Silent Noise (5)

  (“Emma.....what’s a rune?”)

  Doing my utmost to avoid drawing the eyes of the officials gathered at the literal round table, I called out to the young girl seated beside me in a hushed tone. My juvenile voice seemed to have eased some of the tension she was feeling, so her features gradually began to relax in its onset.

  Curling her hand and placing her half open palm close to her mouth in an attempt to dampen the sound waves, she leaned forward in a motion that seemed almost comedic.

  (Runes are powerful magical fragments that were scattered across the continent a long time ago when the ‘Aether Fall’ happened, they can apparently boost your strength twofold and some of them supposedly have powerful spirits sealed inside. Since runes usually hold a lot of mana, the thing that monsters feed on, it usually ends up attracting large concentrations of them.)

  (“Wait, Emma what’s 'Aether Fall?”)

  She heaved an exasperated sigh the moment I asked that question.

  (“You seem really into this for a little kid.”)

  (“I-I just want to know more about the important stuff the grown-ups are always talking about.”)

  (Fine whatever. 'Aether Fall is something that supposedly happened hundreds of years ago, right around the time when the deities first started coming down to Rakia, apparently, they couldn’t really interfere or interact with us all that much before then. As for what had happened, they say that ‘cracks began forming and spreading across the sky’ and that the runes ended up here after falling through them.)

  (“Huh? That happened here too?...Ah!”)

  Emma’s face was contorting with more and more suspicion by the second, her eyes were narrowed to the point where it felt like she was trying to peer into my very soul.

  (“What are you talking about?”)

  (“Never mind, I was just thinking about one of my dad's books.”)

  (“You can read at four years old?”)

  (“Yeah, mother reads me a lot of bedtime stories....”)

  Forming a thin smile, she patted me on the head. It looks like that answer just now was enough to subvert all of her distant suspicions.

  (“That’s actually pretty cool, good for you Liam.”)

  Before I could even respond, Owen’s voice inadvertently drew my attention back to the scene unfolding to my right, luckily, I’d been monitoring most of what had managed to reach within my earshot so not very much was lost.

  “Beatrice, I hate to ask you such an insensitive question, but it seems I have no choice. Do you know where the rune is?”

  Beatrice’s strained eyes steadily began drooping to the floor.

  “Unfortunately, even I don’t know where my husband kept that thing. He was always very secretive whenever the topic would come up, so I tended to avoid the subject altogether. Seeing how things turned out though, maybe I should have done a bit more after all...”

  A droopy silence once again washed over them. Given her tone, Beatrice was obviously in no position to offer up any valuable information.

  “Well, there’s no helping it now, Lennon’s already passed on and if anything, he did a damn good job at keeping the darn thing hidden.”

  Vreena’s somewhat crude comment remarkably managed to lift the sour atmosphere.

  “Haaah....so that’s a no-go huh? I suppose we’ll just have to try something else then.” The shift in Owen’s expression removed all traces of vigor, if anything it seems like he was getting closer to some sort of breaking point.

  “That reminds me, lady Julia, how’s Isaac’s condition? He ended up taking quite a deadly blow to his nape.” Owen somehow managed to ask that question in an impeccably polite tone.

  “Nape? Oh no it wasn’t his nape; the basilisk’s fang had pierced straight through his shoulder, near his collar bone, but we managed to neutralize the poison from its attack and seal the wound. He hasn’t woken up just yet, but he should be fine in a few days.”

  “T-thank the gods.” Owen said, his voice trembling as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

  “I have a suggestion.” he said, commanding the entirety of the room’s focus once more.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “We’re listening, Owen.” Lightly tapping on her cane, Vreena conveyed the unanimous answer.

  “I think we need to call them in for back up. Brünnhilde that is.”

  THUD

  The moment Owen mentioned that name, the elder slammed her staff onto the ground. The motion was so abrupt it made the young girl next to me flinch so hard she almost fell over.

  “Absolutely not! We don’t need those stuck-up little brats here, especially not Ulric.”

  For the first time ever, I caught a glimpse of Vreena’s smoldering rage. Veins bulged on her temples, and her eyes narrowed in displeasure.

  Given how she usually acts, this was quite the dramatic shift in her disposition, at least that was how it had seemed for everyone except Julia and Owen. It seems those two had expected this to happen, which was why Owen had even asked the question in such a docile manner.

  But given the current situation, it appears that I was once again the only one not keeping up with the flow of this conversation.

  Even Emma was clutching the hem of her large frilly dress in what I could only assume to be a manifestation of her flaring emotions. Beatrice cast her solemn gaze in her daughter's direction, before reflexively clutching her own fists.

  “But elder Vreena, we clearly need all the manpower we can get after what happened today. I know you’re counting on Oliver and he’s strong without a doubt, but that's just one human. He isn’t even here right now so if something happens when he’s not around then—”

  Vreena cut him off with a sneer.

  “I know what you're saying Owen, but I refuse to ask anyone from that rag-tag group for aid ever again, there was hardly any purpose to it last time since Lennon isn’t even here anymore. Every time those bastards show up, they do nothing but flaunt their arrogance and terrorize the people here with that giant wolf monster.”

  Her trembling voice coated every single one of those words in blatant discontent.

  Fortunately, her last words managed to perfectly cue me back into the reins of the discussion. The mention of a certain wolf monster was all I needed to hear for my memory to bring me back up to speed.

  So that’s what's going on here.

  Following that remark, Emma’s gaze sank even further, it was like she was being buried by the weight of the discussion.

  “I get what you mean Vreena, but this situation isn’t getting any better. We really do need the extra hands and that party is well equipped for a mission like this, so even if you don’t trust them completely at least consider hiring them for border patrol.”

  Vreena clutched the wooden staff in her hand so hard it let out an odd creaking sound. “Are you actually on board with this, Julia?” She asked in a tone that sounded both malicious and confused, like a small child seeking guidance.

  “Mhm, I’m on board with it. As long as we lay down the rules this time, then I think everything will work out.”

  Hearing Julia’s comforting reply, Vreena released her trembling grip on her staff. She heaved a sigh before speaking “....I’ll think bout it....”

  The odd silence had captured the room in its quieting embrace once again, making it feel like the air was growing thicker by the second.

  “.....Well, it’s gotten pretty late, and I don’t want to intrude any more than I already have. Shall we close here for today?” Owen broke through the quieting veil with his question.

  Vreena glanced at the other two women around the table before sighing in relief. She was the first to rise to her feet, taking Owen up on his offer.

  “We might as well, these two have been treating people all day so I’m sure they’re tired, we’ll just have to pick this up some other time.”

  “Alright then everyone, the next time we meet like this I’ll be sure to drag Oliver along.”

  Julia’s comment insighted laughter from those surrounding her, she strolled over to me with her usual tender smile still on her face.

  “Ready to go Liam?”

  “Mhm. I’ll come back to your shop again Emma.”

  “Heh-Heh, sure anytime you want, bye-bye.” It seems the girl's usual demeanor had returned, if only partly. The strange hand gesture she was making was still one I wasn’t all that used to seeing, but then again there were many things about Emma that I just didn’t understand.

  Walking hand-in-hand with Julia along the luminous streets of Zale was a first for me. The glimmering light sources known as Aether crystals were attached to just about everything here, from street signs to the timeworn stone houses and hangouts here. It was quite the lively environment even this late at night.

  “Mother, will we really find that Basilisk thing?”

  Her grip on my small hand tightened reflexively. “So you were listening that closely huh? Don’t worry everything will be fine, I won’t let anything bad happen to you or the people here.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  Her grin widened, falling perfectly within the confines of the womans mellowing expression. “Because I used to be a Raider too so we know how to fight off scary monsters like that. And besides..." she trailed off with a deep breath.

  "....with Oliver here, I don’t think things will get that out of hand.”

  Those words conveyed a sense of unwavering faith, it was undoubtedly because she was now speaking about Oliver.

  I knew the man was strong, but as of right now I couldn’t truly grasp the depths of his capabilities. It was always good to have more cards to play but if my assumption is correct then Oliver may not be able to pull off any grand feats of heroism this time around.

  “How strong is dad? Have you ever seen him try his best?”

  "I have, actually. He’s super strong, Oliver’s a court mage.”

  Julia carelessly spat those words, unbothered by the fact that a typical four-year-old wouldn’t have the slightest clue in regards to what she was actually talking about, that was just one example of how different Oliver and Julia truly were at their core.

  Still, that bit of knowledge was quite helpful.