Chapter 137: Lianne (2)
Rohan wasn’t going to reveal anything about himself to these people. They could continue guessing for all he cared.
His reply did fall a little flat in the wake of everything that had already happened there, but Rohan didn’t care. He didn’t owe these people any explanation. Sure, their sudden arrival did save him being killed and sent back to the outside universe, but that was something neither he, nor they, had expected.
If they came here with the intention to save him, then sure, he might show some gratitude to them. But that clearly wasn’t the case here.
Still, judging by the looks on some of their faces, that answer wasn’t going to satisfy everyone.
Particularly Simon.
"That’s it?" He frowned. "That’s all you have to say?"
Rohan slowly turned his head to look at him.
’Ah, there he is. The pampered young master.’
At any other time, Rohan might have laughed at him. Simon, for some reason, looked personally offended that Rohan hadn’t immediately bent over and given them the full breakdown of the battle, as if surviving the encounter with a hoplite wasn’t already more than enough of a feat without also having to turn it into a performance for complete strangers.
But he was tired.
Far too tired to deal with self-important people like him.
"You want the longer version?" He wiped a line of blood from his nose with the back of his hand. "Fine. It hit me. I didn’t die. Then it hit me some more. I still didn’t die. End of story."
A few people at the rear shifted awkwardly, unsure whether to laugh or stay quiet.
Simon, however, was not pleased.
"That doesn’t explain anything."
"No," Rohan agreed. "It really doesn’t."
"Don’t you get it? This is the Federation’s most hated enemy we are talking about. Where’s your obligation to better the Federation? The more we learn about them, the better it is for everyone!" Simon went on a tirade.
But Rohan simply didn’t care for anything he had to say.
"Why should I feel an obligation to a government that treats its most desperate, struggling citizens like shit? That puts pampered man-children like you on a pedestal, while people like myself are left to fight for the scraps?" Normally, Rohan would never have fallen for the provocation so easily, but this situation was far from normal.
He’d just had the wits beaten out of him by an enemy far stronger than him, and minutes earlier that same enemy just happened to kill his companion, leaving him alone in this place.
No. Rohan was not the happiest fellow at the moment.
"I reached where I am through my own efforts, and that’s only after Awakening. I could care jack squat about what people like you have to say about it."
Before Simon could bark something back, Lianne raised one hand slightly without taking her eyes off Rohan.
It wasn’t a dramatic gesture, but it did shut her subordinate up immediately.
She continued to eye Rohan for another few moments, brows furrowed.
"We won’t pry into your secrets any longer. All we wish to know is which direction the hoplite escaped to. And perhaps any additional information you have about it."
Rohan let out a slow breath.
At least this leader of theirs was a rational person.
He pointed a finger up, leading Lianne to tilt her head in confusion.
"Up. It launched itself off the ground and angled northeast after that. Fast enough that I lost sight of it immediately."
Inwardly, Rohan was still shocked at the speed the hoplite had escaped with. It was far beyond anything it had shown in the battle against him. Even after he managed to "injure" it, it still held back...
One of the awakened behind Lianne turned and pointed that direction out to the others, who began quietly discussing it among themselves. A couple of them even rode their horses a few paces away to get a clearer look over the ruined town’s perimeter, as if that would somehow help them trace it.
Lianne remained where she was.
Rohan knew why she did. ’She’s sharp.’
She could tell that he still had some more to tell.
"The first important thing," he said eventually. "Is that it wasn’t here by accident."
Lianne’s stance turned serious.
"Even before I arrived here with my companion, it was camping out in an old building across the street. It had even made some minor repairs to make it barely liveable."
Rohan’s words sparked a sense of urgency in Lianne that he couldn’t see. She almost wanted to refute his words, but when she turned to the building Rohan had pointed out, the changes to it made it stand out compared to all the other ruins in this town.
But she noticed something else in Rohan’s words.
"Companion?"
"The hoplite killed her."
Rohan quickly moved on.
"It had clearly settled down in this place. Not like someone hiding out for a few hours. It was as if it was waiting for something, and even grew comfortable enough to sleep in this environment, knowing full well it was deep inside enemy territory."
Lianne’s eyes narrowed. "Watching what?"
Rohan shrugged. "Hell if I know. I only arrived here about 10 minutes before you guys."
His brows suddenly furrowed. ’Now that I think about it, those tracks we were following probably belonged to Lianne’s group. Which means they’ve been here before, but how could they have not noticed the hoplite already?’
He kept his suspicions to himself.
At this time, some of her subordinates returned from their scouting.
"Lady Lianne, we’ve checked the whole town, and there’s no traces of the hoplite anywhere. Looks like it covered its tracks extremely well despite how close behind we were."
Rohan mentally rolled his eyes. ’Of course you guys won’t find anything. It leaped straight into the forest after you turned up. Way to make your suspicions about me subtle.’
Was a lone F rank Awakened fending against an E rank hoplite, deep inside E rank beast territory, really that suspicious...
’...Nevermind.’
