Book 1: Chapter 78: How Lone Appears and Confession
"Gilbert's going to be annoyed," Lone muttered in a chuckle.
Sophie nodded. "No doubt. Duke Henry Malik - the one we're concerned about - he's been hounding the guild day-in-day-out. According to the guildmaster that man also detected your outburst of MP when you... when you restored our eyes."
A concerned look spread across Lone's expression. "That's not ideal..."
He looked around the room for a moment and couldn't see the black sphere he used to relax himself. "Sophie, where's my orb?"
The girl frowned. "That thing is evil."
"No, it's magical. It's also calming for me. It helps me relax and think more clearly when I touch it," Lone protested.
Sophie furrowed her brows. "We do not like it. We regret even picking it up."
"Please, Sophie?" Lone had a pleading tone to his voice. "It hasn't hurt me, has it?"
Sophie got up and briskly walked over to a set of drawers. She reached into the topmost one and pulled out the black sphere after unwrapping it from one of Lone's shirts. "It hasn't hurt you yet."
She threw the thing at him as if disgusted by it. "It cannot enter your Dimensional Storage, and according to you and your experiments, only the living cannot do that. Something is sealed inside of that... thing."
"Okay, sure, valid theory, but what if it's a nice 'thing'?" Lone suggested with a challenging eyebrow.
"Then we shall give you the blowjobs you so dearly adore every single morning and evening without question for the rest of our life, regardless of our mood," Sophie said, deeply surprising and embarrassing Lone.
"Sound like a deal," he said after quickly collecting himself. 'Trust Sophie to be the one to mention something like that... She's definitely the lewder of the two even if she denies it...'
Sophie rolled her eyes. "We do not think it will kill you and we do not wish to argue on this much more. Soph is dying to take control. Just keep our warning in mind. It is a dangerous thing that we should not be meddling with."
"... I love you, Sophie, and I trust you... I just think you're wrong here," Lone admitted.
Sophie sighed. "We shall see. Perhaps you shall be unconscious again after all even despite your latest promise, hmm?"
She stood up and stretched her arms behind her back and said one final thing before shrinking her body and giving control to Soph. "The more promises you break, Lone, the less any following ones mean, regardless of your sincerity."
The look in her bright emerald eyes went from cold and disappointed to warm and vibrant. "Lone!"
Soph pounced onto his bed and flung her arms around his neck before she deeply pressed her face into his nape. "I was so worried..."
'... Sophie... She's right. I can't continue breaking my word... If I just keep making false promises and lying then how am I any different to that piece of shit dad of mine?' He knew that being a liar and a child abuser were two very different things, but that didn't stop him from drawing comparisons.
He shook his head then placed the black orb on the bedside table. He wrapped his arms around Soph and smiled kindly. "I told you, didn't I? I'd only be out for a few days. True, that was a guess, but it was right, wasn't it?"
Soph smiled as she lowered her hands to grab at Lone's fluffy limbs. "I know, but I can't help but worry about you when you look like you're in so much pain... Just to fix my eyes... I'm sorry for always causing trouble for you, Lone..."
That stung. Lone knew that Soph was being sincere and that she genuinely felt that way, but knowing that he was the one who kept letting her down and worrying her by falling unconscious so often made him feel a pang of immense guilt in his heart.
He smiled wryly then said, "You're never a burden, Soph. I keep telling you that... and to stop saying sorry when you don't need to."
Soph peeled off of him for a moment and smiled softly. "Sor- Um... Habit?"
"Haha." Lone slowly and gently held Soph's cheek in his hand as he stared into her eyes. "Jade Stars of The North... You're beautiful, Soph. Considering how much MP they cost, I think you might have special eyes or something. Well, beyond how pretty they are."
Soph was embarrassed but it made her happy to be so directly praised by the man whom she loved. "I... I don't know if they're special or not... Um... Y-You're very handsome..."
Lone was briefly stunned before he recalled that until now, while she could technically see, all Mana Sensing gave her were outlines of things and people shaped blobs of differently coloured mana. "You're damn-right I am. Becoming a foxkin made me incredibly sexy, I'll have you know."
Soph giggled. "Your hair is pretty. Your tails look soft and fluffy. Your skin is so pale yet so full of life. Your eyes are as bright as the sun... You look just how I imagined you would and even more... I... I know it's wrong since you were in so much pain, but, um, I-I'm really thankful that you gave me back my vision... I finally got to truly look at you..."
"All of the time I spent working on it was kind of wasted since I just decided to say 'fuck it' and follow my gut, but hey, I'm super glad it all worked out," Lone laughed. "Well, besides me having a mini-coma and getting my MP sealed for a bit over a year."
Soph's face dropped. "W-What? T-That long? But before it's only ever been a few days..." She felt horrible. "Magic means so much to you..."
Lone smiled wryly. "I love magic, true, but I love you more. You being happy makes it all worth it. I needed to work on my physical combat skills and battle prowess anyway, now I have the perfect excuse."
Soph still wasn't feeling better. "M-Maybe there's a way to lower the seal time?"
Lone scratched his head and chuckled. "I hope so, but don't stress over it. It's not the end of the world. Now I know a bit more about how my Creation Magic works, you have your eyes back, and I gained a bunch of skill level-ups."
'Soph, ask him about our eyes. He called them 'Jade Stars of The North'. We feel there is significance in that... Oh. I never noticed. I, uh, sure, I will,' Soph responded tersely to Sophie.
"Lone, uh, are my eyes special?" she asked. "Sophie wanted me to ask about them since you called them 'Jade Stars of The North'."
"Huh?" Lone was a bit surprised. "Uh, I thought you'd know. That's what the system called them, not me. I was just copying it. They aren't sharingan, are they? I'd rather not have to die for them to awaken, haha."
"What's a sharingan?" Soph asked as she tilted her head.
Lone laughed softly. "The hallmark of a brooding bitch. Nothing special. Treat it as a joke," he said. 'Though I certainly wouldn't mind a pair... I still have three more chances to select a unique skill. Something to think over, at least.'
Soph frowned in confusion. "Okay... Um, I don't know anything about my eyes. Maybe Sophie would know more? Oh, she just said she doesn't know anything..."
"Weird." Lone held his chin then said, "Well, we have a lifetime to figure it out."
Soph's cheeks turned pink upon noticing the deeper meaning to what Lone had said.
"Oh, you're finally awake," the voice of Gilbert said as the White Dragon walked into the room and closed the door behind himself.
Lone immediately avoided meeting his gaze with the guildmaster's. "Hi..."
Gilbert nodded. "So the troublemaker does know how to feel remorse. What a lucky day it is."
The good-looking man with more than three centuries of life experience pulled up a chair and stared rather piercingly at Lone. "So, we have a lot to talk about, Mister Multiple Unique Skills."
Lone smiled awkwardly. "Sophie told you about that, huh?"
"Yes, Sophie did," Gilbert answered while the girl herself remained quite.
Sophie took control of Soph for a moment then said, "We are going to go prepare some soup for you now that you're awake. Since you cannot use MP, creating food is no longer an option. We shall be back in an hour or two."
"Sure," Lone answered, though in truth, he'd rather she stayed to act as a shield against the grumpy old dragonkin.
'Is she shorter than I recall?' Gilbert asked himself. 'I must be more stressed out by that Malik bastard than I first thought...'
Silence reigned for a short while after Sophie had left. Finally, Lone said, "So, what do you want to know, exactly?"
"Are you really a Golden Foxkin?" was Gilbert's first and most critical question.
"... Yes?" Lone answered in a very unsure manner. "I mean, I think so? You already know that Sophie and I are 'summoned heroes', right?"
Gilbert nodded. "Indeed. That's the only way you'd have a unique skill, after all."
Lone smiled wryly. "Well, we're both humans from Earth. When we were brought here I was changed into a Golden Foxkin by some mysterious god."
"Earth?" Gilbert looked perplexed. "But only Milindo has the summoning ritual which pulls heroes from that planet... You weren't summoned by Milindo's royal family, correct?"
"Yeah, we weren't. It was some god or something. The whole process was fast and confusing. Before I knew it I was on Altros with golden hair and nine tails," Lone said as he laughed in a self-deprecating manner.
Gilbert stroked his goatee carefully. "God... Hmm... Is there a reason you aren't specifically saying it was the Primals? I know of no other beings that could be referred to as gods but them."
Lone shook his head. "I've never met a Primal, hell, I don't even know if they're real or not. The god sent me a message wishing me luck before we were sent to Altros, not when we were actually here."
"Haha, it would be a miracle to meet a Primal in this day and age," Gilbert claimed. "Still... I don't know if you've just been misled or if you genuinely were summoned to Altros by a being of equal standing to the Primals who resides in some unknown plane of existence or another world that's somehow linked to Altros. From my limited knowledge, Earth is a planet lacking in magic, is it not? I doubt such a world could support a god."
Lone nodded. "I really don't know anything. You know as much as I do." A short pause followed his words before he said, "Uh, is there anything else you want to know?"
Gilbert thought over the question for a bit before ultimately shaking his head. "No. I know enough. I'd rather not learn of any more world-shaking secrets, thank you very much. I'm a simple man who wishes to lead a simple life as a guildmaster of The Adventurer's Guild."
Lone laughed as he scratched his head. 'I should tell him about breaking my promise... He's been so kind to me and he isn't getting angry even though I wasn't born as a Golden Foxkin yet I'm still causing him so much trouble... He deserves to know that I broke his trust in me...'
"Hmm?" Gilbert raised an eyebrow. "Something on your mind, Son?"
"... Before I fell unconscious I, uh, I was sneaking out of the building with Sophie's help every now and then. She thinks I was going to the library, but I was actually using a small house I'd purchased to experiment on the corpses of those criminals that attacked us in the sewers. Uh, one of my unique powers lets me store non-living things in a separated space. I... I wanted to learn how to heal Sophie's eyes." Gilbert didn't say a word and just stared at Lone.
The foxkin gulped nervously before he continued. "Uh, I'm pretty sure she already told you about my Creation Magic, right? Well, it costs less MP the more I understand what I'm trying to create. I wanted to understand how eyes worked completely before I tried to restore her blindness."
Still, Gilbert didn't make a sound, only amplifying Lone's nervousness. "I was never caught or found out when I was doing this, but, I uh... I'd made you a promise, a promise which I broke... I'm sorry, Gilbert. I really truly am. I don't deserve your respect nor your kindness."
The White Dragonkin slowly stood up and reached his hand over. Lone instinctively closed his eyes, expecting a palm to strike his face like he was used to with his father. The strike never came, however.
"Uh..." Lone was surprised to feel Gilbert's hand on his head just... laying there.
Following a heavy sigh, Gilbert smiled. "You may think that you are an adult, but you are still a baby in my eyes. Would it be right of me to punish such a child when he has admitted his mistakes? You had good intentions, Son, and that goes a long way."
"... But I mutilated bodies. They may have been scum, but they were still people with fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, maybe even children of their own..." There was nothing but sadness and regret in Lone's tone.
Gilbert shook his head. "A body is a body. What is the difference if it is buried 6-feet under, burnt to ashes, or used to better a living person's life? Son, you did nothing wrong. Well, apart from breaking your promise to me."
The White Dragonkin rolled his palm into a fist and very lightly tapped Lone on the head with it. "Don't betray my trust again, Son. Do that and I might actually get angry."
Lone held his head down. He didn't know how to feel, what to say, what to think. He just went blank.
"Hahaha, anyway," Gilbert stretched his back and said, "That asshole Malik wants to see both you and Sophie. Particularly Sophie since he caught wind of her threatening his daughter last week. I'll be there with you when you meet him, so let's get this over with, okay?"
Lone slowly pulled himself together and forced a smile. "Uh, sure..."
On the other side of the door, Sophie had her back leaned against the wall with her lips pursed. "What an idiot."
She then strolled down the hall. The two would be expecting to see her in the kitchen making soup, after all, not eavesdropping on them, so to the kitchen she went.
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