NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27: Plans
"Please Diluc, y-you don't want to do this right? A-after all we're fellow n-nobl─" finally realizing how deep under the muddy waters he is, the lavishly dressed young man, Michael, looks at Diluc's terrifying, emperor-like figure with pleading eyes, believing that he wouldn't go so far as to truly hurt him as they still share the same status, and a noble hurting another noble is a grave destruction of reputation to them.
"I suggest you cease that mouth of yours before you start muttering even wilder things, little shit, you won't be able to escape from this, you won't be able to talk or scare your way out of this one, and you won't be able to act like this again after I'm done with you, and no one, no one will be able to stop me from doing so" Diluc said with an emotionless face as the mana congregates around his hands, the mixture of the metal and wood mana being masked by the massive wind elemental mana surrounding his entire hand, a fatal mistake of hiding himself as a lady in the crowd manages to see through this disguise of his.
"N-no, what are you going to do!!??" feeling the surge of mana swirling right in front of his face, Michael couldn't help but get scared silly as he starts wetting himself, making his own figure appear really feeble and pathetic not only to the adventurers, but also to his own guards' eyes, said guards looking at him with disappointment as he turns out completely different from what they thought him to be when they first decided to serve under him.
"Nothing much, just enough to pull your conniving parents out of their lairs" Diluc said now with an eerie smile starting to carve out of his handsome face while looking at the lavishly dressed, panicking young man, said young man's limbs now helplessly hanging in the air with the only thing moving frantically being his chest as he starts palpitating from the panic he is currently feeling.
After saying those words, a determined look appears on his face as the mana finally forms into something, the metal mana congregating into a small spike that extends from out of his palm, the spike laced with some hint of wood elemental mana that causes any damage that is done by the metal mana to be externally healed.
This means that as the metal structure poked and pierced through the lavishly dressed young man's eyes, the wound created by it is physically healed by the wood elemental mana that passes through is at his supposed rival and enemy pulls the jutting metallic structure out of his eye sockets, only for this healing to be incomplete as he fails to see anything else, causing him to scream in absolute terror of what just happened.
"M-MY EYES!!!" he said desperately as his hands waved right in front of his face, shaking more and more as every attempt to look at his hands only results in him seeing nothing but a blank, darker than black darkness, as if it engulfs not only his eyes but also his entire being.
"YOU FUCKING!!! WHAT DID YOU DO!!??" trying to reach for the young man right in front of him, the lavishly dressed young man asked as he pounced forward in hopes of pulling said young man down with him, but the only thing he manages to do as he jumps being smashing his head towards a pole, a pillar of the building, making it all the more painfully obvious to him that he no longer has his sight now.
"Hmm? That's a trade secret, either way, unless you find a really talented light or life elemental healer, you won't be able to see things again" Diluc explained nonchalantly as if what he did is something really simple for him, causing the adventurer in the building to wonder just what sort of things and changes did this poor chap experienced outside that made him able to do things like that, although his current character is also much to their likings.
"Now, I've got no time to deal with this trivial thing anymore, bring your guards along with you and scram the fuck out of this place, or else the next thing that will disappear from its proper place will be your head from your neck, is that clear?" Diluc said with such an intimidating tone that from the absolute terror that Michael's guards turn into some sort of will to get away from this monster as soon as possible, all of the remaining conscious ones dragging their young master away from this young man while leaving behind all of their comrades that got knocked down from the young man's bloodlust previously.
Watching the group lead previously by the lavishly dressed young noble scramming their way back to their base as if they are animals that got severely wounded, the adventurers in the building couldn't help but cheer in laughter as they felt really satisfied from watching what just happened, their faces projecting a massive smile that seems to be proud and happy for the upbeat young man that seems to start spreading his wings and soaring to the skies already.
"HAHAHA, boy, you sure made a mess of my place!!!" the middle-aged owner of the place said with a proud smile on his face, the fact that he looks at this young man like some sort of successor to him apparent on his face, something that most of the people eating here is well aware of as this very same man that takes this young man in when he is still a boy who had fallen from being a noble.
"Old Arthur, I'll definitely pay for these things one way or another" after hearing the words from the owner of the place, Diluc shifts back to his usual, easy going and free spirited self, directing his gaze towards the owner and scratching the back of his head as he helplessly smiles as if he can't do anything about that, causing the entire place to be filled with laughter once again as the young man returns to his usual self.
"HAHAHA, Diluc!!! One cheers of this young man!!!"
"FOR DILUC!!!"
"HAHAHA, folks, there's no one sleeping tonight!!!"
While the people filling the tables speaks among themselves after cheering for the young man, the very same young man is currently sitting in front of the counter and looking at the glass of beer fight in front of him, his eyes dazed as if thinking about something, but not for long as the raspy, deep voice of the owner of the place snapped him out of his mind as he asks a question.
"So you're set on going to the capital now, boy?" the middle-aged man said with some melancholy and reminiscing in his voice as his gaze moves towards this young man, his tall slightly thin visage appearing not so different from his skin and bone figure back when he first landed on this place, his identity as a fallen noble back then still unaware to him, an identity that he only discovers in the recent years when he starts opening himself to people once again.
"That's the plan old Arthur, I want to learn more about magic and get even stronger, so I can clear the name of my old folks as well as their companions" the young man said with a wry smile on his face while thinking that there's really nothing that can get pass through this person's eyes, the one he considered to be the most mysterious among this ragtag bunch had it not been for him discovering the tall lady's cultivation being so much higher than what she told everyone it to be.
"That's not the only thing you're going to use that strength for, isn't it?" looking at the young man who he pretty much grown into such a fine lad after he take over as his guardian when he saw him in front of this little place of his, the middle-aged man said with wizened glow on his experienced eyes, clearly showing how much he sees through this little façade of the young man.
"Will you stop me if I said that there's more to it, Old Arthur?" Diluc asked with a hint of shaking in his voice as he asked, fearing that this mysterious figure might stop him from doing what he thinks he needs to do.
"Debts of gratitude and hatred are faces of the same coin young lad, and as principled peoples, we must always repay the coins that we are in debt of" the middle-aged man said with a profound tone in his voice, that sounds a little bit more desolate than how he usually is, his words entering the young man's ears and prompting him to nod at it.
"That's… the greatest thing you've said to me after nearly a decade of you enslaving me in this little place of yours" Diluc said while tilting his head a bit, his words bringing surprise to the middle-aged man's face as he couldn't help but choke on air before he looks at him face to face, prompting the two of them to join among the laughter of the crowd near them.