Chapter 131: Investigating The Town (2)
A few long seconds passed.
Then a dozen.
Then nearly half a minute.
Finally, Elane eased back from the wall and looked back at Rohan.
"Well?" He mimed.
Elane copied Rohan and mimed back. "...Steady breathing."
Rohan frowned, but continued asking. "Only one?"
Elane nodded, causing Rohan’s nerves to ease up greatly at such good news.
They then moved a good distance away from the building so they could quickly strategise where to go from here.
"It’s faint. Really faint. Whoever’s in there is a very light breather, very controlled. They are definitely a strong Awakened, perhaps an E rank considering the place we are in." Elane’s brows were knitted together.
"Other than that, I couldn’t hear anything else."
Rohan glanced back at the door of the building, or what remained of it. The frame had long warped with age and the stress of the heavy stone and rocks keeping the building together, and the lower half looked swollen from countless years of moisture damage.
Still, whoever was occupying it now had done a decent job of temporarily fixing it and even giving it a makeshift door.
"You think they’re asleep?" Rohan asked.
Elane’s explanation of how steady and slow their breathing was sounded like a textbook description of a healthy person’s breathing when asleep.
Elane nodded again, boosting Rohan’s confidence.
Now that they were on the same page, Rohan carefully moved toward the door and placed one hand against the wood. It was rough on his palm, and far more fragile than it looked.
He applied some light pressure and pushed it open as slowly as he could manage. The last thing he wanted was for the crooked door to groan and wake up whoever was inside.
Elane positioned herself away from him, bow not yet summoned but her body set to spring into motion if things were to go wrong quickly.
After all, they didn’t come to this place looking for a fight. Not yet, at least...
Considering they were intruding on this person’s personal space, the least they could do was show some friendliness by stowing away any weapons, showing the person inside that they meant no harm... for now.
Rohan took a silent breath, then pushed the door.
It opened inwards with a surprising smoothness that for a second even he was caught off guard. There was no creak or groans like he had expected for this century old building — if it really were that old.
It moved so silently that even his own ears failed to catch it, like the whole rotten structure had conspired to let him in without protest.
But in that same moment, that earlier foreboding and creepy feeling welling up inside Rohan intensified like crazy after the door opened.
And Rohan knew why instantly.
The moment the gap widened enough for darkness and light to split around him, he new something was wrong.
Rohan stepped a foot inside anyway, because retreating now would only make him look even more suspicious than finishing the act.
His eyes immediately darted to a makeshift bed at the corner of the room, where a lone figure sat slouched on the edge of it, facing away from the door.
’They’re awake!’ Rohan realised, his adrenaline starting to spike.
Either they had faked being asleep earlier, or his actions just now had caused them to wake up.
The room inside was small and bare, lit by a single yellow oil lamp sitting atop an overturned crate near the far wall.
The light it cast was weak and smoky, making the place look even more ancient than it already was.
A few broken shelves leaned in one corner, with some old cloth sacks pushed up against them. A jug sat on the floor beside what looked like a crude wash basin made from a hammered sheet of metal.
Rohan’s eyes narrowed.
The figure was unmistakably a person.
They were broad shouldered, and strangely... fully armoured.
Not in scrap or salvaged gear either, but in what looked like a complete suit of bronze armour from head to toe, with a look that gave the complete set a look of a medieval knight rather than an Awakened in this day and age.
After all, even though everyone was reduced to primitive weapons and methods inside the Origin Realm, they still adopted their modern aesthetics from the outside universe.
Even sitting in that lazy, slouched position, the stranger looked imposing. The metal caught the lamplight in muted golden-brown tones, showing off the exquisite craftsmanship.
Rohan’s instincts were screaming at him to summon his spear on the spot, but he held them back. He had to keep up appearances.
"I apologise if I disturbed you, I only wanted some information," he started speaking, trying to sound like less of a threat and more like an exhausted, lost idiot.
"Directions, maybe. Anything useful." He smile politely.
Still, he received nothing in reply.
The figure remained stiff as a statue the entire time.
Rohan’s polite smile started to strain at the edges. He wasn’t used to unique personalities like this one. It felt even weirder to him than open aggression.
He took a half step to the side, trying to get a better angle without making it look like he was looking for trouble.
"Can you understand me?"
Nothing again.
Just then, Elane stepped around the doorway to join him.
She heard Rohan start speaking and immediately assumed that something was up. After all, she was 90% sure the person inside was sleeping just a few moments ago, so this was a bit of a surprise.
She sent a single, clear look at the figure inside, and her whole body locked up.
Rohan didn’t notice it immediately, because his attention was still fixed on the armoured stranger, trying to figure out whether he was dealing with some mute guard, a statue, or even a person at all.
But when Elane failed to say anything at all after coming over, that finally pushed his attention her way.
"What’s up with you?" He asked.
She was shaking — quite violently at that.
The look in her eyes was very clear to Rohan.
Fear. Pure, absolute fear.
Like he’d never seen before from Elane, and he immediately grew concerned.
"H... H—" Elane sputtered.
"Come on, it’s okay. Spit it out!" Rohan placed his hands on her shoulders and tried to calm her down.
Until finally—
"H—hoplite... That’s a hoplite."
