The air inside the carriage vibrated slightly with the bumps of the journey, and Dio’s thoughts flickered like the shifting shadows of the trees outside the window.
His gaze quietly shifted away from Iza and finally landed on the silent Swan.
Regarding this youngest junior disciple, Dio’s memories of his past life were filled with complex waves.
The first person to demonstrate startling power against the Blood Clan within the human camp was not the later-renowned Leon, but this very Swan before him, who seemed to carry a heavy burden of hatred.
Although Dio still did not know exactly how Swan had obtained that inconceivable Dragonization ability, during the early stages of the Blood Clan invasion, Swan had indeed relied on that power to become an indispensable pillar of the resistance. He had slaughtered a large number of the Blood Clan, buying precious breathing room for humanity.
However, the trajectory of fate took an unexpected turn after that.
What Dio found most incomprehensible was that during the middle stages of the war against the Blood Clan, he slowly discovered that his powerful junior disciple was undergoing a world-shaking transformation in terms of physique, appearance, and even voice.
Swan had gradually turned into a ‘junior female disciple.’
He still clearly remembered the period before Swan completely vanished from the public eye. The boy had found him and looked at him with an extremely complex gaze, one mixed with pain and determination. His voice had been raspy as he spoke.
“Brother Dio…”
“My hatred for the Blood Clan… no matter what, I will definitely have my revenge!”
“I… I might no longer be myself…”
“But the debt of the Raymond family…”
That was the last time Dio saw a clear face belonging to him—or rather, “her.” After that, Swan seemed to evaporate from the world, and there was no further news.
At the same time, Leon, the genius from Liyue Academy, coincidentally began to master a more powerful and stable Dragonization power. He gradually took over the position Swan once held, becoming the new hope for humanity.
The more Dio thought about it, the heavier and more confused his heart became.
With all the signs linked together, he could almost conclude that Swan’s bizarre disappearance and the strange shift in sexual characteristics were absolutely related to the price paid for the Dragonization ability.
That was no ordinary gift of power; it was more like a… cruel symbiosis or erosion.
“Brother Dio… why are you looking at me like that? Is something wrong?”
Swan keenly sensed Dio’s excessively long and complex gaze and could not help but speak up.
That look did not seem like simple concern. It was mixed with too many emotions he could not read — regret, scrutiny, and deep doubt.
Dio instantly snapped back to reality. Pushing down his churning thoughts, he used as steady a tone as possible to test the waters.
“It’s nothing. I just suddenly thought of something. Swan, before and after the incident with the Raymond family, did you experience anything… special, or perhaps something difficult to understand?”
Swan’s heart suddenly tightened, and Igneel’s consciousness within him also became alert. ‘A special experience?’
He forced himself to remain calm and asked back, “Brother Dio, why do you ask that?”
Based on his memories of his past life and his analysis, Dio slowly stated his case, attempting to guide the conversation. “I have carefully studied the movements of the Blood Clan. They attacked your Raymond family first, even though your family’s territory is clearly further inland than our Betty and Sis family lands. It doesn’t make sense. So, I suspect… is there something special in the Raymond family that attracted those bloodthirsty monsters?”
He recalled the behavior patterns of the Blood Clan in his past life. When they attacked human territories, they seemed aimless but were actually searching for something. This question had existed in his heart for a long time.
Swan’s expression changed slightly, his heart staggered by the precision of Dio’s reasoning.
‘Isn’t Brother Dio usually immersed in martial arts training?’
‘How can he be so perceptive of such details and know so many things?’
However, Igneel’s existence was his greatest secret and trump card. It could never be easily revealed.
“I… I don’t know.”
Swan lowered his eyelids, avoiding Dio’s sharp gaze. His voice carried a hint of deliberate confusion and pain.
“There were no special experiences before or after the family was attacked. In fact, it wasn’t until recently that I learned from the academy that the monsters attacking us are called the ‘Blood Clan.’ I don’t know why they chose us either…”
Dio gave Swan a deep look but did not push further.
He could see that Swan was hiding something, but interrogation was not a good strategy.
Perhaps his junior disciple had obtained the Dragonization power through some other opportunity…
After all, in his memory, the Swan of this time period had not followed them to the front lines of the Betty family.
—
On the other side of the carriage, Iza appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, but he was actually listening to every word of the conversation between Dio and Swan. The more he heard, the more interesting it became, and his suspicions grew more certain.
‘As I thought, my second senior brother is also hiding a big secret.’
Iza mused to himself.
‘He seems to know many things he shouldn’t. His understanding of the Blood Clan far exceeds that of a normal person, and he even pays an extraordinary amount of attention to Swan… Tsk, tsk. It seems that except for the simple-minded Senior Emma, no one around me is easy to deal with.’
Thinking of this, he could not help but turn his gaze toward Emma, who was sitting beside him, quietly watching the scenery outside the window.
A sense of relief flickered in his eyes, as if thinking, ‘Everyone else is complicated; only your eyes are as clear as a college student’s.’
Suddenly being watched by Iza with an exceptionally gentle, almost fatherly gaze, Emma turned her head in confusion and touched her face. “Junior Iza, why are you looking at me like that…?”
Iza sighed from the bottom of his heart. “It’s nothing. I just feel that you are truly wonderful, Senior Emma.”
“Um…” Those few simple words caused two clouds of crimson to instantly fly onto Emma’s cheeks. Her heart began to race for no reason.
‘This seems to be the second time Junior Iza has complimented me so seriously…’
Iza watched her face suddenly flush and blinked in confusion. He asked with concern, “Senior Emma, why is your face so red? Is it too stuffy in the carriage? Are you feeling unwell?”
Sara, who was sitting nearby, took in the entire scene. She could not help but press her hand to her forehead and sigh.
Her junior brother was terrifyingly sharp when observing the situation on a battlefield or analyzing enemy movements, but how could he be as dense as a block of wood at a time like this?
Because the space in the carriage was limited, Iza’s side of the conversation naturally drew the attention of the others as well.
Swan was currently completely immersed in thoughts of revenge.
He didn’t even care about his life anymore; why would he care about a change in gender?
Comforting himself this way, his thoughts drifted toward Iza.
He whispered in his mind, ‘Igneel, I remember you warned me before to stay away from Senior Iza, saying he was dangerous?’
Previously, because he had been saved by Iza and had inadvertently disrupted Igneel’s plans, he had intentionally or unintentionally distanced himself from this seemingly ordinary senior.
Igneel’s consciousness responded, carrying a hint of gravity and the awkwardness of correcting his stance.
‘That was then, and this is now. When I sensed the seemingly faint but bottomless amount of mana he possessed while performing healing magic on you, I knew he was definitely not simple.’
‘Now that my remains are missing, the previous plan is meaningless. I suggest you… get on his good side.’
Swan was stunned. ‘That’s not what you said before.’
Igneel defended himself. ‘At that time, I thought my remains were still under the academy’s seal, so we needed to act low-key. Now that the situation has changed, we must naturally adjust our strategy.’
‘Besides, since he was willing to step forward and save you, his character is at least verified. And since he has been pretending to be mediocre all this time, he must be hiding a massive secret. Aren’t you curious?’
Swan could clearly feel the uncontrollable desire to investigate Iza within Igneel’s consciousness. He could not help but curl his lip in his mind.
‘I think it’s just you who’s curious…’
His heart held only revenge!
No room for emotions!
Igneel said, ‘Anyway, listen to me. There’s nothing wrong with getting on good terms with this senior of yours.’
The carriage bumped along the road for nearly half a day.
The afternoon sun peeked through the carriage window, bringing a bit of dry heat.
Iza felt a bit thirsty. Just as he was about to lean over to grab his waterskin, an arm—somewhat slender but with distinct joints—holding a water bottle reached out in front of him first.
“Brother Iza… here, have some water.”
Iza’s movements froze. He was completely bewildered.
What was with this sense of déjà vu regarding this water-offering scene?
He looked up at the person offering the water; it was indeed that junior disciple, Swan, who seemed to possess a protagonist template.
At this moment, Swan’s pale cheeks were also flushed with an unnatural red.
He knew very well that he and Iza were not close, so such a gesture of goodwill was somewhat abrupt…
A young man’s blush outweighed everything…
Furthermore, because the carriage was small, the gazes of Brother Dio, Senior Sara, Senior Emma, and even his former fiancée, Rose, were all more or less falling on him and Iza. Those curious and scrutinizing looks made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.
He was not someone skilled at socializing to begin with, and he was quite thin-skinned.
Right now, he was so embarrassed that he wished he could find a hole to crawl into. He could only lower his head slightly and stare at the tips of his boots.
The young man’s cheeks, flushed purely from awkwardness and shyness, had a strange infectious quality at this moment. Iza was completely at a loss, frozen in place.
Since when had he become so well-acquainted with this junior disciple?
Why was the other party proactively offering water and calling him “Brother” so affectionately?
Most importantly, what was with the blushing?
Seeing this, Sara felt the atmosphere was a bit subtle. However, as someone who enjoyed seeing fellow disciples getting along, she smiled and spoke to break the deadlock.
“Brother Iza, Brother Swan is giving you water. Why aren’t you taking it?”
However, she also muttered to herself in her heart that her Junior Iza was… unexpectedly popular.
Iza snapped back to his senses and quickly took the water bottle, thanking him dryly. “Ah… thank you, Swan.”
Swan gave a low “Mhm” in response. He quickly withdrew his hand and sat up straight again, eyes forward as if nothing had just happened.
Only the still-red tips of his ears and his toes, which were practically curling inside his boots, betrayed the extreme lack of peace in his heart.
‘No matter what, this difficult first step has finally been taken,’ Swan said to himself.
And within this slightly awkward atmosphere, the carriage finally rolled slowly toward the border of the Betty family territory.
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