The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 264: Chapter 259 — Distance

Still, that begged another question. How the hell had Ferravry’s metal found its way into the rod in the first place? Thinking about it, Zephyrion already had a pretty good guess.

A moment later, he asked;

”How can I hasten its recovery?”

Maegorian stroked his beard thoughtfully. ”That’s the troublesome part. The damage is severe, which is why it’s recovering so slowly. You could feed it ordinary metals, and that might help a little, but in its current state...” He shook his head. ”What it really needs is more calamity metal. Give it that, and you should see a significant difference.”

Zephyrion frowned.

Calamity metal was Ferravry’s metal. Retrieving some would be next to impossible, especially since the mountain of calamity metal, and their source had wiped off the map months ago.

Then, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

”What about his spawns?”

Maegorian paused, considering it, before slowly nodding.

”Hmm. Their metal is naturally inferior to Ferravry’s, so it won’t be nearly as effective, but... yes. Enough of it should do the trick.”

’That’s good.’

At the very least, there was hope. Now, though, he still had to find a Ferravry spawn, a task that could prove extremely challenging, given that most of them lived in hiding. And those that didn’t weren’t exactly beings Zephyrion could hope to have any influence over, especially as he was now.

Zephyrion frowned, sinking into thought. Then, suddenly, Kaelith spoke up;

”Then why not just use that guy... what’s his name? That prince. Arcturus.”

”Kaelith!”

Maegorian whipped his head towards his heir, glaring at him. Kaelith stiffened, and the moment he realized what he had just let slip, his face paled.

”Ah... shit. S-sorry...”

Zephyrion’s eyes narrowed slightly as he observed the exchange.

’So he was hiding something from me.’

Thinking about it, though, it made sense. The change he had made to the inheritance’s source only made Maegorian more inclined to help him.

Zephyrion hadn’t actually asked where he could find a spawn, so there had been no reason for it to take effect. The old man had clearly been withholding the information, perhaps simply to spite him, but Kaelith had just ruined that.

”Arcturus?” Zephyrion asked a moment later.

Maegorian turned back to him and released a heavy sigh.

”Well, since this idiot apparently inherited everything from me except the ability to keep his damn mouth shut, there’s no point hiding it anymore.” He shot Kaelith one last glare before continuing. ”Yes. Arcturus is one of Ferravry’s spawns, and not some common one either. That brat is high-ranking.”

Zephyrion’s eyes sharpened.

’He’s a spawn?’

Suddenly, several things made much more sense. The sense of danger Zephyrion had felt the moment he saw him. His abnormal strength and speed.

Arcturus Aur Eryndor wasn’t merely a prince of the Ferran Empire.

He was also a spawn of the Metal Calamity.

...

Several moments later, Kaelith and Maegorian left, leaving Zephyrion alone with his thoughts. The revelation about Arcturus was significant, very significant, and Zephyrion couldn’t help but reassess the prince in his mind. After all this, he would need to adjust how he planned to deal with him.

However, his thoughts were cut short when Lumi returned to the room, hauling a large cart filled with all sorts of food, clearly fulfilling her promise of bringing him a feast. But Zephyrion barely paid any attention to it.

Something was wrong.

There was no smile on Lumi’s face. Instead, her expression seemed tense, and for some reason, she kept avoiding his gaze. It was a far cry from the cheerful mood she had been in when she left the room not long ago.

Zephyrion’s eyes slowly grew cold.

”What happened?”

Lumi stopped the cart in the middle of the room and looked at him. Zephyrion immediately caught the hesitation in her eyes, along with something that made his frown deepen.

Wariness.

He was about to speak when she shook her head, quickly signing that nothing was wrong.

’Bullshit.’

Zephyrion stared at her, searching her expression for some clue as to what had happened. However, to his surprise, Lumi simply gave him a small nod before turning and walking towards the door.

The words left his mouth before he could even think about them.

”Where are you going?”

Lumi stopped at the door and turned back to him. Then, she signed;

To my room.

Without waiting for a response, she stepped outside and shut the door behind her.

Zephyrion stared at the closed door, baffled, almost expecting it to open again at any moment. However, even after several seconds passed, only silence greeted him.

Huh?

Zephyrion blinked, unsure of how he was supposed to react.

Since when did Lumi have her own room?

...

A gust of wind jolted him awake.

Zephyrion’s eyes snapped open, and he immediately scanned the room, searching for the source.

”Lumi, get read—”

He froze as his hand touched the cold, empty spot beside him. Usually, a petite girl would be slumbering peacefully there, but now he was met with nothing but emptiness, a sensation he somehow felt had taken root within him as well.

It had been months since Lumi had last slept beside him.

Ever since that night, when she had first chosen to sleep in her own room, she had somehow distanced herself from him. Though they still saw each other often, it was usually from a distance, and no matter how many times he asked what had happened, he always received the same answer.

Nothing.

Something had happened that night. Zephyrion was certain of it, yet no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t figure out what.

Zephyrion pushed the thought aside, remembering why he had woken up in the first place. He rose from the bed and swept his gaze across the room.

No one.

’But I felt something. I’m certai—’

His gaze stopped on a folded letter sitting on the table. Zephyrion frowned, his attention immediately drawn to the name written across it.

’Ingrid.’

He picked up the letter and went through its contents.

The next moment, his frown deepened.