Chapter 610: Internal Meeting [1]

"...Are you Zoey from the Severed Stars Guild?"

The question came from out of nowhere and unexpectedly. Zoey had been lingering outside the café beside the Guild when a voice called out to her, making her pause.

When she turned her head, her face stiffened slightly as she was greeted by a woman wearing a pair of large sunglasses.

Confused, Zoey looked around before asking,

"You are...?"

"Ah, right."

The woman lowered her glasses slightly, and Zoey’s face went rigid as her eyes widened at the same time.

"Y-you..."

"That’s not quite important at the moment."

Lifting her sunglasses back up, Liora stepped up to the counter and ordered a couple of drinks. Zoey stared at her back in a daze, struggling to process what was happening. This was Liora Halecrest from the Obsidian Bastion Guild, right? I mean, Zoey had seen her many times before. There was no doubt in her mind that this was the Liora in person.

But why...?

Why was she here?

Why did she suddenly visit her?

Zoey was at a complete loss, but she was quick to calm down as all sorts of scenarios started to play in her mind.

In the end, her expression returned to normal.

’She’s either here to recruit me or ask about Seth.’

Zoey wasn’t naive. She was almost certain that Liora was here for the latter, and the previous excitement that she felt dwindled completely.

Turning back, Liora gestured toward a more secluded table, holding two drinks in one hand.

"Please."

Zoey followed her without saying anything.

As the two sat down, sunlight filtered across the wooden table as Liora glanced toward the large windows before passing one of the drinks to Zoey.

"Thanks."

Zoey didn’t stand on ceremony and took the drink, taking a small sip of it before looking back at Liora.

Still wearing her sunglasses, she brushed her long black hair behind her ears.

"Judging from your expression, you seem to have an idea as to what I want to ask you."

"I more or less have an idea, yes."

Zoey replied calmly.

"You’re here to ask about Seth, right?"

"Mhm."

Liora took a sip of her drink.

After which, she looked at Zoey.

"You’re right. Are the two of you close?"

"To some extent."

No, not really.

Their relationship lingered more on the acquaintance side than on the friend side. Perhaps in the past, they had come close to reaching that status, but at the moment, it was far from that.

Nevertheless, Zoey was curious.

What did she want?

"To some extent?"

Liora’s brows furrowed, seemingly waiting for Zoey to explain, but all Zoey offered was a simple smile.

"Hmm."

Her finger tapping against the table, Liora fell into thought, a quiet silence settling between them before she finally spoke again.

"Well, I guess that’s fine."

Lifting her head to look at Zoey again, Liora spoke, "I’m not asking for help with recruiting Seth, if that is what you’re worried about. The reason why I’m speaking with you is that I need your help determining something."

"What?"

"He’s sick."

Liora said calmly.

"...But I don’t know the extent of his injury."

Zoey’s movements came to a pause.

In the meantime, Liora continued to speak.

"I’m sure that you’ve heard about the situation from the Congress, but he’s sick. I am of the belief that his node is fractured in multiple areas. If it doesn’t get treated soon, then things will become rather bad for him. That’s why—"

"Why are you concerned about him?"

Zoey suddenly spoke over Liora, finding her brows to be furrowed extremely tightly.

"You... do you have a sort of relationship with him? Why are you suddenly asking him about him and trying to determine the extent of his injury? Realistically speaking, the two of you should be strangers. So why...? Why are you asking about him?"

"Because he’s talented."

Liora answered calmly, seemingly completely unfazed by Zoey’s sharp questions.

"It would be a pity for such a talented person to die. Especially when it’s become increasingly clear that the Gates are becoming stronger, and so are the anomalies. At the rate that things are going, we’re all headed for extinction."

Zoey’s lips parted, but the words remained stuck as she watched Liora stand up.

"Take this."

Liora slid a small device over the table.

"...It’s a simple device that can measure the extent of his ’illness’. All you have to do is drop a little bit of his blood."

Zoey stared at the device and then at Liora.

"I’m only doing this because I’m concerned for the future. It is up to you to do this. I have already reached out to a few others, but he doesn’t seem to be too keen on getting tested. For his sake, he should get himself tested. I’m sure you’ve also noticed some of the side effects he’s exhibiting."

Zoey’s face remained still, her mind drifting to everything that had happened as she pressed her lips together.

’Right, maybe that’s also why...’

Liora left after that, no longer saying anything else.

Zoey remained seated where she was, her eyes lingering on the device as she eventually reached for her drink.

"Did I..."

Her lips touched the straw.

"...Did I fuck up again?"

***

"What should I do with these? Should I just give them to Sarah?"

I tossed the pills that Liora had given to me onto my desk while falling back into my chair. To be honest, I was curious about the effectiveness of the pills, but there was no way I was going to try them.

’There’s no guarantee that they work, and even if they do, I don’t want to become overly dependent on them. That’ll mean that I’ll just be even more dependent on the Guild Master and the other Guild.’

Even now, I was at all about what their goal and motive were in telling me all of this. I knew that nothing was free, and while they had ’struck’ a deal with the Guild Master, I didn’t know the full details.

I didn’t trust anyone.

"...Alright."

I stretched my back, taking out my laptop and booting it up.

Now that I was back, I was ready to start the next step of my plan.

But the laptop hardly started to load when I heard a sudden knock.

To Tok—!

Not a moment later, the door opened, and a familiar face appeared.

"Rowan?"

His expression was still haggard, but he seemed to be doing better than before as he forced himself to smile.

"You free?"

"I... am?"

My answer came a half-beat late as my eyes lingered over the laptop screen for a moment.

Rowan brushed his hair back as he pointed behind him.

"We’ve all been called up to the main area. The Section Chief has a few words to say to all of us with regard to the Congress and a few other things. I don’t think its compulsary for you, but I think you should go. Especially since..."

Rowan paused, his face straining.

"...Especially since he’s going to be talking about Kyle."

"Ah."

I lowered my head, pursing my lips, and pretended to feel something.

"Right."

I stood up, closing down the laptop as I walked towards Rowan.

"...Right, right."

I massaged my lips while moving out of the room.

’How annoying.’