Chapter 66: Awakening
"Welcome back young mistress, Adrian" Margaret stood at the door, somehow already waiting for them even though they teleported here without prior notice.
Something that confused even Adrian as it had never been explained in the manhwa either.
So he just ignored it and bowed to the head maid in acknowledgement before the two walked with her into the mansion.
"How’s the girl?" Renelle asked, referring to Isla since the child had been placed under her care.
"She’s a fast learner," Margaret replied, "but it seems she struggles with being separated from the boy for too long."
"I see," Renelle nodded as they continued forward before adding, "bring her to the training grounds."
"As you wish, young mistress," Margaret answered without questions and the walked in a different direction from the two.
Renelle and Adrian continued forward until they reached the back of the mansion where the training ground was.
A large open field with dummies here and there, and a short wooden fence surrounding it.
It was empty since the guards at the mansion only trained when they had free time.
"Are you sure you don’t want me to help?" Renelle suddenly asked with a small frown on her face.
"You are," Adrian answered, "you just have to make sure to interfere if things get out of hand."
Before she could argue, he added, "besides, we need someone to remain unaffected by her ability."
"Fine," Renelle finally gave up and stood beyond the fence while Adrian stood inside.
«This should be an interesting watch,» Noctis, who was calmly back in his spot on Adrian’s head, said.
"Something tells me that you’ll be able to handle this a lot easier than I can," Adrian muttered.
«I wonder,» the cat said in a tone that basically confirmed his thoughts, «but even if I could, this form has too much limitations and there’s only one way I can quickly deal with it as I am now.»
"And that is?" Adrian asked.
«By eating it,» it replied causing his eyes to twitch.
For some reason, his spirit was a damn glutton whenever it came to things that it wasn’t actually supposed to eat.
But he was curious, so he asked, "what happens when you eat it?"
«It ceases to exist,» Noctis replied, «it becomes nothing.»
"No," he denied, "we still might need her abilities in the future."
Stripping her of her abilities was definitely not an option, since that was the only reason he saved her in the first place.
«Then I guess you’ll handle it,» it said as it lay back down.
Renelle looked at the interaction between the two for a while before smiling and muttering, "you two really are compatible."
"Not like I had any other options," Adrian answered with a sigh, recalling that the previous Adrian couldn’t contract any spirit.
Or rather, all other spirits rejected him.
A few minutes after, Margaret arrived and just behind her was a girl with white hair and pale skin.
She looked a lot healthier than she previously was when they just arrived, but for some reason, she still seem to lack sleep.
"Thank you Margaret," Renelle said, "you may leave."
With a bow, the head maid left the training grounds, leaving Renelle, Adrian and the girl plus two spirits.
The girl, thirteen at most, looked at the two curiously, turning from Adrian to Renelle and then at their spirits.
"Isla?" Renelle gently called out, drawing the kid’s attention towards her.
"Hmm?" Isla answered looking at her.
"Do you mind standing close to Adrian for a second?" Renelle continued.
The girl seemed a bit confused, but she still followed the request and walked towards Adrian, stopping a small distance away from him.
Since they were both within the fence now, Adrian turned towards Renelle and said, "you can activate it."
After his words, she tapped what looked like a button at the side of the fence and a light rose from the center of the training ground, creating a barrier round it without going beyond the fence.
"This is?" Isla curiously asked as she watched the barrier being created.
"A barrier," Adrian answered, "it ensures there no mana leaks to the outside."
She nodded before turning back to him, waiting to see if he’d explain why.
"Isla," Adrian called calmly.
"Hm?"
"Do you trust me?"
The question caught her off guard.
She thought about it for a while, before saying, "although you’re scary, you’re the one that gave Conan and I a place to stay and warm food, so ...I think so."
"Good," Adrian nodded as adjusted his gloves slightly before continuing, "then I need you to do something for me."
She looked up at him with her eyes that were a swirling mix of colors that seemed to blend perfectly together, waiting for his request.
"That thing inside you," he added, his gaze locking onto hers, "the one you see in your nightmares."
Her pupils immediately shrank as she understood what he was referring to.
"I want you to let it out."
"No... it’s... it’s scary," Isla immediately shook her head, denying the request and closing her eyes as she placed both hands on her ears.
"Even if I said that I sold Conan to those men?" He said.
"H-huh?" Isla slowly opened her eyes to look at him.
"That’s right," Adrian added, "since he’s a dud that can’t contract any spirit, he was useless to me, so I sold him."
"Y-you’re lying," she stuttered out.
"Have you seen him around for the past two days?" He asked, looking directly into her eyes.
"B-but you told us—" she started, only to be cut off by him.
"I lied," he answered, looking at the aura rising around her, "I only saved you two because you have something interesting within you."
"He, on the other hand, is completely useless," Adrian added as he observed that the aura around her was rising by the second.
"He’ll probably have been sold to a different owner by —"
Before his words could be completed, he was interrupted by a shot from her.
"SHUT UP!!"
BOOM!
An invisible force erupted in every direction and Adrian was pushed back several meters, landing lightly as he looked at her.
She now looked completely different from before as her white hair had turned black and her previously colorful eyes had turned completely black.
But the greatest change was to the surrounding itself, as they now seemed to be standing in a completely empty void.
Isla slowly lifted her finger and pointed at him, and the next second,
SCHILK!!
Adrian’s eyes widened as he felt something piercing through his torso forcing him to slowly look down.
A large shadow spike had pierced cleanly through his stomach, exiting on the other end.
Cough!
He immediately let out a mouthful of blood as everything slowly faded to black.
The last thing he saw was Isla with her finger still extended towards him, before his consciousness fully faded.
***
Beep, Beep, Beep.
Adrian’s eyes snapped open, noticing a white ceiling above him with some lights above it.
"Huh?" He let out as he took in a familiar sight, but before he could fully understand what was going on.
SLAM!
A loud sound was heard towards his right causing him to turn, and at the doorway, he spotted a woman in pink scrubs.
She seemed to have been shocked and had dropped a tray containing a couple of metals and syringes.
The moment their eyes locked, she immediately snapped out of it and turned back.
"Get the doctor," Adrian heard her shout, "the patient’s finally awake."