Chapter 105 — In which families are complicated (3)

Vern knocked on the door disguised as a plain wall.

After a few seconds, the wall, or rather, the door opened and Sangria bowed his head in a greeting.

“Young Master. Congratulations.”

“Yes. Where is he?”

“Inside, but Young Master could wait a mom-…"

Vern passed Sangria, before the man could finish, and entered the secret room.

As much as Vern trusted Am, he also knew that rationally, Am wouldn’t be able to do anything else than solve intimidate problems and give first-aid.

Crimo wouldn’t be dying, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t hurt.

The sight that met Vern’s eyes, the moment he entered the room, confirmed his suspicions.

Crimo took off his outer-robe and uncovered bony arms.

Perhaps because of how pale his skin was, the bloody blisters appeared even more striking.

He was currently applying ointment with careful strokes, as if it was still hard to just touch the skin.

Hearing Vern enter, he looked up and as if he read something from Vern’s gaze, he hastily said:

“I’m okay.”

Vern raised one eyebrow, but didn’t answer that.

He sat down opposite of Crimo, crossed his arms and plainly asked:

“What happened?”

“An unexpected mystical art. That’s not important right now. How are you feeling?”

‘How am I feeling?’

Vern cocked his head at Crimo’s question, then silently turned his gaze to the blisters covering his arms.

The usually uncovered skin was intact, so Am probably was considerate and healed those areas somehow… though considering the rules of belief of the mystical arts, it begged more questions.

Still, thinking about overall situation, Vern’s feelings were rather ambiguous.

Crimo’s dropped his eyes and broke the silence with subdued whisper:

“Ah… Sorry, I should pay more attention…”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Vern blinked.

He had no idea what Crimo was talking about, but seeing his face filled with sadness and Sangria looking between the two of them with a hopeless look, it seemed that Vern made mistake.

‘What’s wrong?’

Vern tried to quickly find a problem, but he really had no idea.

If there was something akin to an equation he could apply here…

‘No, wait a moment. There is something.’

If he considered the events from Crimo’s perspective as an older brother…

If it was Saf or Am’s coming-of-age ceremony, and he got hurt during it… If they looked at him with a clear worry in their eyes, when they should be excited about becoming adults…

Vern licked his dry lips and shook his head.

“No. I’m happy.”

“Yes?”

“I’m happy. So don’t sulk.”

‘I’m happy that you’re safe. And that I got to see people I wished to see the most.’

Recalling those two facts, Vern was able to smile sincerely, even if that smile wasn’t that big.

Crimo looked at him a bit dumbfounded and then also smiled a little.

“Okay.”

Relief clearly bloomed in his eyes.

They spent a few seconds in a pleasant silence.

And then Vern clapped his hands and asked again:

“So what happened?”

But this time, instead of looking at Crimo, he turned to look at Sangria.

Sangria, flinched as if Vern’s earnest desire to hear about Am’s exploits that seemed to burn in his eyes.

“Ah, well, a clone suddenly came… and they had some sort of relic I believe, which hurt the Lord specifically… and then a guest came and took it away.”

Vern silently stared at Sangria, and Sangria turned his eyes away.

He seemed beyond embarrassed.

There were quite a few concerning points in this story, but Vern decided to concentrate on the most important one.

“A guest?”

“Mhm…”

Sangria just covered his face and mumbled something incomprehensible.

“Don’t mind Master Sangria. He had been acting like this since that event whenever I asked him about that curious guest.”

Crimo, who was using a communication stone for a moment, put on the outer robe again and spoke, while tying the silk belt.

“It seems that something happened. Lady Candidate Mimosa is coming to say her goodbyes and leave as quickly as possible. Scarlen is leading her here right now.”

Vern, who was forming a hypothesis as to why Sangria might act this way, also frowned.

The timing of it was a bit off.

‘Someone just tried to kill Crimo and now something is happening in Flavun…?’

While Vern was filled with bad feeling, Crimo, who fixed his attire, suddenly stiffened.

“My Lord?”

Sangria, nervous about Crimo’s condition, noticed it immediately.

But Crimo didn’t answer straight away.

Instead he blankly stared into an air.

Vern also felt a sudden tug on his soul and seemed to hear something.

Though it was barely a whisper, because the connection was severed a long time ago.

Recognizing the meaning of it, Vern’s eyes darkened.

Thankfully, no one paid attention to him, because just at that moment Mimosa and Scarlen entered.

Crimo also hid his feelings and greeted Mimosa with a smile, nodding at her.

“Lady Candidate Mimosa.”

“Lord Archmage Crimo, greetings. I…”

The hidden behind dark glasses eyes of Mimosa, who bowed slightly, suddenly focused on Crimo’s face.

She seemed to examine his complexion.

“Are you okay?”

She suddenly blurted out, and then quickly covered her mouth, as if it wasn’t her intention.

“My apologies, I didn’t mean to be rude.”

“It’s okay. It appears the situation is a bit hectic.”

Crimo was still smiling, without showing any displeasure.

Mimosa also quickly regained her composure and spoke:

“Due to a sudden matter we’ll sadly have to leave. I deeply apologize we won’t be able to celebrate with Lord Archmage and Lesser Lord Mage.”

She bowed her head again to Crimo and to Vern.

“My sincere congratulations to Lesser Lord Mage Vern on his coming-of-age, I wish you happy and bright days ahead.”

“Thank you.”

“And this…” Mimosa took out a sealed letter. “It’s a bit pretentious to give it as a gift, but I hope that Lord Archmage and Lesser Lord Mage give it a look. I planned to discuss it in person, but due to the circumstances…”

Her words trailed off.

“Yes, I understand.”

Crimo accepted the letter on Vern’s behalf.

Mimosa bowed yet again.

“Then I’ll be on my way. Thank you for your consideration.”

“Of course… Lady Candidate Mimosa.”

Crimo called out to Mimosa, who turned around to leave.

He hesitated, as a feeling of conflict appeared in his eyes for the first time.

Finally, he sighed and quietly said:

“My condolences.”

Because she turned around, they couldn’t see her face.

Mimosa was quiet for a moment, and then as calmly as a tranquil lake, she replied:

“Thank you.”

*~*~*