"Empty cage?" I frown while looking at Valeria, then gaze into Genelos' cage. "It does seem empty, but I am sure he is inside—I have just fed a Wyvern in this cage, Miss. Valeria."
"In the cage?" Valeria is already beside at this point, and she still can't believe what I said. Extending her hand to touch the bars, she lifts them with a touch. "What an impudent ntee you are. It's only your first day, but you have already lied to your ntor?"
I blink my eyes at how genuinely unhappy Valeria's tone sounds as I stand up. I step forward to be side by side with her, then wonder about what she will do after lifting the bars of the cage.
"Lying to your ntor is a sin. Just be honest with , and I will not do anything to you."
"What do you an, Miss. Valeria?"
"There is no Wyvern here."
"There is a Wyvern here." I look at Valeria weirdly, still wondering what she is on about. "What is the point of lying about such a thing? With Magic, you should be able to detect whether there is a Wyvern here."
As I point my hand to the dark room, realization also dawned upon . 'Soone of Valeria's caliber will never state sothing unless they are sure of it. That ans, Valeria really can't see any Wyvern inside it.'
I frown once again, then look at Valeria hesitantly. "There were 10 lumps of at and I distribute them evenly to the 10 Wyverns in this stable. If one of the cages was indeed empty, there should be one at left."
"So your point is, since I can't see any lump of at left, you are not lying?"
"I an, you said it yourself, Miss Valeria. There are 10 Wyverns in this cage, and there are also ten cages inside the stable."
"That was my miss. I forgot to tell you that one of them has died yesterday."
I am honestly confused as hell, so I can only look at Valeria silently. She seems to understand my confusion, but she doesn't do anything about it.
In the next mont, she extends her hand, and shoots a ball of light into the dark room. The ball moves like a flash, before exploding in the middle of the room, illuminating the entire room.
I can see everything inside the room—it's a long and vast tunnel like room—and I can't see Genelos inside.
At that, I gape in bewildernt, disbelief, shock, and fear while thinking about what will await now that I have been proven to be lying. The room returns to its normal state after 10 seconds or so, but I still keep gaping while looking at the now dark room.
"Did you see any Wyvern here?"
Only after registering Valeria's question did I stop gaping and take a breath to calm myself down. "I didn't see anything, Miss. Valeria. However, I want to let you know that I didn't lie to you; I really fed a Wyvern inside this cage."
"Are you that eager to get punished?" Valeria quirks her eyebrow. "You seem really adamant about it."
As I weakly pull in my hair—I don't want to ruin my hair—I grit my teeth indignantly. 'I am imagining things, is what she wants to say, huh?!' I can't accept the fact that I am to be blad in this situation.
I am sure I gave a lump of at to Genelos. I am sure he opened the cage for . I am sure he talked to . I am sure we know of each other already. I am sure he has eaten the at I gave him. I don't want to believe that it's all a delusion.
"Everything felt so real: our conversation, and the energy I spent to bring the at to Genelos' cage. There is no way that..." I can't continue my speech as I am reminded of sothing. It is about what happened to after my morning run.
I couldn't rember what had actually happened at that ti, and it was only after Valeria did sothing to did I rember about what happened. Although I regretted knowing what happened to , I, at least, was reminded that I am just a normal human.
Human's mind is simple and profound at the sa ti. It is the most important part of us, humans, and it controls every decision we make—our course of life.
It is sotis supple, and sotis firm—it's changing as the ti goes. What can be said for sure however, our mind decides what's best for us.
I can't rember anything about the scene where my mother killed my bastard of a father along with his girlfriend despite having my eyes opened the entire ti. I am pretty sure my blurry eyes could still see many things at that ti.
It all happened because my mind wanted to always picture my mother as a good person, so it erased the scene from my mory. It is also the case with the repeated Reset I have faced in the Training Field.
I felt all the pain and the agony from the injuries Millonia inflicted on or the crazy things she did to my body before I Reset, but I stopped being afraid of death after my eighth Reset. Even the idea of facing a Reset doesn't scare any longer.
Have I been numbed to the pain? No. Have I got used to the gory things? No. My mind has just simply accepted that all of them are unavoidable, and normalized everything to just so I can keep going on with my life—to keep sane.
The case maybe the sa with Genelos. His might be just a coping chanism my mind created to make forget the exhaustion I was feeling at that ti.
Although I don't know what I was actually feeling at that ti, but I must have been afraid of being alone if that was really the case.
"I don't understand." I look up at Valeria. "I don't understand everything. Everything happens so fast, I can't keep up with it. Many things have happened to , and all of them confused . I want to ask about them, but no one is there to answer ."
By the ti I realized it, my cringey-ass is already so into my speech, my eyes start to water. I feel all of my suppressed feelings—anxiousness, fear, confusion, indignation, wrath—have finally exploded out of my heart.
As I said, I am not a manly dude; I cried a lot on Earth. If not for the fact that I am not too confused about the bewildering developnt, I would have already wailed like a bitch due to how scared I am since yesterday.
In other words, I am fine with Valeria seeing my ugly face. I don't have that stupid pride that tells a man shall never cry in front of a woman; I cry when I want, and no one can stop .
"Are you fine?"
"Hell, no! I am starting to doubt my sanity here. It's my biggest existential crisis ever since I find I looked so much like a girl."
Valeria seems to be too flustered to respond to what I said as she keeps silent after that. I cry silently for another 30 seconds or so, before wiping the tears off my eyes when I think that I have cried enough.
"You are done?"
"I have a good ti managent."
I don't need her to say it out loud; I know she must be thinking that I might have two personalities. I am a pretty level person—I rarely have mood swings—but I won't deny what she thinks about .
No one sees us better than others. Of course, that ans we are the only one who understand ourselves, so I don't really care about what she thinks about .
"Kuhum! Since you have finished your job, I will let you rest for today." Valeria takes her blind mask off, and stores it sowhere I don't know. Her aura instantly changed, and she feels more familiar to . "Let's return to your hut."
She extends her hand to pat my head, but I slap her hand away even before it reaches my head for an impulsive reason.
"I don't need your pity. Just... Just leave alone for the ti being." Even while saying this, I am screaming inside.
Valeria looks at silently, then nods her head. "Very well. If that's what you wanted, I can't do anything but to respect it."
I can't still feel Mana yet, but the mont Valeria raises her hand, I know she is about to disappear.
"Wait!" So, I hold her hand to stop her before it is too late. Valeria quirks her eyebrow at , and looks at with a hidden amusent in her eyes. "Kuhum! I don't rember the way back to the hut. Please, guide there..."
Valeria doesn't need to see the blush on my face to know that I am embarrassed; my tone says it all. She chuckles faintly, pats my head briefly much to my annoyance, then leads to my hut.
Upon arriving at my hut, she imdiately disappears without saying anything just like what I wanted ... At least, that's what it looks like.
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