The room returned to silence again as Dravenson wondered internally how he had overlooked such an obvious flaw in his own conclusion, but...no matter how many times he retraced everything from Lumivale until now, he couldn’t find any answer.
From Atlas’s perspective however, he had already revealed the greatest trump card an Explorer could possess - their Unique Ability. If Dravenson continued questioning him beyond this point then it would no longer be clearing a misunderstanding, it would simply become prying into matters that had nothing to do with him, and that...would only lead to more questions or eventually a fight.
Thinking that, Dravenson let out a slow sigh before speaking, "Sigh, I apologise for my misconception and for making you reveal all these while my own conclusion was flawed to begin with, though you just explained your Unique Ability I should’ve accounted that instantly, seems age has gotten the better of me." He looked directly at Atlas as he apologized without hesitation. Even if he was a Noble and the Patriarch of the Rosaria Household, he knew very well that this time he had crossed the line first.
Atlas only nodded once before shifting his gaze toward Seraphiel. She looked at her father with slight surprise filling her eyes. This was the first time she had ever seen him apologize to someone in front of her.
Even though she understood it was because the fault truly belonged to him this time, it still felt strange. Throughout her entire life, the only person she had ever seen Dravenson apologize to was Her Majesty, yet today...he had apologized to Atlas without trying to preserve his dignity as a Noble.
Breaking the silence once again, Atlas looked at Seraphiel and asked, "You were asking why I wanted to sever the contract right, Lady Seraphiel?"
She dismissed the earlier thoughts for now and nodded lightly. "Yes, I did ask you that."
Atlas remained silent for a brief moment before replying, "It’s nothing more than a personal reason that doesn’t concern anyone else, including you. Though...before that, I have one question."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Why did you actually approach me after I obtained the Whirlstone?"
"It couldn’t have been simply because it was an Epic-rank Relic. There are countless Explorers who obtain Epic-rank Relics every year, yet you didn’t approach all of them...you approached me."
Seraphiel quietly listened until he finished speaking. Looking at him now, she couldn’t help but feel that he had changed. Back then in Lumivale he hadn’t questioned anything and simply accepted everything as coincidence, but now...he had started connecting events together and questioning the reasons behind them. It almost felt as though the Atlas sitting before her had become far more observant and mature within only a few days.
Even though she herself found that difficult to believe, she still answered honestly.
"It was actually the important matter I wanted to tell you from the very beginning, well...not completely, but this is one part of it."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"The Whirlstone cannot be obtained inside a Ruin through sheer luck alone. There are conditions that have to be fulfilled before it can even appear, and in your case...you unknowingly fulfilled those conditions."
She looked directly at Atlas.
"That alone proved you possess an unusually high compatibility with Relics." The moment she finished speaking, Atlas furrowed his brows.
"What?"
"A compatibility with Relics? And what are these conditions you’re talking about?"
He genuinely couldn’t understand what he had just heard. Until now, he had believed obtaining the Whirlstone was nothing more than fortunate luck during the Ruin exploration, but according to Seraphiel...that wasn’t the case at all.
"There are three conditions in total," Seraphiel explained calmly. "The last one is luck, though I don’t mean luck throughout your life. I mean the kind of luck specifically related to Relics."
She raised one finger, "The first condition is entering and clearing a Ruin alone. Most Explorers never attempt that because it is simply too dangerous, but...you did exactly that."
She then raised another finger, "The second condition is even more important. The Relic you obtain must be only the second Relic you have ever acquired in your entire life."
She looked directly at Atlas before finishing, "That condition is known only to a handful of Noble Households and the Royal Family, It was exactly because you fulfilled it that I approached you after seeing you obtain the Whirlstone inside the Lumivale Branch Guild."
Silence filled the room once again.
For the first time in quite a while, Atlas’s expression showed visible surprise.
As he quietly connected everything together, he finally understood why someone like Seraphiel would personally approach an ordinary Explorer back then. It was never because the Whirlstone itself was valuable. It was because anyone capable of fulfilling those hidden conditions possessed a far greater possibility of obtaining high-grade Relics in the future compared to ordinary Explorers or even experienced exploration parties.
Seeing Atlas remain silent while processing everything, Seraphiel spoke again before he could return to the topic of the contract.
"Before you explain why you want to sever the contract, I would like you to listen to the actual reason I wanted to meet you in the first place, Mr. Atlas."
As she spoke those words, the tension that had filled the room since the misunderstanding with her father finally eased a little. At least now, they were no longer arguing over suspicion or misconceptions, but speaking about the reason this meeting should have been held from the beginning.
Atlas remained quiet for several seconds before giving a small nod.
"Go on."
Atlas nodded and saw a faint smile appear on Seraphiel’s face before she spoke, "Whoever fulfills those conditions regarding the Whirlstone Relic...can enter a place hidden from the eyes of the rest of the world. I couldn’t tell you about it before because Father first had to report this matter to Her Majesty and receive her permission."
She paused for a brief moment before continuing, "That place holds opportunities that cannot be found anywhere else in Eliomor. If your goal is truly to become stronger, obtain even Divine-grade Relics and learn truths that ordinary Explorers will never know...then I think you should hear everything before deciding whether you still want to sever this contract."
The room became quiet once again.
Atlas did not answer immediately. Instead, every sentence Seraphiel had spoken replayed inside his mind one after another, ’A place hidden from the rest of the world?...Divine-grade Relics?!...and knowledge that even ordinary Explorers could never reach?’
His original intention of severing the contract did not disappear because of those words, but...for the first time since entering this Villa, he found a reason to postpone that decision as curiosity built inside him. If such a place truly existed, then leaving without hearing the full explanation would only mean throwing away an opportunity without understanding its value first.
Just then, Dravenson let out a helpless sigh from the side, "Sigh...you really revealed that, huh?"
Seraphiel puffed her cheeks slightly before answering, "Father! We already explained this same matter to the others who fulfilled those exact conditions in the past and had gotten the Whirlstone, Some of them refused to go, while others entered that place believing they were special and never came back. Don’t you think Mr. Atlas is different from them? He is already stronger than every one of those people combined."
Dravenson shifted his gaze toward Atlas before nodding slowly.
"That much is true, those fools were only A-ranks at best, but...he is already far beyond an ordinary S-rank, perhaps even beyond those special S-ranks."
Before the two could continue speaking, Atlas interrupted them, "Did you just say Divine-grade Relics?"
Both Seraphiel and Dravenson looked at him.
"Do those not exist only inside Eternal-class Ruins?" The question made both of them arch an eyebrow.
Seraphiel slowly shook her head before replying, "I don’t know how you came to know about Eternal-class Ruins, Mr. Atlas...but no, Divine-grade Relics do not exist only inside Eternal-class Ruins."
- - -
[A/N: Sorry guys, couldn’t do 5 Chapters, I got some assignments just a few minutes ago so, could stretch it to 4...Thanks for reading and supporting.
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