Advent of the Three Calamities

Chapter 744: Announcement [1]

Pebble continued to fly in silence.

I sat on top of its back, the vast sky unfolding around me as the wind brushed against my skin. My hand stretched upward until it met the cool mist of the clouds, piercing through the soft veil.

The landscape beneath me shifted as the dragon flew.

From the forest to the mountains.

I saw everything.

The dragon eventually began to fly down, and a certain estate came into view as Pebble eventually made its way there.

The closer we came to the estate, the clearer the land beneath me became, and it was also then that I noticed the panicked faces on the workers and maids as they looked at the approaching dragon.

I could even hear the screams of a few from where I was.

Swoosh—!

With a flap of its wings, the dragon stopped mid-air. It then looked at me.

I sighed and forced myself up before jumping down towards the nearest balcony.

A certain orb appeared in my mind, and my body lightened up as I eventually landed on the balcony.

Thud—!

I groaned silently while turning to look behind me as a figure swooped down and transformed into a black cat.

Stopping by the wooden handrail, Pebble licked its paw.

Ignoring the cat, I moved closer to the handrail and looked down.

"...Sorry. It’s just me. Just came back from the Rite."

I waved at the workers and maids before heading inside the estate.

Sliding the window door open, I stepped into the room, the faint scent of freshly cleaned sheets clung to my nostrils as I stumbled my way toward the bed.

"Ah..."

My body was in pieces. A lot of the bleeding had stopped, but the pain was still there. Bones were broken, and I was completely exhausted.

’I don’t even know how long it’ll take for me to completely heal from all of this.’

I sighed.

I planned on thinking about it when I returned to the Evenus Household. For now, I was still in Azmonia, in the estate that was given to me by the Baron.

It was still not time for me to return to the territory. The main fight of the Rite was over, but there were still a lot of things that needed to be handled, like the transfer of the territories and personnel.

’I was quite impressed by the Captain. Although his skills weren’t much to take note of, his brain was what impressed me. The entire time, he was amongst the calmest and most patient ones.’

I had seen it all through the fifth level of emotive magic.

’In the end, it was a good decision to ask for him.’

He would prove to be a good asset for the future.

"...ukh!"

Holding onto my ribs, I groaned while shifting back a little on the bed.

Just as I was about to close my eyes, a certain voice filtered through the room.

"I take it that you managed to win the duel, human."

I paused, then turned my attention towards the window where a certain owl appeared.

I opened my mouth, but then closed it as I looked at the black cat sitting on one of the wooden furniture, quietly licking its paw.

It looked completely indifferent to Owl-Mighty’s presence. Almost as if it were too important to give the owl any attention.

’These two...’

Looking at the owl and seeing it look at me, I knew that it had been present the entire time watching. It most likely knew what had happened but was just pretending not to know.

Mainly because it didn’t want to give the cat the satisfaction that it wanted.

I sighed.

’They never change.’

"We won."

I mumbled, closing my eyes and letting the darkness take over my vision.

"...We won."

The world grew silent from there.

Before I knew it, I sank deep into my sleep.

The moment I did, I felt something stir within me. However, I was too tired to properly notice.

***

"...."

The room fell silent moments after Julien fell asleep.

A cat and an owl sat in silence while doing their own thing. Neither said a word as the soft breathing of the human quietly echoed throughout.

This silence persisted until, eventually, stopping itself, Pebble raised its head and mumbled, "Dumb tree, you saw it, right...?"

"....."

Owl-Mighty didn’t reply.

It just stared silently at the cat as it blankly stared towards the ceiling.

"...I flew today."

The cat paused.

"I was grand. I was big. I was majestic."

It praised itself with each word, and yet, the owl didn’t interrupt it this time. It allowed the cat to continue to praise itself.

For...

The cat deserved its praise.

But it wasn’t like the cat only deserved its praise now.

To Owl-Mighty...

The cat had always been worthy.

It just never said it.

"I was the sky. The sky was my territory. Nobody can hold the sky. Only I can."

And probably never planned on telling the cat its true thoughts as the owl slowly turned its head and moved away.

"...I am a dragon!"

A fine one.

***

"....."

I didn’t know how long had passed. By the time I woke up again, a lot of time seemed to have passed.

I wanted to get out of bed, but every part of me was in pieces. I was struggling to get out of bed.

It was as if every muscle in my body was locked into place, preventing me from moving at all.

’...Well, shit.’

It took me a total of ten minutes to finally feel a sense of my body again as I finally sat up.

Not without letting out a groan.

While I could handle pain, it wasn’t like it wasn’t uncomfortable. And since nobody was present, there was no need for me to ignore it.

"Oooof."

Helping myself off the bed, I staggered my way towards the bathroom, placing both hands against the sink as I stared at my own reflection.

My face was pale, and my eyes looked rather sunken. I looked like utter shit. In fact, I could even see a lot of bruises around my body. That and multiple deep cuts.

’Yeah, it’ll probably take quite a while for the injuries to heal.’

I sighed and opened the tap of the sink.

Shaaa—

As the water streamed down, I cupped my hands together and brought my face down.

Splash—

Washing my face, I raised my head to look at my reflection once more.

This time, a figure appeared behind me. With soft brown hair and green eyes, he stood behind me without much of an expression.

I calmly stared at the figure before he opened his mouth and spoke.

"Toren managed to absorb the blood, albeit not fully. It’ll be harder to get all the blood back now."

"...I figured as much."

I cupped my hands again and splashed my face once more.

Splash!

Feeling the cool sensation of the water, I felt a lot more refreshed.

"You figured? Are you saying you thought of the possibility of him absorbing our blood?"

"..."

I paused and looked directly at those emerald green eyes.

"Who am I?"

"Me."

"Who are you?"

"You."

"Then...?"

"You’re right."

A smile tugged at the figure behind me.

"There was always that possibility. Not taking it into consideration would be out of character."

"...Mhm."

I cupped my hands again and washed my face.

Taking a deep breath, I stared at the mirror once more.

"If he’s almost done absorbing the blood, do you figure he’ll come for me?"

"No, it’s unlikely."

"Why...?"

"Because he’ll never truly be able to absorb the blood. And..."

He paused, his gaze flickering in the mirror.

"...He’s reached the point where the Outer Beings will no longer leave him alone."

"Right."

I nodded, pulling my hands away from the sink and brushing my hair back.

"There’s no way they’ll leave him alone. He’s too predictable."

"...That’s right."

Walking out of the bathroom, I stumbled a couple of times before reaching the bed and taking out some clothes.

Biting my lips, I endured the pain while slowly getting changed.

Every part of my body was hurting. However, it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t function as I got dressed and calmly walked out of the room.

The moment I walked out, I was met with a series of looks as the maids froze in place at the sight of me. I paused, but then continued ahead and walked down the long flight of stairs that led to the first floor, where a couple of familiar figures greeted me.

"You’re awake...?"

Leon put the newspaper in his hand down as he sat on a red single-seat sofa.

I paused for a moment.

’I don’t know. This kind of seems normal, but at the same time doesn’t.’

Leon, the chair, and the newspaper... it just felt odd.

"You’ve been out for quite some time. I was wondering if you were going to wake up. I was about to go check myself."

"Oh..."

I was already aware of this.

But I didn’t really know how long I had slept. Surely it wouldn’t be too much, right?

"For how long did I sleep—"

"Three days."

Leon replied flatly while putting the newspaper to the side.

"You’ve slept for a total of three days."

"....."

I stared at Leon and tried to see if there were any shifts in his expression. However, seeing how serious he was, I understood that he wasn’t lying.

’Three days...?’

This was a lot longer than I originally anticipated. The fact that my body still hurt so much showed the extent of my injuries. Especially as a Tier 7 mage.

Leon’s expression turned strange as he looked at me.

"...I can also see that you’ve broken to the seventh tier."

He sighed, looking resigned as he mumbled, ’...and here I thought I had managed to catch up to you a little.’

He looked rather disappointed.

I shrugged.

"Get yourself a will and help them evolve. You’ll also experience the same thing."

"I know. I’m looking into it."

Leon dismissed me with his hand before looking towards the stairs and then checking the time.

"Hmm."

His eyes narrowed briefly. Noticing his reaction, I cocked my head.

"What’s wrong?"

"Well..." Leon pinched the middle of his brow before looking at the stairs again.

"Evelyn and Kiera are taking forever to get changed."

"Get changed...?"

For what?

"Oh? You didn’t know?"

Leon adjusted his suit.

"The last part of the Rite is about to begin. Not only that, but apparently a big announcement is about to be made."

A big announcement...?

I paused for a moment before my eyes suddenly widened.

Wait, it couldn’t be!?