Chapter 57 Dispute
Nial was still not sure what to believe, and what to discard as lies.
In fact, he assumed that Serl Tyr, Melvin's father, was speaking to him, but it didn't make the situation any better.
Instead, it clearly told Nial that the situation was complicated enough for Serl Tyr to personally explain everything to him, and the next words said by the middle-aged man made the situation even worse.
"I...don't really know what to tell you, Nial...but I'm truly sorry for what happened to you. Nevertheless, I hope you won't be too harsh on my son. He didn't take away your family intentionally, and everything was an accident.
I believe you must have realized this yourself after listening to James!"
Nial's assumption that it was indeed Serl Tyr who was speaking to him was now proven, but he felt as if someone had punched him in his gut because one of the wealthiest person in Katu was apologising to him, pleading him to forgive his son.
An awkward silence filled the room after this, and Nial's mind turned blank for a moment, not sure what to think about everything that had happened.
Yet, after a short moment of silence, Serl Tyr decided that enough time had passed for the young blind man to simply sit on the bed and dwell in misery.
"Nial, I do understand that you are currently feeling overwhelmed, and angry at Melvin, but I want to tell you a few things. Listen to me, will you!?"
Saying so, Serl Tyr approached Nial and held him by the shoulder before he repeated something that Nial had already heard several times.
"Remember, your family is still alive!! They're not dead or anything like that, and if you ever want to meet them again, you have to buckle up. If you just sit with that blank look on your face, you would make others feel miserable as well.
Furthermore, for your information, I should add that your sister, Sabrina, would have died in a few days, at most, if the Eclipse Assassins wouldn't have taken her away!
This is obviously something the two robed men from the Eclipse Assassins told me, but I believe that this is the truth, so don't be too harsh on yourself or Melvin… you guys did nothing wrong!
Both of you have just awoken your origins, and nobody expected you two to change this little girl's inevitable fate, to begin with.
In the end, it was a great coincidence that the Eclipse Assassins found them, even if you don't like the fact…or would you have rather let your parents despair because they wouldn't be able to help your sister and end her suffering…or possibly mourn her death when you were in the two-element dungeon?!?"
Serl Tyr's words were harsh but he had spoken the bitter truth. Nial bit on his lower lip, while clenching his fists to the extent that his fingernails dug into his palms. He wasn't even aware of droplets of blood trickling to the ground as he said in an annoyed voice, "Of course I don't want that to happen…"
Even though Nial could grasp that it was best for his sister to be taken to a place where her diseases would be cured, and it was even better that his parents could take care of Sabrina, he didn't like the fact that they were taken away from him.
How was he supposed to trust the Eclipse Assassins, the Heaven's Gates organization or whatever kind of organization had taken them away from him when he knew nothing about them?
At first, he had been shocked that he was suddenly left all alone, but that didn't bother him all that much anymore.
Instead, what was more important to know was if his family was truly doing fine, or if everything was just a big bubble of a lie.
"Is…it possible for me to reach my family somehow?" He thus asked after having sorted his thoughts and emotions and forced himself to think rationally.
Yet, the moment when Nial sensed the butler's stiffening mana fluctuations, he already knew what he was going to hear as Serl Tyr answered.
"To be honest, the fact that we told you about the Eclipse Assassins and the fact that they took your sister and parents with them is already enough reason for all of us to be executed!
So…the moment you try to call the Eclipse Assassins headquarters thinking that you will get to talk to your family, my entire family will be killed."
To say that Nial was shocked was an understatement as he could not understand why the Head of the Tyr family told him something so secretive then.
Despite this earlier thought, Nial quickly understood what Serl Tyr had tried to do as he recalled how Melvin had reacted when they had encountered each other in the infirmary.
"Does that mean, you're currently just trying to salvage the damage Melvin caused?" Nial asked, hitting the bullseye as Serl simply nodded his head before explaining further,
"The fact that Melvin almost exposed everything while trying to apologize to you inside the infirmary, while being surrounded by soldiers was not really smart.
As such, I decided that it would be best to provide you with all the information you want, so as to avoid a repeat incident wherein my family, and even you could die needlessly.
In the end, with the pieces of information, I can give you, it might even be possible to set up a plan to look for your family.
After all, I can use my connections to help you reach closer to Liondra. It might be a little bit difficult to reach Liondra because I don't have enough connections to enter the strongest, but also the most dangerous shelter right now, but… you can make use of me!"
Serl Tyr's offer sounded nice, but instead of feeling overjoyed, or thankful, Nial felt weird.
His white, lifeless eyes stared at the middle-aged man.
Knowing what Serl Tyr had indirectly stated, Nial asked him bluntly,
"However, in that case, I would have to trust you, and you'll be in lots of trouble too…to the extent that it might even be better for you to get rid of me, isn't that the case?"
Even if Serl Tyr sounded as if he was kind, Nial could clearly visualize what type of person Melvin's father was- a true businessman who weighed his profits and losses before committing anything.
That might not be the entire truth because Melvin seemed to be important enough for Serl to cause him to forget thinking rationally, but Nial was not Melvin, as such Serl Tyr had no obligation to help his friend.
As such, there was no way for him to completely trust Serl, which caused him to stand up as he picked up the equipment that lay next to his bed.
In fact, the moment Nial picked up the spatial ring that was lying on the leather armor, he sensed that both the Viper spear and Fang spear were inside it along with a small note below the spatial ring., Serl Tyr found the perfect opportunity to avoid the topic about 'getting rid of someone' as he remarked,
"I didn't expect you to have a connection to Arnold, but he seemed to be thankful."
Nodding his head, Nial used his mana perception to read the message, while trying to clear his mind and ignoring Serl Tyr's offer.
[Take everything. Thank you for saving my daughter. I owe big time!]
Yet, even after reading through the message, neither his emotions nor his facial expression changed as he couldn't care less about the content of the message.
It was great that he was allowed to keep the spatial ring, the Fang spear, and all the serums inside the spatial ring, but he would rather have his family back or spend even one more day with them than have these treasures.
Sighing deeply, he turned towards Serl Tyr as he asked,
"Where is Melvin?"
There were many reasons for him to meet Melvin again, and the most important was to figure out if he was truly sorry for what he did, or not.
Yet, even without asking Melvin anything, Nial knew the answer. As such he didn't feel as if it was necessary to make him feel more guilty.
Instead, Nial felt that both he and Melvin had to do something in order to clear their mind and emotions.
Thus, he followed the butler and Serl towards Melvin's room which was locked from the inside.
Serl hoped that Nial would accept the apology of his son, and himself, but what happened just a moment later was something he didn't expect.
"Yoo, Melvin, I'm awake! Fight with me!!!"
Nial didn't even think of accepting Serl Tyr's offer because that meant he had to rely on someone he couldn't trust, which was the worst thing one could do. And even if Serl was someone trustworthy, what use were the merchant's connections if he could not even reach Liondra with them?
And would anyone in Liondra even listen to him..a blind nobody, who had just awoken his origin?
Certainly not!
Appearing in front of some organisation's headquarters and banging on their doors to let him meet his family that was most likely hidden away, was also not something he could do even if he somehow reached Liondra.
Because of that, Nial knew that he had to clear his mind of blaming Melvin and thinking that his friend was at fault for everything.
In the end, it might as well be a blessing in disguise that Melvin had accidentally informed the robed men of the Eclipse Assassins about Sabrina's existence.
She might have died otherwise already…
With that thought in mind, he wanted to fight and train with his best friend once more before trying to come up with a way to enter Liondra and reunite his family!
In the end, the situation was just messed up, and the more time passed, the less fault could Nial find in his friend's decision.
He couldn't thank Melvin for what he did either, but the faint chance that his sister might already be cured of her disease was more than enough to forgive Melvin for his unintentional mistake.
Yet, all of this seemed to be insignificant, when he sensed the weak mana fluctuations of Melvin from behind the closed door. He approached the door, and unlocked it, as he opened the door of his room.
At this moment a pungent smell hit him, causing Nial to wrinkle his nose as he couldn't help but ask.
"What…the hell have you been doing for the last few days?"
His question was void of any emotions, and the situation turned awkward because Melvin simply stayed silent and didn't give him an answer.
Only now did Nial get more time to evaluate the state in which Melvin was currently in.
Not having eaten, slept or moved his body for the last few days, Melvin couldn't be considered to be more dead than alive as if he had given up on himself.
This made Nial angry, to the extent that he couldn't help but shout at Melvin.
"What the hell are you doing Melvin??? What makes you think acting like a loser just because of a mistake you did would solve everything? Are you some sort of perfect machine, or what? You are a human and making mistakes is what makes you that- a human.
However, I never expected you to be someone who acts like a loser and give up after making a mistake, instead of trying to fix the mistake you did?!?
Fuck you! Did you ever consider us to be friends, to begin with, or was everything a joke to you?!?!"
Gasping for air, Nial wanted to continue lecturing Melvin, venting out his frustration on him for acting like a victim, and a moron who couldn't even take the burden of making a single mistake.
Yet, before he was utter another word, Melvin had already rushed up to him, grasping his shoulders as he shouted.
"THEN WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?!?"