Dawn- An age of Darkness

Dinner was kind of fancy while also being a bit lackluster. It was fancier than street foods at least. But it was a bit lacking when compared to the stuff I had in Helsing\'s castle. It was definitely better than Alfeim\'s food though. Yeah, hands down. 

The cuisine was mostly just different kinds of curry and rice: they did have some fried stuff too. I haven\'t had rice in this world till now. But now that I finally did, I was disappointed. This was not the type of rice I liked. This rice was puffier than I was used to and definitely reeked a bit: they probably just scented it. Unfortunately, I liked my rice bland. 

But the curries were spicy and kind of good, so no worries. But yeah, my bowels might suffer a bit too much tonight. 

"What about that old- I mean your pet?" The earl began. He fumbled a little with the words.

Actually, I fumbled with the whole concept of her turning into a hag. 

We were almost done eating. We had a separate table for ten of us. The usual seven were here, but we had two more people, probably nobles. No one really talked while eating though. The mood was, a little, gloomy. 

This place was actually pretty big, probably a ballroom of sorts. There was little to no music though. People didn\'t have much joy and the soldiers ate in groups just a few meters from here. Though there were nearly a few hundred soldiers here, there wasn\'t much sound. Maybe some sort of item was used here or was it that people were so sad that they stopped talking altogether?

The latter didn\'t seem likely since we couldn\'t hear the sounds of plates or spoons and all that either. It had to be something I didn\'t know about, or probably just the former.

"She wouldn\'t come out of the blanket." I sighed. 

When we\'d gotten down, the first thing I did was pay a visit to Biteria and she was on the bed, covered with the blanket. She didn\'t budge no matter how much I pulled on the blanket. She didn\'t even come out of the blanket. In the end, I just gave up. 

"It\'s far too early to tell but is your pet from the Braskan islands?" The half-elf was actually sitting next to me.

"Yeah."

"Hmmmm…. It\'s possible she\'s evolving but it\'s too soon to tell."

 Yeah, I didn\'t need that kind of evolution. 

I sighed again. 

I stood up. I was done early. But I was waiting for these guys to finish up. I didn\'t care anymore. I just wanted some fresh air. "I\'ll be at the terrace in our room."

They all just kept eating, not paying me a single glance: the half-elf gave me a nod. I didn\'t know why but lately I was being ignored a bit too much. Was something wrong?

It was almost as though both Ve and Alisa were mad at me for some reason. I just couldn\'t pinpoint the reason though. 

Anyway, I kept walking and didn\'t look back. 

***

The lights were turned off. I turned them on and as expected the bunny was still inside the blanket. I pulled and she didn\'t budge one bit.

I sighed and went to the terrace. 

It was early night. Probably nine. I stood by the terrace and looked out. 

This city was kind of lackluster at night. The threat of the goblins was gone but still, there wasn\'t much light in the streets. It was a lot better than last night though. But perhaps still the fear of goblins remained. It was understandable considering how bad the condition was and how many people were lost every day. Actually, even the only water source had been constantly drained by the goblins, so yeah, I received more than just well wishes after getting rid of them. 

Speaking of goblins, the thing in my ring was still sleeping. I didn\'t know what I wanted to do about it and I didn\'t know what I wanted to do about goblins in general. 

Actually, no matter how I thought about it, there were just too many things I didn\'t know what to do about. I had too many things I wanted to do and so little time. My primary purpose was to get stronger and win so I didn\'t die. But- I wanted to free Lianne from that curse, I wanted to get rid of the undead, I wanted to end the tyranny of the grand monsters- the former gods, I wanted to rid this world of mana, I wanted to figure out a way to bring back the moon- I hadn\'t thought about it for a while- and I even waned to figure about more about the goblins but, I had so little time. 

And then there was this immediate threat. And now I also supposedly had to worry about a spirit. 

Sigh. It was a bit cloudy so I didn\'t see many stars. 

I sighed, I sighed hard.

"If you sigh too much-"

"My happiness would go away?" I chuckled. "I feel like I\'ve heard that somewhere before."

A faint giggle came from behind me. 

For a moment I almost mistook the girl as Lianne but then saw those largeness and yeah, she wasn\'t Lianne. She was wearing a dress provided by the earl, so technically this was supposedly noble wear. She looked pretty good in it. 

"I don\'t see a reason why Boriosa chose you and I don\'t intend to search for one either. But-" She stood next to me and looked out towards the city. "Why do you intend to keep your promise? Or more importantly, why\'d you free me? Because I\'d be convenient to you?"

This elf really was smart.

I couldn\'t run away. I grinned a little, like a thief caught in action. "To be frank, I didn\'t know how to free you. And no, I freed you because I had a promise to keep. And yes, I did have the intention of borrowing your help too. But if you wish to just leave and not get involved with us, I\'d be happy to send you off too." And I meant that. After all, Boriosa himself wished her to be free. 

"I see." She smiled, albeit faintly. This was the first time I saw her smile. I didn\'t know why but she strangely resembled Lianne a bit too much. 

Then again all elves were similar looking, so yeah. 

"The others should be back any moment I guess." I actually didn\'t have anything to talk about. 

"No, they\'re enjoying another quarrel. I don\'t think they\'ll be back for an hour or so?"

"They\'re quarreling again?" Just grimacing wasn\'t enough. 

"Well, perhaps this would lighten the mood a little. Today\'s victory did improve morale but after seeing that massive army, the soldiers seemed to have lost their desire to fight."

"Well, that sucks. And we even went through all that trouble too."

"Indeed."

There was nothing more to talk about. 

I didn\'t know why but the awkward silence between us just kept on coming back and back. 

"You said your goal was to become strong, but why?" She asked. Actually, we hadn\'t talked much about goals and all, so she didn\'t know. "And back in my time gods didn\'t necessarily hang out with mortals, but you-" She paused. "You\'re even an apostle and you seem to have that snake\'s blood in you."

I sighed. Did I have a sign on my back with all those information or something? And everyone just hated Trerortra, huh?

"Well, maybe it was fate, maybe just pure coincidence. But a lot happened for me a get here. There were a lot of sacrifices and a lot of clashes with the gods." I stared at her eyes: those emerald-colored jewels. "I don\'t like where I am and where I\'m going but that\'s why I\'m fighting to change it. And if I don\'t get strong enough, I\'ll die."

"I see." She resumed her gaze at the city. "It\'s nice to have a purpose."

"You don\'t have one?"

"I do but- after achieving it, I don\'t know what I\'ll do."

"Well-" I chuckled. "It\'s the same for everyone. No one really knows what they want to do after achieving their goals. You\'ll just have to figure it out like the rest of us." Technically, I had plenty of things even after achieving my goals though. So yeah, I was just being a hypocrite. 

She smiled but didn\'t look at me, rather the city. 

There was no more talk between us and the awkward silence didn\'t really feel that awkward anymore. It was still here though. 

***

Roughly twenty minutes later both Ve and Alisa came back. Both were in a bit of a foul mood. 

Neither talked to me and just went to their respective beds. 

There were actually four beds in this room, since the last time Dick was here. But I guess now it\'d be occupied by these three. 

The fourth bed? It was occupied by Biteria. "Where the hell am I supposed to sleep?" 

"Just sleep with the hag- Biteria." Alisa cleared her throat. 

Yeah, not comforting. 

I sighed and lied down next to Biteria. It\'s not like I hadn\'t slept with her before. Besides, she was just my pet, though she looked like a hag. 

She still didn\'t come out of the blanket though. I didn\'t really feel all that cold, so oh well.