Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 682: I See

’Friends, huh?’ Asher thought to himself as he sat calmly, his mind fixed on the Prince’s last question. Asher wasn’t dumb; he knew the Prince hadn’t asked the question for nothing, he knew the boy seemed to want to become his friend.

His thoughts shifted to the time within the cafeteria after the Star Academy entrance exams; at the time, there seemed to be a little bit of tension between him and the Prince, as the Prince seemed to be speaking as though he was targeting him. After that was the spar he had with the Prince.

’Well, whatever,’ Asher thought to himself; he wasn’t bothered about being friends with the Prince, he didn’t have any issue or grudge against the guy, if they ended up becoming friends, sure, no problem.

As Asher was seated within his living room, drinking his juice calmly, another knocking sound echoed through the room; his hand and body froze in motion at the sound, he sighed, wondering who it was this time around, after all, he had just finished dealing with the Royal Twins, and they had barely left an hour ago.

’Sigh, this is getting tiring, I might have to ignore the next knock,’ Asher thought to himself with a sigh, but at the same time, his thoughts shifted towards William and Finch, as they were the only ones who ever knocked on his door.

Asher walked towards the door and pulled it open with calm ease, and there stood a man who matched Asher in height, his eyes black, matching the colour of his hair; at his waist hung a sabre, as the man stood with his hands behind his back.

It was the Ninth Sun; Thalric Wargrave.

The moment Asher’s purple eyes fell on Thalric, he froze for a moment, surprised to the core, after all, he had guessed it was either William or Finch, never guessing it was his own older brother. It left him more surprised than the Royal Twins’ visitation, an unexpected presence that subtly disrupted his otherwise quiet morning.

’What is he doing here?’ Asher thought to himself.

"Brother..." Asher managed to speak, his voice carrying the stunned tone he felt.

"Aren’t you going to let me in, Ash?" Thalric asked with a calm faint smile on his face as he stared at Asher’s face, his eyes shifting to the rapier hanging on Asher’s waist for a moment before he stopped looking at it.

"Ahhh... I’m sorry, I was lost in thought for a second, please come in," Asher spoke as he stepped aside, gesturing Thalric to walk in.

Thalric stepped in without any form of hesitation, his eyes dancing around Asher’s room as though to judge what kind of man he was, whether he was a person who kept his living environment clean, or whether he had become a pig now that he didn’t have access to a Wargrave maid, his silent observation carrying a quiet scrutiny.

"You must be surprised to see me," Thalric spoke as he walked past the room, stepping into the living room, his eyes falling on the wines, juice, and glasses that Asher had used to entertain the Royal Twins, taking in the scene with a calm, unreadable gaze.

"I won’t lie, you are the last person I expected to show up here. Father has a higher chance of knocking than you, Thalric," Asher replied without missing a beat, his tone steady and unfiltered.

"Why would I be the last person to come to mind?" Thalric asked as he sat on one of the couches, his posture relaxed yet composed.

"Let’s just say because of our history together," Asher replied, although Thalric seemed to have changed, Asher wasn’t uncomfortable talking about the bullying that had happened in the past, his words carrying a quiet honesty.

Thalric stayed silent for a moment as though not expecting such a truthful response from Asher, he broke eye contact with Asher as his black eyes shifted towards the drinks and glasses on the table once again as he spoke.

"It seems you had some visitors," he asked as he calmly shifted the direction of their discussion, as though he was too embarrassed to talk about the past, as though he didn’t want to acknowledge the person he once was, choosing instead to move forward.

Asher stayed silent, recognising Thalric’s deflection, but Asher said nothing about it, not pushing; Thalric had only asked a question, and he had replied, it wasn’t that he, Asher, personally wanted to revisit the past anyway, leaving the matter untouched.

"Yeah, about an hour ago, Prince Vaelric and Princess Vaelra were here," Asher replied after a moment of silence.

Thalric didn’t need to ask what the Royal Twins were doing in Asher’s room, he could already guess; besides, even if he couldn’t guess, he wouldn’t bother himself asking, as he couldn’t care less about those two, whom he had only met once, and that was almost three months back during the Star Academy orientation, rendering them largely irrelevant in his mind.

"I see," Thalric stated with an indifferent tone.

"So, why are you here, brother? To ask questions like the Royal Twins?" Asher asked as he immediately got to the point, his gaze fixed on Thalric.

"Not exactly, but that’s one of my secondary reasons for being here, and not the primary reason," Thalric answered calmly, as his own drink, an alcoholic beverage, appeared in his hand from his space ring, materialising effortlessly.

He moved his hand towards Asher’s table, and the next moment his Decay ability activated, as the wines, juice, and glasses on the table were immediately erased in totality, reduced to nothingness under the power of Decay, leaving no trace behind. He set the bottle of his alcohol down after pouring himself a glass.

Asher stared at his vanishing bottles of drinks and said nothing, he simply shifted his gaze to Thalric as he asked, "And what is your primary reason?"

Thalric paused for a moment, his eyes shifting from his glass as he spoke, "Of course, you," his tone calm, "I wanted to know if you are fine; after all, in a battle of such power scaling, you are nothing but a nano fish trying to swim with whales," his words truthful, as he had indeed come here with the main purpose of checking up on his younger brother, his concern hidden beneath a composed exterior.

"And Elder Brother Malrik, or Father, isn’t your primary concern?" Asher asked, after all, to the Royal Twins, their father’s state of existence was their primary concern.

Thalric shook his head as he spoke, "I possess absolute trust in Father’s power, although I’ve never seen him in battle, but even if he were going to die or become critically injured, then the rumors wouldn’t be about the Wargraves waging war against the Imperial family, but about the Empire being wiped out," his words confident, as though he personally knew how deep their father’s power went.

Asher shook his head and said nothing more, although he recognised how overpowered Azaron was, he seemed to be the one with the least understanding of the man’s power, a subtle irony that did not escape him.

With that, Asher proceeded to tell Thalric what had happened, and Thalric took it all in without a single change of expression or shock, all he ever said was, "I see!!!" and nothing else, as though the events failed to stir any significant reaction within him.

"Although I would like to return to the Territory, I can’t, I have some training to do; after all, I’m on the verge of a breakthrough," Thalric replied, unbothered by the entire fiasco and news, since Asher was okay, there was nothing to worry about, according to him.

"Congratulations in advance, then," Asher replied.

"Thank you," Thalric spoke, his eyes shifting to the juice in Asher’s hand as he continued, "You are a man now, try alcohol every once in a while," he suggested.

Asher simply nodded, not taking the suggestion seriously, as he simply wasn’t an alcohol kind of person.

With that, Thalric rose to his feet as he spoke, "I will be taking my leave then, Ash," his voice calm.

With that, Asher led him towards the door; Thalric paused there for a second and spoke, "There was an interesting mission I saw on the mission list, you can take the mission, as I’m sure you might love it."

With that, he stepped out completely, the door snapping shut behind him. Asher stood silent for a moment, then shook his head, he wasn’t even a bit curious about the mission Thalric had spoken about, whenever he was ready after his days of resting, he would head to the Logistics and Missions Operation Hall, and if the mission wasn’t available anymore, then whatever, as it made little difference to him at the moment.

’I hope no one comes again,’ Asher thought to himself as he walked to his bed, sighing in an exhausted tone as he lay there, as though tired from dealing with just two visitors, his body finally easing into rest.

’I hope that wasn’t a jinx,’ he mused to himself, ’otherwise, who will knock next, Cindralis?’ he closed his eyes with a faint smile as he wanted to simply sleep, since he had nothing else to do, allowing the quiet to settle once more.

_____

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Before you curse this author to the death, I only decided to type one Chapter today while enjoying and relaxing for the rest of the day, since it’s basically the end of the month and I’ve been typing bulk Chapters back to back without rest.

So, another announcement: the Bonus Chapter feature is back online. On my Discord server, I have a Ko-fi there; each $100 donation gains readers two bonus Chapters.

And as for those who want to stick to Super Gifts and don’t want to do Ko-fi, a Magic Castle is one bonus Chapter, a Spacecraft is two bonus Chapters, and a Golden Gachapon is three bonus Chapters. This will begin immediately after ReadNovelFull’s monthly rest, which is in a few hours.

I only stopped the Bonus Chapter feature for the month of April because of the bulk Chapters I was typing daily. I didn’t want to collect readers’ money and not meet up, don’t want to be accused of it, best to just halt it at the time.

And again, thank you for all the support and love I received this month. Love y’all.

Discord Link in my profile or novel synopsis.