Ethan placed a hand on Mio's shoulder. She spun around with a glare.
"It's me."
"Onii-sama," she whispered, her eyes softening.
"What are… you doing here?"
Although he knew her reason, he still asked to remain clear of any doubt of being a stalker.
"Regina is inside," Valentina rasped, her gaze locked on the ICU room.
Ethan dragged Mio over and settled beside Valentina. "What happened to her?"
Valentina stayed silent. Ethan patted her shoulder and glanced at the corridor. Celia vanished somewhere a moment ago.
"Extreme brain injury after suffering five concussions in a short hour."
Ethan's eyes went wide. He reeled in his surprise. "How was she still conscious to get five?"
The brain should have shut down if the damage became excessive. Only two or three concussions could fill that requirement.
"She fought through sheer will and some... reflex enhancers. Everything happened because I sucked at my job."
Her voice ridden with guilt prompted him to shake his head.
"Regina doesn't hate you for that."
She wouldn't be here if the silver-haired girl hated her.
"She probably forgot what happened. She would've said nothing even if she did. Ready to sacrifice her life for her friends, that's how she was." She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Why am I telling this to someone I only met twice?"
"It's better to get everything off your chest, don't you think?"
"Quite cheeky—" she turned to him and her eyes went round. "What in the world is that disguise?"
A wry smile surfaced on his face. "It's nothing…"
"So the rich girl wants some roleplay, eh?" she grinned, looking less depressed than before. "Boy, how did ya fin' us? Stalkin' yer little sis?"
The words rolled off her tongue in a rough accent. As much as she faked her teasing, her quivering eyes exposed everything about her suffering.
Ethan looked away and sighed. This wasn't his problem. He barely knew Valentina and Regina. He only came here for two reasons—Mio and Valentina's features resembling his mother.
Regina's condition will deteriorate over time. No treatment was available to stop the degrading brain cells.
Ethan stopped this line of thought when Celia emerged from the hallway with an olive-haired lady about a few inches shorter than her. The beauty mark under her left eye and the bright smile on her face made her seem like an easy-to-approach woman.
Anyone taking her for a friendly beauty would be played to death without knowing until his last moment. Marienne Densford, the current leader of the Densford family, was a woman of that caliber.
Celia's nightmare is here.
Ethan rose to his feet. "Miss Marienne."
Marienne stopped before him and cocked her head to the side. "Hmm… are you Ethan?"
Ethan's nod caused Marienne to giggle with a hand over her mouth.
"What kind of silly get up is this?"
Ethan scratched his cheeks and turned to Celia for help, who nodded and tugged at her mother's sleeve.
"Mom, Ethan has a cold."
Marienne's brows crinkled and she reached out for Ethan's sunglasses. "You know how I dislike people who can't look others in the eyes."
Celia grabbed her mother's hand. "His eyes are a bit red. It doesn't look good on him."
Ethan nodded to support Celia's lie. Marienne shifted her attention to Valentina with a polite smile. "Miss Wright, I have a few things to talk about your friend."
Valentina nodded as she stood. "Sure, fire whatever you have."
"It would be… a bit impolite to discuss this here," Marienne said, glancing at Ethan. "Let's move to my office."
Valentina lightly slapped his back. "Let's hang out later."
What is going on in her mind?
"Dear daughter and Ethan, I will free my schedule for this next weekend. Let's have a chat over some snacks." Marienne smiled and led Valentina away.
Celia sank into the chair and let out a long breath. "The moment of truth is finally here. Ethan, will you come?"
Mio still glared at the place where Marienne left with animosity oozing from her entire being. "Onii-sama, I don't like that woman."
It was her first meeting with Marienne, yet she had already figured out her shady character. Even he couldn't if Celia hadn't whined about her mother's deeds almost every week.
A few gentle rubs on her head eased her frown. "Mio will also come."
"Sure, tag along," Celia replied without batting an eye. She looked over at the ICU room. "Regina, there is a chance that she will have to spend the rest of her life here."
"How high?" Mio took the question right out of his mouth.
"Almost ninety percent."
"Fuck," Ethan couldn't stop himself from cursing. Ninety percent chance of spending her life in this place.
Sure, he had no great friendship with Regina. But her smile when she hopped around at his birthday party was pure, unlike anything he had ever seen.
"Master, why are you sad? Did something happen?" Alyssia's childish voice chimed in his head.
Maybe. Ethan felt a little hope. He explained everything to Alyssia, who hummed for a few moments.
"Master, the potion made from the leaves of the Golden Tree can heal her condition. But…"
"But what?"
"Elves have forbidden any human from stepping foot inside their territory. Only the blood relatives of the Royal Emperor family and their guardians are allowed there during the annual meeting."
She mercilessly crushed his hope.
"Master, some of the black markets dealing in exotics might have a few leaves. Simply chewing a leaf increases the chance of obtaining the Life Aspect, making it precious beyond money."
Ethan leaned his back on the chair. He had no chance of leaving the forest as a level 1.
"Alyssia, I want to level up."
"I already scouted weak Spirit Beasts for you to slay."
"Great."
Leveling up still took priority over finding the Golden Tree's leaves for Regina's disease.
I would become a joke if I can't kill a level 1 monster with my Mythic-ranked skill.
"Yeah, what are the ranks for skills?"
"Common, Rare, Unique, Heroic, Mythic, and Immortal. Common is the easiest to obtain for Iron-rankers. A Rare skill is guaranteed if one can step past the barrier of level 25, the league of Bronze-rankers. Likewise, the list goes on."
Iron-rankers, Bronze-rankers—must be the way to classify levels in groups.
"What about Mythic and Immortal?"
"There are only a few individuals in the world possessing that mythic-ranked skill like the Five Demon Kings and the Five Saints. For Immortal-ranked skills, only the Dragon Queens, Lord Brilliance, Mistress Luna, and Magic Lord Faust will have one."
He already got a peak-rank skill on his first day in Avalon. This too good to be a true thing was probably something shady.
"Dragon Queens? There is more than one?"
"There were four who emerged from the Void with their followers to aid humanity in their war against the Spirit Beasts."
"Thanks for the info."
"No problem, Master. If only I wasn't a sheltered woman and spent more time learning, I could have been more useful for Master."
"Alyssia, what made you… help me in the first place?"
"I don't know. It was just an impulse that made me give you that fruit. Maybe I was happy to find someone I could talk to after spending years in this forest and didn't want to lose my chance."
"Alyssia, I promise to help you meet your child if we make it out of the forest alive."
"Master, you don't need to."
"I said I will." he declared.
Alyssia went silent for a few seconds. "Okay… Master. I will be counting on you!"
mariuskatt· Nov 11, 2020
Auronos· Nov 10, 2020
