บท 12: Aftermath
For every ten practitioners, nine will have elemental laws. Only one will have a mythic law.
Harlston
It had been three days since Professor Oakenheart returned to Harlston with Wil's corpse and an injured and unconscious Hade.
To say the Ronens were furious was an understatement. You could understand their shock seeing their son, who had been healthy and well just that morning, return home battered and bruised.
Were it in their hands, Novin would be burned at the stake!
Unfortunately, in anticipation, the Five Schools had already sent ten Master-class operators along with the professor in fear for his safety. The operators were to serve partly as deterrents and partly as witnesses in case the Ronens decided to retaliate.
To put it simply, Castus's hands were tied...
Although the operators were barely specks of dust in his eyes, he knew that a lot of hidden eyes were focused on him and his family, ready to strike at the slightest slip-up.
In this unfavorable situation, he could only ask questions, questions to which Novin, the scum bastard, did not have the answers.
Isabella had even used her Mind magic once again on the man, to find out if this was some kind of premeditated conspiracy, but sadly, it seemed that he was just as clueless as they were as to whom the perpetrators were.
Dedric, however, was not as forgiving. After all, he had regarded Wil like his own son. He had fed the boy, clothed him, and taught him how to be a man all on his own... No one had been hurt more by this incident than him.
When he received the heartbreaking news, the giant had attacked the professor right there and then. He brushed the host of operators aside as if they were nothing more than cannon fodder, dealing with all ten of them in a matter of seconds.
It was Bartholomew who had had to half-heartedly restrain his old friend. After all, they had yet to ascertain whether Novin was to be held wholly accountable or not.
Even so, the young professor had still not come out unscathed. Long story short, he no longer possessed all of his limbs. Not that he could blame anyone for it though...
Novin always knew that his gambling addiction would be the ruin of him. Under no one's enticement had he detoured from his mission and entered that illegal gambling den. Look where that had gotten him now.
Already, Novin knew that once he returned to the Schools, demotion was going to be the least of his worries.
Investigations about what had happened made by both Castus and the Five Schools were all fruitless. They had to wait for Hade to regain consciousness, which he only did after two full days in a comatose state.
For Wil's sake, Hade recounted the events to his parents. From his encounter with the golden-eyed man to their fight against the cloaked man with the law of Darkness, he did not leave out any detail.
Predictably, the story fueled Dedric's rage. The giant man had since embarked on a pilgrimage for revenge.
After that, Hade withdrew from all interactions, choosing to spend most of his time in his room. Although none of his physical injuries were substantial or life threatening, (in fact, the only evidence that the Salancans incident had even occurred was just a small vertical scar etched in the center of his forehead) his mental state had clearly taken a massive hit.
Try as hard as he could, Hade could not erase what had happened from his head. Every time he closed his eyes, he would see the cloaked man's glowing red eyes, or Wil's body pierced from all sides by black pikes...
Hade could also remember how he had frozen in terror when the golden-eyed man glanced down at him...
That feeling of helplessness and vulnerability was a feeling he did not want to experience ever again. Unfortunately, he was also positive that it was going to haunt him till the end of his days.
Up till now, Hade still had no idea how he had even survived. The cloaked man had seemed very committed to ending his life, only to suddenly give up and walk away at the last minute.
'What made him change his mind?' Hade found himself asking that question every day.
'Was it just luck?'
He did not think so. The cloaked man himself had looked infuriated when he let him go.
'Did he... spare me out of the goodness of his heart?'
"Tsk!" Hade scoffed. That was even more ridiculous than the luck idea.
What bothered him the most was how useless he had been during the fight. Had he not been so powerless, he could've assisted Wil or at the very least, helped him escape.
Sadly, there was no use in thinking about it now. All he could do now was to wallow in regret and self-pity until he somehow got over it.
Was it pathetic? Maybe. All Hade knew was that the Five Imperial Schools had never felt so... distant.
"What is your greatest strength?" A deep voice interrupted his thoughts.
'What the hell?!' Hade jumped up from his bed in surprise to see a blindfolded man standing in the middle of his room.
He had short, spiky black hair, sharp facial features, and a small but very unkempt beard.
"Who are you?! How did you get in here?!" Hade demanded.
To say he was startled did not cover the beginning of it. Nowadays, even random noises or faraway animal cries spooked the hell out of him.
"I'll ask again, what is your greatest strength?" The blindfolded man calmly and indifferently repeated his question.
"I demand to know who you are or else-"
"Or else what?" The blindfolded man closed the distance between them in a split second.
Hade suddenly felt a lump weighing on his throat. He had barely blinked and the man was now barely half a metre away from him.
And it wasn't just that...
Although the man's eyes were blindfolded, Hade felt as if a ferocious beast was gazing at him. The man was exerting pressure on him not unlike the golden-eyed man's but somehow, also very different.
...'Supreme class?'
"That's what I thought," said the blindfolded man as he withdrew.
"Forget about your greatest strength, you don't even know what your strengths or weaknesses are."
He shook his head.
"Anyway, you can relax, boy. My name is Leofred and I am an old friend of your father's. I owed him a favor... so here I am."
'An old friend of his father's?' Hade was not convinced. Since when did his father have... friends?
The closest he had to those was Dedric and Bartholomew but if anything, theirs was a relationship marked by mutual respect, loyalty, and eternal servitude.
"Come on, do you think anyone would be able to penetrate this place without your father's knowledge?" Leofred asked upon noticing his skepticism.
Hade had to agree. That sounded way more plausible. This place was a literal fortress. He knew personally from the many times he had tried to escape but failed.
"I hear you've been through quite the ordeal," said the blindfolded man.
"You can say that I am here to help you get past your trauma, using whatever means necessary, of course."
Hade frowned at the last remark.
"I don't need your help."
Since the incident, he had always tried to show the impression that he was doing fine whenever he was in his parents' presence. Sadly, it seemed that his pretentious guise had not been bought.
Leofred scoffed at his response.
"Kid, you might not have realized this yet but in this world, help doesn't come for free. My advice, when opportunity comes, receive it with both hands, or you might just live to regret it...
"That's especially true in your case," he added grimly.
Hade furrowed his brows.
"What does that mean?"
Leofred replied to his question with another question:
"You have a mythic law don't you?" he asked.
Hade was puzzled. What did his law have to do with anything?
"You see, what most people don't realize about mythic laws is that they are more of a curse than a blessing," Leofred explained. "Whilst other practitioners have ready-made spells, you will first have to discover what your law does and then, the even harder part, how to use it in combat."
Hade had always known that his law was rare but that was just about it.
"Nx nx nx," Leofred shook his head in exaggerated pity.
"No wonder you and the other boy got your as*es handed to you...
"Listen, kid, if I were you, I'd take advantage of all opportunities granted to me, deserved or not. By now, you should already know that real strength does not discriminate between good and evil. In this cruel and unforgiving world, only the strong have the power to shape their destinies, and not only theirs but also those of everybody else around them."
Leofred paused, letting his words sink in.
"Besides, you and I both know that your deceased friend would've readily received this opportunity, had he been granted the chance to."
Although Hade hated to admit it, the blindfolded man was right. Wil would've done anything to increase his strength, even just by the littlest of margins.
"Alright then," Leofred nodded, seeing that he had gotten his point across.
"So, I'll see you early tomorrow morning. We'll begin your training then. But, don't worry, if I can't find a way to help you in three days, hell, nobody can."
He exited Hade's room, this time via the door, with a broad grin on his face, leaving the redhead deep in thought.
...
"So, what did you think?" Isabella asked the bearded man as soon as he came out.
"Don't worry, he'll attend the sessions," Leofred spoke slowly as he removed his blindfold.
"He is surprisingly very strong for his age. It's a bit concerning, actually," he said.
It was amazing how he had come to that conclusion after just one encounter that had barely lasted three minutes.
"But are you sure you want to use the favor I owe you on this?" He asked the hulking figure with long black hair and red eyes standing behind Isabella.
"He is my son," Castus replied monotonically to which Leofred shrugged blithely. That was answer enough for him.
"Okay then, I guess I should return this for the time being," he said, handing over the black blindfold, which was in fact, an artifact designed to effectively shut down one's sense of sight.
It went without saying that this had only opened up more questions for Leofred. Just what exactly about their son were they trying to hide?
Isabella received the blindfold with a bewitchingly mesmerizing smile, while Castus merely spectated the exchange with a blank look on his face.
'How... interesting,' Leofred thought to himself.
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