Chapter 35: The Price of Gambling

Chapter 35: Chapter 35: The Price of Gambling

Lucius did not respond to that thanks; his voice rang out calmly without a single ripple: "Captain seems to really enjoy gambling with your life, aren’t you afraid of failing?"

Jeremy heard the underlying meaning. It seemed that this time, Lucius had actually come to watch his match.

Slightly lowering his eyes to hide his exhaustion, Jeremy calmly enunciated every word: "Once I have chosen to gamble, I naturally also have enough capability to bear the price of failure."

His entire body was covered in blood, and his red hair was matted with sweat, but the appearance of the young master of the Valmont family at this moment was not pathetic at all. On the contrary, the aura radiating from him was as sharp and brilliant as a blazing fire in the dark night, arrogant to the point where it could not be ignored.

And also too dazzling.

Lucius slightly reached out his hand, his long, slender fingertips almost about to touch the corner of Jeremy’s eye when he suddenly snapped back to his senses. The movement froze in mid-air and then abruptly withdrew.

He let out a soft chuckle, a deep, resonant sound like a lover’s whisper in the ear: "Lunatic."

It was unclear whether he was mocking Jeremy, mocking himself, or feeling annoyed for having meddled in others’ business.

Without saying another superfluous word, Lucius bent down, wrapped his arms around the bloodied body of the person in front of him, and directly hoisted him straight onto his shoulder exactly like carrying a sandbag.

With his body suddenly losing its center of gravity, Jeremy frowned, instinctively reaching out to tightly grip the other’s broad shoulder: "What kind of trick is this?"

"What else can I do?" Lucius tightened his arm to keep him secure, taking long strides forward, "Taking the Captain to the infirmary."

Hearing that, Jeremy didn’t bother resisting. He clearly knew his own body’s condition. The wounds this time were more severe than in any previous training; blood was constantly seeping out, and relying solely on the medicine carried on him was completely insufficient to hold out on his own. Going to the healer’s place was indeed the only option.

However... would anyone treat a severely injured patient with this rough sandbag-carrying posture? His ribs scraping against Lucius’s shoulder caused the wound on his abdomen to throb with tearing pain.

Jeremy grimaced, having absolutely no intention of letting himself endure this unreasonable grievance. He tapped on the other’s back, his tone dry: "It feels like my internal organs are about to throw up everything out. Requesting a change of posture."

Lucius’s footsteps halted. He was silent for a beat, and ultimately still compromised.

Lucius flipped his hand, pulling Jeremy’s arms around his own neck, decisively switching from a shoulder-carrying posture to a piggyback ride. Jeremy’s hands at this moment were covered in deep cuts, bleeding profusely to the point where he couldn’t exert any strength in his fingers.

He had to wrap his arms around Lucius’s shoulders, lightly resting his chin on the other’s sturdy shoulder, surrendering his body weight.

The path toward the infirmary suddenly became strangely quiet. Only the sound of Lucius’s steady footsteps echoed in the stone corridor.

Keeping silent forever also bred an awkward feeling, so Jeremy decisively picked a random topic to distract from the pain: "During the team division, why did you insist on pushing the burden of being captain onto my head?"

Seemingly a bit surprised by this sudden question, Lucius raised an eyebrow, replying in a matter-of-fact tone: "They all refused already. Moreover, I feel that compared to me, you sitting in that position is much more reasonable."

This could reluctantly be considered an acceptable answer.

Jeremy half-closed his eyes, continuing to ask: "So before entering the academy, had we ever met, or had any interaction?"

He had combed through the entire barren memory zone of the original owner. There was absolutely no trace of this person’s existence. In the imperial capital, he had also never heard of any noble family bearing the surname D’Arsy.

But according to the Mark system, this guy’s setup predetermined that he was not a lowly commoner. Because only commoners possessing outstanding talent, with a Covenant series above 150, received special admission into the academy.

The strange thing was, from the first day of enrollment, this guy Lucius always kept finding ways to linger around him. The first time they met face-to-face, he even dropped words admiring his reputation for a long time. Intuition told Jeremy that they must have definitely crossed paths somewhere.

Facing the sharp interrogation from the person on his back, Lucius did not flinch, directly throwing the problem right back: "Does the Captain simply feel that my forward behavior right from the first meeting was bizarre, or are you trying to probe what purpose I have in approaching you?"

Jeremy didn’t expect this guy to lay his cards on the table so bluntly. But having reached this point, probing a bit more wouldn’t hurt. He casually let out the words: "Both. So how do you plan to honestly confess?"

Lucius let out a soft chuckle: "If I said... I approached you because you bear the identity of a Duke family’s only son, and was curious to see if your reputation as a terrible person was actually in name only or not. Would you believe it?"

Jeremy frowned. Who in the world would bring up a scheme to approach to cling to power and nobility, and to snoop on rumors, and say it straightforwardly as naturally as flies like that?

He didn’t bother replying whether he believed it or not, only coldly retorting: "Are these your final dying words?"

"Not exactly." Lucius retracted his smile, his voice becoming unusually calm, "If I am forced to give an honest answer... perhaps it’s because, as long as I am near the Captain, the surrounding air automatically becomes fresher. The twisted, chaotic sounds in my head also stop for a while thanks to that."

Jeremy fell into silence. The tail of his eyebrow twitched slightly.

Meaning he considered him no different from a humanoid air purifier?

Although there was plenty of reason to suspect this freak was just saying whatever came to mind to distract him, his heartbeat and steady intonation right now truly didn’t seem like he was acting.

Chaotic sounds... What in the end was he implying? A curse? Or backlash from the Covenant?

Jeremy was about to open his mouth to probe deeper, but Lucius quickly interrupted, his tone again carrying an incomprehensible stubbornness: "I don’t want to let you know."

Jeremy let out a cold snort in his throat. Very childish. He also decided he was too lazy to waste saliva interrogating further.

The early autumn afternoon wind swept through the corridor bringing an unusual gentleness, blowing away the heat of the day.

Mingled with the wind, Jeremy suddenly smelled a refreshing, slightly musty fragrance that possessed an incredibly effective nerve-soothing allure.

"Do you use perfume? What scent is so fragrant?" Jeremy asked seriously. His curious nature surfacing, he leaned forward slightly, decisively bringing his chin close to the hollow of the other’s neck to sniff a bit more carefully.

"..."

This sudden action caused the distance between the two to be completely erased.

Jeremy’s hot breath carrying a faint metallic smell of blood blew directly onto the sensitive skin on Lucius’s neck. An electric current shot through, bringing an unfamiliar itching, numb sensation that frantically spread in the chest of the one giving the piggyback ride.

Lucius’s footsteps suddenly halted. The knuckles holding Jeremy’s legs suddenly curled, gripping so tightly they turned white. He had to take a deep breath, exerting all his strength to suppress the urge to throw the person on his back straight onto the ground.

His deep, warm voice was pressed low, carrying a dangerous warning: "...Are you insane?"

Realizing the other’s breathing was erratic, his entire body tense exactly like a large beast bristling its fur in defense, Jeremy inadvertently smiled. He slowly pulled his head back, replying casually: "I’m asking seriously."

From their first encounter, he had vaguely recognized this fragrance. He had thought this aristocratic dandy sprayed luxurious perfume; now leaning in close, he realized, it turned out to be a natural body scent.

Lucius gritted his teeth, not bothering to answer.

The bland tone carrying amusement from the person on his back right now was truly too provocative. It felt exactly like being playfully teased, making one feel both irritated and awkward, not knowing how to react properly.

The other party completely ignored the ambiguous atmosphere he himself had just stirred up. Jeremy rested his chin back on Lucius’s shoulder, leisurely changing the subject: "You won the third match just now, right?"

"Mhm." Lucius responded with a sound from his throat.

Perhaps due to contract resonance or depleted magic power, at this moment Jeremy felt not only his physical body screaming in agony, but even his soul felt as if it had been torn into a hundred pieces. The continuous waves of dizziness made him frown deeply in annoyance.

"Just to salvage someone, I’m hurting to the point of dying right now." Jeremy muttered a soft complaint, his consciousness beginning to blur.

"Sorry. I was indeed a bit impulsive today." The degree of magic power backlash was too heavy; Jeremy’s vision was blurred right now, only seeing gray, hazy shadows. Unable to see clearly, he decisively squeezed his eyes shut, surrendering the navigation to the other.

To tell the truth, this time he was indeed a bit guilty toward his teammates. But fortunately, their matches were scheduled before his, otherwise this battered state would have definitely implicated the whole team, causing a miserable defeat.

Lucius walked along the corridor. He also didn’t understand why he broke his own rule to speak so many meaningless words today. But deep in his heart, he absolutely did not want this conversation to stop.

"...Since you know how to admit your mistake, then next time don’t risk your life to get heavily injured like this."

"Orders received, little Lucius." Jeremy tiredly dropped a teasing remark out of instinct.

The moment this cheesy, bizarre nickname slipped from his mouth, the air surrounding Lucius instantly froze.

The corner of his lips twitched. The intonation clearly carried a bright smile, but the murderous intent radiating out gave one goosebumps: "Captain is starting to speak nonsense again. It seems later I’ll have to ask the healer to thoroughly examine your brain as well."

Jeremy originally just casually called out randomly; he didn’t expect the other’s reaction to be so extreme, as if his tail had been stepped on. He slightly curved his lips: "Is that way of calling so detestable?"

Lucius let out a cold snort, not mincing words: "Extremely. Immensely."

Jeremy let out a weak "oh": "Alright."

Dusk fell, casting a blazing red light over the academy. Under the sunset glow, two long shadows cast on the corridor, intertwined, and then gradually faded.

Jeremy had truly underestimated the endurance limit of this physical vessel. Even with the protection of the Holy-tier magic power recovery potion, he could not force himself to maintain consciousness any longer.

While chatting disjointedly with Lucius, Jeremy’s chest suddenly skipped a beat. His neck joints relaxed, and he sank completely into a deep coma.

In the sequence of half-awake, half-asleep moments, he vaguely felt someone’s hand anxiously shaking him and calling his name, intertwined with the sounds of hurried footsteps and rapid, unclear exchanges.

But then very quickly, the silent void swallowed everything. No sound or sensation could creep into his sea of consciousness anymore.

His consciousness shattered and stagnated. While he was completely unaware, the flow of time still coldly passed by, not stopping for half a beat for anyone.

When Jeremy regained awareness and slowly opened his eyes, it was already three days later.

The first thing that entered his vision was the soft light from the white magic pendant lamp on the ceiling. The surrounding space wafted a pure, slightly musty but very pleasant herbal scent.

He glanced slightly. On the opposite wall were carved lines of exquisite crescent moon motifs, intertwined with the totem symbolizing the Goddess of Healing.

It seemed Lucius had successfully carried him to the Anima faculty’s infirmary.

In the spacious room, there was no sign of anyone else.

Jeremy braced his hands to sit up straight, looking down to check his body’s condition.

The miracle of healing magic was truly not to be underestimated. The stab wounds on his abdomen had completely closed, leaving no scars. Even the cuts deep to the bone on both his hands had grown perfect new flesh. The dizziness and nausea from before had completely evaporated, returning a body brimming with vitality.

What surprised Jeremy even more after waking up was that the magic power barrier that had been stubbornly stuck at the Novice five-star threshold inside his sea of consciousness... now showed distinct, clear cracks. The elemental energy circulated much more smoothly compared to before he stepped onto the arena ring.

It seemed that the bloody death match just now was not entirely without harvest. The price paid by almost having his internal organs crushed had ultimately brought a stepping stone for a breakthrough.