Chapter 382
CHAPTER 382
CHANGES
"Hey, brat!" Lino"s lips slowly curled up into a smile as a frown on his face mellowed . Looking up from a map on the desk, he turned slowly and saw Eggor standing on the other end of the room with a bottle of strange, crimson liquid and two gla.s.ses . He was still the same, Lino mused, unkempt as always . "You"ve really got no respect," Eggor said, slowly walking up . "Why do I have to hear about my own son getting engaged from the stranger"s lips? Huh?"
"Ha ha ha," Lino laughed freely as Eggor put down the bottle and the gla.s.ses . "Sorry, I just figured El" would have told you . Am I going to get one of the extra-rare Egus?"
" . . . Egus?" Eggor mumbled .
"Eggor hugs . "
"Ugh, you d.a.m.n brat, you"re still as hateful as always . " despite saying so, Eggor walked up slowly and hugged Lino tightly, as latter finally managed to wrap his arms around his back . "Congratulations . "
"Thanks . " Lino said . "I brought a good daughter-in-law, haven"t I?"
"Eh, I don"t know," Eggor said as the two sat down . "She"s got quite a tongue on her, just like you . I"m worried for my grandchildren . "
"As you should," Lino said, taking in a deep breath as Eggor slowly poured two gla.s.ses of the strange, crimson liquid . "What"s that?"
"It"s called ," Eggor replied, sliding over one gla.s.s . "I"ve saved a bottle for when my kid gets engaged . I was secretly hoping Cae would grow up and do it before you, but you can never suffer a loss, can you?"
"And miss out on one of your super-secret booze?" Lino chuckled . "Never . "
" . . . all the women are going nuts out there," Eggor said as the two clanked their gla.s.ses . "You"ve still got it . "
"I"ve never lost it," Lino grinned, taking a sip as a burning sensation washed over him, seemingly spiraling him into an infernal haze . "G.o.dd.a.m.n, this is good . . . "
"d.a.m.n right it"s good . This one bottle is worth more than this entire G.o.dd.a.m.n fortress . "
" . . . you"re s.h.i.+tting me?"
"Of course not," Eggor shrugged . "It"s been brewed over two billion years ago, and the recipe has long since been lost . There are only around forty bottles of this left, and once you open it, you have to drink it, otherwise, it goes bad within a day . "
" . . . tsk, cheep booze-makers and their s.h.i.+tty tactics," Lino sighed . "I swear, when I get some free time, I"ll start my own brewery and make the best alcohol in the world, and then sell it for dirt cheap . "
"And you"ve just won yourself the first regular customer . "
"As if . Mom would butcher you . "
" . . . she really would," he chuckled, playing with the gla.s.s . "Have you thought it fully through?"
" . . . no," Lino shook his head, glancing sideways, outside the window into the empty sky . "I"m not clever enough to do it . "
"Good," Eggor said . "Thinking has never been a strong suit for men in this family . We leave it to our gals . "
" . . . it"s all coming down at the seams," Lino said . "Slowly being peeled back . This . . . might be the last time we can sit and chat like this . "
" . . . what makes you say that?" Eggor asked .
"Before I leave," Lino said . "I . . . want to spend time like this . I missed it . "
" . . . drinking? Isn"t that what you do all the time?"
"Ha ha ha, I suppose so . Cae"s really growing up quickly . "
" . . . he is . " Eggor nodded .
" . . . I"m going to miss it all," Lino said, taking a sip . "It"s unfair . "
" . . . it"s not like you to get so depressed," Eggor said . "Are you getting it out of your system?"
" . . . recently, I"ve been thinking a lot about the days when I first started bugging your a.s.s . "
" . . . ha ha ha . . . "
"I miss "em, terribly," Lino sighed, lowering his head . "The innocence . . . naivety . . . ignorance . . . it"s ironic that greed is usually life"s greatest lesson . "
" . . . honestly?" Eggor mumbled, taking in a deep breath . "Both El" and I often regretted ever giving you a choice . If you had just stayed my apprentice, you wouldn"t have been left out of anything . "
" . . . I would have," Lino chuckled . "I"d have never met so many wonderful people, I"d have never heard so many beautiful stories . . . and . . . I"d have never married the woman of my dreams . "
" . . . I have a gut feeling you two would have met somehow, either way," Eggor said, taking a sip . "I was never much of a romantic--"
"--no s.h.i.+t . "
"Oi!" Lino chuckled faintly as Eggor hurdled his sandal at him . "But . . . there is something about you two . . . that makes people believe . "
" . . . how are you finding your life here?" Lino asked .
" . . . eh, I don"t complain . " Eggor said, taking in a deep breath . "I"ve got a lot of time to do anything I want . I actually managed to finally have a breakthrough in smithing recently . "
"Eh? You weren"t already at the far pinnacle?"
"Humph, as if, you stinky brat . "
"Ha ha ha . . . so? How far up are you?"
" . . . I"ve managed to craft a Primordial-tier item," Eggor said with a prideful smirk . "It"s of lesser quality, but it"s still Primordial-tier . Right now, stinky brat, you"re sitting in the presence of the only person in the entire world who can do it . So you better show some respect, humph!"
" . . . are you settling?" Lino suddenly grinned strangely .
"Settling?"
"I"m coming for your t.i.tle, old man," he chuckled strangely . "There"s still a whole tier to go above that . If you settle, I"ll undoubtedly surpa.s.s you one day . "
" . . . knowing how you can hold a grudge, you might actually do it just to spite me . "
"Of course I would . I"m a stinky brat, after all . "
" . . . then it"s only right," Eggor suddenly smiled warmly . "I"ll have all people who claimed my children would be farming beans eat their hearts out . "
" . . . tsk, talk about holding a grudge . "
" . . . what will you do now?" Eggor asked .
" . . . I don"t know," Lino sighed deeply, rubbing his temples . "So far in my life, things were much simpler . Now? Ah, I can finally understand why Kings go mad seemingly out of nowhere . There"s simply . . . too many things to keep an eye out for . And, as I said, I"m not terribly clever . "
" . . . n.o.body ever said it"s gon" be easy," Eggor commented . "But, I know you can do it . "
" . . . how do you know that?" Lino chuckled bitterly . "The only reason I"ve even come so far is because I"ve had all of you helping me . "
"Did we all suddenly disappear when I wasn"t looking?"
" . . . "
"You still have us, little brat," Eggor said . "We haven"t gone anywhere . "
" . . . no man"s an island indeed . " Lino chuckled, taking a sip . "One day . . . when it is all over . . . I"ll have a s.h.i.+tton of favors to repay . "
" . . . in some ways, you"ve grown a lot since you were that s.h.i.+tty brat," Eggor said suddenly, surprising Lino . "You"re far more patient, less hotheaded, more understanding, even wiser . You"ve learned how to see through the cracks, when to retreat when need be and when to advance . . . in some ways, you are like an entirely different person . "
" . . . and in other?"
"And in other . . . you haven"t changed at all," Eggor said . "You still think it"s your duty, and yours alone, to uphold the sky for the rest of us . You still believe it"s on your shoulders to guard us from it all . You still can"t with an easy heart ask us for help, and each time you do, you feel like you"re simply burdening us . I know . . . it"s not easy, Lino . To let go of the crutches of heart . It"s not easy to expel our demons . Trust me, I know . Even today, I sometimes wake up drenched in sweat, having dreamt of the distant past . And, each time I do, El"s right there, with tears in her eyes, apologizing, over and again . Truth is . . . " he took a sip, sighing lowly . "Some things . . . we never escape or expel . They stay with us till our graves . My past . . . will always haunt Ella and me . But, my love for her . . . will always overwhelm it . I know . . . that you will never be able to trust others completely . There will always be parts of your heart that are locked away perpetually from the rest of us . And, that"s fine . Have "em . But," he smiled, pouring Lino another gla.s.s . "You also have to realize that we see it . In your eyes . If you can"t trust the rest of us, at least trust what will be the mother of your kids . Let her in and let her see it all . Good and bad . n.o.ble and despicable . Honorable and otherwise . Else, you will forever remain a cripple, daunted by his own thoughts . "
" . . . I trust you," Lino said slowly, taking a sip and smiling . "I really do . I"ve trusted you since the day I began calling you my father . "
" . . . "
"But, I don"t trust myself," Lino sighed . "Not yet, at least . Because, each time I did, I was proven wrong . And, time and again, I was forced to pick up the shattered pieces and start anew . I can"t do that anymore, dad," he chuckled bitterly . "Rather, I"m well past the point of having the luxury of breaking down . If anything . . . anything at all . . . happened to you, or mom, or Lucky, or Hannah . . . I"d end up just like all the other Empyreans before me . Maddened, bloodied and crazed . I would genuinely carve out your names across the world from their corpses . "
" . . . G.o.dd.a.m.n, you creepy son of a b.i.t.c.h . . . " Eggor shuddered for a moment as he felt a cold chill . "f.u.c.king h.e.l.l, what do you mean carve out my name from their corpses . . . b.l.o.o.d.y f.u.c.king h.e.l.l . . . you and your weird G.o.dd.a.m.n thoughts . . . "
"Ha ha ha ha . . . " Lino laughed joyously as he slowly drank the fiery liquid, stirring his heart . He thought many things at that moment and felt just as many emotions, flas.h.i.+ng back through four decades of his life . It"s been a long journey, he mused inwardly, yet, all things considered, he didn"t hold all too many memories . Just a few, in the grand scope of things . Those that truly matter . Most of the forty years are but a blur or vast nothingness . He found it quite strange and fascinating, not remembering too many things . In a way, it made those moments he did remember even more special, and him even more pa.s.sionate about guarding them . All the way until the end .