371 We've Been Outsmarted
The cold breeze flushed away the bits of sunlight that had been prevalent through the day, the Discount Human and the man with the pauldron on his shoulder feeling the full brunt of it while sitting over the roof to one of the more of the expensive inns in Harifrast.
The cold town looked beautiful with the many variations of light that were sprinkled all over it, with some much brighter ones illuminating the abundant sights in the town, highlighting them even in the night to attract customers.
Fully milking such things was not a foreign thing after all.
“Is it really alright for us to be here, bro?” Skullius asked as he looked down where the crowds were still skittering around even though the cold had grown several degrees stronger.
Before Bek could answer however, Skullius quickly corrected himself.
“Stop! Stop! I know. Its the wrong question right?”
Bek turned to Skullius with a blank face that barely showed any life.
“I was about to praise your shockingly convenient question but it seems you haven’t yet grown from our short experience together. Your life essence must be wasted on your looks than your actually brain,” he said with a blunt tone.
Skullius gnashed his teeth.
It had been quite some time since he and Bek had met.
Frankly, while they had had many conversations in between their time of meeting for the first time and now, it seemed like Skullius had barely scratched the surface to this guy.
To be fair however, the same was true for him.
After quite a lot of trust building exercises (mostly including arguments and threats), Skullius had decided to accept Bek’s proposal, following his shutting up of Sila who kept raving madly in his mind of course.
Given how Bek was though, Skullius decided to hold off on telling him about his curse.
Two reasons supported this.
First, because the man was generally unlikeable and less likely to help him in any way.
Second, because the man didn’t throw away his honour as a Knight it seemed. If he identified Skullius as some sort of threat or abomination with now cruel his curse could be, he might as well purge the Discount Human. Besides, he already knew too much about Skullius and telling him about UNCoddled could lead the man to pry every secret that Skullius held.
Or rather that Festos held.
Now, the two were on a stake out on a position that Bek claimed to be the best for watching the areas were most of the refugees were living in.
Apparently, the Town Leader had reluctantly allowed them to occupy the open spaces away from relics and important sites in the town.
Mild social responsibility, one could call it.
“I will indulge you,” Bek said as he shifted his feet on the snow covered roof. He decided to still answer Skullius’ question. “It’s rare for Harifrast to hire a Capital Order Knight or higher. In most cases, they do not have the funds to sustain the employment of such for long. However, while they denounced the Capital Service, they still hire quality Knights that are more capable than pathetic pigs who swing swords these days.”
“In short… yes. We are safe.”
Skullius sighed.
Was this guy a loner?
He tended to drag out answers for simple questions with a lot more fluff.
Solitude was probably his friend for some time and he was just churning out word after word unnecessarily.
Wait!
Was his interjection of how Skullius’ questions were wrong a ploy to make Skullius ask more open ended questions for longer conversations?!
Who knew?!
“You sure are confident in your strength. If you’re this strong, then how come you’re no longer a Capital Order Knight?” Skullius asked while playing with the snow he had scooped in his hand.
“Reasons that someone like you can’t comprehend. My evaluation of you is terrible so far. Try to make an effort,” Bek said before he raised his hand and extended it outwards, pointing forward with his index finger. Another meaningless gesture when Skullius looked at it.
“Do you know where people go after death?” Bek asked.
Skullius didn’t expect this sudden change in the topic.
Where did people go after death?
That was tricky, especially for him who had lived in death for quite a long time. Sort of.
For where the Discount Human was supposed to go though, it was brutally clear. Eerily clear, so much so that he didn’t want to think about, but now he wondered, where would people in Aigas go after death?
“I don’t know,” he replied.
“Of course you don’t,” Bek said as he withdrew his hand. “Neither do I.”
The dull eyes of the former Capital Order Knight strolled over the souls that pulsed in the streets, shrieking with happiness and enjoyment.
“The doctrine of the Deities says that each person goes to the pure space of the Deity that gave them their Direction and blessing at the start, if they lived a good life, that at some point followers of the three Deities will meet in a singular place and be happy while those who refuse the will of the Deities and those who shy from the doctrine will be cast out in the dark and empty Tunatsche, the space outside the influence of the Deities…”
‘Is that so…?’ Skullius thought. ‘That sounds infinitely better than my fate if I were to die.’
“Do you believe in such a thing?” Bek asked.
“I don’t know. It could be true.”
“Is that so? If that’s what you think, then I have answered your earlier question… partly.”
“Huh?” Skullius questioned in confusion.
“Your earlier question. The better one. About why these strange people are abducting the sick and injured. Their objective lies in something related to this. That is my theory.”
So this guy was doing it again…
“I don’t know who they are but their purpose is a bit clearer. Their souls are clad in similar blessings, shielding me from ascertaining anything about them.”
The Discount Human nodded while taking this in.
‘So he really can see souls. At least I get to confirm it. The bastard won’t spill anything about himself and his weird powers consciously,’ Skullius thought.
He currently had his [Elevated Mana Manipulation] spanning a vast area so as to see if it pick up on anything else. Any fluctuations in energy, weird mana signatures and all.
At the same time, he had instructed Ferex to scout around for anything weird.
Truth be told, he didn’t want to have to do this any longer than he needed to.
There were objectives he had to fulfill.
Time passed as the night crawled deeper into reality, the people loitering around disappearing with the minutes and hours.
The view of the town was clear with both individuals’ higher level sight emboldened by their strength and yet still, nothing was happening.
“Hmm…” Bek suddenly hummed as he stroked his beard, his eyes beaming with focus. “Interesting.”
“What?” Skullius asked.
“We’ve been outsmarted it seems,” Bek said as he stood from the roof, his hand gripping Skullius ‘ jacket.
The two vanished from the roof top as it seemed that Bek had found something.