“Pfft!” There was a loud burst of laughter. It was the kind of laughter that couldn’t be restrained because it was uncontrollable. Lyla stared at Zich judgingly as he kept choking in laughter while clutching his stomach.
“Can’t you stop laughing?”
“No, kukuh! I want to stop laughing too but…it’s not easy.” Zich tried to breathe calmly and stop his laughter, but his back arched as another burst of laughter came out of him.
“Does it make you that happy?”
“Isn’t that obvious? Messing with Glen is one of the most worthwhile things I do!” Then, Zich recalled his recent encounter with Glen. “It probably killed him that he couldn’t even show it on his face while I kept insulting him! He had to agree with me as I insulted him right in front of his face using his subordinates!” Zich placed his back on the ground and chuckled.
As Lyla watched him, she thought, ‘If Glen Zenard saw you right now, wouldn’t he be even more enraged?’ Maybe he would be even more than enraged. He might collapse from the shock and die on the spot, and even then Lyla would be able to understand what had happened. Zich kept laughing non-stop after his meeting with Glen in the shop where he had relentlessly insulted Glen while pretending not to know anything. It seemed this interaction had left Zich very satisfied.
“At least the robed figures in the Denest Mountain Range have been taken care of, right?” If she could, Lyla wanted to start the conversation after Zich finished laughing, but since it didn’t seem like Zich was going to stop any time soon, Lyla began talking.
“More specifically, they were guys near the monsters, but it doesn’t really matter since they wouldn’t have gone inside the Denest Mountain Range if it wasn’t for those monsters.”
“You have done a lot, especially since you found out that the robed figures were inside the Denest Mountain Range.”
“The army of monsters is an extremely powerful force. Even if they didn’t specifically use the monsters for their schemes, they have many other uses for them. For example, if Glen’s plans turn awry and a disadvantageous situation arose, they could use the army to sweep the surroundings and try to undo everything. Considering that, it would’ve probably been advantageous for them to maintain their monsters in the best condition.” Zich turned his head and looked in the direction of the Denest Mountain Range. “It’s only natural that I thought there would be guys managing the army of monsters in a hidden location. Of course, there were patrollers to make sure outsiders wouldn’t find the location of the monster army, but I have this.” Zich pulled out a Pyramid of Vengeful Souls and shook it for Lyla to see. It let out its characteristic sticky and dark energy that made Lyla instinctively scowl.
“You used it so easily.”
“The methods of using artifacts like this one are all similar.” Zich placed the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls back into his magic box. “Let’s see. The monsters with the command to not attack the robed figures attacked them. Naturally, they will only be able to think of the Pyramid of Vengeful Souls as the cause. So, the robed figures’ suspicions will naturally fall upon Nick.”
Zich’s eyes twirled as if he was enjoying this situation. “Although it was entertaining to see that Zenard bastard act like he wasn’t involved with what was going on desperately, it’s regrettable that I couldn’t see the sight of him bursting in rage with my own eyes. Well, I bet he’s heaving about it right now, so I should at least observe him through my imagination.”
‘He really does have a terrible form of entertainment,’ Lyla thought again while looking at Zich.
* * *
Zich’s predictions were perfect.
Clang! Glen was taken aback by the sudden loud noise. What he saw were the rolling remains of a completely broken table, which his fists had broken.
‘Damn, I did it without realizing!’ His fist didn’t hurt. He had gone through enough training so that he wouldn’t feel pain by breaking just a single table. The problem he had wasn’t physical, but mental. He had broken his table without meaning to because of the rage rising in his heart, and this was quite a critical mistake for Glen.
‘Calm down. I can’t show this side of me to anyone else.’ A hero taking out his anger on objects wasn’t the hero he dreamed of. A perfect hero didn’t get swept by their emotions.
‘Damn it! It’s all because of that damn Zich Moore!’ He tried to calm down somehow, but whenever he thought of Zich’s face, he seethed in anger. He breathed deeply to calm himself down when—knock, knock! Due to the knocking sound, the thin wall of patience that he was finally building cracked.
“Who is it?” Unable to control himself, Glen’s tone was cold. It seemed like the person outside the door was taken aback and didn’t reply right away. Glen stomped towards the door and opened it.
Clack! The person who knocked came into view, and Glen scowled. It was Lara. She wasn’t someone he was pleased to see, especially while he was in the middle of an emotional outburst. The sight of Lara made him even angrier.
“Ah, um, hello Glen…”
“What do you want?” Again, Glen spoke in a cold manner. Although he had been acting a bit cold to her, he had never spoken to her with such blatant coldness. But seeing Lara who also wasn’t going his way on top of still recovering from Zich’s insults made him incapable of controlling his emotions.
Lara lifted her shoulders. “Uh, yes. It’s because I heard a loud sound coming from your room. So I thought maybe something could’ve happened…”
“Nothing happened,” Glen said and closed the door. Although Glen could sense that Lara wasn’t leaving past his door, Glen ignored it.
‘I should go see Nick first.’ Then, he should try to find out whether or not Nick had really used the monsters to kill his subordinates.
‘What if I don’t find out anything?’ Then the situation would become more of a headache. Glen roughly smashed the remains of the table while heaving.
* * *
Her feet felt heavy as she walked. Although she was looking forward, her eyes were unfocused. As if she was burdened with negative energy from the entire world, she walked with drooped shoulders while walking. Glen’s glare was still vivid in her memories. His chilling eyes clearly looked at her as if she was a hindrance. Even though she felt that Glen’s attitude towards her was slowly worsening, it was the first time she received such an obviously hostile gaze from him.
‘As I expected, does he hate me?’ The truth that she had been desperately trying to run away from began rearing its ugly head, and her concerns that he might kick her out of the party were becoming a clear reality. No, in reality, the situation might have already become that bad, and she was merely refusing to see the problem as it was. ‘Then, what should I do from now on…’ While Lara fell into thought—
Tap! Something touched her shoulder, and she flinched. She instinctively reached for the sword on her waist. Then, she realized that she had been walking mindlessly on the streets and released her hand. ‘Did I hit someone?’ As someone who had trained for a long time, it was embarrassing that she put herself into such a situation. She immediately tried to apologize to the person she hit. However, when she saw the person in front of her, she was so surprised that her apology went back into her throat.
“Are you all right, Ms. Browning?” Hans put his hand on her shoulder and looked at her with concern.
* * *
Zich looked at the two people sitting at the same table as him with curiosity. Zich sat in the middle of the circular table, and Hans sat on his right—this part was as expected. The reason why he had come here in the first place was to meet Hans after all. However, Lara Browning, sitting on his left, was an unexpected guest. Lara also seemed to be confused about why she was here as she squirmed around and looked around constantly.
Zich asked Hans, “What happened?”
“While I was walking, I saw her walking unsteadily. The city is unsafe right now and I felt nervous about leaving her alone, so I brought her here.”
‘It sounds like he picked up an abandoned puppy.’ While traveling with him, Hans seemed to have developed a slightly stubborn side. ‘Something must have really happened to her. According to Hans, it sounded like he had one-sidedly brought her here, but if he hadn’t received her consent, she wouldn’t be sitting here either. Hans was not the type of person to bring a woman forcefully, and Lara was also not the type of person to be dragged around without putting up a fight.
‘I can roughly guess what happened.’ Zich had shredded Glen’s pride just a few moments ago, and it seemed as if Glen had taken out his anger on her. ‘Why is he taking out his anger on an unrelated person when he’s still wearing a mask of a just hero?’ Did Lara’s importance to him disappear that much, or was Glen’s anger been that large?
‘It might be both.’ Nonetheless, Zich was very satisfied that he made Glen at least significantly angry. As a result, he approached Lara in a very warm manner despite her unexpected presence. “Did something happen, Ms. Browning? Since we know each other, you can discuss your problems with me.”
“…” Lara bowed her head and twirled her fingers. The inside of her mind was messed up. Even though she had followed Hans, she didn’t know what she was doing here. Moreover, the person in front of her was Zich—he was someone she didn’t like too much. In the end, she got up and said, “No, it’s nothing. I’m sorry for troubling you. I’ll be leaving.” Then, she grabbed the sword next to her and was about to turn around but Zich’s question stopped her.
“Did something between you and Mr. Zenard?”
She quickly turned her head and stared at Zich. She looked taken aback that he had read her mind. All kinds of thoughts spun in her head. Should she ask how he knew? But then she would be admitting that there was trouble between her and Glen. Even if it was true, Lara felt uncomfortable about admitting that there was trouble between her and her comrade, especially someone she liked, to a person she wasn’t close to.
“Please sit. There seems to be something you want to talk about.”
Lara hesitated for a bit, and then she sat back down in the end. Hans, the one responsible for bringing her in the first place, hadn’t said a single word so far. Lara thought that Hans’ calm demeanor was slightly annoying, so she glanced at him.
“You must be curious about how I know, and I can easily answer that question. It’s because it’s very obvious. Rather, I think it would be harder to not notice it when the atmosphere between you and Mr. Zenard is so thick.”
Lara lowered her head. In the end, her relationship with Glen was so bad that an outsider would notice it by just looking at them.
“Since you seem to be more troubled than usual today, it seems like the trouble between you two has deepened.”
Lara bit her lips. She wanted to immediately deny Zich’s words, but she couldn’t. At that moment, Zich slowly offered his advice. “Since we know each other, I’ll be giving you my two cents. Why don’t you distance yourself from him for a bit?”
“…Distance myself?”
“Yes. In a situation when the two of you are emotionally hurting each other, the situation might only grow worse if you two are forced to stay next to each other. So, why don’t you do the opposite and create some space between you two? Of course, I’m not saying you should completely go your separate ways.” When Lara’s expression worsened, Zich waved his hand and said, “Just have time off from each other until both of you settle your feelings. Then, the two of you can converse together in a rational manner. After that, you’ll be able to have a much more meaningful conversation than when both of your emotions are running high.” Zich’s words slowly crawled into Lara’s heart.