"Take me for no fool. You let the boy join because he looked like your grandson." The dwarf looked at Nithim. His hand folded, he didn't like the choice, but what could he do? Nithim was the director, and his choices were deniable.
"He was confident…" Nithim said, remembering how serene Khan was when he made the oath. The expression, the eyes, and the face. He was just like him.
It was as if he had risen from the dead, and destiny let us meet again. He inwardly thought, but it wasn't possible that Khan was his grandson; he had died while fighting in the heavy-tier gap. There was no way to tell how he died; the story they give is that he was stabbed by the Void Thorn beast.
There were too many holes in his body for Nithim to even look at his deceased grandson; his own son blamed him for everything and left him. After that day, he hadn't seen his son. It's for the better.
"Perhaps, we have a new light in the dark once again," he whispered to himself before telling the dwarf, "I will trust this young man; if something goes wrong, I will have my position taken away."
The dwarf sighed, "Fools love fooling. We first have to know how powerful this intiverse is; besides, why would he be looking for Goun Anthani?"
The director clasped his hands and rested his chin on them.
"Something should be kept secret; the truth will be known if we wait patiently for it."
* * *
I could feel it, eyes watching over me. Was it the right thing to think it, or was I just deluding myself with this thought of someone watching me? My brain told me there was someone.
"I guess one of my theories really came true. Although, it was the most surreal one I had ever thought." Bentend was really happy. "You know, meeting you really sparked my luck," he laughed.
No, there is no such thing as luck. My master told me everything that happens is always planned. So far, from what I've observed, it wasn't the case for me. Meeting Betend, then joining the director. There's nothing I have seen that was coincidental.
It was my master's saying, 'Always look about you; you will see a world that no one else has seen.'
"What now? Do we wait for them to send us notification?" Bentend said.
I looked at my clothes and said, "Better wash myself first, then I will plan out what we have to do."
He hit his palm and said, "Right! We need to buy stuff for you."
We heard a commotion outside; when we looked out of the window, there were people gathered outside, noisily speaking to each other. Among them were sentries, talking to each other.
Bentend looked at the watch hung on the wall; they have been pretty late.
"They deliberately came late." Bentend observed, "A whole thirty minutes had passed." He frowned.
"Perhaps, they have been here early, entered the warp, and came out after seeing there was no monster inside." I give a reasonable answer, albeit he had his way of reverting.
"Such a throng of people wouldn't have been here. If they had entered the warp and come out, they would have already left the scene. Right now, there are people, and they are still here." He pondered for a moment and answered, "Look at their expression, and…"
I wondered, what was the big deal about them being a little late? There was still an hour and a half left, keeping that in mind. They would have been startled by the sudden disappearance of the warp. But there could have been more than this. They
"Following the ordinance, reaching before 15 minutes was the priority; if unfollowed, a punishment would be bestowed on them."
I sighed and said, "It's not an important matter. Their being late has nothing to do with us."
"But…"
"My matter is only finding the boy; doing other things except that group's task isn't in my interest. And yours should too."
He didn't argue back, but I could feel his frustration. Not that I care about it, I placed my hand on his shoulder and said.
"Everything has its own time. Now tell me, where will I take a bath?"
The bath wasn't as bad as I had expected; the water was cool and clean, unlike back in my world. You could even make it warm with a single turn of that metal attached to the wall.
When I was done, I looked at the mirror. The scars on the left side of the shoulder, the marks of burns on my forearm.
"What kind of mess am I in?" I asked myself. Perhaps there might be an answer inside my head, but it felt empty.
In a way it seems, everyone was becoming each other's enemy. I would have laughed at the thought that my master sent me to this world to solve its problem.
I looked at my palm; my powers would never be enough to do anything.
Bentend had loathed these sentries. I had seen that hate in many people, but his was more than I thought.
I came out and wore my black coat with long stand-up collars over my tight black shirt, and pants clung to my body.
The plan changed to next-day shopping when it came. Bentend was more excited than I was.
He told me about many types of cloth, but they were going above my head.
"Which one would you like to buy?" He asked.
"I will know when I see for myself." I said.
On our way, we encountered the woman who called the officer after Bentend; she was walking her dog on the opposite side of the road. When she noticed me staring at her and Bentend beside me, she turned pale and scurried off; on her finger was the ring she stole from Bentend. The fool wasn't even looking at the woman, but his gaze was fixed on the store next to the baker.
"You can take that ring back." I told him.
"Oh, I mean. I might have a chance with you, but what's the point? High-borns are well known for making a fuss." He said, shrugging.
It was as if he had almost forgotten about the ring, and my reminding him had brought back his memory.
High-born were the families with powerful sentries belonging to their household. They had fame and power. High-borns could kill and take whatever they wanted from people without ever being charged with it. They were considering royalties.
And that woman was one of them; perhaps, from Bentend knowledge, she belonged to the well-known savages of the seven-unixel family. The twentieth in the top fifty most powerful families in the country.
"Besides, her family is well known for having bas***d in their families. She might be one of them. A ba****D born."
I looked away, in the distance, where the woman was disappearing to. From her behaviour, she could be a b*****d with no parent's care. Or the parents were… never mind.
Our expedition continued, shop after shop. Bentend was entirely dissatisfied with every cloth he tried; he even disapproved of whatever I wore.
"When was the last time you came shopping for clothes?"
He paused, thinking, "Two years ago; I can't remember, though."
"You did the same thing? Just roaming the shops without buying anything?"
Well. I couldn't blame him; he was broke, and his collection of clothes was down to only three for these past two years.
"That's why the woman left you."
"Shut it… I mean, it might be the case." He was feeling dejected again; I changed the topic.
"You have the money; better keep the cheap mindset away and buy as many as you can."
Bentend had entered the item exchanged and came out empty-handed. I thought he was robbed, but it turns out he had transferred the money to his account.
"Just hope they don't get too suspicious of the money."
Without any limit, he was hardly able to buy a few attires. Even those were because I had threatened him. His cheap mindset had to be eradicated.
Afterwards was the same place for eating; I asked for those worm things in the yellowish soup with meat and eggs.
"What are your powers, though? Like you use that sword only as your weapon."
"It's not. I use a sword because I'm only comfortable with using it. My powers work differently."
I'm able to extract other people's emotions and then convert them into energy. Using the energy to increase my own strength or magical power. Even give increased magical power of a magical item.
The only problem was I couldn't extract emotions that were stronger than me; there were only a few times I was able to use this power. Mostly my sword did the job.
"No way! Like you can do that same thing with another person? Boost their powers?"
To his dismay, I couldn't. Or I never tried; it was never a necessity to do something like that. My master was already too powerful for boosting his strength and abilities.
Bentend's phone rang, and on the road a van stopped, grabbed a boy, and drove away.
Someone tried to stop the vehicle, wailing, but there was no use; it was too fast for the woman to catch up to it.
"My son! Give me my son back!"
I looked at the wailing woman in the middle of the road. People passed by, barely showing any concern.
"It's from the dwarf." Said Bentend. "He wants us to follow the vehicle and see where it's going."
Well... we are on the move then.