The Knight's Vow

Kano opened his eyes, feeling as though he had strength to spare.

After defeating King Mark's resentment, both his magic and physical strength had grown. Yesterday, he had thought it was merely an illusion brought on by suddenly relaxing, but when he woke today, he realized it was all real.

Thinking about it carefully, perhaps the oak sword had acted on a tree's instincts, absorbing the foul resentment, refining it into pure energy, and feeding it back to its owner.

Kreacher immediately appeared before him and carefully examined Kano from head to toe.

"Young Master, you are completely healthy."

Kano left the guest room and entered the living room. Sean was sitting in the seat of honor, yawning.

"Oh, Kano, you're awake?" Sean stood up and carefully looked him over.

"How are you? Nothing wrong with your body?" Sean asked with concern. "When I wanted to treat your wounds yesterday, I found they were already nearly healed."

"It's nothing. My recovery ability is very strong."

Seeing Kano so full of life and vigor, Sean nodded in wholehearted agreement.

After breakfast, Kano was invited down to the manor's basement, where several steaming hot spring pools lay. This was a McCall tradition: any injured knight had to soak in these springs, which were said to promote circulation and disperse bruising.

Lying in the warm spring water, Kano recalled the conversation from last night's dream.

Yesterday, Tristan had sung Kano into a trance with a ballad in the dream. His mastery of singing and harp-playing was nothing short of divine.

Yet even while immersed in Tristan's performance, Kano had not forgotten to ask about Mordred's traits.

"Honestly, I never had much contact with Mordred," Tristan said with an embarrassed smile. "By the time he raised the banner of rebellion, I had long since died."

"However, there is someone who definitely knows his traits."

"Who?"

"His eldest brother, Gawain," Tristan said with certainty. "The fact that he has never mentioned this to you may be because he sees it as a test."

Kano looked at Tristan in confusion.

"Gawain is someone who values relationships deeply. In Fairyland, I heard that when Mordred, as Gawain's youngest brother, openly rebelled against King Arthur, it nearly broke Gawain's heart."

"And later, after Mordred died and fell into hell, never to see Gawain again, it caused him even greater pain." Tristan unconsciously plucked several sorrowful notes.

"As his disciple, you now bear the destiny of defeating Mordred. Gawain will not hide anything from you. Once you gain the strength to defeat Gawain, perhaps he will tell you about Mordred's traits."

"That would count as proof that he has entrusted Mordred's affairs to you."

"Defeat my teacher... I still need to work harder."

Kano absentmindedly stirred the water, murmuring under his breath. In the neighboring pool, Sean was relying on his powerful physique to swim through the scalding spring water.

"Whew, Kano. Once you become an official knight, let's have another match. What do you say?"

Sean's pale skin was now red as a cooked lobster. With a towel draped over his shoulders, he sincerely challenged Kano.

"Of course. But I'll only become stronger," Kano nodded. "Next time, I'll be able to activate my traits and fight you."

Once Kano had finished recuperating at McCall Manor, he said goodbye to Sean. Sean saw him off at a nearby train station, where Kreacher was already waiting with the luggage.

"Kano, thank you for freeing my ancestor from King Mark's resentment." Sean looked at Kano seriously.

"It was nothing. Not just anyone gets to have an experience like that," Kano replied with a smile.

"Perhaps you do not care, but the McCall Family truly owes you a favor." Sean patted Kano on the shoulder. "So if you ever need help in the future, please don't forget to contact me."

Kano laughed. "Where did that guy with no noble bearing go? You're being so serious—it doesn't suit you."

"Don't worry, Sean. This has nothing to do with favors. We're friends, so if I run into trouble, I definitely won't forget to ask for your help."

"That's right, we're friends." Sean laughed as well, and the two high-fived to seal the promise. Just like that, Kano and Kreacher boarded the train back to London.

When Kano and Kreacher passed by the Dursley Family's house with their suitcases, Harry was in the garden watering the plants with a hose.

"Kano, you're back!" Harry happily tossed aside the hose and greeted Kano from behind the hedge.

"Yeah, I'm back. How was your holiday?" Kano signaled for Kreacher to take the luggage home first, then stood there chatting with Harry.

"They won't let me take out anything I brought back from school, and they've even forbidden me from doing homework. But their attitude toward me has improved a lot." Harry added quietly, "Maybe because they don't know I can't use magic during the holidays."

Kano laughed silently. To the Dursley Family, Harry was now a ticking time bomb, liable to use those "devil's tricks" at any moment.

In truth, the Ministry of Magic had placed a Trace on every underage wizard's wand. This item could monitor whether magic was being used within a relatively small area.

In other words, if there was only one young wizard in a house, the moment they used magic, the Ministry of Magic would know immediately and issue a warning.

But if it was a wizarding household, the Ministry of Magic could not tell who had used the magic.

For example, Kreacher used magic every day to clean the house, yet the Ministry of Magic had never sent Kano a warning letter.

As far as Kano was concerned, the Ministry of Magic simply bullied the weak and feared the strong. They could not afford to provoke those pure-blood families, so they simply gave up monitoring their children, while keeping a close watch on ordinary wizards of Muggle birth who had no one to rely on.

"It's fine, Harry. If you want to practice magic, just come to my house."

Kano explained in detail how the Trace worked, and Harry's eyes lit up as he listened.

The rest of the holiday was very pleasant. Kano continued his daily knight training while also keeping up his studies of magic.

He now felt that his magical power was roughly at the level of a fourth-year student, but his spellcasting skills remained at a fairly basic stage.

As for Druid magic, Kano could control plants and communicate with animals through his natural talent alone. What truly represented his level in Druid magic was Druid shapeshifting.

Kano could now transform into a large hunting dog, a wild boar, or a brown bear. Moreover, he could now call animal spirits to possess him without transforming, enhancing his speed and strength.

Soon, he would be able to transform into birds. When that time came, it would mean that he had officially surpassed the Ovate rank and become a member of the Bard rank.