20.59 cycle fifteen, Ca’thir, of calendar Moonrachia

  All of the information and his plan… are too much

  Did he seriously throw away the remainder of his life? To someone he barely knew? Is this man even sane?

  “This plan itself was already executed a few days ago, and no, we can’t change it midway. The plan had already started the moment I departed, and Noah indeed died there, on the battlefield, with witnesses.”

  “There’s no loophole. I can mimic your physical characteristics, your blood, and even your mana, it’s a simple matter for us.”

  “Everything has started, and nothing can be changed.”

  I could only stare at him blankly… Everything from the start was perfectly aligned, as if it were predetermined

  As if he could see the future

  “There are Eyes of Truth…Could you even bypass them?”

  “From the rumor I heard, I doubt they even want to hear a thing from you on the days of the hearing, correct?”

  “And I also could just keep my mouth shut.”

  “Ahahahh...” I became so speechless from this entire plan that the only thing I could utter was a dry laugh

  “By any chance, are you capable of seeing the future?”

  Noah, still with his usual expression, answered, “That’s a good joke, and nope, I don’t have something fancy like foresight.”

  Then the office door opened slowly, and Kiara appeared once more with a food tray with coffee and a few snacks

  After Kiara put down the drink and the snacks on the table, she retreated and stood by my side

  And Noah finally changed back into Noah. Honestly, I don’t want to see him using my face with his smile ever again, it nearly made me vomit

  When Noah sips his coffee, he asks, “So, when exactly are the hearing days? I don’t really know much about it.”

  “It’s cycle eighteen, three days from now.”

  “It’s sooner than I expected.” Slowly, Noah put down his glass of coffee on the table

  “You should prepare to leave now, it’s going to be a lot stricter the closer it gets to your hearing days.”

  “There’s already a bunch of guards standing by even now. How am I supposed to leave the city?”

  “It’s fine, there’s always a way. If there’s none? Then we could create one ourselves.”

  *****

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  23.58 cycle fifteen, Ca’thir, of calendar Moonrachia

  A few hours have passed… After Noah told me to be prepared, he kicked me out of the room and had Kiara help me pack

  And… how should I put it?? Kiara is… a quiet type of person? Also, her expression is completely flat… but not an unkind one

  It’s kind of hard to describe her in a word alone, but she’s like a statue with a soul in it

  It only takes us around 10 minutes to pack my things, I mean… I don’t even have many things here, honestly

  This isn’t even my home, how could I even have a lot of things? And there’s no way I could go back to my home and pack my actual things

  My house… I just paid the rent early in the month, and if only I knew something would turn this way… I wouldn’t have paid the rent that early

  Then a deep bong echoed through the hall, coming from the grandfather clock in the main hallway

  “It’s midnight already…” Noah said to meet him again at midnight

  When I’m heading there, I meet with Kiara in the hallway and stop walking for a moment, but she also stops moving and tilts her head

  “Are you also going to Noah’s office?”

  “Yes.” That was her entire answer, and we just stood there, staring at each other, like an idiot

  After staring at each other for a moment, I decided to break the silence. “Shall we go together then?” And then she just nodded

  The walk is insanely quiet, there’s only the sound of our footsteps and nothing else, which makes all of this pretty awkward

  It only takes us a few minutes to reach Noah's offices, but somehow, she turned her back to the office door and just stood there

  “You won’t come inside?” Shortly, she answered, “No.”

  Does Noah command her to wait here? What’s going on inside this office right now?

  After shaking my head a few times, I decided to enter, and…

  There’s Noah sitting at the table with a few papers and a potion?

  “Finally, our main character arrived,” Noah said. “Have you prepared enough?”

  “I do. Do I leave right now? My things are still in the bedroom.”

  “No, not yet, soon, after this.”

  The atmosphere in the room isn’t that heavy, rather… It’s like the climax of a movie, where everything seems to be going to reach the end

  “To put it simply, I won’t send you somewhere random, it's a place I manage with Eisya. It’s not a territory but rather like a village? Yeah, something like that."

  “Is it still around the Arnentia territory?”

  “Nope, it’s far away, somewhere where people don’t travel often, it’s in the Vaelthoria kingdom.”

  Vaelthoria? Isn’t that our neighbor? There are only three kingdoms on this continent: Arnentia, Luminara, and Vaelthoria

  Arnentia is a kingdom that focuses on human resources and knowledge, while Luminara is a holy kingdom that is full of priests and focuses on religious matters

  As for Vaelthoria, they focus on hunters, monsters, and power. One of the few reasons why they’re focusing on that particular thing is because, despite having the biggest territory over the other human kingdoms, most of their territory is a completely dangerous zone

  As far as I remember, Vaelthoria's territory is only around 35% livable, meaning roughly 65% of their territory remains uninhabited

  “… But isn’t the Vaelthoria kingdom filled with hunters from around the world?”

  “You're halfway correct, should’ve considered the current problem too. The kingdom, the world, and the continent right now are trying their best to rebuild and recover themselves.”

  “There might be a few people who travel there, but it’s much safer. Especially in the village that I mentioned before.”

  “Then… what should I do after arriving there…?”

  “Hmm, I don’t know? Shouldn’t you decide it?”

  “There’s no way you don’t need anything from me.”

  “Well… Could you watch over Alias?” Noah said, but the smile he usually wore had disappeared from his face

  “Teach her how to socialize.”

  “Teach her how to behave properly.”

  “And teach her a lot of things that I and Eisya couldn’t teach her.”

  … This is the first time I've seen him without his usual smile, he… looked completely vulnerable

  He looked like any normal person right now, different from the persona he often maintains

  “If Noah, her father, had died, then how about Alias? Will she carry on the Orlier family name?”

  “It’s too long to explain, but she is going to continue it, not in the way you think.” And then Noah wore his usual smile once more

  “It’s fine, I got a plan for her. She'll be going to the village I sent you to.” Then Noah stood up from his seat with a potion in his hand

  “And… you might realize that Alias often doesn’t really think about me.” But, when I looked at him, I could see that he didn’t wear his usual smile this time… His smile looked genuine

  “I know that I’ve failed as her father.” He extended his hand and placed it on my shoulder. “She’s still a child. No matter how strong she’s trying to act, she still needs a parent figure in her life, and that’s my last wish.”

  “I will leave Alias to you.” He patted my shoulder once, and he walked past me. “Let’s go, we should pick up your things.”

  I don’t even have a chance to answer him back… Or rather, I know he doesn’t want me to

  So shortly, I followed him from behind, and Kiara also followed him

  After picking up my things, both of them stood outside the room. I glanced around the room for the last time

  Even if I only spent a few days here, the room is already filled with tons of memories…

  A wall with a few small drawings from Alias, and a closet that Rheya once filled with a few of my clothes that she brought from my home

  Somehow, her mood wasn’t great that day, so all she did was grumble

  And Maya often lectures me to clean the room, even though I was not the one who caused the mess

  … I know well that it’s not like I won’t see them again, but the moment I leave, everything is going to change a lot

  Slowly, after taking a deep breath, I began to walk out of the room

  “Drink this.” As Noah handed me a potion straight into my hand, “It’s a potion that hides your presence and your mana for an hour.”

  “Right now?” He just nodded once, then, without much thought, I started to drink it

  The taste was so bad that I was trying with all my might not to gag, it tasted like a cough syrup combined with a perfume

  “Let’s go, we don’t have much time left.” Noah then hurriedly headed to the first floor, and both of us followed him from behind

  Was it just my imagination? Or does Noah's mana now feel perfectly normal?

  ---END---