Chapter 1: Opening
The throne room was long and narrow, its towering stone walls swallowing all sound. A woman with fair skin and sagging, unkempt black hair hurried across the polished floor, her grip iron-tight as she dragged a small child behind her.
"You better not mess this up for me," she hissed, never once slowing her pace. "If this works, I can finally start a new life—leave that miserable past behind."
She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes sharp with warning. "Are you listening? I'm your mother. That means your very life belongs to me."
The child didn't answer.
He didn't nod. He didn't protest. He simply stared ahead, his expression entirely blank, carrying an eerie composure far too advanced for a child his age.
The woman clicked her tongue in sheer irritation.
"Gosh, you're such a creepy brat. You never cry, never laugh—you don't even smile." Her voice dropped into a bitter whisper. "I wish you were never born. Just looking at your face reminds me of him…"
Abruptly, she stopped.
The woman dropped heavily to her knees, forcefully pulling the child down to the stone floor beside her.
"I thank you for granting me an audience, Guild Master Jose."
Seated upon the grand throne was a flamboyant man, lounging comfortably as though the entire room existed solely for his personal amusement. He was slender, with long, straight dark-red hair falling elegantly over his shoulders, and a thin, meticulously groomed mustache.
His face was sharp and angular, his ears subtly pointed, and his eyelashes prominent enough to seem deliberately styled. His dark, painted lips curled upward.
"Oh my~?" Jose chimed, resting his chin lazily in his palm. "Well, well, well! What a delicious surprise!"
He leaned forward slightly, his eyes sparkling with amusement.
"I never would have guessed you'd come crawling back to me, my dear little runaway."
His gaze slid slowly over the trembling woman. "After all these years away from the guild… surely you've returned with the money required to repay your debt, yes?"
"Well—about that…" Her voice wavered, losing its edge. She gestured frantically toward the child beside her, who bowed stiffly on command. "I don't have the money. But... I can give you him instead. To settle everything."
The amusement instantly drained from Jose's face.
"You don't have the money?" he repeated, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. His eyes narrowed. "And yet you dared to return here?" His tone sharpened like a blade. "How utterly disgraceful."
"You joined Phantom Lord of your own free will," Jose continued, his voice rising as he straightened his posture. "I welcomed you. Sheltered you. Treated you as one of my own children." His smile vanished entirely. "So why is it that after all that… you chose to abandon us?"
The woman shook violently beneath his suffocating pressure.
"I—I had no choice, Master Jose!" she stammered defensively. "How was I supposed to know I'd get pregnant by that man?!"
"It isn't my fault!" she cried out.
"Not your fault?" Jose echoed coldly. "You sound like a child caught in a pathetic lie." He tilted his head. "Was it not you who became pregnant? Was it not you who fled the guild?"
He stood up from his throne.
"No. It was you," his voice hardened, booming through the silent hall. "You left. And despite that, I gave you a place to call home. You know the rules—you leave the guild, you repay every single asset I invested in you. I gave you days. Weeks. Months." His lips curled in absolute disgust. "And now you dare to offer your own son as compensation?!"
Jose waved his hand dismissively. "Shade Binding."
The shadows along the floor twisted violently. Translucent, ghostly hands burst forth from the darkness, gripping the woman's arms and throat, hoisting her screaming body into the open air.
Her frantic cries echoed through the throne room, raw with primal fear and pain. Jose stepped down from his dais, standing tall, his slender, imposing frame looming over her.
"How about I simply kill you right here?" he suggested brightly, a wide, cruel grin stretching across his features. "That would certainly erase your debt."
He scoffed, turning his attention away from her.
"This world is ruled by magic. It exists in everything, yet not everyone is blessed with the capacity to wield it. If you're not a mage… if you lack magical power…" His eyes gleamed with malice. "Then you're nothing but human trash."
The woman groaned, struggling uselessly against the suffocating, spectral grip. "M-Master Jose! Please—let me explain!"
"The boy!" she shrieked, pointing a trembling finger down at her son, who now stood upright, watching the display without a single trace of emotion. "His father was a powerful wizard!"
Jose's gaze followed her direction, landing squarely on the child.
The young boy met the Guild Master's eyes calmly. Unreadable and hollow.
"…If that's true," Jose muttered, a flicker of genuine interest returning to his eyes, "then there's a chance he might possess an impressive Innate Magic."
"Yes! Exactly!" she nodded frantically, gasping for air. "He hasn't undergone an Eternal Awakening yet, but you won't have to wait long!"
Jose looked back at her, unimpressed. "Even if that were true, I have no way to confirm it right now. And there's no guarantee his Container will awaken at all."
The ghostly hands tightened around her throat.
Tears streamed down her fair face. "You won't have to wait," she choked out. "He'll turn six soon. Then you'll know for certain." She forced a grotesque smile through her agony. "He won't cause any trouble. He's completely obedient."
Her voice dropped to a cruel, venomous whisper. "After all… he's worse than nothing. Because at least nothing can only disappoint you so much."
'What is the worth of a human life?'
Albion watched the ghostly hands press into his mother's flesh. He noted the structural change in her throat. The lack of air.
'If I were to ask such a question… would anyone truly be capable of answering it? No—worth is not the correct term. What is the value of a human life? And more importantly… identity. Who am I to decide the value of anything at all? Then—what, precisely, is the value of my life?'
The child's internal thoughts were cut short by his mother's desperate, screeching voice.
"That's what you want, isn't it?!" she cried. "For your guild to become the strongest in the land—second to none?!" She pointed at her son again, her hands shaking. "He can help you achieve that! You can use him however you wish—however you need!"
Jose remained silent, his eyes half-lidded as he weighed her plea.
'Even if the boy inherits nothing from his bloodline,' the Guild Master reasoned internally, 'he may still awaken a useful magic through proper guidance.'
Then, a small voice broke the silence.
"Why do you despise me, Mother?"
For the first time since entering the hall, the boy spoke. Both adults turned toward him in surprise.
"Have I committed a sin?" he asked quietly. "Your behavior does not match your words. I do not understand the hatred."
His face remained perfectly composed, entirely unmoving, yet his small eyes were dull, carrying a heavy, silent weight.
"Is it because of my father?" he continued. "I possess no memory of him."
At the mention of the word father, a violent vein throbbed along his mother's temple.
"Is that why you loathe me?" the boy asked, slowly lowering his gaze to her trembling hands. "Because I resemble him?"
He bowed his head slightly.
"If I have caused an error… I apologize. If it satisfies you, you may strike me. You may cause damage to my body. I will not resist."
His voice did not waver.
"But I require an explanation."
A heavy silence followed. Then, the woman spoke.
"Someone like you could never be my son."
Her voice shook violently, tears streaming freely down her face.
"Look at you. Sometimes I wonder if we're even related by blood." She laughed, a bitter, broken sound. "And now you're useless. Completely useless."
Her words grew sharper, cutting like daggers.
"The only reason you ever mattered—the only reason I kept you alive—was because I knew I could sell you."
Her breathing became erratic, frantic.
"That was all you were ever good for. You make me sick. Just looking at you turns my stomach." She shook her head violently. "You're weak. You can't stand on your own. You survive only by clinging to others."
Her voice cracked, completely devoid of remorse. "If you had never existed… maybe I could have become something. Maybe my life wouldn't have rotted away like this. I curse the day you were born," she glared down at the boy. "You should have never existed at all."
The boy did not cry. He did not tremble. His face remained a flat, unreadable mask.
Inside his chest, his breathing rhythm remained perfectly steady. But the weight grew.
"I accept your terms," Jose finally announced.
With a dismissive wave of the Guild Master's hand, the ghostly restraints vanished into thin air.
The woman collapsed heavily to the floor, instantly bowing until her forehead pressed against the stone.
"Thank you," she said hoarsely, her voice thick with relief. "I am truly grateful."
She turned toward the grand exit, pausing for a brief moment beside the standing boy. "This is my final gift to you," she whispered coldly. "A curse. A curse born of my absolute hatred."
She did not look back as she walked away, leaving him behind forever.
'Hatred shapes the soul,' her final thoughts whispered into the void. 'A person's heart determines the very nature of their power. Hatred can destroy nations… even the world itself. Embrace it, my son. You are the last of that bloodline—worthy of the name Ebonveil.'
The massive chamber fell into a dead silence.
After a long, agonizing moment, the small boy lifted his head.
"…What was my mother's debt?" he asked calmly.
Jose looked down at him, calculating.
"Seventy thousand Jewels."
At that number, Albion's lips twitched slightly. Not a smile of happiness, but a small, mechanical reaction.
"That sum…" he murmured softly, "would not purchase a modest home."
His gaze lowered to his small hands once more.
'So this is it,' he thought. 'This… is the exact value of my life.'