Dimitri Smirnova is the current head of the Smirnova Family, a high-ranking noble within the Maurya Empire. He was famous for his military tactics, especially during the recent world war. In addition to his military acumen, he is a powerful magus, capable of casting intricate and deadly spells. However, what truly sets him apart from other nobles is his unorthodox value system—Dimitri prioritizes information above all else.

  Under his leadership, the Smirnova Family shifted from a legacy of raw magical dominance to one centered on intelligence gathering. Unlike his predecessor, who relied solely on magical strength, Dimitri built an infrastructure around surveilnce and strategic knowledge.

  "To think someone could eliminate most of my men without me noticing..."

  Like all members of the Smirnova Family, Dimitri is an awakened noble, possessing the Perceptual Validation bloodline ability. This ability allows him to infiltrate and manipute the senses of others. Yet, Dimitri's case is unique–he was born with a higher concentration of Cernunnos blood, granting him an exceptional affinity and control over this ability.

  His mastery is so advanced that his range of activation extends across his entire mansion and beyond. At rest, he can monitor his estate through the senses of his subordinates. He can even tap into nearby animals, further expanding his surveilnce range.

  "Got him. Boris is already in contact—good."

  Unlike the rest of his family, Dimitri has devoted nearly his entire life to refining his bloodline ability, transforming it into his primary weapon. Through this arduous process, his bloodline ability evolved far beyond that of anyone else in his family, granting him access to a far more abstract and complex sense: The Sense of Reality.

  "Interesting... for a human, his close combat proficiency surpasses Boris."

  In that moment, Dimitri was using his bloodline ability to infiltrate Boris's sense of reality, experiencing the confrontation with the intruder–the Clown–firsthand.

  At least, until Boris was humiliatedly defeated.

  "Boris... so this is the extent of your ability. Disappointing."

  One weakness of his bloodline ability is that the target must also possess a coherent sense of reality. This means that if the person is drunk, asleep, or—like Boris—dead, he loses control over them.

  But Dimitri wasn’t concerned.

  The moment he identifies a target through someone else’s sense of reality, he can directly infiltrate that target’s own.

  "So he's trying to escape now. Too bad..."

  The clown’s fate was already sealed.

  Once he infiltrates a person’s sense of reality, he can manipute their perception—altering what they see, hear, and even what they intend to do. He can guide them straight into danger while they believe they’re escaping it.

  Like now. While the clown believed he was fleeing through the forest, in reality, he was walking directly toward Dimitri’s office.

  But just as the clown reached for the doorknob, he stopped abruptly.

  "!!"

  Dimitri tensed. The clown had broken free from his control. Though he could reestablish the connection, the fact that the clown resisted it at all was a serious anomaly. Even during the st war, no one had broken free from his grasp at will.

  Given this, there was only one conclusion Dimitri could draw.

  "So he's not human."

  ***

  After taking a few steady breaths to calm himself, Cal gently grasped the handle of the door.

  He turned the knob and slowly pushed it open.

  The interior was familiar: a standard noble's office, much like the one he often saw in his father's chambers at the Imperial Pace.

  As he opened the door wider, he spotted a man sitting calmly at the desk inside.

  Of all people, it had to be him.

  Cal instinctively clenched his hand.

  It was a lean man with neatly kept dark green hair and eyes, crowned by majestic, deer-like antlers–Dimitri Smirnova.

  In terms of raw strength without the use of mana, Cal was confident he could defeat nearly any soldier or awakened noble in Maurya. His mastery of numerous fighting styles and weapons allowed him to handle almost anyone under most circumstances. Yet, even with his current capability, there were those in the Maurya Empire he knew better than to challenge directly–the elders and the heads of noble families.

  They were the ones who not only survived their family's brutal teachings but also rose to the top. The difference in skill, strength, and experience between them and the average awakened Maurya nobility was beyond comparison.

  And now, he was standing before one of the most dangerous of them: Dimitri Smirnova, the head of a high-ranking noble family.

  What made the situation even worse was that Cal couldn't afford to use mana to escape. Every user's mana carried a unique signature–much like a fingerprint–making it easy to identify its user the moment it was released into the world. Worse still, with current technology, even the slightest leakage of his mana could be detected and traced.

  The moment he used his own mana, his identity would be exposed.

  ***

  Although turmoil churned inside him, Cal made sure to maintain a calm composure outwardly.

  After opening the door, he stepped into the room and walked to its center, bowing his head slightly–a formal gesture reserved for an invited guest.

  Dimitri responded with a small motion of his hand toward the chair in front of the desk, an unspoken invitation to sit.

  Cal approached the chair and took his seat.

  Cal and Dimitri locked eyes in silence before Dimitri finally spoke.

  "I've been thinking about this for a while..." he said, his voice calm but firm.

  Dimitri pced a sheet of paper on the desk between them.

  "I believe changing your mask doesn't change your origin."

  Cal's gaze dropped to the paper. It was a worn-out wanted poster–a hooded figure with a blindfold known as the "Blind Assassin."

  The Smirnova network is truly terrifying, Cal thought grimly.

  It was one of his old identities, abandoned long ago. What made it worse was that Cal had cycled through numerous identities over the years, constantly changing his mask, mannerisms, and even subtle fighting habits. Yet Dimitri had presented his very first.

  The intention was clear. It wasn't just that Dimitri knew this one–he likely knew all the others as well.

  As Cal silently weighed his options, Dimitri continued.

  "So," Dimitri said, a faint smile tugging at his lips, "how should I address you? Blind Assassin? Crow? Or would you prefer the test one?"

  Cal responded in a raspy voice, completely unlike his usual tone. It was an ability granted by his bloodline ability, 'Heart of Deceit'.

  "Clown is fine," he said.

  "So, the test one it is," Dimitri replied, sounding almost amused. "Well then, Clown, let's have a chat."

  Cal blinked behind his mask, slightly thrown off. Given what he had done inside Dimitri's mansion, he had half-expected a fight to break out the moment he revealed his identity. But as the thought settled, he realized this was entirely within the realm of possibility.

  So this is how the Smirnovas operate. They indeed value information above all else.

  In noble society, there was no such thing as casual conversation. Every word was a maneuver, every sentence a calcuted move for advantage.

  And right now, Cal realized he likely held information worth more than the lives of an entire battalion–or even Dimitri's own son.

  A faint smirk formed behind his clown mask.

  There's a chance after all.

  While Cal's combat strength surpassed that of most Maurya nobles, his true specialty y elsewhere.

  In battles of words.

  Cal straightened slightly and said, "Let's have a chat, then."