Chapter 151
“…What do you an by that?”
“Just what I said.”
With that answer, Eisen moved away from .
He turned around as if he intended to go on his way.
‘What’s this?’
Eisen acting like this felt extrely out of nowhere to .
But at the sa ti… I could sense it instinctively.
Sothing was truly happening within the Isrinbloom Family.
“Eisen.”
I called the man who turned his back to .
I felt that I absolutely had to confirm this.
“Could you not tell
that secret right now?”
“…I can’t. Even if I wanted to… I can’t.”
“It seems… far too painful for you to say it, doesn’t it?”
“…….”
Eisen looked back at
with widened eyes.
As if asking how I knew that.
But aside from that look, he didn’t add any explanation.
“…I’ve seen a similar case. People who suffered just by trying to speak the secret itself.”
Eisen stared at
for a mont in silence.
Then he shook his head.
“As I said earlier, make sure you defeat
in this competition. Then I’ll tell you.”
“If I win… you’re saying you’d endure that pain just to tell ?”
“Soone who defeats
is soone worth bearing that pain for. Soone like that… would have the strength to solve our family’s problem.”
“…Eisen.”
After a mont of deliberation, I spoke again.
“Did you perhaps engrave a tattoo on your body? If you did, could you show that tattoo to ?”
“…Gideon, I’m asking you. I don’t know how much you know, but… don’t talk about this anymore. Just speaking of it… puts
in danger. I’ll suffer.”
Eisen’s face stayed expressionless.
But his voice carried fear.
Truthfully, it made sense.
The non-human races, the sight of the Elf leader Sakiel.
His skin ripping apart from agony, his body collapsing, blood pouring out.
That scene still lingered vividly in my mory.
Eisen had every reason to fear.
“I understand. Then let’s stop talking about this… and I simply have to defeat you, correct?”
“I’ll face you seriously. If you can defeat
fighting with my full strength, then that ans you have enough potential.”
I didn’t bother asking potential for what.
Judging by the situation, he wouldn’t be able to tell
anyway.
“Then… I, too, will fight seriously, with everything I have.”
“Good. Make sure you do. Prove yourself to … to our family… no, at least save .”
I looked at expressionless Eisen and slowly chewed over his words.
Eisen’s state—being unable to speak about sothing specific.
As I’d said before, it was identical to the non-human races I’d seen in the Protected Zone.
Which ant Eisen also clearly couldn’t speak due to so curse, or so contract.
‘…It must be connected to that Evil God. There’s no way this is a coincidence.’
That pattern I faintly saw yesterday on Rage’s torso.
If that pattern truly had been bestowed by Bedir, and Rage and Eisen—
If both were involved…
‘Then has the entire Isrinbloom Family already fallen under that Evil God’s influence?’
I didn’t have solid evidence yet, but at this point, it felt almost certain.
And Eisen, standing before
right now—
He wasn’t soone who would ask
for help without a reason.
He wasn’t that kind of man.
‘But if Eisen is asking
for help… then he must not be one of the core mbers of that faction.’
If he were a core mber, he wouldn’t be asking
for help like this.
Which ant the core might be Rage… or Dilug.
To sway the entire Isrinbloom Family, the authority of the head of the house would be needed.
‘But the Dilug I know isn’t that type either. Then… is it Rage? But Rage is foul-tempered, not soone who’d betray the Empire… is he? Maybe?’
Countless questions kept forming in my head.
But I forced them aside for now.
I needed to organize those later.
Right now… I needed more information.
And there was one important piece of information I had to obtain.
“Eisen, I have many things I want to ask, but could you answer this one first?”
“Depends on the question.”
“It’s nothing complicated. Your younger sister. Is she involved in any of this?”
“Sara has nothing to do with it. She knows nothing.”
Eisen answered without hesitation, unexpectedly so.
“Sara was too weak, so she wasn’t included in this plan. If anything, it’s fortunate. My sister literally knows nothing, so don’t worry about her.”
“Excluded because she’s weak… that’s surprising. I thought Sara was quite strong.”
“She’s weak compared to the rest of our family. She’s also young. And since her na has co up… no, I have a request. Just one request.”
“What kind of request?”
Eisen looked at
silently for a mont.
He observed
calmly, ticulously.
And then he spoke.
“If things go wrong, take care of Sara.”
“Eisen.”
I let out a small, disbelieving laugh as I looked at Sara’s older brother.
“You seem to be assuming the worst-case scenario. Instead of that, just tell
everything. If you simply tell , then I can sohow—”
“…Don’t.”
“Excuse ?”
“Don’t talk carelessly.”
Eisen’s voice rose slightly, and his eyes trembled.
“You don’t know this horrific pain. When your body is literally torn apart just because you said one wrong word… do you have any idea?”
“…I don’t.”
“Right, you don’t. So don’t speak lightly. Even talking to you like this… I’m risking my life.”
Eisen glared at
briefly, then let out a sigh.
“Defeat . Then I’ll endure every bit of pain and tell you sothing very important.”
“You’ll only tell
if I win?”
“Yeah. If you can’t defeat , then even if I tell you, you’ll end up losing anyway. At the very least, for
to endure the pain and tell you, you need to win.”
As I slowly chewed over Eisen’s words, I tilted my head.
“Then let
change the question—why ? Isn’t there plenty of other people you could tell? If you wanted to ask for help, wouldn’t soone else be more—”
“You use water.”
“…What?”
I didn’t understand Eisen’s words for a mont.
But whether I understood or not, Eisen continued speaking.
“I heard it from Sara. She said you used swordsmanship that utilized water. And a swordsman who uses water… among the people I know, you're the only one. And… I definitely heard it that ti. To be careful of the Swordsman of Water. I clearly heard my brother talking about it.”
“I do use water, but just because of sothing like that—”
“To be precise, he said to be careful of the Swordsman of Water who defeats . So… I’ll fight you with everything I have, so you fight seriously too. And prove it. Prove that you're the one I’m looking for.”
“…I’ll do my best.”
“Good.”
With those words, Eisen turned around again and walked away.
And I stood there blankly for a mont.
The conversation we had just exchanged left
genuinely confused.
‘What is this? Sothing is definitely happening in the Isrinbloom Family… but more importantly, just now… Swordsman of Water? Am I really the only one in the Empire who uses water-based swordsmanship?’
Once again, countless questions rose up in my mind.
Because of that, I could only stand there in a daze for a while.
While I was like that, soone familiar approached from afar and snapped
back to reality.
“Gideon, what are you doing here? Didn’t we agree to et in the player waiting room?”
“Ah, Lisa Noona. I… yeah, we did. I was just… spacing out because I had sothing to think about.”
“That’s surprising. It’s not often that you zone out.”
“Haha, I think I'm just a bit tired today. Anyway, I did well earlier, right?”
“You did wonderfully.”
Lisa smiled and pulled
into a hug.
“You worked hard reciting the pledge in front of everyone. You're done for today, right? Want to go eat sothing good?”
“Yeah, let's go. I was hungry anyway.”
Right, I really had been hungry.
And… it seed like I needed to cool my head for a bit.
I planned to relax for a while and think about everything later in the evening.
“So… Eisen suddenly ca to you and said all that?”
“Yes, he did.”
After eting Eisen, later that evening—
I sat in my room speaking with Jason.
“If Eisen said sothing like that, then sothing really must be happening inside the Isrinbloom Family.”
“Yes, I agree. But we still lack too much information.”
“Yeah. At the very least, we should learn more about the Isrinbloom Family’s internal affairs.”
Jason, who heard everything that happened today, nodded and slowly rose from his seat.
“Anyway, thanks for telling . Thanks to this, I can investigate the Isrinbloom Family with more certainty.”
“I’m counting on you. And… please be careful. Sothing is definitely going on with that family.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve handled more dangerous investigations since I was a kid.”
“Yes, well… since you’re from the Hawkbat Family, that makes sense, but still—please be careful.”
Jason just gave a small laugh at my concern.
Then he walked toward the window in my room.
“If anything else cos up, contact
through the Crystal Sphere like earlier.”
“Understood. But are you going out through the window again?”
Jason stepped onto the window fra as if it were second nature.
“I ca in through the window earlier too. Why are you acting surprised?”
“Well, I suppose that suits the Hawkbat Family. Ah, right—Jason.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“If you have ti… could you also look into the Swordsman of Water for ?”
Jason tilted his head at my question.
“Hm, Swordsman of Water… Right, you said Eisen ntioned that, didn’t you?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Alright. I’ll look into that too if I get the ti. Anyway, I’m leaving for Muktaba at dawn tomorrow. I’ll investigate things on my end and then co back.”
“When will you return?”
“Probably around when the competition ends? Maybe earlier. So if you learn anything new, contact
through the Crystal Sphere. Got it?”
“Yes, I understand.”
For now, there was no other choice but to trust Jason.
And handling this matter was sothing I had to entrust to him.
When it ca to gathering information, Jason was several tis better than .
“Focus on the competition and do well. I won’t be able to cheer for you directly at the stadium, but in Muktaba, at least in spirit, I’ll keep cheering for you.”
Jason finished speaking and leapt out the window.
After confirming his figure had vanished in an instant, I lay down on my bed.
“Alright. I’ll trust Jason… and focus on the competition.”
Uncovering my family’s secret was important.
But finding a way to survive in this world was just as important.
In that sense, the Academy Competition—
If I beca a key contender here… the road ahead would surely beco easier.
And so, the next day.
“The first event of the Academy Competition! We will now begin the Archery Competition!”
The Academy Competition officially began.
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