"Well, I will take my leave now, so please rest well. You need to be prepared since the engagement is only four days away."

Saying that, Sir Joran stood up and left the room. Adrian didn’t speak or react in any way until the moment the door closed. He simply had too much on his mind right now.

The room turned quiet as he remained motionless, lost in thought.

But the silence didn’t last long. It was broken by a voice so deep that it felt as though it was coming from the very depths of the abyss.

[How does it feel to have returned from the very jaws of death, feeble one?]

The sudden voice pulled him out of his thoughts, though his mind remained jumbled. As he turned to the source, he saw a black bird sitting on the sheathed blade of a sword hung horizontally on the wall as decoration.

Adrian frowned.

"How are you here? I don’t remember summoning you again after dismissing you last time. What? You can summon yourself on your own?"

The bird flew toward him and landed near the corner of the bed.

[It’s a bit more complicated than that, I’m afraid. I can indeed summon myself the same way you do. But I can’t receive mana from you if I use this method, so I can’t maintain myself for long. And it’s not something I can simply do as much as I want either.]

Adrian turned away.

That was new information, but he was not in a state to ponder it right now.

He still had a lot of things he needed to process. Just then, he noticed the state of his body once again. It looked completely fine; there were no wounds or scars. Looking at it even made him briefly wonder if his body really had ever been horribly torn apart at all.

He turned to Alisardarc once again.

"Hey, how was I healed so perfectly? Do you have any idea?"

Instead of speaking, the bird turned its gaze to look somewhere else. Adrian followed its line of sight, and his own gaze arrived at a small table near his bed. There was a small glass vial on it. Although it seemed empty, Adrian could spot a few drops of strange grey liquid at the very bottom of the vial.

Seeing that Alisardarc was pointing at it, the reason his body had healed so perfectly likely had something to do with the contents of the vial. Adrian could learn more by asking the bird more questions, but...

’Don’t feel like doing that right now. I have a lot to think about as it is.’

"Alisardarc, I need you to leave me alone for a while. I will summon you later."

The black bird stared at him for a bit but complied in the end, disappearing into wisps of bluish energy. Well, it had no choice but to comply since it was bound by the terms of the contract.

Alone once again, Adrian pressed his temples with both hands as he let out a deep, tired sigh.

’In the end, everything failed.’

He had tried everything, from common methods of getting stronger to complex, unique ideas he himself came up with. But in the end, nothing had worked.

He summoned a useless eternarch, created a nonsensical spell that wouldn’t work, and the Origin ability he awakened was nearly useless to him as well.

If anything, the ability was more like a liability since it could interfere with Adrian’s mind and make him see and perceive things differently.

And now, he could not see a path forward.

Words Alisardarc had recently said suddenly rang in his mind.

’You are chasing after strength as if your life depends on it, but it doesn’t. You won’t really die even if you remain weak.’

He paused.

’That’s right, I won’t really die. All I’ll lose is my freedom, but is it really that bad?’

He was the child of the strongest noble house within the empire; they surely wouldn’t let him die even if he remained weak all his life. He would simply have to dance to their tune and suffer the consequences of being weak in a world that favoured power.

Still, he would most likely not die.

He had almost died recently, and he could still vividly remember the sensations he had felt back then. It was not a feeling he wanted to experience again.

And besides... hadn’t he done enough? Hadn’t he tried everything he could? In the end, he simply failed at everything, but he had still made all the attempts he could think of.

Maybe... it was time.

’I should give up.’

All he had done until now had turned into a futile effort anyway; there was little meaning in continuing to struggle like this.

Adrian quietly waited.

He waited for the voices that rang in his mind and made him nauseous whenever he was in these kinds of situations. He waited for the voices that had pushed him forward.

But his mind was as calm as a lake, unchanging. No matter how long he waited, no memory surfaced in his mind, nor did he hear any voice.

He furrowed his brow.

But suddenly, he remembered his Origin ability as well as what it was capable of. Maybe it was the cause behind his now quiet mind. Maybe he wouldn’t recall anything as long as he had this ability.

If that really were the case, then...

’I guess this ability is useful after all.’

***

As Joran Ashfeld left the room, he spotted a man standing with his back to the wall to Joran’s left.

Closing the door, Joran paused as he stared at him.

The man had long reddish-brown hair tied neatly behind his back. He could even spot a few strands of hair that were white, signaling that the man’s age was past forty. Yet there were barely any wrinkles on his face.

Wearing round, gold-rimmed glasses and a white high-collar coat, the man gave off a strong aristocratic vibe.

Joran smiled amicably.

"I did hear the news of your arrival, but to think you would be here already. It’s an honor to meet you. I still can’t believe you chose to leave the academy."

The man raised his head, meeting Joran’s gaze.

"Honor? You speak as if I’m some military commander. Though likewise, it is an honor to meet you as well, Joran Ashfeld. I hear you are among the promising individuals in House Ravenshade’s military. Some rumors say that you are only a few years away from the title of Knight Commander."

Joran waved his hands dismissively as he shook his head.

"Ah, no, those are just rumors, no need to take them seriously."

He wasn’t lying; those were indeed just rumors. Joran didn’t think he was a modest man, far from it. But the fact that rumors mention his skills as worthy of the title of Ravenshade’s knight commander was simply absurd.

After all, there was no lack of monsters among this family’s ranks. Joran was not delusional enough to compare himself to the actual knight commanders.

"By the way, seeing as you’re standing here, you must’ve been observing us. What are your thoughts on Young Master Adrian? I am curious since you both will be interacting with each other a lot."

The man glanced at the closed door, rubbing his chin as if pondering ‌something.

"What do you think of his Origin ability, Joran Ashfeld?"

At the man’s sudden question, Joran paused. After thinking for a bit, he replied in a somewhat somber tone.

"I think... that it’s a shame. He has so much potential. I haven’t seen another child who even comes close. But for him to awaken that ability feels like a waste of his potential. After all, attacks related to the mind are so rare and primitive that even I have never experienced them."

"Hmm... so those are your thoughts?"

Joran furrowed his brow. Was it him, or did it feel like the man was disappointed with his answer? Joran asked after some hesitation.

"Then, what are your thoughts, Sir? What do you think?"

"Oh, no need to address me so politely," the man waved dismissively. "As for the boy, Hmm... It’s concerning."

Joran tilted his head.

"What do you mean by concerning?"

The man had a frown on his face as he replied.

"Emotions can’t simply disappear or get suppressed so easily. They would bottle up inside the person, continue to bottle up until they burst during one single moment."

The man paused briefly.

"As the Founding Emperor, Valcarion, had said, humans are creatures of emotion, and emotions are what distinguish us from other living creatures. So a human lacking emotions is no human at all."

’Is that so?’

Joran had something to say about that. He couldn’t agree with those words, even if they came from the Founding Emperor’s mouth.

"I remember another saying," Joran spoke. "It was a saying by the Grand Orchestrator, Sthenios Cruor Rurikvel. He had said that humans are creatures of reason; this is what distinguishes us from other living creatures. After all, even beasts feel sorrow after losing their children, and even monsters succumb to blind rage. Yet humans stand above all life."

As he finished, Joran glanced at the man’s face, hoping to gauge his reaction. After all, he had, in a way, challenged the man.

But as the man’s expression came into his view, Joran was taken aback.

The man had a deep frown on his face, and his fists clenched tightly. His expression... It was as if hearing Joran speak had somehow offended him.

The man took a step forward, pushing his face closer as he spoke in a firm tone.

"I do not believe in the words of that traitor."