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Chapter 35

“Luan...!”

My mother ran toward me as her golden hair swayed erratically.

“W-wait. I’m still dirt—”

I wasn’t able to finish my sentence as my mother hugged me.

I could see her clean dress being ruined by the dirt and dust I was covered in.

“Mother.”

“Really,” my mother said in a quiet voice. “...I’m glad you’re okay.”

“...”

I swallowed what I was going to say when I heard her trembling voice.

...Ah.

Mother.

My one and only true family.

Not a night had passed where I hadn’t wished to meet her again.

There was a lot I wanted to say as well... but for some reason, I couldn’t say anything.

I just continued to pat her on the back and waited for her to calm down.

***

After reuniting with my mother, and after finally getting to take that bath...

I changed into new clothes prepared by a servant.

That’s better.

I was satisfied by the weirdly comfortable clothes and headed toward her room.

The room was quite out of the way, and in front of her door were two familiar people.

Kayan and Arzan.

The two were talking to each other with a serious expression, but their conversation stopped as soon as I arrived.

“What were you talking about?”

“We were catching each other up on the things that have happened. Sharing information, let us say.”

“Really? You two knew each other?” I asked with a tilt of my head.

Kayan answered, “When Arzan first came to the main house, I helped her train a few times.”

I nodded. “Ah. Then you guys can take some time talking with each other. I’m going to talk to my mother.”

“Yes.”

I had some things I wanted to talk with Kayan about as well, but I decided to put that off for later.

I walked past the two and into the room.

There was a faint scent of black tea in the air, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

It was the same scent as in my memories.

“You’re here. Come, sit.”

“Yes.”

I looked around at the shabby room and sat in front of my mother.

“I was only able to prepare black tea. Is that all right?”

“Of course.”

Some teas were better with refreshments and some weren’t. My mother’s tea was the latter.

Great scent, residual warmth, and a deep flavor.

A cup of this tea was the complete package.

...I’ve really returned.

Although it might be laughable, only after having this sip of tea did I truly recognize that I had returned to the past.

It was an absurd notion.

When I’d seen Kayan and Arzan, when I’d witnessed the true colors of the knights in the mountain range, and even when I’d faced off against the Gem Beast...

I hadn’t truly accepted reality yet.

“Did anything happen?”

“What do you mean?”

“I heard the overall situation from sir Kayan. You came back to the main house at the command of the family head. And to do that, you crossed through the Gem Mountains...”

Unexpectedly, it seemed my mother knew quite a bit about my journey.

Was this because of Kayan’s excellent information-gathering skills, or had it just been that easy to track my whereabouts?

I couldn’t know, but regardless, my mother seemed to know what kind of place the Gem Mountains were.

That was why she was worried.

At this point, lying to calm her could be fine...

“A lot of things happened. Honestly, there were a few dangerous situations as well.”

But I decided to be honest and come clean.

There were two reasons for this. First, I didn’t want to lie about something like this.

Second, I believed she was a strong person who could at least handle this much.

“...”

After hearing what I had to say, she took another sip of her black tea.

Then, she spoke to me slowly.

“I see. You’ve been through a lot.”

“Yes.”

“And you seem to have calmed down a lot since I last saw you.”

My mother wore a small smile.

“They say that a person mentally matures when they experience a life-threatening situation. In the mountain range... was your life ever in danger?”

I could hear a slight tremble in her voice, but I answered her directly.

“Quite a few times.”

“I see. It must have been difficult for Arzan as well.”

I nodded; she wasn’t wrong.

My mother lowered her voice a little when she asked her next question.

“Then... did you perhaps learn about Arzan as well?”

“I noticed that she’s not an ordinary butler. I don’t know the details, but I saw her use some special power a few times.”

“I see... I spoke with her a little while you were washing up. For the time being, she will be your aid.”

I tilted my head a little at the unexpected words.

“What? I don’t think you need to do that. Did you order her?”

“I did request she keep looking after you, but I did not order her. In truth, I have been asking her since she was at the main house, but she completely rejected the notion back then.”

“...”

“It seems she owes her life to you, and she wants to serve you until that debt can be paid.”

I was surprised at that.

“A life debt...”

“Am I wrong?”

“You’re not wrong... but it’s the same for me. Without Arzan, I would’ve died. We saved each other.”

This time, it was my mother’s turn to be surprised.

I already half-regretted blurting that out.

I’d said something too mature for Luan to be saying at this age.

“...”

My mother quietly looked at me for a while with a complicated expression...

But this was also a necessary process. I couldn’t hide the fact that I had changed, especially from my mother.

I could make up an excuse to get through this situation, but what about the next time?

I couldn’t act like the idiot Luan forever.

At that point, it would be easier if I made her think, My son changed a lot after his life was put into danger.

However, my mother eventually said something completely unexpected.

“You’ve returned to your younger self.”

“...Pardon?” I didn’t understand what she meant. “Younger self?”

“Yes. When you were confident and courageous, the best version of you.”

“...”

“You were always like this before the Blessing Ceremony, don’t you remember?”

I couldn’t help but be shocked by her words.

I thought I had grown due to what I’d experienced on Spirit Mountain and through just growing up...

But my mother thought that I had returned to my original self?

“That’s...”

I nearly denied her claim outright, but I stopped myself.

I knew that the person anyone had the most difficulty looking at objectively was themself.

This claim was coming from my mother, someone who had watched me grow up my entire life.

Even if she was looking through rose-tinted glasses, her words might still be true.

* * * * *

* * * * *

My mother grabbed my hand.

“Luan.”

“Yes.”

“Blessings aren’t everything in your life.”

This was something she had said often before I regressed.

These words had never reached Luan Bednicker in the past.

But I understood now.

“Yes.”

Her words were true.

Even without a blessing, you could become stronger than anyone else in the world.

To become the Strongest Under the Heavens, the blessing of a god was unnecessary.

“...Truly, truly. There’s no need to give up on your life because of one thing.”

However, it didn’t seem like my mother’s goal was to simply make me understand the truth that my past self had failed to accept.

I had an idea of what her intentions were...

She’s worried about the Second Blessing Ceremony.

If I didn’t receive a single blessing in this Blessing Ceremony either... she was worried about the despair I would feel.

“Don’t worry. I won’t give up. Even without a blessing, I will become the strongest of the family head’s children.”

“Haha. I hope that becomes true.”

Of course, my real goal was to exceed my father, the Lord of Blood and Iron... but if I said that, I thought even my mother would think me crazy.

I grinned and raised my teacup...

Knock, knock.

But I was interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Enter.”

At my mother’s permission, I saw Kayan open the door.

Unlike his usual calm self, there seemed to be a slight look of haste on his face.

“I apologize for interrupting your conversation, but young master, you need to move quickly.”

“Me? What’s going on?”

With an uncharacteristically stiff expression, Kayan answered, “The Council of Elders has summoned you.”

***

The main house of House Bednicker was a five-story building.

The first and second floors were open to guests and were always filled with people, but the third floor and above didn’t have many people.

Starting with the third floor, outsiders were forbidden to enter.

Still, it wasn’t a completely foreign place for me.

This floor held the rooms of the house’s important people, classrooms for study, and the library. I had visited these places many times before I’d been deemed blessingless.

However, right now I was going to the floor above that.

Step.

On the fourth floor, only my and Kayan’s footsteps quietly echoed.

Although it was rare to meet someone on the third floor, it was even more rare to meet someone on the fourth.

It wasn’t just that there weren’t any people, there didn’t seem to be any life up here at all.

There seemed to be some kind of soundproofing as well. It was difficult to hear any other sounds.

It felt like I was walking through a different world.

Like this, without seeing anyone else, I continued to follow behind Kayan.

Suddenly, Kayan stopped and said to me, “It’s here.”

“...”

I looked at the door for a moment.

It was pretty big.

It was as big as the doors to the dancing hall.

The interior was probably comparable to the door.

I didn’t see any other doors on the way here either...

Meaning this one room took up an incredibly large amount of space.

I cleared my mind of unnecessary thoughts as I opened the door.

Clack.

“...”

Despite its huge size, the door opened quite easily. But as I opened it, I felt the air get heavier.

It’s dark.

It was an overall dim place.

Either the curtains were shut or this place didn’t have windows in the first place.

Step.

I stepped in about seven to eight steps before stopping.

There was nowhere else for me to go.

My sides were blocked by tall walls. Atop those walls, I could see a group of people sitting.

“You’ve come.”

“Luan Bednicker.”

As if they were judges, they sat above the walls.

The room was so dark that it was difficult to even see their outlines, let alone their faces.

These people were the infamous Council of Elders of House Bednicker.

I had heard that there were eleven in total. I counted their number, and it seemed a few of them weren’t present.

“What is the reason you summoned me?”

I could guess what the reason was, but I played dumb and asked instead.

It was unlikely, but this could be about my fight with Hector.

“There are a few things we wish to ask you.”

“It is about what happened in the Gem Mountains.”

Thankfully, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“We sent five knights from the Fang Knight Order to escort you.”

“Where are they?”

“Why were you the only one to return?”

“Tell us everything.”

“Everything that happened in the Gem Mountains.”

The Council of Elders had a habit of speaking one sentence each when one of them could just say the entire thing.

There wasn’t a big reason for this, from what I remembered. 

If I were to make something up, I guess it was to help hide their identities?

These spooky guys liked to hide their identities more than anyone else, but the one listening was the one who suffered the most.

We couldn’t even see their faces, and they spoke with ambiguous voices as well.

“Luan Bednicker.”

“Why do you not answer us?”

“...”

In this situation, which could be a moment of danger, I lightly licked my lips once.

The room on the fourth floor was called the Trial Room.

And I knew of a secret about this room.

The room to discover the truth.

To be precise, it was a room to decide on the truth.

I slowly started to speak.

“All members of the Fang Knight Order have died.”

Before these old fellows of the Council of Elders could respond, I continued.

“A few of them died by my hands.”

This was an opportunity for me.