76. A Hero Sold Out For A Curry Dish

If Ilija could see my deathforce then… did he know I was an undead?!

As I coughed and wheezed, Ilija tapped my shoulder.

“It’s all right, Armen-kun! You don’t need to tell me anything. It’s rare for people to cultivate dark energies, so I got curious, that’s all. I saw at least two other trainees who use them, so it’s not like you’re the only one. I was just wondering if it had something to do with your ancestors.”

My ancestors? Oh, the Cursed People. So even though he could see the energy flows, he couldn’t really tell that I was an undead. Thank goodness. I tried to regain my composure.

“Th-That’s some awesome power you’ve got, big bro! Being able to see the energies… Amazing.” I nervously coughed up and down the shadow. “Well, as you guessed, I’m using some special techniques. They’re like… clan techniques. Yeah. So, they’re secret.”

“Shashasha! I won’t tell anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about. My power has often revealed to me things that people thought were well hidden. I usually keep quiet. Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything. I didn’t want to pry into your secret techniques.”

“No, no! It’s all right. Only… let’s talk about something else.”

“So I was rude.”

“No, you weren’t, but let’s stop talking about it. You’re in the Explorer group, aren’t you?”

“I am… I’m really sorry, Armen-kun.”

“You don’t need to be, really. For you, it’s like asking me why I’m wearing a red beanie all the time, right? It’s no big deal.”

“But it clearly upset you. And I don’t want to upset a younger brother.”

I widened my eyes. A younger brother?

“Big bro…” I grinned under my mask and stood up. “You’re forgiven. As long as you don’t talk about it with anyone else… maybe I’ll be able to tell you one day why I’m using dark energies.”

Ilija looked relieved.

“Shasha… You don’t need to tell me anything, Armen-kun.”

We were going to walk into the academy when we heard a sudden heavy breath behind us accompanied by a voice from beyond the grave.

“Aaaah… Eeeeh…”

I shuddered inwardly. Were they ghosts on Yuutow Island?! I turned around. In the darkness, a silhouette was climbing the last steps with an unsteady gait. A drunk spirit? Then my fear was overcome by reality. I rushed, and just when Linah lost her balance, I reached her. She was half asleep.

I couldn’t believe it. Again, I had forgotten about Linah.

Wasn’t she a precious friend to me? She was. But ever since she had shown me her real power, I had somehow assumed she could fend for herself at any time. Well, obviously, her power was amazing. But she was still human.

“Armen?” She blinked, grabbed my shirt, and mumbled: “I was too weak. Those cactuses… I punched them hard… but they counterattacked. So I punched them even harder. A bit too hard, I think. Their neighbors began to attack me as well… I didn’t know they could think like a herd. I’m sooo weak, Armen.”

She was both satisfied with her revenge and disheartened at her own weakness. I tapped her back.

“You fought well, Lil Witch. But don’t fall asleep now…”

“ZZZzzzz…”

“Ugh. Erma? Linah? Lil Witch?”

“I’m hungryzzzz…”

Her eyes were closed, her breathing was regular… No doubt about it: she was talking in her sleep.

After a hesitation, I lifted her in my arms, and walking back to the academy, I met Ilija’s amused gaze.

“She’s sound asleep, huh.”

“Must be the cactus’ smoke. Apparently, when you inhale it, you fall asleep without really resting.”

“I know. My teammate fell into that trap during the race, yesterday… that’s why I can tell that your friend is not in that state right now,” Ilija observed. “She’s clearly just sleeping.”

I lowered my eyes to Linah. Unaware of her weight, I could only feel her lifeforce lightly caress the skin of my hands. Her face was peaceful; her lips were even slightly stretched. Now that I thought about it, I had never seen her sleep let alone carried her in my arms like that. Somehow, it was not embarrassing at all. I smiled.

“It’s nice to see people dream so cheerfully.”

“Shashasha… Must be nice to dream like that indee…”

He fell abruptly silent, his golden eyes glowing with uneasiness. What…? For a moment, I thought that, after all, he knew I was an undead and realized it was rude to talk to me about dreams—Then I followed his gaze and reinterpreted it. Leaning on the wall of a small building by the gates, Ray cast me a quizzical look, which I gave back as he approached.

“Well, with this, I’ll take my leave,” Ilija said, slightly hastily. “Good evening, Armen-kun!”

“Big bro!” I exclaimed, surprised, as he strode away across the main square. Was it me or was he running from Ray? “Good evening and thanks for your time!”

The tall, slender man waved friendly.

“Thanks for yours!”

I saw him throw his juice can toward a trash can meters away, fail, then pick it up and safely put into it with that nobody-saw-me face. As Ray suppressed a laugh, I nodded with solidarity.

“Things like that happen to me all the time.” I was a bit disappointed, though: I was almost completely sure that Ilija wanted to avoid Ray.

My friend shrugged.

“I don’t really care.” ‘Well, actually, I’m worried about what he can see with his power.’

I grimaced. Did he just hear my thought? And did I just hear his own?

‘But I’m more worried about that busybody.’

“Busybody?” I repeated out loud.

Ray looked surprised, then I felt as if my necro-bond was blurred, which confirmed my suspicion: he had been unwillingly sharing his private thoughts again. He cleared his throat.

“I meant Lei.” He glanced at Linah, still asleep, and added mentally: ‘He’s almost as annoying as my dad. He’s a qi freak. And he took it into his head to learn necromancy.’

I was about to resume walking but stopped dead.

“Lei wants to learn necromancy?!”

Ray’s dark eyes were set ablaze. His gaze was so intense that I worried for a second that my core would interpret it as an order to shut up. Fortunately, Linah was still asleep and nobody was around. I shook my head.

“Sorry. I’m just shocked. If you’re going to teach him, then I want to learn too.”

Ray cast me a funny look.

‘Really? You want to learn?’

I kind of felt that I had fallen into his trap. His necromancy books had always seemed inscrutable to me. I knew I would only be torturing my head for nothing if I tried to understand them.

“Well, how do I put it… If it’s something like history or fun facts, then perhaps…”

Ray smiled, but as we started walking toward the escalator, his face darkened. I put a foot on the first step, and the moving stairs began going up.

“Ray?”

He was lost in thought and didn’t hear me. Was he worried about Lei? About the shadow? About me being a Fury?

“Now that I think about it,” I muttered. “From how you described it, I thought being a F—” I fell silent and went on: “being what I am would be more troublesome than it actually is. Like, you know, in the tower, I was able to stop eating your lifeforce—”

“You’re talking too much,” Ray snorted nervously, and he added mentally: ‘First, you ate quite a lot thanks to Natasha. Second, I told you, the transformation into a full-fledged Fury usually lasts several weeks. When it ends, your core will get even more stable than before, but until then, it can only get tougher, so don’t—I mean, you shouldn’t let your guard down. It’s a bit like a stealth game. You can’t fight creatures. If they surround you, you die. So let’s be cautious.’

“I see, a stealth game, huh. I think I get what you mean!”

‘… Does he? Does he, really? Well, he’ll probably make a blunder soon or later, but as long as I stay alert, we may avoid the worst situation.’

Ray’s thoughts leaked into my mind. I gasped in disbelief.

“Actually, you don’t trust me one bit, do you?!”

Ray flinched in surprise… then blocked our necro-bond again, abashed.

“Well, I do, Armen, I do, really, hum, it’s just… you’ve never been good at stealth games.”

Shoot. I couldn’t deny it. Patience was not my cup of tea. Still, I was a bit hurt. I knew Ray was the cautious type of person but… couldn’t he trust his best friend a bit more?

We were just stepping on the main platform when Ray suddenly blocked my way, panicked.

“A-Armen! Linah… It’s Linah…”

I lowered my eyes to her, alarmed then puzzled. She was still sleeping.

“What’s wrong with Linah?”

“You’re carrying her!”

“Er…” Was he just realizing it now? I flushed inwardly under Ray’s astonished eyes. “I am. What about it?”

Ray frowned.

‘Right now, aren’t you stealing her lifeforce?’

Oh, that…

“I’m not. Seriously. I’m not touching her skin, only her clothes.”

I moved my hand just a bit so as to not lie. Only her pink hair was caressing me with its energy. If Ray knew Linah’s lifeforce was potentially bad for me… Well, there was no point in worrying him even more.

However, Ray looked troubled. I didn’t need to hear his thought to understand he found me awfully reckless right now. Sometimes, I wished I could shake him like a pear tree to shake off his worries.

Then the young necromancer’s eyes shifted to something behind me… just right before a crimson-haired head peeped over my shoulder. Under my surprised look, Noah glanced at Linah and shook his head.

“And you call me a perv.”

“…! What’s that supposed to mean?!” I protested in a high-pitched hiccup. Wait, what?! The shadow in my throat had just altered my voice!

Caught by surprise, Noah burst out laughing, and Ray pulled on his baseball cap to futilely conceal his face as he progressively doubled up with laughter.

“What’s with that voice, stupidstahahaha!” Noah choked.

I tried to swallow the shadow and replied:

“Hoy, guys, it’s not funny.”

My voice sounded like that of a troll, now. In hilarity, Noah hit one of the columns of the platform. Ray was wiping off his tears, trying to calm down. Damn… Did the shadow get stuck somewhere in my vocal cords?

“The hell!” I squeaked and coughed, “Argh-argrahell!”

My voice quavered like a grandma’s and ended with a squawking noise that finally seemed to release the shadow from my vocal folds. As Ray and Noah looked a bit worried at last, I tested my voice and approved.

“Everything is fi…”

It happened very quickly: Linah stirred in her sleep, grumbled, and vigorously threw one of her fists. It went past Noah, flew over the platform, and crashed into a window of the main building with glass shattering noise. Ray, Noah, and I looked at the breakage, speechless.

After a silence during which Linah kept groaning in her sleep, I commented:

“Did something just happen?”

Noah shook his head and turned to the next escalator saying:

“Just your imagination. Oh, yeah, let’s race to the Wind House, stupidstar. The loser will have to make dinner—One, two, go!”

The crimson coward ran away upstairs. How could he make bets like that when I was carrying Linah? Ray looked embarrassed.

“I can’t believe she broke the window in her sleep.”

“Haha… No one saw it, no one saw it—”

“We did, Armen. And she left her hand behind.”

“…!” I hadn’t thought about that. But would I be able to jump and reach the window to retrieve it? It was a bit higher than the platform, maybe two meters away from it. If I were a real martial artist, perhaps… That gave me an idea. I called out: “Noah! I’ll make dinner for you!”

Noah stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around swiftly and ran back to us, openly excited.

“Really?! You’ll do it?”

“… Do they leave you to starve at the Champion Institute?”

Noah’s face and hands glowed with crimson fire.

“Now that I think about it, it’s fishy. Are you planning on putting poison on my plate, stupidstar?”

I chuckled and pointed at the broken window with my chin.

“Could you please go pick up the Little Witch’s hand?”

“Whaaat?!”

“I promise I won’t poison you, never ever.”

Noah cast me a skeptical look.

“That’s hardly a reward.”

“Er… I’ll make something delicious?”

Noah pouted, then mused:

“Okay, if it’s like that…” He grinned at me. “I want to eat Losterness curry!”

“Deal!”

As he was getting ready to jump from the rail’s platform, I wondered what on earth Losterness curry was. Ray cleared his throat.

“Will you be okay?” he asked Noah.

The crimson guy smirked in the dim light.

“Are you worried about me, boss? It’s not for nothing that I have been chosen to take part in this training, you know.” His eyes sparkled like two rubies. “I may not be good at handling my power yet… but I’m good at sports.”

Under our expectant gazes, he threw himself forward in the air. Luckily, there was no one around. I saw Noah grab the edge of the window, hoist himself, then slip a hand into the broken window and open it.

“Whoa,” I said, impressed. “He’s like Jimmy the Monkey.”

“I hear you!” Noah grumbled.

“Careful with the broken glass!” I replied.

Groaning, he entered the room carefully and disappeared into the darkness. I made a face.

“Damn. He should have taken your flashlight.”

“I’ll throw it to him,” Ray said. Switching it on, he took off his necklace, held up his hand, whirled his arm, and threw his flashlight.

I saw it fly a few meters, almost hit the edge of the window, then descend into the darkness of the garden below.

“…” I looked at Ray. “You did your best.”

Ray averted his eyes, his embarrassment leaking through our necro-bond. He walked to the escalator to go down muttering:

“Be back right away.”

“Wait!” I lay Linah carefully on the ground and took a look below, over the rail. “The flashlight’s still on. I can see it. I’ll try to lift it with my telekinesis and have it go through the window… Okay, I caught it! Now it’s all a matter of patience…”

The farther the object was, the hardest it was to control, and the slowest it moved. Even so, this last month, my ability to catch objects at a greater distance had improved. The weight I could lift, however, could hardly go any higher than thirty grams, and according to Azritz, I would most likely never be able to lift much more weight no matter how much I trained. It was one of those “power limits” that many power-holders continually tried to overcome without success… Well, according to the Lord, some did succeed through dangerous or amoral techniques, but those people seldom ended well.

The flashlight was finally at hand’s reach when, suddenly, we heard a scream coming from inside the room.

Noah?

I had looked away. Fortunately, a hand had reached out quickly enough to grab the flashlight before it fell. It wasn’t Ray’s arm, though. It was…

I jerked up as I saw Linah standing beside me. It seemed that Ilija was right: the cactus’ smoke had not affected her as much as the first time.

“Who’s there?!” she asked, alarmed. “Straw Head, someone took my hand!”

Noah appeared before the window, groaning with pain.

“Hey, stop it! Stop squeezing, damn crazy witch, it’s me!”

Linah squinted at him.

“Who is he?”

I couldn’t help but grimace. I bet Linah’s grip must hurt quite a lot.

“I’m Noah Sarpong!”

“Noah? I don’t know you!”

“He’s living at the Wind House with us,” I chimed in. “Remember, he’s the one that sold my badge to Ray.”

Linah frowned.

“Oh. Him. You thief. Give me back my hand!”

“First stop squeezing mine with it!” Noah retorted. “It’s creepy and it hurts!”

“Okay, but why do you have it?”

Linah was getting seriously angry. I intervened again:

“How about we help him get back on the platform? I’ll explain everything to you…”

However, Linah’s expression made me understand that it would be easier for us all if I explained it now. I opened my mouth… and hastily stepped back when Noah landed on the rail. Linah’s hand had released him, and he was holding onto it by the wrist. He shook it.

“Losterness Curry,” he said. His crimson eyes glimmered. “I hope for you that it’ll be worth my efforts, stupidstar. Now, I’ll take my leave. Gotta see that viper.”

He probably referred to Andrea Sisalik, his partner of the Champion Institute. As he left, throwing Linah’s hand like a piece of junk, the Lil Witch glowered at him dangerously. Holy Gods… Hastily stepping in between, I picked up her nervous, lonely hand and offered it to her with smiling eyes.

“It’s a good thing your family is rich, Erma. Even more so if you break windows every time you sleep.”

Linah blinked… then grimaced.

* * *

When Ray and I got back to the Wind House, there was no one else than Rainbows to welcome us. Noah had gone to see Andrea, Linah had gone to apologize for breaking the window… as for Nina, Jing, and Styzz, I had no idea.

Walking into Ray’s room, I closed the door behind and asked:

“So… can it get out now?”

Ray gave a nod. I took off my mask and opened my mouth. Slowly at first, the shadow went up my throat, put its “head” out, looked around… then began to get out. Rainbows stared at me agape. The three of us watched the shadow as it flew out. Was its body made only of energy? As it kept coming out, I felt that something was not quite right. When its tail finally left my mouth, I raised my eyes to the creature that was floating in the room, exchanged a glance with Ray, then asked:

“Isn’t your friend… bigger than before?”

It was actually way bigger. It was no longer a “dark flame” but a mass of dark matter as big as the lantern of a lighthouse. Huddled against Ray’s feet, Rainbows cast me an accusing look as if to say, “What did you do this time, First Familiar”?