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7 hours before Midnight.
I entered the adventurers guild and met with Astoria and Freya in the lobby. "*gulp* Lessons done?"
"Yep," I responded, a bit nervous.
"I see....." Freya looked surprised at my response
""...""
""....""
"Oh, you could speak now?" Astoria said, surprised and I responded in a broken accent. "A bit cru.dely."
"Well good for you, oi! can we get another beer here!" Astoria shouts happily.
"I'll be up.stairs the.n"
"Yep," With our conversation over, I entered our room on the second floor of the adventurers guild.
Locking the door as if it were natural, I jumped the bed in contemplation. 'I feel so empty...now that I think about it, what do I want in the future?' I asked myself.
'I...' Shaking my head, I turn my body and look at the ceiling.
'I'll just let them make the choice I guess.' Accepting the bed's embrace, I took off my jacket and loosened my dark polo shirt, eventually falling asleep, the only state I truly felt was peace.
Why? Is it because it frees me from everything or is it because this is what I imagined death looks like?
5 hours before midnight.
As if to dampen his peaceful sleep, Astoria knocks on the door. "Yo Himura, go downstairs, we need to discuss something."
Snapping my eyes open and I closed them again because of the pain of doing such a sudden action only after waking up.
'I should really stop doing that.' I thought to myself before responding. "kay....*yawn*"
"Cool," I grabbed my jacket from the floor and looked at the mirror in the corner of the floor.
'My body has not improved at all, even though I've been exercising so I don't get myself killed but for some reason, there is still no muscle forming anywhere no matter how little. But I could definitely feel that I'm getting stronger.'
Tightening the buttons of my polo shirt, I wore my jacket and headed downstairs.
"Took you long enough," Astoria said, pouting but after a few seconds, she continues to talk. "Now that he's here, back to our question what should we do for the future?"
'Fuck, the one thing I didn't want to answer.'
They both looked at me asking for my input.
Remembering a scene before my death, the one about a group project. The faces of my party members were replaced by those three classmates, looking unpleasantly at me for my lack of participation.
'Either I force myself to keep up with life or I just put stop to it.' Snapping myself from that memory, I forced myself to respond vaguely. "I have.nt tho.ught abo.ut it but how about tra.vel.ing?" I said brokenly.
"Traveling? now that I think about it I only know like 10 different towns" Astoria casually said.
"As for me, I have only been living in Bellken for 70 years and I haven't found a reason to travel but now that I think about it we are adventurers so we should be traveling." Freya followed up.
"Well I have no objections to this, what about you?" Astoria questions us.
"Fine w.ith it," I said my agreement, and Freya agrees as well. "Me too."
"Alright then, this party is going traveling. Oi, another beer please?" The guild's tomboyish waitress heads over to our table and writes down what Astoria ordered.
The waitress then looked at Freya and ordered as well then looked at me. "Beer, so.up and bre.ad."
"Alright, I'll be back in 5 minutes." The waitress responds and the waitress then leaves to the back.
"Your drinking too now?" Astoria asked me, I was a bit surprised.
"Not like I ha.ve an.ything to do toni.ght."
"Oh? you don't plan to go back to that establishment?" She teases.
"Th.at was a one ti.me thi.ng!" I answered a bit angrily.
1 hour before midnight
After getting semi-drunk and because of Astoria constantly nagging me to drink more, I decided to leave the guild to sober up.
I explored the rest of the city and saw the rest of its nightlife although a bit tempted to go back to a certain establishment.
45 minutes after exploring the city I found myself at the west gate which was the main gate of Bellken as the gate had twice the size of the other gates.
Looking around, I found only two guards on the front of the gate and no one else as they were the only ones currently present.
Seeing as they haven't noticed me yet, I decided to go up the wall. Although it wasn't exactly illegal to go up there, I just preferred to not be seen by anyone.
I felt the calm and cold breeze of the night sky. 'What a peaceful night.' I smile although a bit forcefully.
I hummed a particularly calm tone from my former home in my mind as I look ahead.
Fields from the right while a giant forest to the far left, and dim light here and there from villages.
A truly peaceful state, the one I have been truly longing for, a state where I was alive, free from responsibilities, and surrounded by a peaceful atmosphere.
My expressionless face slowly begins to break. 'I....I'm scared. This world is so scary' My breathing becomes a bit ragged
'Every day I risk my life so I can live another day. Just when I could finally start to settle down in Bellken I just had to say that.'
Tears started to well up as well however I quickly wiped it all off. 'Now I have to face the entire world, meet different people, see different cultures.'
'Just being with my party is so suffocating that it hurts but...I have to force myself to keep going. I...I still can't kill myself after all.'
'I only have myself to fix this problem of mine.'
I slump to the edge of the wall trying to calm myself down and soon my breathing becomes stable.
I hummed the same tone that I was humming earlier.
"hm hm hm hm hmm, hhhmm hmmm."
"hm hm hm hm hmm, hm hmm"
"hmm hm hm hmm, hmm hm hm hmm"
I repeat it over and over again till I finally calm down, looking at my arms, it was shaking either because of the cold or because of my feelings.
I decided to stay there for a while, trying to gather what was left of me.
'I...I think I'm alright now. I just have to prepare for this long journey and try to see where it takes me.'
'After all, it's not like I have anything planned for the future, why not just follow what they want?' Nodding to myself, I look at the peaceful scenery once more and head down.
A slight tingling, alerted by the sense I called "death perception" I put my hand on my katana while slowly going upstairs and looking around.
Arriving at the top of the wall with my katana drawn, I became more alert as I do not see anyone who is about to kill me.
From the time he had this sense of mine, I naturally found out how it senses it.
It does so when someone or something is about to kill a very fatal attack which can either put me into a fatal state where I could slowly die or just die instantly.
This tingling sense in particular however was on the weaker side. Before this, it always had the same feeling, alerting me to immediately dodge or block but this is far weaker than usual.
Without lowering my guard I headed down and went north since it seemed that, it was becoming stronger there. 'Am I becoming sensitive to death or something?' I asked myself, still a bit confused.
'If that's the case, I guess I'll call it death sensitivity or something...' I said as I ran north.
Soon I found myself at the door of Alice's Lab.
As I touched the door, I finally felt it was stronger than ever but not as strong as when I was about to die.
I stupidly knocked on the door trying to call Alice but no matter what I did, Alice did not come to the door.
The sense becomes stronger and so I sheath my katana and drew the long knife that I attached to the side of my shin.
I struck the handle of the double door but it did not break. 'If only I was stronger!' I screamed after 10 hits. Out of rage, I strike it over and over again till the handle breaks.
At this point, I was panicking and now I was moving out of instinct. Quickly passing through the corridor, I found Alice gasping for air as she put both of her hands into a large circle with writing that I can barely recognize.
I didn't have enough time to question nor look extensively at the magic circle as I ran straight to Alice and grabbed her hand without explaining.
After grabbing her hand and dragging her, fear takes over my body and all I wanted to do was flee however I did not let it show, I knew I couldn't fight it when I don't even know who or what the threat was.
After running out of her lab, I headed to the only place I know which was the adventurers guild near the gate.
Rushing through multiple alleys while carrying Alice in a princess carry while Alice, herself was crying and furious at me. "Why, why did you stop me Himura?!" She said to me, wanting to scream but her voice couldn't go any higher.
I start to calm down a bit as the tingling sensation starts to weaken, though my heart still aches as I hear Alice's cry but soon her tears stop coming out and soon dried up, as I arrive at the front of the adventurers guild.
A massive explosion occurred in the area where Alice's lab was.
My death perception stopped alerting me but I knew just from my normal senses that it was far from over.
"KYAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!"
A loud cry by something from a distance was heard by the entire city of Bellken.