Fate had a strange sense of humor.
Alicia wanted Baston to become a slave and Luke wanted him to become a servant.
Both options sounded humiliating on the surface yet Baston himself treated the entire matter with a quiet indifference. In truth, neither role meant much to him. After all, the identity was only a temporary disguise which was another mask that he wore to complete the quest assigned by the old book.
Still, while he viewed the situation lightly, the two nobles who were standing across from each other clearly did not.
For Alicia and Luke, this small bet had become a matter of pride. And so, they left the result to something neither they could control. They decided someone's fate on one coin.
The small silver coin spun through the air, catching the warm lamp light of the room.
Everyone's eyes followed it. For a moment, the world seemed to shrink to the tiny object that was rotating above the table.
It was clearly heading into a tail side. The coin tilted slightly as it descended, making Alicia's eyes slowly brightened.
"That's it!" she declared with satisfaction, "I win…"
However, something strange happened.
The coin should have stopped and should have landed. Instead, the moment it touched the table, it wobbled unnaturally before it flipped. The coin unexpectedly turned into head side. It rolled once more before finally settling in the place.
The room fell silent and Alicia's confident smile froze while Luke could only blink. Even Baston stared at the coin longer than expected. He just knew it should not have happened.
The coin had already lost momentum and there was no physical reason for it to flip like that.
Alicia slowly lifted her head and looked directly at Luke, "Did you use magic?"
Her voice was calm but her gaze was sharp. Luke immediately raised both of his hands.
"Of course not!" he protested, "I'm not that low to cheat in something like this."
Alicia did not answer immediately. Instead, she turned toward Baston. The fat boy merely shrugged and shook his head. He had not used magic either which was making Alicia frowned.
She had watched the coin carefully. At the final moment, it had clearly been leaning toward the tail side yet, it somehow flipped.
There was no reasonable explanation unless someone had interfered. Still, she had sensed nothing. After a moment of silence, Luke picked up the coin and tossed it lightly in his palm.
"If you think I cheated," he said calmly, "Then, you can flip it."
He stepped backward. Baston also followed and moved away from the table as well. The distance between them became wide enough that neither of them could possibly influence the coin with magic without Alicia noticing.
She watched them both for several seconds before she nodded, "Fine…"
She placed the coin on her thumb and flicked it into the air. The silver coin rose again. It rotated and fell the same way like before.
It struck the wooden floor with a sharp ting. The coin bounced several times before it slowed down. The coin clearly went into a tail side. It leaned slightly to that side while Alicia stared closely.
The coin was almost motionless. It was almost until suddenly, it flipped again to head side. It slid for a few moments before it finally stopped.
This time, no one spoke.
Alicia slowly looked around the room. Her senses stretched outward as she searched for the magical fluctuations.
She found nothing in the end. There was no mana disturbance, no invisible spell, and no hidden enchantment. The air was completely normal which made the result even more unsettling.
A coin should not behave like that yet the evidence was right in front of her. After a long moment, Alicia exhaled quietly.
"Alright…" she said reluctantly while looking at Luke, "You win..."
Luke nodded calmly though his eyes lingered on the coin for a brief second longer than expected. Something about that result had also bothered him but he said nothing.
Instead, the two nobles began discussing the details of Baston's new role.
If Baston was to act as Luke's servant, then his behavior, speech, and appearance would all need to match that identity. While they spoke, Baston lowered his gaze slightly.
Inside his clothes, hidden beneath the layers of fabric, the old book rested quietly against his chest.
He slipped his fingers inside and opened it slightly before the pages trembled faintly. It was just enough that only he could feel it. His pupils narrowed of such event.
When the first coin flipped, he had felt a small vibration from the book.
At the time, he had dismissed it as his imagination. But when Alicia threw the coin a second time, the sensation came again. It was a subtle pulse before the coin flipped to head side.
Baston slowly closed the book, "So it was you…"
A faint smile appeared on his lips since the old book had interfered. This was the first time that he had witnessed such a thing.
Until now, the book had always remained passive. It issued the quests, judged the performances, and rewarded or punished accordingly. It had never directly tampered with the outside, yet this time, it had clearly done so.
The coin had been forced toward the head side which meant something important. The book preferred this outcome since it wanted him to become a servant and not a slave.
Why he must become a servant?
Why the book did not like him to be a slave?
He leaned back slightly in his chair. The book rarely acted without a reason. If it had interfered now, then this path must lead somewhere important and somewhere dangerous.
*****
Several days later, Baston stood in front of a mirror.
His appearance had changed completely. His hair was neatly combed and his clothes were clean plus well-fitted. Even his posture looked different.
Before, he often carried himself like a shadow which was quiet, gloomy, and almost invisible.
Now, he looked bright, energetic, and almost cheerful. It was an exhausting transformation but it was necessary. A servant indeed represented his master.
If he behaved poorly, people would not insult him. They would insult Luke and the nobles would never tolerate such embarrassment. Behind him, Luke observed the transformation with mild amusement.
"You look like a different person..."
"At least, it's only for several days," Baston replied dryly.
Their destination was a city far from Prius Academy where Luke's uncle lived there at the moment. Baston had no idea how long the journey would take but he did not complain.
Luke had rented a high-grade magic carriage. It was not as luxurious as the one that Alicia once used but it was still comfortable. The interior was spacious enough to stretch out and rest.
The carriage moved smoothly across the road, pulled by the enchanted wheel that barely seemed to touch the ground. Inside, the two boys sat across from each other.
After a long silence, Luke finally spoke, "Baston, I won't explain too much about my family."
His tone carried an unusual heaviness, "For outsiders, knowing less is safer."
Baston raised an eyebrow, "It seems the issue is very complicated…"
Luke nodded slowly, "In our family, the strength determines everything."
He stared out the window, "Each powerful member forms their own faction. Some support them while the others oppose them. In the end, everyone chooses a side eventually."
"How about you?"
"I chose none of them…" Luke's lips curved into a faint smile, "Rather… No one wanted me..."
Baston blinked, urging the next explanation with his eyes.
"My wealth is smaller than most relatives and my influence is weaker. Moreover, my ability is unimpressive. Therefore, no faction invited me."
"Still, you didn't try to join one anyway…"
"There was no benefit," Luke replied, "Being neutral keeps me out of the internal conflicts."
Luke's gaze darkened, "Eventually, it also means no one will help me."
The carriage fell silent and Baston leaned back slightly.
Unlike the well-structured Xavierius family, Luke's family sounded chaotic. It was too chaotic that he wondered if they had ever truly been a family at all or just merely a group of people that were walking in the same direction.
Still, such a group had survived among the kingdom's nobles for several generations. That meant something unseen held them together. It was something powerful enough to bind them despite the chaos.
"Then, what made you decide to confront your uncle?" Baston asked.
Luke sighed quietly, "You still don't understand the nobles."
He rested his elbow against the window frame, "The commoners value money but the nobles value face."
His voice grew colder, "They would rather kill someone than to admit they are wrong."
Baston said nothing. In truth, Luke's words matched the conclusions that he had already reached. The power rarely made people became kinder. Often, it did the opposite.
He did not bother judging the entire noble class. After all, there were always an exception. Some of them were kind while the rest were full of malice.
The carriage continued rolling across the quiet road. For a while, neither of them spoke before a loud shout exploded outside.
"HALT!"
"GIVE US ALL YOUR MONEY OR YOU WILL DIE!"
Luke's head snapped toward the door, "Bandits!"
Baston frowned, "Bandits?"
That was strange since the carriage clearly displayed a noble insignia.
Most criminals avoided such targets since killing a noble invited the relentless punishment. Still, whoever waited outside clearly did not care.
The carriage stopped abruptly before Luke and Baston stepped outside. There were five rough men who blocked the road. Their clothes were worn out and dirty plus their weapons were crude but sharp.
"Who are you?" Luke demanded coldly, "Do you not see this carriage belongs to a noble?"
One of the men spat on the ground, "I don't care who you are! Hand over your money or die!"
Baston studied them carefully and something felt wrong.
The bandits usually showed hesitation when confronting the nobles but these men did not. They rushed forward without waiting with their blades toward Luke.
The noble boy moved instinctively but he stepped forward first.
A cold mist erupted from his palm. The ice spread across the ground, quickly climbing up the bandits' legs into their bodies.
Within seconds, four of them were frozen solid while only their heads remained free. The men struggled violently but they could not break the ice.
"You!" their leader shouted, "Do you know who I am? How dare you to do this to me?"
"I don't know…" Baston replied calmly, "And I don't care..."
The man snarled, "If you're a man, fight me face-to-face!"
"No, I don't want to…"
Another bandit laughed mockingly, "What a coward!"
"Go back to your mother and drink milk!"
"You'll never become a noble in your life!"
Baston smiled faintly, "I'm not a nobody... I'm also a noble by the way..."
The bandit sneered, "Bullshit!"
"You're only a servant!"
"Everyone knows that!"
Luke's eyes narrowed slightly. That sentence revealed something important. The bandits surely would not know Baston's identity. They would not care which meant these men had been informed.
Luke's mind moved quickly. There was only one person who would arrange something like this.
"They come from my uncle…" he muttered.
The realization settled and without hesitation, Luke drew his sword. The steel flashed quickly with one step and one strike.
In the end, several heads fell. Five bodies collapsed onto the ground and the forest road returned to the silence.
Baston stared at Luke. He had faced many people before but this was the first time he saw a true swordsman move. It was terrifyingly fast.
If that blade ever targeted him, would he have time to cast a spell?
"I may need to adjust my strategy…" he thought quietly.
Baston's eyes slowly moved from Luke to the corpses that were scattered across the road. The fight had ended too quickly, too cleanly that he could not react properly.
For several seconds, the only sound in the forest was the faint creaking of the carriage wheels that was settling back into place. The enchanted mechanism beneath the carriage hummed quietly as if nothing unusual had happened.
However, he knew better so he stepped closer to one of the fallen bandits.
The man's clothes were rough and dusty like a common highway robber yet something about the body felt off. He crouched and searched the corpse. Meanwhile, Luke only watched him silently.
After a moment, he found something hidden beneath the bandit's belt. It was a small metal token and it was no larger than a coin. He turned it slowly between his fingers.
There was a faint engraving on its surface, an unfamiliar crest that had been scratched repeatedly as if someone had tried to erase it.
Luke's expression darkened the moment he saw it, "So, it really is him..."
"You recognize this?" Baston asked.
Luke nodded, "This mark once belonged to one of my uncle's personal guards."
"Once?"
"They were dismissed years ago," Luke replied quietly, "At least, that's what the family believed."
The wind stirred the leaves around them and Baston glanced down at the token again.
If these men were the former guards rather than the simple bandits, then this attack had never been about robbery. It had been an execution attempt and that meant something even more troubling.
Someone had known Luke's route and someone had prepared this ambush in advance.
He slowly stood up. For a brief moment, his fingers brushed against the old book hidden beneath his clothes.
If the book had guided him here, then this road ahead might not simply lead to Luke's uncle.
It might lead to something far more dangerous.
Somehow, the old book seemed very interested in seeing what would happen next.