"Is it necessary for me to come along?" I asked my senior as we made our way to the carriage.
"Yes. The other Noble Houses are pressuring me to bring the one who prevented the complete destruction of the entire city to light." He told me with a stern tone.
I can feel from his voice that he did not want to bring me along, but wasn't given the choice. Although I, myself, did not want to meddle with the affairs of noble houses, I can't help but lend my senior a hand.
It's almost a week after the incident and most of the damages have already been repaired, all the dead bodies have been buried. But the look on the people's faces are still drowned in sorrow while observing them from the window of the moving carriage.
"Senior, how are you holding up?" I asked.
He did not respond immediately. This is how seniors had acted ever since the incident. He refuses to eat his meals, much less taking care of himself. Even without my eyesight, I can tell his health is dropping drastically to a dangerous level. Any longer than this and his body will fail. He cannot continue this any longer.
"I get it that you loathe yourself thinking that you are responsible for their deaths, senior. But doing things that harm your body is not the answer." I told him amidst his silence.
"How…how can I do that?... How can I be fine after what happened? I am their master, I am responsible for their lives, and yet, I failed to protect them. This is the reason why I wanted to be strong. So why did I fail to protect what's important to me?"
His trembling voice that tried to hide away for the last couple of days surfaced. His frustration and guilt seemingly continued to haunt him ultimately poisoning his mind, albeit slowly.
I cannot just sit by and watch any longer. I need to step out and bring my old senior back.
"If you failed to execute that last step, even more people would have lost their lives throughout the city. I cannot let you continue this any longer. If left alone, your destruction is sure to come eventually. Live and struggle to make sure that this incident will never happen again. I think that is the best action to take."
It was not my place to lecture my seniors. After all, the difference in our title was obvious and I would be seen as disrespectful. But there are times that line should be crossed. If it means bringing my senior back I would gladly cross multiple lines if necessary.
Hearing my lecture, I sensed his breathing tone down significantly. He realized the truth in my words, which was a good sign.
"You're right. I cannot stay like this any longer. The dead will surely be disappointed to see their master this week….. to think that I'd get a scolding from my junior in this day and age. I'm ashamed but I am thankful, Jakob. Thank you for putting some sense into me. If ever a similar incident happens, can you promise me to do the same thing again?"
His words now have a hunt of hope compared to his gloomy side earlier. This is a good sign.
"Well, I can't just watch you self-destruct. Master wouldn't want that to happen to any of us. So I only did what I thought was right."
"Still, you saved me."
Somehow, I was able to put some sense into my senior's head. The death of his employees brought his morale to an all-time low. Leaving him alone would result in disastrous results. Now that he has calmed down, I can now feel relieved to some degree.
"Master, we are reaching the city hall soon..." The coacher reported and then fell silent.
"What is it?" Senior asked as he opened the window close to the coach. "What in the world!?..."
Hearing the senior's worried tone, something must be wrong. I focused my hearing outside the carriage and got a perfect image outside thanks to the continuous noise provided by the carriage.
A lot of people have gathered, and multiple carriages are standing by ahead.
"Looks like there's a lot more people than you expected, senior." I pointed out.
"Should we turn back? I only planned to introduce you to the noble heads in this city, but to think that they would pull something like this."
'Something like this'? I don't know what senior meant by those words, but considering how surprised he sounded. It must be very bad.
"No. Now that we're already here, we just need to suck it up. And it would be troublesome to do so, right? The other noble houses would pester you, that is not a problem we want right now. So let's just deal with it."
"Honestly, I want to turn back but since you want to deal with this now. But if you say otherwise, I guess we have no other choice."
The carriage stopped a few moments later. It seems like we reached our destination.