Only I Am A Reader

"Sister! It's good to see you after so long."

Standing in his house's garden, Jared smiled upon seeing his guest, this day was really a busy one.

"Ray as well… How are your old injuries?"

"Was it you?"

Not being particularly fond of Ray, Jared was trying to ease into the conversation. However, Ray had no such intention as he sharply mouthed out three context-less words.

"Hm?"

"Actually… We have been following up on a certain lead and we think that the recent incident is related to it, so we came here to ask how you came to know about it."

Elbowing Ray who was being as straightforward as usual, Jade scratched the back of her head as she bitterly smiled at Jared.

"Tsk, and here I was thinking my dear sister came to check up on me, but it's still business. Beats me, I received an anonymous tip myself."

Clicking his tongue, Jared shrugged as he stared into the horizon, doing his best to maintain his expression.

"I see… Sorry, Jared, I would also like to spend some time together, but this matter is urgent. They actually want to lock up the kids they found again! All of that just to get answers, don't joke with me!"

Pressing her palm over her face, Jade apologetically nodded at Jared. Her face looked evidently tired, this week had been particularly hectic. They found what they had been searching for, but they were too late once again. To top it off, the intelligence department was being as heartless as usual!

"I understand, I would have liked to help out, but I really know nothing… You have to make sure the children don't suffer."

"Naturally!"

Watching his little sister storm off with determination alongside the abnormal Ray, Jared continued staring into the sky, he obviously wasn't saying the complete truth either.

'Where would he be by now?'

`~~~`~~~`~~~`

"Finally."

Far away from Sky-Pierce City, Leo at his destination with mixed expectations, it wasn't an easy decision to finally choose the place to spend what was left of his time as Arthur in.

"Hopefully they also reached their own correct destination."

Thinking back to the chained children back at the Holy School Sword's underground 'lab', Leo couldn't help but worry. He wouldn't feel unsure like this if he had taken them out himself, but he had no way of explaining himself.

Even if he were to pretend that he discovered the pub's true nature by chance, that wouldn't give him the authority to 'clean' the whole base, self-defense definitely wouldn't have cut it either. However, all of this was naturally considered by Leo before he even started the operation.

Having already expected his ascension, Leo had informed Jared to meet up at the 'hotel' rather than the library, all so he could leave him a note regarding the children at the underground 'lab'. Whether Jared ratted on him or not didn't really matter as he would have already left the Capital by then.

Others might not have much credibility if they reported something like that, but Jared was different no matter how carefree he acted. In the end, Leo wasn't worried whether the children would be rescued or not, he was only worried about their fate after that.

'Forget it, that's out of my hands.'

Since his action would have naturally poked the hornet's nest known as Ray, Leo was sure that the 'activist' known as Jade wouldn't sit still against injustice. If even she couldn't solve any potential problem then it would be truly beyond his ability.

Rather than thinking about the unchangeable past, Leo decided to focus on this new… 'home' of his.

"It's as 'great' as I imagined it to be…"

Driving his carriage into the land full of 'green', Leo couldn't help but reconsider his choices, he was probably the only one in this world to take a death zone as his home! The destination he spent the last week traveling towards was none other than the Evil Sword Jungle!

'It's too late to change my mind now…'

Leo simply couldn't afford to play around with the little time he had left, the meeting following the Sword Garden Trial was only a few months away.

Even if he had left the Capital, straying away from it wasn't a viable option for Leo. 'Fortunately', the Evil Sword Jungle happened to be very close by.

Undoubtedly, far easier options like settling down in a nearby village for the time being were available. However, it wasn't like the only reason Leo chose this death zone was its location.

"It's like going to the zoo."

To others, the Evil Sword Jungle may be a death zone, but that wasn't necessarily the case for him. If anything, he was the one that the Jungle's residents had to be wary of!

As a 'legendary' grade-10 Swordsman, Leo would be directly placed at the top of the food chain no matter where he was. Most importantly, he was the only mutant in the world possessing the cheat 'Sword Body'! He would be the new apex predator of this so-called death zone!

'I need this.'

Naturally, Leo wasn't underestimating the capability or the number of Sword Beasts that could swarm him within this crazy jungle. In fact, he was counting on it. After reaching his current stage, only this death zone qualified to be his training ground!

Although Leo's maxed out Intermediate Swordsmanship wasn't exactly lacking, the training Leo had in mind wasn't exactly sword training… He wanted to train his ability as a mutant!

This whole mutation wasn't according to plan, but now that Leo possessed another 'weapon' that he could wield in the uncertain final battle, he obviously wanted to make good use of it.

Just as his 'Personal Book' displayed, Leo's mastery of his 'Sword Body' was barely limited to the natural adaption and information his body received along with the mutation, it would prove hard to directly use it in battle.

Not to mention handling it, applying sword techniques using his 'Hand Sword' was vastly different from using a real sword. In short, there was a lot to work on.

"Let's find a nest first…"