Chapter 10 The Talk And Princess Aria.

'What!?' Suzal thought as he was about to slash the old man's throat. He felt pain in his cheek, and the next moment, he was pinned to the ground. His last thought before losing consciousness was, 'That shitty old man. He predicted my sneak attack. No, he already knew about it. No wonder I couldn't take him by surprise.'

"Well, well. Finally calmed down, huh?" the old man remarked as he looked at the boy. He gently picked him up and placed him in the shade of a tree. His gaze then fell on the boy's father's lifeless body. The old man knelt beside it, closed the father's eyes, and thought, 'If I remember correctly, he was Grafiel. The talentless boy who fought his way up to a B-rank but hit his limit and couldn't continue as an adventurer.'

"Who would've thought he'd have a son who unlocked that legendary ability and built this village to such a level? I heard this village was the best among the eight nearby," he said, his smile turning sad. He then prepared a grave for Grafiel. As he looked towards the village with a cautious gaze, he thought, 'After the deaths of those two legendary adventurers, only a few of us remain at SS and SSS ranks.'

'Whoever orchestrated this attack must possess power equivalent to ours, to cause such destruction. They might even be at the Legendary rank, the highest an adventurer can achieve,' he analyzed further. Looking at the boy, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic. The boy didn't resemble Grafiel at all; his facial structure was more akin to the legendary couple.

"I guess I have a lot of questions for this boy," he muttered, then cast a suspicious glance at Suzal. With a sigh, he thought, 'There's no way. Their baby perished alongside them three years ago.'

The old man then walked towards Suzal, lay down in the shade of the tree, and took a nap.

"Hey! Shitty old man. Hey, you shitty old man. Wake up!" Suzal shouted, pushing the old man and calling him by the rather humorous nickname, "shitty old man." In response, the old man mumbled, "Hehe! Right... there. No! A bit sideways. Yes, like that. Just like that."

He was clearly dreaming, and from Suzal's perspective, it seemed rather suspicious.

Frustrated, Suzal, who had just woken up a few moments ago, yelled, "HERE I WANT MY DAMN ANSWERS AND THIS OLD MAN DARES ENJOY HIS HENTAI DREAM? JUST WAKE THE FUCK UP!" Despite his efforts, the old man didn't wake, so Suzal's face turned devilish. He raised his fists, coating them with Mana, and...

Bam!

"Guh! My cute Lucy!? Nooo! Huh!? Oh, you're awake?" the old man said, turning towards Suzal, still hazy and sleepy, clearly regretting the heavenly dream he just lost. Suzal just muttered, "Tch!" in response.

Then he continued, "So hey, shitty old man. I can take it that you were just joking with me, right? Basically a prank."

"Yeah! But who would've guessed that you had that much power? To be honest, I just wanted to capture you, but I got so scared I had to knock you unconscious just to ensure I'd live another day," said the old man. Then, something dawned on him. "Wait! What did you just call me? Shitty old man?!"

"Yeah. Just deal with it. So, tell me, shitty old man, do you have any idea who did this?" Suzal's expression turned serious. The old man replied, "Fine, you win. After all, I'm the last person who should give lectures on manners. Anyway, they're a new bunch. They basically appeared out of nowhere about five years ago. None of us have any clue who those fuckers are."

"I see. So useless!" Suzal muttered the last part quietly enough not to be heard. But then the old man noticed something in Suzal and exclaimed, "YOU!"

'Huh?! Here I can't control it, and he even heard that part?!' Suzal thought, but the old man's next words caught him off guard. "You. Since you seem to be a smart ass. You know it's okay to cry, right?" the old man said with closed eyes and crossed arms, then took a quick glance at the kid.

Drip!

Suddenly, tears started welling up in Suzal's eyes, filled with immeasurable pain, regret, and frustration. The tears fell and hit the ground. "I... I truly wished they had spent more time with me. It's all gone now... everything," Suzal choked out, tears streaming down his face. The old man watched silently, his expression softening.

"Look, kid. Answering complicated things in these situations isn't my strong suit. But let me say this: What would they expect from you? What do you want to show them? Also, you just said everything is gone. Does that include your life? No! You still have something very precious. Your own life. So be a man, face it, and show this world the best your bloodline has ever seen," the old man said, trying to encourage Suzal and pull him away from his sadness and grief.

'Wow! I'm so cool. I didn't know I had this much talent in me. If I were younger, I'd definitely have a lot of lovers. But anyway, the important thing is, will he understand my point? He seems to be just three years old,' thought the old man, looking towards the kid with genuine concern.

"Haha! You're funny, you shitty old man. Anyway, thanks. I really needed that," said Suzal, thinking to himself, 'If he were truly my enemy, he would have already finished me. So he's somewhat trustworthy, but I'll still keep my abilities hidden from him.'

"I guess I can't stop you from calling me that, huh? Tch! Anyway, are you sure you don't want to cry? There's no need to toughen up, you know," said the old man, to which Suzal replied, "No, I'm okay now, shitty old man," though internally he added, 'Technically, I'm much older than my current age.'

"Alright. Look, I know you're skeptical, but for now, we're allies at least. So, tell me, how did this massacre happen?" asked the old man, getting to the main question he had for Suzal. Suzal agreed with that point and explained all the details he could recall.

"I see. So you're telling me they even cursed you, making you see those dreams of your loved ones being tortured, and each time the intensity increased? And the first one was a suicide?" asked the old man, thinking, 'They seem quite cunning already with their methods. That experience must have forced him to unlock 'that' power.'

"Yeah, not only that, I also suspect there's a traitor among us. Otherwise, only an outside source could have done that. Personally, I want to believe the latter, but I admit the former seems more likely," said Suzal, still perplexed by his deductions.

"Hmm, that's complicated. Anyway, tell me, what will you do from now on?" asked the old man. Suzal replied, "Firstly, now that the important talks are done, can you guide me to a hospital or somewhere I can get medical treatment?"

"Why? Are you injured?" asked the old man, but then he realized what had occurred just moments ago. With a deadpan expression, he thought, 'Didn't he take a hit from my fucking 48% power attack? Damn it. He must be in pain all over his body. What a blunder you made, shitty old man.'

"Don't worry. I'll take you to a safe place," said the old man as he picked up Suzal and dashed towards the nearest place he could think of that could provide decent medical treatment. Though he might have some problems with the place's owner.

"Hey! Aria, princess! Quickly open the door. It's me, your handsome friend, Gorin," said the old man, whose name was now revealed to be Gorin. He slammed the door with knock after knock, referring to his friend Aria and even going so far as to call her "princess."

"Hey, shut your trap. What handsome friend? You still dare visit me after all you did to me? I'll never forget that," Aria said with a very angry tone, indicating their relationship was strained at best.

"No, Aria, listen. This time it's an emergency. It's... um, yeah, it's those two legendary couple's kid. He was alive. I just rescued him from those bastards' grasp," said Gorin, claiming he was carrying someone very important.

"What!? I'm coming right away," said Aria. She rushed down and saw a child, injured mostly internally, who really did resemble those two legendary couples. She opened the door in a hurry, looked at the kid, and repeated, "Are you sure? He's their child?"

"Yeah. Um, he... he even unlocked his 'that' ability," said Gorin, praying she wouldn't fry him alive, then heal him, then freeze him to death, then poison, paralyze, and torture him in various ways. Luckily, he survived.

"Now that you mention it, he does resemble them. But remember, if you're lying, you're dead. I would've healed him if you just said he had unlocked it. What an idiot you are, Gorin, in front of me, you Genius Knight: The Demon Slayer," said Aria as she quickly took the boy away for immediate medical treatment.

'Sigh. Why did I have to tell a lie like that? Hopefully, she buys it. No, wait a minute. Isn't she capable of doing that... DNA test thing? Ah! I am so dead. I'm fucking dead now,' thought Gorin with regret, but then he muttered, "But well, for that kid, a hell is nothing compared to the pain he endured."

Meanwhile, on the other side with Aria, she had applied some basic treatment to Suzal. Once she was assured there was no danger to his life, she conducted two important tests, after the results thinking, 'I see. This turned out to be a very interesting result. Anyway, that damn old bastard is dead now. He'll face the consequences of lying to me again. Hehe~ I wonder what new experiments I should do?'