200 Chapter 200: Father and Son (2/2)

”Ugh…”

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There was no point thinking too much about it. Taking a deep breath, I stepped into my room and pushed the matter out of my mind. For now, I should focus on my report.

I didn't need to know Dad's so-called true nature or his past. Dad was my dad. I just needed to believe in him as I always did.

*

”…eh?”

I woke up in the middle of a night, slumped over my desk. Rubbing my eyes, I adjusted my glasses back on and stared at the space above my desk where my holographic screen should have been. My personal computer had gone into power-saving mode and switched off the holographic screen after several minutes of inactivity.

I must have dozed off in the middle of writing my report. Rubbing my head and stifling a yawn, I reached out to switch my computer back on and resume writing the report.

An explosion rocked my room, almost throwing me from my chair. Glancing out of my window, I saw an immense inferno billowing upward, consuming something in front of our gate, just beyond the fiery barrier that Dad had designed.

”What…?!”

I immediately turned around and bolted out of my room without any hesitation, barreling down the stairs. Someone was wreaking havoc just outside our house and I intended to take care of them once and for all.

Dad wasn't in the living room watching anime – well, it made sense, considering the time of the night. Most of the times he would just leave the intruders to the fiery barrier…which was strange. The fiery barrier didn't have a function to blast flames outside of our territory.

Meaning the inferno was most likely a spell conjured by Dad.

Slipping on my shoes, I bounded out of the house. Raising my head, I caught sight of Angelica hovering high up, her wings of fire shedding flaming feathers. Lifting a hand, she directed another colossal fireball at somebody outside of our courtyard, on the road beyond, and blew him or her out. I hastened my pace and burst through the front gate.

”Dad?”

I caught sight of Dad standing outside, his arms crossed and his features grim. He tilted his head as he glanced at me.

”Richie. Sorry, did I wake you up?”

”No, I was writing my report anyway…what happened?”

Dad didn't reply. Instead, he strode toward the immolated corpse within the inferno and plunged his hand into the flames. In a single jerk, he yanked out the blackened body and tossed it uncaringly into the street, where it continued to smolder.

”Professional killers from the Assassins Guild. Umbra Sect, from the looks of it. Caught them sneaking around.” He frowned. ”I think they were targeting you instead of me. Seems like you've pissed off the Assassins Guild.”

”Well, they can piss off,” I growled, irritated. ”They can try to kill me, but I'm not allowed to kill them back in return? What kind of logic is that?”

Dad grinned and kicked the charred corpse. ”That's the spirit.”

He then glanced up at Angelica, who slowly descended toward our position with a single flap of her fiery wings.

”Is there anyone else?”

”No, we got all of them.” Angelica nodded, distaste evident on her beautiful face. It was as if she hated killing, and wasn't pleased that she was forced into staining her hands with the blood of humans. I watched her, transfixed, wondering briefly if it was because she had been human once.

What did being a vessel mean? Was this Angelica's real form, or was that the physical features of the loved one Dad sacrificed in order to host the angel of fire?

”Richie? You okay?” Dad frowned when he noticed my stare. ”Is there something wrong with Angelica?”

”Uh, no.” I snapped out of it. Perhaps it was time to face the truth, after all. I still dreaded learning it, but if I didn't confront it once and for all, then I would never be able to move on. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Dad. ”I'm sorry if I sound rude, but I wanted to ask about Angelica.”

”What about her?” Dad asked, furrowing his brow in puzzlement.

”She's a contracted spirit, right?”

”Yeah.” Dad raised an eyebrow, as if that was obvious. He had explained that concept to me before, when I first started trying to learn summoning magic.

”Then…who did you sacrifice to make a contract with her?”

For a few seconds, there was nothing but silence, the only noise being the crackling of flames that continued to eat away at the Umbra Assassins. Dad stared at me, his expression unreadable.

I gulped, wondering if I had made a mistake after all.

”S…sorry. It's all right if you don't want to tell me. I'm probably overstepping my boundaries. I mean, I'm not even your real, biological son, and yet I'm…”

”No, that has never been an issue, and will never be an issue.”

Dad sighed and shook his head. Angelica vanished, almost like a flickering fire, and I wondered if that sad expression on her face just before she disappeared was just my imagination.

Turning his back on the pyre of Assassins, Dad strolled back to the house.

”The story will take some time…it's not something I can tell you while we're standing out here in the open.” He paused for a while. ”I should probably grab a can of beer while at it. What do you want to drink? I'll make you a cup of hot chocolate.”

I didn't expect Dad's wistful tone, so I nodded as I followed him back into the house.

”…it's not that I didn't want to tell you.” Dad sighed as he headed to the kitchen. He went for the fridge and grabbed a can of beer, and then reached up to a cupboard to pull out a sachet of hot chocolate. Emptying the powder into a cup, he then filled it up with boiling water from the electric kettle, stirred it, and pushed it toward me. He sat down on one end of the dining table, while I took the seat adjacent to his. ”It's just that it's a very…complex story. And there was no need for you to know…or so I thought.”

He stared at his can of beer for a few seconds before he flipped the tab open and took a gulp.

”But I guess…you would have found out about the truth behind contracted spirits sooner or later.” He sighed heavily as he set his can down, his eyes still dark and weary. ”I'm guessing you already know it requires a…sacrifice.”

”Yeah. Of someone you love…someone important to you.” I nodded, my voice sounding diminutive even to me.

”That's right.” Dad straightened up, his eyes still taking on a faraway gaze. ”Angelica's true identity is…the woman I loved the most in the world…the person who would have been my wife if 'that' didn't happen…”