Cleaver Of Sin

Chapter 517: Brother

”As you said before, I’m simply too strong for my class missions, and they will only slow me down, but yesterday, I met with Principal Cindralis and she upped my mission clearance level, now I can accept missions above my class restriction,” Asher replied without hiding anything, as there wasn’t really anything to hide to begin with, and he saw no reason to be secretive about something that would inevitably become known sooner or later.

Hearing Asher’s words, Thalric’s steps immediately came to a halt, his black eyes turning toward Asher for a moment as he simply stared at his junior brother in unmistakable surprise. Asher met Thalric’s eyes with his own purple ones, wondering why he had suddenly stopped walking.

The next moment, a smile appeared on his lips as he spoke, ”Congratulations, Ash, mother will be proud,” he stated, his tone softening in a way that was both gentle and unfamiliar.

Asher felt his mind blank out into a state of absolute white, as though all thoughts had been forcibly erased, because he couldn’t understand what he was seeing. For the first time since his transmigration, he saw Thalric smile.

Thalric Wargrave, the Ninth Sun, was smiling at this very moment. But it also wasn’t only that, his tone had softened, so gentle and caring that Asher could feel the sincerity and quiet happiness carried within his words, the emotion so genuine that it caught him completely off guard.

Asher could still remember the pain Thalric had put the original Asher through as the boy grew up, although it wasn’t physical pain, every word and insult Thalric had hurled had cut deep into the original Asher’s heart, carving wounds that never truly healed and leaving behind scars that lingered long after the moments had passed. But now, that same Thalric was here, smiling and speaking with genuine care, the contrast between past and present almost surreal.

’I’m literally seeing character development in real time,’ Asher thought to himself as he met Thalric’s gaze, the absurdity of the situation not lost on him. Asher himself couldn’t help but break into a small smile filled with faint amusement, as though the scene unfolding before him was something straight out of a story rather than his own reality.

He understood that Thalric had poured every ounce of hatred and sadness that came with the death of their mother onto Asher. In a way, Asher didn’t blame Thalric, because he simply had no one to stop him or guide him... or to be more accurate, there were people, but they didn’t make a move, after all, what was there to make a move on and for.

Asher was sure that if Thalric found a way to change his soul-bound sabre weapon into a rapier, the boy would do so in less than a heartbeat, simply because it was their mother’s wish, which she never saw fulfilled until her death.

”Thank you, Brother,” Asher spoke as he finally called Thalric brother. The boy had shown genuine care and change, there was no need to hold back anymore, and forcing distance between them now would only feel childish and unnecessary.

Thalric seemed to smile even more as he heard Asher refer to him as brother, but he said nothing else, as though he was replaying that singular word within his mind, savoring it quietly like something he had long since given up hope of ever hearing again.

”You seem surprised that the Principal had accepted my mission clearance request, why is that?” Asher asked as he began to walk again, breaking the brief silence between them.

”Nothing really, just like you, I felt my class missions would only hold me back, so I applied for a mission clearance level change, but the Principal denied my request, after several efforts, I had no choice but to join the team of some upperclassmen,” Thalric explained as he walked with steady steps and a forward gaze, his tone calm and matter-of-fact.

”That seems exhausting,” Asher replied without a change in expression, although he wasn’t exactly surprised that Cindralis had denied Thalric’s request, after all, Cindralis couldn’t exactly accept everyone’s request without turning the system into chaos.

”Not really, you just have to find a suitable workaround for it,” Thalric replied with a slight shrug, as though it had never truly bothered him.

”What did you do?” Asher asked as his curiosity had been piqued, his eyes shifting slightly toward Thalric.

”I would team up with an upperclassman whom I could defeat, take the mission with them, and when we got to the Empire, I would just send them to the Wargrave estate where they would be taken care of and also paid in gold coins, while I personally took on the mission and kept the reward, everybody wins,” Thalric explained how he had worked around the system that had been about to restrict his progress, his voice steady as though he were describing something completely ordinary.

Asher stayed silent for a moment, he couldn’t help but admit that it was indeed a smart method, efficient and practical in its own way.

’It seems everyone is finding their own way around the system. Malrik by threatening the Principal, Wuthenya by threatening her classmates, Thalric by bypassing the rules entirely, yet still technically following them,’ he mused to himself as he walked, understanding that strength didn’t always mean brute force, sometimes it simply meant knowing how to bend the rules without breaking them.

”Why didn’t the Principal accept your request?” Asher asked as he wanted to know the reason behind the refusal.

”She said she needed something of equivalence,” Thalric replied as he walked, ”after that, I came up with this loophole kind of way,” he stated, sounding almost indifferent about it.

Asher nodded to himself as he walked, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but admit that Vice Principal Berion and Principal Cindralis were definitely aware of these various ways to cheat the system, yet they simply didn’t care about it, almost as though they wanted the students to think, adapt, and discover such solutions on their own rather than relying on handouts.

After all, if one couldn’t get something through force or pleading, then the only remaining option was to outsmart whoever was in the way. And that was exactly what Asher felt Cindralis was probably doing here, subtly forcing them to grow through obstacles instead of removing those obstacles entirely.

Asher shook his head and decided to forget about it, although he hadn’t thought of the plan Thalric had used, he didn’t want to meet up with an upperclassman all the time for a mission, it seemed too tiring making arrangements constantly, and the constant coordination would only slow him down more than anything.

Upgrading his mission clearance level was best.

”What did you offer the Principal in exchange?” Thalric asked, his voice steady and calm.

”Nothing really,” Asher replied without lying, as he had given nothing and owed nothing.

Thalric stayed silent for a moment in thought, then nodded, he came to a stop, his eyes turning to Asher as he spoke, ”I will be going now, I have a mission I want to handle,” he placed his hand on Asher’s shoulder as he spoke, ”be safe, Ash,” and before Asher could even reply, he turned and walked away with a calm and composed demeanor, his tall figure gradually disappearing into the flow of students.