12.5

“Aurelius, this is not the time for blasphemy. I understand you think of John as your pack but stating something he can’t do is a bit too far…”

Bran was the first to speak when the other members of Team Rectiser were casting a look of discernat Aurelius for having said something sacrilegious.

As an unspoken rule, it was often avoided for an individual to point one someone’s lack of magic affinity in Dezarith Empire. As magic users in the empire tended to be egotistical and narcissistic in their prowess, for someone to proclaim a magic user could cast spells outside of their inherent affinity was akin to an insult.

This was what John had learned from the Harvests back when he lived with them, regarding his lack of other abilities aside from [Heal] to be mentioned by others bothered him the slightest, it was almost impossible for him to feel offended at such a factual statement.

Though, he was much more intrigued when Aurelius made that statement, for him to formally use another magic spell free from his mental delusions nor his cursed nature, even if it was just an assumption, he can’t but feel just a bit hopeful.

“You don’t even use magic, Aurelius, you use your twin scimitars far more often than I see you chanting, how would you know John can use scent magic?” Kirk said, his face evidently tired from the conversation.

“It’s kind of demeaning when you put it in John’s face when he can only use [Heal], I am sure you know that, Aurelius?” Matilda said

“That’s not what I am trying to do,” Aurelius looked to John, “Check the gauntlet I gave you earlier, underneath it should be a magic rune etched on it. That’s how he can use scent magic, he just has to channel his [Heal] spell to the gauntlets, the runes will adapt his magic and cast a protective scent around us.”

“I have never heard of something like that,” Bran claimed. “Do you know anything like this, Cacti?”

“N-no.”

John removed his gauntlets, flipped it and sure enough, there was a faint mark on it, so faint that had Aurelius not mentioned it, he would not have noticed it. The rune itself had many strokes and lineslines alike inscribed, and much like the many runes he had seen in his life, none of it made sense to John.

Removing the other gauntlet on his right arm and discovered that it was the exact mark that was etched on the left gauntlet. And just right above the magic runes that were engraved into the gauntlets, he noticed a few faded black marks where words used to be in its place.

Craftmanship of…

…requested by…

for…use…

…Consignor.

“Consignor?”

The words parted John, causing a slight shiver to crawl down his spine.

It was what the floating eyeball named him moments before he met Elijah Harvest. The illusionary creature that he saw while he climbed the stairs that led him to the border the dead and living.

This title, this rank, this...honorific, led me to the discovery of Elijah and Palter Harvest… I should watch out for it more if Aurelius knows anything about it.

A bitter smile found its way on to John’s lips. He may have lost the Harvests, but his duty to them had not waned the slightest. One day, if he was given the chance and freedom to do so, he will definitely search for Palter.

“I found the markings, the look like drawings of small triangles, not sure why…” John quickly announced, his eyes still glued to the words that were written in front of him. “Are you sure the runes will help me use scent magic?”

“Positive! I’ve gotten these gauntlets from a kind man who saved me while I was stuck in the Demon Desert.”

“T-the Demon Desert!?” Cacti squeaked, her mouth became agape. “People don’t come out of there alive, and you’ve been there?”

“Yes? The man showed me the way out, so I don’t think that counts as much, I—”

Bran raised a hand, putting a stop to the conversation that was happening before him, “Sorry to interrupt but you guys can talk later, assuming what Aurelius said is true, if we need to make camp there, we have to hurry.”

“I…” Cacti wanted to speak with Aurelius further on the subject of the Demon Desert but she lowered her head and complied.

“Are we all in favor of going further down into the caves and make camp?”

“Yes.”

“Fine with me, as long John can pull it off.”

“O-okay.”

“No problems here.”

With his team member’s agreement, John turned towards the wolfkin and asked, “How does it work anyway, Aurelius? Do I chant or do I use a specific keyword like [Heal]?”

Aurelius gave what John said a thought but he quickly replied, “‘You just imagine it working in your favor’, that was what the man who gave me these said. Something to do with, whoever is using it will instinctively know how it works.”

“That’s not much of an explanation…”

“Yeah, sorry. All I know is it would work for mages that can cast a limited number of spells. Since your mastery [Heal] is much greater than most people, I wager you can handle it.”

“No worries, I’ll try my best.”

John wore his gauntlets once more, when they were firmly equipped on him done, he pointed his two arms at his teammates.

He took a deep breath, maintained his thoughts solely on the idea of covering everyone with a protective scent that would hide them the eternal decays.

Though he never saw the eternal decays first-hand, but by illustrations and descriptions from books that he read, these insect-like creatures oozed radioactive poison from their bodies. And if anyone were to get close to these monsters, the radioactive rays emitted by these creatures would be enough to kill all of them by just being around the eternal decays.

I can’t do anything for the Harvests… But at the very least, these people in front of me shouldn’t die.

His open palms folded into a strong grip of his fists, his arms tensed as he drew the breath from within himself, tugging at his mana as he tugged at the thoughts that danced at the back of his mind.

Zinggggg….

The gauntlets start to hum as it became in sync with John, emitting a fluorescent green glow that was said to be identical to the radioactive liquid that oozed from the eternal decays.

The mystical light grew to the size of the surrounding cave, enveloping everything within a 30 meter radius, then dissipated as quickly as it came.

Was that it?

His team members had paralyzed expressions of awe—except Aurelius who smiled naturally at John’s feats.

John himself, though being the one who activated the scent magic, was the most surprised of them all, thoughts of how, what, why, pestered all his gray matter, to think that such a device existed.

Oh what he would have given to learn of such a device back when he was in A’vetheas.

Then, a mild scent of burning came from his gauntlets, when John looked to his wirsts, he discovered that black smoke emitted from it.

“Woah, woah, woah!” he quickly removed the gauntlets and dropped them onto the ground. Though the gauntlets showed no signs of heating up, he took them off just to be safe. “Did I break it?”

“Ah…” Aurelius scratched his head. “I f-forgot that it was a one-time use thing, the marking must have burnt itself up from your mana.” The beastkin squat to pick up the gauntlets, dusting it before returning it to John. “The mana storing properties should still be there, but casting different spells with it… Sorry, kid, I should have told you to save the other gauntlet for something else.”

Ah… Here I was thinking I can use other magic… I was wondering why didn’t the elves have something like this, looks like it is some discontinued method of producing such magic inscriptions.

John shrugged his shoulders, “It’s alright, I’ll live. I wonder if what I cast was strong enough?”

“Strong enough?”

Kirk wore a sardonic expression, the goofy jolly Kirk that John was used to was now replaced by something completely different, something primal, something much more hostile…

“Ahahaha, mydudemydudemydude, my dude! Do you understand how many people in the empire can fill a room full with just their mana alone? That spell of yours is far, far too powerful even if it is using up the stored mana in it! Light, scent, pressure, heat, it doesn’t matter what area of specialization they have, do you have any idea just how many people are capable of such power?”

“K-Kirk… Calm down…” Cacti tugged at Kirk’s clothes, Matilda had her face scrunched into an unpleasant expression as she watched her brother.

John’s lowered his eyebrows, shaking his head as he did not understand why Kirk was so worked up over his simple question, “I’m just making sure that if it was going to last until tomorrow, since the gauntlets broke—"

Not wanting to listen to him, Kirk had grabbed John by his coat and started shouting in his face, “Twenty! There are only twenty known people in this world who can do that, including the Immortal Emperor himself!!! The rest are adamantium ranked adventurers!!! And here you are pretending to not know how much magic you have used? Trying to ask people like us whether it is enough?”

Grooowwwlll.

The veins on Aurelius’ arms popped, his jaw snapped as the hairs to his beastkin body stood up menacingly, John had caught glimpses and had a few close encounters with the dark beasts of Reperane Woods in the past, but right now, when he saw how quickly the easy-going Aurelius changed his expression, his skin crawled more than Kirk’s abrupt behavior.

“Let him go, Kirksten!”

Aurelius lowered his body, ready to pounce at a moments notice. The wolfkin’s previously humanoid hands now have sharp claws extended from them, his face was more savage, more primal than John had ever seen, even Aurelius’ teeth seemed to have gotten longer and sharper as he snapped at Kirk.

“If you have a problem, I’ll take you on!!!”

John tried to calm Aurelius with his gaze and gesture, his kept lowering his palm as to tell the wolfkin that it was fine but Aurelius was too busy focusing his attention on Kirk to notice him.

“Kirk, what are you doing?” Matilda’s smooth voice echoed and bounced off the walls of the cave. “Are you trying to prove something by threatening John like that? And for what reason?”

Kirk made a scowl, he immediately released his grip on John’s coat. “This isn’t about me… It’s about him,” Kirk shot a look at John’s face. “He has black hair, dark eyes, then claims to be able to use [Heal], and now he used a spell that he’s never done before, without chanting might I add, to the degree where normal humans are not able to do so. Even when he wandered off and came back with the mission sphere, I thought nothing, but now I see him use such strong magic. I just…”

“…”

“You are being unreasonable.”

After that, the team spoke not another word, Bran proceeded to lead everyone a good distance beneath ground before they set camp. Kirk had decided that he would abandon his cooking duties for the day and left to his room to reflect on what he did earlier, leaving Cacti to pick up his duties.

Meal time went without much talk between the five of them, with Aurelius still on alert ever since what Kirk’s outburst, it was hard for even Bran, the leader of Team Rectiser to discuss their plans for tomorrow.

“…”

Clink, clank.

The occasional knocking of the utensils resounded in their ears as they ate awkwardly, sensing the atmosphere, John had finished his meal faster than usual, he hastily gotten up to leave the others.

“…I’d like to a-apologize for Kirk!” Cacti’s voice squeaked out as John stood to his feet. “I didn’t know what to say… But I am sorry, Kirk has always been like that, but today he went a bit too far. Especially after you used scent magic to mask us from the eternal decays.”

John shrugged, giving her a wry smile to ease Cacti’s worries. He wanted to snap back at Kirk for grabbing his coat out of nowhere earlier, but when he saw how furious Aurelius had become, he became more worried about what the beastkin would do to Kirk instead.

“It’s fine, I am aware that I look like people from the Eastern Continent, so he must be suspicious of that. My family told me that something like this might happen, so I didn’t take it to heart.”

Back when they were alive, of course. Miros did say I might encounter things like these, and its not like I was that welcomed back in A’vetheas. And I am not sure if the scent magic works, so don’t thank me yet.

“John, about tomorrow, do you think you can still do fine against the eternal decays? If not, we can postpone—”

John swat a hand at the air in front of him, “Nah, I’ll still use my magic on Kirk, don’t worry. I’m more worried about Aurelius though…” he said, casting a glance at Aurelius who was chomping down his food like the greedy wolf he is.

“What?” the wolfkin asked.

“Just let what happened earlier go, alright? I appreciate your concern, but it can’t be helped that I look suspicious to Kirk.”

Having almost half my life living in A’vetheas, even if that incident didn’t happen, I probably would still be an outcast to a certain degree.

Be it by outer appearances or his personality alone. John was certain that he had always been an oddball in most situations, it was not that he sought to defy social norms or break the status quo, it just happened that he was somewhat self-aware and wanted to do things according to his own pace.

That and he had an innately destructive personality…

Still, he never had ill will towards anyone in particular.

“…”

“That’s a yes, Aurelius?” John said once more, looking at his comrade in the eye.

The beastkin reluctantly nodded.

“Thanks.” John uttered before he left the table.

In a mansion located 50 kilometers from Registoria’s borders, a family of three dined in delight.

Their abode was as luxurious and as grand as Dezarith’s noblility, but despite having such riches and grandiose furniture, like their 12-meter long dinner table that could host twenty guests at once with more room to spare, this family of three chose to dine on a humble roundtable that located at the very end of their dining hall.

And as such, the couple and their young daughter who was no more than six, enjoyed their nightly meal whilst taking in the tranquil night.

Zondrac…” the wife caressed the daughter with her slender fingers as she spoke to her husband. “I can’t help but worry for Lady Ephinelyth, she has not spoke a word nor left the guest room since you’ve brought her in…”

Zondrac nodded, the maiden with silver hair, after failing to convince her most beloved to leave Dezarith Empire have become depressed, to the point where she no longer took her food—not that she needs it anyways, considering she was an Elder Dragon, her energy reserves would very well last her until the next year.

But as her servant, as someone who she had intervened to save his life, and as someone who views Ephinelyth as similar to his own flesh and blood, like his own child beside him, he too was concerned about her mental state.

“I tried speaking to her while she had more…’energy’ in her but…” Zondrac stopped and pulled up his left arm sleeve, revealing a huge chunk of raw flesh that has still yet to recover. “You know the rest. This was just from me overseeing her passing judgement onto the ‘Empress’ a few days ago. Of course…after that, she stopped her activities and became how she is now.”

His wife looked to him, their eyes shared the same weight for unable to do a thing for their benefactor.

While trying to process her sadness and self-loathing after John Sarvod’s refusal to accept her in his life, in her repressed anger Ephinelyth had hunted and tracked down thirty-one criminals, condoning them a fitting end for the sins that they have committed, using the streets of Dezarith Empire as her sporting ground.

And as her servant, Zondrac accompanied the Elder Dragon as she enacted punishment onto those scum. But there was this one time that Ephinelyth had gotten too engrossed with punishing the criminals she targeted, in her overly zealous attempts she accidentally involved herself far too much and went for the source of the sins that ran rampant in Registoria. Doing what what her parents had warned her against, to not involve herself too much with the events of the mortal world.

With Zondrac accompanying her, Ephinelyth, in her heart broken state, had went and punished the Immortal Empress, the witch that was cultivate the mass of evil that sitrred in Dezarith Empire.

Though she had the restraint to not completely erase the Demon Lord of Ruin, she might as well inadvertently done so had Zondrac not caught up in her power, with the wyvern himself receiving a wound the in the process.

Zondrac did not particularly mind the flesh wound on his forearm, since the wound would recover in time, but the act of accidentally scraping him had finally caused her to cease her reckless acts of acting on her emotions of wanting to seek a resolution for John’s rejection towards her.

And perhaps, perhaps, Zondrac’s injuries was a perfect coincidence, for if him getting hurt from Ephinelyth’s actions had not stopped the young Elder Dragon from what she was doing, she might have not come to her senses and realize her crusade against the evils of the empire was an aimless manifestation of the emptiness that was in her heart.

And perhaps, it was a blessing that the Dezarith Empire received that day from his injuries. For if Ephinelyth could not soothe the woes in her heart by extinguishing the Demon Lord of Ruin of the Empire, perhaps, nothing would stop her from laying her fury on the lands of the mortals.

“Lady Synthia would be proud that Lady Ephinelyth lives up to her title very own title of Sliver Maiden of Judgement.”

“I preferred it if she were more behaving...of her age. I rather see Lady Ephinelyth not having involve herself in politics or the like. Understanding she was acting on her emotions for John Sarvod, still, there are much better ways for her to soothe her aching heart,” Zondrac spoke, fully wished that Ephinelyth would get herself together.

He had only caught and heard brief moments of what Ephinelyth was like when she was around John, those were the few moments he felt that the mind reading dragon was able to truly enjoy herself. Her gentleness, the lady that hid behind the Elder Dragon, her earnest self, all of it she showed only to John, and only to John.

Now that such a future for Ephinelyth was lost to her, Zondrac could not feel but a sense of unease in the knowledge that he might never see her having such precious moments of Ephinelyth anymore.

“Though, I wonder what did she foresee in Ephinelyth after her own passing, with the whole ordeal about Lady Ephinelyth’s destiny and such. With Lord Kaizhast’s rite to ascension and her very own, I cannot fathom to imagine what lurks in the mind of—” she stopped when she felt a light tug on her modest dress. “Yes, Mizzy?”

The little girl, Mizzy had stopped eating and looked at her mother with a curious expression, “Is Lady Evie sad? Everytime I try to speak to her, she gives me a smile and tells me to not be bothered by her, she even apologized. Wy does she apologizes to me when she did no wrong?”

The woman lifted her child and place her by her lap, softly stroking her head as she spoke, “Lady Ephinelyth, as exceptional as she is, has a fragile heart, her kindness is a sign that she trusts you. Born with the ability to read minds, paired with her Elder Dragon lineage, she is not only selective when it comes to friends and close ones, she also is extremely perceptive. She must have not wanted you to worry about her.”

Zondrac look to the table, his eyes had become distant for being unable to think of a better way to help his master, Ephinelyth.

After a long minute of silence, he finally said to his wife, “Petunia, I know what she said about not contacting John Sarvod, but at this rate, if she continues to mope away her life, however impossible this would sound, but I am afraid that she might die of heartbreak. Perhaps I should go to search for him the very next day and bring him—”

Petunia shook her head, “That won’t work, she specifically told you to stay away from John’s life, she wanted to respect his wishes. At the same time…she has become so distressed from wanting to be by his side…”

“So we are in agreement that I should go and speak with John and shed light on Lady Ephinelyth’s situation,” Zondrac raised his brow.

To Zondrac, Ephinelyth was like Mizzy to him. A daugther.

He knew he was not exactly her guardian or even her servant until her parents’ departure from this world. Even so, he was thankful to Ephinelyth’s late parents, and have nothing but the best wishes for their offspring.

“Not quite…that would still be violating her given command to you. However, there is nothing stopping you from obtaining information about his whereabouts.” Petunia raised her eyebrow cheekily. “And should Lady Ephinelyth learn of anything about him, she would be tempted to break out of that shell of hers.”

“I see…” Zondrac nodded, intending to make it his duty while Ephinelyth locked herself away from everyone. “When should I tell her?”

Petunia replied with a pleasant smile, “You don’t. She’ll ask you for it.”

“And why do you think would she do that?”

“It was the same for me to you. We may be wyverns of the highest kind and do not come close to something like an Elder Dragon herself… But I’ll am certain how our girly hearts behaves are not all that different.”

Zondrac who had the looks of an elder gentleman—by his own choice—blushed slightly and turned away. “T-that is sly, but it will do for now.”

“Glad you understand, dear,” Petunia giggled. “If push comes to shove, Zondrac. I too, will find a way to lend Lady Ephinelyth a hand in the matters of her heart.