Chapter 49: Ocean God
Click!
The only movement came when the door to the room opened from the outside.
Edgar quickly took a step back, and Hera did the same a second later.
They both looked up at the door, which swung fully open, and a mature man came into view.
Clan Leader Theo, with streaks of white hair, had a rather calm expression.
Though, his eyes quickly narrowed when he noticed the awkwardness in the room.
His gaze shifted toward the covered cauldron in the middle and the batches of ingredients.
The old man put his hand on the hilt of the sword strapped around his waist.
Turning his head toward Edgar, he said, "...Why are you not practicing the blueprint?"
Without waiting for his answer, Theo looked at his daughter with his emerald eyes.
"And I asked you to leave him alone, didn’t I?"
"I couldn’t hold back my curiosity about builders," she said, lowering her head. "I am sorry for overstepping my boundary."
The formal tone and her body language clearly hurt Theo, yet all he did was reply sternly.
"My instructions are always to keep you safe."
Edgar’s lips twitched slightly. ’Why are you acting like I am going to eat your daughter?’
Getting no reply from his daughter, Theo turned his head toward Edgar.
"Would you like to have a chat with me?" he asked.
Edgar nodded. "Sure."
Theo nodded and walked out, waiting for him outside.
Edgar put down the leaves in his hand and looked at Hera, who had her eyes on him.
"I will sneak in next time," she whispered with a blooming smile. "We will continue our class later."
’Is this her rebel phase?’
Edgar shook his head and walked toward the door. Once Theo noticed his presence, he began to walk out of the castle.
The blonde followed him without a word, still wondering what he had to say.
When the soldiers tried to follow them, Theo simply gestured for them to stop.
Edgar had sent Andrew to buy supplies, so he wasn’t with them either.
In less than a few minutes, they reached the outer area.
Theo rested both hands behind his back as he slowly walked along the Fortress Wall.
"Ever since she was a child, Hera was weak," he said quietly. "When she was an infant, everyone said she wouldn’t live long."
After a slight pause, he continued emotionally,
"...The only reason she lived was because her mother always healed her."
Edgar couldn’t hide his surprise. "Her mother also had healing powers?"
"Yes." The old man nodded without looking back. "It was strange indeed. No power in this world is transferred to offspring, but hers did."
Since arriving in this world, it was one of the questions Edgar had found the answer to through Oswald.
Even though passing down powers through bloodlines was possible, only mythical Nightmares and families that practiced incest could do it.
’Theo doesn’t look like either of them.’
The blonde boy voiced his doubt aloud. "How did Hera’s mother get her powers then?"
Theo paused and turned to look at the land outside the wall.
An ambivalent smile appeared on his face, which was rather absurd.
"My wife, Hansha, said she got her powers from the Ocean God Phorcys," Theo said. "She claimed they were bestowed upon her by an immortal jellyfish."
’Ocean God? Immortal jellyfish?’
Edgar found his words rather absurd, and he didn’t hide it either.
But thinking about his own predicament... a person from another world... an immortal jellyfish didn’t sound that absurd anymore.
"Hansha lost her family in a Nightmare Tide along with her entire city on her eighteenth birthday," Theo mumbled, remembering the old times. "That was when I first met her as well."
’Eighteenth birthday...’
Edgar frowned and looked at the side profile of the old man.
He was looking ahead with a look of longing and nostalgia.
It was clear that he had dearly loved his wife and would have done anything for her.
"What happened to her?" Edgar asked after a while.
"She died," Theo said softly.
"One winter, Hera was on the verge of dying. Hansha kept healing her all night. Even though she saved her daughter, she couldn’t save herself."
"..."
Only then did Edgar understand the whole family dynamic of the Yamhad Clan.
A lot of things became clear to him, especially why Hera and Theo were always cold toward each other.
’He must partially blame his daughter for his wife’s death, and that’s why he is cold toward her.’
Theo slowly turned around and looked at Edgar with his sharp emerald eyes.
"Hera is a special child," he spoke calmly.
"Many people are after her, from the Northern Clan, which wants to use my daughter as an experiment, to my own builder, who wants to use her for power."
His gaze remained on Edgar without a hint of coldness. "...And you are the same as them."
"..."
Edgar neither denied it nor said anything in his defense.
In all honesty, he was really fascinated by her powers and abilities.
A part of him wanted to know more about her and use her power for his own needs.
"My daughter is not a plaything," Theo continued in the same cold manner.
"Think badly about her, and I will not hesitate to cut you open."
Edgar met Theo’s gaze without looking away. "...Fair enough."
Theo narrowed his eyes and began walking along the patrol path of the outer Fortress Wall once again.
"I do have one doubt though," Edgar said, walking behind him. "Can Hera heal Nightmares as well?"
"...I don’t know," Theo replied honestly. "I have never let her anywhere close to a Nightmare."
"I see."
Edgar didn’t say anything else and silently walked behind him.
The two of them reached a section of the wall behind the enormous castle.
Theo pointed at the land outside and said calmly,
"This is where the ’Breeding Plant’ will be constructed."
Edgar looked at the land, which was filled with tall trees, thick bushes, and dense vegetation.
"...It will take some time to clear this place."
Theo suddenly smiled and replied, "It will not."
With a resonant click, he unsheathed his sword and raised it parallel to his face.
A white aura quickly coated the blade like a layer of wet cloth.
With a slight flick of his wrist, Theo swung his sword at an incredible speed.
WHOOSH!!
A crescent-shaped wave of white light shot forward.
It traveled silently for a brief moment before reaching the forest.
The next instant, hundreds of trees were sliced apart at once.
SHHHHHK!!
The cuts were so clean that the trunks remained standing for nearly two seconds.
The trees only fell one by one after Theo returned the sword to its sheath.
Walking past Edgar, he patted the young boy’s shoulder and continued on his way.
Edgar looked at the destruction Theo had caused and couldn’t help but grumble inwardly.
’...What a show-off.’