Gusion

House Paxley ruled over Castle Aberleen in the south of Moniyan. Generations of the house had guarded these areas for the Moniyan Empire, defending against the invasion of the Abyss.

Around a thousand years ago, House Paxley was granted the dukedom during the rule of the legendary mage Valentina.

Many horrifying stories were told across the Moniyan Empire about House Paxley's use of forbidden dark magic, and so people would shy away from any Paxley they met.

But Gusion Paxley was an exception.

He was naturally good with blades and daggers, and before he could speak, he had been able to accurately hit his nanny in the forehead with a toy dagger to get back at her for disciplining him. And when he started to read and write, the quill pen dipped in ink would always fly toward the back of his personal tutor's head as if it had eyes.

His unruly behaviors continued until his eldest brother Aamon took over the dukedom—the young Gusion was showing off his dagger skills at the party when he accidentally missed his target, the dagger instead leaving a deep cut on Aamon's face.

Aamon didn't blame his reckless younger brother, but the word soon spread across the Moniyan Empire that the fourth child in House Paxley was a blade wielder—for the Paxley family that had been famed for their magic skills, only lower-class citizens who didn't know magic would fight with daggers and swords.

The Paxley elders who actually controlled the family soon ordered that Gusion must stop playing with daggers and focus on practicing magic. And Gusion did in fact inherit the family's talent in magic, he had a strong affinity for the element of light and quickly awakened his potential while learning magic. But he abhorred memorizing tedious spells and writing complicated scrolls. When the other students were researching magic indoors all day, Gusion was powering himself up with sunlight so that he'd run faster than a leopard, or using the candlelight to move dinner knives and cut a whole table's dishes into pieces.

Gusion was the only upper-class student who would talk with servants in their family academy, and he was a naughty but likable kid, so the maids would always cover for his nonstop violation of the rules; even when he was kept in solitary confinement, the guards would pretend they didn't see the desserts that the male servants snuck under the door...

Finally, those exasperated elders asked the young Aamon to discipline his hopeless brother. Gusion hoped that his brother would be on his side, but Aamon instead started lecturing him as the leader of the family.

Gusion was disappointed and completely ignored his brother's lecturing, while deep down feeling sorry for the big brother that used to be close to him—Aamon in front of him was clearly one of the elders, only younger...

And during their dinner together, Aamon persuaded Gusion to follow the family traditions and accept magic training, as Valentina, the first duchess of their family, was a great mage herself. Aamon also told Gusion that he could become an assassin like him, turning magic into sharp blades.

Gusion felt strongly reluctant and asked instead: "Can't a Paxley become an assassin that fights with blades?"

Aamon had no better choice but to say: "As a nobleman, you will have to hide what you really like sometimes..."

Gusion looked at his brother and spoke no further.

A few years later, on his coming-of-age ceremony—a family fighting contest, the 18-year-old Gusion appeared on the arena in a unique style: he used bizarre, fancy moves to dodge the projectiles shot by the other young mages, while his swift and mysterious dagger accurately hit his opponents before they could even cast their spells. The elders of House Paxley were amazed—Gusion was an unconventional blade wielder, but he was indeed using magic powers to control the dagger...

The other young mages lost to Gusion began to accuse him of "cheating", but he instead provoked them further, claiming that those who felt unfair could challenge him together, as he was able to defeat ten pretentious Paxley mages!

The provoked contestants swarmed toward him, when Gusion suddenly used a move that no one had seen before—he swung his arm and sent daggers flying toward the fan-shaped area in front, hitting all the enemies charging at him. Then he jumped on the spectator stand, before throwing a dagger at the statue of the House Paxley ancestor Valentina and hitting it on the forehead to provoke the others!

"This is what you want—it's just like the motto of House Paxley: Fear over love."

After Gusion shouted out the angry words, the exasperated elders began chanting spells, trying to punish the rebel in House Paxley with magic. Aamon, who had remained silent, then stood out and announced loudly: Gusion was to be expelled from the family for seriously violating their rules!

Now that Aamon expelled his brother, the elders that were prepared to kill Gusion had to stop their dark magic spells, watching as Gusion strode out of the arena without sparing them a glance.

What would his future be like? Gusion had never thought about it. He felt a heavy weight off his shoulders, confident that with his abilities he would one day make his name across the Land of Dawn.

Aamon thought to himself as he watched Gusion walk away: "What I can do is to give back your freedom..."

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