Bad News

"Uncle Anrui, what is it?"

Linsey and Anna came to the second floor of the manor and pushed open the door.

Anrui was sitting in his study.

At that moment, the Lord faced the door with his back against the chair, one hand supporting his head and his eyes closed. Even the wind blowing in through the window behind him could not smooth out his tightly furrowed brow.

The Lord seemed to be pondering something that troubled him greatly.

Even Linsey's question failed to pull him from his thoughts.

Something was very wrong.

Anrui was usually straightforward and decisive. If something was on his mind, he preferred to go directly to the clearing by the woods and talk face-to-face, rather than summon someone to his second-floor study and sit there agonizing over it. "Dad?"

Anna stepped forward and knocked on the fir wood desk.

"We're here. What exactly is it?"

"..."

Called by his daughter, Anrui opened his eyes.

But he still did not explain himself immediately.

He removed his hand from beneath his chin and clasped both hands together, assuming a posture that even he found awkward.

At last, Anrui's conflicted gaze fell on Linsey.

"Linsey, I heard that Teacher Finn asked you to find Red Moon the day before yesterday and obtain the Merchant's Essence Cultivation Method?"

Linsey nodded.

"That's right. Is there a problem with that?"

Anrui shook his head first, then nodded again.

"Of course there's no problem with it. What I mean is, do you really understand the Merchant's Essence Cultivation Method?"

A sense of dread rose in Linsey's heart.

Anrui's unusual hesitation, and the roundabout way he spoke even about a single matter, both hinted that this was no ordinary situation.

"Godmother explained the Merchant's Source Material to me." Linsey spoke directly, hoping to learn the truth. "Uncle Anrui, just say what you need to say. Why be so awkward about it?"

"..."

Anrui turned to look out the window, then glanced at the sparse bookshelves in the study.

Then he made up his mind and spoke to Linsey.

"I already know about Finn as well."

"Birth, aging, sickness, and death are part of life. I understand that."

"But you need to know that for an Awakened who has lived for decades, even if the Essence they cultivated is not Life Source Material like ours, after so many years, that power is still closely tied to their body. If someone already near death suddenly extracts their Essence..."

"!"

Hearing this, Linsey's vision instantly went dark.

He already understood what Anrui was trying to say, but a faint hope still remained in his heart.

"I... Sorry, Uncle Anrui. I need to go there first. Excuse me!"

As soon as he spoke.

Linsey could not spare a thought for proper farewells.

He turned and ran from the study, leaving Anrui's Lord's Manor in the blink of an eye.

Anna looked at her father, her voice trembling with anxiety.

"Father, what happened to Grandpa Finn?"

It was easier for Anrui to explain to Anna instead.

He let out a breath and explained in a sorrowful voice, "Finn obtained the Merchant's Essence Cultivation Method the day before yesterday. So he tried it yesterday, and by that evening..."

Meanwhile, Linsey raced through the town.

Familiar Villagers greeted him as usual, but Linsey had no time to respond and only kept his head down as he rushed onward.

The town's scenery flew past on both sides of his vision.

But all he could see was the southern part of town, where Finn lived.

With his human-limit speed of 12 points, Linsey streaked across the ground like a gust of wind.

Yet the route that usually passed in an instant.

Felt agonizingly slow today, even as he ran faster than ever, as though time itself had been stretched out.

After an unknown amount of time.

Linsey arrived at Finn's cabin.

He braced both hands on his knees. Though more than half his stamina bar remained, he still gasped for breath.

His gaze fell upon the familiar wooden cabin before him.

Time seemed to freeze.

The small wooden door was tightly shut. From the outside, everything looked the same as usual; even the leaves on the Vines along the walls had not fallen away completely.

But having reached this place, Linsey found it even harder to take another step.

It took him a full five minutes to walk from the yard's fence to the cabin door, then he raised his hand and knocked.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Teacher, are you home?"

Linsey asked carefully.

Amid his anxiety and unease, he waited for several seconds. Then a low female voice sounded from inside.

"Linsey, come in."

—It was Red Moon.

Linsey's Godmother, the Nun of the School of Death.

Normally, Linsey would never dislike the sound of his Godmother's voice.

But hearing Red Moon's reply now made his heart sink. He would rather it had been another voice.

Red Moon appearing here on her own could mean only one thing—death.

Linsey raised his hand and tremblingly pushed open the door.

He saw Red Moon sitting bent forward in a chair in the front room.

And Finn, who should have been sitting there taking a nap as usual, now lay on the bed beside Red Moon.

"..."

Linsey numbly walked up to Red Moon and looked at Finn lying peacefully on the bed. "Teacher Finn, he..."

Red Moon spoke in the same calm, even tone. "He has already left."

Linsey stepped forward and grasped Finn's hand.

The botany teacher's large, rough hands had already lost their warmth.

Linsey lowered his head and buried his face in those cold hands.

His mind was in turmoil and he did not know what to do. At the same time, countless memories surfaced.

Finn's guidance, the delighted expression he had shown after discovering how quickly Linsey learned languages, his earnest seriousness when dealing with matters related to life, and his cautious attention to crops at all times.

All the little moments of daily life came together now, forming Finn's image in Linsey's heart.

Then, despite himself, he thought—

If he had not immediately given the Merchant's Essence Cultivation Method to Finn, could the old man have lived a little longer? Linsey knew this had been Finn's choice.

But he still could not help blaming himself.

For three years, Linsey had assisted Red Moon with burial rites for many people. He had thought he could face death calmly.

But now, when his familiar teacher had passed away.

He realized he had been terribly wrong.

Just as Linsey's thoughts fell into chaos and he became completely lost, even memories of Anville and his family beginning to surface before his eyes.

A warm hand stroked his back. "Finn told me many things."

"Linsey, he was very grateful for your appearance, and very happy that you were willing to learn his knowledge."

"Finn also specifically asked me to pass on a message: death was his own choice. Do not feel guilty or blame yourself because of it."

"..."

Linsey's body began to tremble with sobs, but he made no sound.

Red Moon did not say anything more.

Godmother simply soothed Linsey's grief with calm gentleness.

Only after Linsey wiped away his tears and stood again did Red Moon speak once more. "He said he left something for you. It's in the Glass Greenhouse out back."

"Linsey, go take a look."

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