章節 60: The Mysterious(?) Woman
"..."
"Grr..."
Sebastian opened his eyes after hearing a growl. What he first saw was Balanos sitting on a chair in a calm manner and next to her was Amy who was glaring at Balanos. It seems she was the one making the growling sounds.
When Sebastian opened his eyes, he expected Amy to immediately shower him with worry but the first thing she did was pinch his cheek.
"Ow ow ow! Let go!"
"Tell me who that woman is! She suddenly walked up to the estate from the backyard carrying you while you were unconscious and told us to treat you. Then, she followed us inside your room so naturally and maneuvered through the estate perfectly! It's obvious that she's been here many times before!"
"Well..."
"Not just that, she won't even say a peep! Aunt and the others also said that they haven't seen her before in their lives."
Sebastian looked at Balanos like he was going to cry. Couldn't she have just snuck him through the window to his room? Nobody would know that he was injured and nobody would know about her either.
Amy removed her attention from Sebastian and glared at Balanos like she was her mortal enemy.
"It's the chest, isn't it? It's why you've already taken in a mistress this early..."
"She's not my mistress!"
Amy's chest was above average for her age but Balanos' chest is on another level.
'But... what does that have to do with this...?'
After calming Amy down enough to hold a proper conversation, Sebastian sat across from her and beside Balanos.
"Ehem... This person's name is Balanos. She's... well, sort of like my master."
Amy raised her brows and looked at Balanos properly without glaring. She tried to assess the quality of Balanos' energy but Amy couldn't surpass her defenses. The only thing she felt was the boundless life force that Balanos was passively giving out.
With that probing, Amy was now half-convinced that Balanos was Sebastian's master.
"Then, what was the reason you were knocked out?"
"I asked her for a sparring session. I was taken down in a single attack."
"...!"
Surprise was an understatement. Amy recalled how strong Sebastian currently was. Even she couldn't defeat him in a single hit. If Gilbert were to unleash his full power and hit Sebastian successfully, he wouldn't be able to either. The only people that could do so were their parents and their older relatives.
Apprentice—Sebastian was an Apprentice, a level of power way above the level of normal humans. A single Apprentice would be able to deal with a platoon of normal soldiers and possibly even a company.
The only level of power able to deal with Apprentices in a single blow besides Casters and those above them are Adepts at the brink of reaching Caster or Adepts way above that of the norm.
This meant that at the very least, Balanos, who seemed harmless to Amy, was a threat that she wouldn't be able to deal with.
"Sebastian, I won't pursue this matter any further, and I won't ask any more questions if you answer this. Can I trust that she won't hurt you?"
"Definitely."
"...I'll take your word for it."
Amy stood up from her seat and fixed her clothes.
"I'm going to leave now. I had a matter to attend to and only dropped by for a quick visit here. I left a cake for everyone to share. It's large enough for five portions, I suppose."
"Thanks."
Amy lightly smiled at Sebastian and gave one last look at Balanos before leaving.
"What's a cake?"
"It's a sweet dessert that suddenly exploded in popularity just a few years back. A whole cake costs around 10,000 Aur and the more expensive ones shoot up to 20,000 Aur. Nobles tend to eat the latter on occasion."
"That girl is overflowing in money compared to you, to actually buy a cake as a leisure gift."
"I haven't been selling any products lately because I've been busy but I've still made quite a bit of money, you know..."
"Still, it surprises me." Balanos crossed her legs and looked at Sebastian.
"What does?"
"I assumed that you would deny such an expensive gift."
Being one of the closest to him, Balanos felt like she had a good grasp of his personality.
"Well..." Sebastian scratched his cheek, "it would be one thing if she was giving it to me, but she knows that if she gave the cake to my mother, I wouldn't be able to deny it in her place. That aside, are we finally going to the forest tomorrow?"
"Yes. To find that anomalous woman."
...
After being revealed once, Balanos hid her presence once again. Sebastian received a scolding from Clarice for housing a woman when he already had a fiance and the two of them secretly set off to the forest.
This time, Sebastian brought an abundance of arrows and other weaponry even though Balanos had told him they weren't going to be necessary. He didn't want to end up in a similar situation like last time where he was a step away from death.
"You can only equip the Soul Armor for at most, half a minute. Even then, it's already a conservative estimate."
"What happens if I go past the limit?"
"If the armor doesn't disappear by itself, then you'll die. You won't be a step away from death, you'll instantly die. Borrowing someone else's soul is dangerous after all. If your soul were to overpower mine, then it would be very easy for you to wear my armor as naturally as breathing but at the moment, my soul is too strong for you. Wearing it for longer than half a minute would cause your soul to be eaten by mine."
"..."
That was a terrifying notion. It was one thing for Balanos to be so nonchalant about it because she was only using an artificial body and a part of her soul but Sebastian was a human who couldn't dissect his soul into several parts. If he were to lose his one soul, then he'd die.
"Let's hurry. There's no point in defeating the beasts on the way. We'll head straight for the source. Only fire arrows when we can't avoid them."
Although Balanos didn't tell him to run, Sebastian already prepared himself and stretched his legs. He covered his body in energy like always and ran through the forest.
Balanos didn't lose out to him in speed, in fact, she was overtaking him. The two of them swerved whenever they sensed a beast. Unlike before, there weren't many beasts in the way. Although that was a normal situation for a forest, to Sebastian, it felt strange.
Whenever he walked into the forest, he always felt an abundance of beasts. Could they have thinned out because of the stampede?
"I can feel its presence. I'm certain now, it's one of my kin. Ptelea."
"Ptelea?"
"A hamadryad of the elm tree, Ptelea. A few centuries ago, she disappeared along with my other sisters. I didn't find any trace of them and that's when I had to regain my power and resided in the present Warde estate. Of my sisters, Ptelea, in particular, was the most bound to her duty. To think that she's the one who caused all of this..."
For the first time, Balanos' expression finally changed. It was one of sadness and longing.
"..."
Sebastian subconsciously roused his energy even more and ran faster.
"Let's speed up a bit more."
"Nn."
...
"What is this...?"
Sebastian's pupils contracted as his eyes darted around the cracked dirt and dead trees. The entire area was covered with visibly dark miasma. The clouds were dark but it didn't seem like it was going to rain.
It was a terrifying scene.
Balanos bit her lip.
"This is a dryad's judgment, a power bestowed unto us by the ruler of nature. The cost to enact it on such a large area..."
Her words trailed off. She couldn't continue what she said but she didn't hesitate as she stepped forward into the corrupted territory.
"O-oi!"
Sebastian reached out and grabbed Balanos' arm before she could get very far.
"Are you sure you can do this?"
"..."
For the first time, Balanos showed hesitation and fear. The facade she had put on earlier had collapsed with that one question.
"Fuse with my soul now. You don't have to do this."
It was a lot more dangerous to undertake it on his own, but he didn't want Balanos to have to go through the experience of having to kill her sister. Sebastian's brother had yet to be born but he couldn't bear having to kill him.
Balanos looked back at Sebastian and stepped away from the corrupted ground. Without another word, she tapped Sebastian's chest with her finger and fainted.
Sebastian caught her before she fell but he could feel it—the life in her body had already disappeared. At the same time, he could feel a surge in energy and power inside his own.
After leaning her on a tree, Sebastian stood up and walked into the corrupted territory. From here, he would receive no support from Balanos until he called her name and when he does, she'll only be there for half a minute.
"I'm really an idiot..."
Sebastian sighed and resigned himself to the fate that he put himself in.
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