36 - Emotion (Patreon)

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Silvia stretched as she climbed out of bed, a broad smile on her face. She glanced at her phone, seeing a message from Fae, and her smile grew even bigger as she took her phone to respond.

Almost too energetically considering she just woke up, Silvia practically skipped out of her room and made her way downstairs into the bathroom to get ready. As she was brushing her teeth, Yanna walked past the open door, glancing inside.

"Wait, you were here?" she asked surprised, "You were out pretty late, I thought you'd be staying over somewhere," Yanna pointed out, grinning as she said so. But Silvia just shook her head, not minding the slight tease.

"Nope, but I am hanging out with Fae tomorrow. I was just with Modak and Ryan last night," the young elf explained, and Yanna seemed a bit confused at that.

She leaned against the door frame curiously, "So what's got you this giddy all of a sudden?"

"Alright, so, yesterday, we-" Silvia was almost about to just spill it all. She has never kept any sort of secret from her sister before. But at the same time, this wasn't her secret to tell, "... Actually, I don't think I can tell you... sorry. It's a Ryan thing, if anyone, he has to tell you. But don't be mad if he doesn't, it's... complicated."

"Now you've got me really curious," Yanna slightly leaned forward, "But well, if he wants to tell me, he'll tell me."

Just before the minotaur was about to turn back around, the doorbell was rung. Yanna smiled lightly, "I've got it."

"Thanks~!" Silvia replied, continuing with her morning routine as Yanna made her way one more floor downstairs to get to the door. Silvia could hear the door open and her sister's strong voice spoke.

And then, there was another woman's voice. It was muffled by the time it got all the way up here, but she still shuddered. Silvia's grip on her toothbrush tightened, and her heart beat heavy in her chest as her breathing sped up. Her sight turned hazy as a flood of thoughts forced itself into her head, all moving together into a massive wall that blocked any coherent idea, or any action that she could do. Close the door, drop her toothbrush. Even dropping onto the ground was something she wasn't able to do.

Her knees locked up, and her body froze, petrified like she had been just a statue all along. She didn't even hear the door close a moment later, her thoughts drowning out everything else that was going on around her. Even when Yanna came back to her, she didn't notice up until her sister touched her shoulder.

All the tension disappeared in an instant, like a pressed-down spring that was finally released. Silvia pulled back, staring at Yanna, startled and shaking.

"Wh-Who w-w-was-" Silvia let out, but she wasn't able to even finish her thought before Yanna wrapped her arms around her younger sister.

"It's alright, don't worry. I told her to leave, okay? She's gone," Yanna held Silvia tightly, feeling her anxious shakes vibrating throughout the elf's whole body, "I'll call dad, okay?"

Silvia forced out a slow nod as she tightened her grip on the back of Yanna's shirt, as the minotaur ground her teeth in pure fury.

"Ouch, dude, come on!" Ryan flinched, pulling away his hand from Runar. He just stared back at his nephew and rolled his eyes.

"Stop complaining, I'm just swapping out your bandages. If you stopped acting like you're not hurt and actually were a bit more careful with your hand, this probably wouldn't hurt as much," Runar pointed out as he started wrapping up Ryan's hand with clean bandages. The cuts on his palm that he got from grabbing Energiser right after it went berserk had closed well enough, and due to the healing salve, there wasn't all too much swelling either. But that probably just made it easier for Ryan to use his hand for things while ignoring the fact that he was clearly injured.

"The burns only just healed, what the hell are you doing? Wear some gloves, will you?"

"I was wearing gloves in the dungeon, they didn't help either," Ryan defended himself, "And it's not like I could've predicted what happened yesterday."

"... Still. Take better care of your hands, alright? You can't help the spirits if your hands are completely messed up."

Ryan looked at his uncle and inwardly sighed, trying to ignore just how rough Runar was being as he wrapped up his hand. He slowly glanced over at the boy sitting on the living room couch, distractedly flipping through channels on the TV. They were on the other side of the room, and he tried to speak in a low voice, "So... you said he was raised by one of the elders?"

Runar glanced up at Ryan and turned his head to Liam for a moment, "Officially, at least. In reality, I imagine it was more like he was raised in one of that elder's hidden facilities. I'm sure you can count the amount of conversations they've held on both hands."

"... And that was enough for Liam to start acting like he's a king in some grand story?"

"He's an awakened above level 70, Ryan" Runar explained, "There's no sane high-level Awakened. All the facilities that guy runs are basically larp-camps."

Taken aback, Ryan stared at his uncle, "Level 70? Seriously?"

"We have a lot of powerful people in our family."

Runar stood up after finishing the bandage, as a question that Ryan has been curious about almost since the beginning popped into his head, "So... what level are you?"

The rune mage slowly turned around, a slight grin forming on his lips, "That's a secret."

"Oh come on, seriously?"

"There's literally no person beside me that knows my level, so yes, seriously. There's a reason why I'm not registered; you have to get your level measured regularly," Runar pointed out, "Now come on, it's almost three. Silvia and Modak said they're on their way, right?"

"Yeah, they should get here any minute now," Ryan responded, "So what are we even doing today?"

"Nothing much. Just meeting people, introducing yourself to everyone downstairs, learning a bit about the things that we have to do. I also called over an acquaintance from the Magic Tower to help us track down Gaia's last fragment."

"Wait, seriously? You know someone from the Magic Tower?"

"Yes, I know someone from the Magic Tower. I... briefly worked there after I Awakened," Runar hid his face as though he were embarrassed about it, and Ryan couldn't help himself but let out a short laugh of disbelief.

"Are you serious? You worked at the magic tower?"

"It wasn't really 'working'. I was like 13, it was more like an internship."

"You awakened at 13? As a mage?!"

His disbelief had practically turned into shock as Runar looked at his nephew with an annoyed look on his face, "I get that it's not normal, but I feel like you're being a bit insulting... The Aglecard bloodline is predisposed to magic users, and I happened to be a little talented. That's all."

"No, but like..." Ryan looked away as he tried to gather his thoughts, "How the hell do you always keep forgetting the pin to your phone? It's like four digits, I was legitimately worried about you at some point, but you're the type of genius that can awaken at 13 and start working in the magic tower?"

Runar just shrugged, as though he had already accepted it, "I'm bad with tech, that's all."

"That- That has nothing to do with being bad with tech; your pin is your birthday!"

"Hmm... Nah, I think it's just the tech," Runar pointed out, but Ryan still wasn't convinced.

"Didn't you say you linked up your phone so you can use it from downstairs or something? That doesn't sound like you're bad with tech to me."

"Well, that wasn't about tech. I just adapted the 'Message' spell into a semi-permanent link between two points."

Ryan narrowed his eyes, glaring at his uncle, "I have no reference point for how insane that is, but it sounds insane."

"Oh, shut up already," Runar walked up behind the couch, knocking on the top of the young vampire's head, "Liam, you too, come on."

"Huh? Why would I do something like that?" the boy huffed, clearly not feeling like joining, but Runar already prepared the perfect answer and replied smugly.

"Don't you want to meet all your potential subjects downstairs?"

Liam immediately perked up curiously, "That... does sound like the duty of a king, I assume. Very well! I shall accompany you two!"

Clearly excited now, Liam jumped up from the couch and ran into the hallway to put his shoes on, a broad smile plastered on his face. Rolling his eyes, Ryan picked up the remote and turned off the TV, "Dude, do you want him to get bullied at school or something?"

Runar shook his head with a slight yawn, "Oh, calm down, it's not that bad. He's got a big personality, people gravitate toward people like that. And it's not like he's a bad kid, there's a reason why we picked him out for the test run."

"... Alright, that's fair. Just make sure he doesn't yell at me to show him my neck again."

Runar laughed quietly and nodded his head, "I'll try my best."

 ---

---

---

"Excuse me? What do you mean, it's not happening?" Christopher stared at the man in front of him, who pulled back nervously. He was scratching his neck nervously, making the Lizardman's scales almost pop off. Being faced with the fury of a Boa-Lamia was more than just nerve-wrecking.

"The... the event of New Riverside University's robotics club showing off their latest project has been pushed back. There was an incident yesterday where one of the... where one of the robots went out of control and broke a bunch of private and university property," the man slowly explained as Christopher's unblinking glare only got more intense.

"No, it was supposed to go out of control today, during the showcase, not yesterday. I specifically made sure that it wouldn't go off during the last tests yesterday," the lamia ground his teeth together, pushing down at the desk in front of him. Moving around erratically, his tail was bumping into nearby furniture, "What happened to Vanda?"

"... The girl was questioned by the police and the university immediately chose to press charges," the man started, hesitating to finish what he was saying, "How- However, early this morning, the university has dropped those charges."

"Hah? Why would they do that? Vanda's got no contacts, no power, nothing. That's why I picked her for this."

"... Looking at the records, the university has just received a large donation from the Honeydew Fund, one of the Aglecard Foundation's-"

"I know what the bloody Honeydew Fund is!" with an almost deranged hiss, Christopher hit the desk. A nearby couch was pushed across the room into a bookshelf from the force of the lamia's tail violently swinging around. The lizardman flinched as books from the shelf dropped onto the ground and the couch, "Fine, whatever. You recovered the fragment though, right? We can just try again with something else."

The lizardman's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't answer that question. There was no way he could. Christopher would have his head, and it wasn't even his fault! However, with the lamia's deep glare laying on his scales, he had no other choice but to finally respond, "We... we sent someone in to retrieve the fragment, but we were unable to find it."

The lamia's fingers dug into the surface of the desk, "Excuse me? You're telling me that we not only lost a prime opportunity, but we lost both the fragment and a seed of corruption?"

"There... there's more to it," the lizardman explained. Christopher would find out sooner or later anyway, and it was better to just say it here now instead of being punished for hiding it later, "... They called an ambulance as someone was injured during yesterday's events. According to the reports, they treated a student named 'Ryan Aglecard' due to the injuries he received while subduing the rampant robot."

Christopher stared at the lizardman, "Excuse me? Why was he there? Why was he at the robotics club, of all places?!"

"I... It looks like they were trying to have test-duels between the robots and the spirit that he cont-"

"Get out," Christopher turned his head away, placing his hand in front of his eyes. The lizardman wasn't sure if he had heard right, and was about to ask for confirmation, when Christopher turned back around and swung his arms across the desk. The monitor, keyboard, notes, and small trinkets were all thrown onto the ground, "I told you to get out!"

Once the man was out of the room, Christopher ground his teeth together, pulling out his phone. He dialled a number. It rang a few times, but nobody responded, "This little..."

So, instead, Christopher dialled another number, and someone picked up before the first ring even finished, "Mister Blanchard! What a pleasure to hear from you! How can I help?"

"Put me through to Simon Grand immediately."

The man on the other side of the phone was silent for a few moments, before responding with a tone of voice that showed that bad news were about to follow, "... Simon Grand is currently being treated at a hospital. He will be unable to work for the time being. We were actually about to call you and introduce you to a new employee that could take over his-"

"Was he injured? I thought you have world-class healers at your company for situations like this."

A nervous laugh came from the other side of the phone, "Mister Blanchard, while I have no idea what 'situations' you are speaking of, Simon's issues do not seem to be injury-based."

Christopher frowned, "Then what's the issue? I need to talk to him, I have to ask him some questions about my request."

"... That is exactly the issue, Mister Blanchard. Simon has no memories of the past two months, believing us to be in the month of Notis instead of Konter. He will be unable to continue to work with you on this request. I truly apologize for this inconvenience, but we promise to make it up to you as well as we can. We..."

Even though the man on the other side of the phone was hurriedly trying to explain the future plan of actions, Christopher wasn't paying attention. His tail was moving around him, tightening around the legs of a chair, crushing it under the pressure of a boa-lamia's muscles. Staring at the shadow that he was casting onto the ground due to the sunlight pouring into the room behind him, Christopher almost shivered in anger.

"So the Aglecards are involved, and have the fragment now. And Ryan has probably been pulled into the main family now. That's fine. I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve."

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