CHAPTER 433

CONFOUNDMENT OF THE NEWCOMER

Seya was currently sitting on the front porch of the seaside shack overlooking the blue expanse, the faintly piercing rays of the sun cascading alongside the rising waves. She appeared relaxed and unperturbed, occasionally taking a sip of sweet mead from the bottle on the table. On the end of it, sitting slightly slumped. Ayar was biting his nails, his eyes glancing at Seya ever so often, pleading to no avail.

She’d told him they’d be sailing away today which meant that today would be the day he meets the Empyrean… and sails toward the Dragon Isles. Were his mother and father still alive to hear this, they would no doubt die on the spot due to worry, yet there he was, mentally preparing to the best of his abilities.

“Oh, quit squirming around,” Seya growled, rolling her eyes at him. “He won’t eat you. At worst, he’ll just give you a tongue lashing.”

“… I-I’m not squirming…” Ayar replied weekly, not even managing to convince himself let alone Seya.

“What are you so terrified of, anyway?” she asked, taking a sip. “I mean, you know, besides meeting the supposed madman of the world and going to the supposedly most dangerous place in the world—wait, scratch that. I get it. I really get it. But, quit bein’ a pussy and at least put on a façade like you don’t give a shit.”

“But I do give a shit!” Ayar cried out bitterly. “I don’t want to die! I’m way too young to be dying!”

“Who told you you’d die?”

“—if accompanying the Empyrean to the Dragon Isles doesn’t signal a man’s death, literally nothing ever will!!”

"Good on you, then," she said, grinning. "If you survive it, you'll effectively become immortal. Ain’t that a treat, eh?”

“… ah, whatever,” he slumped further back in his chair, his legs breaking past the shade of the overcast roof. “I don’t care what happens.”

“Of course you do.”

“… at least let me have this!!”

“Alright, alright, whatever—” Seya suddenly frowned, jumping off the chair and onto the sandy beach, glancing up at the high sky. Ayar followed right after her curiously, glancing up.

Just as his eyes met the sky, the world quaked and shook, causing him to fall down. Just then, a massive behemoth clad in black, surrounded by spinning arrays of boundless colors, appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The fortress completely blanketed the sun and the sky, bringing with it a pressure of the thousand mountains that caused the sea down below to turn furious.

Ayar stared at the sky with a gaped mouth, watching the scene he would never come to forget unfold before his eyes. Right after the fortress, a figure shot out from seemingly nowhere; a winged soul, clad in thick, ashen shadows that rolled and folded over his tall and broad stature. Right after him, the young boy saw a swarm of souls exit the ether, thousands upon thousands of all forms and shapes and ages, altogether coming to be larger than the fortress itself.

“… aah, fucking moron,” Seya sighed angrily, stomping the sand beneath her feet. “Of course he had to fight, fucking idiot. Fuck you! Fuck you Lino! Do you hear me?!! Fuck you!!”

“—oi pipsqueak, instead of cursing me, how about you help me?!!” a playful voice replied from the high sky as Ayar began shaking.

“Help you with what?!! Dying faster?!! Come and pick us up already!!”

"Turn around." Lino replied with a chuckle as he suddenly vanished, appearing in front of the approaching swarm and cutting away with the Slayer as a swarm of bladed lights cut from all ends at them.

“Turn arou—what is he… oh.” Seya turned around and saw Hannah standing there with a faint smile on her face.

“How do you do, young child?”

“… fuck you too,” Seya replied. “You abandoned me.”

“Uh—I… I didn’t abandon you… per se…”

“No, you literally shoved me in here and then left. If that isn’t the pure definition of abandoning someone I don’t know what the fuck is.”

“Do we really have time for this now?” Hannah smiled bitterly before glancing at Ayar who appeared frozen like a statue out of fear. “Is this the ‘guide’? He’s a kid.”

“It’s the best we got,” Seya shrugged. “Turns out, people aren’t all that keen on going to an island full of Dragons. Go figure.”

“Who did you learn to be so sarcastic from?!” Hannah frowned faintly as she casually picked up Ayar and threw him over her shoulder. “I don’t like it.”

“… you. Literally you!!” Seya cried out in indignation. “You and that bastard up there currently having the time of his life!!”

“… I’m not too sure about that. Let’s go.” Hannah took Seya’s hand as the three of them vanished, appearing on the wall of the fortress merely a second later, overlooking Lino’s clash up close. “Don’t worry,” she chuckled, noticing Seya’s worried expression. “It’s more of a show rather than anything else. The Holy Grounds had to put up a façade, but nobody who can do anything to us is anywhere around so… he went out to have some fun.”

“… of course he did,” Seya sighed, shaking her head. “That idiot will never change.”

“What’s the boy’s name?” Hannah asked as she put Ayar down gently. The latter’s eyes were glued to the winged figure ‘having fun’ going at it against thousands of people.

“Ayar,” Seya replied. “Don’t know much else about him. For all I know he’s Gaia’s spy. Maybe we should torture him to find out.”

“I’m not!! I swear I’m not!!” Ayar quickly cried out. “I—I don’t even believe in her, I swear!!”

“….”

“What?”

“Pfft…”

“Ah, you’re kidding,” Ayar slumped back down, weak in his knees. “You’re kidding…”

“I’m sorry,” Hannah crouched down and ruffled his head gently, flashing him a warm and encouraging smile. “It must have been hell spending time with this girl. How about I take you to eat something real nice, huh? You can tell me all about how she was mean to you, and I can tell you all about her embarrassing stories.”

“… r-really?” Ayar mumbled, flashing a glance toward the suddenly-flushed Seya.

“Really.” Hannah nodded.

“A-alright then…”

“You wouldn’t…” Seya mumbled from the side, lowering her head.

“Of course I would,” Hannah smiled gently. “We have to teach you that what you give, is what you’ll be given back in kind.”

“… I hate you!!”

“Ah, off she goes,” Hannah chuckled. “Oi, we’ve got what we came here for. That’s enough!” Ayar turned around and saw the winged monster slowly retreat, clasping his wings back into himself and landing on the wall right by their side.

“Oh? This the guide?” Lino said, glancing at now-frozen Ayar who stared at him in terror and fear. “Wow, I really like this kid already.”

“Of course you do,” Hannah chuckled as they descended down the wall through the set of stairs landing them onto the cobblestone street. “He’s the only person here that’s afraid of you.”

“What’s your name kiddo?”

“…….”

“Ha ha ha, you’re my favorite!” Lino laughed freely, ruffling Ayar’s head. “Did Seya bully you? If she did, just let me know. I’ll make that girl’s life a living hell for a while.”

“What will you do?” Hannah asked him with a faint concern.

“Tell her how much I love her and how much she means to me?”

“… that would kill her, though.” Hannah frowned.

“… eh, I’ll figure something out,” Lino shrugged as they took the left, passing by several groups of people who greeted Lino and Hannah merrily before going back to whatever they were doing. “What do you want to eat?” he asked Ayar suddenly who shuddered.

“… I… I… anything is fine…”

“I’ll take him to Lam’s,” Lino said. “For now have Val phase out again and hide. I need to finish a few projects before we set sail to the Isles.”

“Alright,” Hannah nodded, patting Ayar’s head. “Don’t worry. If he does anything to you, just let me know. I’ll kill him.”

“And she really will,” Lino nodded as Hannah slowly walked away. “One time I had fun playing with this kid—well, I hid his toy and he was sort of crying, but I was just playing around, you know?” he continued as the two resumed walking through the street. “When she found out, not only did she refuse to have sex with me, she sat me down and lectured me for six hours. Six. Goddamn. Fucking. Hours. I’d have rather she kicked me in the shins and got it over with, you know?”

“…” Ayar fearfully glanced occasionally at this strange, old eccentric; he was two and a half heads taller than the boy, and twice as wide, yet seemed entirely… unassuming. There was not even a trace of that winged monster from the outside. At worst, he just resembled one of those weird uncles who always made jokes only they laughed at. “You… are you the Empyrean?” the boy finally gathered enough courage and asked as they stopped in front of a rather lavish-looking building made out of white stone.

“Hm? Yeah, why do you ask?” Lino led him into the spacious inside and sat him by the window; Ayar quickly realized it was a restaurant as there were roughly twenty people already eating here. They all nodded toward the man with faint smiles before resuming their meals. None of what Ayar saw so far lent credence to the rumors of how Empyrean reigned with fear and terror.

“… ah, no… no reason…”

“Ha ha ha, relax, relax. Hey, Beckie, bring us some lamb.” Lino called out to a slightly plump woman carrying a tray of drinks.

“With the special sauce?” the woman asked, cracking a faint smile.

“Oh, you know it.”

“Be right up. Hey, did you hear that Rina and Sevon are getting married?” she walked over slowly and placed two cups of ale on the table.

“Wait, really?” Lino exclaimed softly. “I thought for sure he’d never ask.”

“I know, right?! He always seemed like such a wimp. Anyway, they’re getting married next week. You coming?”

“Of course,” Lino nodded quickly. “These days I need an excuse to indulge in drinking.”

“Ha ha ha, Hannah giving you grief over it, huh?” the woman asked with a chuckle.

“Ah… what I can say,” he shrugged. “I think she’s just jealous that I can drink and she can’t.”

“Well, you have to be a good husband then and listen to her.”

“… shouldn’t she be a good wife and let me drink so I don’t think too much over how shitty of a father I’ll be?”

“Tsk, tsk,” the woman clicked her tongue a few times, shaking her head. “Don’t come here with that shit. You aren’t getting it. Ah, coming right up. I’ll bring the lamb in a moment.”

“Ha ha, sure thing, sure thing,” Lino nodded, cracking a smile as he focused back on gobsmacked Ayar. “Now, Ayar… tell me about sailing to the Dragon Isles…”