As we returned from the small seclusion we created to have a peaceful talk, I could feel the suspicion mixing with curiosity in the souls of literally every single mber of the group. And sadly, I could already tell that rather than satisfying their curiosity, I had no other choice but to confirm their suspicions.
"Everyone, I will be leaving the group for now." Announcing as soon as I could use my voice in a normal way while making sure that everyone in the group and no one from the outside spectators could hear .
For a mont, no one spoke out a word. In this eerie silence, the only sound ca from the muscles and joints of several people when they suddenly started looking at the other mber of the group in an attempt to confirm that they heard correctly.
"No, no, no, just wait a mont." Stepping forward after a short mont, Lonignus opposed my decision. "We ca here with you all the way because we believe that it's our duty to deliver this sacred core to wherever it's supposed to go." Turning his head to the great of the group as he spoke, Longinus received a relatively loud hum of approval. With the silent backing of his friends, he once again dared to look at my face, only to realize that the matter I brought up was already set in stone.
"You heard what Teria said. Whether it was intentional or just a slip of a tongue, I need to face her alone." Taking a quick glance to the direction where that damned girl set off towards, Layn swallowed his saliva before tightening his jaws and lowering his eyes.
"It's my fault. I didn't know there was a barrier above the walls and I still attempted to force her to travel right through it." Admitting to my own mistake, I tightened my hands into fists before slamming my right fist into my chest. "Right now, I need to take responsibility for that mistake. And for that, I can't have any of you follow after ."
Just as the mont reached the limit of how tense it could be, I gently lowered my head over my chest before allowing a small smirk to surface on my lips.
"That is, for now. To be honest, I don't quite care about Teria annihilating cities or whatnot. To be frank, I doubt she would actually do such a thing in the first place. She might speak a lot, but she struck as a generally kind and naive goofball, not a mass murderer that she wanted to pose as before." Lowering my voice to add a tone of conspiracy to the reveal, I brought my head higher, just enough for the others to see my confident smirk. "Yet, whether or not Teria ant what she said, I still need to face her alone. And that's why" Putting on a aningful look on my face, I sent a suggestive stare to Longinus.
And after a mont of straining my muscles, I changed my target, taking a look with that expression of mine at Arsha instead.
"That's why, rather than going directly with you, we will follow after you. Close enough to jump in and help if a need would arise, far enough not to startle the girl, or" turning her head around to cast a glance at all the people that were slowly starting to make their way towards our group, Arsha swallowed a gulp of saliva before finishing, "or the many sellswords that are bound to travel right after us."
"I'm glad that soone caught up" Slamming my forehead against the opened up palm of my right hand, I allowed the loud clasp of at striking against the at to be the marker that divided the mont into the past, where everyone was confused and into the future, where everyone at least had so clues about what was going on.
"There is absolute, no, fucking, way." Spelling each of his words separately, Longinus' face darkened. "I know that you are strong. Just the fact that Teria hesitated to just take that sacred core from you is enough to prove that point." Starting with sothing that I didn't expect from soone opposing going solo, Longinus proved that even though he was at tis slow, he wasn't an idiot by any ans. "But that doesn't an you don't need soone to watch your back."
As much as I hated to admit it, Longinus was right here. No matter how powerful I was, no gun, no Sander's stone or armant could ward off against sneak attacks. While I had quite a few trinkets from the modern earth that could alleviate the danger for quite a lot, setting them up in a proper way would cost at least an hour, while granting no more than just a few splits of seconds more to react to any potential attack.
In such a situation, having soone to watch over while I sleep, to constantly survey the area and look for the hints of third-party presence, was of imasurable value. But due to the very reasons why I decided to go solo rather than allowing this entire group to follow, I had no choice but to refuse such an offer.
"The more people will co with , the harder it will be to avoid any trouble on the way." Shaking my head, I attempted to direct the topic into a field more favorable to . "I'm sure that there are people that will take Teria's words seriously. If they would just get their hands on my head, they could prevent the announced duel from happening, unleashing the wrath of Teria on those cities." Suddenly coming up with an apparently random scenario, I looked Longinus in his eyes.
"Tell , how likely my story is to be true for at least a few people in our surroundings?" Allowing my eyes to wander towards the gate where guards were openly praying for our party to leave, I then moved my sight back on the young rcenary himself.
For a mont, Longinus appeared as if he wanted to retort my logic in one way or another But ultimately, he spoke not a word. Taking a step back, he hung his head low before placing his hand on Arsha's shoulder. "I know that she might not be the most pleasant person to travel with, but she is capable. I would feel too bad to let you go after Teria all alone."
This ti, Longinus eyes had no hint of hesitation in them. Staring deeply into his pupils, I could tell that trying to convince him now would be an utterly pointless endeavor.
So I turned my eyes to the girl herself.
"Arsha, just a quick question." Still shocked by the sudden action of her male companion, Arsha was clearly troubled with digesting everything that was happening around her. Unable to utter even a single word, the girl only managed to look at with a question mark appearing all over her face. "Do you mind bearing the na of a traitor?"
My eyes turned cold. To the side, I could almost hear Hubriel slapping his forehead. But I wasn't going to compromise on this point either.
There were two reasons why I wanted to deal with the things the way I discussed with Hubriel. First off, given how much of a show Teria turned our small argunt into, it was only a matter of ti before entire countries would rush to catch and kill her. By traveling alongside the girl, I was effectively putting myself in a situation where a death sentence was simply unavoidable.
And while I couldn't care less about punishnt served by so random country in so random world that I wasn't likely to visit any ti soon after finishing the mission, the sa couldn't be said about people who were born in this world, who were living in this world and who would die in this world.
To put the situation in other words, by getting Arsha to follow , I was effectively dropping a cooked grenade into a cage, before leaving it myself and locking the girl inside.
As for the other reason behind my drive to travel on my own, it was pure pragmatism. Soon, I would be likely branded as a traitor and chased after just like Teria. But by traveling with her, I could make use of my phasing ability which allowed to keep up with the pace of a damned winged human.
On the other hand, as soon as the news of my betrayal would spread, Longinus party under Hubriel's influence could announce that my betrayal started when I split ways with them, obtaining an official reason to chase to the end of the world without anyone daring to stop them.
This moral and practical approach was behind the very idea of my betrayal. And so far, Longinus failed to bring any solution to the problem of our slow progress, making it impossible for him to convince to keep traveling with them.
"I don't mind. As long as we can fulfill the will of the saint, I'm willing to lay my life for that down." Stepping forward, Arsha shook Longinus hand's from her shoulder before standing on my side. "While I have no idea why you deed this developnt to be necessary" Shaking her head, Arsha patted herself all over before pulling out a small piece of an intricately carved tal plate. "I want to believe you. And this ti, I'm going to believe in you, even if I can't justify your reasoning on my own."
Throwing the plate towards the young rcenary, Arsha smiled. "Long, keep it safe for , okay?"
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