Chapter 4

Smoke and dust covered the entire area. The destructive power of their combined attacks was strong enough to break the barrier created by the Magic Grandmaster.

"Did we make it?" The leader narrowed his eyes and muttered.

When the smoke and dust dissipated, they could only stare in amazement.

"What!? No way! How could this barrier not be broken! In other words, there are people with power above Magic Grandmaster in this place!" The leader gritted his teeth to feel something extremely dangerous approaching them.

What the leader feels becomes a reality. From the darkness suddenly appeared a black-robed person with a blurry face. His whereabouts could not even be detected until he showed himself in front of the four assassins.

"I want to see how strong the people who came to attack this mansion are." The black-robed person said in a low voice and walked over to them.

"Who are you?" The leader unconsciously stepped back in fear.

"To think that person would send four masters to this mansion to kill a little girl. It looks like he has a lot of money and power." The black-robed person ignored the leader's question and continued muttering to himself.

The black-robed person is Ziel. He made a barrier so they couldn't escape and disturb the people inside the mansion. He also wanted to see to what extent the person's strength was sent to kill the master he was about to serve. Unexpectedly that person ordered four master-level assassins to kill a little girl.

"Then I'll take care of you now." Ziel took out a dinner knife from inside his robe. He took a step and then disappeared, leaving an afterimage. Then he appeared behind the person in black who was the only magician in the group.

"One..." Ziel stabbed his knife straight into the mage's heart. The mage realized Ziel's presence too late, so he didn't have time to dodge or defend against the attack. What he could see before he lost consciousness was blood dripping from his chest.

Ziel compressed his aura to the extreme into the knife to make it easier to penetrate the enemy's body. Because the higher the level of strength, the tougher every part of their body. That applies to knights or mages. But knights had an advantage in their physique over mages. Because of that, there was no way an ordinary dinner knife could pierce the body of a master-level mage or knight.

"Urgh!" The mage in black died without being able to do anything.

"He's dangerous! We attack him together!" The leader was frightened after one of his men died within seconds.

The ax wielder, trident wielder, and leader with the dagger attacked simultaneously. The three of them opened their five aura seals. Ziel just stood still, waiting for them to attack. The ax user swung his ax at Ziel's head. A bat-patterned aura seal formed on his body. Ziel stabbed his dinner knife covered in gray light towards the axe.

[Weapon Breaker]

The tip of Ziel's dinner knife met the tip of the ax's blade. It wasn't Ziel's knife that shattered, but the man's ax that broke instantly. The ax user was shocked because the dinner knife crushed his ax. Ziel took advantage of it and directly slashed the person's neck.

"Ahhhh!" The ax user died while clutching his neck.

The next attack came from the trident and dagger users. Ziel faced the slash of the dagger in the same way he fought an ax wielder. As expected, the dagger also shattered. The leader was about to retreat after his weapon shattered, but Ziel quickly caught him and made him a human shield to withstand the trident thrust that came at him.

"Aaarrrghh! What are you doing, bastard!?" The leader was stabbed in the back and shouted at his subordinates.

"Sorry... Captain!" The trident user tried to pull out his weapon. But before he could do that, Ziel kicked the leader until he was piled with trident users. Then Ziel threw his dinner knife at their heads, and they died simultaneously.

"Haaa... Maybe there will be more trouble in my job in the future." Ziel sighed heavily and snapped his fingers. Suddenly the four bodies burned to ashes and then disappeared in the wind. Ziel pulled back his dinner knife, then removed the barrier and left the place.

***

In the morning, in the garden area of Duke Castilene's residence, a boy was swinging his wooden sword. That boy is Ziel. He woke up early in the morning after cleaning up last night's troubles. He had previously run around the vast gardens of Duke Hazell's residence dozens of times. After that, he did his regular sword practice. Ziel never did this in the morning when he lived in the Argaint Kingdom castle. But do it at night before morning because he would be suspected of where he learned swordsmanship from.

This day was the first day he started working as a butler for Clara. After completing the routine practice, Ziel quickly took a shower and put on his butler uniform. After that, Ziel went to Clara's room to wake her up because he had already got Clara's schedule for the day.

"My lady, it's morning. Are you awake?" Ziel knocked on Clara's room three times but still no answer. The scene was the same as when he worked as a butler for Princess Elise in the Argaint Kingdom.

"My lady, your magic teacher will be here soon if you don't wake up soon. Master will wake you up." Ziel kept knocking on Clara's room.

Crack...

The door opened. Sleepy Clara came out of her room, yawning from her little lips and rubbing her eyes. Her hair was a mess, and most importantly, she was still in her nightgown. Clara's curves can be seen because the nightgown was a bit transparent. She has a wonderful body shape.

"Ooh, Ken. What's wrong?" Clara asked and still wasn't aware of the situation.

"My lady, you better change your clothes first." Ziel lowered his head and didn't look directly at her.

Clara looked at herself with her sleepy eyes after hearing Ziel's words. After realizing that she was still wearing her nightgown, she quickly slammed the door and shouted.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Clara's scream could be heard throughout the mansion.

"What's wrong, Clara!?" Duke Hazell screamed in concern after hearing his daughter's shout. He looked breathless, as if he had run in a hurry. Behind him is his wife Eleanor Castilene and his butler, Raven.

"Nothing, dad!" Clara's voice came from inside the room.

"Ken, what's wrong with Clara?" Duke Hazell was dissatisfied with Clara's answer, and then he asked Ziel.

"Ahh, that is..." Ziel explained what happened earlier to Duke Hazell and the others.

"Hahaha... I thought something had happened to Clara." After hearing what Ziel said, Duke Hazell laughed while his wife smiled wryly at her daughter's behavior.

Not long after, Clara's bedroom door opened. He peeked out through the gap in the open door.

"Please forget what you saw earlier, Ken." Clara said quietly to Ziel.

***

Every day in the morning, Clara will do magic training. Magic and swordsmanship were essential to noble families. Today she will be taught by a special magic teacher for the following year.

Duke Hazell, Eleanor, and Clara were waiting in front of the mansion at this moment. Ziel and Raven also waited behind them. The luxurious carriage that entered Duke Hazell's residence stopped right in front of the mansion. The person inside that elegant carriage was an important guest for Duke Hazell's family.

The person who got out of the carriage was a beautiful young woman about 25 years of age with short golden hair and yellow eyes. She wore a green dress and carried a long wand with a purple crystal. This woman is Clara's special magic teacher.

"Welcome to my residence, Miss Beatrix." Duke Hazell greeted the woman in a very polite manner.

"You don't have to be so polite, Duke Castilene. You even waited for me in front of the mansion." The woman nodded and smiled at duke Hazell. Then she looked at the woman next to Duke Hazell.

"Eleanor, how are you? It's been a long time since we've seen each other." The woman exchanged hugs with Eleanor Castilene.

"I'm fine. You look excellent too, Beatrix." Eleanor returned her embrace with a smile.

The woman's name was Beatrix Artvika. She was an old friend of Eleanor even before Eleanor married Duke Hazell. She was a genius mage, and her current strength was at the Magic King level. She had come to Duke Castilene's residence because Eleanor had asked her to teach magic to Clara personally.

"Is this your daughter?" Beatrix smiled and looked at Clara.

"Yes. Clara, this is mom's old friend, Beatrix Artvika. She is a genius mage. She is currently one of the strongest Magic Kings on the continent and will be your magic teacher for the next year." Eleanor introduces Beatrix to Clara.

"Wow! Awesome! Aunt Beatrix, nice to meet you! Please take care of me from now on." Clara smiled happily like she was looking at her idol because Clara likes magic and idolizes strong mages.

"You are beautiful, just like your mother when she was young." Beatrix suddenly felt a chill run down her spine as she spoke. She was a Magic King, and her senses were sharp and very sensitive. Beatrix knew very well that the feeling she had earlier was horror. Then she looked around and finally stopped at Ziel.

"Who is he?" Beatrix narrowed her eyes at Ziel.