Synthesis-type adventurers

Chapter 41 The Knight's Weakness

"Here you go," Rod said, filling a bowl with steaming hot broth and handing it to Ivy. "Drink it while it's hot."

Avira held the rough wooden bowl in both hands. The scalding heat penetrated the wood grain, stinging her frozen fingertips, but also bringing sensation back to her palms.

She stared at the bubbling pieces of meat and wild vegetable leaves in the bowl, her head bowed: "I'm sorry, sir."

Rod was breaking off pieces of hard, iron-like black bread into his bowl.

Upon hearing this, he paused in his actions, raising an eyebrow: "Apologize? For what? For not inhaling a few more lethal doses of toxic fumes in that fog?"

"For my incompetence." Avira raised her head, her emerald eyes reflecting the firelight and deep frustration. "As a shield bearer, I not only made you personally clean up the targets, but I even became a burden during the retreat. I didn't serve any purpose in this mission."

"Value?" Rod scoffed.

He stuffed the softened bread into his mouth, his cheeks puffing out, and mumbled, "In my hometown, there's a saying: 'Where there's life, there's hope.' It means—preserving your life is more important than anything else."

He swallowed his food and pointed with the handle of his spoon at the tower shield at Ivyra's feet.

"If you hadn't taken the aggro of the first two of those three void creatures today, I wouldn't have had a chance to kill the third one instantly. Before that, my head would probably have been twisted off and used as their chew toy—that's your value."

Rhodes's eyes were calm, his pupils reflecting the flickering firelight.

"Avira, listen up. You are my asset and my teammate. I don't like my blade chipping, and I don't like my shield cracking."

"I'm letting you rest so you can better protect me tomorrow. This is purely based on maximizing benefits, so don't put on any self-pity or self-loathing act."

These words stripped away all warmth and were filled with the stench of money and utilitarianism.

However, this crude logic sounded more pleasing to Avira's ears than the knightly hymns sung in the sanctuary.

She held the wooden bowl, buried her head, and took a big gulp. The scalding soup slid down her esophagus, dispelling the chill that had settled in her body.

"I understand, sir."

"Good to know." Rhodes continued eating the food in his bowl. "Since you still have the energy to apologize, why don't you talk about your background? The Griffin family... I've only heard of the 'Iron Wall' Marquis Griffin of the Sarndran Empire. You must be from the Empire, right? What's wrong with them to throw a skilled worker like you into a garbage dump like Rust Harbor?"

The light in Avira's eyes went out instantly when her father was mentioned.

She put down the wooden bowl, her fingers unconsciously touching the silver badge around her neck—the only piece of metal she still possessed that was worth something.

"I am a disgrace to the family," a bitter taste spread across Avira's tongue. "Six months ago, my father personally ordered my exile."

"What's the reason?"

"During a tactical exercise, my squad, in pursuit of a band of bandits, ventured ten miles behind enemy lines. Although we ultimately annihilated our target, we nearly got surrounded because we separated from the main force."

Avira took a deep breath, seemingly unwilling to recall that memory.

"My father... Marquis Griffin, in front of the entire army, berated me for 'being greedy for merit and reckless, ignoring the overall situation.' He stripped me of my surname, confiscated my warhorse and sword, gave me only a set of nearly worn-out equipment, and then had the guards put me on a caravan bound for Rust Harbor."

"They didn't even pay for the travel expenses?"

"He didn't give me a single penny. He said that if I couldn't even survive in the mud, I didn't deserve to shed Griffin's blood."

Avira lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly. "He was right. If it weren't for you, sir, my bones would probably be rotting in some ditch by now."

Rhodes didn't reply. Under the cover of the firelight, a halo that no one else could notice quietly appeared deep in his pupils, as he activated [Analysis Vision].

His gaze pierced through Avira's sweat-soaked linen undershirt, looking directly at the essence of her life.

【Avira Griffin】

Entry:

[Guardian Knight (Blue Excellent)]: ...

[Unwavering Will (Blue Excellent)]: ...

[Griffin Family Bloodline (Sealed): ? ? ?]

……

Rhodes' eyes flickered slightly as he looked at the glaring "Under Seal" suffix.

Since transmigrating and awakening the [All Things Affix System], apart from Avira's family bloodline, he has never seen any other affixes that only show question marks.

Of course, this may also be related to the fact that he has been entrenched in Rupiah for months and has not seen any big scenes.

Rod closed his eyes, rubbed his slightly swollen temples, and asked casually, "Avira, before he kicked you out of the house, or when you were younger, did your strict father do anything strange to you?"

"For example... forcing you to perform some special magical ritual, or making you drink some kind of potion that suppresses magic power?"

"What do you mean?"

Avira paused for a moment, clearly not keeping up with Rhodes's leaps of thought, but she still thought about it carefully before shaking her head.

"No, sir. Although my father was cold to me, he never mistreated me. As for magical rituals... with my aptitude, the family's mage advisors wouldn't bother wasting expensive spellcasting materials on me."

"Never before?" Rhodes pressed, "Even not some kind of ritual under the guise of 'protection' or 'blessing'?"

"Never. If I had really been subjected to such restrictions, how could I have been completely unaware?" Avira smiled bitterly, lowering her eyes. "My weakness is not due to external suppression, but simply because I am an ordinary person without any talent."

Upon hearing this resolute negative answer, a knowing glint flashed in Rhodes' eyes.

Since the person involved was unaware of this and there were no signs of external restraint on their body, the "seal" shown in the entry can only be one possibility.

It wasn't some kind of curse or punishment—it was more like an unawakened bloodline that, though dormant at this moment, contained astonishing potential.

If it is truly an uncarved piece of rotten wood, how could its genes possibly harbor an unawakened bloodline that even the entry for its name displays a question mark?

But that actually made things more interesting.

After all, the so-called crime was "tactical recklessness," but in reality, the enemy was completely annihilated and the enemy was evacuated unscathed. This should be recorded in the military record of any army, or at the very least, the merits and demerits should cancel each other out.

For this minor flaw, why should one strip one's descendants of all political rights and exile them for life?

This does not align with the interests of the nobility.

unless……