〈 Chapter 176 〉 Twins (3)
*
“Did you also have a Divine Seat?”
Lucy nodded her head.
“I did. Although I haven’t heard its voice in a while. It was pretty useful, though, so it’s a shame.”
So, she had a Divine Seat too.
“But when you say ‘also’…”
Like herself.
“Yeah, I had a Divine Seat too. That is, until it abandoned me.”
“Your Divine Seat abandoned you?”
Lucy seemed a bit shaken.
Well, she must have thought about something similar when her own Divine Seat left.
“Don’t get me wrong. The connection with the Divine Seats was completely cut recently due to some circumstances with Allen. But my Divine Seat abandoned me long before that.”
Her Divine Seat definitely left her.
That’s why she was in despair.
Even the one who saved her had abandoned her.
She was completely lost.
“It was Allen who saved me back then. He told me he would be my Divine Seat.”
That was originally a penalty from a bet.
But now she knew that the penalty was actually Allen’s consideration.
“He would be your Divine Seat… Is he that amazing to follow like a Divine Seat?”
“Yeah, he might be even more amazing than my original Divine Seat.”
“More than a Divine Seat? That’s interesting.”
Lucy listened with excitement to her intriguing words.
In that moment, Yusera saw herself in her.
‘Come to think of it…’
That must have been how she felt when she heard about Allen from Elsie at Hero Academy.
Jealous of Elsie, who built a connection with Allen first, but still enjoying stories about Allen.
She somehow felt proud.
“Hmm…!”
“What’s with that suddenly unpleasant laugh?”
“I’m not like Elsie, so I have no intention of conceding to you.”
Elsie might have grown up in Leim Kingdom, where polygamy exists, but she clearly grew up in Sakh, which was distinctly monogamous.
“Hmm?”
However, Lucy clearly grimaced at her words.
“Are you talking about Allen?”
“Uh… maybe?”
“Sorry, but I’m not interested in Allen.”
The moment she thought she’d gotten proud again, she shrank back down.
*
Luel’s study.
Once again, after spitting blood and collapsing, Luel said to me,
“By the way, you said Lucy’s cooking was delicious, right?”
“Ah, I did. It was edible.”
“I know my sister’s food isn’t tasty.”
A moment of silence passed.
“Sorry for lying.”
“No, honestly, being able to say it was tasty after eating that food is impressive.”
“Was it that great?”
Sure, the first day was a bit tough, but these days it seemed somewhat edible.
Yusera was still eating while tears welled up in her eyes, though.
“Well then, shall we start again?”
I had rested enough.
Now it was time to try something new.
‘Blood Magic.’
Focusing on the blood flowing inside me, I raised and lowered my right arm.
And I repeated it, changing the speed slowly or quickly.
Now, I could lift my arm without difficulty.
‘Then…’
This time, it was time to move on to the next stage.
‘Power Punch.’
I clenched my fist.
Then the flow of blood changed slightly.
“Ugh.”
There was a slight impact in the process, but it was still bearable.
‘Next…’
I used Blood Magic to bend my arm and thrust it forward.
‘Success.’
I managed to propel my fist with Blood Magic.
Someone might wonder if that counts as success, but considering how hard it was to lift an arm before, it was a huge improvement.
Literally the result of my efforts spitting blood.
‘Now, I guess it’s about applying this to wielding a sword.’
Actually, that was the main goal.
After all, if I couldn’t reach that level, it would be practically a failure.
Plus, Lucy also took longer to use Blood Magic in practice rather than just handling it.
‘Of course, that’s until she could strengthen her whole body simultaneously.’
Meanwhile, I was focusing only on strengthening my right arm.
Thanks to that, I had managed to handle Blood Magic with my right arm within a week.
‘Still, for now, one arm is enough.’
After all, I’m right-handed.
As long as I could wield a sword with Blood Magic within the remaining week, I would be fine.
‘But…’
There was one unsettling factor.
Cough.
Even though I succeeded, it seemed the internal injuries from earlier were still lingering, resulting in backflow of blood.
It wasn’t much, but it indicated that Blood Magic was steadily shortening my lifespan.
Having coughed up all the blood, I asked Luel,
“How much of my lifespan is left?”
Luel hadn’t informed me about my lifespan up until now.
I personally found that beneficial for my training.
But now that I reached a critical point, it was necessary to know how much time I had left.
“Your lifespan is…”
Pausing for a moment, Luel said,
“It may sound strange, but it’s the same.”
It was indeed strange.
“That it’s the same?”
During the past week, I had spat out blood dozens of times.
The fact that my lifespan hadn’t decreased at all during that process made no sense.
“Luel, tell me properly.”
Sighing, Luel responded,
“Okay, I’ll be more precise.”
It seemed like what she said earlier wasn’t the truth.
“After all, probably a maximum of 1% might have decreased.”
“1%?”
“That’s if you really pushed it hard. In reality, saying it’s practically the same is more accurate.”
What on earth was she talking about?
“How is that even possible…”
“There is one way it could be possible.”
She pulled out one finger and said,
“If you’re not an ordinary human?”
Not an ordinary human…
“Demon King?”
No, that couldn’t be it.
I could pass through barriers without a problem and use Divine Relics just fine.
Luel denied that possibility too.
“Definitely not a Demon King.”
Something else, neither a Demon King nor a human.
Then, something flashed through my mind.
A being with a long lifespan like the Demon King but could pass through barriers and utilize Divine Relics too.
‘Freira?’
She had mentioned that her race wasn’t Demon Kings, but merely long-lived.
However, she had also said her race was extinct…
“You seem to be recalling something. Then let’s check first, shall we?”
With confusion swirling around my mind, Luel asked me,
“Do you perhaps possess exceptionally good senses unlike others?”
Senses?
“Yes, especially in terms of vision and hearing. They possess senses ordinary people usually don’t have.”
Thinking back, Freira had said something similar.
She could feel senses others couldn’t perceive.
And I too had some inklings.
“Definitely, my hearing is better than average…”
“To what extent?”
“Like distinguishing snores from a distance or understanding conversations in the middle of the Tournament Arena?”
“I assumed that wasn’t normal, right?”
“Isn’t that…”
In fact, based on Sung Yoo-rang’s knowledge, it felt abnormal.
But from the perspective of someone from Earth, there were so many other oddities that I just brushed past it.
Afterward, I just adapted, and I hadn’t even noticed until Yusera and Elsie pointed it out.
“That confirms it. I was confused because your hair color isn’t gray but a dull blonde, but it’s safe to say you have some of the blood from the unique race mixed in.”
“Gray?”
“Yes, their hair is uniformly gray without any mix of color.”
The thought of Freira’s hair color came to mind.
Her hair color was also gray.
‘So that means…’
It meant I might also have some blood from the same race as hers.
However, thinking like that raised one strange point.
“But aren’t those races unable to produce children with humans?”
At least that’s what Freira had claimed.
But Luel shook her head.
“No, it isn’t impossible. Just very low odds.”
“It’s not impossible?”
“How much do you really know about them?”
Her question about how much I knew about them.
But I couldn’t answer.
I hardly knew anything.
‘Did I decide it wasn’t worth worrying about after hearing Freira’s claim that they were already extinct?’
I hadn’t even considered asking Freira about her race.
I only knew they lived long, but I hadn’t realized that I had blood from that race flowing through me.
“Actually, I don’t know. Only that they live long.”
“I see.”
But Luel gave me a warm smile.
“It’s okay. Not knowing isn’t a problem. You can always make up for what you don’t know.”
She told me,
“I will tell you about your bloodline.”
“My bloodline?”
“Yes, about those known as the First Humanity.”
*
