Chapter 43: Chapter 43

The teleportation gates of Ehrendil gave a warning, indicating the incoming passenger before a worn-out Travis McGregor appeared in front of the elite guard team, still blood dripping from his arm. 

‘’C-Councilor! Are you okay?’’ the captain of the team asked in a panic.

‘’Do I look okay?’’ Travis snapped as he rose to air with [Mana Flight] and flew away toward his old friend’s house to fix his arm. His house didn’t lack any higher-tier healers, but showing up there like this would damage his image. 

Even though losing a limb was nothing shameful, losing it to a mere kid would be a hot topic at the balls for many months to come. And I have no doubt Justin would be telling the stories everywhere, he thought as his face darkened and sped up more.

He descended in front of the door of a simple-looking villa and knocked on it twice. 

A ten-year-old girl opened it and beamed after recognizing him. ‘’Uncle Travis!’’

‘’Hi, Elise. Is your grandpa home?’’ he asked with a smile.

‘’Yes. He is in the kitchen making a smoothie.’’

‘’I’m sure it’s just a smoothie, sweety,’’ Travis said as he patted her head before entering the house. A short walk brought him to the kitchen where a bald man in a loose robe was conducting green liquid in a small cauldron.

‘’Busy day?’’ the man asked without turning back.

‘’An understatement, but I’ll take it.’’

‘’That’s gonna take a while,’’ the man said, glancing at his arm. ‘’Why not use Isabella? She is much better than me for that kind of injury.’’

Travis fetched his arm from his storage. ‘’You’ll do fine. The wound is still fresh. And it’s a little complicated, that’s why I’ve avoided home.’’

‘’Oh? Not because you’re afraid of your old man?’’ The man closed the lid of the cauldron and walked toward Travis before taking the arm. ‘’Yeah, that’ll do. Most don’t have the chance to grab their limbs back, you know.’’

‘’Stop teasing me, Martin.’’ Travis watched Martin fold his sleeve up and put his arm back before activating a skill that literally spunged mana from everywhere. ‘’Do you know what’s Kathrine up to these days?’’

‘’No, I don’t,’’ Martin said, staring at him with a frown. ‘’And neither should you.’’

Every nerve, every vein, and every tissue connected itself to his arm in a manner of seconds, and he was already able to move his fingers.

‘’Jumpy as always. I’m just asking.’’ Making a fist and relaxing his finger again, he seemed satisfied with it and turned to leave. ‘’Thanks. I still have some business, but I might come to visit again this weekend.’’

‘’Sure,’’ Martin said with a smile and added behind his back, ‘’It’ll be itchy for a few days, try not to scratch it.’’

Travis snorted as he left and flew toward his house directly. He paused in the air for a second and donned himself in a new robe before making a dive to his front home’s front gates. The guards opened the doors immediately and let him in. 

In the gorgeous front yard, an old man approached him with steady steps and bowed. ‘’Welcome back my Lord.’’

‘’Get me Micheal and his boy,’’ Travis ordered without stopping his walk.

‘’Right away.’’

‘’Hold on,’’ Travis said, stopping himself as well. ‘’Does my father in the chambers?’’

‘’Y-Yes. Patriarch didn’t leave his chambers for three months now.’’

Travis hesitated a bit and shook his head before continuing his walk. What could he even do? Even the chairman is afraid of that woman.

He went to his room and took a long shower and wore a different outfit before going to his office. The butler was already waiting in front of it with Micheal and Oliver. They all bowed and followed him into the office.

Sitting in his chair, Travis offered a gentle smile to Oliver. ‘’Congratulations. So young yet already tier-4. I bet you’ll pass your old man in no time.’’

Oliver shivered a bit, looking at the floor. ‘’Thank you, my lord. I’ve risked my life foolishly, I’m nowhere near as talented as him.’’

‘’Forgive me, I’ve already heard your return but didn’t have any chance to speak to you directly. It must’ve been a terrible experience to go that far into Ivory Woodland all by yourself.’’

‘’I-It’s n-nothing. T-Thank you for your k-kind words.’’

‘’Relax. There is nothing to be worried about,’’ Travis assured. ‘’What I’m going to ask you is the kid you’ve met before that. Ethan. Tell me everything about him.’’

‘’Ethan?’’ Oliver looked toward his father, surprised. Seeing his nod with a serious face, he swallowed and began talking. ‘’We met him at the border of Ivory Woodland. He was in terrible condition and asked for the nearest town. Since we were planning to return soon enough, we offered him to join us.’’

‘’Did he say anything about his background?’’

‘’No, he didn’t.’’

Travis narrowed his eyes. ‘’It’s okay, Oliver. I’m not asking to hurt him. In fact, today I learned that this whole mess was a misunderstanding on our part. I just want to reach out to him to apologize properly.’’ He turned to the butler. ‘’Speaking of it, make sure to call off all the bounties as soon as possible.’’

‘’Thank you, my lord! He wasn’t a bad person. I knew there was some sort of a misunderstanding,’’ Oliver said in a hurry.

‘’Tell me. Was there anything unusual about him?’’

‘’Well, everything about him was unusual,’’ Oliver said with a wry smile. ‘’He knew pretty much nothing about Azora. He was speaking strange terms like levels or grinding, and complaining about wi fi something. Also, his close combat abilities were nothing like I’ve seen; he said that until the age of 18 he was purely trained to fight without any other distractions.’’

Travis listened in deep thought with a placid face. Fuck my life. Did that brat really come from an upper realm? Is that why that bitch is so eager to protect him? ‘’Did he mention any place that he will go?’’

‘’No. He learned the name of the places from us, to start with.’’

‘’Very well. That’s enough. I’ll do my best to find him and fix this issue.’’ When the father and son left, Travis pinched the bridge of his nose and gave another order to his butler with a grave voice. ‘’Get me Veronica.’’ 

In less than five minutes, the butler returned alongside a tier-6 blonde beauty with ice blue eyes. As they greeted him, Travis stood up and went for his small safe. From the inside, he took out a little metallic ball and pressed his palm over it. The mana transferred itself as the ball shined for a brief moment before trying to slowly roll toward the northwest. 

He tossed the ball to Veronica. ‘’That’s your target. Leave no evidence and bring everything on him to me, but you can not act in any free city. No matter how long it takes, wait until he is far away from the free cities. Take my personal anti-mage team with you as well.’’

Veronica looked at the ball with a weird expression. ‘’This aura belongs to a tier-3.’’

‘’And?’’

She gave a stiff nod. ‘’Consider it done.’’

‘’Do not underestimate him, and do not mess this up.’’

 

~~~ 

 

As the night settled on Niamaris, Ethan was ambling along the streets with his tranquil gaze fixed on the horizon, getting a lot of attention with his appearance. He wanted to get used to his newly healed legs and avoided using [Blink] for now. 

‘Ani, turn off the signal of my biochip.’

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‘It’s now turned off.’’

He sped up his steps bit by bit until he was running. Once he felt that his legs were good enough, he arrived at the outer walls of the mansion with a few [Blink]s and used [Void Wrap] before teleporting inside.

There was a big crowd in the courtyard. Leo was among them with 30 people behind him. Pete was standing in front of him 30 yards away, next to Michelle and 20 more people behind them. And as many as this much were watching from the sidelines.

‘’The moment he refused to join us, he was already an outsider. This is no different from any other jobs we do. Stop making out of a big deal!’’ Leo yelled at Pete with a frown.

‘’Big deal? Are you kidding me?! If I leave, will you stab me in the back as well? How many mana stones does my head worth Leo? Do you have any honor at all? Do you still call yourself a man?!’’ Pete yelled back, from his fists lightning leaking. Next to him, Michelle was silently watching without a word, her hands resting on the hilts of her dual swords, but Pete seemed to be barely holding himself.

‘’Watch your words! What should I do, huh? Shelter him? Hide him?’’ Leo asked, mocking. ‘’The McGregors have two tier-9s in their ranks. Any random elite they would send would be the end of us. That’s right! They would kill all of us just because we are on the way! What would you do, Pete?’’

‘’I wouldn’t sell him myself on the first sight like a blessing from the heavens, you fucking bastard!’’ Lightning started to revolve around him, making sparks on the ground. 

Everyone got tense but Leo was still watching with scorn. ‘’What? Are you going to attack? Let me warn you, there won’t be turning back if you do so.’’

Ethan removed his [Void Wrap] and appeared 50 yards away from them. ‘’You are playing with fire, goldie.’’

‘’Ethan!’’ 

Many people exclaimed in surprise, but Ethan was already walking toward Leo without a care in the world. His armor was shattered from different places, his messy hair was masking half of his face, and he was covered in blood all around.

‘’Don’t you know? There are three things all wise men fear,’’ he said as his dull eyes gained some luster. 

‘’The sea in storm.’’ 

A step.

‘’A night with no moon.’’ 

Another step.

‘’And the anger of a gentle man.’’

With a [Long Jump], he threw himself forward right before using [Blink] to appear in front of Leo with that momentum and hit his face with a knee. As Leo rolled on the ground with a broken nose, the 30-something man got into a position to attack, but he didn’t give them a chance. 

Ethan called his daggers and opened his [Mana Aura] before speaking to air with a deep voice. ‘’I don’t mind killing some more scumbags tonight.’’

Every one of them shivered, a few took a step back, and a few even got on their knees. 

‘’Why must you include us in your troubles, Ethan!?’’ Leo screamed, his face twisted. ‘’Do you think you can run from McGregors? You are already dead, but you still come here and risk everyone's life!’’

Ethan burst out laughing and pointed at the crowd with his dagger. ‘’Are you seriously trying to rally them up against me? What if I told you that I won’t even sweat as I slaughter them all? Oh, Leo… Who do you think this blood belonged to?’’ he asked, licking the dried blood from the corner of his mouth.

Leo’s eyes widened. ‘’Impossible! I’ve seen how high tiers fight. It’s not possible for you to kill him!’’

‘’Your worries are in the wrong place.’’ Ethan shook his head. ‘’I suggest you start worrying for yourself.’’

A [Blink] carried him in front of Leo and he slashed his dagger. Leo rolled over with a slight injury and got up, but Ethan appeared behind him to stab his back. With another shallow injury, Leo escaped and red-white metallic gloves appeared on his hands. 

These artifacts were a perfect fit for his style, his every strike was deadly. He was truly a one-of-a-kind fighter, full of talent. If this battle were to happen back on Earth, it’d be an epic fight where no one could tell who would win.

Unfortunately for him, Ethan’s new skills were in another league. Just rank-2 [Blink] was enough to deal with him, he didn’t even use [Void Wrap] or [Fabric Tear]. The constant teleportation with occasional [Shadow Spikes] already brought Leo to death's door, until he couldn’t help yelling, ‘’Attack! Everyone, kill him now!’’

The ones on the sidelines were still watching without moving, only half of the original 30 attacked and they found Pete’s team as their opponent. Interestingly enough, Rafael was among the ones who backed off. Michelle directly went for the only tier-4 while Pete called a spear and used that revolving lightning again to fight against three people. From the looks of it, they were able to handle themselves with only a few casualties, but Ethan wasn’t even willing for a single loss tonight. 

He cloaked himself in [Void Wrap] and started blinking around on the battlefield. One moment he was cutting the head of a tier-3 enemy and another blocking Leo’s fist, only showing himself when he attacked, creating high tension in every foe. With Devi filling his resources, and Leo barely standing with blood loss, he used everything at his disposal to finish the fight quickly. 

Every time Leo missed Ethan, he got another wound. When the dagger cut his wrist deeply, disabling his left hand, he yelled once again, ‘’Stop!’’ It was intended for Ethan, but it worked on everyone. His eyes searched for him madly and finally caught a silhouette emerging from the void. ‘’Don’t you want to know what happened to that kid? The one you stood up for at the party. You should know that he came with us afterward. That time, you told him, ‘open your eyes and see what you’re asking for,’ but in the end, he still followed us. Aren’t you curious what happened to that frail boy?’’

‘’Nope.’’ Ethan used the [Blink] one last time and the scarlet dagger penetrated Leo’s hearth. His crazed look became dazed, and the light in his eyes dimmed, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. ‘’Whatever the fuck did you do to him, it was his choice. And not letting his experience get you more time… is mine.’’ Ethan pulled out his dagger and Leo’s body fell to the ground.

Pete ran toward him, followed by his group. ‘’Are you okay?’’

‘’Yeah,’’ he replied, looking at his timid friend who became a ferocious lion for his sake. ‘’Thank you.’’

‘’You look like shit,’’ Michelle commented, a slight worry in her eyes. 

‘’I feel like shit,’’ he confirmed.

‘’There is a hot tub in Leo’s room–’’

‘’Pete, I’m not taking Leo’s room,’’ Ethan said with a frown. 

‘’No, no. Don’t misunderstand, I’m just offering you a good rest, nothing more,’’ Pete said quickly, realizing that it sounded like he was offering the seat of the leader. ‘’By the way, what happened with McGregor? Can you even stay?’’

‘’Yeah, I can. In a nutshell, someone saved my ass and I’ve no idea why,’’ he explained, suddenly feeling tired after everything happened. ‘’A hot tub, huh?’’

Pete jumped forward to hold him by the arm and pulled him toward the mansion. ‘’Come here. I’ll show you the way, you look like you’re about to collapse.’’ Taking one last look at Leo's corpse, he led the way.

‘’Hey, what was that fancy skill you used? Since when you’re that strong?’’

‘’[Azure Whirl]. It was a gift from my father-in-law. I-I m-mean my future father-in-law,’’ Pete said, blushing. ‘’And I’m not strong. Adequate, m-maybe.’’

Ethan was amused by how his conduct could change so rapidly, he added after a time of silence, ‘’I’m sorry, Pete. I shouldn’t come here. I’ve underestimated my troubles.’’

‘’Where else should you go but here? You are one of us, Ethan, more than that selfish bastard ever was,’’ Pete said as he gave a tight squeeze to Ethan’s shoulder. ‘’We’ve lost eight more of our own people tonight, even if it was necessary. I don’t know how many of us would be left after years. So, no matter what you do in the future, don’t forget that you’ll always have a place here.’’

Ethan smiled despite himself and held himself back to tease the guy, allowing him to have his moment.

Pete showed him the room and left quietly. Before long, he was already inside of the said hot tub, where he was getting Scarface vibes from. If it was another time, he would definitely put himself a whiskey and lit up a cigar, but now, just washing himself was taking all his energy. It was weird because his resources were all more than half, he guessed that it was the side effect of the high-grade potion bringing him back from that condition. As he was dozing off slowly and trying to locate the bed with his [Mana Sense] so he could [Blink] before falling asleep, he got interrupted. 

‘I have an assumption that might be useful, but it’s still in progress. You’ve asked me to share them with you, but at what percentage should I tell you?’

‘‘Yeah? It’s okay, bud. I’ll let you know if it’s unnecessary,’’ he muttered. ‘’Tell me, what is it?’’ 

‘The Olsen family might be from Earth as well.’

 

Ethan’s drowsy eyes shot open. ‘’What!?’’

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