Children of the Holy Emperor
chapter-71

In summary, it seemed that there was no significant fault on the part of the knight named Calmen who had relayed the information to Haven.

It was Ninnias, the physician, who was extremely irritated while dragging Haven back to his bed.

“When did His Highness say that he would take responsibility for your life? He said he would take responsibility for the statement that it wasn’t a contagious disease, didn’t he? I clearly heard what the knight was saying right next to him!”

“No, but…”

“Stop confusing things! Like I’ve been saying, you’re too careless about everything. If I say to calm down, then calm down!”

Upon hearing this, Haven immediately grabbed Ninnias’ hand, jumping around while calling him a life-saver, until he received a hit from the exasperated physician.

Well, Haven had always seemed a bit frivolous, but it seemed that impressions of people don’t really change.

Sir Kurt subtly opened his mouth towards Masain, who was still emanating a furious aura.

“That guy has always been one to not listen well and exaggerate things. He’s a guy who bets his life here and there; please understand.”

That’s right, just calm down. Sir Masain.

It seems like Haven just did what he usually does, but you’re acting like you want to kill someone.

“Not too long ago, I distinctly heard him going around saying he would dedicate his life to Princess Amelia when she visited the training ground.”

…Should I really kill him?

After a bit of commotion, Seongjin was barely able to relay the overall to Haven.

“Parasites in my chest?”

He jumped in surprise and touched his own chest. The incision and stitches had almost healed completely thanks to the priest. The discolored gray area had significantly reduced, with only a small portion remaining.

“Based on the shape of the wound, it looks like someone directly inserted an egg into you.”

At the physician’s words, Haven tilted his head in confusion.

“I simply went out, drank, and then went back to sleep at the inn. If someone stabbed me, wouldn’t I have noticed?”

“Was there anything unusual?”

“Unusual? Ah!”

Haven grinned at the people around him, who were all ears.

“Now that I think about it, I met an incredibly beautiful woman on my way! That’s what I remember.”

“……”

Seongjin asked, while raising his hands to block Sir Masain, who seemed resisting his urge to slap him right there.

“And what did she do?”

“Hmm? I don’t know; maybe I was too drunk? Now that I think about it, I can’t remember her face well. Just that she had long, beautiful hair.”

Haven’s eyes became dreamy.

“More than anything, her voice was really beautiful. I don’t remember well, but it felt like a heavenly voice. I wish I could see her again…”

Sir Kurt then asked incredulously.

“Do you even realize you just barely escaped death? What if she’s the culprit?”

“Hehe. If she’s that beautiful, then she’s worth risking my life for.”

“……”

He really does gamble his life on various things.

“Hehehe.”

“This guy, he’s seriously out of his mind, isn’t he?”

Thump!

In the end, Haven was slapped on the head by an infuriated Sir Kurt.

“Hmm……”

Seongjin crossed his arms and sunk into thought.

Even though Haven seems like that, he has some basic skills as a palace knight. If someone forcibly implanted an egg, it must have happened while he was drunk and not fully conscious.

However, he really can’t remember anything at all?

‘Maybe I should wait for Jonathan or Ashley to wake up?’

But there’s no guarantee that they would wake up as fine as Haven did.

Maybe I should question Kenneth Diggory or other academy students as soon as I have a chance.

As he was thinking, he lifted his head and saw that Sir Masain was staring at him intensely. It looked like he had a lot to say but couldn’t quite get the words out.

Seongjin sighed and thought, ‘first of all, I have to do something about that overprotective gentleman.’

* * *

So when Dasha visited that evening, Seongjin bluntly said:

“Teach me the art of stealth.”

“Excuse me?”

“I need a way to move through the palace as stealthily as you.”

“…Yes?”

Even Dasha, who rarely lost her composure, seemed taken aback.

The truth was, besides finding swordsmanship enjoyable, another big reason for Seongjin voluntarily training his martial arts was because of his identity as the prince of the noble Holy Imperial Family.

Guards would always wait outside his room, and dedicated maids constantly checking on his condition. Whenever he ventured into the city, a resplendent carriage and a procession of escort knights would follow him, drawing undue attention to himself.

Moreover, to leave the imperial palace even once, one must pass through several layers of the palace guard. With all these constraints, who would find the energy to step outside?

When he focused solely on sword training, he could tolerate it, but the moment he tried to take any proactive steps, numerous inconveniences arose.

At Seongjin’s words, Dasha seemed a bit troubled and asked.

“Your Highness, did I ever tell you that I am among the elite of the Monkey Watchtower’s intelligence agents?”

“Yes, I’ve heard. Your skills are remarkable every time I see them.”

“Do you know how much rigorous training it took for someone like me to infiltrate the Pearl Palace Palace covertly?”

“It’s fine. I don’t expect that much. If you can just divert the palace guards, that would be sufficient. I learn quite quickly, you see.”

“That’s what makes it difficult… No, even if it were possible, that alone presents a problem.”

“What’s the problem?”

“How could I dare to smuggle Your Highness out of the palace? Oh my goodness!”

Dasha clutched her head and groaned.

“Don’t you think that the paladin commander, who watches over Your Highness like a mother, will leave me be?”

“Don’t worry. If he throws a fit, I’ll talk to my father.”

At that, Dasha responded with a chilly expression, “Your Highness, are you planning to kill me?”

“No, I mean…”

“Hehehe. Yes, I’ll teach you. I will spill all my secrets, but please don’t tell His Majesty…”

Her words implied that she would do her best to protect him using her influence, but it sounded more like he was threatening her.

“Stealth techniques are essentially assassination techniques. Therefore, all the skills intelligence agents learn are those of assassins.”

And thus, Dasha started from the fundamentals in her explanation.

Perhaps she planned to take her time teaching him, anticipating that it would take a while for him to master the techniques.

“The core of stealth techniques is to completely mask any traces you may give off.”

While many think of stealth as becoming invisible, Dasha explained that the visual aspect is actually the last thing to consider.

“It’s virtually impossible to make oneself completely invisible. However, if you can eliminate your presence, most people won’t recognize something even if it’s right in front of their eyes.”

The key is not to hide but to erase one’s presence completely. If you can manage to do that, you can hide even in the most open spaces.

“So they can see but not know? Really?”

“Yes. If you get detected, it means you didn’t eliminate your presence well enough. Have faith. If you have no traces, even someone right in front of you can’t see you. You have to believe that.”

“I have to believe it?”

Dasha was resolute.

“Yes, belief is crucial. Even the slightest self-doubt can accelerate your heartbeat and raise your body temperature, thereby revealing your presence. In any situation, you need unshakable calmness, backed by unwavering belief. That belief is the foundation of stealth.”

“…”

“It sounds plausible when you put it that way. But still…”

“Why does it sound like you’re selling snake oil¹?”

Seongjin was tilting his head in confusion when Dasha continued speaking.

“Suppressing your presence isn’t just about stifling any natural phenomena that occur when you’re alive. It’s about silencing your sound, suppressing your breath.”

It meant utilizing a strong belief to kill even the variations in one’s consciousness.

And lastly, killing the activation of one’s aura.

“In some ways, killing the activation of one’s aura could be the crux of stealth. Because it’s impossible to move silently and suppress your breath without utilizing your aura.”

The activation of the aura naturally becomes more active the more layers of aura one accumulates. Hence, the dilemma arises that as you become more skilled in killing sound and breath through the manipulation of aura, the activation of the aura drastically increases.

“So, how do we resolve that?”

“That’s why you learn a technique to completely block the external flow of aura. This technique is called [Aura Concealment].”

It involves suppressing your breath to the maximum to minimize the aura you absorb, and completely binding the aura in your body so it doesn’t escape.

Huh? That sounds like…

“Seems similar to [Aura Binding]?”

“Well, fundamentally they might be similar. [Aura Binding] temporarily reduces aura activation. However, binding your aura completely and simply concealing its activation are clearly different techniques.”

To assist in insufficient breath and to move muscles soundlessly, the aura needs to freely flow within the body. That means aura is blocked only at the skin level, and the body constantly consumes the bound aura without any replenishment.

In short, [Aura Concealment] is similar to a person with a large lung capacity holding their breath for a long time.

“You’ll need to sever your body from the outside world and hold out on the stored aura in your body. Plus, there’s the additional difficulty of completely isolating every surface of your body from the outside world.”

“… Sounds pretty complicated.”

“Yes, it’s not something you can compare with [Aura Binding] in terms of difficulty. It requires a lot of training.”

To maintain concealment for a long time, first, you’ll need to accumulate a lot of aura layers.

The more the aura activates, the more challenging it becomes to conceal, which is natural.

“Ultimately, when you reach the [Aura Balance], all of it becomes irrelevant.”

When one reaches the level of a Decalon Knight, adjusting the aura activation becomes possible. This is because it’s the stage where one achieves the most ideal balance of aura.

“So, the ultimate assassin would be at the level of a Decalon Knight?”

“Yes, but the problem is…”

Dasha added with a somber face,

“Who would become an assassin at the level of a Decalon Knight?”

Indeed. Even in Delcross, the strongest empire on the continent, Decalon Knights are extremely rare.

Any country would shower a Decalon Knight with titles, territories, and wealth. Who would give that up to become an assassin?

“The reason I mentioned the state of [Aura Balance] is that while it may be the ultimate stage an assassin could achieve, it is also the nemesis of an assassin.”

“Nemesis?”

“Yes. [Aura Concealment] is completely useless in front of a Decalon Knight.”

A Decalon Knight, who maintains the most ideal balance of aura, can not only freely adjust their aura activation but can also easily differentiate between the natural flow of aura and the forcibly concealed aura.

Someone who can better conceal their presence than an assassin and see through the assassin’s concealment.

A nemesis, in the true sense of the word.

“Now, enough with the boring explanations. I’ll teach you the method of [Aura Concealment].”

Dasha proceeded to give a detailed explanation on how to manipulate the aura, even demonstrating it herself.

Amazingly, when she executed [Aura Concealment], Seongjin felt as if Dasha, who was standing right in front of him, suddenly became faint and blurry.

Staring intently made it manageable, but had they crossed paths unexpectedly, he might have brushed past without noticing.

“How strange, I can still see you, though?”

“Damn it! Stop shaking my faith! Stop!”

Being highly sensitive, Seongjin could still sense Dasha’s aura despite her skillful concealment.

And because of that, he could even more keenly sense how she was manipulating her aura.

After receiving a detailed explanation, he started to grasp an image of what he needed to do.

“Even though I agreed to assist your Highness with a heart full of goodwill, I never thought you’d strip away my secrets so quickly.”

Dasha continuously grumbled as she demonstrated.

“Do you know, Your Highness? This goes against my teachings. These are techniques I learned through getting beaten up by instructors for years.”

“Right. Thank you, Dasha. I’ll make sure you’re rewarded appropriately, even if I have to ask my father.”

“…Well, as long as you understand, that’s enough.”

And so, based on Dasha’s guidance, Seongjin practiced concealing his aura.

However, contrary to his imagination, controlling aura with different intervals across various body parts was quite difficult.

Watching Seongjin who kept tying and untying his aura incorrectly, Dasha chuckled.

“Don’t rush. It’s natural for it not to work out at the beginning. Even I, who was evaluated as having the best talent by my instructors recently, took over two years just to poorly mimic concealment.”

“True. It’s definitely hard.”

“But you, Your Highness, will likely find it a bit easier. Your aura activity isn’t that high yet, after all. Hehe.”

“Uh-huh…”

Seongjin focused his entire mind on controlling his aura, sweat pouring down his face.

And after some time had passed,

“…”

The relaxed smile gradually disappeared from Dasha’s face, replaced by an astonished expression.

“…What?”

And a moment later,

“How is it?”

Seongjin, wiping the sweat from his forehead, proudly asked. Dasha, her eyes wide as saucers, said in a trembling voice.

“…A, A genius?”

Seongjin smirked.

Heh. See that? This is the class of Hunter Lee Seongjin.

1. Idiom to describe deceptive marketing, or fraud[↩]