Three hours passed as Faust remained alone in the dirty room thinking about his life choices.
How do you tell someone you met a god and it was the worst fucking day of your life? Two lives?
There were no windows, only a few dirty chairs. He was seated on one of these chairs when he finally heard footsteps in the hallway outside. The door opened, filling the dark room with an abundance of light. Temporary blinding him.
A handsome man dressed in breeches and a silk house jacket stood at the entrance with a beautiful middle-aged woman in a long, elegant robe. The couple looked like they had walked out of a Victorian painting, especially with a lantern in the man’s hand.
He knew them; they were his parents. Well, only the father was blood-related; his mother was some unknown lowborn woman who had died giving birth to him.
He was a bastard in this noble house.
They exchanged a look, then the man coughed, "Faust, son, can you really speak?"
Ryan, known as Faust in this world, blinked twice. They had never treated him differently from their legitimate children other than some obvious societal norms. Like not letting him sit as equal before other noble guest children. Even in his vegetative state, they took care of him.
He suppressed the urge to push them aside and make a run for it and replied,
"Y.. Yes." His voice was strained, but he still managed to say it clearly.
The woman gasped, struggling to remain still; the man was taken aback as well. Encouraged by the display of favorable emotions, Faust added,
"I.. don’t know much, but I remember you two. Father? Mother?"
Their eyes widened. Faust could see they were glad to hear him, but there was also tension in the air. Lord Henric had his hand on the sheath of his sword; the lady’s eyes were sharp and full of caution. Her hands were held close to a satchel tied to her waist as if prepared to pull something out at a moment’s notice.
’They are.. afraid of me? Why?’
Hesitatingly, the Lord took a step forward, entering the room, and suddenly darkness returned. The lantern’s weird green flame had suddenly extinguished. Faust heard a rustle of noise, including the confused muttering of his parents. The footsteps scraped on the stone floor, and both adults slowly moved out of the room.
The lantern was lit again. They could all see each other. Faust had not moved an inch from his position, still seated in the chair with one leg atop the other, hands in his lap. The lady of the castle was holding some strange metal object that had glowing blue runes etched on it. The lord, on the other hand, had unsheathed his sword and held it upright between Faust and himself.
"What did you do?" The lady demanded.
Faust barely registered the words. His eyes were wide as buttons, staring at the sword. It was glowing bright blue, as if on fire.
Faust’s gaze returned to the tense faces of his parents, and he replied in confusion, "Nothing. I don’t know what is going on at all. How is your sword on fire?"
The couple exchanged a look, then slowly lowered their weapons.
As if by instinct, Lord Henric raised his arms a little and took a step forward. A few meters of the tip of the sword was now inside the room. And to all three of their shock, the blazing blue flame extinguished as if it never existed to begin with. The rest of the sword was still on fire; only the tip was fireless.
"For Admiration’s praise! What the hell is happening?" The lady exclaimed.
"I have no idea," The lord confessed, "But whenever I have been hit with something unexplainable.."
The lady finished the sentence with wide eyes, "—usually it’s a spirit user! Truly? Can it even be called a boon?"
Faust had no idea what the hell they were going on and on about. But one thing was clear: ’That old geezer is the biggest liar in two worlds! He said no isekai fantasy crap and then dropped me in a world of freaking magic!’
Before, he thought that in the worst-case scenario, he could just push these people aside and make a run for it. But now that option had to be discarded. Who knew what kind of weird magic they had? If he tried to resist in any way, he would be imprisoned again or, worse, beaten down.
Hopefully they won’t kill him until they figure out what was going on with him. Right?
"Faust, it may be confusing for you, but I need you to help us understand what is going on. Do you understand, son?"
Faust nodded.
The Lord continued, "You will have to do as I tell you until we check a few things, okay?"
"I don’t get it, but I will do as you say. Just don’t put me in a dirty, dark room again, please."
The lady finally showed a hint of pain on her pretty face as she looked around in the room illuminated by the lit lantern. The Lord looked a bit apologetic as well.
"They should have put him in his own room..." The lady murmured. Then took a deep breath and smiled at him,
"I’m sorry, honey. I will make sure you are treated well if you do as your father says."
Faust nodded, then flashed a genuine smile of relief at her. Her head jerked a little, surprise in her eyes.
They took him with them. He walked ahead following their directions, and they followed from a few paces behind. Out of the range of whatever this fire-absorbing thing was going on around him.
They placed him in a much nicer room this time and provided him with plenty of food and water. A dozen rough-looking guards still remained outside the closed door, but now he could ask for anything he needed through a maid waiting outside with the guard.
He felt dirty, so Faust took a bath. Warm water was carried inside, and a change of clothes was provided.
He felt relaxed enough on the comfortable bed to finally give his mind some well-deserved rest after enduring so much in a single day. Falling asleep.