Guardian Of The End

"There were bandits present in the forest, hiding under the cover of a thick mist. The mist also prevented me from sensing them yet the mist suddenly cleared and I was able to kill those bandits." Risa explained.

She then went ahead to explain the entire event as Jason noticed that she omitted a lot of details. It was clear that Risa was hiding Alex but for what reason? Jason didn't know.

"So that means that the phantom is connected to those bandits in some way," Ray muttered before looking at Risa with a curious expression. "You did interrogate them, right mother?"

"Of course, I did that but got nothing of importance. Something is going on in that forest that we don't know of." Risa replied as Issac shrugged.

"It doesn't matter to us anyway. Let's just have dinner and go to sleep," Issac started making his way towards the entrance of the room. "All of us are dead tired and to make sure that we look good tomorrow, we are going to sleep early."

The entire family followed him as Issac led them to the dining room in the mansion. A group of butlers served them delicious food including many things that Jason had never seen before.

He ate them a little hesitantly but after finding out how tasty they were, he munched down three plates full of food.

Even though Risa and Jason had not realized how much time had passed, their bodies had still undergone the two days physically. Such an amount of food was required to make up for the nutrition they had lacked in the last two days.

"Jason, come to my room," Risa whispered as soon as Jason had finished his dinner. "I have something to talk to you about."

Jason nodded slightly before leaving the dining room. He asked one of the butlers to guide his room and much to Jason's surprise, it turned out that his room was right beside Risa's.

"Can I ask why we can't have rooms on the first or second floor?" Jason asked the butler as the two of them stood in front of the door to his room.

"It's because this mansion originally belongs to Master Bloodthorn." The butler replied while keeping his head slightly bowed.

"You mean Brian?" Jason remembered the symbol he had seen on Brian's coat and it perfectly matched with the name.

"Yes, that's master Bloodthorn. The rest of the mansion is occupied by other families who know the master well, including his own family. This floor is only given to the Syrward family due to that." The butler explained.

"I see… Thank you for the explanation."

"It's my pleasure, young master." The butler replied before bowing once. "You can call out for me if you want anything. My name is Alfred."

The butler, Alfred, then walked away to take care of his work. Jason watched him disappear from his sight before entering his room.

'I keep forgetting the fact that I am a noble too.' He sighed while taking a look at the room. It looked like an exact copy of the five-star hotel one Jason had seen in the last city except for the fact that it was much smaller in size.

He noticed a mirror attached to the closet inside the room as he walked up to it. Jason then stood in front of the mirror and looked at his appearance.

His clothes still looked as though he had only worn them an hour ago. They looked freshly ironed and not even a single spec of dirt was visible anywhere on them.

[ Those suit you, host. ] The system suddenly commented as Jason raised his eyebrows in surprise.

'What's with the sudden compliment?'

[ Just felt like saying it. Nothing else. ]

Jason shrugged at the system's reply. He never understood the system half the time but that's how their relationship had turned out to be.

Jason walked up to the door again and stuck his right ear on it. He heard the sound of someone walking into the room beside his.

He opened the door slightly to see Risa walking by. Jason immediately opened his door and walked outside.

"Huh?" Risa seemed surprised when she saw Jason come out of the other room. "To think that they would give you the room right beside mine instead of giving it to Issac."

"Brian must hate grandfather too much," Jason replied. "After all, he is the owner of this place and could've asked the butlers to do this."

"Brian has never liked Issac so that could be the truth." Risa sighed while rubbing her temples. "Anyways, come inside."

Jason and Risa then walked inside the other room while locking the door behind them.

"When did he come here?" Jason immediately asked with a confused expression as he saw Alex sitting on the bed. "Wait… He wasn't in the dining room either!"

Jason had no idea how he hadn't noticed that Alex had vanished right in front of him. Upon asking the system, it turned out that Alex had been sitting in the room ever since they had left the living room.

"While Issac was taking all of you to the dining room, I took Alex here and asked him to stay here," Risa replied as the two of them looked at Alex.

He was casually sitting on the bed and staring at the ceiling, seemingly lost in his own world.

"Alex, you have been here the entire time?" Jason suddenly called out as Alex turned his head in their direction.

"Yeah, I have been sitting here just like she asked me to." He replied with a cheerful smile while pointing out at Risa.

Jason couldn't help but wonder how Alex hadn't been bored the hell out. It had clearly taken more than an hour for Risa and Jason to come to the room and without anything to distract himself with, Alex had been left alone in the room.

"Alex, can I ask you about a few things and expect you to answer honestly?" Risa approached the bed and sat right beside Alex.

"If I know the answer, I will tell you whatever you want to know," Alex suddenly paused. "As long as I don't feel uncomfortable… Bad things happen when I feel uncomfortable."

Risa and Jason exchanged a glance as they remembered the incident in the forest. Both of them agreed silently to not pressure Alex into telling them anything lest it brought the fog or some other horror to the mansion.

"How long have you been living in the forest for?" Risa asked as Alex fell deep into thought.

"As long as I can remember for so around two years." He replied confidently the next minute as Risa nodded.

"Good. Now did you know those men who were there in the forest, hiding under the cover of the fog?"

"I…" Alex's face suddenly turned grim. "I don't want to talk about that."

"Then what have you been doing in the forest for the past two years?" Risa asked in a gentler tone but Alex's expression only seemed to worsen.

"Jason, move back." Risa suddenly said as Jason followed her instructions and backed away from the bed.

Risa had enough years of experience to recognize the expression on Alex's face. It belonged to someone who was about to blow out.

"Alex, calm down. There is nothing wrong here and you are safe." Risa spoke gently but her words didn't seem to reach his ears.

Jason could only watch Alex's face distort as it went through a series of different expressions.

'System, what are the odds of this building blowing up in the next five minutes?'

[ Hmm, I would say one in ten but it depends on Alex. Who knows how powerful he is. ]

'Once again, you suck at being an all-knowing system.'

"They beat me up so much that I had to cry to stop them… They would then use the fog created by me as a cover and would kill others…" Alex mumbled as he closed his eyes. "I could do nothing except watch them…"

Jason didn't know why but he felt as though Alex's personality had been shifted. He had this feeling just by listening to the few words spoken by him.

'Why does he give the vibes of a main character about to unlock his true powers soon after experiencing torture and pain…'

On cue with his thought, Alex suddenly opened his eyes to reveal that his blue eyes were glowing.

"I hated that…" He mumbled again as Risa suddenly started rubbing her temples.

"I have had enough dialogs from kids about to break loose of their power in one lifetime. If you don't want to listen to my words, fine." Her hand suddenly flickered forward and touched Alex's forehead.

Alex's eyes suddenly rolled back in his head and he fell back. The entire atmosphere became calm as Risa sighed and turned toward Jason.

"I know that you already know this but still, don't tell anyone about this," Risa spoke before taking one of the chairs in the room and sitting down on it.

"You could have just knocked him down the moment his expression turned grim," Jason commented as he also pulled a chair and sat beside her.

"Then we wouldn't have gotten to hear those words and would have not known that he was being used. Most things that I do have a reason." Risa replied as the two of them looked at the unconscious Alex.

"Grandma," Jason spoke without looking at Risa. "What are you going to do with him?"