Chapter 181 – Icarus
A mory played into his mind, like a movie that summarized the person he just t. Nikolai was sitting inside the darkness as he rembered the lowest point of his life.
"Are you awake?" asked the gentle voice as Nikolai was nudged. Then, finally, his awareness ca, but it brought a killing headache with it.
"Ugh, where am I?" asked Nikolai as he rose. It was the sa inn he frequented, and the waitress looked at him with concern.
"You drunk too much again, Sir Yaran," she said with a sigh. "I always knew that young adventurers were into killing themselves, but not in this way," she giggled.
"Are you mocking ?" Nikolai scowled at her, and she giggled more before bringing him so water to wash his face. The inn was empty, and it was morning, so she only took care of him.
This waitress was the only person who cared about him at this ti, and it made him cling to life instead of thinking about ending it. This was also the reason that he frequented
Nikolai was still working at a guild, a low-tiered guild responsible for patrolling Rohan. It was the beginning of his miserable years where he spent it with the drunken and whores.
This was probably the lowest point of his life until he had a falling with so gangsters in the city. Then, he witnessed the kidnapping of soone kind to him, the sa waitress who cared about him and fed him at his lowest.
This was also the person Lilith killed in one of her raids and why Nikolai t the Elven Princess. It was also the sa woman in the darkness which he could not kill after deciding to take this path.
Nikolai did not know how much ti he spent in the darkness, but he knew it was ti to think. He closed his eyes as the darkness surrounded him like a womb, where every mory he had from his past life resurfaced.
***
The young man who was looking at her was the one that joined the most recently. It was a thin man wearing white armor and had a handso face. However, his presence was weak as he slipped unnoticed.
"I… I heard he was a philanderer," said the son of Azamir in an attempt to tarnish his reputation. "There are rumors that say he is here because of connections. He is the son of the vice-guildmaster, so he lacks ability."
Cecily noticed the man smiling at her. There was no lust in his eyes, and it was a sincere smile that compelled him to trust her. When he noticed her gaze, the young man strode forward.
"Let us switch, as I am sure that you are tired," said the young man, and Azamir's son snorted before leaving. Cecily was surprised by how quickly the man gave up after his gossip.
"I did not ask for help," said Cecily with a smile, and the young man shrugged. "You are the son of the vice-guildmaster, Icarus."
"I am flattered that the young miss knows ," said Icarus with a smile. "I hope Zanir did not tarnish my reputation beyond repair. But, unfortunately, that is his forte, and I am not a match."
"I learned to take things with a grain of salt," she said with a smile. "I know about you because we t before. So, I apologize for not noticing you."
"I would be more bothered if you did, Young Miss," laughed Icarus. "I want to keep a low profile among this group. I do not trust that they are loyal to the guild."
"I thought you were not a match for Zanir," she called him out, and Icarus covered his mouth with a frown.
"I am not usually this talkative, but I get loose around beautiful won," he said with sincerity that almost got to her. However, Cecily was not the sa person as earlier.
The nightmare was the best lesson she could learn before investigating. This man was sincere, but it made her even more alard than her interactions with the others.
"Are you saying that so of them are disloyal?" she asked with surprise, hiding her true thoughts. The young man acted like he zipped his mouth and did not say anything.
As she was about to ask him more, Cecily sensed the disappearance of her notebook, and she ca to an imdiate halt. The group frowned when the person leading them suddenly stopped, and so drew out their swords.
"Danger?" asked the leader with eyes that tried to peer the unseen, his hand resting on the handle.
"We need to wait," said Cecily with a shaky voice. "There are powerful monsters ahead of us. We need to wait for them to pass."
"You seem to underestimate our abilities, Rainmaker," said a giant man who took out his hamr. "This is the chance to shine as heroes."
"As dead heroes," corrected Cecily as she glared at him. "We are crossing the unknown, knight. This is not the ti to endanger us. You can go back into the darkness and fight on your own once we reach Abani Ruins."
The man was stomped for words, and he grew quiet. The rest of them smiled but were in no mood to mock him. Their hands did not let go of their weapons as they waited.
Cecily had to think of countless possibilities as to why the dark disappeared with her notebook. First, of course, he might have betrayed her, but he did not need to show himself if that was the case.
Her goal did not change: to find the spy. However, the suspects were equally suspicious. The person beside her was the most recent one to join, but he was soone she knew when they were young.
Many tis, noble families gathered for politics, trade, or fun. However, the kids were not usually taken to formal etings and parties but instead allowed to play together.
Icarus was always the quiet but dashing prince of their group. It was always wonder what he thought about, but he was kind and helpful.
His father, the vice-grandmaster of Vangir Guild, was nothing less than a marquis of this kingdom. Icarus himself was hailed as the young genius of their generation, even allowed to join a guild none other than Vangir.
This information made it harder for her to accept that Icarus was the spy, but her skill was tingling. Cecily had an innate legendary but non-combat skill that allowed her to morize every detail of her life.
Then, she can pinpoint the mismatch or whatever did not belong to the rest. This made her a genius at handling the financial matters of her family as she took down the corrupted subordinates that they had.
Therefore, Cecily can simply gather their stories and point out what did not make sense to her. However, she did not have ti to know everything about them.
Icarus took a step closer to her, and it made her flinch. However, the knight was standing before her in case a dark being from the lie that she said indeed attacked them.
"You can rely on for protection, Cecily," said Icarus as he showed her his reliable back. "I am different from the rest of this group. We are friends, rember?"
Her violet eyes started glowing as her skill activated, pulling back mories from her childhood. Once, Icarus protected her like this against so of her cousins who bullied her.
Cecily can still rember how she looked at Icarus at that ti. Her father did not take care of her, and her mother died that year. However, Icarus made her feel safe.
"You are still naive," a mory jumped out of line, and it was a recent one. Cecily snapped out of her daze as she rembered the nightmare that the dark being had shown her.
Then, she started seeing the inconsistency of the story. Icarus did not try to talk to her until he saw that she was talking to the man from earlier. Furthermore, only one person knew about her ability to pinpoint the fakery: the knight in front of her.
'He is trying to distract ,' she realized. 'The reason I did not notice him until now was that he made sure of it. He always chose to stand behind soone and made sure his presence goes unnoticed.'
Cecily started to realize that the spy was the one she knew the most. However, the act fell apart as soon as the man told her about the group because Icarus knew she would use her skill.
However, how did he know that she was investigating them?
Cecily almost laughed at her naivety. Icarus knew how curious she was about the world. It did not matter if he knew she was investigating because he would still be in danger.
"I hate that you are here, Cecily," he turned toward her.. "Why did you have to appear now?" his face looked guilty and Cecily knew she was in danger.
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