Chapter 255 – One Day
Or was I just getting crazy and paranoid?
Then what about the bunnies? Suuru? And Minsto? Could they also…?
I shook my head forcefully. My thoughts were becoming way too dark. Minsto might be one thing, but Suuru? It was stretching the imagination too much. At least Wico was a rank 6 and almost a hundred years old. It was hard to imagine how much had happened in her life, which I knew nothing about.
‘Damn it!’
The fact that I didn’t know anything only made the situation worse. Should I have waited some more, together with the Vejas duo, to get more information? No, I didn’t want to have contact with anyone right now.
Time passed as I agonized about my situation. The more I thought about it, the more depressed I was. What a shitty world. A world where it’s impossible to trust anybody. But then again, my previous world wasn’t any better. What a shitty universe.
I was lost in my dark thoughts when I remembered something.
‘The kids…’
I checked the time and noticed they should already have finished their first lesson. I should go and fetch them, but… I really didn’t want to. I didn’t want to meet anyone right now.
‘Can they take care of themselves?’
No way. Plus, not being there for them right now would destroy some of the trust I worked so hard to build. I didn’t want to go at all, but I had to. And that wasn’t all. I had to fetch Suuru in 6, too. And check on my store in Makji.
‘Damn it.’
It was the same problem as always. Nothing worked if I wasn’t here. I brought this upon myself, even though there was no solution to the problem in the first place. In case something happened to me, Suuru always had enough money to go back to 82 using the gate network. Still, it would be stupid not to fetch her for that reason. As for my businesses in Makji…
‘They can handle themselves.’
I was just checking that there weren’t any issues and that they weren’t stealing money from me, anyway. It wasn’t like I was part of the daily operations.
After a bit more thinking, I resolved myself.
‘One day.’
I would fetch the children and Suuru, and then brood for one day. That was the most I could offer myself in the situation. This situation made me realize one thing. People with responsibilities didn’t have the time to procrastinate, no matter what happened.
I stood up with a resigned sigh and teleported to the martial center. As expected, the children were already waiting for me in a corner close to the entrance, their new teachers long gone.
Their tense expressions lit up as I came inside the building, but then froze again when they saw my face.
“Let’s go.”
That’s all I said before turning around, leaving without waiting for their answer. I heard them hurriedly follow after me, not before quickly saying goodbye to the person at the reception. I walked at a swift pace toward the inn, and they had no choice but to run after me.
“Wait!”
I didn’t wait. I continued at a similar pace. I just wanted this to be done as soon as possible. They eventually reached my level and walked next to me. They were sending me careful glances but stayed quiet otherwise. After a few minutes, Erin cautiously asked.
“Did something happen?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t want to talk.”
“Oh…”
She might have sensed something from my brusque tone because she didn’t insist. Soon enough, we reached the inn, and I threw her a gold coin.
“Use this for tomorrow.”
And just left after that. She would need to pay the teachers in silver because people didn’t carry around tens of silver coins to use as change. That wasn’t an issue, though. There were a lot of money-changers everywhere in the city. And if they didn’t even know about that, one of their teachers would tell them. The inn and the martial center weren’t far from one another, so they could go by themselves, too.
Next was Suuru. She also immediately noticed something was wrong with me.
“Tila? What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Tila…”
She cleared the food at her stall while I waited, and when she was done, I extended my hand to her to get this done as quickly as possible. She didn’t take it, though, looking at me worriedly.
“You look the same as when I found you, a year ago. Tila, please tell me what happened. I’ll do anything I can to help you.”
I shook my head, annoyed.
“There’s nothing you can do.”
I forcefully took her hand and teleported us to her house.
“Wait!”
But I didn’t wait. As soon as we were there, I teleported again to my emergency shelter.
One day. I would use one day and go back to normal after that. Death and betrayals… were just a part of life. Surely.
**********
Angin watched the human teleport away before turning toward her daughter. The girl was still in shock, staring at the eagle’s remnants on the ground.
“Stupid girl. I can’t believe you stayed like this from start to finish. Is that how I trained you to react? What if this had been an assassin and I hadn’t been there? Would you have just stood in place and let yourself be killed?”
This finally forced her to twitch, her gaze moving toward her now.
“No… But… It happened so fast.”
“Do you think assassins are going to take their time? Oh, hello, a good day, isn’t it? Be careful, I’m going to assassinate you. Can I start now?”
She chuckled mockingly, and her daughter’s face reddened.
“Stop mocking me! I just wasn’t ready!”
“You’re admitting it yourself. Fine. You’re training with me this evening.”
“Huh? No, no, no, I… I… I have a very important meeting later!”
“What an obvious lie. Prepare yourself.”
“No! Anything but that!”
“You need to suffer until you get it. I’ve been way too lenient with you.”
“I don’t remember you ever being lenient! W-Wait! Wait, I say! No… Nooooo!”
That evening, desperate cries resounded in the Vejas’ residence, long into the night.
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