Chapter 193: I’m Dying

Alone in a room the day after the Memorial Service ended, Cillian looked toward Darwin, who had appeared out of nowhere at the end of the event.

The two had already met to catch up, but today, they were having a serious talk with each other about moving forward, and they were almost done talking.

“I have a question. Since I’ve said a lot already, you can start talking now by answering this. What do you mean by Finn Montolov giving you a heads-up? What did he tell you?”

Darwin looked around the simple interior of the house that had been rented after Cillian told him to meet privately. He couldn’t help but comment.

“Have you become rich, kid?”

Feeling that Darwin was avoiding the topic or simply wasting his time by acting nonchalant about it, Cillian clicked his tongue and said,

“Sir, with all due respect, you’ve been nothing but great to me. I just want to understand what Finn told you about. Did he say something about the Xesie Family?”

Did Finn become aware of something after the Xesie Family’s actions?

In the first place, how had Darwin gotten here when he was supposed to be imprisoned with the other people from the Academy, especially the teachers and everyone else from it?

This time, Darwin answered.

“He used some weird recording Artifact to inform me about it. He told me a lot of things, but most importantly, the recent events, where he confidently said that you were the one who discovered the attack from the Shepherds and the Heretic. And if there’s something going on with Xesie, then you would also probably have some answers.”

‘That guy… He’s not the head of a noble within Viola for nothing.’

Even though there were already clues scattered around everywhere that could connect the dots, unless someone was paying close attention, it shouldn’t have been that obvious. Yet Finn managed to piece together information based only on the events that had happened all around Viola.

Yes, Cillian knew a teensy bit of information about the Xesie Family, but it wasn’t much compared to what Finn was trying to push toward Darwin.

Unless he had spoken about the Xesie Family working with the Shepherds.

If there was something he could tell Darwin that might satisfy him, there was one thing Cillian could use.

“There are these people called Helping Hands. Do you know about them?”

Darwin slightly reacted as if he had just heard a joke, frowning as he crossed his arms before shaking his head. This made Cillian continue.

“These are the type of people who are working ‘for’ the Shepherds. These are the kinds who don’t mind working out in the open and doing it for their own reasons. Jack Trade, the student in my year and someone you interrogated, remember him? He’s a Helping Hand.”

Darwin’s frown grew deeper. He looked like he was deep in thought, and Cillian suddenly couldn’t help but have a thought of his own.

‘Wait, he shouldn’t misunderstand and think Xesie is a Helping Hand, right? If he was informed by Finn beforehand, I’m sure he realized that they probably thought about their sudden appearance while chaos was brewing in the Underworld, but stopped because of our intervention.’

Eventually, Cillian calmed his spiraling thoughts when Darwin suddenly spoke up, breaking his focus.

“I told you yesterday that I’m willing to be your guard for your upcoming return to the Academy, right?”

Cillian nodded.

“I will be making a deal with you.”

Cillian slightly straightened his back once he realized that this was going to be an important matter, as Darwin finally revealed what the deal was at the table before continuing.

“I will investigate the entire Xesie Family.”

“…”

“I believe the Shepherds are hiding in each territory of every great family. I’m going to hunt them down one by one.”

Darwin interlocked his fingers and paused.

“That’s why I’m willing to be your guard. I will still do my duty as a guard, and in exchange, I will have my freedom. I will protect you before anything else. I’m dying. You can use me as much as you want.

“I’m telling you now that my condition hasn’t been good since the events at the Academy. So, for as long as I’m still able to walk, I will kill every Shepherd I see with my own eyes. You’re no stranger to them, and you even managed to kill a few of them back in Hensel. You don’t need to hide it. I looked at the records and even saw Aster conducting the investigation with his group.”

Darwin paused, letting out a soft smile after making such a bold declaration before continuing.

“So, let’s have a good time with each other, kid. Support me, and I’ll support you back.”

…

One hour.

They had been running around at least a quarter of Xesie nonstop, with Cillian dragging himself along as he chased down Ulrich, who wasn’t that far ahead, while maintaining a fair distance from him. They had gone through the streets, some houses, huge buildings, and bridges until finally reaching their destination: an abandoned house.

Seeing that Ulrich hadn’t left the abandoned house, Cillian drew a deep breath before looking toward Darwin beside him.

“So, what is it?”

Darwin stared at him for a moment, not appearing tired at all despite the whole marathon they had just gone through, before asking with a stupid expression on his face,

“What do you mean, what is it, Student Cillian?”

Cillian then shifted his gaze toward the abandoned house and said,

“We should stop playing games now. You wouldn’t have allowed me to follow your friend if you wanted to keep me from knowing what you’re doing. What happened to supporting each other, eh, geezer?”

Darwin let out a short scoff.

“I didn’t think you could run nonstop for almost an hour. Did you train your endurance, kid? And I’ve been observing you for a day. You’re not mad about Ulrich being here. Hmm, since you’re a smart fellow, you probably figured that Zeist and Meister were here in this land.”

Darwin started walking forward, no longer bothering to hide anything from Cillian as he entered the abandoned house located deep in the slums of Xesie before giving Cillian a glance over his shoulder.

Then, with a slight smile, Darwin replied,

“We found traces of Shepherds. Right here in this land, Cillian.”

Darwin smiled sheepishly.

“And we’re going to attack them right before the Academy Tournament again.”