Soon Senva was brought into the mansion and before Erik's room, unconscious, over a guard's shoulders who clearly had an unwilling expression, but the helmet did a good job in hiding it. Before Collum could knock on the door, he heard, "Come in."
"Pardon the intrusion."
Collum entered. The guard followed behind, curious to see what Erik's room looked like, and he was surprised to find it to be very normal. He wasn't expecting that.
"Dismiss,"
Collum looked at the guard, and saw him still standing there like a wooden log, unable to process making him wonder if he was too lean on them. But then he couldn't blame them, he had the same reaction when he first saw this but he overcame the feeling easily along with which his respect for Erik increased.
The guard was brought out of his daze by that word. He put Senva down, bowed deeply before leaving the room, rushing out. He didn't know the reason, but Erik's cold blue eyes gave him a chilling sensation, as if they could see through everything, no secret was safe from him.
Erik didn't bother with the guard and gave Senva one look before turning to Collum, he asked, "How fast can you clear an escape tunnel?"
Collum, confused, replied, "depends on the tunnel. For the shortest one, it'll take around 2 days without alerting anyone." He was talking about the one that was under the shopping district, Erik had seen that.
Erik thought for a moment before asking, "Any tunnel that hadn't been under attack?"
Collum stayed silent for a moment, wondering why Erik was asking about it. He scrutinized his expression, but that dead face gave him nothing. There were two secret tunnels that only the general and he knew (he wasn't the right hand of the general for nothing), but he couldn't tell if he could place his trust in Erik.
His guts were telling him he should trust him, but his brain said otherwise, it was telling him that if Erik didn't know about those tunnels, then he'd do his best to get out of this situation, he'd be on his toes all the time. But if he knew about the tunnels, then he might get lax, and would feel like there's always a crutch he could rely on.
He hesitated for a long time, and Erik's indifferent expression didn't help one bit. Still, he gritted his teeth and told him the half-truth. He said, "There is one, young master."
"Show me." Erik said as he brought out a map, like he knew there was one, just didn't know where it was. Collum could only smile wryly, and showed him the tunnel. It was leading out from the noble district, beelining the shopping district tunnel before going completely opposite after leaving the shopping district.
Erik studied the route before furling the map. He then said, "I need you to do something for me."
Erik told him his plan, which made Collum's eyes turn bigger and bigger, his mouth opened wide so much that one can place a tennis ball in it. He was staring at Erik speechlessly, didn't know what he was thinking.
He gulped as he asked, "How can you trust him?"
He turned toward Senva, confusion clear in his eyes. How can this insane person get them the information that they require?
"Leave that to me, for now. Take him to the far end of the city, and put as much distance between us as possible. He doesn't need to be conscious of this."
Collum, bewildered by his orders, opened and closed his mouth several times, he wanted to hack open Erik's mind and see what was going on inside but couldn't. He wanted to ask him many questions, but seeing that frozen face made him lose all hope.
He could only drag the unconscious Senva away, not knowing that Erik had linked himself to him and could hear Collum grumbling under his breath, but he didn't care. It was a secret that he didn't want to share with anyone, even if Collum seemed trustworthy. It was not his secret to tell. He felt it was strongly related to Valcroy.
"I should visit him."
He walked toward his tent; it was not far away and the far end of the city might take some time to get to, he could dual task, see through his eyes and Senva's but it was disorienting and needed a little practice, which him being a genius, did in less than a breath.
Now he was looking at Collum through Senva's view for a moment before disconnecting when he arrived before Valcroy's tent.
...
Valcroy was busy healing, lost in his dreams, but the dreams were weird, at one point he was standing in the fields, at next like teleportation he was standing on the edge of a cliff, he could see piles and piles of corpses before him, towering the cliff, before he could say anything, he got teleported once more. He stood above a tower with a staircase that spiraled through it.
He didn't stay there long as well as he got teleported to a swamp. His feet stuck in it. He didn't stay there for long and teleported to a snowy mountain followed by a fire mountain range.
It was like his dream was taking him to every place that was possible in the world, like an upside down city, and many many more, but like a passing wind, everything fleeted, and his eyes opened wide, a clear sky greeting him.
'What was that?'
He said, as he could remember everything clearly, like it was burned into his memory and would be forgotten even if he tried to forget them.
'Weird.' He spoke internally and sat up, his wounds much healed and his bruises vanished. Just as he was about to try standing up…
Swish*
The curtains of the tent opened, and Erik entered. Valcroy stopped and looked at him, his eyebrows raised a little, he felt something, just couldn't put his finger on it.
Erik had the same experience. He didn't know what it was, but there was this feeling he couldn't put his finger on.
"Weird." x2
Both of them said, at the same time, making Valcroy's eyebrows jump in surprise as he said, "Isn't it, young master?"
Erik's expression didn't change that dramatically, but there was still a surprise in his eyes as he looked at Valcroy. He nodded and took a seat, sitting next to him.
Silence*
Valcroy didn't know how to start a conversation. He was a awkward some people, especially in front of Erik, who had a blunt personality and a frozen face.
"What were you doing in the alley?"
Erik asked, not beating around the bush. Valcroy looked at him, and saw his eyebrows scrunched, eyes squinting like he was trying to look for something in him. But he seems to be having trouble finding it.
Valcroy, silent for a moment, thinking what to say, before taking a long breath. He felt he should tell the truth. After which he started from his visit to infirmary and how he ended up in the alley. He also told him about the mysterious lady, raising his eyebrows a little, but then hearing about how he lost control over his body in the alley was an eye-raiser.
Valcroy told him everything, it was like something was telling him it was okay, he could trust Erik. Erik had the same feeling as he listened to Valcroy. He could tell that he was telling the truth, maybe having one heart can have such an effect, he didn't know.
After Valcroy was done, he poured himself a glass of water and gulped it down. Who knew telling a story was this throat burning. Erik remained silent, analyzing everything, trying to see why he lost control and who was the lady he was talking about.
Valcroy, upon seeing his silence, looked at himself, his attire was banged up, pants ripped from many places, his robe destroyed from almost every corner like those people intended to rip it apart. He looked like a beggar. Heck, even beggars looked more suited and booted than him at the moment. Good thing Alyssa had changed his bandages, or else he might have degraded himself to a new level.
He looked around, trying to find something, and soon he found himself some clothes. White shirt, black pants and jacket, a pair of shoes, making him look like a gentleman, his eyes focused, making him wonder if he was looking at them correctly, he didn't remember owning one.
"I prepared them." Erik said when he saw Valcroy staring at the clothes, he was about to burn a hole in them with just his stares.
"Oh, ok. Wait what!?"
Erik didn't bother with his raised voice, he was used to this, and instead asked, "What about the claws? How did you…"
He stopped as he saw Valcroy showing him his hand, his gaze still on the suit. Such insolence could have him executed, but once again, Erik didn't care. His eyes were focused on Valcroy's hand, more specifically his finger nails that grew until they were enough to give the small blades a run for their money.
He kept staring at them for a while before turning to his hand, wondering if he could do that as well. He tried and it happened, his nails also turned long and sharp, becoming claws. This grabbed Valcroy's attention as he finally tore his eyes from the dress and turned to him.
His mouth opened wide, one could fit an egg in them. He kept staring at the claws, forgetting that he also had them. He then looked at Erik's face, who was observing them as well, and uttered, "How?"
Erik looked at Valcroy and saw his expression, didn't know what to say to this guy. He was like an open book before him, but still decided to tell him about their situation.
Valcroy, listened with half focus at first, then when he heard he didn't have a new heart or had his heart replaced, his expression turned into a confused cat than when he learned that Erik's used his physique special trait, his confusion turned into awe and amazement, forgetting for a moment that he almost died.
"So, young master, and I have the same heart." Valcroy said he felt a little warmth when he learned Erik had used such an invaluable trait on him. He could've had hundreds of squires at a moment's notice, but he didn't and saved him, forgetting that he almost died protecting Erik. He might be a little foolish at times, but he knew Erik had sacrificed a lot for him. Once again, forgetting that he did that, too.
"Stop smiling like an idiot." Erik said when he saw that foolish smile hanging on his face and continued, "How did you get such powers?"
"They aren't yours, young master?" Valcroy asked, his eyebrows raising a little. After knowing about his heart sharing, he thought it was Erik's special abilities, but seeing him shaking his heart, he fell into contemplation.
"Maybe…" But then shook his head. He didn't want to even remember that place, but Erik could feel the change in his expression and he asked, "What is it?"
Valcroy turned to Erik. He thought for a long while, Erik waited as he could see hesitation over his face. Valcroy closed his eyes before opening, and said, "I don't know if it is because of this, but I think when I died or almost died, I…"
He told him about his experience in the other world, the body he found himself in, the strange sword that drank blood like juice. The monsters he encountered, describing their appearances and the aura of death around them, his countless brushes against death in there and the strange source of light.
Erik listened to everything, not commenting on anything. Honestly, he was also shocked inside. At first he assumed that Valcroy had just had a nightmare when he was critically injured, but him describing bits and pieces of the world with such detail, and the monster, that werewolf monster, even gave him a shudder just from his explanation, made him consider otherwise. He remembered the monster that entered his body, it very much felt like it belonged to that world. He told Valcroy about it, who said, "I remember it, It was formed from the hearts of those peoples.." and continued his story.
After he was done with his story, the room was engulfed in silence. Only the sound of breaths could be heard. Valcroy looked at Erik, wondering if he believed him or not. Meanwhile, Erik was trying to make a head and tail of this.
As he thought about it, he decided to reconnect with Senva to check up on the progress. He saw Collum walking, still mulling about how this plan was going to work. He was checking the range when he heard Valcroy ask, "Young master, what is this red light around you?"
He looked at Valcroy, only to be surprised as he saw his eyes, black sclera, blue iris and inverted black pupil. The blue iris glowed like a bulb as it toggled between different colors.
"Oh, and your eyes are different too now." He said, looking at Erik with a curious, unique look.