But at the same time, experiencing life as a human has brought out the child in her. For the first time tasting things like fried chicken, ice cream... stuff like that can make anyone, even a divine beast, behave this way. So I don’t blame her—it’s actually pretty normal."
As they reached Nolan’s room, he opened the door, carried her gently to the bed, laid her down, and covered her with a blanket while she dozed off peacefully.
The following day, as they all got up, they took their baths and got dressed.
"Wow, I had such a good nap yesterday. It was really good," Lyra said.
"Well, lucky for you, you slept on my bed. You dozed off in the evening and I didn’t even attend the night party the king said we should," Nolan added.
"I also didn’t go to the mask party since I didn’t attend," Celia said.
"Same here," Linda said. "You guys should have gone."
"I actually have a bad neck this morning," Nolan said as they all walked down the mansion.
That was when Nolan ran into Tharion coming down the staircase.
"Hi buddy, how have you been? We haven’t even had a chance to talk since we both came here," Tharion said as they approached each other. Both shook hands.
"How was the mask party?" Nolan asked.
"Yeah, it was pretty good. There was even more tasty wine and more delicious food. The king was also there, but I wasn’t sure if he came or not. Since everyone wore masks and you hadn’t been wearing your suit yesterday, you didn’t wear your cultural battle suit like usual. Until this morning," Tharion said.
"Yeah, I didn’t. I’ll be leaving. I’ll be heading for Sindra."
"What? Sindra? That’s going to take a while. The tournament starts in a week—you have to be back before then. It might take four days to get there and four days back. That’s eight days! Not many carriage riders are willing to risk that, especially with monsters usually attacking at night," Tharion said.
"Well, it’s not a problem for me. It will only take me a few hours to go there and a few hours to come back," Nolan replied.
"You’re kidding, right? That must be a joke," Tharion said.
"Well, there are just things I can’t tell you. Everyone has their own secrets," Nolan said.
"Oh yes, we all do have secrets," Tharion replied.
As Nolan was about to step into the mansion, Kyrion, Cora, and Sela approached him. The two of them stood firm, blocking his way.
"Get out of the way," Kyrion said. This content belongs to N0v3l.Fiɾe.net
Nolan looked him in the eyes and didn’t say a word.
"Hey, can’t you hear me? I said get out of the way," Kyrion shouted.
"Yes, didn’t you hear? Didn’t you hear our boss?" Cora said.
"Hey, move," Sela said.
Then Sela and Linda stepped forward, about to speak, but Nolan raised his hand. They fell silent.
Kyrion, annoyed, tried to push Nolan. He pushed with full force, but Nolan didn’t budge. Nolan immediately held his hand. Kyrion dropped back as he sensed danger and moved back. Sela and Linda stepped aside.
Nolan remained standing firm.
"Must have, boss. Why did he push back? Keep teaching, beat him. I’m the lesson of his life," Cora said.
"What was that? Why did my instinct... It wasn’t normal. Just this moment. It felt like I was about to die," Kyrion thought, staring at Nolan. "That’s Nolan. But I don’t even sense intent to kill from him. What was that?"
Then, in the blink of an eye, Nolan moved faster than Kyrion could imagine. He realized Nolan was faster than him, even at full power. Kyrion stood by his side, facing forward but not looking at him. He remained turned slightly backward, while Nolan faced straight ahead, his eyes fixed on Linda and Celia.
Then Nolan drew his hand, but it was in his pocket.
"Hey, I promise you this. Mind the way you talk to me. But I didn’t. I tried. I won’t tell you much now. It’s the day of the tournament," Nolan said, starting to move.
Kyrion tightened his fist. "How dare he talk to me that way? He’s gonna pay. I don’t care about whatever cheap trick he used. Good thing I have something up my sleeve. I don’t know his E, but he’s gonna pay," Kyrion thought as he watched Nolan walking away with Celia, Linda, and Lyra.
"Wait. Who was that? Who is that girl? That little girl. I didn’t even sense her or see her before. How did she pass through here?" Kyrion said, looking at Lyra.
"Master, let’s just ignore them. Boss, let’s just ignore them and go up," Celia said.
"Yes. The day of the tournament, boss. We’re going to teach them a lesson," Kyrion said.
"Yes, you’re right. We’ll teach them a serious lesson. Let’s go in," Kyrion said.
Master, why didn’t you allow us to talk? Celia asked.
Yes, Master, we wanted to say something, Linda added.
Nah, I didn’t want to cause a scene, Nolan said. I didn’t want to make a fuss.
Scene? But you did make a scene—an elegant one. A perfect scene, Lyra said.
Yeah, a perfect scene. And when did you even come out? And what the hell are you doing—eating a bag of chips? When did you get it?
Nolan looked at Lyra. That bag of chips? I collected it—from that girl, Cora. She was holding the chips in her left hand, Lyra explained, smiling. And she didn’t even notice.
Well, let’s just get going anyway, Nolan said.
Meanwhile, Cora, who was still outside, stared at Nolan. Then she looked down at her hand. She didn’t see the chips. But now she realized—where the hell are my chips?
But I don’t know... maybe you misplaced it, Sela said.
I was holding it just a moment ago, Cora muttered, looking down.
Well, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just go inside, Kyrion said as they stepped in.