T’was the night before Halt’s advancement exam.

Kiel infiltrated the Ifrus Academy of Magic once again and this time, he approached Halt’s mansion until he stood beside it.

The first time he came here, his purpose was to get a rough idea of Halt’s strength given that he was the younger brother of Cain.

Kiel had the ability to gauge the strength and power of others if they are within a certain range. That’s how he discovered that King Gil Grendale had hidden his abilities from people, when in fact he was as powerful as Cain.

And yet, even with such abilities of his, Kiel couldn’t grasp the extent of Halt’s power for some reason.

To be precise, he could read that power. However, it was way too unbelievable that Kiel didn’t know what to make of it.

[Level 1]

That was the feedback of his ability regarding Halt’s power.

Kiel possessed the ability to know the other person’s level even without looking at the status board.

This world equated ‘High Level’ to ‘Strength and Power’.

A person’s level would rise by defeating monsters, magical beasts, demon race, majin and demons, or in other words, ‘all the beings connected to evil’. As the level rises, physical strength, mana and physical attack power, things that comprise one’s status, would also rise.

Muscle training builds muscle mass and allows a person to carry heavier stuff as well as run faster. However, it doesn’t raise status nor level. The combination of muscle mass and status would result in the actual attack power.

For example, for Level 1, if kids fought against adults, adult would be stronger. That’s because adults have higher muscle mass. However, if a Level 2 kid fought against a Level 1 adult, the kid would be more powerful. That’s why instead of desperately building up muscle mass, it’s far better to become stronger by raising one’s level by slaying monsters.

That’s the kind of world they were in.

And since Halt is just Level 1, he was surely just small fry.

However, there’s no way the brother of Cain, that Bakemono who could easily slay A-rank monsters solo, would have the lowest level. He probably got a skill that could hide his true abilities — that was what Kiel deduced, so he finished his first round of scouting.

Afterwards, he used his connections freely to continue gathering Halt’s information. The more he learned, the more anxious he became. All the information that he got was totally unbelievable.

The heroine Tina Harrivel had become Halt’s wife.

Halt also casted autonomous magic spells equivalent to twenty majin each, all at the same time.

Beastkin were known to be several times stronger than humans if on the same Level. But, he heard that Halt had become the monarch of the Beastkin Kingdom.

Kokuryuu, the most ferocious of all colored dragons, was blasted off with a single punch from Halt.

Anyway, such unbelievable information kept on piling up.

There was no way such a guy would be stuck at the lowest level, Lv 1.

The cherry on top came from the information broker girl that Kiel frequently used from a long time ago.

“That guy is a Bakemono that can bundle up several majin and purify them all in one go, and he also Tames demons if he likes their appearance.

Kiel couldn’t believe that someone in this world could Tame a demon.

Moreover, for some reason, he can’t recall who that information broker girl after that. Even though they had done transactions multiple times in the past, but… He couldn’t even remember her face now.

The only thing he could remember about her was the warning she left him.

“Don’t mess with Ernol.”

Kiel’s body would tremble whenever he recalled the girl’s words that were oozing with bloodlust.

Nevertheless, Kiel was confident in his ability.

That confidence of his made him ignore that warning.

Moreover, he thought it was necessary to learn about Halt’s true power at all costs.

He really wanted to make sure whether Halt’s existence would become an obstacle to his actions from here on.

That’s the reason why he was here now.

Not even thinking that he could be discovered.

“Youko said she already brainwashed you, but… Heh, so you Resisted.”

“ —!?”

Kiel jumped out of his skin when somebody suddenly talked behind him.

He immediately sprang away from the person who called out to him.

Kiel didn’t believe anyone would be able to sneak behind him even if he was staring at the mansion given his multiple covert skills. That’s why it came as a shock that he didn’t feel anyone’s presence at all.

It was as if the guy teleported, appearing beside him in a blink of an eye.

“Y-You!!”

“Hi. I’m the owner of the mansion you’ve been looking at, Halt Ernol.”

Halt was standing there.

Kiel had no way to know that Halt teleported like usual to appear there.

“…Tsk.”

Kiel clicked his tongue, then he activated his concealment skill. His presence disappeared to almost nothing. He tried to escape while Halt was a bit surprised, but —

“W-What?”

Kiel couldn’t move from that spot.

He was blocked by something that seemed to enclose him.

“That concealment skill that’s so powerful it can break Youko’s mind control — No way I’m letting you go that easily.”

Halt is always surrounded by a thin layer of mana that he releases.

He does that to supply mana to the members of his family, like Youko, Mai and Mei. At the same time, it’s also there so that he could immediately respond to surprise attacks from those with covert skills like Kiel.

Halt could sense anyone who touched that mana, regardless of whether they were invisible or not.

By the way, the bracelet that Halt distributed to his family also had a similar function. The range of the effect wasn’t as huge as his, but it was enough to protect them from sneak attacks by demons and other beings that could erase their presence.

There was no way that Kiel, who was within the range of source of the released mana, could have escaped Halt.

In fact, Halt already sensed him the first time he came to scout.

Youko became the bridge between them, and she tried to drive a wedge between Ernol and Kiel to prevent him from snooping around. However, Kiel’s skill rendered that useless, it seemed.

“So you used that skill to Resist brainwashing?”

“…Whoa, what a disaster this is.”

Kiel evaded Halt’s question, but he seemed relaxed despite the situation he was in.

“Power so great it’s not the level of a human, unusual perception… Are you perhaps a transmigrated person?”

“Eh?”

“I thought it’s really strange. That Cain’s brother being Level 1, you know.”

“…Why do you know that?”

“Ahh, it’s alright. You don’t have to hide it. I already know that Level 1 is just a front. Ah, but it’s probably better to go for something normal like Level 50 or something, I tell you.”

Kiel thought Halt had the ability to make his status appear as Level 1. He was full of confidence that he saw through Halt.

“Well, I’ve been captured, and my face was also seen. I also know now just how much of a monster you are. That’s why, I’ll stop going about in this kingdom.”

“Eh… Ah, hey!!”

Kiel’s existence was steadily disappearing within the magic barrier walls.

Halt activated several spells right away as soon as he noticed that so that he could prevent Kiel from escaping, but —

“I’ll run away for now. Ahh, please be at ease. I don’t want to fight head on against a Bakemono like you.”

Having left those words, Kiel totally vanished.

He had easily escaped the magical barrier of the strongest sage, even though said barrier didn’t allow even the demons to break from it.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep