Chapter 25: Chapter 23 - Revelations II

"I knew your father"

The twins had no words to say.

Ivelia and Ivar knew nothing about their parents' past and the only one who had raised them as far back as they could remember was their Dad, along with Briar. Even though he raised them with as much love and care as he could give, he never ever talked about his past or even their mum once.

As a result, the twins just kept staring at Sebastian, hoping that he could give them more information or details regarding what he just said.

"Haaaa… I say I knew him but honestly, there isn't really much to say. Isaac kept so much to himself. All I know about him are mostly things I found out after he died" Sebastian sighed as he said.

"I will tell you all that I know though" Sebastian continued while staring at the twin's expectant eyes.

They both paid rapt attention as they listened to Sebastian tell them about their father's past.

Their father, Isaac Steelblade was one of the leading researchers at the Tower and a disowned noble from the Steelblade family. The Steelblade family had always been ones who prioritized power over everything else and so, when Isaac decided to focus on research instead of combat, they disowned him.

It also did not help that he fell in love with a commoner but as Sebastian explained to them, their dad seemed unfazed by any of it. He instead continuously made efforts to create revolutionary potions and equipment that could make the lives of rankers and everyone in general better.

The creation of a high-tier healing and mana potion was also as a result of his continued research and breakthroughs. However, Isaac always took no credit for it and accredited those achievements to the Tower.

The Steelblade family upon realizing how great his achievements were tried to bring him back into their family but Isaac apparently denied all their advances and cut off all forms of relations he had with them.

Even with all of his achievements, Isaac was however framed for a crime he didn't commit and the person who was involved in this crime was none other than Corneo, a previous executive member of the Tower who was in cahoots with Obelisk at the time.

By the time the Tower found out the truth, Isaac had been assassinated by Corneo to prevent him from saying anything that could implicate him and had also managed to slip away, his whereabouts unknown. Not until recently.

A heavy solemnness could be felt in the room as the twins found all of this new information quite heavy. Sebastian upon realizing the atmosphere was turning heavy very fast, decided to alleviate some of it with the next few words he spoke.

"The reason I was able to recognize you two however was because Isaac had gotten drunk at one of the Tower's get-togethers and was openly boasting about how cute and precious his kids were" Sebastian said.

"He was basically shoving a photo of you guys into everyone's face that day" Sebastian chuckled as he remembered the image of Isaac telling everyone about his precious kids.

"It'd be weird if I didn't remember your faces after seeing that picture but as at then, I didn't know his wife died during her birth giving because he seemed so happy and didn't really behave like someone who had lost his wife. I guess he was trying to put on a brave front so people wouldn't pity him"

"Yeah, that sounds very much like him" Ivelia said with a sad smile.

Ivar also had a similarly sad smile on his face.

"This actually clears up a lot of things" Leopold suddenly spoke, causing everyone's attention to be on him.

"The Tower recently created a healing potion with an efficacy of 95%" Leopold began.

"Yes but how does that have anything to do with Ivelia and Ivar?" Sebastian questioned.

"Well, it just so happens that Ivar and Ivelia also created a potion with similar efficacy a few months ago"

"I see. That does make a lot of sen-… Wait what?!" Sebastian's eyes widened at what he just heard.

"You heard right. These two created a healing potion with similar efficacy just five months ago before the Tower did" Leopold said once again, very much to Sebastian's surprise.

Realizing that Sebastian was still doubting what he heard, he retrieved a healing potion from his storage ring and threw it to Sebastian.

Sebastian upon appraising it had his eyes widen once again in shock. He then stared at the twins with newfound respect in his eyes as he spoke.

"This is amazing you two! How did you even come about making something like this with your limited resources?"

"Would you like to explain or should I?" Ivar asked his sister to which she responded.

"The floor is all yours Ivar"

"Okay then. Well the thing is, our dad opened up a small shop in front of our home when we were about seven years old" Ivar started

"We would usually help him whenever he was in his lab and that was how we eventually got to making potions by ourselves too"

"When our dad died, all he left to us asides our house was a briefcase that seemed to contain documents involving plans he had for the future. That included a method to increase healing potion efficacy and one other document that had a potion he seemed like he was unable to create"

"That was how we got to creating the healing potion" Ivar concluded.

"You say that like it was such an easy thing to do" Sebastian said after finally recovering from his initial shock before he then continued.

"In any case, I can see why Corneo must've been targeting you guys. That filthy swine! He even had the guts to make the lives of Isaac's children miserable" Sebastian said with a big frown on his face.

"He approached us with a document that said our father owed him some money and it seemed very legitimate so we genuinely thought our dad was owing him a big debt" Ivelia said.

"It all turned out to be hogwash though because it seemed like he was actually after the formula but wasn't sure if we even had it in the first place, hence his slimy approach towards us" Ivar concluded.

"You're right. That pig has always been the worst type of scumbag, even when he was an executive member of the Tower. I wonder how he even made it to that position" Sebastian replied to Ivar before he then continued, another boisterous laughter escaping his lips as he did so.

"I have to say though Ivar, you gave us quite the entertaining sight when you jammed a kick into that bastard's balls. Hahaha!"

"Language Sebastian!" Anna finally spoke after listening to their conversations for the last few minutes.

She didn't want to interrupt so far considering they were having a very serious discussion but Sebastian's crude language had been ramping up as they continued the conversation.

"You did?!" Ivelia asked with a bit of surprise in her voice

"Haha…. About that… I was very pissed when I saw him and I just decided to hit him where I knew would hurt him the most. He had tried to escape through an underground bunker but unfortunately for him, one of the rankers who was securing the perimeter dragged him back and brought him to us" Ivar replied while scratching the back of his head.

"You too Ivelia. You're quite the feisty one, aren't you? I heard you stabbed him quite a few times and even bit him when he tried to force himself on you from one of the members that was interrogated. Good job!" Sebastian said with a thumbs up while giving a big grin.

"You shouldn't be telling a young lady something like that Sebastian!" Anna nagged at him.

She then proceeded to comfort Ivelia.

"It must've been a horrible experience dear. I hope it wasn't too traumatic for you?" Anna asked, concern evident in her voice.

"I'm fine Mrs. Anna. It was quite scary but I held my ground" Ivelia said with a slight smile.

Although she was still quite cautious and nervous around the duchess, she very much liked the motherly warmth and concern Anna was giving her.

"Okay dear. Feel free to come and talk to me whenever you feel like it alright."

"I will" Ivelia responded with a smile.

"One thing's still bugging me though…" Sebastian said with a thoughtful look while stroking his small beard.

"And what's that?" Leopold asked

"Well, in that picture Isaac kept shoving into my face, I saw three children… You guys obviously and one baby girl with brown hair…"

"That's… That's Briar." Ivelia said, her expression becoming sad again.

"Our dad brought her home one day and said she was our cousin and that we should treat her nicely and take good care of her. Apparently, our mum's sister passed away and left her only daughter all alone. She was just a few months old at the time" Ivelia continued.

"Our dad died not long after and so we had to look after her but…" Ivelia paused, her voice becoming choky as she did so.

"But what dear?" Anna asked gently this time sensing that this must be a very touchy subject for the twins.

"She came down with mana deficiency when she was two years old" Ivar said, his voice carrying a deep sadness to it. He then continued.

"We had to take her to the nearest hospital and we've managed to at least pay the hospital bills for the past two years. We knew the hospital could only ensure that she stayed alive and not actually treat her but it was the only option we had"

"Briar's sickness was actually what prompted us to begin to make the healing potion better as we figured that if we could increase its efficacy to 99%, we might possibly be able to save her" Ivelia concluded.

'Man deficiency huh...' Leopold thought to himself.

A rare abnormality that happens to kids between the age of one to five. These kids are usually unable accumulate mana in their body and require a surgical operation where all the blood in their body is immediately drained and a new blood type which can accumulate mana is transfused into them immediately.

They would then require about a year in cryogenic pods for their body to acclimatize to the new blood. Although the process could be slowed down by giving them certain medicines and forcibly inducing coma by sedating them, it would only just serve as stop-gap solution and eventually, the child would die if they did not undergo surgery.

"Well you won't have to worry anymore because we will be taking care of Briar from now on and ensuring that she gets the best medical care and attention" Leopold said.

The twins looked at each other with teary eyes and then began to thank the Duke profusely.

Leopold had to calm both of them down while telling them that it was alright and that they should just focus on trying to ensure that their father's life's work and efforts didn't go to waste. The twins nodded their heads vigorously at this.

"With all that being said, there are a few things I should let you know" Leopold spoke once again.

"First off, you guys will be staying with us from now on for very obvious reasons. There are enough rooms to accommodate both of you, and also, no. You cannot reject our offer".

"The obvious reasons involve the fact that once all of Arcadia, the Big Families and even your original family, the Steelblades and the world knows what you two have achieved, they'll be looking for any means possible to get you on their side. That includes the dirty methods too"

"Leo's right. If anything at all, the Belmonts can guarantee you safety until you're of age to enter Arcana Academy, along with Flynn and Aiden so it really is the best option" Sebastian said while placing his hands on Leopold's shoulder.

"Secondly, we can provide you with all that you'll need to continue your research here. We'll even remodel a room here at our mansion into a laboratory specifically for your research"

"And lastly, my two sleeping sons' asides from already signing a contract with you, literally have no other friends their age. I would love for that to change drastically. This is something both Anna and I have agreed on. So, what do you say?" Leopold concluded while gesturing to the twins.

"We accept your offer sir!" the twins replied in unison.