CHAPTER 131
THE CONFESSION
“Darn it! Why is everyone so keen on seeing me fly?” Hans yelled as he plummeted from the height. Resisting the wind slapping his cheeks, he lifted to take a good look at his dropper/ “Well, Considering what I did, this is a rather mild punishment from an extremely angry mother.” He landed sprouting the beanstalk to support his descent. Looking upwards mid-air, he mumbled, “Professor Aredhel.”
Not entertaining anything, still simmering with fury from the recent incident, Aredhel didn't hold back her emotions like usual and confronted him directly, “I'm holding back a lot, so you better come up with a damn good reason, or I swear to the World Tree, you won't be able to eat through your hands.”
“Ugh, not again, Just how many explanations do I have to give, when I have no freaking clue what happened,” Hans whispered to himself. Seeing him mutter, Aredhel's fist clenched, yet she managed to control her anger as she declared, “You promised me her safety. You gave me your word—”
“Yeah, but for that to actualise, she has to listen, Not off doing frivolous things, avoiding me…” Hans paused mid-sentence, realizing his words were coming out all wrong. “What am I even saying? I shouldn't have pulled that repro...thing. I don't have a hold on my tongue." He took a long breath and arranged his thoughts once again, "Think before you talk, Hans. She's a mother, and you've hurt her daughter badly. Plus, she's a Warlock, a damn Warlock. This could turn ugly in an instant.”
Yet, witnessing his hesitance further fueled the fire within Aredhel's mind. “Is this all?” she pressed on, her tone heavy, “You did this just because of jealousy.”
"Why does everyone keep throwing around that word?" he thought, not responding, "Who exactly am I supposed to be jealous of, Allynna—"
The ground beneath him trembled slightly, a Warlock was unconsciously declaring territory, and that made him snap out of his thoughts. “I’m giving you the last chance, here,” Aredhel warned sternly, her voice echoing the whole place, “You don’t know how much I am holding back. One more word of nonsense and I promise you to give twice as much Deli has received.”
“Just tell her stupid, or she’ll definitely see her threat through," he scolded himself, pulling out the pendant he wore. "Do you recognize this?" he inquired, extending it to her and having seen the useless pendant numerous times, she verified, "Isn't that the ceremonial junk worn by the heirs of the Elven royalty?"
“No, it's much more than that.” Hans denied, shaking his head as he explained, “This is a wind gem, A tempest one in your language, one of the highest quality, carefully hidden and almost undetectable, but not from me —”
“What does it have to do with you beating my daughter —”
"Stop thinking like a distressed mother and start thinking like a Warlock," Hans interjected, pressing, "Why did Xandor attack Clandor? Why did he nearly kill the Clandorian Princess? Can you not piece it together after seeing this?" He raised the pendant and continued, "It's all because of this object."
"Don't beat around the bush; my patience has its limits, Parvian."
"Haa, so now she's calling me a Parvian," he sighed, remarking, “I warned Deli not to stay close to that princess, but she just wouldn’t listen. I had to separate them, but I couldn’t. So, I ended up saving the Elven princess from those pursuing this gem. It happened so frequently in the past month that I've lost count," he paused, correcting, "Alright, maybe that's an exaggeration. It was three, or four at most."
"Then you should have reported it —”
“Why would I?” he genuinely inquired, "What obligation did I have to protect her? I was merely intervening because those idiots were only targeting her when she was with Deli," he stated, indicating her with a gesture, underscoring his point, "I remained true to my promise —"
“Just for that petty reason. You let someone be in danger.”
“Petty.” he exclaimed, his irritation evident, "Fine, whatever. That's how I operate, Professor. And you appear to forget who that princess is to me. I might not have any hard feelings against her but I certainly do not share a soft spot for a child whose parents killed mine. Why in the world
would I involve myself with her?" he retorted in response to Aredhel's statement. And seeing her staying silent, he added, “Xandor charged at elves with everything he got just to obtain this thing” he pointed at the pendant once more and asked, “What guarantee you can give that he won’t do the same here? And since I believed Deli to be my friend, I came up with a way to get this thing out of her vicinity. That was what the duel is for… but.. but things escalated."
Aredhel's silence heightened Hans's unease, prompting him to muster his final defence. “If you'd rather have your daughter meet Xandor because of safeguarding the elven princess over some broken bones, be my guest, here I am, do your worst.”He paused to gauge her reaction, “But if you are not, ask your daughter to take things seriously. I wasn’t kidding when I said the world is changing. You probably understood why Eclipse is taking these drastic measures. They are probably collecting mana gems for the things you are thinking of now.”
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She still remained silent so Hans kept up his rambling, “What do you think will happen when Xandor wields the world's most powerful weapon? do you think that her hee hee haa haa will help her survive?”
Her emotions that were always hidden kept showing up after the incident and The rage on her face transformed into a mix of concern and apprehension, which somewhat eased Hans's anxiety. After a deep breath, he added, "So, if you're not planning to give me a beating, I suggest you leave."
Hans waited until Aredhel flew away. “You did it, Hans, you wiggled out. Now, let's head back... but where in the world am I?" he muttered as he surveyed his surroundings, his frustration growing towards Aredhel for leaving him in the middle of nowhere on this remote island within Floatlands. And It took him nearly a day to make his way back to the Midlands. "Well, I should count my lucky stars that she is letting me go with just this. But Walter must be getting furious. He asked me to show up first thing after breakfast, but I skipped the whole day. ”
LATER THAT NIGHT
Returning very late, Hans even skipped dinner on his way back to the Midlands. Finally reaching his cosy bed, a knock on his door disrupted his attempt to rest. "Who's there?" he called out, somewhat irritated. "Open up, dear brother. The Lady wishes to speak with you."
“This day couldn't possibly get any worse... Stop it, don't jinx it. That saying only makes things worse." Sighing, he got out of his bed and reluctantly opened the door. "Fine, let's just get this over with." As they walked, Vanessa inquired about how he planned to fix the situation, adding a tease in the mix, “I also heard you also screwed off the Count, I mean dean of knights.”
"Yeah, I must have been out of my mind at that moment. This big mouth of mine..."
"Just apologize. He won't hold it against you if you do."
"Are we talking about the same person? Grandpa can be quite petty and he holds onto grudges like a girl —”
“If you know this, then you shouldn’t have sent a GIRL to the infirmary, dear brother.”
Realising where she was going through with this, Hans responded, “I’ll see it when I cross that bridge sis. But tell me, was Grandpa really angry?" He sounded concerned, and Vanessa shook her head. He managed to put a small smile on his face, only for it to vanish when she added, "No, but the Lady was in quite a foul mood."
"Oh, damn, this is worse than I thought. I shouldn't have let those words slip," Hans sank in his thoughts, “I should tell her what I think, even my speculations, who cares if they are right or wrong.” Lost in his thoughts, he hardly realized when they arrived at the dean's quarters. He still wasn't mentally prepared to face them, continually reshaping the words he intended to say. Yet, when he looked up, he found Sierra and Rudolf staring at him with unyielding expressions.
"Regardless of your reasons," Sierra's voice carried a stern note, "The first step you should take is to kneel and apologize to her, Hans."
“I can’t do that grandma. I won’t apologise.”
"You do understand that you were in the wrong, don't you?" she asked, restraining herself.
"Yes," Hans admitted, "but that doesn't mean I'm responsible for her loss. If she had put her training first instead. She could have won like always. I won fair and square.”
“I have told you before,” Sierra stood up, “The wounds caused by your ManaStorm are akin to poisoning. It infuses mixed mana into wounds. Even with my healing abilities, she'll need at least a week to recover. You were aware of this, yet you still used it against her. She's your friend, Hans."
Initially, Hans had thought whatever she’d throw at him, he would just receive it but things are taking turns for bad and when she mentioned ‘friend’. The word triggered Hans in a wrong way and he started his rambling. “Friend you say. Eclipse was hounding her and she didn’t even have an idea. Red demons keep breaking the barrier, people are after my head, I have so much to deal with it and that friend of mine doesn’t care any of those things. I need strong people who I can count on Grandma.” he continued to vent, the pages Arat had revealed resurfacing vividly in his mind.
Even if he did not believe those words, the mention of Rudolf and Sierra's deaths on them had deeply unsettled him. Even now, when he first came here, all he saw was the words actualising before his eyes, Sierra dying, Rudolf wailing, he just couldn't take it and the dam he held broke easily. He had so many things on his plate, so he burst out, “I don’t need weaklings, if she wanna be the normal girl, she is welcomed to do so, but not around me.”
However, to Sierra, those words sounded like their child has lost trust in their strength. A small child like him who should have enjoyed his younger days playing worry-free, was now worrying for his safety, their backs become unreliable to him. She recalled the events, Xandor confronting him, assassination, drifting into the frozen tooth, then a sudden attack. She became bitter, she called him here to scold but no words came out of her mouth. Rudolf also calmed down realising what his wife was thinking. and how Hans was feeling right now, but he still chided Hans, correcting that he was breaking Sierra’s heart.
But that had no effect on Hans since everything was falling on deaf ears. He was staring at him blankly, his mind filled with images of Rudolf lying wounded on the ground, lifeless eyes staring into nothingness. A pang of sorrow struck him once more. He explained again what he had mentioned to Aredhel – the wind gem hanging around his neck, his speculative theory about the Ring of Chaos being reforged by Xandor's hands.
“Hand over the gem,” Rudolf asked, not intending to hear a No for an answer, but Hans responded in a way that no one in the room could think. “No," He denied, taking a few steps back, "You’ll get yourself killed.”
“Is your confidence that low on your old man?”
“Gramps just stay there, I’ll take care of everything. Just stay there with grandma, alright?” He didn’t realise that his eyes were crying, silently releasing all the piled-up emotions, startling both Rudolf and Sierra. “Is this his father talking,” Sierra whispered to Rudolf, and he nodded silently, replying, “Yes that was something Sam had said once.”
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