Chương 55: Chapter 54: Uncharted VOLUME 2 START

TARION"You even know my former name." Lea crossed her legs.

"Are you a reincarnator too?" I burst out laughing. The party fell silent as every search for the laughing man. Tears fell. I don't know if it's from happiness or fury.

"OH LANDS ABOVE! HEHEHE!" Lea's eyes darted to see if people were staring, and she whispered.

"What's so hilarious?" I pointed to the sky.

"Buncha playful bastards, ahahahaha!" I held my hand to Vanessa, told her I was okay with a silent gesture, and the party resumed. The woman who was supposed to reincarnate into my wife is now possessing my former evil fiancé!? How absurdly stupid! I swallowed the rest of my wine and poured more to drink.

"Sorry… about my outburst. Countess. Haru? Which should I call you…?"

"Countess Lea Trak is fine. I have become as she has become me. If you understand." I truly did understand, but I never knew someone else could. I threw away that notion on the first night of meeting Vanessa. Made peace with it. With my 'solitude'. I had been lonely for a long time before this. I thought I could get used to it, and I did. But here she came. Such a cruel joke.

"And you can call me Tarion. Or Your Grace." I winked, which made her giggle.

"So… How long?" Haru sat back in her chair cross-legged, with a chalice of wine in her hand. I offered some from a bottle, and she accepted.

"Give or take ten years."

"Gracious! A very long time without Korean food or proper toilets." I widen my voice and point.

"You! The toilet paper!" Lea just nodded as she sipped her wine.

"It was an issue I had to solve despite the whole manufacturing process taking years to complete."

"I could kneel to you if I could! But that would cause a national controversy."

"Hehe, it was just one of the little projects I worked on to make this world more hospitable for me. Just selfishness… What about you? How long on Gaia?"

"A month before the blizzard soo..." I counted in my mind.

"Six months."

"Only six months?! Never been told you were reserved, have you?"

"Not a single time," I smirked. I put all my points into intelligence and delved deeper into her words.

"Ten years, though… Sheesh, you have been patient. Don't think I can wait that long without making a drastic change. Bloody hell… The first thing I did was a massive change."

"The blizzard. Yes. That was a failure." A… failure? Lea Trak continued.

"If Veil was supposedly involved in the blizzard, then why did he appear in this timeline?" I paused, unable to answer.

"Because something occurred in the previous timeline that made him backtrack and end up working with the saint," Lea spoke about a story that involved her as it happened to a stranger. I think back. What big difference was there?

"Fuck… Jen…"

"Jennifer Walters. The saint's best friend. Died in the blizzard, attacked by monsters that were after the saint. The amount of grief and sorrow he saw from his crush's wound changed him, making him do whatever it took to make it better." I was blown away. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Through all this, he never once harmed Jen, just as he never 'harmed' Vanessa. I felt my brow sweat, my heart starting to pound. I squeezed my fingers in my hands. Mouve…

"It was all my fault… the massacres. The innocent lost…" Lea Trak pushed her chair close.

"You cannot blame yourself for not seeing the unpredictable movements of fate. Look over there, Tarion." I lift my laden head and look over to a merry group of women.

"Because of you, friends can smile together in the happiest moments. Veil sacrificed lives time and time again, and you only responded as you know how. By fighting back. Veil deserves the blame for his own actions." He didn't get half of what he deserved… Not even close.

"Thank you, Lea." She nodded, looking into the crowd.

"You plan to go to the deep ice, don't you?" I turn to her.

"Yes…" I placed my chalice down.

"How would you gain access to Hallaut?" Lea asked.

"I was planning a truce. A share of land and technology, and to help them expand into the deep ice."

"Never thought of you as a pacifist." Lea finger-tapped on her chalice.

"I am not," I replied.

"I seek the best option, and peace is best when dealing with the Shaved. With Vanessa awakened, we could see if we could stop the Shaved from being possessed to begin with."

"Good plan." I beamed at her compliment.

"You would have succeeded… as we did." Regression it is… Fuck… That spells bad news.

"H-Lea…" Gears turn in my head.

"What changed from your timeline?" I shook my head.

"No… what happened in your timeline? Why did you regress?" Lea bit her black-lipsticked lips, her chalice barely hiding her anger. Uncrossing her legs, the short lady walked meekly to the balcony edge overlooking the city. I followed her, resting my arms on the balustrade. I saw a spark of flint and a cigar lit in her mouth. She took a huge huff of her product, and the tension fell off her. I waited for her to tell me on her own."

"In Korea, do they have the term 'do not get hooked on your own supply'?" Lea blew out a stinky mist of smoke. She only replied with a smile. She offered me a huff of the sweet tobacco and refused.

"I deal with the world as it is." She brought the cigar to her lips.

"How pretentious," and softly chuckled.

"Sorry, in my past life, smoking was a 'no-go'." I tensed my biceps jokingly.

"My body needed to be optimal at all times. Ready for a fight." My grip on the balustrade tightened with memories flowing in my mind.

"A 'fight'?" The gods chose a brawler for a romance manwha?" Lea's words picked at my origins. I felt I needed not hide it for her, for I knew hers too well.

"They chose a soldier," and an eye turned on the smoking countess.

"A killer." Lea flicked off the ash of her cigar in thought. I spoke again.

"Tell me what you can. Remember, you are not alone in this anymore." As if she were looking for reassurance, she looked at the starry night where the moon illuminated the top of the clouds.

"You asked what has changed. Everything has. Throw everything you knew about the story away; we sail uncharted seas now." Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Sounds exciting." I grinned, trying to lighten the mood, but she glared at me with the same demeaning dark eyes as when we were kids. But unlike when we were young, I do not back down.

"Say it, Countess." Pursuing malnourished lips, she finally spoke.

"Ibis is gone." I straightened; my smile dropped.

"What do you mean 'gone'?"

"Vanished. Disappeared. Only a massive cavern where his cage was." Confused, I continued asking questions.

"How do you even know?" Lea replied, "When you offer gifts and sought-after products that nobles have a hard time getting access to the deep ice becomes straightforward. With a group of four hundred of their elite, I travelled the long road to the cage and saw the hole with my two eyes." Enhanced INT made my mind rush through the information. I came to a quick understanding.

"Someone came with you. Someone else regressed and found the cage." Lea doesn't respond, looking out into the city.

"The Liu states. Do you remember it being embroiled in so much turmoil that refugees are coming over in droves?" I tried to remember and saw nothing.

"No."

"For generations, the Azerrians, the Je, and the Tekish followed the Order. The Southern states, although independent, bent the knee to Friedland or, rather, endured Menne's rule of Vestir, despite them giving little help during droughts and famine."

"Now they're kicking out every priest," I continued.

"Replacing every church with a new pagan religion, praising being called the heavenly one."

"They are not just kicking priests out. They are exterminating them. Killing any they find. Hanged, decapitated, pulled by horses, some are burnt alive..."

"What! How is this… I had not heard…"

"My Riverward contact brings me news when he can, but any gossip of the murders is quickly sniped before it can spread. Complete censorship." I sighed. I needed a drink badly. Remembering the Mouve priest, I held my sympathy for the priests, but this is also evidence of something dangerous brewing.

"I know the truth. The truth about the origin of the power." Countess Trak watched me for a second.

"It is connected. Everything is. These new apostles will preach that the power is stolen because it is. They will say that it is a power built on the lives of many innocents, and they tell lies. They will say the order of the celestials is a den of evil..." I found a clean handkerchief in a pocket and gave it to the teary-eyed lady.

"What did they do to you…?" I asked Haru.

"The same thing they did to the other saint before me. USED ME… Used me as a power station, a vessel to give the church's sycophants the power of a deity from exposure to my blood and ceremony.

"Rune Pentagram!" My mind flipped at such a revelation. Vanessa? A power bank"And the prince…!?" Lea pulled a huge drag from her cigar. A quarter of it was left. Fingers trembled as she kept a serious face.

"You don't know how happy I was when I saw how Vanessa smiled when she talked about you. As long as it wasn't him, everything was fine." Her hatred of the prince leaked like an overpressurised pipe.

"True love… Something… I still fear. Loving someone is the greatest thing in the universe. However, loving the wrong person… Worse than any hell." Lea faced me directly, trying to assume an intimidating posture despite her short height and skinny frame.

"I do not care for what you were in the past. Become a good man for Vanessa. A man of honour who will do right by her. This is not a game. It's not a story where nothing matters. She is not an NPC to control and manipulate but a full-blooded human full of thought and feelings."

"I know…"

"Do you? The way you move about, it's as if you think the world was meant for you. A playground. A toy to enjoy."

"I don't," I told a half-truth.

"I am simply here because this world needs me. Osberg needs me. Despite it all being a facade. The true gods sought me, and I will fulfil my purpose."

"... You're really a soldier…" I looked deep into her dark brown eyes.

"I swear on my soul. Vanessa will be cared for. She will be loved." Lea Trak turned back to the city coated by the moonlight, took one last huff, and threw the butt of the cigar over the balcony.

"Lea, will you help train her?" I asked the countess.

"Train her?" She chuckled in a haughty, noble way.

"She is stronger than I was after a few months, and she has only had the power for a few days. What YOU are doing, continue it." I heard music start behind me, and I almost rushed to Vanessa's side.

"This was a very illuminating chat, but I must bid adieu. I must have this first dance." I bowed as a noble should to a lady, but a small hand held me back with surprising strength.

"From now on, don't be careless. Wait for my say. We must proceed with this with certainty." I looked at the hand and the woman it belonged to.

"Don't be careless?" I repeated the woman's silly words. But I smiled. Squinting eyes are hiding my mild frustration.

"Sure, I will not be careless. And as our benefactor, I will heed your advice."

"Good." She let me go.

"And if I find your advice disagreeable…" I asked. I caught her with that question. I bowed again.

"I hope the rest of your evening will be enjoyable. We shall discuss more," and I skipped ahead, finding my wife waiting on the dance floor. I twirled her around; her lovely laugh warmed my tight chest. All my worries dashed in the wind like they never mattered at all. An NPC? I would never think of her as such… DRAC Ventus closed the balcony door.

"It all makes sense now…" Lea nearly jumped out of her shimmering dresses that left little to the imagination. She relaxed as she recognised me.

"So this is where you've been hiding!" I appeared from the shadows, my blade still stunk of iron from delivering the duke's enemies their endings. She turned to me with a lovely smile that belonged on her face.

"When you first asked for my service, I thought you were a mad little rich girl. But you were more unique than I realised." The sadness she carried fell off like melting snow. An overjoyed countess ran to me and gave me a big, loving hug.

"Good evening, Lea." I returned the hug lightly.

"Hello, Drac, or should I say…Kwaaba." I flinched. She shouldn't know that name.

"I see… You knew me. From before… You are like him. Was I of use to you? Is that why you sought me?" The smile grew.

"One of the reasons. Does your scar still itch?" Before I knew it, she was already close. She reached up to my mask. I let her be. Face is full view, my hood down, I felt vulnerable as she touched my cross mark.

"Every day." Her cold hand felt like an ice pack on my poorly healed scar.

"The duke. How much does he pay for your services? More than me, I hope." I removed her hand from my face.

"He earned my services by saving my brother's life." She jerked like she was struck by lightning.

"Brother…?"

"It appears I didn't tell you much about myself." She hung her head.

"No…"

"He suffered from the curse. But he is completely cured thanks to the duke."

"The Duke? Not Vanessa?"

"Within his soul resided a great amount of holy mana. Ether, as Mages call it. With it transferred to my brother, he was quickly saved. To the church, this power is in their possession, and they hide it because of what? Ethnicity!? Lack of blue blood…!?" I calmed down this unusual anger. Lea's gentle hand helped me clear my mind of the fury that was boiling within me. I should pull my arm away. I resumed.

'Without the duke's 'carelessness', I would be grieving my brother. I can look forward to the future with him by my side."

"In your short acquaintance, he has made quite an impression on you," Lea said as the scent of her cigar wafted to me. Hints of medicinal herbs could be smelt.

"Watch him from up close, and he will make an impression on you too." Lea sighed.

"He is just a rampaging child."

"A rampaging child would kill his stepmother the first moment he realised. He would have killed his brother without delay. Realisation fell on her.

"Ah… Joshua…" Lea walked to the closed door of the balcony, watching the dancers spin. In the corner, a happy man sat beside knights of high regard.

"From a spoilt brat addicted to the brothels to a man of honour who protected his duchess with all his might." I pulled my mask down, and with my glove taken off, I took her chin and made her pretty face look at me.

"I heard it all, the challenges we face, and the war that's ahead, and yet I don't fear for my brother. I don't fear the future. Why?" I drew in close.

"Because a man like him leads us. So let him." Like caramel, she melts in my hands.

"I will… When I have assessed him." I relented with a laugh.

"Okay, boss. By the way, you look better… Healthier. I couldn't stop you from smoking, but I am glad you are eating well again."

"I am trying." Lea inched closer.

"But I will try harder if you cook for me again."

"I can." I don't shy away from her touch. I was certainly more than just a friend to this woman.

"However, the price is quite high. I am too busy to give up time for a spoilt princess." I feel the warmth of her ale-filled breath.

"I am willing to pay," she smirked. She makes me vulnerable. Open. Free. Free from judgement. Playing with braids while dancing within a cloaking spell. She smiled as if remembering a wonderful memory. What was I to her? A saviour? A conman? Nonetheless, I carried her down into the garden. Following her, she knew this place as if it were hers. She beckoned me to a quiet room. No guard in sight. Hiding from the prying eyes that would chastise us, we absorb each other's essence. In the cool room, we are a bonfire.