For I Am A Side Character - 82: Returning from Barcili

After we were able to conquer the dungeon and made it our first ever successful raid put in record under the young merchant guild’s name, the family celebrated…

And they especially cheered for Jessica who did such a wonderful job against the boss of the dungeon.

And there…I saw it…and I felt envy.

The one thing I missed the most in this world was my family.

I miss my mom…and my dad…

And I can’t forgive myself that I died first before they did…

A parent shouldn’t watch their child inside a cold box…it should be the responsibility of the child and no one else…it should be his burden to carry the weight of a father’s body and bury it deep under the ground…it should be his responsibility to watch a mother’s smile, slowly drift into an eternal sleep…

So I hate myself that I wasn’t able to do those things as a son should…

Having to watch just how much Jessica was loved by her family made me feel envy towards her, but I wasn’t any less proud of her at all.

I could only smile as she felt the proud success of her achievements.

And after the celebration, the young family decided to end their vacation here in the island a few days later…

We spent a lot of time together after that. We played in the beach, spent the night watching over them as the adults drank a lot of alcohol all to a point that they all fell asleep by the shores of the ocean. It was a party that simply showed just how wild a person was with Alcohol on their hands…And after that, we went home.

I can see just how much fun we had in Barcili seeing as how tan I was under the sun.

The moment we docked on the pier, the family offered me to be sent home by the Family’s luxury car, and when we arrived, Jessica tried to invite me over to sleep in their place, but I declined.

“…Call me when you have the time okay?” she said as she looked over her car window.

“I will, Goodbye Jess.” I said as I pecked a kiss on her forehead, and as I waved her goodbye, I was finally on my own in front of my own home.

There, it felt like the entire house was untouched…but I couldn’t fool me.

Someone was inside, someone who I couldn’t recognize.

As I left my luggage down on the floor and approached the entrance, the moment I opened the door, I quickly pulled out my sword and started slowly searching around the entire place, looking for a hint of an intruder.

But before I could, my sword was suddenly snatched from my hand. Like that of a swift swipe, I barely felt a presence past by me and all that I could feel was the change of a scent that I could barely detect with my nose.

“!?”

The moment I smelled the change, I quickly activated my Enlightened Domain, but as I did, I felt a hand rest on my shoulder.

“!!”

I did what I could in the presence of my own training and quickly tried to escape the hand and make some space in my own home.

By pushing the hand away as well as my own body, I jumped to the stairs and quickly brought out my last remaining sword and pointed at the enemy’s direction. But as I did, I was shocked to find that the person who intruded into my home wasn’t just one man…but there was a pair of them.

The first intruder was wearing a darker set of the Shadow Garm set from the shadow house uniform…and the second man was wearing an entire leathered black coat that covered his body, and his face was put with a crow’s mask that made him look ominous. From their appearance alone, I quickly realized who these people were or at least, where they were from.

“…Hmm, you trained him well.” said the man wearing a crow’s mask.

“Not well enough, it seems.” said the man who was wearing a shadow garm set as he carried my sword on hand.

From his disappointed comment, he dropped my weapon on the floor and with it, the man wearing a crow’s mask also showed an endearing reaction as he fiddled with his leathered glove who I quickly noticed was drenched in blood.

‘.…Blood!?’

I was shocked to find blood on the gloves, and from it, I then started feeling a stinging pain on my shoulders.

Wondering why I was feeling this pain, I turned to my shoulder and was quickly surprised to find that a layer of my own flesh was ripped apart from my shoulders in a shape that resembled that of a palm’s grasp.

The man in the crow’s mask must have ripped my flesh off in the moment that I could barely process his movements.

“Don’t be alarmed Soril, we were only testing your skill.” said the man in the shadow garm set, where he then started to reveal his face by taking off his mask. From there, he showed his identity…and it was none other than Brother Cecil who’s gaze was rather cold as he stared into my direction.

“…B-brother?!”

“You’ve been away from the Dojo for some time now, I just wanted to test your abilities the moment you got back from Barcili.” he said.

“…” I was a bit speechless, for I was not prepared for this at all.

“And from the result of it all, I was right to be disappointed. In just a week’s time apart, your skill deteriorated to a degree where I was able to even snatch your weapon away. You should be ashamed.” he said.

“…I- I’m sorry brother.” I said I felt the shame of having to fail in front of my brother.

“Don’t be too rough on him, I was actually quite surprised on his reaction speed. To be able to react to my presence using his activation of his own enlightened domain at 0.1 seconds, he reacted well enough to even escape my grasp. I was hoping to rip his entire arm off, but he was fast enough to do well against an unannounced enemy.” said the man in the crows mask as he showed an ominous presence.

“Hmph, be that as it may, you abandoned your weapon, which means your grip has loosened. I will have to intensify your training yet again regarding this lacking grip of yours.” said Cecil as he sounded strict.

“I-I understand…” I said as I felt a bit ashamed.

“…Hmm, you must be wondering about the person beside me.” said Cecil as he could feel my own sense of curiosity towards the person next to him.

“I am.” I said.

“You must remember about back when I gave you your first mission, about a group named the Crow’s Coop.”

“Yes, I remember them. Does this mean that the man standing before me is one of the memebers of that group?” I asked.

“Yes, indeed I am. And not just that, but I am more than just a member of the Crow’s Coop, I am also…” from there, he took off his mask and revealed his identity to me. He showed his face…a face which simply took me by surprise.

“Y-you’re-!”

“I am the Head Principal of the Academy and the Leader of the information group of this Continent for the House of Shadows…Lionel Crufter.”

“…” I was speechless to find his presence here…the man who seemed just as ominous as that of a villain…the man who caused the maddening envy from the mad-mage who attacked the academy with his army of a thousand and more golems. He was in fact a part of an organization I did not expect to include.

“…You must have found this to be quite baffling boy, but do not worry. I am not an enemy. Although I may know more than most, I am an ally to humanity,  a part of the house of shadows making me one of your brothers… that I can guarantee.” he said as he gave a soft smile.

“You must have a lot of questions in mind, please, I implore you to ask me anything.” he said as he found my expression to be amusing.

“F-fine, then first I would like to ask your reason for being here in my home.” I asked.

“Hmm, well then, let me be direct. I came here before you for two reasons. One is to officially register you into the house of shadows as a disciple of the eleventh branch of the house of shadows and second is to give you a mission regarding the involvement of the next event for the academy.” he said.

“…Wait, so I’m not yet registered?” I asked.

“Not in an official sense. Although you are acknowledged to be part of the house, this information only ever reaches the eleventh branch and nothing else. No one other than your brother and your master knows of your involvement in the house of shadows. I’m here to finally spread the word of you joining the clan.” he said.

“I see…”

“And regarding your mission, the details will come once the academy break is over. Before that must happen, I must ask you to train even more…this mission involves a particular enemy that we are trained to fight…or more specifically, you are trained to fight.”

“Demons?” I asked.

“Indeed…once your mission starts, this will mark as your first ever hunt for a demon. Are you nervous?” he asked.

“No…” I said in a rather calm, but slightly uneasy tone.

“Is that so? Why is it that you are not nervous?…is it because you’ve faced with a demon before?” he asked as his tone shifted. As if his question were all meant to lead to this…

And from it, I was instantly pushed into an invisible corner filled with an eyeing pressure that made me feel ever so nervous.

“…” the question he asked made me feel an unknown weight on my shoulders…it made me nauseous.

“…There’s something I would like you to do. Something that would reveal to me all of my suspicions about you.”

“S-suspicions? What are you talking about?” I asked. And in my question, I turned to Cecil to find some kind of answer, but he looked to me the same way the principal did. Why was the head principal putting me in a corner as if to pressure me into a confession…did they found something about me? Was it about the fact that I killed a demon?! or was it something worse?

All of his questions leads to the fact that I was suspected to have killed a demon behind the clan’s back…and it was true. What now? What now if I confessed…?

“Release your dark element.” he said.

“…Why.” I asked…as soon enough, he then started threatening me by releasing a dangerous power from his palm. It must have been the same kind of power that was capable of ripping my flesh off with ease.

“You are suspected to have meet a demon in a certain abandoned factory who was now under the influence of the now-dissolved group known as the Red door Organization.”

“Wait…so the Red door was taken care of?!” I asked in surprised.

Cecil could only nod to affirm my curiosity, but soon after, Lionel Crufter then leaned his palm down on my face, making me feel a stinging sensation. Making me turn to him and not to Cecil.

“Khk-!”

“Do as I say boy…release your dark element.”

“I don’t understand?!”

“I guess he doesn’t know it yet, so fine I’ll explain it to you Soril.” said Cecil as he approached me while Lionel continued to hold me against a corner.

From there, he pulled out a small piece of concrete one could find at any construction site or ruin in the streets. Here, in this demonstration, I was still curious..but soon enough Cecil explained what that piece of concrete was.

“Soril, I won’t make it difficult for you. Magic isn’t really complicated as one would imagine. In some cases, one of the ways that a man is able to trace back a person’s magic essence is simply by following the tracks left behind in a battle ground. Its only natural that we leave these behind unless we know of a skill that destroys our magical essences from a fight.”

I know what he was implying…it was sort of a like how a scent works for a dog. And for capable hunters, they are able to trace this scent or magic essence and follow the target. Its hard to do, but if your instincts are a keen as theirs, its easy to find you.

“But these magic essences in the ground have an expiry date, and soon enough it will disappear the longer they stay in the air…maybe in a day or two, that magical essence will completely be untraceable…but not unless, you have an item for such a case.”

And there, he showed a vial of liquid that I was clueless about.

“The house has this item in storage for about a two decades now…it really helps with tracking a target even if he’s been gone for a month, maybe a year…but as long as we have a sample of his magical essence, no matter how far his gone, we can track that bastard like a spool of yarn tied to his leg. No one can escape this item..”

“…Now then, release your element.” said Lionel.

I fully understand it now, and I can’t escape the situation I’m currently placed in right now.

From there, I accepted my fate and used my dark element.

And not long after, the piece of concrete that was on the hands of Cecil started to react violently. It soon started oozing a misty dark substance similar to smoke…and soon enough, that smoke mended to my body.

It was at that point that made things clear…I was involved in the red door organization incident.

“So, you were there that day.” said Cecil as he looked with suspicious eyes.

“I was.” I said as I felt the weight on my shoulders loosen.

“…And the Demon?” asked Lionel.

“…I killed it.” I said with no sense of lie found on my tone.

“!?” Lionel was shocked ot hear this…but Cecil, Cecil remained with an unchanged reaction.

“Why didn’t you asked for help?” said Cecil.

“…because I didn’t know the situation would lead to something that bad.” I said.

“Tell us everything.” said Lionel.

And I did…

For about an hour, I simply said some things that seemed true enough.

That a boy named Jason Emory was out to find Juel Miller and his brother Miles Miller because they were targeted by the Red Door organization for the use of a cursed artifact. Knowing the situation, I helped but I told Cecil that I kept my identity hidden from Jason and the Miller brothers, so they don’t know that it was me who assisted in the situation.

I told them that the organization used two artifacts to bring out one high-ranked demon. And in the end, I had to fight it with my life on the line. With Jason by my side, we both fought the demon and killed it in the end.

After telling this, Lionel simply stayed quiet and whispered something into Cecil’s ear.

And as Cecil nodded from the words said from Lionel, it seems like everything was finally settled.

“From the looks of it, you were capable enough to go against a high-ranking demon. That much is an admirable feat, so it seems that I don’t have anything to worry about regarding your upcoming mission.”

“I’ll continue to train him, for now return to the academy, I got what I asked for. This ends our meeting.” said Cecil as his gaze turned cold.

“…understood.” as Lionel said this, he turned to me one last time and he smiled before leaving using the emmisary steps of a ghost.

“Now then, for lying to the family …I guess I have to punish you.”

“?”