It had been about thirty minutes since Vars and Erwin had started talking. Itoî and Uyan were still spying behind the door, where their brother and grandfather had turned invisible.
"Come oooon, already... When are they gonna stop talking?" Itoî said, growing impatient.
"I don't know. I can't take this waiting anymore," Uyan replied, sitting cross-legged on the floor.
Kaelle was resting in the living room. She had cast a small utility spell to do the dishes for her. This kind of spell was usually learned at the elementary academy; it automatically performed small manual tasks. However, the user continuously lost mana during the process, which could quickly become exhausting.
Kaelle sighed and walked to the front door. She placed her hands on her hips, looking annoyed.
"Are you two going to keep spying much longer? Go do something else. If Grandpa cast a spell to prevent us from hearing the conversation, there's a reason."
"Yeah, but still... I still want to know," Uyan replied.
"Yeah, the little redhead is right!" Itoî added.
"Stop calling me that!" Uyan snapped.
The two boys started bickering. Suddenly, their grandfather appeared, followed by Vars. The old man stretched and took a few steps. Vars, on the other hand, looked much more tense. His hands were shaking and his face was drawn. It was the first time the others had seen him like this.
A few seconds of silence settled in, then Itoî threw the door wide open.
Fuck, what is he doing? We're gonna get yelled at!
Itoî ran over to Vars and asked with a smile:
"So? So? What did you talk about?"
Vars didn't answer. He lowered his eyes for a few seconds.
"What's wrong, Big Bro?" Itoî asked, worried.
His grandfather walked over, placed a hand on Vars's shoulder and the other on Itoî's.
"Come on, come on, Itoî. That only concerns Vars. However, we are indeed going to discuss a few things with the whole family," Erwin said with a smile.
Vars raised his head slightly and asked:
"Does this concern the WOJ member's visit yesterday? Can we tell them?"
Erwin nodded.
"Yes. They at least have the right to know that much," he replied before heading back inside.
Kaelle greeted him and Uyan did the same.
"Hey, Grandpa. Did it go well?" Uyan asked.
Erwin laughed.
"Yes, you little rascal, it went well. But you won't get any details about the discussion!"
"Are you going to sleep, Grandpa?" Kaelle asked, seeing her grandfather head toward his bedroom.
"No. Kaelle, could you grab the kitchen chairs and bring them outside? We're all going to have a talk. I'll go get the folding table I stored in the cellar."
Kaelle nodded and got to work. The kitchen was spotless thanks to her cleaning spell, by the way.
Uyan thought, watching his grandfather head to his bedroom:
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A cellar? Where? Under his room? I never noticed. I should probably go take a look.
Erwin entered his bedroom and closed the door. Uyan rushed over to it. The sound of a key clicking echoed.
Click!
"Grandpa! Why are you locking the door?!" Uyan cried, annoyed.
"You're far too curious, Uyan. Far too curious! Hahaha!" he replied cheerfully.
Damn it, this is pissing me off. I'm sure that cellar has information in it. I really need to find a way in there someday.
Kaelle started bringing the chairs out, then looked in her little brother's direction.
"Uyan, please grab some glasses. Grandpa will bring the table out soon; might as well get something to drink too."
The boy gave a slight nod and headed to the kitchen. Meanwhile, their grandfather came out with a relatively large folding table. He closed his bedroom door and left the house, whistling.
Uyan grimaced, annoyed.
Pfft, Grandpa never lets his guard down. To think that at first, he used to let me in quietly. That means the entrance is either invisible, protected by a spell, or something else. Or maybe it's something totally obvious, like a trapdoor under the bed, but that would surprise me coming from him.
"Boys, come on! Grandpa wants to talk to us!" Kaelle called from outside.
Erwin unfolded the wooden table, and Uyan helped his sister set up the chairs. The boy went back inside to get drinks. He came back with a large pitcher of water, then went to grab another one filled with grape juice.
Everyone sat down. A brief silence settled in. The sun was pleasant, and birdsong echoed softly.
Erwin took a deep breath. Meanwhile, Kaelle poured him a glass of water, and the old man said:
"I received a rather particular visit yesterday, boys, while you were away. Neither Kaelle nor Uyan know the reason this person came. So we're going to discuss the reason for his visit and, more briefly, his organization: the Wave of Justice, or more commonly, the WOJ."
The WOJ... I wonder what that is...
Vars seemed hesitant to talk about this subject, but he couldn't say anything. After all, his grandfather had already revealed the existence of this organization and the visit of the mysterious man called Holite.
Itoî and Uyan's eyes lit up at the idea of finally satisfying their curiosity. Itoî eagerly asked the first question, raising his arm with enthusiasm.
"Grandpa! Grandpa! I have a question, then. What's the WOJ?"
The man smiled before starting to speak.
"Wave of Justice is the organization that Holite, the man who came to speak with me last night, is part of. It's a gathering of mages, fighters, sorcerers, and anyone skilled in a field related, directly or indirectly, to military operations, close combat, ranged combat, among other things. They intervene in major crisis situations, all over the world, but only when a request is made."
Itoî's eyes lit up. For the first time, he seemed interested in something other than becoming a supreme mage.
Uyan stood up from his chair, eyes wide. He was intrigued too, but for a different reason.
"G-Grandpa, y-you say they only intervene when a request is made. So... Is that one of the reasons why nobody intervened in Nothran?"
Erwin closed his eyes and sighed, then gave a slight nod.
"Yes. But mostly because the king of Nothran absolutely didn't want the WOJ to intervene. I'm not talking about the incident itself: after all, he lost his life in it."
Everyone stood up, except Vars, and exclaimed:
"The king is dead?!"
"Yes. The entire palace was burned down. You should know that originally, the WOJ was attached to Suuran and its royalty, before gradually separating from it. Because of this, Tribulio, the king who just died, had a prejudice against them. Tensions between Nothran and Suuran had supposedly eased, but it seems the king continued to harbor a misplaced grudge."
Uyan sat back down. He seemed rattled by the amount of information he'd just learned. Itoî, on the other hand, seemed relatively calm; he'd probably only listened to half the explanations, as usual.
"And the mister called Hoplite—"
"Holite, Itoî," Uyan corrected.
"Yeah, right. Is he a leader of the WOJ?" Itoî asked.
Erwin shook his head slightly.
"No. However, I have certain ties with the WOJ. I don't work for them, but let's say I can sometimes serve as an external advisor."
He sighed, a bit tired, and took a sip from his glass.
"And? Get to the point?" Uyan asked.
"Yes, I'm getting there. He came to check on me because, in the hours following the event in Nothran, the information reached them. The WOJ naturally has ears everywhere, especially on Pathran, our continent, which only has two 'major' countries: Suuran and Nothran. They're based not far from here, on an island southwest of Suuran."
Itoî slammed his fists on the table and screamed:
"Fuck! They could have saved Mom! And everyone in the capital!"
Erwin gestured for Itoî to sit down.
"Calm down, my child. You know, deep down, that an organization can't just intervene like that, especially when the country itself refuses its help."
Uyan lowered his eyes and asked in a very quiet, trembling voice:
"Let's get to the point. I imagine that if the capital was attacked, then..."
Kaelle cried and quickly brought her hands to her face. Vars still had that troubled, sad look; he just kept staring at the table, head down.
Itoî looked at them with confusion, which was starting to irritate him.
"Fuck! What's wrong with you guys? Answer me! Damn it!"
Erwin placed an open envelope on the table, with a letter on top. On the letter sat a jaw fragment with three teeth.
All eyes locked onto it.
"Your father, kids... It's confirmed. He's no longer of this world," Erwin said, placing a hand on his forehead and biting his lips with rage.