Beverly's head snapped in Nico's direction, fixing him with an intense stare.
Nico felt a bead of sweat trickle down his back. He gulped silently, before launching into a brief but detailed account of his encounter with Sharp Gaze in the trial of hope.
As she listened to him, the Priestess's posture relaxed. She rubbed her chin in a thoughtful manner.
"So, you're sure the spirit mentioned the Meosan Empire specifically, right?" Beverly asked.
"Yes," Nico responded with narrowed eyes. "Why?"
"Oh, for no reason. No reason at all," the brown-haired boy swore his aunt's face had turned a little pale.
He shook his head. He must be imagining things. There was no way she could be fearful of something.
Not with her level of strength.
Nothing could shake her apart from the Transcendents and the Monarchs of the Major Races.
Clearing her throat, Beverly hastily changed the subject. "So, uh, anyway… I thought I should let you know, but there are a lot of unsolved mysteries surrounding what happened in your encounter with the White Cobras. It has kicked up quite a storm, although hopefully it should die down relatively quickly."
Nico ignored how quickly his aunt had switched topics for the moment and turned his full attention on her words.
He frowned.
A vague but hazy memory flashed through his mind, accompanied by a slight pain.
Nico rubbed his temples and groaned softly.
Beverly sharply noted Nico's reaction and furrowed her brows. It seemed the trauma of the incident had scarred him so deeply that it had a certain effect on his memory.
Once the pain subsided, Nico raised his head and stared at the ginger-haired woman, urging her to go on.
"The Stanburg's are understandibly furious and are doing their best to cover up the whole situation. Don't be surprised if they try to get back at you. Though, you don't have to worry about that, me and your mother will shield you from the worst of it…"
Nico's chest pulsed with a slight warmth.
"Another thing. Based on the unique nature of what happened and the bandits possession of a magical artifact, the events have caught the eyes of the local authorities, and by extension the Royal Family. Expect an investigator to come and ask you for your version of events soon."
Nico frowned again.
"Don't worry, it won't be anything major. I'll make sure of that," Beverly reassured him.
The boy's eyebrows relaxed. He opened his mouth, "Thank you."
Beverly nodded with a smile, "Besides, it wouldn't do for the mighty Cobra Slayer to undergo a full-blown interrogation, would it now?" she added with a smirk.
Nico's eyes widened, a hint of dread creeping into his heart. His aunt merely laughed out loud at his response.
"What do you mean by Cobra Slayer?" A thin sheen of cold sweat covered Nico's forehead.
"Exactly what it means," the Priestess's smirk widened. She watched as her best friend's son entered a daze, trying to process her words.
After a few seconds of silence, Beverly put him out of his misery. She leaned forward, her eyes lighting up with barely restrained glee. "A certain rumour is going around that a young trainee with a birthmark singled-handedly defeated the White Cobras all by himself."
Nico's mouth turned agape. "B-But, I don't remember doing anything of that sort," his frown deepened.
Beverly hummed, "That may be so, but that doesn't change the fact that your instructor from the Camp came across a scene of carnage and blood. You were at its centre, right beside the corpse of the Boss. That haughty Stanburg Heir and other bandits were nowhere to be seen."
The ginger-haired woman's eyes flashed. She conveniently left out the remnant traces of demonic energy which had surrounded the small clearing.
Nico gazed at his hands in disbelief.
'I did something like that?' he wondered inwardly.
That was impossible. He did not have the strength to go up against and defeat fighters of the White Cobra's caliber.
He clutched his head again, a low buzz assaulting his mind.
Beverly gaze flicked toward Nico's birthmark, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly. She nodded subtly to herself.
The red-robed Priestess cleared her throat, "In any case, let's stop talking about this. You look like you need some rest," She gave Nico a knowing look. "Meditate to calm your inner turmoil and work through your feelings. It never gets easier. I'm sorry, little rascal." Beverly sighed.
She moved to ruffle his hair one final time, before leaving the room. He no doubt needed some time alone to sort through all that happened.
As his aunt's figure stepped through the egress, Nico stared blankly into space for a few moments. His vacant gaze dull and lifeless.
A few moments later though, he rubbed his forehead before taking a shaky breath. His eyes filled with tears.
Now that he was all alone, Nico released the seal he kept on his emotions.
He wept and wept and wept still. He desperately tried to wipe the moisture away from his eyes, yet it just kept coming.
And so, just like this, inside an empty hospital room, the stifled sobs of a young boy with the weight of consecutive losses on his frail shoulders, filled the space for a long while.
***
In a sparsely furnished room, only possessing a bed, a window, a few chairs and machines, silence reigned supreme. Occasionally, the lack of noise broke under the regular beeping of the machines.
On the bed, a pale youth with chestnut brown hair and a jagged birthmark had his eyes clamped shut. His brows furrowed together in deep concentration. Evidently, he was in the midst of some sort of internal struggle.
Seconds turned into minutes, yet Nico stayed cross-legged in a meditative position, seeking to enter the introspective state. Unfortunately, however, it seemed he had reverted to how he had been before the Camp.
No matter what he did, he just couldn't achieve inner peace. The dark mass had become stronger, with the events of Henry's death and the trial of hope combining to form a nasty lump of trauma.
One that he would have to sort through if he had any hope of meditating again.
Nico abruptly opened his eyes and released a turbid breath. He massaged his temples, feeling the hints of a headache coming on, before he sighed lightly. Feeling bored, he reached for the remote on the table beside him, before turning on the screen mounted on the far wall.
The broadcast came alive with a static hum. The image flickered briefly, before settling on an image of a reporter presenting the latest news.
"The Orcs have once again carried out another raid on our villages, this one nearer to the southern reaches of our Empire. It ravaged farmlands and countryside as these bloodthirsty monsters searched for any resources they could bring back to their Kingdom. They killed several unlucky farmers and townspeople during one assault. Even though the Royal Guard reacted incredibly quickly, they were not fast enough to catch these vile abominations… tensions are rising. Could this be a prelude to a Third Great War?"
"Additionally, there have been further reports of unrest in the Wondering Ocean. Aquatic sealife has been facing a steady decline, the reason being several mid-tier Dungeons cropping up beneath the surface. They have now been safely contained, and are being swiftly dealt with the furious Sea Temple. Nonetheless, this has affected local fishermen and raised the price of fish and other aquatic animals by several degrees…"
Nico listened to the news curiously, doing his best to busy himself and take his mind off what had happened recently.
'Why are the Orcs raiding so aggressively?' he mused to himself.
It was unwise for a Third Great War to happen right now, especially with the Demons now all but guaranteed to be gaining the upper hand against their world. Internal strife would just send the inhabitants of Crelerath to their doom faster.
'What if the Demons want that to happen?'
A chilling thought took hold of Nico. Cold sweat trickled down his back.
He promptly shook his head and removed the notion from his head. There was no use worrying about such a thing. He was still too weak to do anything.
Heck, he hadn't even formed a mana core yet.
Nico turned his attention to the Dungeons appearing within the Wondering Ocean. A pensive expression appeared on his face. A subtle shiver crawled down his spine once he imagined the reaction of the Sea Temple to the unfortunate news.
Nico was very much tempted to pray for those dungeon denizens to have died painless deaths. That was how much he feared the wrath of the iratest Temple.
A dry chuckle escaped his mouth. He slicked his hair back, exposing his forehead, before he leaned back and laid his head on the pillow. He stared at the ceiling, his maroon eyes rippling, before returning to a placid state.
Nico raised his hand to his face and idly examined its features. He inwardly reaffirmed his goals for the near future.
'I need to master the third form of the Reaper of Shadows, complete my preparations for the upcoming Ceremony, and make damn sure I form a core. After that, well… I'll pay 'his' family a visit…'