After the not-so-friendly fight the two of them had, Enyo and Teras returned to the house so Teras could get some rest, using this black aura again made him very exhausted, well the feeling he felt was more like feeling full after a big lunch
"How exhausted can you really be after fighting kid? It's not like I attacked you or anything, I simply self-defended"
Enyo said as she helped Teras walk into the house
"Give me a break! My body is very fragile, yours would have been too after fighting the Joker!"
Teras said as sat on a chair
"Psh... If you survived with this black aura of yours then I'm pretty sure I can handle him, the high king doesn't want to admit it, to me at least, but the Joker is probably heavily downgraded since years have passed, you know the high king and I used to hunt the Joker with a party of ours and then he was 32, supposedly the Joker is a little older than him so that means that he will probably be like 43 year old now"
Enyo said as she sat on the other side of the table
"Wait doesn't that make you at least..."
Enyo glared at Teras so he stopped talking
"Wise choice kid!"
Enyo said with monstrous eyes
'I learned to never guess the age of a woman when I was in the mansion, so I better treat her like she is young, or else I will not be leaving here alive'
Teras thought as he stopped talking
The rest of the day quickly passed, Enyo didn't further pressure Teras and let him rest for the day, but her she didn't rest though, she started creating teaching material for Teras, these teaching materials were based on mana vessels, a concept Teras still wasn't aware of but used it nonetheless
…
Somewhere in the capital the Royal Capital
'This place never stops reeking...'
Tokkou thought as he held his nose closed, the capital didn't have the refreshing smell the woods had, it somehow had a different unbearable sent for him
"We almost there sir, should we come with you?"
The captain of Tokkou's royal guard team, Fin, asked
"Nah, go around and chase a beautiful chick l should be fine on my own"
Tokkou said as he wore a coat, he then exited the carriage he was on and entered the Royal castle
"What brings you here again Tokkou?"
Becka's mother asked, she noticed the pissed expression Tokkou had
"No reason, I just wanted to talk to Midas about something..."
Tokkou replied as he continued to walk toward the throne room
"We have to talk!"
Tokkou said as he barged into the room, some royals were there, the king of the Diamond kingdom was there, it was easy to spot him since it was a dwarf that wore heavy silver armor with a flag-like spike on top of a helmet that was also used as a crown
"What's the matter, Grand Jack? You better have a good reason to come in like that!"
The high king said with a tough look
"HE is here, is this a good enough reason?"
Tokkou asked with a similar look in his eyes
"HE? Whos is he supposed to be?"
The king of the Diamond kingdom said surprised
"Where did you locate him?"
The high king asked
"In a village called Yuta, well it's not called that anymore since he made this land seem like a wasteland, in there he killed almost all of the residents and a promising group of adventurers and also caused a big fire near Enyo's turf"
Tokkou told him
"He was near Enyo? Why didn't she say anything?"
The king wondered
"She probably didn't have time, you know I learned about it not too long ago, more precisely the day before yesterday. Things are starting to get out of control, he is getting closer and closer to the Royal Capital and if he does things won't end well so we should take action in this instance!"
Tokkou suggested the king, and the other royals had a hard time processing what they heard, they didn't know that Tokkou and Midas were talking about the Joker
"Tokkou, go to the capital's newspaper and tell them to suspend any information about this, it's not the time for people to learn about this problem of ours and after that, you go to check Enyo's place and investigate her, after our party settled she started to ignore all of us so if you see her acting loose but her back into her place. Do that as the right hand of the high king!"
The high king proclaimed as he got up, his voice was loud and clear, it was like he was demanding Tokkou to fix this mess, Tokkou sighed
"I told you many times Enyo isn't someone you should worry about but whatever, I will go, please continue like I was never here!"
Tokkou said as he quietly left the throne room
"Are you going to explain this to us too Midas? Or are you going to keep that a secret like before"
The king of Diamonds asked
"I am but are you assuming I'm hiding things from you? This him is simply a strong ranker that commits terrible crimes on the world, nothing to worry about really, he is a problem until a card possessor finds him"
The high king, Midas, announced with eyes that pierced the man's eyes
"I understand sir, don't misunderstand me..."
The Diamond king said, their meeting then continued smoothly, Tokkou also informed the royal newspaper, and the rumors about the Joker were quickly put out, and before they knew it when the night arrived the whole world was still unaware of Joker's existence...
…
The night came and Teras's time to sleep came, Enyo had already slept because she was tired from housework and farm work, after the training instead of continuing Enyo showed Teras a farm she had grown over some years, it had potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, and onions, she used those ingredients to make food for herself and occasionally would go hunting for meat
Teras felt more refreshed but the things that happened were still in his mind, Joker, his friends, he couldn't forget about that even after all the things he did, fighting, farming, nothing helped from cleaning his mind, this deep fog of his past still haunted him
"I should sleep, staying up late looking at the moon won't do me any good"
Teras thought out loud as he relaxed on the triangle roof of Enyo's house, Teras then hopped down, trying not to make any loud noises he got into the bed Enyo prepared for him and slept
…
"I don't want to die here Teras..."
A bloody Cara said to Teras, Cara was smiling in a scary way
"How could you let us die?"
Har holding his head in his right arm asked Teras
"You didn't only kill us, you also killed a baby"
Lia said as she held a deformed baby in her hands, the baby's skin was absent
"WE DIED BECAUSE OF YOU!"
They all yelled at sync
…
"Calm down kid what's wrong?"
Enyo said as she tried to calm down Teras, he was drenched in sweat and was on the floor
"I'm okay..."
He said as he patted himself all over his body
"What are you saying? You screamed like you were dying! Are you really alright?"
Enyo asked as she helped Teras sit on a chair
"I think it was a bad dream..."
"BAD DREAM MY ASS! You were punching and kicking, it was like you were still fighting"
Enyo explained to him, Teras then took a moment to relax, he drank some water and then went outside
It was silent, only the sounds of the leaves crashing with each other from the slight but chilling wind that this warm winter night had
"You are going to catch a cold if you stay out like this, get in!"
Enyo told Teras, Teras ignored her, he simply stared at the trees
"At least take this"
Enyo said as she dressed up Teras in a warm coat, she then went back to sleep leaving Teras all alone, he decided to walk into the forest, he didn't have anything better to do after all, he was afraid of sleeping, afraid of seeing their faces again, afraid of the reminder that everyone was dead, he didn't want to listen to anything, he wanted to relax, escape in the new world the night crafted for him and everyone else escaping in the moonlight
"It's so beautiful..."
Teras said as he looked at a full moon, the moon's silver-like glow shinned brighter than ever
Teras then sat on a rock and prayed for a power of the cards, he didn't care what power he just prayed to gain power but this time went exactly like the last times, it didn't work
"Why does this world never grants me power? Everyone has these powers, everyone is strong with those power but I can't have them, why? Is it because I'm weak?"
Teras asked the moon
"You don't have to be this way kid"
Enyo said, she suddenly appeared behind Teras, her teleportation abilities were something really terrifying to Teras
"But I can't do anything else, right? I can't use the power of cards, I only have mana and my skills"
Teras said as he stared at his feet
"You don't need anything else kid, I guarantee you that you can become at least a high gold rank adventurer, if you want to become that then I'm always here for you"
Enyo said as she walked away
"But that's not enough..."
Teras mumbled, his ideal plan was to at least become a ranker but what for? His dreams were crushed, he didn't have any reason to become strong, and learning his past only made him suffer so he wasn't fond of that either, right now he was a lost man, a lost soul, someone that shouldn't exist
But taking his life away was not an option, he couldn't bring himself to do it even if he tried to, so he simply stared at the moon and the stars hoping to find a reason to move forward
Well for what happened to him he had none to blame but himself, he wanted to test his limits and help others risking his life in the process, maybe if he didn't help everything would have ended up alright, maybe this was poetic justice, or more like a judge for his greedy actions maybe both...