Chapter 1088: Box of Surprises [part 2]
"What?"
She frowned darkly, her gaze cutting between Nahir and Gourdon like a blade.
She surveyed the room with unveiled disgust, as though it reeked of shameless and irritating people. Admitting that a seventeen-year-old was far stronger than they were—seasoned fighters—was shameless beyond measure.
But the problem was...
She had been on a mission with the Noor clan before its heartbreaking devastation. And she had seen Nahir fight before; he was one of the very five people she considered truly strong. While she wanted to spit at their shamelessness, she also couldn’t ignore what the young man had said.
"Nahir..."
He looked at her, his gaze ice-cold as their eyes met.
"I speak only the truth, Your Highness. There is no exaggeration in my words."
He pointed to Gourdon without looking.
"Standing next to me is the Trickster of the Red Threads. I’m sure you must have heard of him, one way or another. He is a far more devastating fighter than I am—a truly deadly one—and your supposed brother is far stronger than him, far stronger than even the Headmaster of Tharion Citadel, as he claims."
He paused, drawing a breath, then continued.
"I have not met him personally. I had other things to deal with when he was around. But if this worthless Trickster says so, I have no reason not to believe."
The princess stared at him, a slight, confused frown creasing her brow.
Behind her stood her subordinates: Hara, the death angel with platinum blonde hair, and Yui, the black-haired driver with tousled locks.
Yui watched with lazy, almost sleepy eyes, while Hara’s gaze seemed carved from stone itself.
Princess Rehema Nora looked down for a moment, truly bewildered and struggling to wrap her mind around everything they were saying.
She frowned and raised her head.
"And what makes you so certain about all of this? Why are you able to say with such conviction that he is stronger than you all—even Ascendants?"
This time, it was Gourdon who spoke:
"He is ten times faster than I am."
The princess’s frown deepened like a storm cloud.
"He could have a speed-type talent."
"Except he doesn’t. He has a cloning talent."
At this point, the princess looked around with an expression of shock so absurd it deserved a picture frame.
She turned to Annette.
"Really?"
Annette nodded.
"He is correct, but to be more precise, Northern... he..."
Annette paused, hesitating, torn about whether revealing the true nature of Northern’s talent was the right thing to do.
Rehema Nora caught the hesitation and pierced her with a stern look.
"You better not lie to me, Annette."
Standing before the first princess of the Empire, Annette felt the weight of intimidation crash over her like a tidal wave. Her mind was in complete chaos. The pressure crushed her ability to think clearly, and even though she wanted to lie about Northern’s true capabilities, the words simply wouldn’t form properly.
Lying before the princess was a risk she was willing to take for Northern, but her mind was too scrambled.
"His cloning ability is part of his attribute... his talent is dual elemental. Ice and fire."
Ryan shifted slightly, a grimace flickering across his face.
’What? Northern has ice abilities?’
His grimace intensified as he thought about all the times he’d seen Northern use abilities other than ice. Annette could be lying, but he doubted she would dare under the crushing pressure the princess was wielding.
Meanwhile, unaware of whatever storm was brewing in Ryan’s mind, the princess smiled darkly.
"You are telling me that my brother—that disappointment who vanished the moment he was born—can wield both ice and fire elements?"
Annette nodded with fierce determination, her single eye glinting like steel.
"Yes, Your Highness."
’Whatever happens, I cannot let them know his real capabilities. There has to be a reason he’s so secretive about it. I’ll give the same answer everyone else would.’
Rehema Nora looked as though her soul had been drained from her body, her confusion spreading like a terminal disease.
She sighed and gestured slightly with her hands.
"Get me a chair."
Before anyone could react, the air above the tiles erupted violently as the black-haired boy slammed a four-legged chair onto the ground, saying playfully afterward:
"Aye aye."
Hara, who had been poised to move but was too late, clicked her tongue in frustration, glaring at Yui with burning indignation, while Yui just grinned.
Gourdon, Nahir, and the others watched in silent awe at the boy’s inhuman speed.
Princess Rehema Nora settled into her seat and gently massaged her forehead, as if all the earth-shattering revelations were giving her a splitting headache.
One thing was certain, though—she looked incredibly impressed. A dark, forced smirk had carved itself onto her face as she sat.
A dual elemental talent user was an extraordinarily rare phenomenon among Drifters, so everyone hearing this for the first time was equally stunned.
Of course, this excluded people like Ellis, Annette, Myu, and Ayu, who were bewildered that those two abilities weren’t the only things Northern could do. Alystren would have been counted among them, but he wasn’t present in the hall. In fact, he had been notably absent since the battle had begun.
Princess Rehema’s dry chuckle echoed across the wide hall. People stood scattered in different corners, all focused on the center with various expressions etched upon their faces, sharing only one thing in common: honor and fear.
But they were also surprised by what the others had spoken, their shock more concealed since they dared not speak to their neighbors.
A soldier from the Reimgard Empire was viciously dangerous—the Empire could use the death or disrespect of a single soldier as an excuse to burn an entire nation to ash. How much more so the first princess of the empire.
With her standing before them, Tyrant and Origin didn’t seem like threats; she was the more immediate danger.
"My brother is special. How unexpected, yet strangely satisfying. I wonder if Father knows."
Annette shuddered slightly. Everyone looked at her, the fear they’d been suppressing nearly breaking free.
The only person she could casually refer to as ’Father’ had to be the Emperor.
The weight of her last words settled over the hall like iron chains. The Emperor—just the mention of him—sent a ripple of silence crashing through every corner of the chamber.
Annette lowered her gaze further, her shoulders rigid. She didn’t dare breathe too loudly. The others stood as motionless as stone statues.
Rehema Nora reclined slightly in the chair, one leg crossing the other with quiet elegance. Her smirk softened into something unreadable.
"While I am impressed by my baby brother—of a truth, Reimgard blood flows in his veins—you all are inexcusable. You speak of Tyrants and Origins, fully aware that this is a matter of destruction, yet you allowed a child to go. All for what? A flimsy excuse that he is stronger than you all?"
"Those creatures may truly be dangerous, but right now, the real peril in this hall is not those creatures—it is ignorance. And I loathe ignorance."
Her eyes narrowed, sweeping across the gathered Drifters: Sages and Ascendants. They burned like cold suns, scouring away their pride and pretenses.
"You expect me to believe my brother is the sole barrier between your continent and annihilation? That you—Ascendants, Savants, Sages—stand behind him rather than before him?"
No one dared answer.
Her smirk curved into something crueler.
"Unbelievable. Or perhaps... pathetic."
Yui let out a faint chuckle, earning another sharp glare from Hara. The black-haired youth only grinned wider, hands buried deep in his pockets.
It was Nahir who finally found his voice, his tone calm but edged like tempered steel.
"Believe what you will, Your Highness. Whatever your opinion of us, we have no choice but to place our trust in him."
Rehema Nora tilted her head, studying him with quiet malice.
"Trust? No. What I hear is dependence. And dependence... is weakness."
Nahir whispered to Gourdon beside him.
"This is what I hate about them."
Rehema Nora’s frown cut through the air like a blade.
"Did you say something, Nahir?"
"No, Your Highness."
Annette finally spoke, her voice steady despite her hammering heart.
"Your Highness, weakness or not, Northern chose to go. He bears the burden none of us could shoulder. That is the reality. All we can do is buy him the time he needs by going to other nations to warn them that our continent hangs by a thread."
The princess’s eyes snapped back to her, sharp as a predator’s.
"And what if he fails?"
The hall went rigid. No one spoke. The thought itself was poison.
Annette clenched her fists, her single eye blazing with conviction.
"Then the continent will fall. And so will we. But I would rather place my faith in him than in anyone else standing here—including myself."
The boldness of her words hung heavy in the air like a funeral shroud.
Rehema Nora’s lips parted slightly. For the first time, she seemed caught off guard—not by Northern’s reputation, nor his impossible talent, but by the unwavering loyalty he commanded.
She closed her eyes for a moment, exhaling slowly. Then she rose from the chair, her voice quieter but sharper than ever.
"Very well. If the boy truly is my brother, and if he truly carries such a burden... then I cannot sit idle."
Her gaze turned hard as forged iron.
"I will see this Tyrant with my own eyes. And if this Origin is foolish enough to emerge... then let it come. I will remind the world why the name Reimgard brings nations to their knees."