Eileen fell silent.
Indeed, possibly after taking her mother away tonight, or at the latest tomorrow morning, they would leave the Blackhole gathering place with Renji to head for an unknown new city. When she would return, or if she could ever come back, was uncertain.
Brian obviously sensed this, which is why he insisted on having this talk with her now, their last conversation that was like a father-daughter one, even if they weren't biologically related.
"What I'm trying to tell you, Eileen, is that I don't want you to follow in your father's footsteps. You've seen what became of him. Do you want to end up the same way?"
"No! I'm not like that bastard!"
Perhaps Brian had touched a sore spot, as Eileen somewhat shouted to cut him off.
Brian wasn't angry. He continued in a deep voice, "Who gave you this confidence? That young man named Renji?"
"I-..."
Eileen couldn't explain everything to Brian, but one thing she was sure of was that she was different from the average Eclipse. Especially after the incident at the Sea Sand Bar, she became even more certain.
In the previous battle against Grey Wolf, one of the reasons Renji told Eileen to stay put was because he didn't want her to see the scene when he used the Tainted Miasma crystal on Grey Wolf. But with her keen eyes, she somewhat guessed what Renji had done.
That scene left a deep impression on Eileen. She couldn't help but wonder if she would have turned into a tainted corpse-like monster, just like Grey Wolf, had she not received the "contract" from Renji.
However, now, with the help of Renji's "contract", she felt physically and mentally fine. Even the church's detection artifact couldn't scan the Tainted Miasma within her.
But...
Eileen was scared.
Anyone would be frightened by such a sight.
She even began to wonder, would Renji really break the contract for her? Would he treat her like he did Grey Wolf if he felt she was no longer valuable? Would the Tainted Miasma in her go berserk, turning her into a tainted monster?
As she was about to hide these fearful thoughts deep within, not intending to share them with Brian, his next words stunned her.
"To be honest, if your confidence really comes from Renji, I'd actually be quite relieved."
"What?! Why?"
"Indeed, I haven't even had a few words with him, but I can feel that he's a good person, and quite a naive one at that."
Brian understood Eileen's astonished expression. And when he saw her look change from "astonished" to "Are you kidding me?", he sighed, as if he had anticipated her reaction.
The main reason Brian wanted to have this talk with Eileen was not to ask if she was an Eclipse. After all, what significance would that question hold even if answered?
What followed was what Brian truly wanted to convey to the young girl.
He didn't directly explain to Eileen why he believed Renji was a good, albeit naive, person.
Instead, Brian posed a new question.
"Eileen, if you were the leader of Callewa's gang, after seeing the report on this incident from the Knights, who would you focus on?"
"On both of us."
"And what if you had left immediately afterward, as I had advised at that time?" Brian further inquired.
This time, the older man provided the answer himself.
"Callewa wouldn't have spared the Sea Sand Bar or me. So, that young man drew their attention in such a manner to save us"
"This..."
Eileen was rendered speechless. At that moment, she hadn't thought that far ahead. Only after Brian pointed it out did she have an epiphany.
'So, the old timer stayed behind waiting for the Knights to save the Sea Sand Bar and even provided that obviously flawed and easily debunked testimony?'
'But, that didn't make sense!'
'Why would he do something like that? Didn't he originally intend to avoid Callewa, which was why he took me to change my clothes?'
Observing the confused girl, Brian silently shook his head.
He had watched Eileen grow up and knew all too well how devastating her father's death had been for her. It transformed a girl, who once resembled a little angel, into what she was now—finding it hard to trust others, and having a prickly disposition akin to a porcupine.
Brian, as someone who had been through it all, understood that people with such a prickly personality, even if they were inherently kind-hearted and craved love, their thorn-like exterior, like a hedgehog, would cause them to lose out on many wonderful things that they could have easily embraced.
"I imagine you must have told that young man that this bar means a lot to you. It's like your home, and everyone here, all of us, are like your siblings. That's probably why he took the spotlight and insisted on doing the test."
"He did it this way to reassure us, to get us to agree to let him take you away. And indeed, the results of the church's examination were right before me. Even though I knew you were an Eclipse, I had no words to say, and no reason to stop you from leaving the Blackhole Plains. I believe your mother, Nolan, must feel the same."
Maybe Renji hadn't thought that deeply, acting on a whim, but Brian couldn't concern himself with that.
Since he couldn't and didn't have the power to stop Eileen from being taken away from the Blackhole gathering place, he chose to trust that Renji was that kind of person. He took a gamble and hoped to remove Eileen's reservations about the young man.
"That old-timer did all that for me?"
Eileen was at a loss for words, a whirlwind of emotions brewing within her.
Seeing the young girl's reaction, Brian knew he had achieved his aim.
He gave Eileen a pat on the shoulder.
"When you find something good, you shouldn't think about how to reject or stay away from it. You should think about how to make it yours, to possess it and make it belong to you. If you don't cherish it now and miss this precious opportunity, you'll just watch it be taken away by someone else."
"This is the basic knowledge for us scavengers. Have you forgotten?"
"Huh!? Old man! Stinky old man! Wait a minute, what do you mean by that?! Explain yourself!"
At first, Eileen nodded dizzily. But after snapping back to her senses, her face turned red with embarrassment and anger, confronting Brian.
"Yes, and excluding a very few people, a girl who swears a lot isn't popular. Eileen, you really need to work on that"
"I told you, I'm not in that kind of relationship with him!!"
Brian scoffed at this.
"Really?"
"Then why didn't we see our Miss Eileen at such an important occasion as my fiftieth birthday a while ago, looking as beautiful, graceful, and elegant as she is now?"
In the end, Brian's gaze landed on the high heels the young girl was wearing, shaking his head in admiration.
Time flies and the young grow up.