It might’ve seemed like they hadn’t resolved the remaining bitterness from the fight, but that wasn’t the case. The feelings that these two held were much deeper than that. Zich thought hard. ‘So, why is Glen here?’
Did he come here by coincidence? It was completely possible, but if Glen had come to this place with some goal in mind, Zich thought, ‘If I find out what it is, I can reveal his true identity.’
Thus, Zich had to let Glen wander around freely and use him as much as possible. This was the main reason why Zich had accepted Glen’s apology easily. Then, Zich returned to where his companions were. Lyla, Snoc, and Elena were all waiting for him.
Glen walked to the opposite side from Zich. Then, he turned his head slightly and stared at Zich and his companions. His eyes lingered on one person briefly. Unless someone was observing him very closely—no, even if they were observing him, they wouldn’t have been able to notice it unless they had outstanding senses and eyes. Glen turned back his head like he was indifferent, but his mind couldn’t be any more different from his outer appearance.
‘Why is Elena there!’
Elena should have been swimming in an ocean full of despair around this time for his plans, but she was standing right beside Zich. Was he seeing things wrongly? Glen glanced at Zich and his companions again. It was definitely her. Although she wasn’t excitedly talking to her team members right now, there was no doubt that she was part of the team.
‘Damn it! Another change!’ Glen was internally shouting all kinds of curses in his anguish when he heard another voice call out to Zich.
“Sir Zich, what happened!”
Glen knew this voice. It was a voice he couldn’t forget since it belonged to one of Zich’s companions who held Estellade. Glen turned his head around to check when another thing surprised him.
‘…What!’ Glen had to prevent his face from twisting at all costs again. Lara Browning was standing next to the damn bastard carrying Estellade.
“You are finally here?” Zich asked Hans who was running towards him.
“I came running after hearing a huge commotion in this area. Did you catch the culprit, sir?”
“No. I did meet the culprits, but I lost them. There was some interference.” After saying this, Zich glanced where Glen was, and he noticed Glen’s piercing glare.
‘Why is that bastard staring at us?’ Zich wondered.
The reason was soon revealed.
“Glen!” A woman following behind Hans called Glen’s name and ran towards him.
‘It’s Lara Browning.’ She was Glen’s companion who blocked Zich’s attacks with a shield before the regression. Zich asked Hans for an explanation with his eyes.
“While investigating the city, we met each other by coincidence. She said she wanted to help catch the kidnappers and joined me, sir.”
“Is that so?”
They were an unexpected pairing. Zich turned and saw Glen and Lara conversing. They were both smiling; perhaps it was just a feeling, but there was some awkwardness between them.
“We will leave first.” Glen bowed once and passed Zich and his companions. Lara followed behind him. She also bowed slightly to the group, and when she passed by Hans, she said with a small smile on her face, “It seems like you have to treat me next time.”
“Whenever you are available. It doesn’t matter how pricey it is.”
“I look forward to it. But since I don’t really have a taste for luxurious foods, you don’t have to buy me anything expensive. Then, see you later.”
After the short conversation, Lara ran to join Glen.
“…You guys seem pretty close?” Zich hooked his arm around Hans’ neck. Lyla was speechless as she watched Zich act like a gangster who provoked fights with couples.
“Well, thanks to her help, I promised to buy her food and drinks. That’s all.”
“Wow, our Hans knows how to pick up girls now? You’ve sure grown up a lot~”
“I just wanted to pay back for the help I received. Besides, I am already too occupied completing the training you give me, sir.”
“Hm, your earnesty is impressive.” Zich ruffled Hans’ hair. “Keep your mind open. You know, after a meal and some drinks, you guys will grow closer to each other, and that’s how love blooms.”
“I think she already has someone she likes.”
“That doesn’t matter at all. It’s not as if she is married or has kids already. Someone she likes? You can change that! Okay, this is also part of your education. Let me give you some advice—”
“Shut up! Why are you giving him advice when you can’t even do a single date properly!” Lyla rebuked him, and Zich protested in response.
“That’s simply because people can’t understand my version of a date! The dates that I usually do—!”
“Never mind that! If you have nothing else to do, let’s head back now!” Lyla pushed Zich’s back. Zich grumbled as he shuffled his feet.
* * *
“How did you end up meeting that person?” Glen suddenly asked on their way back to their lodging.
Lara asked in response, “That person?”
“You know, the person who was with you.”
What Glen really wanted to say was, ‘That damn bastard who stole Estellade from me.’ As of now, Hans’ existence was even more annoying than Zich’s. It angered him even more that a guy like that wandered around the city with Lara.
“I heard that a serial kidnapper was going around the city, so I joined him,” Lara said calmly. It seemed like there were no other emotions attached to her words, and Glen could take her words at face-value.
“I see.” Glen also accepted her answer as if he didn’t mean much by his question. However, his inner thoughts were completely different again. ‘That bastard…!’
That bastard was someone who stole Estellade from him and robbed him of the power and authority that was rightfully his. Now, this guy was also growing closer to Lara.
‘Furthermore, I definitely saw Elena with them!’
When Glen first saw her there, he literally thought his heart would jump out of his chest. He couldn’t understand why the hell she was there. If it wasn’t for the experiences he had gathered for a long period of time, he might have accidentally dropped his façade.
‘There was never a time when she was Zich’s party member!’ Yet, reality showed the opposite outcome. ‘There’s also the matter with Joachim Dracul!’
A variable—and an intensely annoying variable at that. However, what twisted Glen’s heart was not the numerous variables that distorted his plans.
‘They stole Estellade, and Elena is now part of their group. Moreover, Leona was also in that group before, and they’re also treated like heroes in Violuwin!’
Fortunately, Leona was no longer with them. Was she not able to adjust to the group and got kicked out? Or were they simply not working together anymore? What was the point in lingering on this topic anyway? It was already a fact that ‘what should have been his’ was being stolen from him.
‘And that’s not all—they’re trying to steal Lara away from me too!’ Even though he had ‘taken’ Lara first, considering the fact that Zich and his companions had already stolen so much from him, they might also steal Lara away. ‘This is infuriating, especially when I’m already not satisfied with Lubella’s replacement at all!’
Now, he might have to find replacements for Elena and Leona!
Lara glanced at Glen’s messy and ruined clothes and asked, “Glen, are you injured? What’s up with your appearance?”
“I had a small fight with Mr. Zich. We had a bit of a misunderstanding.”
“With Mr. Zich?” Lara was sure that Zich was definitely the guy that Hans served.
Lara glanced at Glen again. Even though there were no injuries on his face, it was clear that Glen suffered serious injuries. Lara also remembered that Zich barely seemed to have any traces of being in a fight.
“Were you completely beaten?” Lara also knew that Glen had progressed immensely in skill and strength. However, Zich was still able to one-sidedly corner Glen.
“Yeah, it turned out like that. As expected, the world is a very big place.” Glen smiled bitterly, but his thoughts were completely different inside.
‘That bastard! That fucking Zich guy!’
If Lara hadn’t been next to him, he would have gritted his teeth in frustration. Unlike what he told the security guard captain, he clearly recognized Zich and attacked him. The reason why he did so was simple; it was to hinder Zich from chasing after the shadow. Of course, Glen also expected Zich to attack him back, but he had been confident in his skills. Since his opponent was Zich, he didn’t think he would be able to beat him, but he thought he could properly defend himself until the city’s security guards came. Even though Zich had changed a lot from what he knew, Glen also had a considerable amount of skill.
Moreover, since he was also a Karuwiman Honorary Knight, if the security guards interrupted their fight, Zich would have no choice but to withdraw. However, Glen’s prediction was half right. Like he predicted, Zich obediently withdrew back when the security guards arrived. However, he had been completely wrong about Zich’s skills.
‘Regardless of the number of variables in this timeline, how could there be such a stark difference in our skills?’
Even though Glen fought with everything he had, anyone could see that Zich fought in a leisurely manner. The fact that Zich only hit him with punches and kicks was evidence of this. Glen was not sure if Zich wanted to capture him as a captive or went easy on him because they knew each other—but this was not important. What was important to Glen was their sharp difference in strength.
‘I even took an elixir! Even though it got harder for me to control my mana because of that, I became strong enough to cover that fault! Moreover, that guy didn’t even have Estellade! I can’t believe that I got pushed back with Tornium in my hands!’
Glen didn’t know how special Windur was, so he mistakenly thought his weapon was superior to Zich’s weapon. Regardless of this factor, Glen didn’t even pose a challenge to Zich.
From what he knew, he should be far superior in skills than Zich around this time. However, his misperception led to his utter and complete defeat. Moreover, when he shook Zich’s hands, he saw Zich arrogantly looking down on him. A deep murderous aura briefly came out of Glen’s eyes.
‘Well, I should get over it for now.’ Now that he thought about it, Zich had defeated him countless times. Even though this didn’t mean that he was used to getting defeated, it was not enough for him to go berserk. ‘From what I’ve heard, he’s searching for the culprit in this city.’ Glen was also doing the same thing.
Due to all the variables in this timeline, his fame hadn’t spread around the world as much as he had planned. For that reason, he had come to this place—to kill the culprit. ‘In the first place, that bastard’s success rate is not even that high. That culprit didn’t survive that many times until the Era of the Demon People. I should at least kill the culprit to increase my fame.’
This was a tactic he had used many times before. Moreover, even if the culprit survived to the Era of the Demon People, they were going to be just a sacrifice for him anyways. Glen was merely retrieving his sacrifice a bit earlier than usual. However, it was unexpected that Zich would intervene in the middle.
‘I guess I can’t immediately fight against Zich right now.’ His power and plan were not ready yet, and this was not the right time either.
‘But it would be fine for me to lightly fuck him over.’ Glen recalled Zich’s arrogant expression again. ‘I’m definitely going to kill the culprit!’
Glen wondered what Zich would feel if he got beat after receiving support and help from the city. Glen smiled mischievously inside his mind.
* * *
“Did you have a fun time? You were really enjoying yourself with Glen Zenard.”
“Yep, it was fun. I had an absolutely fantastic time,” Zich chuckled and agreed to Lyla’s words.
“I thought about helping you, but you seemed to be enjoying it, so I just left you like that. Was that okay?”
“Of course!” With just that judgement, Zich completely forgave Lyla for not chasing after the shadow. Of course, Zich also thought he should give some feedback about her mistake, but it was just going to be a suggestion.
“It’s disappointing though. We should have caught the culprit.” Lyla was very disappointed since she made a mistake.
“Well, we were blocked, so it can’t be helped. We can also catch the culprit in the next opportunity.”
Moreover, another possibility related to the culprit had appeared in front of Zich.
‘Right now, Glen appeared in a city where the robed figures could be working. I should definitely investigate this more.’
Then, Zich might be able to finally catch Glen’s tail. His passion for this mission quietly flared up.
