Chapter 206 Whistle [2]
"Whoo~"
The whistle pierced the air, and every hair at the back of my neck stood on end.
My head snapped back to where the noise ca from, but to my shock and horror, there was no one standing behind .
And yet,
"Whoo~"
The whistle persisted, echoing in the air, seeping into the depths of my mind as my breathing grew rougher.
"Haa... Haa..."
Each breath felt harder than the last.
"What are you doing...?"
Suddenly, sothing pressed against my shoulder, and my heart almost leaped out of my chest. I barely kept myself from flipping out due to the familiarity of the voice.
It was Owl-Mighty.
"There's nothing."
"....Nothing?"
Confused, I looked into its two red eyes.
"What do you an nothing? Can't you hear the whistling?"
"Whistling?"
Owl-Mighty's head tilted.
"There is no whistling, human. You have been acting strange for quite a while. Judging from the paler shade of your skin, your dilated pupils, and rough breathing, you must be experiencing fear."
"I..."
Indeed, I was.
There was no denying it.
The notifications popping up in my vision served as proof.
But that wasn't important at the mont.
"Are you sure that there's no one?"
".....Yes."
Flapping its wings, Owl-Mighty lifted into the air and looked around before returning.
"There is nothing. I don't feel anything either."
It was strange, but the mont Owl-Mighty appeared, the whistle stopped.
So did the strange feeling that engulfed .
Despite that, I didn't relax for a second.
Knowing very well just how strong 'that' person was, I knew it was likely Owl-Mighty couldn't sense him.
....But what did it even matter if he could?
That person...
He wasn't soone we could fight.
Knowing that, my steps felt heavy as I walked the familiar path to the hotel. I didn't rush; it would be pointless.
If it was really him, then...
"Hoo."
I took a deep breath and stared at the night sky.
'.....This is ssed up.'
The entire situation was.
"Heh."
Unknowingly, I found myself laughing as I headed for the hotel entrance.
"As expected, I really need to stay at the Academy."
Nothing 'major' may have happened at the ceremony, but I would've rather had that than what I had experienced.
Any day...
*
Thankfully, no new situation arose following the strange whistle that I heard last night. With that being said, I was hardly able to get any sleep.
Every little noise startled
out of my sleeping state.
"Please don't forget about what we've talked about."
"Yes, I understand."
We stood at the entrance of the train station.
Olga, the scriptwriter, continued to talk to
about our previous discussion, requiring several nods of confirmation to finally get her to leave
alone.
"Don't forget! I will make sure to contact you!"
Her lively deanor seed out of place to , but I could understand her excitent. The Four Empire Summit was a prestigious event, and I was ant to participate in it as well.
While I wasn't exactly sure about the event's details, I knew the Empire placed particular importance on it. The reason I knew this was because of the reward they offered for my participation.
The Dragon Bone.
It was all that occupied my thoughts on the way back to the Academy.
Or at least, until soone took my attention away.
"Hmm~ Dum~"
Looking ahead, my lips twitched.
Holding onto the trophy that I had given her last night, Aoife nonchalantly wiped it with a tissue while she hugged it in her hands.
"Hmm~ Ba... Ting!"
That was fine.
It was weird but still manageable.
But the singing was not.
It felt as though my eardrums were being ruptured.
She was lucky that there was no one else in the cabin with us.
"Ukh."
My pain tolerance was high, but there were limits to torture.
Clank!
"Hiip!"
"....!"
The door of the cabin opened abruptly, the attendant entering with a worried expression. Looking around, she scanned the place before tilting her head.
"Strange..."
Narrowing her eyes, she covered her mouth.
".....I thought I heard the sound of glass breaking here. Looks like it was just ."
She looked at us apologetically.
"I do apologize for that. I received several reports from people about soone trying to break the window from this room. It looks like the reports were false."
Clank!
The door closed shortly after and silence ensued.
"...."
"...."
Aoife looked at .
Her face was entirely red. To the point where it perfectly matched her hair.
"You..."
She was the first one to break the silence as a complicated look marred her face.
"....It wasn't that bad right?"
"What?"
"My singing. It wasn't that bad, right?"
"What?"
Aoife blinked her eyes and repeated.
"My singing—"
I cut her off while pointing at my ears.
"....Sorry, I can't hear."
"...."
Aoife looked at
with a face that seed as though she had eaten shit.
Click!
A strange clicking sound echoed within the room startling Aoife who looked at
with widened eyes.
"You...!"
Not minding her, I looked at the object in my hand which bore an uncanny resemblance to an old cara.
The difference was that it operated on mana, and a picture soon appeared.
I grabbed onto the picture before flapping it in the air.
I did that twice before the image beca clear.
"This is good."
As expected.
This was a good purchase.
It cost
a whopping 200 Rend.
Worth it.
I couldn't count the amount of tis I regretted not being able to take pictures of the faces Leon and the others made.
This was a must-purchase accessory.
....And it was already living up to the money that I had spent.
"That... Give
that."
"Aoife tried to reach for it, but I didn't let her and moved the picture away."
"Hey!"
I shook my head.
"Whatever you say, I can't hear you."
"....!!"
Her face scrunched up further.
Click—!
"Ahhhh!!"
*
From that point forward, the ride back was a quiet one. Aoife tried to wrestle the picture out of my hands, even going as far as using her powers, but I wasn't the sa person as the past .
I could now handle that much and was able to keep the pictures safely secured.
Aoife eventually gave up and the ride turned quiet. So quiet that it was kind of awkward. The entire ti, Aoife didn't say a thing as she chewed on her hair while staring at the ever-
changing scenery outside of the train.
Upon arrival, she picked up her lagguage and directly left without saying a single word.
'Was I too harsh?'
Staring at her back, I felt a little guilty.
But only slightly.
I was the true victim here.
My ears...
Did I even have ears at this point?
"Welco back."
Greeting
at the entrace of the Academy was an unusual person.
Atlas.
".....You're the last one to arrive."
He was by himself, with no one else in sight. In his hands was a small wooden box, and the mont my eyes laid on it, I felt my heart skip a bit.
It couldn't be...
"Yes, it's exactly what you're thinking."
"....!"
Atlas laughed while handing over the box to .
"This is the reward. I was quick, wasn't I?"
He was.
Delilah had told
I'd have to wait a bit, but this was a lot faster than I expected. It was a pleasant surprise.
"Can I...?"
"Take it."
Reaching out, I took the wooden box. It felt cool to the touch, and its coarse texture rubbed against my fingertips as I held it tightly in my grasp, afraid of letting it fall.
"Don't open it here. We don't want anyone to see what you're receiving, and the pressure... In general, I would say that it's not a good idea."
"....I understand."
Holding back on my temptation, I took a deep breath and put the box away.
I thought that would be it when Atlas handed
a couple of other things.
"Here, take this as well."
"This is...?"
I looked to see several pills in his hands.
"You might never know what happens when you absorb a bone of this degree. You may be strong ntally, but that doesn't an nothing wrong will happen. Take these as precautions. They should be able to give you a little boost."
"Thank you."
I took the pills and gratefully looked at Atlas.
For soone who was supposed to belong to an evil organization, he was sure nice to .
'Well, that's probably because I'm capable.'
If not, then he was probably not going to act like this with .
It was just how things were.
....And I was fully using this advantage for myself.
"Well, off you go. It's still the weekend, so you should absorb the bone while you have ti. We wouldn't want you skipping classes."
With a light, Atlas said a few other things. Mainly about what I should do, and not do before eventually leaving.
"I expect to hear good news soon."
He left as fast as he ca.
Standing by the entrance of the Academy, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves.
Finally...
Finally I had received the Dragon Bone.
It had been weighing down on my mind for quite so ti. To the point where I rembered going a couple of tis without sleep.
I was having a hard ti containing my excitent.
"Don't absorb the bone."
All of a sudden, Owl-Mighty appeared in front of .
He was staring in the direction of where I had put the wooden box.
".....I can sense a very powerful aura hiding within the bone. It is a lot more powerful than . What sort of creature does this bone belong to?"
Owl-Mighty seed genuinely curious about the bone.
I was just about to answer when it spoke again.
"Never mind that, you should go back to your apartnt first. I need to tell you sothing about the bone before you absorb it."
".....Okay."
Despite my confusion, I decided to comply with Owl-Mighty's words.
It definitely knew more about the bone than . I didn't see what harm there was for
to listen to what it had to say.
And thus,
Making sure that the bone was safely secured.
I headed back to the dorms.
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