VIP Chapter 450: The Day I Became the Head of the Family (3k)
Iaar never expected that after Will said those words, he would directly take her to the basement. He didn’t seem to mind returning to that place at all. It was just… When they reached the basement, the task Will ordered Iaar to do was—”Smash… smash this wall?!”
Iaar was extremely surprised. She widened her eyes and stared at the wall directly opposite them in the basement, a place they were both very familiar with.
“I can’t help it. Last time… uh… Shuna used a special method to bring me out from here.”
“So… you smashed this place to bring Dear out that time?!”
“It wasn’t smashing this place! Simply put, she got a very special weapon that allowed her to traverse shadows and even pass through walls…”
“Such a good thing? Fine, I lost! Hmph, hmph, hmph, hmph.”
Although they had agreed to let bygones be bygones, Iaar still seemed quite bothered by everything that had happened in the basement. She pouted and hit Will with her fist.
“Alright, alright, then aim here—”
“Come on! Big hammer eighty, small hammer forty—!”
“What is that thing?! My hammer strike is free!”
“Cough, cough, don’t mind it, don’t mind it. Always saying strange things, that’s more like me, isn’t it?”
“So it’s this place… it won’t collapse if I smash it, right?”
“No. Don’t worry. It’s definitely not a load-bearing wall, but rather one built to hide the space that still exists behind it…”
*Bang.*
Before he could finish speaking, Iaar, holding the hammer, smashed the wall. Perhaps it was due to Iaar’s great strength, but the entire room trembled with her strike, and a few specks of dust fell from the ceiling.
“Uh… it shouldn’t be a load-bearing wall… right…”
“It’s fine. Even if it collapses, I’m confident I can drag you out!” Iaar gave Will a thumbs-up and stuck out her tongue. “With time-stopping for half a minute, I can drag you out.”
“Using this ability here feels like a waste of talent.”
“But… this room, it looks like an Adventurer’s… hmm, an item room?”
Iaar poked her head into the room, crushing a few more bricks beside her. Will followed her gaze, the dust still thick. He brushed it off with his hand. Then, he saw the place that was his target.
“You could say that. It was originally the Adventurer’s logistics preparation room. Although it’s underground, and in the Hysterm Family’s underground at that… that’s a bit strange.”
“Is it because the Hysterm old mansion was actually where Carver moved in after he stopped engaging in Adventurer activities?”
“Eh? Iaar, you know about this too?”
“Hmph hmph. Actually, I know a lot more!” Iaar puffed out her ample chest. “When you were… when you were still the Young Master, you might not know, but the servants of the Hysterm Family liked to… liked to talk about your family’s affairs in private. Of course, they weren’t very willing to let you… know. They always talked when you weren’t around.”
“It’s not my family anymore. I was buried by the head of the family.”
Will corrected her very seriously. At least he didn’t have the surname “Hysterm” anymore—although he personally thought the surname sounded quite cool. Maybe he should change his surname to “Wei,” like in his previous life.
“Heh heh, that’s true. Will the Freelancer!”
“When did you start making up silly names like this?”
“I learned from you!”
Will walked in, and Iaar hopped along. Her curiosity about this secret room was no less than Will’s. This secret room, which Will and Shuna had visited before, indeed seemed to have no paper materials left on the surface. This secret room… was likely specially sealed by Carver when he built the basement. He didn’t want to destroy it, but he also didn’t plan to expose it. He even prepared for the potential exposure of secrets upon its discovery, so he removed all things containing information.
Will didn’t expect to find much in terms of paper materials either. But… if this was indeed a basement used by Carver, perhaps they could at least learn something about his fighting style, like the weapons he used and the dungeons he explored? There were too many “legends” about Carver, and too little solid evidence. In those stories, Carver’s combat methods varied widely, making it unreliable to deduce how he would fight based on the stories and legends about him.
“I’m speculating that Carver must have had some emotional attachment to the old Hysterm Family residence. Of course, his attachment might have been to my birth mother.”
“You mean, this was actually a secret room built by Carver and Will’s mother together?”
“Mm. The inscription on the table suggests so.” Will touched the mark carved on the table again; the person wearing glasses and the girl with braided hair next to them were very obvious hints. Will realized that he had never actually seen a photo of his birth mother. Not even a blurry one.
“I once… heard from the former servants of the Hysterm Family that they were childhood sweethearts. In the very beginning, because the Hysterm Family needed their children to go out and train, the two of them adventured together as a pair.”
Iaar wiped away the dust from the carving on the table and spoke slowly.
“Servants… alright, it seems they were unwilling to tell me such things.”
“After all, the Madam died during childbirth after giving birth to the Young Master. The story of Will’s mother and Carver seems to have been declared taboo for the entire Hysterm Family by Carver.”
“…I can understand.” —But I really want to hear it! Will sighed. He didn’t have such sensitive emotions towards his mother, whom he had never met. However, considering that the “Will Hysterm” in the original work was such a clownish and stereotypical villain, perhaps bringing it up would shatter his defenses and elicit a strong reaction? Therefore, the servants, who were “following the original plot,” did not bring these things up…
Thinking of this, Will discovered something very strange. He was reincarnated; the original young master didn’t exist from the start. He hadn’t been like this since he was a child. How did they foresee and act upon these things?
“It’s fine, neither of us are Hysterm Family members anymore. I don’t even want that surname, and this isn’t the Hysterm Family’s house anymore. You can speak freely, say whatever you want.”
“Okay! No problem!” Iaar said, giving a very obedient salute, her ears twitching. Will continued to search for relevant items, hoping to find some “paper materials” as proof within.
“At least, when it was just the two of them, their Adventurer lives could be described as mutually supportive…” Iaar began to speak slowly. “Everyone always thought they were a perfect match, a talented man and a beautiful woman.”
“…That’s not surprising at all.” Will sighed. He had to believe the self from a few months ago. Paper materials, especially “diaries,” which would immediately reveal their relationship, especially any that might expose Carver’s true thoughts, were nowhere to be found.
“However, at some point after they were married, Carver betrayed her.”
“…Hmm, this is…” Will’s hand stopped as he flipped to something. At the very bottom of the entire box lay a stack of small boxes, filled with a row of dried flowers laid horizontally. Although there were no “paper” materials, it seemed that some simple items and related records did exist. The dried flowers weren’t just air-dried; there seemed to be traces of magic involved. The colors on the flowers were likely achieved through magical reactions. It looked like the leftover results of a large chemical experiment.
“Aren’t you surprised? I thought this would be shocking. Yet you’re still searching so calmly.”
“Iaar, I know what you said. After all, Carver’s romantic history is more widely spread than his pure love story. Just, what was the time you mentioned?”
“In the rumors, it’s unclear. After all, they were already married by then, and Will’s mother was no longer participating in dungeon adventures.”
“Alright, I understand. It was July 8th, twenty-five years ago.”
“Eh? Why?”
“Take a look, this is the evidence I just found.” Will had never imagined he would deduce the time from this. Inside that small box… beneath each flower was a line of small text indicating the time, down to the year and day.
“This is a magical residue testing experiment that is no longer used. It calculates the time for a magical residue effect to fade based on the fading of the experimental paper, with a ten-day cycle. Advanced operations would solidify it like this, preserving the daily residue situation for deeper analysis.” Will had some recollection. However, this experiment later had better test strips and equipment, so this method of daily observation was no longer used. It’s just… the person conducting this experiment was exceptionally rigorous, recording the time of the experimental subject daily, without fail. Therefore, this person would absolutely not stop without reason, especially when stopping before “ten days” were up. Until… July 8th, twenty-five years ago, this special date. And this date, if Will remembered correctly…
“This date should also be… the day Carver became the head of the Hysterm Family.”
“…Eh?”
“Regardless, this is probably very useful information.” On the day Carver became the head of the family. He must have known something… something only the “Head of the Hysterm Family” would know. What sort of rift occurred that caused this record—whether it was his or that mother’s—to stop here.
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Leaving the Hysterm Family, Will and Iaar walked along the roadside. They were now slowly entering the city. Because Will’s identity had been exposed, it was best not to take a carriage, as he could easily be recognized.
“So, Will… as the former Young Master of the Hysterm Family, do you think… your mother and father truly loved each other? Was it really as Carver himself said, that he only realized it after she died…”
“I don’t know.” Will answered quickly, shaking his head. He didn’t dislike learning about an opponent’s “past,” but the more he learned, the more blurred his understanding of the person became. Yet, it was the first time.
“But, it’s okay. At least, I know…” Iaar slowly took Will’s hand, swinging his arm as they walked on the small path outside the Hysterm Family’s gate. “Unlike him, Will, you’ll always be by my side. Right?”
Just as she finished speaking, Iaar and Will heard a shout from behind them—
“Hey—Iaar! It’s Iaar, right?! It’s… it’s the Fire Dragon Killer—!”
