Later, in the infirmary, Zeke praised himself for putting on such a good performance. Even though he had not managed to graze Andre's clothes, he had got him to use the aura he had said he would not use, and he had made him acknowledge his abilities. In the end, Andre had been disciplined while Zeke had won himself some free time, which was a win-win situation.
Zeke thought back to the last attack Andre had used, sky slice, the most basic move of the Dragon Slaying Arts. Even so, it had carried enormous force behind it, because it had come from a blue knight. Nonetheless, Zeke believed that he still had what it took to defeat a blue knight, because he had the stamina and the healing factor to keep going.
However, Zeke was not ready to settle for the bare minimum, because he was aiming for an unimaginable power that would never let him be subjected to anyone's command.
Zeke was thinking about this when a redhead with a bottle of booze suddenly appeared beside his bed. The man called Zeke by a title, Arthur's youngest son, and his sudden presence scared the hell out of Zeke. Zeke could not believe that he had not even sensed the man, even though the strong stench of drink was all over him. At the same time, Zeke could not believe that the man was casually addressing the patriarch, Arthur, as though it were nothing.
Zeke asked the man who he was, but the man threw another question at him instead, asking him how he had done what he did. Zeke played the fool, asking the man what he meant by that. The man saw straight through Zeke and reminded him that he had been inflicted with an internal wound while fighting Andre, but that it had healed. The moment he said it, fear crept into Zeke's body, because he could not believe that someone had caught on to the fact that he was using healing.
The system sensed the fear in his body and activated the indomitable mental defence to help. It helped Zeke to calm down, and he concluded that there was no one in the academy who knew about healing. Because of this, Zeke continued to act as though he had no idea what the redhead was talking about. Realising that Zeke was not ready to slip up, the man suddenly attacked him with the aim of cutting off his head.
However, Zeke was able to react, and he dodged the strike. He leapt off the bed, believing that the redhead was an assassin who had been sent to finish him off. Zeke managed to grab a sword, and he threw the bedsheet at the redhead to impair his vision. The redhead laughed when he saw it, admitting that Zeke had some tricks up his sleeve.
Since he was in danger, all of Zeke's senses had come to life, and the system activated the skills needed for his survival, like the precise stab skill. Zeke's senses were telling him that failing to kill the redhead might actually result in his own death. Zeke cut through the sheet, aiming to catch the redhead by surprise, but he was the one who ended up surprised, as the man caught his sword easily while complimenting his adaptability.
The man smiled at Zeke and said that he was operating just like a mercenary would, and it sent a bulk load of questions into Zeke's head. He jumped backwards, leaving his sword in the man's hands, while wondering who this person was. It dawned on Zeke that the man had just used the word mercenary, and it got him asking himself whether the man knew anything about his past life.
The man kept messing with Zeke by throwing his sword back to him, telling him that as a Draegar he was not supposed to abandon his sword. He then told Zeke that he seemed better suited to being a mercenary than a knight. Zeke let out a sigh of relief when he heard that this was all the man had meant, and that he did not actually know anything about him.
At the same time, Zeke sensed something overwhelming, something he had not felt since he fought his master. Zeke admitted to himself that the man could kill him easily if he wanted to, because there was a considerable skill gap between them. From this, Zeke worked out that the man was at least a red knight. The man then asked Zeke what he was doing with such a huge sword, while also complimenting him on it.
These brief words immediately told Zeke that the man might be stronger than he had thought. Just then, the door opened and Andre came in. Andre was shocked when he saw the man, but he moved through the situation quickly as he addressed the redhead as Garden Keeper Dexter. Zeke was shocked to hear that such a strong figure was the garden keeper.
The redhead then asked Andre how he had known he was in the infirmary, and Andre replied that he had sensed him in the training room earlier. Before saying anything else, Andre told Zeke that he was free to leave, since he had already been treated. As he was about to leave the room, Dexter told Zeke that he was welcome to come to the greenhouse if he had time, because he was willing to teach him something useful.
Just as usual, Zeke refused the offer, which made Dexter start lashing out, saying that Zeke was just as arrogant as Arthur.
The moment Zeke stepped out of the room, he worked out that Dexter was fooling himself by calling himself a garden keeper. Since the man had the rank to call the current patriarch by his name without restriction, Zeke worked out that he was the person who had taken only one disciple, Andre. This person was none other than Duke Draegar, the Gale Knight.
Duke was one of the black knights, with the martial force to fight a whole kingdom by himself. After he suddenly disappeared, everyone had been worried about him. Zeke could not believe that someone as strong as he was, was living a quiet life at the academy. Zeke concluded that Andre must have come to the academy because of him.
Duke was said to be so strong that he had basically obtained black knight status simply because he liked the colour black. Without a doubt, Zeke could see that Duke was showing a strong interest in him, but he was not ready to receive teachings from the man just because he had shown a passing interest. Zeke was aiming to learn Duke's secret move if he was going to learn anything at all from him, and he planned to turn Duke's interest into something deeper through sheer tenacity.