By the time Kyran arrived at the Mercenary Hall’s premises, he saw Nolan waiting right outside the building.
As soon as Nolan saw him, he took out an orb under his cloak and threw it at him.
“A present from the second mistress,” he said with a slightly teasing voice.
Kyran ignored his ‘second mistress’ comment and caught the orb. Using his magic sense, he immediately saw through Stella’s message inside. To be precise, the message was from Stella and Lumi.
Apparently, Lumi had been staying with Stella after the former had wage a ‘little war’ with Silas. The message contained detailed information about Gray’s matter. It seemed, Stella was aware of Nolan’s identity as Gray and that he mentioned admitting it to Kyran. Though most of the information Stella shared was the same as the one Gage gave Nolan, there was additional information she included which was the list of people that made up the Elite Force the Royal Family established with the other two major factions in the empire, Templar Code and Aureole. Stella also sent a list of items the Elite Force had specifically requested from the Blacksmith Order and Alchemist Association. There was also a copy of Nolan’s bounty poster. It appeared the Royal Family planned to go all out in making sure Nolan a.k.a. Gray was captured this time around.
Still…
Kyran glanced at the carefree Nolan in front of him.
Upon seeing Kyran’s look, Nolan raised his brows in question, “What?”
“Nothing,” Kyran replied with a slight shake of his head.
The people from the parliament were probably losing sleep just to come up with a strategy to capture Nolan and yet the person in question was not feeling any pressure at all.
Kyran had to admit that Nolan’s carefree attitude was admirable. If it were him, he would probably overthink and end up making wrong decisions. Thinking about his own bounty situation, they were actually not that far off. The only difference was there were more people that openly come after Nolan, while in Kyran’s case, because of the lack of information and the Conclave’s manipulation from the back.
“Let’s go, we don’t want to be late for our ride,” Nolan said and started walking toward the east gates of Starhorn.
“We can just use your scroll,” Kyran said following Nolan from behind.
“Hell, no. Did you know how much I’ve paid for just to get these scrolls?” Nolan scowled.
“Technically, those scrolls are no longer the ones you bought,” Kyran replied with a deadpan voice.
“Don’t get sassy with me,” Nolan retorted and glanced his way. “Do you think I didn’t notice how you end up looking like a living dead after making these scrolls? It doesn’t matter whether you say it or not, or if you can’t tell the reason because it’s a Regis family secret or something. But I don’t want Cade to bite my head off if he found out I’ve taken advantage of his son.”
An idea suddenly crossed Kyran’s mind as he replied, “Father won’t do that. At most, he’ll just give you the deathly stare. Mother would, though. You know, bite your head off.”
“I said don’t get sassy with me.”
“I’m just telling the truth.”
“Shut up.”
“Why are you always evasive when it comes to my mother?”
“I’m not, and we’re not having this conversation.”
“But she’s your sister.”
“Doesn’t matter—.”
Nolan stopped in his tracks.
Kyran also stopped with an indifferent expression while staring at Nolan’s back.
Nolan slowly turned and glared fiercely at him.
A small smile tugged at the corners of Kyran’s lips as he continued walking while ignoring his glare.
He said, “Let’s go or we’ll miss our ride,” as he walked past him.
“Why you little…” Nolan growled under his breath but followed him nonetheless.
Kyran’s expression remained unreadable as they approached the east gates. He was not really surprised by Nolan’s answer.
To be honest, what he did just now was a spur-of-the-moment thing. The idea came to him after seeing Nolan’s bounty poster. And since Kyran was presented with the opportunity to confirm some of his suspicions regarding Nolan’s real relationship with his parents, he just spouted things at a whim.
Kyran’s suspicion first sprang when Anette told him that although Nolan was not his godfather, he was still closely related to him.
After thinking about it for a while and recalling how Nolan had physical similarities with his predecessor, such as the color of his hair and the shape of his eyes. Kyran guessed that Nolan was an Ada, the descendant family of the Ashtons which his predecessor was part of.
The only reason why Kyran did not think Nolan was related to the Adas before was his eye color was different, unlike Kyran’s mother who had the same shade of hair and eye color as his predecessor. But then, something seemed off with Kyran. It was the fact that Nolan was not his godfather even when he was his father’s sworn brother. At first, he thought, maybe they did not bother with it since they were already related in a way. But Kyran suddenly recalled how Nolan mostly talked about his father and rarely his mother as if he was avoiding anything about her. That got Kyran thinking. Then a few days ago, when Nolan admitted he was Gray, and then Kyran saw his bounty poster from Stella’s message.
In the poster, Nolan looked younger and his hair longer. And though it was black and white, Kyran realized how much Nolan and his mother’s appearance had similarities. It made Kyran think whether Nolan’s eye color was even real. Maybe, just like how he changed Nar’s eye color, Nolan could do too. If that was the case, then Nolan not being his godfather was more possible.
Nolan was already ‘closely related to him,’ there was no need to be his godfather as well.
“You don’t look that surprised,” Nolan suddenly spoke beside him. “Did Anette tell you?”
“No,” Kyran replied.
“You’re not asking questions.”
“I don’t have to. You’ll tell me if you really want to. If not, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Nolan snorted in reply.
Their walk going to the east gates was done in silence.
Kyran was unsure if what he did was right, now that it came to this. He was not used to Nolan’s silence. But if he pretended not to know anything, it would only keep on nagging at his conscience.
After almost half an hour, the two arrived at a store with a caravan in front.
A burly middle-aged man, with curly gray hair and a similarly gray beard wearing an all black overalls was busy loading some heavy-looking craters at the back.
“Gustaff!” Nolan called as he approached the man.
The man, named Gustaff stopped what he was doing as he turned and look at Nolan. His dark eyes lit up as his face broke into a grin.
“Oi, Nol, here you are! Carmen said you’re coming but its already getting dark,” Gustaff said as he walked over to Nolan and the two bumped fist in greeting. “I thought maybe Carmen heard wrong and that you’re dropping by tomorrow instead.”
“Nah,” Nolan replied as he looked at the rest of the craters in front of the store that had not been loaded into the caravan yet. “I just had to drop by somewhere before coming here. It’s not like I’m late anyway.”
He looked at Gustaff and said with a meaningful look, “You’ll be heading there, right?”
Gustaff’s eyes constricted only for a second, before he laughed heartily and said, “Why? Are you planning to bully people again?”
Nolan gave him an incredulous look and said, “Do I look that bored to you?”
Gustaff bellowed in laughter.
Kyran who heard their exchange from behind had been observing Gustaff right from the start. The words the two had exchanged were nothing special, but what Gustaff said about Nolan planning to bully people ‘again,’ piqued Kyran’s interest.
The ‘place’ Nolan said Kyran would be training was still a complete mystery to him. All he knew was his parents, with Nolan and Anette, including the ‘fifth’ person who possessed the same jade rings, went to that ‘place’ in their youth for training. Apparently, it was their master, whom Nolan called the old geezer who made them go to that ‘place’ to train.
Kyran remembered Anette saying that the jade rings they had represented that they had conquered that ‘place.’
‘Just what is that place?’ He wondered.
“Anyway, I’m not the one going in,” Nolan said before pointing his thumb at his back toward Kyran. “He is.”
Gustaff followed where Nolan was pointing. It was only then that he realized Kyran standing there.
“Whoa, I did not notice you there kid.”
Kyran replied with a nod. At first, Gustaff appeared a little intimidating with his burly body. But the more Kyran looked at Gustaff, the more he realized how much he reminded him of his uncle Jared.
Turning his attention back at Nolan, Gustaff asked, “Is he yours?”
Nolan and Kyran’s eyes almost popped out of their sockets.
“F*ck, no!”
Yep. Gustaff really sounded like Kyran’s uncle Jared.
Gustaff bellowed in laughter after seeing Nolan’s expression.
“That’s too bad then, if Carmen is here, she’d nag you about it.”
“F*ck, can we stop now, and just go?” Nolan scowled.