Chapter 46
< Chapter 46: Aftermath (1) >
“Mr. Ceylon!? Mr. Ceylon!”
“Yes? Ah, yes.”
What to do about my right arm?
The concern about it was powerful enough to tie me in contemplation, but compared to the power of Miss Drin’s voice, it was trivial.
At the anxious sound of Miss Drin’s voice, I was promptly pulled back into reality.
Miss Drin, looking at me with a worried expression.
Her eyes, as blue and clear as Redar’s large eyes, but with a completely different atmosphere.
Even amidst her confusion, she maintained her composure.
Even her worried expression made her look pure angelic.
“Are you alright? What happened inside?”
What happened inside?
We just rewrote history.
Those Harshin are now under my control.
Surprised, right?
Of course, I couldn’t just say that out loud.
Before we knew it, the peaceful dining atmosphere was filled with tension like a state of emergency.
‘Ah.’
Because of that, most of the food I cooked was left untouched.
Except for Miss Drin’s place.
The dishes at Miss Drin’s place were exceptionally empty.
‘The nearby plates are sort of empty, too. Did she?’
Even though worried about me, did she persistently continue to eat?
I really couldn’t help but admire her passion for gourmet dining.
Memo: Drin has a strong passion for gourmets, not gluttony.
“Brother! What on earth happened! You definitely used it just now, didn’t you? Why did you suddenly take Mr. Ceylon into the barrier!”
Anyway,
An admirable hero who gave everything up, took refuge in The Great Mana Field, and succeeded in purifying it.
That’s the character ‘Redar’ known to the world.
But the moment Redar found me, his face turned serious and he took me into the barrier.
After a while, we came out of the barrier hand in hand with an awkward look on our faces saying ‘so it happened’ which was not an acceptable situation.
The reactions of Adella and Yena alone made it obvious.
“…”
“…”
Their facial expressions were wary as they looked at me.
Though I felt no suspicion from Drin, Adryn, and Mizu – there were clear questions on their faces.
‘Why did Redar treat Ceylon like that?’
It would just be a question of that extent for now, but it’s unknown how it would develop if left alone.
It’s a seed of anxiety.
For the future, it was best to resolve it clearly here now.
That’s why I had already coordinated with Redar in the barrier in preparation for this.
As I glanced at Redar, he nodded and started speaking.
“Ah, well about that. I had just returned from The Great Mana Field, and I was on edge? And then I saw our friend Ceylon – and suddenly my fur stood on end! And I was like, what?”
That was the reason Redar united with me to create for his sudden action.
“When I checked why, he felt similar to the assassins of Harashin that I saw in the Great Mana Field. Instinctively, I thought this guy is Harashin.”
“But that’s not-…!”
Miss Drin tried to say something flustered, but Redar lifted his hand to stop her from talking and continued.
“So, I brought him into the barrier to examine him safely, and when we looked again, it was strange. He was not like Harashin. So I asked several questions to our friend, Ceylon, about this. The result?”
With a brief pause, Redar captured the attention of people, mainly Yena and Adella, before he continued.
“The result was that our friend, Ceylon, just had the talent for assassination, but he was not an assassin nor Harashin.”
Redar, the Omniscient Eye, had the ability to discover talents or weaknesses that the person did not even know about.
His extraordinary insight and observation skills were so famous among those in the power world that there was not a person who did not know of him.
And such a person—Redar—had discovered me. Me, with the talent for assassination.
Then what would happen?
Most likely, they would peg me as an assassin.
Therefore, Redar immediately isolated me from the group as a security measure.
It was a story that our group, who knew I had the talent for assassination, could believe.
Oppositely, for Adella and Yena who did not know about my talent for assassination, it would be a difficult story to believe. However, this was for the best.
In order to gain recognition in the mainstream world, including the academy, first, my talent for assassination needed to be acknowledged.
Then I could learn swordsmanship or develop similar assassination skills based on it.
It was a difficult task.
Even though it was an innocent skill earned without any connection to Harashin, assassination was still a defiance of power.
Then I thought, what if Redar could guarantee my talent for assassination?
Upon hearing my explanation and suggestion, Redar accepted readily after setting a few simple conditions.
He was a hero with extraordinary insight and intuition. As the eldest son and heir to the Lebringer family name, Redar was expected to guarantee my talent for assassination.
There were few who would have the reaction, ‘It’s doubtful, but well, since Redar, the Omniscient Eye, guaranteeed it.’
Adella and Yena were the perfect subjects to test this hypothesis.
Presently, on the surface, Adella seemed to treat me well.
But it was highly likely that she was just looking to get on my good side because I had high scores on the entrance exam.
Yena, on the other hand, as a maid of the Lebringer family, had a more stringent standard for nobles and commoners than anyone else.
She was also greatly doubtful and resentful of the fact that I had obtained the top score, surpassing Drin, in the academy entrance exam.
Would the two of them accept my talent for assassination, simply based on Redar’s guarantee?
Practically, it was plausible that most of the nobles and commoners could accept my talent for assassination.
“Well, that’s how it goes. Your faces look quite puzzled. Any questions?”
Redar was the first to mention a talent for assassination, directed at Yena whose expression was instantly crumpled.
“…No, if Sir Redar determined that, then it must be correct.”
At that, Yena, as I had perfectly anticipated, reacted just as I was expecting. She looked skeptical, but decided to trust in Redar’s judgment nonetheless.
“How about you, miss?”
“Huh? Oh, thanks for asking- I also don’t have any questions.”
Adella reacted the same way.
If Redar said so, then what more was there to argue about?
After confirming their reactions, Redar glanced over at me.
I returned his gaze with a satisfied expression.
‘Great.’
It was a pain to have him oppose me, but when he became my allies, it was an immense relief.
As Yena and Adella put their defenses down, the atmosphere of the place naturally lightened.
Right at this moment.
The issue of Ceylon’s abduction was cleanly resolved.
If this was a quest, the success reward window would have popped up.
“Well, anyway. With that mutant who was born with this absurd talent for assassination, it was such a trivial uproar, right?”
As Redar was tidying up the situation he casually joked.
I was about to chime in when,
“Brother! A mutant?”
Our Miss Drin almost aghast, interrupted Redar’s words.
“Saying such rude things in front of others…! Brother, apologize to Mr. Ceylon right now!”
“Ah, erm… that… sorry. ‘Mutant’ was not meant in a bad way, but more like a unique friend-”
What?
I always thought Redar’s character was more like the type to be a thorn in Drin’s side.
But now it seemed, my estimation seemed to have been incorrect.
This guy.
He was actually harassed by our Miss Drin.
Looking at him sweating profusely from Drin’s reprimand, I could say for certain.
Then, Miss Drin moved beside me and cautiously began to speak.
“Mr. Ceylon, I apologize on behalf of my despicable brother.”
“Haha, I’m fine. In fact, I might even say I’m grateful to Sir Redar? Thanks to him, Miss Drin got so mad on my behalf – it was quite a rare experience.”
“Oh dear, you should not. Incidentally, Mr. Ceylon. You didn’t suffer any strange or abusive behaviour at the hands of our brother while inside the barrier, did you?”
“No, no, Miss. What are you talking about- what kind of person do you think-”
“If he did, please tell me without hesitation.”
“Ah, I wonder if he didn’t do anything~?”
Miss Drin, with a serious look, was worrying about me.
And there was Redar, looking smug.
‘I can’t stand this.’
I decided to flip the switch on their behavior.
“Actually, inside the barrier, I felt life-threatening warnings, both directly and indirectly, a couple of times. Oh my~ Sir Redar didn’t trust me too much. Still, he ultimately believed me in the end, so I’m fine now! Thank you all for your concern! I don’t know what to do with such consideration. If I can be worried about like this, I should occasionally get kidnapped again in the future, shouldn’t I? Hahaha.”
I spoke in the most cheerful tone possible.
I tried to give the impression that I was ‘brave yet pitiful’ from their perspective.
“Brother!?”
“Life-threatening alerts!?”
“Shock event.”
“Sir Redar did that…”
“Sir Redar, what on earth-”
Whether it worked or not, the group showed different reactions of shock towards Redar.
“Huh…?”
“Brother, life-threatening warnings. You didn’t… interrogate Mr. Ceylon with force, did you!?”
“No- that’s-”
Redar couldn’t easily answer our Miss Drin’s accusations, separate from my surprise attack.
Because it was true that he used force to discredit and intimidate me.
That’s when Redar glanced at me sideways.
‘What are you doing?’
I thought I heard such a voice.
What do you mean, what?
Feeling wronged?
You outright kidnap me to somewhere else.
Of course, you have to pay the price.
If you feel wronged, why don’t you also tell what I did inside?
But then, you know what happens if you really speak out, right?
‘Behave yourself.’
I smirked with these meanings, and immediately said,
“Ah, no! Everyone! Please, do not blame Sir Redar…!”
I said with an urgent attitude.
Rather than genuinely for Redar’s sake, I tried to make it look like I was afraid of retaliation from Redar.
“Oh.”
Mizu made a sound filled with complex meanings.
Taking that as a signal, the rest of the party stared at Redar like they were looking at a piece of human tash.
Their faces seemed to be wondering what kind of deed Redar had done to make me behave like this.
“…”
Redar stared at me with his already large eyes growing even larger.
‘You’re screwed~’