After some time, I left the Inspection Office and made my way towards my designated carriage.
"Sigh... I will give more work to that bastard than 4th manager."
I was angry because 5th manager escaped even before I gave him a punishment. However, those emotions subdued a lot after some time.
Giving physical pain as punishment would just last for some time, but giving very arduous work that would keep 5th manager away from his research and sleep would be a better punishment. I could already see the tears the 5th manager would shed when he got the assignment.
'Though it would be disgusting to see his crying face. It is fortunate that I'm going to not see it.'
Anyway, the academy was a bit far away and I was unable to teleport there. After all, I didn't know the appearance of the academy and I was also too lazy to ask its coordinates. Plus, my mana reserves weren't so huge.
Well, the carriage rides weren't bad, on the contrary, I liked them very much. It gave me time to think about my problems and a chance to fall asleep.
So, I was content with riding carriages.
"To Aurora Academy," I said to the carriage rider and flicked a large silver coin, which was equal to 20 small silver coins or 600 bronze coins. Which was a lot for the average person.
The driver caught the coin with both of his hands and immediately pocketed it with a smile.
I boarded into the carriage and made myself comfortable. The road to the academy was long, estimated to last about 10 hours. So, comfort was important.
Clip-clop, clip-clop
The carriage began to move. I closed my eyes and crossed my arms in front of me.
With that, an hour passed while I was trying to sleep. It seemed that my sleep disorder worsened quite a bit.
I carefully moved my hand into the secret pocket of my suit and took out something with great care.
When someone was bored, had nothing to do, and couldn't sleep, what would they do?
Pray of course!
That was what I was going to do. Pray.
I slowly withdrew my hand that was covering the thing I had taken out and revealed it to my eyes.
It was a cross. An inverted one. A smooth black cross made of bones– human finger bones.
"Oh, holy mother…" I murmured as I kissed the bone cross and clasped it between my hands.
"The Mistress of Regret, Defiler of Hope Enslaver of Desires, Devourer of Dreams, Whisperer of Betrayal…
"The Fallen,
"Will I finally learn the truth, oh my divine mother?
"I know hope is a poison, desires are shackles, and dreams are for the weak-minded. The strong don't dream but do it with their own hands, but I am curious…
"Will I stop regretting one day?"
Some time passed while I was praying, and like usual, I didn't get any response. It was something I had expected.
After all, I only once got a response from the goddess, which was when I was just a child. Maybe that was also a hallucination that my brain played with me.
I pressed the bone cross to my forehead and then put it back in my secret pocket.
Even though I didn't get a response for over a decade, the memory of the time when I heard the goddess' voice was still clear as like to me. It was an unforgettable experience.
I closed my eyes for the sleep to claim me. As someone with a sleep disorder for forever, I already used all sleep medicines that caused sleep. Hence, my body was immune to most sleep medicines. As for the sleep-inducing magic, let's not talk about that…
All I could do was wait.
…
While I was waiting, suddenly the inside of the carriage darkened and the temperature dropped several degrees.
The goosebumps covered my whole body as my heart began to hammer to my chest.
Sounds of gentle rustling came behind me but I didn't dare to look back. My innate trait, Danger Sense was screaming at me.
DON'T LOOK! DON'T LOOK!
DON'T LOOK! DON'T LOOK!
This was the first time I felt a danger as big as this. My eyes shook greatly. Cold sweat ran down from my temple to my chin.
Something touched my nape.
"...!"
Something cold, something lifeless. It had no weight, no material surface.
'A ghost? Spirit? Wraith?'
Even though I felt danger, I didn't feel any malicious intent or desire to kill.
And strangely, it was a gentle touch.
Two immaterial hands, one of them was soft and tender like a woman's hand that didn't touch a sword and the other one was a hard and smooth skeleton hand. These two hands climbed from my nape over to my ear and then reached to my cheek.
Weightless hair fell on my shoulder and neck, it would normally tickle me but I wasn't in the state to get tickled by the hair.
The hands felt and caressed my cheeks. Blood trickled from the places that were caressed by the bone hand and a heavy scent enveloped me. It wasn't a nasty scent but a pleasant one.
My eyes closed themselves and my mind began to get blurry. An unexpected comfort came over me as I got sleepy suddenly.
"Soon…"
A gentle voice whispered to my right ear as I felt Deja Vu.
"Holy mother?"
And I fell asleep.
At last, I received a response from the goddess after a decade. It was just one word but it was still a response.
With that, I didn't resist more to sleep.
After all, according to the goddess, my regrets will disappear, or I will learn the truth.
I didn't desire more than this anyway. I was content with receiving a response from the goddess.