Chapter 189: Gloom
Miguel had noticed the inefficiency of going down every time they wanted to eat as well.
Although Maras Tavern was not very far from the villa, it would still take time for them to come and go every time, a time that they could spend doing something else.
Maras thought for a moment and realized that Elder Journey surely had something he did not want the public to know. Each person has their own kind of secret, including him, so he understood Elder Journey’s reason and his unwillingness to hire a maid or servant for the time being.
Looking at the two beasts in the form of gorgeous women by his side and the unusual intimacy between the three of them, everyone could guess what kind of relationship they have.
Maras only shook his head, though. He knew that he was in no position to judge.
Besides, something like this was not uncommon either.
In truth, Journey’s case was not that out of line, as his two beasts indeed resemble humans a lot.
Maras even knew of some mercenaries who do those things to their beasts that don’t have any resemblance to humans at all.
It was fucked up, and everyone knew it. However, there was nothing they could do about it. There was no such thing as a law prohibiting summoners from having a relationship with their beast at all, no matter what form they may have.
With Journey’s relationship with his two beasts, Maras could understand why he did not want a maid or a servant in his enormous villa.
After thinking about it, Maras decided to present another idea.
His intentions were pure, and he just wanted to make Journey’s life and time easier.
"Then, Elder Journey, how about we just deliver the food you want to your doorstep every time? For that, we can simply hire mercenaries to deliver your food, as me and the staff here are quite busy, especially during peak hours. If it’s the mercenaries, they’ll surely do it for some spare change," Maras suggested.
Miguel looked at Maras deeply. After observing for a bit, he realized that he truly just wanted to help him and had no ulterior motives. This must be his way of showing appreciation for solving the illness that he had been infected with before.
After thinking about it, Miguel decided to agree to such an arrangement.
However, he said that it would only begin a few days after school started once again, as he knew that he would be a little busy during that time.
At that time, Miguel also suggested, in return, that they agree to a contract so that one would not be able to exploit the other.
Maras was silent for a little bit, as he actually planned to just give them free meals every day, but after hearing Journey’s plans, he could only agree and not dwell on them anymore.
He still planned on repaying the huge favor one way or another, though.
...
In the basement, Miguel took off his mask along with Aaliyah and Edith as he used the [Concealment Barrier] before finally turning toward Aaliyah and asking, "So? What did you discover?"
Aaliyah shook her head with a gloomy expression on her face.
She smiled wryly and said, "It’s more like what I did not discover instead of what I’ve discovered."
"What do you mean?" Edith asked curiously.
This was the first time that she had seen Aaliyah produce such a gloomy and dark expression. Although she has a cold personality and doesn’t smile frequently, this was still another level of gloom that she did not like.
Aaliyah released a deep sigh. "All information about me and some of my friends is nowhere to be found."
Hearing that, Miguel merely nodded his head. In truth, he already had such a guess after interacting with Erika a few days before.
According to Aaliyah, she was one of the many high-ranking members of the Red Family before her death.
If that were the case, Erika, as a genius of the Red Family, should have known someone as important as Aaliyah.
However, not only did Erika not know of anyone named Aaliyah, she doesn’t even seem to know that there was an elder of such a name before in the family.
At that point, Miguel had two guesses.
His first guess was that the time that Aaliyah previously lived was actually much further than what they initially guessed. She might have existed way back thousands, or even tens of thousands, years ago, and hence, the information about her was gradually lost in time, leading to the current situation where the members of the Red Family no longer knew of her existence back then.
And if that were not the case, then it could mean that the information about her was erased forcefully by some unknown force or person.
Considering that she still has a hidden enemy lurking in the dark in the Red Family, Miguel was more inclined to believe the possibility of the latter.
According to Aaliyah, the Meven Empire was not the empire that she had grown up in and served in during her time as well.
From the information that he read in one of the books, Miguel also learned that the Meven Empire has only been around for exactly 350 years.
For mortals, this might be a long time, but for strong individuals, such a long time was but a mere blink of an eye.
Even an empire could change in a few years without prior notice. For the Meven Empire to reign for a long period of time shows their capability and power.
Now that the information about Aaliyah was lost, they could no longer tell how much time had passed since her passing.
The age of their enemy was unknown, and they could not gauge their ability through it.
Once again, they were thrown into the dark, with little to no information on who they were going to face.
For such a reason, Aaliyah felt dispirited and gloomy.
She recalled how they were played like fools before by their adversary, destroying the strongest of all the trusted clans of the empire from within without anyone knowing.