For a second, Rylan and Jason only stared at each other.
“What is that supposed to an?” Hayden asked from the side with an edge in his tone.
Jason looked at him with a calm grin.
“Isn’t it obvious? I’m saying I have a way out of the certain doom this kingdom is walking toward,” he replied steadily.
“So you’re a traitor, then?” Hayden replied, his tone much sharper as he took a step forward. Rylan didn’t raise his arm to stop him.
Jason only reacted by looking at Rylan, his expression unchanged.
“It would be best for you to advise your friend to calm down,” he stated.
“At least look at when you’re talking about ,” Hayden replied, his voice almost a growl. He took another step forward and reached out for the wand on his waist.
That was when Rylan put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, still keeping his eyes on Jason. Hayden turned to look at him before gritting his teeth and taking half a step back. His right hand had already grabbed his wand.
A few seconds went by in silence, as if the atmosphere had frozen. Rylan only stared at Jason, his mind racing.
“Think about your answer carefully,” Jason said with a smug grin. “Though I’m sure you’ll make the right decision.”
It was certainly true. This wasn’t the kind of situation where Rylan could say whatever was on his mind. He glanced at Amber. She was staring at Jason with a frown, looking genuinely caught off guard. It seed not even the Ceotha Kingdom’s richest businessn had a connection to the Empire. Thinking about how or why the Cousteau house had one was pointless. What mattered was that this situation was a very, very delicate one.
One wrong word and the Empire will hear about and my friends much earlier than I thought they would.
Jason clearly thought Rylan had the final say as to how this scenario would end. The young man had even disregarded Hayden’s hostility. That only ant that the responsibility on Rylan’s shoulders was even greater than it would have been if he had only needed to worry about himself. Rylan resisted the urge to frown as Jason furrowed his brow. Still, nobody said anything. More ti passed in complete silence.
“Keep in mind that all it takes is one word from for the Empire to know about you,” Jason slowly continued after a while, his eyes looking colder. “You already know what the right answer is. There’s only one faction to join here.”
This ti, Rylan frowned at the young man.
“Skipping straight to threats, are we?” Rylan asked in a steady tone.
Jason shrugged.
“I call it encouragent. I’m just making the consequences of not taking the hand you’re being offered clear.”
Rylan scoffed. It would seem that there was no use in thinking about the repercussions of his words anymore. From the mont Jason had played that card, there were only two possibilities: bend or break. Either Rylan joined his faction, or he would tell the Empire about him in great detail, putting everything Rylan was trying to protect at risk. At the sa ti, accepting Jason’s offer would an turning his back on the entire kingdom. The innocent populace, his master, his hotown, the dreams and freedom of hundreds of thousands of people. The Academy that had taken him in, the students who admired him, and the very kingdom he had been born in. But that wasn’t all.
Gerard still wanted to protect Cantavega, and Elizabeth wanted to move there to stay with him. Rylan still rembered Aelfric’s starry-eyed expression of awe when they had first arrived at the Royal Magic Academy, and how the boy had found a girl who liked him even before the tournant. Regis and Lillia still dread of becoming respected Mages and graduates from the kingdom’s top Magic Academy – Regis wanted to fight and grow in Dungeons, while Lillia wanted to work for the royal family. Sarah was most used to the environnt of Cantavega, and it had been a while since Rylan had last seen her, but they still exchanged letters, and he planned to go see her soon.
Turning his back on this kingdom wouldn’t just be a sin against its people. It would be the sa as giving up on everything his family stood for, from the dreams of his siblings to the things Gerard wanted to protect.
Rylan’s eyes grew gradually colder. The current Empire wasn’t trying to peacefully annex different kingdoms and principalities. It had fanned the flas of war throughout the entire continent for unknown reasons. Damian had told him of cities that had been razed to the ground, citizens who were captured and forced to go through horrendous experiences, families that were butchered and left to rot. War was one of the world’s most horrifying events, and right now, it was continuing to spread. Jason was telling him to let the kingdom burn to save himself.
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The die had been cast. Jason had said sothing he shouldn’t have, and now Rylan knew his entire livelihood was at stake. Roland’s mories were still painfully clear, including his regrets. No matter what, he couldn’t throw his family’s hopes and desires away.
There was no longer any aning in holding back.
Rylan fully let loose of his killing intent. It was as if the air itself had changed, and the world had beco darker. The killing intent from his past life, in which he had killed countless people and then countless more after that, hit everything around him in full. The colors dimd, and the air trembled. A chilling atmosphere spread out with him as its center for an unknown distance. In this dim world, only the edge of his sword and his wand remained clear.
Jason stumbled backward, only to fall down. He trembled in place, staring at Rylan like he was looking at a monster. With cold eyes, Rylan looked down at him.
“Never threaten again,” Rylan said slowly. It was as if his words were as dangerously sharp as a blade. “If you do, I will kill you. If soone from the Empire appears in this kingdom at all, I will kill you. And if you or any of your allies go after my family or friends, I will kill you. I swear.”
Jason continued to tremble on the ground as Rylan stared at him. His eyes gradually grew more unfocused. The mont he looked like he was about to pass out, Rylan withdrew his killing intent. The world regained its color, and the sunlight beca warm again. Rylan turned to look at the other people from Jason’s group, including the ordinary-looking young man with the icy eyes. He had intentionally diminished his killing intent’s pressure on them, but they were still looking at him with wide eyes, several ters further back from their original position.
“Drag him away,” Rylan ordered them.
The icy-eyed young man blinked, but the others only nodded like woodpeckers and ran to Jason’s side, grabbed him, and started dragging him back. The ordinary-looking young man gritted his teeth, threw a fearful stare at Rylan, and followed them. The sight of them scurrying away after Jason had made such grand threats was pitiful. Rylan turned to look at Amber. Her expression wasn’t much different from that of the others – absolute shock.
“Y-You,” she said, stuttering and stumbling over the following words she was trying to say. She tried again, only for the result to be the sa. It was only after several tries that she managed to speak clearly enough. “How many people have you killed?”
So she recognized what it was.
Rylan only looked at her with cold eyes, not replying. She blinked several tis before looking away.
“…I’ll rember your words. I’ll tell my faction to back off. We’ll also tell you if the Empire moves, based on our intelligence network. So, just don’t…”
Her voice faltered as she neared the end of her sentence, but Rylan still understood her aning. He nodded.
“I won’t, if you don’t give a good reason to. You can go now.”
Amber hurriedly nodded and started walking away, belatedly followed by the rest of her group. Her eyes were still fixed on Rylan, filled with a variety of emotions that spanned the sa greed from before as well as fear and caution. Rylan looked at the groups further back, on the upper rows of the stands. They were all staring at him with gaping mouths.
“It would be best if you guys went away, too,” Rylan said, much more softly than before. “Don’t get caught up in this.”
They all nodded almost at the sa ti and stood up, throwing one another glances. Soon, all the students who had co here representing their factions in an attempt to recruit him and his friends had left. Rylan turned around to face Jasmine and Hayden, who were staring at him. He could see pure respect in Hayden’s eyes, but also suspicion and so caution. Jasmine, on the other hand, seed to be feeling both fear and… sadness? Rylan blinked, a bit confused.
“…I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Jasmine suddenly said. “It must have been tough.”
Hayden nodded. Rylan blinked again before he realized what she was saying.
“I was born like this,” he hurriedly said. “I haven’t killed a lot of people or anything.”
At least not in this life.
“I have killed before, though,” Rylan completed.
Both Hayden and Jasmine let out a breath almost at the sa ti. Hayden smiled and wrapped his arm around Rylan’s shoulders.
“Yeah, I didn’t think you had truly done that, anyway,” he said. “But that was still a bit too much.”
The boy pointed at the rest of their class’s students and Alice, who were all staring straight at Rylan. Alice’s eyes were almost burning with the questions she certainly wanted to ask, making Rylan sigh. He found Aelfric among the crowd. The boy was smiling softly at him. Once he noticed Rylan’s gaze, he nodded calmly. Luna was hiding behind him. Rylan threw him a bitter smile.
“I would have waited for your explanation even if you had,” Jasmine said softly from the side as she stepped closer to him. He grinned at her.
“Thank you, Jasmine.”
She nodded, keeping her eyes on his face and looking as if she was entranced. He raised an eyebrow, which seed to snap her out of her daze. She looked away. Rylan smiled and shook his head, then started walking in the direction of the rest of the class, followed by his two friends. His heart, however, was heavy.
This is not looking good.
It was unknown how long his threat would hold Jason back, especially because of Ceotha’s connection to the Kingdom of Mar. It was likely that Mages from the Empire would eventually end up in this kingdom, but now, it could happen much sooner than later. A few words from Jason and his contact on the Empire would grow much more aware of the situation in Ceotha. If before this connection only existed for the sake of the Cousteau house, it could now be used as a weapon.
Trying to keep his smile, Rylan approached the large group and got closer to Aelfric, ignoring Alice’s burning stare.
“We need to talk, don’t we?” Aelfric asked, looking a bit concerned but still calm.
Rylan nodded.
“Tonight, at the dorms.”
Aelfric nodded back and glanced over his shoulder at Luna, who was still hiding behind him like a scared fawn and staring at Rylan.
“He’s still the sa as always,” Aelfric said softly.
She slowly nodded and took a deep breath before stepping out of his shadow. Rylan looked at the sky with a bitter smile.
I need to talk to Damian.
They needed to prepare as soon as possible.
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