When the group arrived in front of the Garfield mansion, the main gate was close which was very unusual because in their memory, the gates had never been closed even in the night.
A few people were curiously looking at the gate, discussing why the gates were closed. Many rumors were flying around. Max picked up one particularly disturbing: The Garfield mansion was attacked by a group of three people.
Whoosh!
Max appeared in front of a middle-aged woman. She was the one who had spoken about the attack.
"Ah! Who are you?" His sudden appearance startled the woman.
Max stared at her with a grim look, his immature aura unconsciously seeping out and enveloping her, which made breathing hard for her, and her face turned pale.
"What did you just say about the attack?" He asked, trying to keep his voice calm. For some reason, he felt that what this woman said wasn't just a baseless rumor, but he hoped badly for it to be one.
"I-I'm sorry, sir. P-Please don't… kill…me."
The man begged, forcing the words out. She was just an ordinary person, so she couldn't endure his aura's oppression at all and almost lost her consciousness.
"Hm?" Max frowned upon seeing this and realized what he was doing. So, he retracted his aura, causing the woman to heave deep breaths.
"Now, tell me. Why are you saying that the Garfield mansion was attacked?" Max asked.
The woman hesitated, but under his gaze, she couldn't keep silent and said,
"Earlier today, when I passed by here, I saw three middle-aged men. They walked to the mansion, wanting to enter, but the guards stopped them. However…"
She gulped as she remembered and said with some apprehension,
"…however, one of the three waved his hand and the guards fell to the ground. F-From what I could tell, they had died. A-After that, those three men entered and suddenly the scenery changed and everything went silent. I was scared, so I didn't approach the mansion and ran away."
Max's expression turned dark as he heard her. He gritted his teeth and clenched his teeth to calm down, but couldn't.
Whoosh!
He turned around and rushed to the mansion. Anna and Amara also followed. They had also heard what the woman said.
Apart from a frown on her face, Amara was calm, but the same wasn't true for Anna. She seemed on the verge of breaking down out of anxiety. She also felt that the woman didn't lie because it was too unusual for the mansion's gates to be closed.
As Max pushed open the gate, a voice sounded. "No one is allowed to enter the mansion."
Following the voice, a middle-aged man appeared. He was the Butler George.
When Butler George saw Max and Anna, he smiled lightly, but his smile was desolate and not cheerful as before. "Ah, it's young master Max and young lady Anna. Please forgive me. I thought it was someone else."
Thump!
Max and Anna's heart skipped a beat when they saw the butler George acting strange.
"Uncle George… what happened?" Anna asked, her voice breaking. She was desperately hoping that he would say that nothing was wrong. At best, there was some minor problem. However,
Sigh!
Butler George sighed and said, "You should go inside. Everyone is in the master's room."
Saying this, he closed the gate and walked away.
Feeling their nerves growing tense, Max and Anna rushed toward the residence area and to Ashton's room.
Whoosh!
They entered the room and saw their sisters-in-law standing around Ashton's bed while Amelia and Esther were sitting on each side of the bed with tears in their eyes.
When the duo entered the room, everyone noticed them, but no one greeted them.
Max and Anna also didn't say. To be exact, they couldn't say anything because they felt their throats constrict when they saw a skinny and pale man lying unconscious on the bed.
Even though he was completely unrecognizable, they knew who he was. He was their father, Ashton.
"…Father!" Anna cried out and rushed to the bed, tears uncontrollably falling down her eyes.
"M-Mother, w-what happened? Why is he like this?" she asked Amelia, who had a vacant look in her eyes.
Amelia didn't answer and just continued to stare blankly at Ashton.
Esther sighed. She glanced at Anna and Max, who had also arrived by the bed and was looking at Ashton with red eyes and explained what had happened.
"Count Wiley came, and he wasn't alone…"
…
"…According to what that senior said, he only has a month left to live."
After hearing everything, Anna started bawling. As for Max, he looked calm but within him rage was bubbling.
He closed his eyes and muttered quietly, "Count Wiley, the Dalton and the Royal family."
He then took a deep breath and focused on what was more important.
'System, show me something that can save his life.'
Just as he said, a window popped up on his retina, showing a small container that had a drop of clear water.
[Diluted Drop of life]
Description: Drop of life is a treasure that the people of a mysterious race produce once in their lifetime. It can save a person's life and restore them to their peak health as long as they have a hint of life left. It's diluted a thousand times and is no longer as potent as a real drop of life, but can still save anyone below the six-star mage realm.
Limitation: Can't be used to the same person twice.
Price: 200,000 SPs.
'A thousand times diluted, and it's still worth 200,000 SPs?' Max frowned and asked, 'Is it the best and cheapest item to save him?'
[Yes, host. This is the best item available in the system's shop which can save him. As for the cheapest, no, host. It isn't the cheapest as there are some other cheaper items but their effects aren't as mild as this [Diluted Drop of life] and would cause his death before their life saving properties start working.]
The system answered.
'Understood.' Max nodded and after a moment, he asked, 'Can you tell me exactly how much time he has left?'
