical power.

‘Of course, I know that sometimes happens.’

Cases where parents with holy power give birth to a mage, or conversely, a child with holy power is born into a line of mages.

But such cases were so rare that they appeared only in legends and tales, and, more importantly, were considered a bad omen.

Since ancient times, there had been a superstition that children who inherited power opposite to that of their parents brought destruction and calamity to those around them.

‘And besides...’

Tie’s words about the “strongest holy knight” would not leave his mind either.

If there was a lineage in the Empire worthy of such a title, there was only one.

The ducal house of Luminen.

A family that, generation after generation, produced knights with the purest holy power, infamous for their sky-high arrogance.

Aristocrats who had, quite literally, never known a fall.

As if thinking the same thing, Bale and Basto exchanged glances.

Basto nodded and hurriedly crouched down, bringing himself to Tie’s eye level.

“That your dad is a holy knight — are you sure?”

“Yes! A very strong holy knight! The strongest between worlds!”

Both men’s faces grew even darker.

If one assumed that the child’s words were true, only one conclusion presented itself.

The Luminen line, generation after generation birthing holy knights.

And within it, Astie had been born, possessing magical power so immense that it could trigger necromancy.

“Actually... I didn’t want to talk about this, but...”

At that very moment, Astie opened her mouth with a drooping look.

“Until recently, Tie lived alone with Papa. In a small but warm house. And then...”

“The house was small?”

Bale cut her off, and Tie nodded.

“Mhm! Thiiis small.”

Tie showed the size — a space where even two adult men would barely be able to lie down.

“And there, over there, there was a toilet, but... uuh.”

Tie suddenly shrank in on herself.

At their questioning look, she hesitated, then answered:

“In winter it was very cold. Warm water almost didn’t run.......”

Bale’s eyebrow twitched, but Tie continued.

“But Tie was very, very happy. Even if there were only two of us, it felt like I had a hundred family members. Really, really.”

But a moist haze appeared in her eyes, which until then had been shining.

“......And then Papa left.”

Basto and Bale both flinched.

“And Tie was left alone. In the forest. With Kkamani.......”

“Kkamani?”

Tie opened her bag.

Inside lay a black stone.

“He’s sleeping right here, but Kkamani is very strong. If we’re together, I can find Papa.”

Bale and Basto exchanged glances again.

The being that Tie, who could trigger necromancy, called Kkamani.

And the black stone in which that being slept.

‘At first glance — an eternal summon.’

It seemed that in the past, Tie had unconsciously summoned a summoned being, without understanding it herself.

“When Kkamani wakes up, Tie will be able to find Papa! If Uncle Basto takes Tie to the Capital. Of course, Papa won’t remember.......”

“Won’t remember you? What does [N O V E L I G H T] that mean.”

Bale cut in again.

Tie rolled her eyes.

“It’s hard to explain.......”

She thought for a moment, then continued hesitantly:

“There are circumstances like that.......”

“What nonsense? What kind of father doesn’t remember his own child?”

Tie’s expression turned gloomy again.

This time — far more bitter than before.

And soon, a fallen voice spilled from her small mouth.

“......Papa isn’t like that because he wants to be.”

“.......”

“Papa misses Tie too. It’s just because of Tie’s magic that I was erased from his head.......”

Bale froze stiff.

So did Basto and Nordix.

Tie was talking about Kkamani’s time magic.

About how she had returned to the past, before her own birth, and therefore Papa could not recognize her.

But, ironically, Basto and Bale heard something entirely different in it.

‘So... through magic, the child herself was erased from the father’s memory?’

‘How cruel.......’

In the minds of the three men, the situation grew clearer and clearer.

The noble, pure, great holy knight lineage of Luminen.

And a child born into it with an enormous reserve of magical power.

‘Until recently, Tie lived alone with Papa. In a small but warm house.’

The father had likely fled the family, taking little Tie with him.

Judging by the tiny house, more like a shed, he must have been hiding, trying to raise the child in secret.

But...

‘Because of Tie’s magic, I was erased from his head.......’

Someone had erased Tie from his memory.

And four-year-old Astie had been left alone in the forest.

Silence hung in the cave.

Soon, a low curse burst from Bale’s mouth.

“What kind of beasts are they......?”

“Is something like that even possible? Erasing someone from memory?”

Bale’s whisper spread among the three men.

Basto silently clenched his fist, while fortune teller Nordix kept solemn silence.

“There’s nothing to think about! The brat was a thorn in their side, so they decided to get rid of her!”

Once, when he had been an assassin, he thought he had seen all the filth this world had to offer.

But taking a child away from her father?

And then even erasing her very existence from his memory?

“These insane Luminens. Do they think that because they have money and power, they’re allowed to do anything? Even this kind of atrocity?”

“Calm down, Bale.”

Basto cut him off.

He continued calmly, looking at the Bale who was choking with rage.

“We don’t know anything for sure yet. You can’t draw conclusions from words alone. It might be a misunderstanding. And most importantly, Tie is still too young.”

“What misunderstanding! Imperial legends clearly say that a mage born into a family of holy knights is a bad omen! Everything fits perfectly!”

“Bale. Basto is right. Calm down first.”

When even Nordix intervened, Bale finally fell silent, though his anger did not fade.

The moment he glanced at the little one in the distance, the rage flared up again.

Now she seemed even more pitiful and lonely to him than before.

“First, we need to meet someone from the Luminen family.”

Basto summed it up.

“And if they really are involved, it’s best to hide Tie’s identity for now.”

“That’s obvious even without saying it! Those bastards probably already tried to kill her. She was alone in the forest when we found her!”