Chapter 688: I guess so [1]

“I’m rather surprised by the amount that we’ve managed to make. I didn’t expect people to actually buy from us.”

Counting the numerous sacks in front of him, An’as’s eyes shone. I was also staring at the money with the same look.

Following Loen’s appearance, we managed to acquire our fair number of customers.

“That isn’t surprising if you think about it.”

Anne suddenly spoke, staring at the coins in front of us as her eyes squinted a little. Reaching forward, she tossed one of the sacks in the air to feel their weight before putting them back down on the table as An’as turned his attention towards her.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean what I mean.”

Anne picked up another sack and looked through it.

“Following the recent event with the gigantic monster and the city, most people are likely scared and worried. You of all people know what most people do when they’re scared.”

“That is…?”

An’as looked at her cluelessly. I was similarly lost, but after a little bit of thought, it struck me as I opened my mouth to answer.

“They try to get stronger.”

“Yes.”

With a simple nod, Anne put the sack down.

“Since you never know if an incident similar to this one might happen again, everyone is purchasing bones in order to become stronger. This is, after all, the fastest and most effective way to become stronger. You can say that the demand for bones has shot through the roof.”

“Ah.”

An’as finally appeared to understand as he slapped his fist against his open palm.

“That makes sense. I guess that kind of explains why the place is so busy.”

“Mhm. That’s not all.”

Anne turned her attention towards the numerous bones that we had.

“…Our prices are also relatively lower than most other vendors. It’s no surprise that we managed to sell so much.”

“Right.”

She wasn’t wrong here either. Our prices were indeed a lot lower than most of the other vendors. This… It was both good and bad. It was bad in the sense that most vendors here had some sort of agreement with each other in order to keep the prices consistent, and with us selling it at a lower value, it made their entire agreement go up in smoke.

Good in the sense that we were able to make a lot of money.

‘Either way, with Anne present, none of the vendors were even able to do a single thing besides glare in our direction.’

So what if they were annoyed?

Anne would slap them out of this place if they so much as said something.

“No wonder. No wonder. I thought I was going crazy when I felt the numerous glares around me.”

An’as appeared to have had another understanding. I felt a little sorry for him. Of the three of us, he had probably been the one who had worked the most. He didn’t really get the chance to think about these matters.

‘Whatever the case is, we’ve managed to get what we wanted.’

“I think it’s time we close up shop and go back.”

Looking around and seeing the crowd slowly starting to thin out, I knew that it was time for us to end the sale. While we still had quite a lot of bones to sell, we were no longer in need of money.

The bones would just go back to Anne, who could sell them on her own.

Turning around and staring at them, I squatted down before separating the bones in terms of rank. It was the least I could do.

“Huam.”

Yawning, An’as also appeared to agree as he turned around and prepared to clean up.

However, right as he did, a shadow cast over us as An’as raised his head to speak.

“Sorry, but we’re—”

However, halfway through his words, he appeared to stop.

A strange silence filled the surroundings as I raised my brow. Why did it suddenly go silent?

“What’s going on—”

Confused, I turned around to see what was happening, but the moment I did, my entire body froze, rooted in place as I felt my heart and breath stop.

A pair of obsidian eyes, ones I was so familiar with, locked onto me, and in that instant, I stood frozen. My mind went blank, thoughts scattered like ash in the wind, as the world around me seemed to halt in eerie, suspended silence.

She just stared at me.

No words.

No expressions.

She… just stared.

And yet, her stare seemed to say a million words as I struggled to think properly.

“Y-ou… you’re that woman from before…”

It was An’as’s voice that snapped me out of my state as he stared at Delilah with wide eyes. Judging from his expression, he appeared to recognize her as his expression looked incredibly tense.

‘Thinking about it, he was with me when she appeared back then…’

The same was for Anne, who took a step back, her entire body tense.

And yet, despite their actions, Delilah didn’t move at all.

She just kept her gaze fixed on me.

Feeling her gaze, I opened my mouth again, trying to get words out.

Any.

But…

Nothing really came out.

Regardless of how hard I tried, I couldn’t muster a single word.

This…

Why was this so hard?

It felt as though her gaze weighed down on me like some sort of boulder that was the size of an entire planet. It kept me rooted in place, preventing me from moving at all.

The only thing I could do was scratched the side of my face nervously.

In the end, it was An’as’s voice that prompted me to lift my head.

“What is going on…? D-did he offend you?”

I paused.

Hearing An’as’s words, I stared in his direction, and found myself at a complete loss. Was this really the first thing that he thought when he saw her staring at me like that?

Was I that unreliable?

‘Well…’

Moving my head to stare in Delilah’s direction, and meeting her gaze once more, my lips parted as I finally seemed to find my voice again.

With a complicated look, I nodded subtly.

“…I guess you could say that.”

Thinking about everything that she had gone through because of me, and her current expression, it was safe to say that she was anything but pleased with me.

“Oh god.”

An’as’s face went ghostly pale the moment my words left my mouth. Anne mirrored his reaction, both of them staring at me with a mix of horror and barely contained anger. Their expressions seemed to say: Why would you provoke her? We’re going to die because of you!’

They really didn’t seem to be happy with me.

However, I was at a point where I could no longer care about them as I felt Delilah’s gaze become even more piercing as my head unconsciously lowered.

“I’m sorry.”

Words started to flow out of my mouth as I stared at the table beneath.

“I… had my circumstances.”

Honestly, I didn’t even know what I was saying.

“I wanted to say it, but I couldn’t. I also… am sorry for the thing I did before. It was a misunderstanding. I was also joking. I didn’t mean to come off like that.”

I was just rambling at this point.

Was I making excuses, or explaining myself? I didn’t know. I just felt like I needed to say everything.

“I know it’s my fault, and you are probably very angry at me. Maybe you won’t even forgive me for what I did, but—Ukeh!”

BANG!

A sudden, invisible force slammed into my chest, hurling me backward. I crashed hard against the wall, the impact knocking the air from my lungs, before collapsing onto the jagged pile of bones beneath me.

“Lazarus!”

“….Shit!”

Both An’as and Anne looked in my direction in shock, ready to move to me, but stopped right as I raised my hand.

“I’m… okay.”

I sat stunned for a moment, my thoughts frozen as I held onto my chest.

It didn’t hurt. In fact, no part of my body hurt. She had clearly held back a lot, but slowly lifting my head and staring at her face, I suddenly felt like I had been hit by a truck.

Although subtle, I saw it.

I saw the faint… tremble in her lips.

“…Ah.”

This was when I understood.

This wasn’t the answer that she wanted.

She wasn’t here for the excuses. She wasn’t here for an apology either.

She…

“I’m fine.”

Eventually nodding my head, I leaned my head back against the wall.

“I’m…”

…Doing okay.

I desperately wanted to say those words, but the moment I tried, I found something blocking my mouth.

I tried again, but…

‘I’m doing fine.’

Yet again, I struggled to get the words out.

As if something was preventing me from saying them, I found myself unable to utter them at all.

Why?

Why couldn’t I say them?

Slowly lifting my head to stare at Delilah and meeting her gaze, I opened my mouth to once again say the words, but as I did, I noticed something.

My lips…

Why were they trembling?

“A-ah, shit.”

I closed my eyes, feeling a sudden urge to laugh. I was an emotive mage. One of the best in the entire world. I was a person capable of manipulating the emotions of a person to the point where they could lose sight of themselves.

I was also more knowledgeable about emotions than most people.

I was a being that was supposed to have utter control of his own emotions. Someone that shouldn’t be easily influenced by them.

And yet…

Yet..

“Are you okay? Lazarus…?”

“What’s…”

Why in the world was I struggling to keep my emotions in check?

Why in the world was I incapable of stopping the pain that was grabbing at my chest?

Why in the world was I unable to stop the anger from drawing up from inside my mind?

Why in the world…

“…..”

It all paused the moment I turned to look at her gaze once more. She hadn’t spoken a single word since the start. The entire time, she just looked at me.

However, despite her silence, it felt as though she knew everything.

As if… I couldn’t hide anything under her gaze, and the feeling made the pain that was invading my chest even more pronounced.

In the end, lowering my head, I mumbled.

“You win.”

I closed my eyes, leaning back against the wall as I mumbled,

“I… am not fine.”