After that, Arthur headed straight toward the tower. His expression was even colder than before, looking terrifying for the citizens. His aura was leaking out, putting everyone who passed by him under immense pressure.
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However, Arthur didn’t really care about that as he was too occupied with his own thoughts. There were far more important matters bugging his mind, especially after what he had just seen a few minutes ago.
‘Should’ve I really… ignored her?’ He asked himself with a frown. Arthur would be lying if he said that he felt good doing that. He knew that the right thing was to meet her and clear the matter. But, Arthur had underestimated how much her words had hit him hard.
Something inside of him cracked and it was going to take a very long time to heal. After all, the realization that he wasn’t truly as important of a friend as he thought didn’t come from Isla only but also from Lamenter, someone she supposedly warned him about.
‘The fact he knows all of that means he knows Isla well. Not just a random enemy. The two most definitely knew each other for a very long time.’ Arthur mused.
Whatever happened between them only fueled the idea in Arthur’s head that he was simply not good enough. He lacked something that Isla wanted in her own friends.
‘Maybe it’s the same thing that put me in this position in the first place. I mean, if someone fails to make friends for so long then it is most definitely his fault, not theirs.’ Arthur muttered as he clenched his teeth. What frustrated him even more was that he didn’t even know what he was doing wrong.
He was trying to be friendly and helpful to others. The very first few friends he made seemed to like him, but it was never enough for a true, deep bond. Perhaps they saw him as someone who was an extra addition to the group and nothing more.
“…” The more Arthur thought about it, the more he felt worse. But, in the end, there was nothing he could do about it. This was him, the same person from years ago. No power or fame could change him and he had no intention of ever changing.
‘I like myself this way. I deserve to be this way.’ He thought to himself as he looked at the sky. ‘If I change then everything I wanted will vanish along with it. I don’t want that.’
With that in mind, Arthur found himself standing in front of the gates to the base of the Shard Plaza.
The gates opened as a guard walked inside to check who it was. When Arthur identified himself and showed him the certificate, the man immediately welcomed him in.
Arthur then walked into the plaza and headed straight toward the gates of the tower. The place was particularly busy today for some reason, way more than last time. There were considerably more mercenaries walking around.
“Is there some kind of special event today?” Arthur frowned.
As he was walking, Arthur listened to the conversations going around him, and while most of these conversations were not important, Arthur heard bits and pieces of something very interesting.
“Did they find anything?” One of the mercenaries asked his friend as they picked up the large boxes.
“No… I’ve heard the weather had gotten way worse yesterday and they couldn’t send a searching squad.”
“… Man… 40 men lost in one day… That’s not going to be easily replaceable.”
‘Forty men? That’s a brutal hit.’ Arthur raised an eyebrow. ‘Did they get lost in the storm or something? It’s almost funny how easy it is to die in this tower… Anything could send you to your grave.’
The news explained why the mercenaries were more active than usual. The loss of such a huge number of men wasn’t easy and the workload most definitely increased on the rest of the mercenaries.
With that in mind, Arthur approached the gates where the two usual guards greeted him and opened the door for him.
Staring into the abyss, Arthur took a deep breath, ignoring the cracking sounds his shard was making.
‘I haven’t come here in days.’ Closing his eyes for a moment, he calmed down his mind, erasing all unnecessary thoughts and simply focusing on his task.
There was one single target… To get as strong as possible in the shortest time possible. One week, that was all he got and he had to double his strength during that time. He knew that it was going to be brutally hard but it was definitely something he could pull off.
‘Let’s just do it. There are no excuses.’
Then, Arthur stepped into the gates and vanished into the darkness.
The odd feeling immediately came back to him; he was wrapped in darkness as if he were being eaten alive.
‘I’m never getting accustomed to this.’ Arthur thought to himself as he felt the world shift around him quickly and the whistling of the wind filled his ears.
Opening his eyes, he found himself inside the tower.
“Back in Frozen Peak,” Arthur muttered as he stretched his neck. “As cold as ever.”
The weather inside the first level was the same as before. If anything, Arthur could swear that it felt colder than before. Looking around him, he saw shrouded silhouettes moving around him, going about their work.
‘I wonder if Deka is here. She had helped me a lot before.’ Arthur thought to himself. ‘There is also the other bastard… What was his name again? Sergi? He had sworn to kick me out.’
Arthur didn’t forget about the warning Sergi said to him. However, the young man didn’t really find that threatening. He could easily kill a thousand of Sergi and he wouldn’t bat an eye.
‘The anti-gifted party can try its best. I really don’t care.’ Arthur thought to himself as he finally started walking.
The first thing he did was to stop by the main office of the chief to see if he was there. He wanted to talk to him and learn more about the situation inside the tower in the past few days. However, he didn’t find him there as the man seemingly was very busy with the current crisis.
‘I guess the current crisis is occupying all his schedule. Oh well…’ Arthur shrugged and turned around as he opened the map.
“So, last time, I planned to head up north instead of south. I want to see the mountain for myself and find more monsters to kill. The chief said that the north is more dangerous so it should be perfect.” Arthur muttered as he rubbed his chin.
Seeing the horrifyingly large foot of the mountain in the distance, Arthur could only wonder how truly big this mountain was. The scale of it on the map was already ridiculous enough.
‘It’s also perfect to try Elemental Oblivion in this environment. Perhaps it will shine even better here.’ Arthur nodded his head as he finally started walking again, heading to the gates of the settlement.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3