Chapter 198: Questions and Another Test
Chapter 198: Questions and Another Test
"Barton... I... I truly regret it..."
In the evening, inside a small hut in the Rogue Gang's hideout, a stout man with a flushed face from drinking cheap liquor clutched the neck of "Little Bavin" and sobbed uncontrollably, saying:
"If you hadn't come to save me back then, I might have suffered fewer injuries. After being discharged, I could have drunk less, and your family wouldn't be in its current state...
Waaah... I... I really tried my best to gather money for you. I sold not only my house and my wife's jewelry but also my reserved position in the military, which wasn't subject to layoffs. But in the end, I couldn't even gather a tenth of the required amount.
I... I didn't mean to withhold money from you, truly!
I genuinely tried. I even begged at the Relief Bureau, but your wife's illness is truly incurable. If I had given you all my money, you would have thrown it away, and not only would your son have been left without a caregiver, but you would likely have starved to death, and my wife would have suffered too...
I... I'm sorry to my wife, and I'm sorry to you, and to your wife, and to your son, and to your entire family!
I... I've wronged everyone in this lifetime..."
"..."
"I'm sorry... Owen is drunk and mistook you for Old Bavin, making you witness this embarrassing scene..."
Amid the incoherent wails of the drunk stout man, a gentle-looking woman wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and pleaded with "Little Bavin":
"I know I shouldn't be saying this... but... but could you please not blame Uncle Owen? He truly did his best back then... could you?"
"Hmm..."
Looking at the woman, who was likely not yet forty but appeared aged, Lyon nodded slightly, murmuring an inaudible response.
After listening to the disjointed story of the stout man in his drunken state, Lyon learned about the past of these two families. Even though he hadn't experienced it like the real Little Bavin, his heart felt heavy, as if something was blocking it, and his breathing became inexplicably difficult. He suddenly felt an urge to go out and get some fresh air.
"Little Bavin..."
Seeing Lyon, who was silently hanging his head, the gentle woman sighed and spoke:
"You haven't been drinking, but it's getting late. Your home is on the other side of the valley. Why don't you stay here tonight and sleep in Owen's room?"
"No, thank you."
After declining the woman's offer with a shake of his head, Lyon spoke softly:
"Auntie Fanny, my home is still a mess, and... I want to go out for some fresh air."
"Alright... Then fasten your clothes so you don't catch a cold."
"Yes."
After leaving with the woman's gentle reminder, Lyon walked quickly along the dark dirt road towards the other end of the valley.
...
As a covert mission, this reconnaissance attempt was a failure.
Aside from being a good listener to the stout man's stories about the past, Lyon hadn't obtained much intelligence about the Rogue Gang's leadership or even located his own residence.
But... it seemed there was still something to gain.
At the very least, Lyon confirmed that most of the members of the Rogue Gang were not power-hungry opportunists; they were ordinary people seeking a stable life.
Finding a slightly elevated spot to sit, Lyon observed the layout of the buildings in the valley while seriously contemplating what to do next.
From the perspective of a Purification Bureau agent, Lyon had already accomplished a significant part of his mission. He had located the gang's hideout, identified the leader, and established a foothold within the organization.
The next step was to demonstrate his "anomaly" and join the group of anomaly holders to complete the mission, helping the Queen regain her identity and eradicate the organization.
However, aside from the eight or nine anomaly holders, there were nearly a thousand other members in the gang, many of whom had outstanding warrants and bounties on their heads.
They were able to hide in this valley because of the leader's peculiar "gate ability," but if they returned to the capital, they would likely be arrested and imprisoned, leaving their families once again without a means to sustain themselves.
Although this situation seemed unrelated to Lyon's mission, as controlling the anomaly holders was the extent of his responsibilities, he couldn't help but feel a sense of responsibility.
Looking at the gentle woman who had kindly draped a coat over him and the tear stains left by the stout man's crying on the front of his clothes, Lyon sighed deeply.
Assuming someone else's identity... seemed like no easy task...
"Little Bavin?"
As Lyon let out a long sigh, a middle-aged man with streaks of white in his hair emerged silently from the nearby shadows, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
"What are you doing here?"
Finally willing to come out? This person's wariness is truly heavy...
Having already discovered his presence, Lyon, who had purposefully approached him, was already wearing the Performer Emblem and trembled all over when he heard the question. He turned around in feigned surprise, his eyes wide with bewilderment, and said, "Leader? What are you doing here?"
"This place is not far from where I live. I couldn't sleep, so I came out for a walk."
Without taking offense at Lyon's retort, the middle-aged man first answered the question, his eyes flickering as he spoke, "And you? Why aren't you going home at this late hour?"
"Home..."
Upon hearing this, Lyon fell silent for a moment, then shook his head and spoke softly, "Where is my home?"
???
After hearing Little Bavin's words, the middle-aged man couldn't help but frown. He pointed at a distant, unlit house and said, "Little Bavin, what are you talking about? Isn't that your home?"
Oh, so that's where "I" live.
Lyon looked at the house with a forlorn expression, noted its exact location, then shook his head indifferently. His voice was extremely light yet extremely firm as he said, "That's not my home, just the house I live in."
"..."
Not realizing that he had been baited, the middle-aged man's heart couldn't help but tremble slightly, and a sense of emptiness and pain welled up within him after hearing Little Bavin's response.
For Little Bavin, that was no longer his home... and this kingdom was no longer his kingdom...
No matter how much he changed and tried, the events that were meant to happen had already occurred. Whether this kingdom's future was good or bad, it no longer had anything to do with him.
His family was long gone, and his regrets were destined to remain unfulfilled. For Little Bavin, that house was no longer a home, and this kingdom was no more than an empty house.
"That's right..."
After being stabbed in the heart by Lyon's words, "That's not home," the middle-aged man couldn't help but sit down next to him and blow the night wind in silence.
...
After a while, the "homeless youth" broke the silence first. He stared at the valley lights and asked in a faint voice, "Leader... can we really change this country and prevent the tragedies that have befallen everyone from happening again?"
"..."
"We can."
Although he didn't really believe in this statement, the middle-aged man, who still needed the existence of the bandits, nodded earnestly and continued to deceive him, "This country is beyond saving. As long as we keep trying, we will eventually sweep it into the trash heap, and then on the ruins..."
"Leader."
After interrupting the middle-aged man somewhat rudely, Lyon spoke in a confused tone, "After you confirmed that I didn't have the talent, I thought seriously, and I came up with some questions I wanted to ask you.
Uncle Owen and... and my father, they fought for the kingdom, which was not wrong. The kingdom also gave us a generous compensation, which also can't be considered wrong. My mother and I did everything we could, so we shouldn't be wrong either. But why has it all ended up like this?
Why does my mother have to die in the hospital, my father turn into a scoundrel, and I have to live a life of daily beatings? Uncle Owen, who has been working so hard to help our family, will have to feel guilty for the rest of his life... Can you tell me why this is happening?
And, under your leadership, we can only cause destruction and can't even show our faces. We're stuck in this small valley. Do we really have the ability to change all this?”
“……”
……
Little Bavin must be serious... right?
After responding in a somewhat incoherent manner and hastily fleeing the high rock, the mid-aged man, whose mind was overwhelmed by a series of soul-searching questions, walked back to his residence in a daze under the night sky.
Why did I go out and talk to him? Wouldn't it have been better to just leave? What are these questions he's asking? Why can't I answer any of them?
And just because he tested and found out he doesn't have the talent to become an anomaly, Little Bavin can think so deeply about things? In my past life, I went through so much, but why can't I figure anything out? Is the gap between people really that big?
With a belly full of jumbled questions, the mid-aged man staggered to the residence and about to push the door open, suddenly, his expression suddenly, a sudden, he a00, he looked at the big tree beside him.
"Who's there?"
"Leader, it's me..."
Under the mid-aged man's stern gaze,, an obese man alcohol from the tree, a chubby man with a red face and a strong smell of alcohol walked out, giving him a somewhat embarrassed smile.
Old Owen?
Furrowing his brows slightly, the mid-aged man lowered his guard a bit and asked in confusion:
"It's so late, why are you not resting and coming to find me? Is there something important?"
"Actually... it's not really important... I just wanted to ask you to use that watch to test Little Bavin again."
Taking out a hair he had picked up from the dinner table, the fat uncle held it out to the mid-aged man, his expression tinged with a plea:
"Leader, Little Bavin carried a big barrel of oil by himself during the day, and he was already very tired. And these past two days, he's not only been beaten but hasn't slept much either, so his state might be a bit poor, which is why he didn't meet your standards, just a bit short of it.
That child hasn't spoken much since he failed your test. He even drank a couple of sips tonight, despite hating alcohol the most, and he's been distracted all day. I... I'm a bit worried about him.
Leader, if it's not too much trouble, could you test him again? What if he passes this time?"
“……”
So it's because of this. You really do treat him like your own son...
Looking at the hair in the fat uncle's hand, the mid-aged man couldn't help but shake his head in exasperation.
"Owen, this test isn't like a physical one where lack of sleep or recent intense activity can affect the results... um..."
At this point, seeing the fat uncle's pleading eyes, the mid-aged man paused, then thought of Little Bavin's strange questions, and, a hint of doubt and a flick of doubt.
"Alright."
After a moment of contemplation, the mid-aged man nodded as if possessed, took the black hair from the fat uncle, and gently rubbed it against the outer side of the wristwatch.
"Tick~"
Under the mid-aged man's operation, the sound of gears engaging was heard again, the watch quickly opened its "mouth" to swallow the black hair, chewing on it forcefully again.
"Owen, although I'm willing to test again, don't get your hopes up too high."
While the watch was conducting the test, the mid-aged man spoke gently as a reminder:
"This device tests more than just the body, it also focuses the spirit and aspects like as will and and mental, and, and, so., and, and., and..., and, and, and..., and, and, less in these areas, so, even if you test again, it's unlikely to..."
"Click, click, click, click, click, click."
As the mid-aged man watched the pointers, which didn't even wobble, and directly snapped to the far right and firmly locked in place, and seemed to still be trying to move further to the right, his eyes bulged out, and he sharply inhaled a breath of cold air.
.
.
"What???"
(End of Chapter)
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