The room was instantly enveloped in silence as everybody stared in disbelief on what just happened. They couldn't believe their eyes that they saw their respectable and proud master spit his coffee and then choke right afterwards.
*Clank
The teacup Roland was holding was placed down on the smeared table. He still hadn't said a word after the earlier incident. Everyone waited for his response, the servants, Maria, and Ray just stared at the state of the head of the Irisville household.
"""!?"""
Suddenly an intimidating pressure bore down on the dining table. Everyone instantly backed away as they saw pinkish blue particles surrounding Roland's body. Such sight was both a beautiful and terrifying sight to see as it signaled that Roland was truly pissed.
"You...How do you know that? Tell me" his cold voice was sending shivers as he glared at me.
'Shit!' I braced myself quickly although that was a futile action in front of this person.
He instantly came up to me without any prior preparation of movement from where he was sitting. He then grasped my right shoulders with an iron grip as if he would instantly break it like a toothpick if he wanted to.
"Ughh!"
I gritted my teeth as I stared back at his glaring eyes in such close proximity. I felt terrified and honestly I wanted to run away right now if possible. I knew in my head that getting this person's attention needed this kind of scale of surprise factor but now that I'm in front of him, I'm starting to have second thoughts about dealing with this maniac but-
'...I need to do this..Cmon you wuss! speak up!..'
"..Don't test my patience boy. How did you-" before he could finish his sentence and probably break my shoulders, I cut in.
"The fact that you need to ask me that already tells a lot about what I know. Do you really think it's a great idea to talk about this here?"
I gestured my eyes towards my aunt and the servants. They were all in shock of what was happening that not one of them even tried to diffuse the situation although they couldn't even if they tried. The important thing was that they were present here to see this.
"...You. Do you know what you're trying to do?" his grip was still strengthening by the second.
"...I'm trying to have a talk with you that's all lord Roland, just like I said"
I smiled, trying to mask the increasing pain on my shoulders. I was really hoping he would fold already.
"....."
It felt like forever as my mind kept focusing on his grip as the seconds passed by and after a little bit more I was about to give up since my bones were already creaking at this point. Fortunately the response that I've been waiting for came.
"...Everyone, leave us be. I have important matters to discuss with my nephew"
The pressure that was present in the room a while ago disappeared along with the particles surrounding Roland's body. He had also let go of his iron grip on my shoulders as he gestured towards a maid.
"Clean this up"
"Y-yes Master!"
He then fixed up his scuffled clothes as he turned his back on me.
"Let's go to my office"
"...Yes lord Roland"
'Oh man, I'll remind myself to never do this type of shit again, I almost pissed myself....but I'm sure I can't possibly avoid taking risk in my situation' I rubbed my aching shoulder as I followed along.
"..Dear what is going on?" Auntie asked as she approached Roland walking away.
"It's nothing Maria"
"But-"
"I said it's nothing" he said in a harsher tone.
"..I-...I understand"
She backed away and proceeded to go the other way where the two brats were, not before giving me a sharp glare as a parting gift.
'....Stop being obvious about it lady'
We walked for a few minutes as we came up before a normal looking door compared to the luxurious hallway that we've been traversing. We went inside and to my surprise the room was a normal office, with several books placed on the bookshelves and a wooden table behind a large window.
It was very old compared to the normal design of the mansion. In Ray's memories, this is considered the first time he went inside Roland's office.
Roland then proceeded to lock the door and for good measure he activated a lock and silence spell.
"[Ether Sphere]"
A white circular wave enveloped the whole room in an instant, after that he went to sit at the lone table of the room. Placing his hands on the table, he finally spoke-
"So...how did you know about my 'eyes'? and don't even think about lying to me boy or else.." as he said that, his eyes glowed red as two circles could be seen shining from his eyes.
Sweat flowed down my face as I already anticipated how this conversation would generally go, thanks to my knowledge of the novel I had a good amount of leverage against this stubborn old man.
The way he phrased it literally meant that it was futile to lie to him because he possessed the-
'The Eyes of Truth'
A magic eye that uncovers lies, deception, illusion and trickery. It would have been enough if it just did that much but he became strong not because it uncovers lies but burns anything to ashes where such lies come from.
If anyone other than those knowledgeable about his eyes tried to lie to him when it was activated, that person would instantly become charcoal. It's such an overpowered ability for both combat and general affairs....if it was perfect that is-
"..I peeked through it with my eyes... it revealed your concealing lenses, your magic eyes is missing the last circle" I pointed directly at his eyes.
He looked shocked knowing that his eyes of truth basically tells his mind if something is a lie. He covered his face partially with his hands as he gritted his teeth.
"...You used your eyes on me...since when did you find out?" his eyes were still glowing red. He also seemed a little pissed that I spied on him.
'..Still not convinced huh then-'
"I saw it when I was a kid..my powers was running wild back then. Basically I saw it by accident"
He still didn't react, confirming my statements as truths.
'...Wheew...I thought that wouldn't count. It's true that I saw it as a kid based on Ray's memories but that was before I was transmigrated here. It seems like that lie detection of his isn't absolute just like I thought'
"..You..., answer me this, since you claim to know where it is. Tell me where it is,...my eyes?" the way he spoke was filled with desperation and the way his voice twisted made it more terrifying.
'..This guy is crazy..' I took a deep breath since this certainly will piss him off more. Moreover he had asked the wrong question so I needed to do this.
"....I don't know" I said, sweat forming on my face.
The room fell into silence for a few second before-
"Don't screw with me kid! [Fireball]"
He slammed the table as a large fireball appeared behind his back, he then said-
"I'll turn you into ashes if you don't te-"
"But I can find who has it and it's still in the labyrinth by the way"
His fireball suddenly disappeared as he heard my words.
"Wha-.....wait wait that can't be true,....someone has my eyes!" he was going hysterical, probably shocked by the truth being shoved into his head by his magic eyes.
"...How did you know all this?...spill it out right this instant" intimidating pressure was seeping out out of his body as he asked me.
'Oh boy, this is the tricky part...but it's been somewhat proven that it would work so...here goes nothing'
*Gulp
"Dad left a message for me and it took me long enough to figure everything out"
What I just said is information that came from the novel, not from Ray's memories. This was practically a gamble to see if his eyes of truth differentiates the truth before I became Ray.
He widened his eyes as he confirmed the truth.
"...That bastard had never intended to tell me about it from the start.." he clenched his hands in frustration as he looked down on his table.
"Oh and before you decide to get rid of me after knowing all this, you're going to need me to find it for you since I'm literally the only who can retrieve it in one piece"
"....Tch...." his glowing eyes revealed the absence of lies.
He pondered in his thoughts as he kept staring right at me, his magic eyes deactivated. After minutes of thinking, he then asked the focal point of this meeting.
"What do you want from me then, boy. I know you're not a fool, you obviously want something in exchange.."
'..Finally old man, you folded. You're too desperate for your eyes that you would even listen to me, you've become pathetic....but I need to be careful not to overextend too much...'
"I only want three things in exchange for finding your eyes. One, I want total freedom in the academy. Two, lend me resources when necessary since the faster I rank up, the lower I could dive...that includes the family manual" I paused
"And three, lend me one of the Irisville's villa"
'I'm not living in this place thank you very much'