Chapter 426 Interlude 7-1 – Uncle And Niece



Unnamed Forest Resort Lake

Cheverton Capital City Periphery

Cheverton Duchy

May ?

Year 1052

Despite being a small artificial forest, it was thick and rich with more greenery than some natural forests. Its canopy was overshadowed by sycamore and birch trees, and abundant dancing lights bounced through their crowns for a motley of ferns to control the stony grounds below.

Bundled vines waved from the occasional tree, and a range of flowers, which claimed remnants of light, added more life to the otherwise uniform backdrop.

A medley of sounds, most of which were birds and vermin, reverberated through the air, and formed a chaotic orchestra with the croaks of frogs in the nearby lake.

And on the banks of this lake, was a blonde, fair-skinned beautiful teenage girl, who was dipping her legs into the lake while silently munching on the meat skewer in her hands.

Suddenly, her sapphire eyes widened ever so slightly, with her movements stopping momentarily, but she continued right after, finishing the skewer and picking another one out of the bag beside her.

However, she did not pick this for herself, but for the man who was now suddenly standing beside her.

He had long grey hair, pulled back to reveal a strong, friendly face. Bright green eyes, set a-symmetrically within their sockets watching the two Goldfinch who were birds singing together while perched on the branch of a sycamore tree on the lake's other side.

"Want one?"

Her words made him turn his gaze to her, staring at her in silence for a few moments before he accepted the skewer and sat down on the bench beside her.

"It was apparently made using frost boar meat…my memories of frost boars aren't exactly good but this is enough to overwrite all those memories."

She spoke as she picked up another skewer, counting the ones remaining in the bag and muttering something about wanting to have bought more before turning to the man and speaking.

"So, Uncle George…what brings you here?"

The man, George, narrowed his eyes at his niece before sighing softly and taking a bit out of the skewer and replying.

"Elizabel-

Eliza."

He was about to call her as he always did, but the silent glare he felt coming from his left side made him cough lightly before correcting himself.

"There's not much of a difference between the two names, you know?"

"Don't care. Only call me that when we're at home."

The blonde teenager, Eliza, replied to her uncle as she popped open a strawberry juice pack and took a sip from it.

"Alright, I wanna have a private conversation with my uncle, so mind giving us some space, Kuro?"

In response to her words, her shadow wriggled lightly, before a black van cat jumped out of it, throwing a glance towards George, before walking around the man's leg and then jumping into his shadow.

"…What?"

"He only used your shadow as an intermediary to travel a longer distance.

The stronger the existence is, the longer the distance he can go, or so he says."

Eliza spoke and shrugged as she looked at the few things Kuro dropped on the floor beside her before he teleported away, picking up one of the pastries among them and passing it to George.

"So, how long have you been watching me, Uncle?"

"…"

"How long?"

"…Since your former party member died in Merdin."

"Oh, wow. That's close to a year now.

So, you've been stalking me for close to a year, huh?"

George's brow twitched repeatedly, but he refused to fall for Eliza's antics and calmly replied.

"I was watching you for your safety."

"Without my consent?"

"I have my sister's consent."

"And you finally pulled out the 'Mother' card."

Eliza spoke with a light chuckle, rubbing her chin slightly as she debated which pastry to pick, while George who had finally finished his meat skewer spoke.

"Just to clarify, I was not on you, all the time.

I occasionally left to handle other things elsewhere, so in reality, I only tracked you down for about a third of the time."

"And I'm guessing you sent that obnoxious elder's children after me to stall me while you went somewhere else, right?"

"Yes. Too bad they were too weak to serve their purpose.

You can imagine my shock when I returned from dealing with that necromancer's organization's informants who were trying to dig out information on you and discovered you were not even in the country anymore."

"The Demonic Hand ran a background check on me?

Well, that kind of makes sense considering I'm involved with a certain silly hero who's been messing things up for them."

George nodded as he wiped the breadcrumbs off his lips with a handkerchief, before speaking.

"I would have very much liked that you did not leave in the first place. Then that organization would not have their eyes on you now."

"You say I shouldn't have left? And stayed cooped up in that dimensional realm? Never coming out to see the rest of the world for what it is?"

"Oh no. I only wished you had at least gotten stronger first.

Then at that time, I would have personally kicked you out to gain life experience, regardless of your father's opinion on the matter."

"And what is your definition of 'Stronger'?"

"Nothing too serious. Just Peak grandmaster level."

Eliza nearly dropped the cake in her hands when she heard her uncle's words, turning to stare at the man dumbfoundedly but he just calmly returned her gaze without a single ripple in his eyes.

"Well, that pretty much confirms it.

The reason you guys didn't want me to leave is because of my unique skill, right? But you didn't want me to know about it for some reason."

Upon hearing her words, George's eyes slightly widened in surprise, before he heaved a sigh and muttered the words; 'Like Mother, Like Daughter'.

'I honestly do not know how to explain to her that the reason is because she has her mother's former skill.

And that same skill was the very reason her mother was killed 30 years ago, and by the same necromancer who almost killed her just last month.'

George felt his anger rise temporarily when he thought about how the Eighth Finger brutally murdered his elder sister 30 years ago, but he quickly calmed himself to prevent Eliza from noticing anything wrong.

"Eliza, you've gotten yourself on the radar of a very dangerous group of people.

Even your father treads carefully when it comes to matters of the 'Demonic Hand'."

"I see…seems you guys knew about the Demonic Hand already, huh?

What's your stance on them?

Eliza's casual question received a not-so-casual answer, as George suddenly released a burst of murderous aura that spread out into the surroundings.

"Those hateful bastards!

If I could, I would slowly drain almost every inch of life out of every single one of them, gouge out their still-beating hearts from their bodies and then rip out their souls and torture them for as long as I live!"

He then took a deep breath and retracted his murderous aura, turning towards the shocked girl with a calm expression and saying.

"Our stance on them? We hate them."

"…

…I don't think just 'hate' is enough to describe your stance on them."