If Warden Magru Trell hadn’t been digging into Menielman Soumet’s affairs or f Charlot to betray his senior sister, no one could have shaken his position. He could have remained in the lucrative role of Kilmainham Prison’s warden indefinitely.

  Charlot couldn’t uand why, in this world, some people were so desperate to climb higher that they would stop at nothing to get there. That alone was baffling, but what was even more absurd was how they only saw the potential bes without sidering how devastating the sequences could be if it all backfired.

  Magru Trell did not e from a privileged background. If the former warden had even a modicum of support or es, he wouldn’t have bee pletely helpless after his fall from power, nor would he have suffered so cruelly at the hands of the Prison Army. Who knew how much effort and sacrifice it took for him to rise to the position of Kilmainham Prison’s warde, in the end, his downfall led to the destru of his family—despicable, yes, but alsically pitiful.

  Charlot had only uood nobles of feudal dynasties through books before, but after meeting Annie Bretagne’s cousin Cir Bretagne and Ebner Soumet, he had fully grasped the truth behind the saying: “Knowledge gained from books remains shallow; true uanding es from personal experience.” In this world, nobles and oners were entirely different creatures.

  He found it hard to believe that those two young officers had relied solely on their abilities to bee seveh-ranked Grand Knights. One of them, still so young, was already a first-css lieutenant at the twenty-fourth rank, while the other, slightly less talented, held the position of fifth-css turion at the twenty-fifth rank.

  Though they were adversaries, Charlot uood well that Aubrey Tildon Atwood, President of the Fierce Horse Detective Agency, and Warden Magru Trell represehe upper limits of what ordinary people could achieve.

  After Magru Trell’s death, his body suffered a backsh from the curse, disiing into ash, leaving behind only a small, dark residue on the ground.

  Charlot approached it and kicked it twice, uo identify what it was. He had barely studied alchemy at uy.

  While he debated whether to crush the remains underfoot or pick them up for appraisal—admittedly, he found such remnaracted from a corpse to be distasteful—an eager voiterrupted him: “Sir, would you be willing to sell the remains of that curse to me?”

  Charlot looked up to see two men. Though he didn’t know them personally, he immediately reized their bck coats—a signature of the Fierce Horse Detective Agency.

  Charlot smirked, amused, and asked, “How much are you ?”

  The speaker was Reggie Asu. He had identified the cursed remains at a gnce. Although the Cursed Armament had been pletely destroyed, these remnants could still be processed into valuable alchemical materials. Reggie had long wao ission an alchemy master to craft a set of Cursed Armament for himself but had yet to gather all the necessary pos. Even if he couldn’t use this particur material, it was highly valuable for trade. Alchemical materials were so scarce that most merts refused to accept gold écus and would only trade in kind.

  After sidering for a moment, Reggie offered, “Ten écus!”

  Charlot smiled mysteriously and said, “I graduated from Sheffield Uy.”

  Of course, Charlot wasn’t boasting about his alma mater. He was subtly implying that he kly what this thing was worth, even though, iy, he had no idea.

  The Sheffield Uy name worked wonders. Reggie mulled it over briefly before raising his offer: “Twenty-five écus. That’s the highest I go. You might get a slightly better price from merts, but they’ll insist on appraisal and evaluation, which is a plicated process. You could be waiting half a month to see any money.”

  Charlot found Reggie’s argument ving and said, “Cash.”

  Reggie nodded, leaving his panion behind as he turo withdraw the funds.

  Half an hour ter, Reggie returned with a bag of money, having just withdrawn it from the Savings Union. Charlot ted the paper notes carefully, using the verifiethods he had lear uy to firm their authenticity. Satisfied, he said, “It’s yours now.”

  The transa plete, both parties went their separate ways.

  As Charlot climbed bato his carriage, Karenda Modi gnced back at him and murmured to his panion, “He must have reized us.”

  Reggie Asu smiled faintly and replied, “But he pretended not to. Didn’t he?”

  Karenda Modi sighed with a hint of envy: “With that cursed residue, you should be able to finish your set of Cursed Armament.”

  Reggie nodded, visibly excited. “I might need some funds in the ing days. Lend me a little?”

  Karenda Modi spread his hands and said, “We’ve been colleagues for years. Lending you money is no problem.”

  ...

  Charlot settled bato the carriage and instructed Mrs. Nancy, “Take us to 58 Elysée Avenue.”

  As the carriage began moving, Charlot became engrossed in further refining his uanding of Blood Glory. Through bat, he had firmed that rather than directly activating Blood Glory, eling it through each Blood Ruo separate Blood Vortexes could amplify its pnifitly.

  With four Blood Vortexes active, each teique infused with a Blood Rune could be enhanced by thirty pert.

  At st, Charlot uood horas had bee invincible, a sce of the blood s. That great human sage had undoubtedly refihirteen Blood Vortexes. In other words, every one of his teiques was instantly amplified by twelvefold!

  At the same rank, who could possibly withstand an enemy whose power suddenly doubled?

  With this newfound uanding, Charlot began digesting the life essence he had absorbed through a new method. It was indeed much faster than before. Magru Trell, as a seventh-ranked Knight, had abundant life force. By the time Charlot arrived at 58 Elysée Avenue, his right leg twitched slightly—he had successfully activated his fifth Blood Vortex.

  In other words, Charlot had finally asded to the fifth rank of Transdents.

  ...

  The following m, Charlot had just risehere was a loud kno the door. Mrs. Nancy hurried up from the basement to a. After a brief exge, the door opened, and Annie Bretagne burst in like a whirlwind, abandoning all pretense of noble de as she rushed up to the third floor.

  Charlot was still dressing when Annie charged into his room. The noblewoman looked anxious as she excimed, “Something’s wrong! My cousin’s army has been ordered to the frontlines!”

  “He specifically sent someoo apologize to me. He won’t be able to help you in your duel.”

  Charlot was startled but quickly regained his posure. After all, he hadn’t been tiirely oernal assistance. Smiling calmly, he said, “Miss Ahank you for letting me know. Though I, too, am disappointed, I fully uand Cir and Ebner’s situation. They are soldiers, after all, and must obey the orders of their try.”

  “My duel is merely a private affair and ot interfere with the nation’s security. They’ve made the right choice.”

  Annie khere was nuing with military deployments. Her cousin and Ebner had no say iter. Still, she couldn’t bear the thought of Charlot fag danger alone. Worriedly, she asked, “What will you do? You ’t possibly defeat a high-raransdent!”

  Charlot also uood that he stood no the duel against a high-raransdent unless, of course, the duel took pce at the Machubi Fortress.

  For a moment, he found himself missing that fortress and its byrinthiructure.