Chapter 10: Mad Knight

Is the Soul Subordination Contract still in effect on the Li family's Contracted Servants?

Through browsing the books, Kaios believed it should still be there. According to the texts, if a Soul Subordination Contract was dissolved, the Contracted Servants would feel a very obvious sensation.

So there were a few possibilities: First, before his transmigration, the Li family's Soul Subordination Contract was never passed down to the original owner. Second, due to his transmigration, the Li family's Contracted Servants had glitched into a state where the contract existed, but they had no Lord. Third, after the original owner's consciousness dissipated and his body was taken over, the "linkage layer" the contract used to verify the relationship between Lord and servant wasn't broken, but the "functional module" had been overwritten. Therefore, the system still recognized them as Kaios's Contracted Servants, but in reality, he could no longer control their life and death.

The first possibility was highly unlikely. After all, the inheritance of an entire family's Soul Subordination Contract involved the Holy Protection Palace. It was nearly impossible to pull off such a scam.

As for the second and third possibilities, he would have to wait until he had a deeper understanding of Soul Subordination Contracts, Magic, Spiritual Qi, and the underlying energy systems of this world before he could figure them out.

Previously, when he first learned about the existence of the Soul Subordination Contract, he had actually breathed a sigh of relief. Regardless of whether such a thing was morally right or wrong, its existence definitely gave Kaios a significant sense of security and the confidence to act. But now that he realized he couldn't actually exercise the contract's functions, everything had changed.

Without the restriction of the Soul Subordination Contract, those servants with completely gray halos or a hint of purple wouldn't necessarily rebel right away, but they would inevitably harbor their own hidden agendas. Only Contracted Servants with a tinge of blue in their halos, like Harvey and Lu Hao, were safe for him to use. And the only one he could still trust completely was Sharvella, whose halo was entirely blue.

From this perspective, his ability to see these affinity halos wasn't just icing on the cake; it was a timely lifeline. However, even with the blue-haloed Contracted Servants, he couldn't let them realize that he no longer had control over the Soul Subordination Contract. That didn't just concern the contract itself; it could even jeopardize the legitimacy of his identity as a Lord.

Sitting at his desk, Kaios wore a solemn expression. He needed to reevaluate the situation he was facing.

At lunchtime, Kaios made a spur-of-the-moment decision to eat outside in the garden.

After reading a pile of books in the study, his head felt a bit stuffy, as if he had returned to the days of cramming for his college entrance exams in his previous life. He needed to breathe some fresh air and look at the flowers and plants.

The food was still quite delicious. By the standards of his previous life, the dishes here could be considered a fusion of Eastern and Western cuisine, though they leaned slightly more toward the Eastern style. Combined with other details he had observed—along with his own Eastern facial features and surname, as well as those of Sharvella, Lu Hao, and the others—he couldn't help but wonder: had a fellow compatriot transmigrated here long ago and already introduced a wave of development here?

Since he was eating alone and had no grasp of aristocratic etiquette—and the attending servants wouldn't dare correct him anyway—Kaios wolfed down his meal, eating with gusto and speed.

After finishing his meal, he sat in the garden sipping tea while looking at Sharvella, who was standing guard a few meters away. Kaios couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled. Logically speaking, this young Personal Guard had only seen the original owner for the first time two days ago, and she had spent less than a day truly interacting with him. So why did she have the highest affinity level out of everyone?

A sudden commotion interrupted his thoughts. Following the noise, Kaios saw a Knight charge straight through the villa's main gates, knocking away a Servant who tried to stop him.

The surrounding servants immediately rushed forward in waves to block the intruder. Whether they were ordinary servants who knew nothing of Magic and Spiritual Qi, or fully armed Guards, not a single one backed down or fled. Soon, the Knight's mount was struck down. The man rolled as he hit the ground, then instantly propelled himself upward, leaping directly into the air.

Lu Hao and a group of the villa's Silver Armor Guards had already charged over, weapons drawn. A faint layer of light coated each of their bodies, clearly visible even under the blazing midday sun.

"Is this Spiritual Qi?" Kaios thought. He felt a mix of tension and excitement, unable to resist standing up.

"Master, don't be afraid. Your servant... I am here!"

The moment the chaos erupted, Harvey, who was standing nearby, instantly charged forward. Sharvella, however, stepped back to tightly guard Kaios's side.

"Mhm," Kaios nodded.

He actually wasn't too scared right now. As the intruder drew closer, Kaios could feel the man's frantic emotions. At the same time, he also saw the halo glowing behind the man's head. It was entirely gray, which meant the Knight felt neither goodwill nor malice toward him. Someone like that was unlikely to be an assassin targeting him.

"Strange... how did he just barge in? Why didn't the Array activate its defenses?" Sharvella frowned in confusion as she watched the Mad Knight hold his own against seven Silver Armor Guards and Lu Hao without losing ground.

Mr. Pete, the housekeeper, who had just hurried out to stand beside Kaios, exclaimed in surprise, "That looks like... Master Miles's Chief Guard! Is that... Cares?"

As soon as his voice fell, Lu Hao, who was engaged in the fierce battle, let out a deafening roar. Simultaneously, beams of white light shot out from several directions within the villa, concentrating on Lu Hao. The light already radiating from his body surged in intensity as he swung his Two-Handed Greatsword, slashing ferociously at the Mad Knight.

Seizing the moment while the Mad Knight was entangled with Lu Hao and forced to defend with all his might, Harvey snatched a Heavy Shield handed over by a nearby Guard. Tucking himself behind the shield, Harvey let out a roar of his own. Bathed in the same white light from the villa's Array, his body erupted with a massive glow as he curled up and rammed straight into the Mad Knight.

With nowhere to dodge, the Mad Knight was knocked to the ground.

Harvey used his momentum to pin the man down with the Heavy Shield. The Silver Armor Guards quickly swarmed in, and with a single brutal swing of his Greatsword, Lu Hao severed the Mad Knight's exposed right arm. Blood sprayed through the air.

It looked like the uninvited guest had been subdued, but unexpectedly, a burst of blinding red light exploded outward. Harvey and the surrounding Silver Armor Guards were all launched into the air. Even Lu Hao—a Level 10 High Tier Spiritual Energy Warrior who was clearly buffed by the Array—was sent flying over Kaios's head, sword and all, before getting tangled in the branches of a tree behind them.

Then, from within a mist of blood, Kaios saw a figure missing an arm. The man's body was a mangled mess of flesh and blood, roaring as he charged out like a rotting zombie. At this point, the Mad Knight was less than ten meters away from Kaios's dining table in the garden.

Without warning, Sharvella sprang into action. Moving with the agile grace of a hunting cat, she closed the distance in the blink of an eye, appearing right in front of the fleshy monstrosity the Mad Knight had become.

For the first time since the Mad Knight's appearance, Kaios felt a twinge of worry, even fear.

But Sharvella didn't leave him worrying for long. As she reached the Mad Knight, she had already drawn her straight-bladed sword with a backhand grip. Empowered by the Spiritual Qi of the villa's Array, her entire body radiated a dazzling light. The blade cleaved down in a perfectly straight line, slicing the Mad Knight cleanly in half.

In Kaios's line of sight, the two halves of the bloody torso split apart in an explosion of red mist. With a cold, stern expression, Sharvella sheathed her sword and stood tall. Looking back over her shoulder under the piercing sunlight, she looked incredibly badass.