Chapter 100: The Game Of Lies
’Mmmmm... who is that with him?’ Gabriel thought, maintaining a steady, exhausted pace down the dirt road as he watched Ian approaching with Sarah riding behind him. ’I sense mana radiating from her. Is she a Mage? Tsk... things just got really difficult, mages are a pain.’
"You appear to be wearing the guard uniform of our family," Ian said with a serious look, pulling his horse to a halt. "Who are you? Where are you going at this hour? And who is that on your back?" Ian fired off a barrage of questions.
"Oooh... Young Master... I didn’t notice you there in the dark," The guard said, making sure his hands were visibly shaking as he gave Ian a light, respectful bow.
"Stop with the pleasantries and answer my questions," Ian demanded coldly.
"Well, first of all, my name is Gabriel Ederson, and this here is Freddie," he said smoothly. "You see, Young Master, the estate was suddenly attacked by assassins. Lady Caroline, the us guards, and my friend here... we fought to the bitter end. We miraculously managed to drive all the intruders back."
"My mother?!" Ian gasped, his eyes widening. "Is she okay?! What about my sisters?!"
"They are completely fine. Your mother was the one who fought the most fiercely against the intruders," Gabriel assured him.
"My mother actually fought?!"
"Yes... the Lady was incredibly strong. Who would have ever guessed that she was a Fourth-Stage Aura user, and an absolute monster at that?" Gabriel said.
’What?! A Fourth-Stage?!’ Ian was genuinely shocked. ’Mother was that strong all along?! I guess this perfectly explains why she was so hesitant about completely switching from Aura to my System’s cultivation methods!’ Ian thought.
’He seems genuinely shocked about it too. Did he really not know that his own mother was that strong? It seems that woman hid her strength incredibly well if even her own son is shocked,’ Gabriel analyzed internally.
"As to answer your other question, Young Master... as you can clearly see, my friend here and I are severely injured," Gabriel continued, his voice trembling with faked emotion. "I thought that if we just waited at the ruined estate for a doctor, who knows how long it would have taken. So I took matters into my own hands. I am desperately trying to get to the closest city to find a Mage or a Priest who could heal me and my friend here," he added, forcing a few tears to roll down his dirt-stained cheeks.
"I see..." Ian said slowly, his eyes shifting. "Sarah, can you maybe heal them?"
"Yeah, I can take a look. But for you, who lost your arm... I’m not powerful enough to restore severed limbs," Sarah said, sliding down from her horse.
"It’s alright, Miss. Even I know that kind of miracle is only achieved by a Holy Saint or a very powerful high-tier Mage," Gabriel said, carefully setting the unconscious Freddie down in the dirt.
"You may have to bear with this pain for a moment," Sarah warned, gently holding Freddie’s cold hand. She closed her eyes and started injecting her mana into his broken body.
"Mmmmmm...." Freddie suddenly started gritting his teeth, sweating fast as Sarah’s mana flooded his internal organs.
"You were incredibly lucky you found us on the road. Because if you had waited any longer at the estate, he would have been completely dead by tomorrow morning with all these massive internal injuries," Sarah diagnosed seriously.
"Are his injuries really that bad?" Ian asked.
"Bad? This is worse. It’s an absolute miracle he is still alive right now," she said.
’It’s not a miracle, you damn brat. I secretly gave this old guy my only healing potion. That is exactly why he hasn’t died yet,’ Gabriel thought bitterly. "Then... can you heal him?" he asked aloud, feigning deep, desperate concern.
"I can at least heal his smaller internal injuries, but these massive ruptures will need an experienced healer," Sarah explained, stepping back.
"I see... then how much do I owe you for this?" Gabriel suddenly asked, quickly grabbing a leather pouch of coins from his waist. ’Please refuse... please refuse... please refuse,’ he prayed internally, holding the pouch out with a humble, grateful look.
"No... keep your money," Sarah said with a warm smile. "You will need it when you reach the city. Expert Mages there cost a lot."
"Thank you, My Lady... really... thank you so much," he said, bowing his head.
"It’s okay, okay there is no need for all that. I’m just glad I can be of help." After Sarah said that she then began her incantation of healing immediately and while this was happening Gabriel went to Ian.
"Young Master, really... thank you. Now this old guy can live out the rest of his life happily with his grandchildren," Gabriel said, turning to give Ian another deep bow.
"From now on, my absolute loyalty to the Thorne family will never waver! Once we are fully healed, I will totally come back to the estate and—"
"There is no need for all of that," Ian interrupted smoothly, a polite smile on his face. "I’m just glad that loyal, caring people like you are still working at our estate."
"I’m done..." Sarah exhaled, wiping a bead of sweat from her forehead. "Man, healing internal injuries is really hard work."
"How is he?" Gabriel quickly asked.
"I just extended his time to live by a few days. As I said before, he needs an experienced healer," Sarah reiterated.
"It’s alright. You did your absolute best," Gabriel said gratefully. He reached down, carefully picking Freddie up and slinging the old man back over his remaining shoulder.
"I see you don’t have a horse..." Ian noted casually.
"Oooh... that... well, you see, during the attack, some of the servants completely panicked and stole the horses to escape into the woods. There were absolutely no horses left in the stables, so I had to walk all the way here," Gabriel lied flawlessly.
"You are truly a great friend, Gabriel. A shining example to all the guards in our estate. Even I wouldn’t go so far on foot just for one colleague," Ian said, his polite smile never wavering. "I will remember your name very well."
"Yeah... even I am deeply touched by your actions," Sarah said warmly.
"Thank you, really," Gabriel nodded. ’Man, these noble kids talk way too much, can’t they leave already.’
"Here, you can take this horse. I hope it makes your journey to the city much faster," Ian said, generously pointing to the horse Sarah had been riding.
"Thank you, Young Master!" Gabriel said, bowing again with a wide, grateful smile.
"No problem. Let’s meet again after everything is fully over, and I hope your friend will survive this predicament," Ian said.
Sarah quickly climbed up onto the back of Ian’s horse, wrapping her arms around his waist, and they rode off into the darkness toward the estate.
Gabriel stood in the dirt road, watching them ride away. A twisted, crazy smile slowly formed on his face.
"Wow... these brats sure are something else. Giving their enemy a free horse and free healing! They really don’t have any experience with how truly ugly this world is..." he mocked under his breath as he hauled Freddie up and climbed onto the stolen horse.
’Man, I really didn’t think those strict lessons about staying perfectly calm and acting out a persona in any given situation would actually come in handy today,’ he thought, sighing in relief.
’Now, what the hell should I do with you?’ he thought, glancing back at Freddie slumped behind him on the saddle.
’If I bring him back to the Marquis, he will surely punish me for failing the main objective and exposing myself that fast but information on aura technique will save my skin atleast.’ He thought then he glanced at Freddie. ’Man should I ditch this oldman? No...no..no.. how long has it been?’ He thought while shaking his head
"I owe this old man a lot. He did save my life back then... even though he did it unintentionally," Gabriel murmured in a low voice into the dark woods.
"I didn’t do it unintentionally... cough... I actually saved your useless ass knowing exactly where you were standing," Freddie suddenly rasped in a low, weak voice, slowly fluttering his eyes open.
"Tsk... you are making it even harder for me to ditch you, old man," Gabriel smirked. "When did you even wake up?"
"Just now..." Freddie groaned, leaning his heavy head against Gabriel’s back. "And who would have ever guessed that the pathetic, snot-nosed kid who was bawling his eyes out back in the day... would grow up to be a more powerful Aura user than me, and even save my life?"
Freddie started chuckling weakly, which quickly turned into a painful, rattling coughing fit. "Life sure is full of surprises..." he wheezed before completely losing consciousness again.
"Tsk... did he begin to become sentimental with old age, or is he just trying to guilt-trip me so I help him get healed? Tsk, what a sneaky old man you are..." Gabriel muttered, spurring the horse forward.
...
Meanwhile, Ian and Sarah were rapidly closing the distance to the Thorne border estate.
"You did the thing, right?" Ian asked quietly, keeping his eyes fixed on the dark road ahead.
"Yeah. I hid the marker deep inside his body using a concealment spell. It can only be found if a Mage actively uses search magic directly on him," Sarah confirmed, holding onto his waist. "But why did you tell me to put a tracking marker on him?"
"Before I even spotted them in the dark, I felt a massive wave of murderous bloodlust emitting directly from that guy ’Gabriel’. But it vanished suddenly. I guess he sensed me at the exact same time I sensed him. But what made it so incredibly suspicious is that he was able to flawlessly suppress his bloodlust the moment he realized we were there. Only a highly experienced killer can hide their intent that perfectly on a whim. So, I knew something was up with him," Ian explained coldly.
’Just like that little assassin girl back on the road... she suppressed hers perfectly. Someone without lethal experience would always leak a tiny bit of killing intent, even if they tried to hide it,’ Ian thought, gripping the leather reins tighter.
’I didn’t notice it before, but since that fight with the orc and the simulation, my instincts are getting incredibly sensitive to these types of things.’
"Wait... if he was emitting that much bloodlust you are talking about, then shouldn’t he be extremely dangerous? That means everything he just told us was a lie!" Sarah realized, her eyes widening in panic.
"It could have gone both ways. Maybe he was emitting that much bloodlust just because he was terrified of being ambushed on the road and was being vigilant against wild beasts since beasts are also sensitive to bloodlust. It is, after all, the middle of the nig—"
Ian suddenly stopped talking mid-sentence and aggressively pulling the horse to a halt.
"What’s wrong? Why did you suddenly stop talk—" Sarah paused, her breath hitching in her throat as she looked past Ian’s shoulder and saw what he was staring at.
"What the... didn’t that guy just say they managed to defend this place?!" Sarah gasped.
The grand iron gates of the estate were completely shattered. The courtyard was bathed in moonlight, illuminating the horrific, bloody corpses of maids and guards scattered across the dirt and stone steps.
Ian suddenly leaped off the horse and sprinted straight inside the ruined gates.
"Hey! Hold on!!" Sarah yelled, desperately sliding off the horse and running after him.
’Mom... Emily... Emma... please,’ Ian prayed frantically, his heart hammering against his ribs as he sprinted through the broken front doors, leaping over the bodies of the staff he recognized.
The exact moment he burst into the main hall, his world completely stopped.
Emily was sitting slumped against the bottom of the staircase. David was kneeling beside her, desperately wrapping a thick white bandage around her head to cover the gaping, bloody hole where her left eye used to be. Her left arm was completely severed at the shoulder, heavily wrapped. Nearby, Ivory was quietly, busy piling up the dead bodies inside the estate with a complicated look.
"Ooh... if it isn’t my big brother. You look completely safe, at least," Emily rasped, turning her head. She forced a weak, smile that revealed a missing front tooth.
"Emily..." Ian choked out. Thick tears immediately started pouring down his face as he stared at his little sister.
"Ooh... you looking at this?" she joked weakly, lifting her bandaged shoulder stump slightly and pointing at her missing eye. "It’s really not much. A crazy old man just gave me this cool new customization in exchange for enduring his little science experiment," she laughed, though her face contorted in immense physical pain as she did.
Just hearing her try to joke about her experience made something violently twist and ache in Ian’s stomach. His deep sorrow instantly morphed into absolute, suffocating rage. He started gritting his teeth so hard his gums began to bleed.
"Hey... Ian...!" Sarah came running into the hall, breathing heavily.
"Ooh... you brought a pretty girl with you? You little horn dog... go out for a minute and you are bringing a girl home, it seems you are finally growing up," Emily smirked weakly, leaning her head back against the stairs.
When Sarah heard that, she suddenly blushed bright red. "It’s... it’s completely not what you think! I’m ju—"
Sarah suddenly froze mid-sentence. The moonlight from the shattered windows finally illuminated Emily’s mangled body.
"Oh my God..." Sarah gasped, violently covering her mouth in pure shock and horror as she stared at the missing arm and the bloody eye socket.
"You are completely shocked too, right?" Emily chuckled, looking at the ceiling.
"I know, I look totally awful now. No man is ever going to want to marry a scary girl with a missing eye and only one arm," she said, flashing a broken, heartbreaking smile.