The Extra is a Genius!?-Chapter 592: Emerald Eyes

The mountain remained silent after Roberto vanished. The particles of light that had carried his body away faded slowly into the wind, leaving nothing behind except the empty cliff and the faint echo of his last words. Noel didn’t move for several seconds, his eyes fixed on the place where Roberto had stood, his mind replaying the encounter in careful detail. He had not expected to see him today.

The tension in the air gradually dissolved, the pressure that had settled over the ridge easing as the mountains returned to their usual stillness. Wind slid between the cliffs again, carrying dust and the distant cries of creatures that lived deeper in the range. Behind him, Noir’s massive form shifted, the towering shadow wolf shrinking rapidly as darkness folded back into itself. Within seconds the enormous body collapsed into the much smaller shape of a wolf pup. She stretched briefly before slipping back toward Noel, her small form merging easily with the shadow at his feet.

Noel exhaled quietly. ’Noir... can you think of anyone who would ally with someone like Roberto?’

’No idea.’ A short pause followed before she added another thought. ’He’s unpredictable. We should assume the worst.’

Noel gave a small nod even though she could already sense the agreement through their bond. He slid Revenant Fang back into its sheath with a quiet metallic sound. The hunt had lost its appeal, and it wasn’t exhaustion after weeks of constant fighting that killed it. Roberto had appeared here without warning, sitting calmly on a cliff inside territory Noel had been using for months. He had known exactly where Noel was, and that bothered him more than he liked. Roberto had spoken as if he understood everything that had been happening lately, as if nothing Noel had done during the past months had gone unnoticed. The possibility that Roberto had been watching him for far longer than Noel realized was not a comfortable one.

He turned and began walking toward the teleportation circle carved into the stone platform nearby, his thoughts shifting to the question Roberto had left behind. The first possibility that came to mind was the demon continent, but Noel dismissed it almost immediately. The last war had nearly destroyed them, their armies crushed and their territory left weakened for decades. The current demon king, Deyrion, had made it clear he had no interest in repeating the mistakes of his father. The answer had to be somewhere else, and the only remaining possibility felt worse than the first.

Elarin. If Elarin existed in that other dimension, there was no reason to assume he was alone. Noctis had never revealed everything he knew, and the things he had said had already been troubling enough.

Noel reached the teleportation circle and stopped at its center. He glanced back at the mountains once before activating it. Light spread across the carved lines beneath his feet, and a heartbeat later the circle carried him away.

The teleportation circle released him into the quiet chamber beneath his mansion in Valon. The familiar stone walls came into focus as the light faded around him, the carved runes along the floor dimming once the spell completed. Noel stepped off the platform automatically, his mind still lingering on the conversation in the mountains.

But the moment he reached the doorway, he noticed something was wrong. Voices carried through the corridor beyond the chamber, several of them, moving quickly from one side of the house to the other. Doors opened and closed somewhere farther down the hall, and the exchanges between them were urgent and overlapping. Not panic, but loud enough to put him on edge.

Noel pushed the door open and stepped into the hallway. The noise was secondary. What sharpened his attention immediately were the mana signatures, unfamiliar ones, several of them, already inside the mansion. His body reacted before his mind could fully process the situation, and he began moving quickly down the corridor.

The sounds grew clearer as he approached the main wing. When he turned the corner he found four strangers near one of the interior halls, two elves and two humans, three women and a man, all four wearing long white coats that looked closer to medical robes than anything belonging to soldiers. Several sections of the cloth were stained dark red, patches of blood that had not yet dried. Noel’s chest tightened as the worst possibilities rushed through his mind at once. An attack. An accident. One of the girls injured.

One of the elves was already moving quickly toward a nearby room, her steps urgent as she carried a bundle of cloth in her hands. Noel followed her without wasting time. "What’s happening?"

The elf stopped and turned toward him, surprise flashing across her face. "Who are you?"

"I live here." He took another step closer. "I’m Noel Thorne." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Recognition spread across her expression almost instantly, and a small smile replaced the confusion. "Oh." She paused briefly. "Then you don’t need to worry." Another pause, shorter this time, before she added something he hadn’t expected to hear. "Actually... congratulations."

Noel frowned slightly. "Congratulations?"

"You’re a father." The elf’s smile widened slightly. "You have a beautiful son."

The words landed quietly in the corridor, and Noel didn’t move for a long moment.

For a moment Noel remained completely still, the corridor quieting around him as the words settled in his mind. It wasn’t supposed to happen yet. There were still weeks left before Elena’s due date, weeks Noel had expected to spend finishing his preparations in the mountains. His mind tried to catch up with the information, but his body moved before the process finished.

He stepped past the elf. She opened the door beside her without another word and held it for him.

The atmosphere inside the room was calmer than the corridor, though the signs of recent activity were everywhere. The two humans stood near a table covered in folded cloth and small instruments, quietly speaking to the other elf while they cleaned their hands. Selene was there as well, standing a short distance away with her arms folded, her expression softer than Noel had ever seen it. But Noel barely noticed any of them. His attention moved immediately to the bed near the window.

Elena lay there against a stack of pillows, exhaustion clear on her face. Strands of hair clung to her forehead and her breathing was slow and steady after the strain she had just endured. Yet despite the fatigue, her expression held a quiet happiness that softened the entire room. In her arms she held a small bundle wrapped in white cloth.

When Elena noticed Noel standing near the door, her tired expression warmed immediately. "Hey..." Her voice was weak, but there was no mistaking the happiness behind it.

Noel walked toward the bed slowly, his movements careful. His vision blurred slightly at the edges, a feeling he hadn’t anticipated and couldn’t quite name. Elena lifted the child just a little so he could see him better. "He has your eyes," she whispered.

Noel leaned closer. The baby shifted slightly in her arms, small fingers curling against the cloth before his eyelids fluttered open for a brief moment, revealing eyes the same bright emerald green as Noel’s own. For a few seconds he didn’t speak. The world outside the room disappeared completely, the mountains, Roberto, the war that was coming, all of it gone. There was only the child resting in Elena’s arms and the strange, unfamiliar weight of the moment settling over him.

He finally spoke, his voice low and unsteady in a way none of them had ever heard before. "Hello... son."