Chapter 136: Sorry

Thirty minutes after the meeting ended.

Isaac was now back in the Grandmaster’s tent.

“…”

“…”

A subtle silence enveloped the tent.

On one side, a woman with wolf ears and a wagging wolf tail was folding her arms.

While on the other side was a woman who had taken off her satgat, revealing her round ears.

They could easily be mistaken for something else, but when one were to take a look at them closely, they could see that those were bear ears.

So that’s why I can’t see her tail.

Isaac nodded to himself at this revelation.

Number 2 and Number 10.

The moment those two met, the tent was enveloped in a tense atmosphere.

But, looking at the two, Isaac felt relieved.

He was satisfied by his judgment to take over the matter regarding Nameless back during the meeting.

Things could develop into a huge fight if I didn’t take over back then.

As for why Nameless was let off like this, it was because she had helped their group back in Naraka.

Besides, she didn’t seem to wish to fight, and they had her handcuffed.

Still, the air is tense.

Although, if she really wanted to, it wasn’t hard for someone of her level to draw her sword even when she was handcuffed.

“So…”

Eventually, it was the Grandmaster who finally opened her mouth and ended the nerve-wracking silence.

“How did you end up this way? Did they finally abandon you? Good job, I guess?”

Damn…

A smirk appeared on her mouth as she said that.

Isaac could only inwardly express his amazement at the sight.

Does she realize that she looks really petty right now?

Surely she could word that better.

Regardless, what was matter was that he got a secondhand embarrassment from looking at her.

“Ha.”

Nameless raised her arm.

Then, she dragged Isaac closer to her, embraced her, and smiled.

“Well, it was this guy who dragged me all the way here. Of course, I wanted to stay there, but maybe because he had learned so much from me, he grabbed me by the leg and brought me here.”

For your information, the reason why Nameless was dragged to this world too was because she was a mixed blood.

Silver Clock directed her sorcery towards all the humans in that place and since Nameless was a half-human, she just somehow got caught into it.

“What are you—?”

Isaac tried to refute that story, but he couldn’t overpower Nameless.

When she pushed his head and forcefully buried it in her chest to prevent him from talking, there was nothing else that he could do.

“YOU WHOOOORE!”

Of course, the sight made the Grandmaster’s anger level soar through the roof.

“How dare you mess around with someone else’s disciple! Go away! Get the hell out of here!”

She immediately grabbed Nameless’ hands and tried to pull her away from Isaac, but she held on to him as tightly as she could, refusing to let go.

M-My neck… M-My neck feels like it’s about to snap…

Actually, it was his whole body that felt like it was about to break.

He felt like he had turned into a shrimp that was caught up in a battle between two whales.

But these two didn’t know that and instead kept on hurling insults at each other.

“He must’ve been so dissatisfied with what you’ve taught him! Just what the hell have you been teaching him, huh?!”

“W-What nonsense are you spouting?! Of course I taught him everything he needs to know to achieve enlightenment! Step by step!”

“Step by step my foot! The kid was so focused on Iai that he didn’t even know the basics of sword fighting, do you know that?!”

“That’s just how I taught him! Look, what’s important for him right now is to stay alive! As long as he could survive against enemies that are stronger than him and hone his ability through real fights, that’s gonna be enough!”

“That doesn’t mean you can just let him focus on Iai and pray that he’d survive! He still needs to build his skills from the ground up!”

“Who do you think this kid is, huh?! Do you know how smart he is?! The depth of his knowledge when it comes to swordsmanship is greater than us combined! It’s only right for him to gain enlightenment as soon as possible so that he could grow stronger!”

“Oh, is that so? Then, why did his eyes sparkle whenever I taught him something?”

“…What?”

A sound of something breaking echoed.

Isaac guessed that it was probably the sound of Grandmaster’s heart.

Grab.

She placed a hand on Isaac’s shoulder—who, even up to this point, was still being embraced by Nameless.

From the sharp movement and the heavy pressure of her grip, it was clear that she was mad.

“I-Isaac? Could you come with me for a second? Your master needs to talk with you.”

“…”

“Did you really learn from this skank? Of course not, right? I mean, our bond as a master and a disciple is irreplaceable, even through space and time, right?”

“…”

“Y-You see, I have ten profound secret techniques that I can teach you. Right now. What do you think? Are you interested? Then, come with me~”

“By profound secret, she means the ultimate technique, by the way.”

“Shut up! We’re having a master-disciple conversation right now!”

For a moment there, Nameless shut her mouth.

It seemed like she was about to relent and let Isaac go, but…

She didn’t.

Instead, she poked Isaac’s cheek with her finger while holding him in his arms. She opened her mouth again while snickering.

“Well, my disciple, if it’s just that, I can teach you instead of her. Every day if you want to. So, what do you think, my dear disciple?”

“D-Dear…disciple…?”

The Grandmaster’s eye trembled as she took a step back in shock.

With trembling lips, she shouted at Isaac.

“Y-You traitor! I’ve never seen such an ungrateful disciple! Even after receiving my grace that’s as high as the heavens and as wide as the sea, you’re still so ungrateful! How could you still be so shameless after such a betrayal, huh?!”

“…”

“You, what did you just tell me earlier? That it was tough?! And you don’t want me—your master—to leave you?! Just a moment ago you were crying and trembling in my arms! Where has that precious disciple of mine gone?!”

“…”

“Was it all a dream?! A fleeting dream, just like a butterfly’s dream?! Meaningless?! Completely and utterly meaningless?! Oh, how sorrowful I am! How could I ever raise such a disciple?!”

“…”

“Answer meeee!!!”

After a while, the Grandmaster calmed down.

The situation went out of control for a moment, but it was all good now.

With the Grandmaster and Nameless in front of him, Isaac began to tell them everything without beating around the bush.

“I want to save Rianna.”

Now that he had a moment to catch his breath, he was able to speak much more comfortably than before.

“That’s why, I’m going back to Naraka.”

Hearing that, the two women stared at Isaac, each showing a different reaction.

The Grandmaster just calmly accepted his decision, whereas a frown appeared on Nameless’ face.

“My dear disciple, I get that you are hopeful for that plan of yours since you managed to escape that place once, but doing it again is just impossible.”

“How could you crush the kid’s dream so easily like that, huh? A master’s duty is to lit the path for her disciple to reach his dream, no matter how absurd it is. Also, stop calling him your disciple, he is mine.”

“You shut your mouth, I’m being serious here. Hey, do you think this matter is that simple?”

Nameless stood, clearly annoyed. She bent one leg and leaned back, crossing her arms.

“Last time, the goddess—no, to be more exact, the star helped you. That’s why you managed to get away. But, do you really think such a miracle would happen twice?”

“…”

“You want to go back to Naraka and save Rianna? So you want to kill yourself? That’s it?”

“Then, am I supposed to leave her alone there?!”

Isaac’s eyes widened as he tried to vent his frustration.

Rianna’s voice. He could still hear it.

Her scent. It still tickled his nose.

His tears poured out, soaking even his heart as it trembled.

He wanted nothing more than to go back to Naraka right away.

“Isaac…”

The Grandmaster stared at her disciple with sad eyes.

But Nameless just sighed before adding.

“Look, I’m not telling you to give up. What I’m trying to tell you is to calm down and wait.”

“…What?”

Wait?

“Helric sacrificed his arm to cast that Vassalization, so its effect was bound to be stronger than a normal Vassalization. But fortunately, she’s a Helmont.”

“A Helmont…”

“Any normal human would’ve their ego destroyed by that. They would’ve offered him absolute obedience without as much as a struggle.”

Blackthorn’s Pollu naturally came to mind.

The word ‘broken’ indeed suited him.

“But Helmont inherited the blood of the Transcendent Race. They’re different. They should be able to resist the sorcery to some extent.”

Isaac’s eyes widened.

The sight of Arandel resisting the Vassalization crossed his mind.

Not only that.

Before Arandel, Alois, who had been subjected to the same sorcery once said.

[Vassalization suits me unexpectedly well! Ah, Helmont! Great Helmont!]

It felt like all the dots had been connected.

“He managed to gain a valuable pawn by sacrificing his arm. Though she is difficult to control, he won’t just kill her off.”

She was difficult to control.

But she was so powerful that it made it worth it.

And there was one simple way to make use of such a pawn.

“Drop her into the enemy’s territory.”

Nameless picked up from Isaac’s muttering.

“Exactly. Rianna is going to return to this world. As an enemy, that is.”

As an enemy.

The weight behind those words were inexplicably heavy.

But Isaac accepted those words calmly.

As long as they could meet again, it would be enough.

He would be satisfied.

To Isaac, who had resolved himself thus, Nameless added one more thing.

“The problem is just… As far as I know, there’s no way to release someone from Vassalization.”

“…”

This was something that Isaac had already known.

But it didn’t make him drown in despair.

Because he had something more important to do than moping around doing nothing.

“I’m going to the Magic Tower.”

The Silver Clock said it herself.

His regression was a product of magic.

The secret of his regression, the way to release Rianna from her Vassalization, and so on.

To solve those, he’d have to rely on magic instead of sorcery.

With that, his next destination was clear.

In the dark underground.

A woman, bound by iron chains, was there, bowing her head.

Her red-blood hair fell on the ground.

It was Rianna Helmont, kneeling while looking at the ground.

Though she was under Vassalization, she resisted to the end and fought tooth and nail against the Transcendents until they eventually subdued her.

It was to the point that the Transcendents grew to fear her. That was why they locked her here.

They couldn’t kill her.

After all, she was a force that they got from sacrificing Helric’s left arm.

“Isaac.”

Like dripping water, a certain man’s name continued to leak out of her mouth.

“Isaac.”

Under the influence of Vassalization, words that were in her mind spilled out without restraint.

“I want to hold your hand…”

Such desires naturally arose when she thought of him.

“I want to hug you…”

Those were natural desires for humans, but they were used to hide such things in their daily lives.

“I want to kiss you…”

But the Vassalization suppressed even such common sense.

“I want to hold you close…”

The words that flowed out her mouth were her desires that she kept holding back.

“I want to make you mine again…”

A secret that she harbored, that she had never told anyone.

“I don’t want you to be with another woman. I want to be the one who satisfies you. Who ravishes you. Who conceives your child. I want to be with you…”

Hearing the words that came out of her own mouths.

Another thought surfaced.

“Aaa… Aaaa…”

Overwhelmed by her ugly desire towards her ex-husband…

She was sent into another round of self-loathing.

“Sorry, Isaac…”

She apologized, her eyes wet with tears.

“Sorry…”