Chapter 3: Strange Ceremonial

<How would I know that was coming? Would you have known? I’m the one who’s having the hardest time!>

-A response made by ———- when he was confronted by his generals.-

…….

‘What’s going on?’

3rd Class Magical Priest Jeraph mumbled in shock. The number should have popped up by now, but it didn’t. Even now, the Great Magical Rune kept on consuming on its fuel from the expensive Talic Stone. He checked on all the formulas and the runes, but nothing was wrong. He even brought a new Talic Stone so there wouldn’t be any problems due to insufficient energy while doing the ceremony. He thought about every possible problem that might occur from the manual, but there was nothing strange.

Only one possibility remained.

‘But is that possible?’

He remembered when he was trained for the ceremonial.

The Great Magical Rune was made to check the Bander inside the body. But it was meant for a body of a newborn baby not older than one hundred days. According to history, the highest possible rating was only 88. Liviath, the Sword of the Sun, was at 85 and Kuradan was at 86. So the rune was designed to measure up to 97.

This was not just decided on a whim. The most efficient rating to measure the Bander was up to 97. Anything above would require 15% more of the Talic Stone, and since it was so expensive, they decided to stop measuring at 97.

He remembered when he asked if the baby was over 97 and what would happen.

‘That is happening in front of me…’

However, he couldn’t be too sure right now. Although it wasn’t in the manual, he knew what to do.

He needed to solve this issue right now so he could stop using the Talic Stone and give an answer to Count Roman or else his research money would be deducted for overusing the Talic Stone.

‘If I change the formula here and change this to…’

Jeraph quickly fixed the formula and used his own <Exar> to control the flow. With this, the number still wouldn’t pop up, but he was able to remove the measurement limit.

‘There you go!’

The light was then absorbed by the baby and it shone brightly. Soon, Jeraph accurately measuring the rating.

“What’s going on?”

“It looks like it’s over. But where’s the number?”

Nobles began mumbling to each other. The bright light that flashed at the end was surely the light that meant the measurement was done. They had watched it before, but the number did not pop up. The number for the Bander Rating of the second son of the Roman family was missing.

Yet the man who was most frustrated was Jeraph.

‘Hm…??’

Jeraph was not sure if he did it correctly after looking at the rating. He had never seen such a rating.

“What’s going on? Any problems?”

Count Roman came up to him as Jeraph couldn’t speak up.

“Uh, um…”

‘Ugh, I’ll just tell the Count and let him be the judge.’

Jeraph quickly made up his mind. It was not his mistake but he was sure to get blamed for it. So it was better to push any issue onto the Count to avoid any future problems.

Jeraph quietly told the Count the rating.

The Count was shocked to hear it, but he quickly returned to his normal expression. Then he stood up on the podium and shouted to the Nobles.

“Everyone, you all must have been confused by this incident! I must apologize to each and every one of you for such an inconvenience. Sir Jeraph just explained to me that the rune had a slight error in its calculation so it did not display the number! But the rating was measured and I was informed of it.”

Everyone turned to the Count. It was usually not perceived well if the rating didn’t show up, but that depended on who announced it. Count Roman, the famed, faithful and loyal warrior, was surely not a liar.

“My son, Sian’s rating… is 57!”

It was a really high number, but people did not look as excited. It was higher than the father’s, but lower than his brother’s. People who anticipated the coming of a Ra-Bander were disappointed, but they soon began applauding.

“Congratulations! You have two great pillars in your family now!”

“May the God of War bless your family!”

The ceremony was over.

Count Roman met with Jeraph and paid him handsomely for his hard work. The small incident that happened during the ceremonial was quickly forgotten and time quickly passed by.

That is, until second son Sian’s 17th birthday.