After examining the mask in his hand for a few moments, Nero came to the realization that the task I had assigned him required him to keep his true identity a secret.
Well, that was expected, considering he would be stealing from an underground auction organized by a covert organization – the latter part was still hidden from him.
Just to be perfectly clear, this covert organization wasn't Spider. It was a different extremist group that needed to gather funds in the novel to execute their next assault against the government.
The ruling family of the Eastern Continent, the Vermiër family, also known as the Blacksmiths from Heavens, dispatched a few of their troops to raid the underground auction.
They asked for the assistance from the disciples of the Shaolin sect.
Their hastily assembled makeshift army unit's raid proved successful in the end, and they managed to confiscate all the relics from the underground auction.
However, in my eyes, it was all a big waste.
Oh! All those precious relics! I'd prefer to have them for myself! Of course, that's not possible, as I won't have the time to travel to the Eastern Continent during my break.
My entire one and a half month vacation schedule is all fixed and packed.
I was going to use the first two weeks to visit my hometown. Then, the remaining time was going to be used for training with Master. Yeah, he forced me to put it in my plans.
Now, since I can't make the visit to the Eastern Continent myself, I decided to send a proxy.
Yes, yes, if I can't obtain all the precious relics, I could at least secure the most expensive one, couldn't I?
Besides, this way I could accomplish two tasks. It's like killing two birds with one stone.
By curing Liz, I would be granting Nero a huge favor. And just like that, I could use one more Petal of Ambrosia to curry favor with Ella.
After all, Ella's sister should be suffering from a mana backlash – a condition that could only be treated with the Ambrosia's petal.
Nero glanced at me once he was finished scanning the full-face mask and nodded slightly. "Okay, got it. But if I may ask, why are you doing this?"
"Hmm?" I raised an eyebrow, paused for a moment, and then responded. "I'm simply doing you a favor. When I ask for one in return, just oblige, and we'll call it even."
As soon as I said that, I flashed a smile at him and was about to turn to leave when an extremely strange detail caught my attention.
My gaze met Nero's, and only now did I realize that his right eye, the one he had lost in battle, was still not healed yet.
His right eyelid was tightly shut, and even though the gash running down from his eyebrow to the side of his cheek had sealed into a scar, his eye socket itself still felt hollow.
"Uh, what will happen to your eye now?" I inquired, pointing at the right side of his face using my chin. "Why isn't it healed yet?"
"Oh, the blade that wounded me was coated with some kind of unknown vampire poison. Aster offered to heal it after the battle was over, but I asked her to focus on others. By the time the academy's medical personnel arrived, it was already too late to save my eye."
Nero gently touched his closed right eye before letting out a soft sigh.
"Since the corrosion had already spread to my optic nerve by then, cauterization had to be performed at the back of my eye socket to prevent the poison from reaching my brain. And so, even the most skilled medics, capable of regenerating limbs, are powerless to assist me now without damaging me more in the process."
"I see," I replied. "So, what's the plan now?"
"Ah, I intend to search for other healers who could maybe help me. However, in the meantime, the Academy has decided to provide me with a Legendary-ranked relic eye. I guess that's a good compensation, don't you think?"
His words prompted a moment of silence from me. After a long pause, I asked but a single question, "Is this Legendary-ranked relic eye called the Seer Of Unknown?"
"I think so, yes," Nero responded with a surprised look. "How do you know about it?"
"Never mind," I dismissed with a wave of my hand as I turned around and walked away. "It was just a guess."
Of course, I was well aware that it wasn't merely a guess.
The truth is, even in the novel, Nero lost his right eye at one point, although it did happen much later in the story. I think it was near the early stages of the War Of Union.
In the story, he lost his eye during a fight with Quinn, who had recently switched sides to aid the vampires.
Interestingly enough, during that battle, Liz held off three vampire kings who were going to use that opening to flank Nero.
Much like the current reality, she suffered grave injuries in the novel as well. Nero had no choice but to retreat to the army base.
That marked the start of the bloody conflict between him and Quinn.
In any case, the military command granted Nero a relic that the Global Academy had in its possession at the time as replacement for his lost eye.
This relic was named Seer Of Unknown.
Basically, it was an advanced cybernetic eye crafted by a renowned blacksmith and a brilliant engineer.
It had the ability to Analyze things, whether it was scanning for weak points in an enemy's defense, examining an inanimate object, or scrutinizing another relic itself.
The Seer Of Unknown was capable of analyzing practically anything. And as if that weren't enough, it could store user's mana and release it in a form of laser beam or act like a battery and charge the user's depleted mana core in time of need.
Argh, darn it. If I had known that getting an injury on academy grounds could lead to a compensation like that, I might have intentionally sacrificed my eye against one of the vampires too!
In fact, I had my sights set on it. I was going to obtain Seer Of Unknown for myself somewhere in the late future.
Still, it does leave me wondering... Nero ended up receiving the very same relic he got in the novel after suffering a similar ordeal like he did in the story.
Is that… fate?
And if it is, what will occur when the story progresses to the point where he should receive the Phoenix's Embrace?
...Hmm, perhaps it's just coincidence and I'm overthinking things. Yeah, that must be it.
Caught up in these musings, I sighed and eventually arrived in front of a certain hospital room.
Pausing briefly, I mustered my courage and twisted the doorknob, swinging the door open.
As soon as I opened the door, my breath got caught in my chest, almost as if my heart had a momentary lapse.
There, right in front of me, was a young woman in her late teens. Her skin was as smooth and white as porcelain, with the softness of the most lavish silk.
Her vibrant green eyes, reminiscent of a serene forest with sunlight peeking through dense leaves, fluttered slightly and locked onto me, trapping me in a capitative trance.
Expressions changed on her alluring face, and her cheekbones shot up in surprise, turning her cheeks a shade of red that revealed her embarrassment.
Embarrassed, indeed. Anyone would be embarrassed if caught in such a situation.
And what situation was that, one might ask? Well, to be blunt, Amelia Black was currently hanging upside down from the ceiling fan...
Her leg had gotten tangled in a bowstring, which somehow ended up entwined with the fan, suspending her in mid-air.
Thankfully, the patient robe that draped around her slender figure was also caught in the string, sparing her any further humiliation.
I stood there for a split second, then started to slowly close the door.
"No, wait! I can explain!" Amelia's voice rang out urgently, causing me to pause. "Just help me get down from here! I can't pull up and untangle myself!"
I hesitated and stopped. "Alright, but I doubt you can explain that."
I summoned my spear and used its crimson blade to slice through the bowstring, freeing Amelia's leg.
Like a cat or an experienced acrobat, she flipped and landed gracefully on her feet. However, her balance wavered, and she ended up dropping to her knees.
I quickly walked to her side, offering support before guiding her to her bed. Clearly, she was still recovering so her body lacked strength.
"Are you alright?" I inquired as she settled onto the bed with an exhausted huff. "And how in the world did that even happen?"
"That damned ceiling fan! It was too slow and too high up! I thought I could adjust its length a bit. I leaped from my bed and hooked my bowstring on the fan's shaft, but somehow my right leg got caught in the string and I found myself hanging like that!"
I gazed at the girl before me with a deadpan expression. I opened and closed my mouth a few times before finally yelling:
"The air conditioner is running! Why would you even need the fan? Are you dumb?"
"So you're telling me you never use a fan when the AC is on?"
"...That's not the point! You could have asked for help instead of attempting acrobatics! And by the way, you can't extend a ceiling fan's shaft like that!"
"Oh, right, my bad! I forgot that you're a noble by blood! Pardon me, your highness, but us common folks like to do our work ourselves instead of ordering others around like servants!"
"Excuse me, did you injure your head? Seeking help isn't the same as ordering people around, especially when you're physically weak!"
"You're physically weak!"
"What?!"
Amelia was about to yell back and continue our pointless argument, but a low pained groan escaped her lips as she glanced down at her leg.
Her right foot, which was caught in the string earlier, was now bruised, with a faint red line running along its width.
"See! You've hurt yourself!" I exclaimed, rising from my chair and summoning a bandage from the dimensional storage of my smart bracelet.
Kneeling in front of her, I gently took hold of her leg and began wrapping the bandage around it.
Amelia arched an eyebrow but made no attempt to stop me. Her cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of red as she averted her gaze.
An awkward silence hung in the air, broken by Amelia herself.
"So, what brings you here?" she inquired, her gaze still focused on the view outside the window.
"I came to check on you," I responded, before hastily adding, "And Kent."
"I see," she mused. "So, were you worried about–"
But before she could finish her sentence, I interjected, "I'm sorry."
No explanation was needed for what I was apologizing for. Actually, there was little need for the apology itself, as both of us held the suspicion that I, Lucas, might have been manipulated by someone else.
Yet, that didn't negate the fact that I had hurt her.
In the past, I had avoided apologizing to her, convincing myself that I was different from Lucas.
Now, however, the line between me, Noah, and Lucas had blurred. At this point, I can't even distinguish between my two personalities.
Amelia turned her head sharply to face me, surprise widening her eyes before a tender smile graced her lips.
Tears shimmered in her eyes as she whispered, her voice soft and content, "You should be… fool."
