The Extra of The Lunerra

The rest of the dinner, like the beginning, was very quiet. There was not much conversation, no celebration. It was just... a quiet, peaceful, and pleasant dinner. The conversations were normal and there was no trouble at all.

So it didn’t take long for the end to come.

Back in our rooms, we were no longer simply ’waiting’ but making preparations to leave. Things were being packed, the jet was being prepared to fly to Cevilian.

The Eshaware adventure, at least this one, was over. We had everything we wanted and we were going home.

And so, the hours passed. The preparations were finally over. The news came that the jet was ready for takeoff.

And with that information came another one...

Just like the person who accompanied us when we first came here, someone would accompany us when we left.

His smiling face was bright, his yellow eyes of royalty were distinctive, and the presence of spirits hovering around him made it impossible for me in particular not to see him, even if he was not standing directly in front of our door.

"I hope your last day was comfortable with no problems."

Alith.

"It was comfortable."

Thanks to the guards standing behind him, it looked as if he had come to arrest us, but I knew he had no intention of doing so, so I was relaxed.

It’s just that, when I first saw him here, he was such an annoying, pampered ’young master’ type of person. He seems to have changed a bit too much, now that I see him like this...

It must have been the effect of stopping pretending.

"Happy for us, then."

His smile widened after his words and his eyes shifted from me to the people behind me.

He didn’t say anything about them, though he certainly studied the duo of Adrian and Alysia more than necessary.

"I won’t keep you waiting any longer, I have no doubt you are eager to get home."

He turned around. At the same time, the other guards turned in the direction we were going.

"Let’s get to your jet."

And so we did.

Step by step, with our belongings being carried by the bodyguards behind us, we made our way to where the jet would take off.

"Like the day you arrived, the jet will be surrounded by people wanting to take pictures." Explore more at NovelBin.Côm

But when this warning came out of nowhere from him, I couldn’t help but slow down a little and look at him.

"No problem."

This was something I knew. After all, the media needed to see that we were alive, there was no such thing as restricted access for photographers.

Why did he feel the need to say so?

I found it even stranger as we drove on.

And after a certain period of time...

"..."

Suddenly, I stopped walking completely.

No, he didn’t give me a cryptic message or anything. What he said probably didn’t mean anything. It was just... he probably didn’t know how to get to the point and just said something random. @@novelbin@@

Because, now, it was quite clear that he was going to get to the point.

"Was this necessary?"

Alith was in front of me, his back still turned to me. Only now he was standing where he was.

And not only him. Everyone else was standing still.

Even the dust particles in the air were frozen in place, let alone everyone else.

Instead of dust particles, tiny yellow particles were floating in the air now.

"From my perspective, yes."

Alith slowly turned to face me. In the midst of frozen time, his palish yellow eyes locked directly on me.

"I wanted to have one last one-on-one meeting, a short one. When I didn’t get the chance, I thought this was the best time."

I tore my eyes away from him, lifted my hand slightly.

A few yellow particles fell into my hand, then disappeared like melting snowflakes.

The magic of the Aroniels is... truly extraordinary.

But it’s not free.

Especially what he’s doing now.

"Are you sure you can say everything you want to before running out of mana?"

He hasn’t even gotten to the point yet, so he’s wasting his time.

Especially when he stopped the time around us.

"I kept the radius short, and the people inside weren’t doing much except walking. So... not much of a problem."

A momentary look of confidence crossed his face.

"And my mana reserves are higher than you think."

I lowered my raised hand and turned back to him.

"So... what are you going to say, then?"

Alith sighed for a brief moment, then straightened up. The smile on his face, though not completely gone, was replaced by a more serious expression now.

"Before, when you first came to Eshaware, then when you spoke to me in the dungeon where I was held, and after that... I simply thought you were one of the countless others who tried to stand against Saligia. Still, I couldn’t help but do some digging."

I noticed something specific in what he said, the phrase ’one of the countless others’.

It would be strange if he didn’t know about the existence of the Order. But... is he aware of other small groups?

I couldn’t help squinting.

Does he know about the Laergas?

Alith opened both palms slightly to the sides. Then screens appeared on either side of him, resembling holographic technology. The only difference... these were yellow.

And on them was simply me, almost everything I had done since I came here to Lunerra. Even... even before that. Things Aiden did while he was still in his own body.

"And the more I learned, the more I realized... something was wrong with you."

Huh?

Wait...

I thought he realized that I would be more effective against Saligia than he thought, that he would say that he would do his best to help my cause...

"At first, our brief conversation was simply going to be something where I would tell you that from this point on I would help you in the best way I could, that I saw you as the greatest weapon against Saligia. But all that aside... recently, when I was reviewing the information I’ve gathered about you, something struck me."

His eyes squinted and the screens next to him changed. The information slowly turned into older and older information, knowledge from before I even woken up for the first time at Lunerra...

And then two people appeared on these screens.

Two people I never expected to see here in any way.

Aaron and Aria Tenebra.

Aiden and Clara’s parents.

"Your parents... it seems like they simply existed and disappeared. There’s no real information about them. They never changed jobs, cars, or houses. Hospital records about them are almost nonexistent, parking lot records are limited. There is almost no information even about their relatives. It’s almost... like they lived their lives up to the time of their death much less, much more limited than normal people."

With everything he told me, I became more and more confused, everything in my mind started to jumble together.

I had done research on the Tenebra Family myself, and so had others who had access to huge databases, like Ulka, Melany, Ronald, and Lucas. I was always aware that something was wrong with this family.

But we found nothing. According to Cevilian, they were simply people who lived their lives and died in a car accident. That was it.

So... how did Alith find out?

Where did he get this information?

"Aiden. I asked for most of this information before you even arrived in Eshaware, before I completely lost contact and my connection with Saligia."

My eyes widened slowly, I wanted to swallow, but I couldn’t even do that amidst the myriad of possibilities and knots that suddenly began to connect in my mind.

"There is nothing wrong with Cevilian’s records, they are just normal citizens. But when we look at Saligia’s records, we find these... strange problems. It almost seems like... your family is part of them. No, they probably were."

Wait...

"I would find it strange if you had no connection with Saligia, especially considering how much you hate them.

However... there’s also something else that’s on my mind."

If that’s true...

"I didn’t say there was no information about your relatives, I said there was ’almost’ no information."

I paused, my already jumbled mind stopped working, all my thoughts disappeared. A single word echoed in my ears.

Relatives?

"Your father has an older brother. But the strange thing is... there is literally nothing about this person except his existence."

And the moment he said those words, my whole vision shook. I was hit with an incredible, sharp pain in my head that I literally had to do everything I could to hide it. It was as if... a memory was forming in my mind, as if it was tearing through the walls it had been trapped in and coming to the surface.

"This lack of knowledge about him feels... too artificial. It feels like... someone hid everything about him even more than your parents."

It was a memory from almost a year ago.

"What I suspect is..."

It was the dream I had the day Sith woke up from the sleep he had fallen into after preventing my complete transformation into a wiera.

Most of what I saw at the time was fading from my mind the moment I woke up... so most of this specific memory remained buried, secretly.

Until now.

"We just have to keep going, there are millions of wels and a limitless skill at stake. We can’t give up."

It was a deep voice, belonging to a man...

Aaron Tenebra.

"I know but... They support us just for the project."

The next one was softer, a woman’s voice. Aria Tenebra’s voice.

"If it wasn’t for your brother, they would have cut us off already. How long are we going to go on like this?"

"That your uncle may have been the one who purged information about your parents. It also makes sense that he hid things about himself if that is true."

What snapped me out of my thoughts was something I saw out of the corner of my eye, the yellow particles surrounding us, floating like snowflakes, beginning to glow faintly.

"Do you, by any chance, know who your uncle is... Aiden?"

Alith was running out of mana to stop time.

We didn’t have much time.

And yet... it was harder than ever to speak because of the importance, the weight of what I had realized and learned.

"No..."

And yet, somehow, I managed to utter that one word.

Alith first examined me, looked me over from head to toe. Then, though... he simply sighed.

"I don’t think you’re lying, and if you are... I won’t care as I’m sure you have your own reasons. I’m just... completely sure you’re an enemy of Saligia, at least after what I’ve heard from the spirits. And I have told you all this in the hope that I may have information you are not aware of."

He took his eyes off me, turned them slightly upward, and looked at the yellow particles floating down.

He turned in front of him, exactly where he was before he froze time.

"I hope it was useful. And even if it didn’t... don’t forget what I said before. That I will always support you in the best way I can. Just give me a call when you need my help."

And then... the yellow particles disappeared completely.

The guards started walking again, and so did Alith.

It was just...

"Aiden? Why did you stop, are you okay?"

Ah…