Those who were trained were certainly not weak; they were all talented individuals who surpassed ordinary people. But when talent confronted talent, everything returned to a state of balance, because what they were confronting was each other—the nobles.

Here, only a genius can suppress the talented.

That brings us to the second development: hiring a genius to solve the problem. Kain guessed that there might have been a time when this even became a trend, blooming everywhere, with the Adia nobles widely opening up competitions like festivals, attracting eccentric and talented people to help their families.

However, the drawback of this method was also very clear. The genius they hired could very well be a sabotage spy, or more accurately, someone bribed by other competitors. In a race, running faster than your opponent to win is good, but making your opponent slow down to win is much easier.

And if it's easier, why wouldn't they do it?

Once the bribed individual enters the framework of the game, failure is inevitable, and the harmed family can do nothing to complain.

In fact, it's very possible that the person who created this orderly situation had anticipated this scenario and was pleased to see it happen. Because when this happens, it ultimately only results in the noble families weakening and biting at each other.

It was truly a masterstroke.

Kain even connected this to Faith's letter, or more accurately, the true plan of Faith that he had discerned.

Faith wrote in the letter that to save Myra, Kain needed to defeat him in the resource distribution game. However, the emphasis here was not on "saving Myra," but on "defeating Faith in the game."

Why did Kain think this?

It's because if he reconsidered, he had to ask what Faith's motive was for "capturing" Myra. To seek revenge for losing to Kain? No, as a former opponent, Faith simply wouldn't act for such a shallow reason.

Faith's objective was defeat.

Yes, you didn't hear wrong. Faith's true objective was to lure Kain here for Kain to defeat him. However, Faith didn't want to lose; rather, he wanted to use this method to inflict a painful blow on the Sword Family.

But Faith is clearly a member of the Sword Family, right? Why would he want to harm his own family in return?

In reality, the signs had been there for quite some time, but only now did Kain string them together.

First, the key clue was Cecilia. Cecilia was probably the most "standard" member of the Sword Family, so what she displayed could partially assess what this family was like. The clearest thing, of course, was her swordsmanship—that goes without saying. Even Kain in his Hunter state could only hold out for a few dozen seconds against her in a direct duel.

Next was Cecilia's strange unconscious state at the end of that match. Kain could affirm that this was certainly not natural, but was created. It likely stemmed from the Sword Family's training process. A family that could turn its own member into such a terrifying killing machine is absolutely not a benevolent one.

And what about Faith?

Faith's impression was the complete opposite of a standard Sword Family member like Cecilia. Intelligent and cunning, but not strong in combat power, Faith only fought like a normal Magus and didn't even use swordsmanship.

How would a black sheep like that be treated in the Sword Family?

Kain didn't know, but it certainly wasn't good, especially with the somewhat cold-blooded nature the Sword Family had reflected through Cecilia. Therefore, the motive for Faith to seek revenge on the Sword Family was not absent.

Secondly, although the Sword Family disliked the black sheep that was Faith, his genius in strategic thinking happened to be a perfect fit for solving the resource distribution game—something the Sword Family needed.

Faith couldn't fight the Sword Family, so he sought refuge with another, stronger power: the Kanzax Academy. For at least three years, the Sword Family wouldn't be able to touch him. And Cecilia's appearance was for surveillance, or even to use her immediate family status to try and lure Faith back.

In fact, it's highly likely that Faith had foreseen all of this, knowing that the Sword Family would eventually use his sister as a bargaining chip to force him to work for them. This line of thinking was very plausible.

The Sword Family thought they were forcing Faith to work, but they didn't know that Faith was the one making them think that way. Using the Kanzax Academy as a shield to protect himself was only the shallowest layer of Faith's plan. In reality, this was a move to force the Sword Family to negotiate with him, allowing him to subtly influence their next direction.

And to prevent the Sword Family from being suspicious, Faith even used his sister as a card—a card that the Sword Family thought they were using to force him.

And finally, challenging Kain to come here and defeat him, who now bore the mission of bringing glory back to the Sword Family. When this happened, the blame would only be pointed at Kain and the victorious family; Faith would suffer no loss.

That's why, in the final move of the tournament, Faith accepted defeat so easily. Perhaps whether he won or lost, everything was still within his plan. A stage that Kain couldn't help but step onto—truly a master strategist.

Thus, comparing this to Kain's current situation, it might not be much different from Faith's, or rather, not much different from historical precedents. Being a matter of such gravity, a noble family would certainly sign an agreement with the invited genius, not just a verbal one. But this insurance is fundamentally insufficient if the other families truly want to play tricks.

Therefore, the choice is either not to hire a genius and rely on their own strength, or to hire a genius but require stricter insurance, such as... taking a family member hostage to gain leverage, making the genius afraid to betray or sabotage them.

The problem is, if they did that right before signing the agreement, or made a big move to find the genius's family, who would agree to work for them?

However, now Kain has signed the contract, and Mera is right beside him. By simply using Mera as a hostage, combined with the contract guaranteeing benefits, Kain would be like a donkey that, after being hit with a stick, is given a carrot—he wouldn't resist and would be absolutely loyal.

Although Kain didn't want to think badly of others, being wary of someone he only superficially understood was never excessive. And even if this matter ultimately posed no danger to Mera, as Jamie only needed absolute assurance, Kain would not accept it.

A flicker of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes. To Mera's astonishment, Kain put the masks back on the four men. Then he turned to her and said, "Come here. We're going to do this..."

When the group of people Mera had alerted ran to where Mera and Kain were, they saw both of them leaning on each other, with dirt or scorch marks on their clothes. They looked exhausted, panting as if they had just gone through a difficult battle.

Kain also looked at these people. Compared to the "masked" intruders, these people were much more neatly dressed, seemingly the security team responsible for guarding the estate.

"Are you two alright?"

They rushed over to help, trying to assist Kain and Mera, but he waved his hand to stop them. Then he asked.

"Where is Miss Jamie?"

"Mr. Kain, the mistress has gone to a party. It is our negligence to let these assassins slip in here," a man in shiny armor, who appeared to be the captain of the guard, hurried forward and bowed in apology.

"So what is this all about? Why are there suddenly assassins here? And why are they targeting us?"

"Mr. Kain, I don't know. Now, please allow us to escort you and Miss Mera to a safer location, while we wait for the mistress to handle this."

As soon as the guard captain finished speaking, the surrounding people split into teams to surround Kain and Mera. In the narrow corridor, although it looked like a safe protection, Kain felt a wave of constraint.

This was fundamentally not protection, but confinement.

Mera unconsciously grabbed Kain's arm, even she vaguely felt that the atmosphere was a bit off.