"So you decided to collaborate with necromancers instead?"
Arthur's eyes gleamed with passion. "I decided to seize an opportunity when it presented itself. Lady Olivia approached me months ago with a proposition. Help her research, provide her with suitable subjects, and in return, she would grant me the power to break through to Master Knight level. Do you understand what that means?"
"I understand. You're willing to sacrifice innocent lives for your own ambition," Kael shot back.
Arthur laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Innocent? Kael, look around you. Look at this pathetic little village, these small-minded people with their small dreams and smaller talents. They're wasting away here, contributing nothing to the larger world. At least through Lady Olivia's work, they can contribute to something meaningful."
"There's something called loyalty, Arthur," Kael said, his voice hardening with disgust. "Honor. Duty to protect the people who trust you."
Arthur's expression twisted with sudden anger. "What would someone like you know about anything, Kael? Born with genius-level talent, purple awakening, probably destined for greatness without lifting a finger. You have never had to struggle, never had to watch mediocrity trap you in a life you never wanted."
Kael blinked, taken aback by the bitterness in Arthur's voice.
"Do you know what it's like," Arthur continued, his composure cracking, "to be born with just enough talent to see what real power looks like, but never enough to achieve it yourself? To watch your father—a man with same mediocre talent—slowly accept that his son is just like him?"
"So you decided to cheat," Kael said quietly.
"I decided to be realistic!" Arthur snapped. "The world doesn't care about your noble ideals or your sense of loyalty. It cares about results, about power, about who's strong enough to take what they want. You'll learn that eventually, assuming you live long enough."
"And what about the others? The people you're supposed to protect? Don't they deserve a chance to live their lives, even if they're not destined for greatness?"
Arthur's laugh was bitter and cold. "Deserve? Kael, the world isn't about what people deserve. It's about what they can take and what they can keep. Those villagers—they were always going to live mediocre lives, have mediocre children, and die forgotten. At least this way, their essence contributes to something greater than themselves."
"You're talking about people like they're livestock," Kael said, horror creeping into his voice.
"In a sense, they are," Arthur replied with disturbing calm. "The strong rule, the weak serve. That's the natural order. You, with your purple awakening, your natural gifts—you understand this instinctively, even if you won't admit it. You're destined to be one of the rulers. Why waste time protecting those destined to be ruled?"
"Because it's the right thing to do," Kael said simply.
Arthur shook his head in apparent disappointment. "Still clinging to childish morality. Tell me, Kael, when you were testing today, didn't you feel it? That surge of power, that sense of being above everyone else in that hall? Didn't part of you enjoy watching their awe, their envy?"
Kael felt a uncomfortable flutter in his chest because, if he was honest, there had been a moment of satisfaction in seeing the amazement on people's faces.
"That's different," he said, though his voice carried less certainty than before.
"Is it?" Arthur pressed, sensing the crack in Kael's composure. "You enjoyed their admiration, their recognition of your superiority. How is that different from accepting that superiority comes with the right—no, the ability to make decisions for those beneath you?"
"Because I didn't hurt anyone," Kael protested.
"Yet," Arthur replied with a knowing smile. "But give it time. Give it a few years of dealing with their petty problems, their limited thinking, their inability to see beyond their small concerns. See how long your noble ideals last when you're constantly surrounded by mediocrity."
The words hit closer to home than Kael wanted to admit, and Arthur seemed to sense it.
"You could join us, you know," Arthur said, his tone shifting to something almost seductive. "With your natural talent enhanced by necromancy, you could become something truly extraordinary. Master Knight level would just be the beginning."
Kael was silent for a moment, Arthur's words echoing in his mind with uncomfortable familiarity. He knew the anger behind Arthur's words, could feel it even more deeply than Arthur might have expected.
In his previous life, before his reincarnation, he had been exactly like Arthur. Mediocre in everything he touched. Not destined for anything special, watching others achieve what seemed forever beyond his reach.
He remembered the bitter taste of watching naturally gifted classmates excel while he struggled just to keep up. The crushing weight of realizing that no matter how hard he worked, some people were simply born with advantages he would never possess.
But then his life had changed dramatically.
He had died and been reincarnated into this magical world—a second chance that was beyond anything most people could even dream of.
Who else was lucky enough to get that kind of opportunity? To literally be given a new life in a world where magic was real and power was achievable?
And if that incredible stroke of fortune wasn't enough, he had also managed to meet Nyx—a literal goddess who had blessed him with a power that was unique from the usual mana system of the Ernia Kingdom.
While others struggled with the limitations of traditional magic, he had been given something entirely different, something that set him apart from everyone else.