Three days later.
Edgar was sitting at the bottom of the pond. He slowly released his drive, creating only a minute disturbance, but it was more than enough to alert the nearby fishes; they swam away.
Helia was also sitting at the bottom of the pond at a different spot, about twenty meters away from Edgar, but her drive leaked out so smoothly there was no disturbance around her, and fish swam through her drive without a problem whatsoever.
Edgar eventually swam to the surface and looked frustrated. “What’s gotten into her? Since yesterday, she’s been copying my moves and showing off that she can do it better.”
Helia also came to the surface and observed Edgar.
“There she goes again.” He flo
Helia was sitting by the pond, staring at the small waves spreading about on the water surface.“Water and life… What a strange connection they have. No matter how much one fills or purifies, the other still thirsts and pollutes. It’s almost as if living itself is a curse.”At the moment, she could see the glittering reflection of the sun, the fish swimming about, the plants growing underwater, and also the groundwater slowly rising up into the pond. It looked peaceful on the surface, but if one looked closely, there was one type of fish busy eating snails, and another type fighting for territory. There were also those aggressive fish that naturally disrupted the peace in the pond. The proceedings of the pond reminded her of human society in general. People mainly competed or fought for resources. Even if they had resources, they would
In the Great Joint.Fabby was standing outside a room. A beautiful pink-haired girl who lost one of her legs was standing next to her, wearing a sad and angry face.“This is their room, right?” asked Fabby.“Yes, sister. They attacked me out of nowhere and not only stole my evergreat coins but also fed my leg to beasts,” she frustratingly said. She had a mole on her forehead. “I come from a poor family. With the state I’m in, I can’t earn enough to pay a great healer who can make my leg grow. My whole future has been spoiled by these two. Even if I go to the discipline hall, they won’t act. So I’ve come to you. Since you already have bad blood with them, even if you were to hurt them, the discipline hall won’t act. Please bring justice. I beg of you.”
The sun just started slipping below the horizon.“T-Thank you, sister,” Lily approached Fabby and bowed, shed tears and sounded emotional.“You don’t need to thank me,” Fabby could feel the weight in her words and more. “I partly did it myself as well. If there’s anything else I can do for you, then feel free to ask.”“Then please die for me!” A knife appeared in Lily’s hand, and she thrust it straight toward Fabby’s throat. She was too close, and Fabby was utterly stunned. She didn’t even have any time to react.A blurry figure whooshed past Lily, and the next second, she realized that the knife was gone.Fabby, who saw death up close, was still in
On the same night, the cover of darkness increased thanks to the moon and the stars hiding their faces behind floating masses of water.At about a thousand meters high, an owl was flying through the sky. Bontu was sitting on its back. Kane, too, was there, sitting with his hands tied and mouth gagged. And his face was additionally covered up with a bag.“If you had opened your mouth, then we could have avoided this,” Bontu still didn’t give up on hearing a name come out of Kane’s mouth. “It’s still not too late.” He removed the bag off of Kane’s face.Kane’s eyes however showed no change. If anything, they were glowing red as ever.Bontu shook his head and looked ahead. They were heading right into a forest full of ta
“Kane is more than meets the eye.” Bontu looked at Helia for support. “We must find him no matter what.”“Fret not,” Helia replied in an assuring tone. “Kane can’t leave these grounds so easily.”At the same moment, about ninety miles away to the west from where Edgar was.A mysterious man was flying away on a bat at extreme speeds. The upper half of his face was covered by his unmoving hair. He was smiling as he looked at Kane. “Are you still mad that I wasted your arm? Don’t worry. When we get back, I’ll help you grow it back soon enough.”“I said I didn’t need help. Why did you come, Boru?” Kane was sitting cross-legged, looking a bit frustrated. “Did ‘he’
The next morning.There was a ruckus in the mission hall regarding the incident that took place in the forest that was on its north.“Hey, did you hear that a fight took place last night in the Monkey Forest?”“What?”“And the High Elder himself was in action, it seems.”“Eh? Really? Who would dare fight against him?”“No idea. But they must have been powerful as their fight lasted an hour or so.”“No wonder I couldn’t sleep well last night. The rumbling sounds I heard in the sky last night must be because of their fight.” Edgar understood where she was going. “Fine. Since it’s only becoming an outer disciple and not an inner disciple, I will become—”Just then his eyes caught sight of someone walking along the nearby road that was on the other side of half-destroyed rooms, someone in a dark brown cloak with silver designs on it. Every inch of the body, from the head to the toes was covered up pretty well. And the sight of the white wolf mask with red markings froze his expression.He rubbed his eyes and looked again. There was no such figure now. He quickly stood and scuttled toward that road, puzzling his sister. He crossed the rooms and reached the road swiftly and looked around. It was practically desolate. “Am I seeing things?” he scratched his head. “Why did I remember her now?”&lWHIT 126 - THE MAN IN THE GRAY MASK
In the evening, at the mission hall.Bontu just arrived on a muscular and was shocked upon hearing that they finished five missions in the span of twelve hours. “Are you guys even sleeping?”“We would love to, but we don’t get paid to sleep, do we?” Edgar asked back.“Still, sleep is important,” Bontu stressed his words.“Yeah, but don’t ask about that,” Edgar took out a sack and handed it to Bontu.“Mm? What’s this?”“Check it yourself,” said Edgar.After opening the sack and looking inside, Bontu’s eyes expanded upon seeing more than a hun