“I can see the city walls in the distance.”
I paused to gaze at the distant walls, their dark, cracked surfaces resembling scars of varying sizes. Beyond them, towering spires and buildings reached skyward, piercing the now-blue sky above.
It was a view that starkly contrasted with that of when I had first arrived at the Eastern Kasha.
“This is as far as I can go, human.”
Owl-Mighty’s voice echoed in my ears, its roots stretching deep beneath the ground, sinking ever lower.
“…I think you should be fine following me.”
Rightfully so, Owl-Mighty was cautious not to draw the attention of the household heads from the main families in the Kasha. It would lead to unwarranted misunderstandings. For that reason, it had no choice but to wait outside.
‘Now that I think about it, bringing Owl-Mighty back to the Academy might also be somewhat troublesome.’
I sighed at the thought.
There was no way Delilah or Atlas could fail to notice it.
Had Owl-Mighty still been a ‘Will’, things would’ve been different, but that was no longer the case and so I had to think of a way to maneuver around that area.
‘Whatever, I’ll worry about that later.’
There were more pressing matters at hand.
Like…
“Did they lose or did they win?”
It took me some time to return from the Mirror Dimension. Though they assured me the area was clear and no one would come after me, I knew it was better to stay on the cautious side.
For that reason, I moved with extreme caution, traveling slowly and doing my best to ensure no one was following or spying on me. With my new skill, added to Owl-Mighty’s heightened awareness, I was almost confident that nobody had followed me.
With everything settled, I dismissed [Lament of Lies] and made my way toward the distant walls.
The distance wasn’t far, and by the time I walked for several minutes, I arrived before the broken walls, the distant shouts of the workers reaching my ears.
“This place needs fixing!”
“Over here! Hurry up!”
It seemed quite lively in there.
So much so that they didn’t even notice my presence. The guards stationed atop the walls, however, did. They gave me a brief glance before allowing me through-clearly, they still remembered my face.
Coming into the city, my feet paused for a brief moment.
“Get your food over here!”
“…Seconds will only come after everyone has gotten their share. Please wait patiently.”
The scene looked drastically different from the first time that I was there.
The air of gloom and despair had vanished, replaced by a sense of hope. Though everyone remained painfully thin and malnourished, their eyes no longer held that hollow, empty look. They felt alive…
‘In a sense, they remind me of the old man in his last moments.’
Thinking about the old man, I felt a slight pang in my chest as I looked up towards the sky.
The sky was the start of the change-the symbol of hope for this place.
Without it, the Kasha would have stayed the same sickly, gloomy place it once was.
‘It’s a pity the people here don’t know about the one who freed them.’
Shaking my head, I resumed walking, heading toward the Astrid Household. It stood near the
heart of the city, its tall, golden structure standing out from the rest.
For now, the most important thing was to learn about the result of the fight.
“I hope they didn’t lose…”
As I muttered those words, I found myself unknowingly quickening my pace.
***
Astrid Household.
In a spacious room, all the cadets from Haven gathered, their bodies bathed in the soft sunlight streaming through the windows.
The atmosphere was pleasant, with several of them sporting nice smiles.
“Kekeke.”
Cackling to herself, Kiera leaned back, her laughter growing louder as she continued.
Sitting next to her, Aoife and Evelyn looked at her with weird looks before looking at each other and shaking their heads.
“She’s lost it.”
“….Yes.”
“Shut up losers.”
Kiera raised her head, glancing at the two of them before scanning the room. Her lips curled into a smirk as she tilted her head slightly upward, making it seem as though her nose was
growing.
She then pointed at herself.
“You twats should all call me the Messiah. Without me, you all wouldn’t have won this entire thing. Yours truly is the one and only savio-“
“You’re getting way over your head.”
Aoife cut her off mid-sentence as she rolled her eyes.
“I get that you managed to beat the last member, but should I remind you how we all did the
same thing?”
If it wasn’t already obvious, they had managed to come out on top against the Kasha’s finest talents. It was no easy conflict, with those from the Kasha being extremely strong.
Unfortunately for them, there were several monsters in their team.
Let alone Leon… Caius, Amell, and Kaelion were freaks of nature-individuals so powerful that even those from the Kasha struggled to contend with them.
This was especially so for Caius who seemed to have gotten even stronger than before.
The four of them managed to knock out their respective opponents, taking down the next ones as well before finally leaving, worn out from exhaustion.
With the fight following a ‘King of the Ring’ format, the team with the last person standing in their corner was set to claim victory. Those of the Kasha did bring out several monsters, some strong enough to force those four into a state of retreat.
However, in the end, they still managed to come out on top.
It was just unfortunate that Kiera had to be the last one standing in the ring.
With the last opponent tired, all she had to do was throw one spell before winning.
“Kakakakaka.”
Her victory only fueled her already inflated ego.
“They should start making a church just for me. The church of Kiera~”
Aoife’s face winced, and so did Evelyn and several other people. Before things could escalate
even further, a certain ringing sound caught everyone’s attention.
When all eyes turned, they landed on the small figure hunched in the corner, her bloodshot eyes fixed on the tiny device in front of her, her finger tapping repeatedly at the display. “It’s… not working,” the small child mumbled to herself, bringing her thumb to her mouth
and nervously chewing on her nails.
“How could this be…?”
At the same time, she scratched the side of her neck.
This…
Aoife’s expression changed as she pursed her lips.
“This is getting out of hand.’
“You need to do something about that,” Evelyn said, her eyes falling on the hunched-over
child. She looked no different than an addict battling their own demons.
“You think I don’t know?”
The current state of Theresa was worrying.
With no ‘Justice Man’ transmissions, Theresa spiraled into a dark place. She now resembled a
feral cat, ready to pounce on anyone who dared to come too close.
“My… precious.”
“??”
In any case…
“What do you think will happen now that we’ve won?”
Aoife suddenly asked, turning her attention towards Leon who had been quietly staring at the
window the entire time.
“Hm?”
As if realizing she was talking to him, he blinked his eyes before replying,
“I don’t know. They’ll probably tell us later.”
“It’s been several hours already since the fights.”
Aoife checked the time.
Three hours exactly.
“Beats me, to be honest.”
Leon shrugged. “I’d say they are probably discussing with each other right now. We’ll know soon enough.”
“I guess that’s fair.” Considering how long the last meeting had dragged on, this sort of made sense. Whatever the case was, they had proven their strength. Now, it was up to them to uphold their promise.
She had already sent a message back to the Academy. They would be coming to pick them up
soon.
It was for that reason that she wasn’t overly concerned about their safety.
To Tok-!
Suddenly, a knock echoed through the room, and all eyes turned toward the door.
“Are they here?”
As everyone tensed and prepared to move, the door swung open, revealing a pair of hazel
eyes.
Stunned, no one spoke a word, standing frozen in place, unable to react to his sudden appearance. There was something about him that felt different than the past.
He was strong, everyone knew that.
In fact, he was probably the strongest in the entire room. However, the current him felt
different than in the past. His presence alone almost felt suffocating.
‘What happened?’
‘… Did he become stronger again?’
The thought made the expressions of a few change.
“Hmm.”
Unaware of their thoughts, Julien scanned the room, his gaze falling first on Leon, and then
the rest.
They all were looking at him with the same stunned and confused expression.
He scratched the back of his head.
“I take it that you all lost.”
Julien closed his eyes and shook his head.
“…That’s disappointing, honestly.”
His words only deepened the speechlessness, leaving the already stunned cadets at a
complete loss for words.
“Then again, it is also my fault for missing it.”
It couldn’t be helped. Trouble just loved to find its way to him.
Taking a seat next to Leon, Julien looked at him and shook his head.
“I’m most disappointed in you, honestly.”
A question mark popped on top of Leon’s head as his face changed in a way that seemed to
say, ‘What did I even do?’
It then clicked, and his face fell.
“Let me guess, I lost market value? You’re disappointed because losing would mean I lose
market value right?”
|||||
Julien tilted his head back, looking surprised.
He was about to speak again when Leon cut him off.
“How do I know?”
Yet again, Julien looked surprised.
Leon was reading his mind completely.
“It’s because you’re predictable. All you do is recycle your old puns and insults. You’re
unoriginal, and they’re getting old.”
||
The room turned silent then, all eyes shifted on Julien who blinked his eyes.
Feeling everyone’s gaze, Julien pursed his lips and looked away, his face looking indifferent.
He seemed completely unfazed by Leon’s words.
A pity they couldn’t see his vision. ■Lvl 4. [Sadness] EXP + 0.2%
…Or the subtle quivering of his lower lip.