Chapter 394: Meanwhile, on the Culprit’s side of things.
[Major Ger and everyone else who was within the Inner City last night were all murdered by the ’Silver Summoner’...]
Though the man muttered this under his breath, all the recruits heard him loud and clear. At this point, even the slowest of them all had figured things out.
If Recruit 659 had gone to the Inner City with Major Ger the previous night, then it was very likely that he was dead.
Lots of eyes glanced in the direction of the person who was closest to the two people, and it was clearly obvious from the look on her face that she had figured this out.
Her shoulders slumped as the weight of the devastating news settled upon her, shrouding her demeanour in sorrow. Her strands of hair seemed to have a will of their own, falling forward with almost deliberate grace and forming a curtain that shielded her eyes which were red with tears from the prying eyes around her.
Beneath the cover of her hair, Rachel’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, the pain of loss etched across her features. And with it, was the desire for revenge that flickered like an unyielding flame in her gaze.
The ’Demon of Light’ had taken her parents, and now the ’Silver Summoner’ had snatched away the friends who had become her pillars of support and had practically raised her.
’Both of them pay for what they’ve done, whatever the cost!!!’
As she clenched her fists in anguish, blood oozed from her palms, a visceral testament to the intensity of her emotions.
◇ ◇ ◇
Noble Baron Hotel
Tolgue City
Githal Region
November 14th
530th Divine Year
[Room Service.]
"Come on in."
Upon being granted permission, the attendant opened the door and pushed the trolley carrying food into the room, before turning around to carefully close the door behind her.
She moved the trolley towards the Suite’s dining area and began setting the food down on the table when she heard footsteps from behind her.
"Good morning to you s..ir..."
Her greeting trailed off towards the end when she raised her head and locked eyes with the person who emerged from the bedroom area, her breath momentarily getting caught in her throat.
"Good morning to you too."
His return greeting snapped her out of her daze and she bowed again, before turning around and continuing her job. Nevertheless, she could not help but take occasional sneak peeks at the youth who was flipping through the morning newspaper while walking around to the other side of the table.
He had short silver hair that was still wet, probably since he had just exited the bathroom a few seconds ago. Beneath his shiny hair, was a handsome face framed by the subtle gleam of moisture, with faint water droplets tracing a delicate path down his attractive facial features.
Since he was wearing a short-sleeved bathrobe, she could catch a glimpse of his muscular arms; in particular, he had well-toned biceps that complemented his physique harmoniously.
"Hmm? Is there a problem?"
Perhaps sensing her gaze that lingered a bit too long, he looked up and questioned her, and for a moment, she was captivated by the pair of sky-blue orbs.
"?! No, Sir.
Your meal is ready."
Though she was sneaking glances at him, she didn’t forget to do her job and had properly set the table without any mishaps.
Seeing this, the youth leaned forward and picked out one of the fries and tossed it into his mouth, before nodding lightly as he spoke.
"That’s actually quite good."
Leaning back into his chair, he reopened the newspaper which held a headline and image she couldn’t help but notice.
’DUSKHAND BASTILLE ATTACKED BY DEMONS’
"I’d be checking out by 3 pm, so please have the clothes I sent to laundry ready soon."
"Yes, Sir."
The attendant bowed lightly before making her way out the door of the room, lest she end up spending the entire morning admiring the hotel’s guest.
When the door closed, the youth who was left at the table, snapped his fingers and used a bit of wind magic to dry his hair, before tossing the newspaper into the bin.
After this, he turned his attention to the meal set out for him and dug into it.
"I see...so there’s a limit to how long I can override the default infusion, huh...."
He muttered to himself as the colour of his right iris slowly changed to a dull purplish colour, before completely transforming into red.
Arthur’s affinities affecting his physical features have been something he had been dealing with since his grandmaster days, but then it was only a change that manifested temporarily.
Last night, after he was done decimating Duskhand, he decided to come over to this hotel which he picked at random and have a good night’s rest on a comfy bed that wasn’t a military bunk bed.
Well, the time he reached here was almost at dawn, so there wasn’t really any time for a ’good night’s rest’, but he still slept his way till noon.
After waking up, he then proceeded to run an in-depth scan and study his own body with the laws of life and knowledge to fully understand the changes he had undergone recently.
For starters, he noted that just as his magic, aura, divinity and anti-divinity flowed through his energy circuits the same way his blood flowed through his veins and arteries, his Pseudo-Authorities had extended this to Law-Attributed energy.
Basically, a portion of his magic power on default was attributed with ’Time’ and ’Destruction’, hence, his law energy production in those two laws was leagues ahead of how they were before.
However, this wasn’t the main reason for this default attribution. The main reason was the constant energy flow sent to his eyes, infusing them with the law energy.
The physical representation of these infusions was the colour change to blue and red.
"I can shut off the flow, but all that does is make the colours go really dull. They don’t change back to black."
Just as he said that, the Room Service Attendant returned with his clothes, and quickly finished his meal before letting her take the plates back.
When he changed into the new outfit and looked himself over in the mirror, a single thought came to his head.
"Damn, I look like Layla’s dad."
Arthur was wearing a black dress shirt, similar coloured trousers and a long black overcoat hanging from his shoulders.
Just for the fun of it, he tossed on some half-framed glasses he found in his subspace, and after confirming he hadn’t left anything in the room, he made his way to the elevator.
During the descent to the ground floor, his mind wandered to his decision to abandon the soldier identity he had in Duskhand.
’The only reason I did all that was so I could enter the City; now that I’m done with my business there, I have no use for it again.’
If there was any hard feeling he had about leaving Duskhand, it was simply because Rachel was a nice conversation partner.
’Well, I’d probably never see her again so...’
*DING!
He shrugged as he thought this, while the elevator doors opened up to reveal the lobby of the hotel. Just as he was stepping out, two other people were stepping in.
They were teenagers with contrasting hair colours, white and black respectively.
Arthur initially didn’t pay any more attention to them besides their hair colour, but when he walked past the white-haired teen, his brow rose in slight surprise.
’That White haired girl...she has quite a substantial amount of Time Energy.’
He turned around to glance at the girl once more and see her face, but she remained facing the open elevator with her back turned to him.
On closer inspection, he noticed her body flinched when he looked at her, with a small smile coming to his face as he turned around.
’And she’s perceptive too.’
The other black-haired girl called out to her friend who seemed to be in a daze, and Arthur could feel a gaze turned in his direction as he walked up to the counter.
He returned the room keys and completed his checkout process, before heading towards the exit without looking back even once.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed a camera turned in his direction and he gave it a peace sign, before snapping his fingers and activating Teleportation magic, shocking those nearby as he suddenly disappeared.
