Grey sputtered awake, a bucket of cold water falling on him from overhead. Water went down the wrong pipe and he started hacking and wheezing over the side of a bed he had no recollection of ever getting in.
The jerky movements made his body groan in protest. It didnāt want him to be moving at all right now, and he had to say that he agreed with it.
"What the fuck?!"
Grey realized a little late that someone would have had to drench him just now. Couldnāt they see he was injured? They should have just slit his throat instead and put him out of his misery.
When he saw that it was actually Edmun, he was left more than speechless.
"What the hell kind of master are you? And where the hell am I?"
Grey looked around to find himself in a room with plain brown walls that looked mudded on. The "bed" he was in was more like a cot with bed sheets. It was as hard as the ground, and yet oddly enough the water soaked duvet was as soft as clouds.
He didnāt understand the point of the dichotomy. It felt like the person had spent all their money on the duvet and then ran out when it came time for that actually important part of, you know... a bedāthe bed itself.
"Your actions have basically co-signed my death. As far as Iām concerned, Iām letting you off easy." Edmun said with a hint of gloominess in his tone.
"At least let me wake up naturally first you old codgerāFUCK Iām turning British again."
Edmun gave him a weird look. Clearly, he had no idea what "turning British" meant. He just dismissed it as ridiculous childish slang and then moved on.
"This is what happens when people donāt get proper rest." Grey grumbled, clearly not too pleased.
"If I let you sleep any longer, we would all be dead."
"Oh merry day." Grey said, then cursed again. At this point, he thought his brain was doing it on purpose.
Did he have a complete caricature of a British person in his mind? Yes. Were they perpetually stuck in the 1850ās? Also yes.
Did he feel bad about it?
Absolutely not.
At least the province he was raised in was far enough from Quebec that he wouldnāt accidentally start speaking in French too.
"Iām being serious, Grey." Edmun said, his voice turning stern. "Youāve really fucked us all. Terranās family have already sent in a projection. Luckily, the only one who can receive it is still in seclusion, but that just means they will try a more tedious, but nonetheless effective method. There will likely be an envoy that arrives within three days.
"You need to be in the Holy Knight Trial by then, and you need to be prepared to perform well, or else youāve doomed the entire city to a complete wipeout."
Grey yawned. "You want me to enter the trial within three days and your idea was to wake me up instead of letting me rest? Are we serious, old mā."
Edmun stuffed something into Greyās mouth that made him feel like his tongue was on fire and his stomach was bursting at the seams.
The feeling spread through his body before it suddenly disappeared. Then Grey went back to feeling like shit.
"What the fuck was that?"
Edmun frowned. "Thatās the seventh one Iāve given you and itās still not effective."
"Hello?" Grey waved a hand.
"That was the highest class healing elixir we have and itās useless on you for some reason. Itās practically bankrupted the Church."
"Sounds like the church is poor. Couldnāt be me."
"Each one costs the same as a Rare Vanguard Class item."
Grey grimaced and nodded, looking at the man sympathetically.
"Well, when you put it like that..."
"If you were my grandson Iād slap you upside the back of the head."
"Letās not do that. My temper isnāt the best as you can see."
"Shut up and listen. Not everything needs a rebuttal."
"I beg to differ."
Edmun looked genuinely aggravated and Grey could only shake with laughter.
"Listen, old man. Regardless of the consequences, I was killing that bastard. Donāt expect me to apologize to you or feel sorry about it. If his piece of shit family is willing to massacre an entire city despite kicking him out of it, it just means whatever he did to deserve losing his cushy seats and gold-tipped shit box was even worse than I thought."
Edmunās eyes twitched, his face going red.
"You... you..."
His finger trembled as he pointed at Grey, but he couldnāt even find the words to say. He felt like this child was going to be the end of him.
Maybe he should have never had a disciple in the first place, what the hell was he thinking?
Edmun took a breath and closed his eyes. After a long while, he opened them, forcing himself to remain calm.
"What do you know about whatās happened to your body? Iāve never seen something like this."
"I donāt know. Baron Giyoto made me go to an Instance to clear it, I did, and then this Cyber Warp slapped itself onto my chest of its own accord and now Iām a fat fuck. But it feels like Iām wearing a fat suit, almost like the fat isnāt mine.
"Itās like I can use the energy from it and yet canāt at the same time. I feel so low energy right now, and Iām fucking starving, but nothing I do quite taps into the power properly."
"This is a Frame?" Edmunās eyes widened.
"Uh... yes?"
The realization shook Edmun to his very core. "Is it... is it called... Bu... Bu..."
"Mark of the Buddha?" Grey asked. "Yes, yes it is."
Edmunās pupils constricted into pinholes and then he started laughing. He started laughing so uproariously that Greyās eardrums burst and he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
"YOU HAVE A FUCKING SICK PATIENT HERE OLD MAN! STOP!"