The Talentless Inheritor

BOOM

The explosion was loud enough to garner everyone's attention.

Everyone turned their heads to the source. The majority of them missed the spear whistling through the air even though it was covered in flames.

Markus and Ptelea turned to look at the spear's destination.

CRACK

"No!"

Ptelea cried and rushed over to the spear.

"Father!"

Markus' ears twitched.

"Use all of your power on the spear!"

The dark green light wasn't visible. Asking Markus to attack a spear was a risk he took. He knew that with his power, the spear wouldn't be able to destroy the light even if he were to pour in every last bit of his energy.

Markus was the only hope.

"Sir, what are you doing?!"

Jericho yelled in alarm and readied his sword.

Markus turned to look at Sebastian who gave him a firm gaze.

"..."

Markus wanted to scratch his head. Why was he going to believe a brat who just got captured?

"Agh!"

Markus roared and pointed his sword at the spear.

"Heavenly...!"

The tip of Markus' sword began to shine. The light it radiated caused Sebastian and the others to shut their eyes.

"...Sword Ray!"

A giant beam of light with several times the size of Grand Judgment. Just the energy hidden behind the attack caused Sebastian to fall on one knee.

"Sir!"

Jericho moved to cover Sebastian with his energy.

"You humans...!"

Ptelea hadn't reached the spear yet. She had moved the light away after Sebastian had attacked and concealed it from sight.

It was safe from any immediate attacks but in return, she couldn't get to it as quickly.

At that moment, Markus' Heavenly Sword Ray brushed past her and hit the spear and the light.

"NO!!!"

Ptelea reached out but she was too far.

The spear, supported by the ray, was pushed in further and further until...

SHATTER

The dark green light was revealed and shattered.

The ray had done little to the light, only the spear that was lodged in the crack managed to do the trick.

"..."

Ptelea wordlessly stared at the fragments of the light. At the same time, the tree rumbled.

"That was the tree's life force!"

Markus exclaimed in surprise. He turned to look at Sebastian with different emotions flickering in his eyes.

"Retreat! We've completed our objective!"

Markus' order was clearly heard despite all the rumbling.

"Sir, please follow me."

Although Jonathan was fl.u.s.tered at the sudden throw of the spear, there were more important things to worry about.

Sebastian nodded and followed the rest.

"How did you all manage to get in here?"

"There was a giant hole at the base of the tree. We entered through there."

'A giant hole? I didn't see anything before getting s.u.c.k.e.d in...'

Although Sebastian was dubious, he still followed them. Markus quickly passed the rest and led the way.

With the light provided by the soldiers from the House of Luna, finding a path was much easier. At the very least, it was a lot brighter than when he had used his flames.

'Can I use light?'

Sebastian knew that he could use the four basic elements and many other things on top of them but he had never tried controlling light or darkness that the House of Luna held.

'I should get Amy to demonstrate for me.'

"We're here."

Somehow, they had already reached the exit.

"There really is a hole..."

It wasn't a small one either. It towered at least fifteen meters tall and was even wider than it was tall.

Did that mean that they approached the tree from different sides?

"Which direction did you guys come from?"

"We came from the main road from Aurum to Argenti."

"Eh?"

They went through the same place, why didn't he encounter this entrance?

However, there wasn't much time to brood over it. The towering tree began rumbling even harder and the branches were beginning to fall.

They had to retreat farther and farther until they could only see the tree from a distance. There weren't any roots that appeared from the floor either.

"Sebastian."

Markus called out to him as they watched the enormous tree fall apart.

"Though I've many questions for you, most of them can be answered right now. You will have to temporarily leave the country by next week."

"Eh?"

"Tidas, wasn't it? I already gave Amira my permission. On the day before your departure, come see me."

Just like that, Markus turned around and began moving through the forest. Sebastian naturally followed them most of the way but once they reached the crossroads, they parted. Sebastian headed to Argenti while Markus told him he'd deal with the preparations.

'Strange can't even begin to describe this situation.'

Sebastian wasn't told why he needed to leave the country either but he knew better than to question a house head. He had his reasons.

"...you're truly alive. When I had felt my power dispersing and Ptelea's power remaining, I thought of the worst."

"I'm harder to kill than I look. It wasn't all me, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"Well⁠—"

Sebastian told Balanos everything that had occurred after her soul had entered his body.

"About your body..."

"It has already returned to me."

"Eh? It could move?"

"No, it decomposed and sent its energy back to me."

"..."

"I can reconstruct it without any restrictions. It decomposed according to its design."

"I see..."

Balanos leaned on her raised arm from atop the throne and looked at Sebastian.

"Still, this will be quite troublesome. If you are out of the country, then I will have no means of defending you."

"It's fine. I won't search for any trouble."

"...you really are too naive for your own good."

Balanos sighed.

"I won't be any help the moment you cross this country's borders. Be sure to rely on your fiancee and try not to make more enemies."

"..."

Didn't he just promise to do that earlier?

Before Sebastian could protest, Balanos waved him away.

"You need to get ready for the trip."

"...you're right."

He was going to by next week, he had many things to take care of.

Sebastian stood up and began sinking into the floor.

"And, Sebastian..."

"Hm?"

Sebastian raised a brow. Balanos wasn't talking like she usually does.

"Thank you. On behalf of my sisters, thank you."

It was gratitude from the heart. Sebastian flashed a grin in response. Without any words, he conveyed his sentiments.

...

"Amy..."

"Yes? Have you gotten your toiletries ready? What about your books? There's also the—"

The moment he got home, Amy was with a dozen servants packing Sebastian's luggage. She inspected Sebastian for a bit and frowned when she saw his injuries.

"Where have you been? Father told me that we were going to Tidas in a few days and I should pack your luggage."

"I was training."

"I see..."

Amy called over a servant to bring her a kit filled with medical paraphernalia and began cleaning his wounds.

"Ouch..."

"Stop fussing around. This is what you get for allowing yourself to be injured while training."

Sebastian looked at Amy and smiled. Although it wasn't the right time seeing as how she was fl.u.s.tered because of his injuries, he couldn't help but stroke her head.

"...!"

Amy froze. The cotton balls and disinfectant that she held stopped in place.

"I'm fine."

Amy slowly regained control of her hands. After covering the wounds with gauzes. She buried herself in Sebastian's c.h.e.s.t.

"Sorry for making you worry."

Though the servants were moving all over the place, Sebastian didn't mind and embraced Amy.

Most of Sebastian's injuries were already healed by the time he had arrived at the mansion. Amy had only cleaned and covered the minority of his wounds.

The two of them stayed in each other's embrace for a while until they fell asleep.

...

By the time they woke up, it was already around dinner time. Amy got up from Sebastian's l.a.p with a flushed face and cleaned herself up.

Everyone in the mansion had seen them earlier yet none called out to them. The servants from the House of Luna had already left.

"I-I was tired from all the work and that's why I fell asleep."

"It's okay. I fell asleep too."

Sebastian got up and resisted the pain from his sore legs.

"Miss Martha?"

"Young master."

Martha immediately appeared. It seemed she had been waiting there for a while.

"Amy and I are going to have our meals in my room."

"I understand. I will bring them up in a few minutes."

Amy had already recovered from her fl.u.s.tered state and walked into Sebastian's room first.

Sebastian soon followed after her and lied down on his bed. Amy sat at the bedside and began stroking his hair.

"It feels weird being on the receiving end."

"Now you understand how I feel when you suddenly decided to constantly stroke my head. Anyway, let's talk about what we're going to do before and during our stay in Tidas."

"Nn."

"First off, I know you have many things to do before leaving so I won't give you too much to do. I've already had the servants pack your clothes and other basic necessities. For any extra toiletries, you want to bring, just pack them along with any books you want to read."

"Okay..."

"You don't have to worry about the space it's going to cost as the airship and the house in Tidas are both quite large. For weapons... well, you can bring them along but Sebastian, you can't just do as you like once we get there."

"Hm? Are we going to be doing something?"

"Nn. We'll be representing our school. We are going to Tidas as exchange students."

"Eh?"

If Sebastian had to stay in school during the duration of his stay in Tidas, then it would be a lot more difficult to train under a healer.

"We're going to be staying for two months. I know you wanted to do something over there so I've managed to negotiate you two weeks of free time. That means it isn't compulsory for you to attend classes after a month and a half.

"It would've been different had it been the trip planned by the two of us alone but... there's many reasons as to why we're doing this."

"Don't worry, I understand."

"Good."

Amy smiled before laying down beside him.

"I'll also help you meet the Lightning Spear."