บท 131: A Reminisce of the Past
"It all started a few months ago," Douglas sighed as he leaned on his arm while looking out the window. The carriage had started moving as well.
"We had received reports of injured at the outskirts of town with the culprits being Inheritors with unknown abilities. And a few weeks after that, there was an Inheritor who had suddenly begun attacking in the middle of town and again, he had an unknown ability."
"Four years ago," Ainslie cut in. "Wasn't there a similar incident that happened?"
"...Yes, however, the incident back then was quelled after the subjugation of a couple of people. And, the Inheritors then were unregistered in the country, but their powers were known. Today's threat is this."
Douglas pointed to the bodies they passed by.
"We believe that someone's been giving artificial abilities."
"?!"
Sebastian straightened his back and frowned. He was the one who knew about unnatural abilities here the most.
Luckily, Ainslie seemed to understand his thoughts.
"What do you mean? How is it possible to give others artificial abilities?"
Douglas bent down and took out a small box from under his seat. It was around the size of two hands. He opened it and handed the contents to Sebastian and Ainslie.
"Photographs?"
"Yes."
"...This must be quite the case for you to use such a luxury item."
On the photographs, they saw the arms opened by the wrist.
"What are those? I'm no doctor but, I don't recall having a gemstone inside my wrist…"
"That's exactly what we're investigating at the moment. We've left behind a few men to check the bodies to see if they hold the same gemstones inside them."
"And, I'm guessing that the person you used to replace the house head here, is the lead investigator?"
"..."
Douglas was stunned. Ainslie was right on the mark and he couldn't help but chuckle.
"Yes."
Ainslie gave Sebastian a side glance but with her mask, neither Sebastian nor Douglas managed to see it.
"Your mission doesn't change, you're here to protect the person inside the carriage until we get back from the trip."
"No problem."
Ainslie answered. Sebastian opened the door to the moving carriage and hopped out. It wasn't very fast and even if it was moving at top speed, he wouldn't be injured in any way.
Soon after, Ainslie followed him as well. Both of them scoured from atop the trees in search for many enemies.
…
Three days had passed since the attack.
"There's a message from Wisteria."
"What is it?"
Currently, they were encamped with the convoy, and, to avoid anyone eavesdropping on them, the two were a little bit away from the camp.
"She said that she's already aware of it and has been searching for the culprit a couple of months ago. And, there's this."
Ainslie threw a rolled parchment at Sebastian.
"A mission? I'm in the middle of a mission already, what's she doing sending me another?"
Sebastian opened the parchment and began reading through it.
"...I see. She's telling us to investigate as well."
"Eh?! I don't want to!"
"We don't really have a choice. Unless we move up the ladder, missions like this are obligatory."
"Uuuu! Come on, just use your connections, don't you have something going on with Hound?"
"..."
Sebastian glared at Ainslie from under his mask. He also didn't forget to use some of his energy to punish her.
"Eep! Why'd you suddenly shock me?!"
"Because you're saying stupid things. We're just friends."
"Come on, Mister, you're not fooling anyone. I, of all people, know how many relationships you have."
"Well, apparently not."
Sebastian sighed and decided to leave Ainslie to her own musings.
Seeing that she was being ignored, Ainslie stopped talking and sat down next to Sebastian.
"What is it?"
Sitting next to him was something she regularly did, but for some reason, her mood felt down.
"Sebastian, how much do you really care about your fiancée?"
"...Though, it isn't exactly right to call her that anymore."
Sebastian sighed. She rarely called him by his name ever since her nightmares stopped. She only did so when she was being serious, Sebastian responded in kind.
"I've told you before that I cherished my memories of those times."
"Yeah…"
"In the past, I was just a regular heir from a major house, except that I was very meek. Maybe it was because of my brother and his mother, I've learned to walk a step behind everyone, and I've learned not to talk unless I'm prompted."
"..."
"Then, I met her. She was originally just there for a visit to the house with her father, but, she saw me and decided to play with me. Since then, the two of us became inseparable. I wanted to become the strongest so that nothing will ever hurt her.
"However, that all changed on the day that I enrolled in school. I couldn't use my ability because I'm unable to project energy outside of my body—simply put, I was just a regular person, and you can probably understand what will happen if I were to keep being with a future house head."
"...You two were separated?"
"They tried. Especially the main branch of my house. Though my father didn't make any moves himself, he also didn't do anything to stop anyone. I'm not sure if he wasn't aware, or if he didn't want to help. Still, there was only so much they could do against someone of another house and Amy managed to go against all that and reunite with me. It might not sound like a lot, but to me at the time, it meant the world. I swore I could swim through a sea of fire for her."
Sebastian chuckled as he fondly recalled the past.
"In the end, I swore to become the richest man in the world. If I couldn't get power, then I could get money and hire people in power. Until… I was forced to find the power to fight against someone aiming at her. Now that I look back, Amy was strong enough to fight against him herself and her father wouldn't have agreed with it too."
"And it ended with you joining Blue Rose?"
Ainslie asked. She was hugging her knees and her head was leaning on them. She had also taken off her mask and was looking at Sebastian from the side.
'...I wonder why I've never told her about any of this before.'
After being together for two years, Sebastian thought of Ainslie as someone like his family. Though she frequently accuses him as a philanderer, the two of them knew that it was just a joke. It was her way of getting him to react which she enjoyed somewhat.
"I was framed for the murder of my soon-to-be father-in-law."
"..."
He could see Ainslie wanting to listen intently.
"I escaped the city with the help of Blue Rose's 3rd squad. The overwhelming power they used was enough to even knock back Casters and Magus. It was one of the times in my life that I was made aware of my weakness."
"I wish I could've been there."
"You'd have only been an Apprentice at the time."
"And so were you."
"What can a single Apprentice do in a battle full of Casters?"
"...Hold your hand?"
"I'm not a child."
Sebastian laughed and leaned back on the tree.
"In my eyes, my life doesn't take much priority. If I was forced into a situation that the only way to save Amy would be to die for her, I'd take it without a moment's hesitation."
"...What about me? Would you die for me too?"
"Of course."
Sebastian reached over and lightly pat her head.
"Even if I had to give away my life, I would save you."
"I see…"
Sebastian had been looking at the night sky while he was talking. His attention was averted when he heard something beside him.
"Ainslie?"
Sebastian asked her but as he looked closely, she had already fallen asleep.
"This girl… She must've had a nightmare again."
Sebastian sighed. He stood up to carry Ainslie and walked back to the camp.
"Ah, Sir Zircon."
He met Douglas on the way to his tent.
"Is she asleep?"
Sebastian nodded. He didn't want to risk being identified.
"Do you need any help getting her to the tent?"
Sebastian shook his head. Douglas then stepped aside and let him walk.
Once Sebastian reached her tent, he set her down and hesitated to leave.
"...She'll probably have another nightmare again if I leave her alone. This disciple is such a handful."
Sebastian shook his head with a wry smile and sat down next to her. He closed his eyes and waited for the night to pass, all the while guarding the woman next to him who still felt like a little girl to him.
…
The next morning, Ainslie avoided his gaze. When she had woken up, she realized that she was still clinging onto Sebastian and if not for her mask that Sebastian had put on for her back then last night, her flushed face would be in bare view.
Douglas also seemed a bit perplexed at her reactions but didn't dig deeper. He took out a map and then laid it out on the table.
"We'll be arriving in around three hours and I expect heavy resistance. While the knights here are well-equipped for a battle, and we have plenty of Inheritors as well, we can't guarantee victory if we stay by the carriage."
"S-so, you want us to continue guarding the carriage while your men deal with the assailants?"
"Yes, that is the best strategy that we can think of to guarantee both safety and victory."
Ainslie looked at Sebastian and waited for any sort of response before agreeing with Douglas. Once the two of them were left alone, Ainslie whispered.
"You sure you don't wanna take care of all of them on your own, Mister?"
"...Just what do you see me as?"
"A battle-crazed maniac."
"I'll have you know that I'm a pacifist when it's possible."
"Literally anything could've made a better lie than that. Your first solution to anything is beating the crap out of it and if that doesn't work, beat the crap out of it some more. I'm telling you, the 3rd squad has influenced you way too much."
Unbeknownst to the two who were arguing, there was someone eyeing them curiously from within the carriage.
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