The city was really quiet tonight.
In the past, due to a policy by the former lord, outsiders could not enter the city area... That policy should've been abolished already, but the current condition wasn't any better.
Earlier when Lishua took us to the city lord's mansion, there were still some residents passing by. But when night came, people chose to stay at home.
The reason being, they're afraid of the Ancient monster.
It's a similar situation as the Gallia's Tenryu. Individuals belonging to Area E were seemingly undefeatable because the contender had to be on the same realm in order to even deal any damage.
Regular people could only escape or hide when such a being rampaged around.
This city's atmosphere was the same as the fortress city when Tenryu was about to attack.
[Of course there are no food stalls anywhere...]
『The best one should be along the city's main road. But now you understand what I mean, right?』
[Ye~ah, I just miss the cuisine of this desert city.]
『How about consulting Lishua about it?』
[Nah, she already has her hands full. Not only does she have the ancient monster problem to deal with, I also asked her to watch over Roxy. There is no way I could come to her just to say that I want to eat this city's special cuisine]
『Should be just fine, you are about to fight an ancient monster after all. Now THAT is a feast.』
[I'm not as greedy as you are.]
I lightly tapped on Greed to help exorcise his evil heart.
As I was walking along the quiet main road, all of a sudden... I felt odd about a narrow path on the right.
But I couldn't see anything going on under the darkness.
『What is wrong, Fate?』
[No... maybe just my imagination]
It's as if there was something very attractive there. I had no solid reason why. I simply felt the need to go there. Like there is an invisible force pushing me forward.
『If you feel that way, then you should not go.』
[But... but I feel that I have to.]
Greed's advice had kept me alive for so long. And yet, I still trot onward to that shadowy alley anyway.
『Fate, use your Night Vision skill.』
[I know. On it already.]
『You simply can't keep your hand away once you're attracted to something. Good grief, what a troublesome fellow』
[That's indeed troublesome, hahaha.]
『Do not laugh as if we are talking about someone else!』
Just as Greed suggested, I activated "Night Vision" before proceeding further.
After walking a bit more, I saw two men in black who were in the middle of a conversation. It's fairly obvious that both of them were warriors from their physique and equipment. One thing that made me concerned, their surroundings still remained dim despite me already using night vision skill.
Skill does not work on them!? There was only one case of that happening before.
It was similar to when I tried to use the appraisal skill to check on Myne's stats.
Those people were not normal. That part was very clear to me.
I hid myself up, and continued to listen to their conversation.
But I couldn't hear anything from here. I do have an authority as a holy knight to apprehend suspicious person.
Let's go closer and see what they're up to. I thought inwardly.
The two noticed me before I could make any move.
This dim alley was not only a difficult place to find, but it's also hard to escape on. If I pushed in with my stats, I should be able to seize them without difficulty.
One stayed to intercept me, while the other one ran to another direction.
[Oi, stop!]
They ignored my warning and disappeared into the darkness. It's hard to chase when one of them blocking me so that the other one could escape.
[Wa, wait. Fate.]
That's somewhat familiar voice. I stopped my track in front of the one intercepting me and took a better look at the person's concealed face.
A moment of silence passed. The cloud that covered the moon finally moved away, allowing the moonlight to gradually light the person's face.
[Dad...]
At the capital Seyfert, he took away the philosopher's stone and Raine right in front of me. It was unknown what happened to him afterward.
Impossible... I never expected that we'll meet here of all places.
Suppressing my welling up emotion, I jumped away to make some distance.
[Oi oi, what is this? Why are you moving away?]
[Why of course. Where is Raine? What did you do with the Philosopher's stone? And what did you do earlier?]
I bombarded him with questions as I drew Greed out.
[Don't be so impatient. It's still late at night.]
[Dad!]
He didn't even take his spear out of empty air like before this time, opting to use his one hand to try to keep my black sword away. He's so calm, probably because he still sees me as a child.
[Well, calm down. Firstly, rest assured, Raine is protected well.]
[What protection!? You practically kidnapped her!]
[I'm sorry for taking her away like that. But now it's different. She has agreed to act together with us.]
[What was that even mean...]
[Our interests simply matched.]
So he's saying that Raine was now willingly working alongside Dad...?
Seeing that he could still convince me after watching my expression changing, Dad continued.
[That's all I can say. As for the philosopher's stone, even I don't know what has become of it now]
[Dad!]
He didn't seem to even bother hearing me. Despite my brandishing Greed, he approached calmly, until we passed each other.
[Fate, I have given you ample warning, but you still came here anyway...]
[I have to do something. I can't just stay in the capital.]
[I see... it's been five years... no, almost six years since then...]
Dad who was facing away from me chuckled lightly.
[That desert monster, don't touch it]
[Why?]
[That fellow, is actually closely related to me. It's a burden way too heavy for Fate to carry.]
[That is not the case. I too am.]
[Area E? Then you should understand this. From this point onward, stacking more stats is meaningless, it's about the skill quality and how well the person is handling it.]
[Even that is...]
[Fine then. However, your gluttony skill eats the soul of those it defeated, and takes away everything from them. From now on, it'll be battles between Area Es. You will suffer beyond imagination. Uncontrollable stats will also eventually interfere with your skills.]
I turned around this time, trying to approach him. But Dad, knowing this, also took a step forward to maintain our distance.
[Fate, let me tell you this if you still insist on fighting it. What you are going to fight is a special creature called the Sacred Beast. And due to its holy blessing, even... even your mortal sin weapon won't even be able to scratch it. How about that? Still insisting to fight?]
[I'll still fight. Because it's what I've decided.]
[I see... alright then. I also heard from Raine. You defeated the Tenryu at that cursed land Gallia. With such a feat under you belt, whatever I say will not budge you... But don't overdo it. Your body has started changing, hasn't it?]
[...did you also hear that from Raine?]
[She's worried about Fate. And so do I.]
Dad kept walking away slowly.
He's not going to let me fight. He'd stop me even by force. Just as I thought so,
[I just want my kid to act like how a kid should be.]
[Dad!]
With that he pulled out the black spear from the void, whiffing out cold air in the process.
But he didn't attack me, and instead kept his back open to me.
[If we fight seriously in this city, what do you think will happen...? You know that full well, right?]
[.....]
[Even so you'll still go on?]
[.....kuh.]
[Good boy.]
There is no way I can decline when he took the entire city hostage.
When Dad took away both the stone and Raine, he froze a lot of people. Yet he didn't kill any of them. Instead, he released them once he managed to get away.
That kind of person, even if he was to fight me now, he would not let other people get in the crossfire.
But perhaps, the real reason why I gave in, was the glowing tattoo on Dad's face...It gave me so much pressure that my thought process seemed to slow down.
[Well then, we are running out of time. Later, Fate.]
Then, into a shadow that couldn't be seen through night vision, Dad disappeared.
But I was unable to move for a while even afterward. I took a deep breath to calm my slightly rising heartbeat rate.
『No way.....that was your father. Makes me wonder if your intuition is good, or bad』
[Yeah, that surprised me too. But it's good that we met. Now I know that we're up against a sacred beast.]
『Sacred Beast, eh.....? That would be one hell of a catch.....』
[Dad said, even Greed won't be able to hurt that sacred beast. Are you okay with that?]
『Haa!? This me!? .....well, I am nothing but a weapon, so it will depend on who wields me. In other words.....』
[It's up to me?]
『That is how. Mastery requires hard work. Well, it is true that my special performance alone will not be enough to get you around. Fighting this sacred beast will surely give Fate something to learn regardless if we fail to defeat it.』
[About that. I don't want to lose. Cause if we lose, then this territory is as good as gone already.]
『I know. I am just telling you to think things through. If you took a misstep, you might end up losing someone important to you. Do not forget, that you are not fighting alone now.』
[Yeah.....]
Looking up to the sky, the thick clouds that covered the moon seemed to have gone elsewhere.
The moon was in full view, even the dim alley became fairly well illuminated.
There was still some time until midnight. I originally went out walking around the city to distract my mind anyway, so let's spend some more time out here.
『Lots of things happened. Want to grab some liquor to drink?』
[No can do. We're going to fight a sacred beast after this. That's not something I can handle while being tipsy. You know I'll get in trouble if I do.]
『Well,Eris will be angry, and Roxy will probably beat you up. And Mimir will suck your blood. Hahaha.』
[Don't laugh like that!]
Good grief, he can't feel any tension, can he? But Greed was just a weapon, so it can't be helped.
It's all up to me who wielded him.