90 What Did You Say?

"No! You can't hurt him!" Greyson finally started paying attention to what the group of people were saying.

"Riley, move out of the way! He destroyed my formation plate! You know how long I had to save up to buy that. If I don't kill him, what will happen to all those years of hard work!" The old man continued to shout angrily.

"No!"

"Why are you getting in our way?" Finally, the middle-aged man who was fighting Lucius walked over. He narrowed his eyes in thought looking over at Greyson then back at the young man, Riley. "Has your taste changed? He does not look like any goddess to me..."

Hearing those words, the young man coughed and sputtered in disbelief.

"What kind of man do you think I am? I am not calling HIM my goddess, I am talking about the girl who rescued me back when that group of enemy bandits chased me across the borders of the Beast Empire. You remembered me speaking about it, right?!"

"Of course, you would rave about that girl nonstop since you finally made your way back. We are also grateful for what she did since you know that we felt devastated thinking you died back then. What does she have to do with you trying to save this boy right now?" The muscular woman spoke up this time, clearly confused.

"He looks just like her! They must be related." He started saying. Now, it was Greyson's turn to feel confused. Who does he look like? Who are they talking about?

"Wait, what are you saying?" Greyson spoke up feeling disoriented. His hair turned back to white and his eyes were the original light purple. When Riley looked back over again, he realized the change and was now not as sure as before.

"I... I was trapped by a group of some of the enemy bandits in the area that wanted revenge for my friends beating them up. We have taken control of this area for a little while now, but there are tons of bandit groups everywhere because the law is rather lenient. I got caught in a revenge scheme and ended up running away into the Beast Empire, but I was severely wounded. I ended up fainting in unfamiliar woods, and, when I woke up, I came face to face with my goddess. After healing me, she silently left and I had no choice but to come back here. It was only a couple months ago, so her face is still fresh in my mind! I know I'm not mistaken. She looks a lot like you, really, I swear she does. Well... now I cannot be sure... But when you have that elf hair and those grey eyes you guys look so similar almost twins..." By the end, he started trailing off as he was no longer completely sure. The features still looked extremely similar, only, the boy in front of him did not seem to be an elf like his savior. However, then, what was that change earlier? Unaware of the whole story, he could not seem to understand what just happened. His body just automatically reacted earlier when he saw that face. As his life's savior, he etched her features in his mind completely.

"A girl? Who looks like me? Elf hair... Grey eyes?" Greyson could only take all that information in and start making his own deductions. However, the more he thought about it, the more excited he became. There were only two siblings who ended up looking like his mother. None of his brothers inherited the elf bloodline, only two of his older sisters did: his second sister and his sixth sister. This young man said they looked similar and that they met recently. His second sister was around 10 years older than him. Although those with the elf bloodline age slowly, she should not still look similar to him especially since she was not a full elf. By this time, she should at least look like a mature young woman past her twenties, but Greyson was still fourteen. He had yet to grow into fully mature features. He had a feeling, that if this young man is correct, then he must have met his sixth sister in the Beast Empire! Eden told him that his sixth sister was only two years older than him, only he was not aware of much else about her other than her age. Thinking of the prospect of meeting more of his family, Greyson felt ecstatic about such a happy coincidence.

"Where did you see her?!" Quickly trying to get up and approach the young man, Greyson ended up faltering and falling back down. It was only then he finally felt his left thigh bleeding out from the earlier dagger attack. Hissing in pain, he removed the dagger and began to heal himself with his light magic.

"Are you alright?" Riley approached quickly with worry obviously spread across his features. Even though he was not completely sure of the boy's identity, he could not help but worry when he saw that face.

Seeing his wound quickly close up, Greyson turned his attention back to the young man. "I'm fine, but where did you see that girl? Are you sure she looks like me? How old did she look? Do you have a picture?" Easily dismissing his injuries from his mind, Greyson bombarded the young man with questions. He felt anxious to find more of his family, and he knew that Eden has also been hoping to find more of her family again. If she was not forced to stick with the Argentum family, she probably would have already left and gone searching for them. Apparently, they did all have specific places they were supposed to go to, but it was unsure who made actually made it to those locations. Eden guessed that she, their sixth sister, and him probably were the worst off of the siblings since their guards and personal powers had yet to grow. His oldest brother was already thirteen when the kingdom fell and Eden claimed that he was an advanced level stage three magician at that point. Eden had only just started learning magic at that point and his sixth sister did not learn any while he was literally born on that day.

"I... I'm not sure, you didn't look like this earlier, but just going off your facial features and structure, you really do look like her." Closely examining Greyson's face, the young man was even more sure. Although the hair and eye color were different, their faces were still extremely similar. This person in front of him was clearly a boy, however, and he knew his goddess was a girl. As he was still deep in thought, Riley suddenly realized that the hair and eyes of the boy in front of him changed again. He saw beautiful grey eyes and shining platinum silver hair. In a daze, he could feel his heart stopping seeing such a familiar face.

"I look more like her now?" Greyson asked, but he could see that the young man in front of him was stuck daydreaming. Frowning, he could not help but feel uncomfortable seeing such a starstruck gaze directed towards him. Clearing his throat slightly, he asked again. "Well?"

"Huh?... Oh! Yes! You look exactly like her!"

Nodding his head after Riley's confirmation, Greyson allowed his dragon bloodline to dominate once again. He realized that if he let one bloodline take the lead, his features and personality would change along with them. Like now, his muscles grew more defined and his body's stature was a little taller even this inexplicable urge for bloodshed and violence awoke within him. His dragon bloodline was much more brutal and instinctive than his normal personality. While his elf bloodline slimmed his body and made his features seem more effeminate and he felt inner peace that felt slightly cold and apathetic like everything mattered less to him somehow. The more the bloodlines fought within him, the more emotionally and physically unstable he became. With even his emotions and normal attitude getting affected, Greyson worried about somehow losing parts of his original self.

By now, the fighting completely stopped and the three other bandits felt speechless. Even Lucius and Halcrem could not believe what was happening. Greyson and Riley got sucked into their own world as they spoke and completely forgot about the rest of the people who could only awkwardly stand around.

"Hm... Looks like that boy might really be related to Riley's savior. How about it, old man? Still want your revenge?" The middle-aged man seemed to believe in Riley's words so he looked over to the old man in black since he was the one with the largest grudge. Both the middle-aged man and the woman could not care less whether they all continued fighting or not. There were tons of caravans to steal from, it did not have to be from this one specifically.

"Ugh... I... guess I could let it go." Highly disgruntled, the old man still managed to spit out those words through his gritted teeth. No matter what anyone says about bandits, this group always cared for each other like family, so he knew when to feel gratitude towards his family member's savior. Even if this boy was completely unrelated to her, he did not want to take the chance since Riley seems so certain that this person looks just like her. With his extreme infatuation with that girl, how could he be mistaken? Therefore, he decided to swallow his unhappiness. Another formation plate could always be bought...

"Oh? Did you hear that, darling? Big sister no longer has to fight with you. Why don't we have some fun another way?" Hearing the old man was willing to let things go, the muscular woman smiled happily as she quickly looked over at Halcrem. After she finished speaking, she winked coquettishly and licked her lips while she was practically feeling him up with her eyes. Disgusted, Halcrem could feel the nausea building up within him.

"Bahahaha, listen to what the beautiful woman says, Halcrem! I, personally, feel that you two were meant to be. A real match made in heaven." Laughing obnoxiously, Lucius could not help but poke fun at Halcrem's plight. Clenching his jaw, Halcrem shot Lucius a glare. Suddenly, he sincerely sympathized with his benefactor. No wonder he always wants to beat up this cat. Even he could feel his hand aching to just punch that sarcastic looking face that always spoke so hatefully.

...

While the others started talking normally, Greyson instead continued interrogating Riley for answers. However, he was quick to realize that this young man really did not know much of anything. This mysterious girl treated his injuries in a makeshift house, but the minute she felt that he recovered enough, she silently left without a word. For the entire time they were together, she also spoke only a couple words in total and it was usually some kind of command during treatment. Riley said she was a very cold girl who came off unfeeling and unsocial. In contrast to her outer appearance, though, she still rescued a stranger and treated him so Riley always believed that she was a soft-hearted and kind individual on the inside. Nodding, Greyson listened closely to Riley raving about his so-called goddess. As happy as he was to hear news about someone who could potentially be his family, he also felt completely frustrated that he would probably have an extremely hard time finding her. How large was the Beast Empire? Who could be sure that she would stay there, either? She might have just been passing through the empire on business.

Sighing, he felt he should be happy to have any news in the first place. Maybe fate would bring them together and he would not even have to search. Technically, he still ended up meeting Eden even though they started so far apart. Life ended up bringing him right near the Argentum family even though there were thousands of other routes he could have taken.

"I am not sure if the person you are speaking of is really my relative. My family ended up splitting up to different parts of the continent when I was very young so I am not completely sure what my family members look like. However, the person you described does somewhat match with my sixth sister especially since she looks like me. She could also be a complete stranger to me, though. Are you sure you want to shield me?" Greyson did in fact feel touched by this bandit who decided to protect him, someone that could only be suspected to have relations with his savior, so he did not end up lying. In a way, Riley did save his life since that old man was going to kill Greyson while he was incapacitated by his bloodline issues. Plus, he was not worried about this group anyways even if they decided to attack anyways. They were not powerful enough to kill him and his friends, it was more accurate to say they were evenly matched.

"Ah, well, to be honest, I just cannot bring myself to watch someone hit a face that looks so much like hers. I guess you could say that you are lucky you look so similar and maybe I am just unlucky that today's target would look so much like my goddess. Guess this just means I will have to work hard to find another big catch..." Taking one last look at Greyson's face, the young man just sighed and began walking away.

Seeing Riley leave, the rest of the bandits followed suit. The muscular woman did not forget to wink and blow one last kiss in Halcrem's direction. Feeling a cold shiver down his spine, Halcrem quickly looked away and walked over to check on Greyson's condition.

"Benefactor, are you alright?"

"Mm. I am fine. These wounds healed quickly."

"Do you really think that he met your sister?" Lucius also walked over and asked.

"I really cannot be sure. There are tons of coincidences in this world, maybe she just looks like me. But I would like to believe that it is my sister. Hopefully we will run into her in the Beast Empire, that way I be sure."

"Benefactor, I could ask around for you if you want once we are back in the Beast Empire. I feel like anyone with her looks and race would be rare. Though, I am not sure if it will yield results or not. The empire is just too big for everyone to know everyone. There are tons of beasts and even other races who live in seclusion in the uninhabited places around the empire."

"I understand. I will leave it up to fate if I can meet her. I won't try to force the issue, though, I have tons of things to do and places to see and I cannot wait around in the Beast Empire forever. My biggest goal will be to buy the Calming Fruit and quickly break through to the magister level. The bloodline conflict is getting worse as time goes on. I need a solution soon or else I will be completely vulnerable like before at random moments."