"Shouldn't you be in a hurry? You have to pick up some people, right?"
Esme's voice echoed in Rey's ears as they neared their Inn. Despite hearing it, Rey hardly reacted or changed the steady pace at which he walked.
"It's fine." He simply responded. "I sent a Duplicate a while back."
"R-really? I didn't notice!" Esme expressed surprise, to which Rey chuckled and shrugged.
"Yeah. I did it pretty quickly. Hid it well too."
With his wide array of Skills, it wasn't a difficult thing to do. In any case, the only reason he was able to talk to Noah for so long despite his busy schedule was due to that arrangement.
"I wanted to pick them up myself, but I guess plans change." He smiled softly, shrugging again.
Something about the atmosphere felt moody for some reason. Rey didn't even know why, but he suddenly felt a lull within him.
Perhaps a moment of silence was what he needed.
"Friend of yours?" Unfortunately, Esme wouldn't let him have that.
"Yeah. You could say that."
Rey didn't think he treated Noah as well as he should have treated a friend, but he genuinely considered him one.
After all, he was the first and only person who he revealed his secret to.
"Has he seen your face behind the mask?" Esme's question made Rey laugh a little.
He replied still.
"For him, and the people we had in common, the mask was my secret."
It was pretty ironic how the opposite was true for Esme. Regardless, he could say that Noah was the only one who knew both sides pretty well.
'Back then, I didn't think Ralyks would up playing such a big role. If I had known that, would I still have exposed my identity to him?'
Rey wasn't sure. All he knew was that Noah was incredibly useful at the time, and it would have been difficult to achieve the things he was able to without his help.
Difficult, not impossible.
"And you're sure your secret is safe with him?"Esme probed even more.
"You met him. What do you think?"
"I think he talks too much." Her response was blunt, but the smile on her face showed fondness towards that kind of behavior.
Rey noticed that, but he chose to ignore it completely.
"I don't think he'll spill my secret. Besides, I could always compel him to forget it."
"Really? Then why didn't you just do it back then? It would have been the safest bet, right?" It felt like Esme was driving at something, but Rey wasn't in the mood for it.
And so, he ignored the subtexts that existed underneath her words.
"There's no need to go that far. I plan on coming clean to the rest of my friends once this entire Dungeon thing is resolved."
"Really? What does that have to do with this situation, though?"
"The only reason I care about my identity being exposed is because I don't want them—no, her—to think negatively of me." Rey sighed, finally stopping in his tracks.
The moon's dim glow did a poor job at capturing his face, but thankfully the nearby lights that decorated the city were able to shine their light on it.
He appeared tired.
"I think I've had enough of the secrets. It's also going to get problematic explaining why Ralyks won't participate in the war despite his power."
"You mean 'your' power."
"You know what I mean…" Rey sighed in exasperation, to which Esme just chuckled at.
"In any case, it'll be better for everyone if I just told them the truth. I don't want to limit my strength on the front lines where actual lives are at stake."
He could see Esme nodding and smiling at him, so he quickly added something else. "That doesn't mean I'll show you my face, though."
"C-come on!"
"Pfft! You look cute when you pout like that." Rey teased.
"Well, I can't say the same about you since I DON'T EVEN KNOW what you look like."
"I know I won't be cute." Rey shrugged. "So there's no need to say it."
Esme sighed, obviously very deflated after hearing what Rey said. She clearly didn't want to push too much, and Rey really liked that.
"So the friend he was talking about, that was you, right?" As usual, Esme changed the topic to something more comfortable to talk about.
Rey didn't know how she was so skilled at conversing, but he liked that aspect of her as well.
"Yeah. I was really surprised, to be honest." He laughed slightly, staring high into the starless sky. "I didn't think I made such a strong impression on him."
"…"
Esme chose to remain silent, allowing Rey to soak in the quietness around him. It allowed him to think really clearly.
"I really wanted to tell him, you know? I wanted to tell him that I was Rey, his friend from back then…"
"So why didn't you?"
As her soft, barely audible answer danced in his ears, Rey parted his lips and let words accompany the cool mist that proceeded out.
"I… He looked happy. He looks like he's growing nicely, and this new life suits him. I think… if I showed up like this—out of the blue—it might sort of ruin that."
"I see…"
"Yeah…"
The both of them remained still, Rey looking at the blank sky while Esme stared at him with glistening eyes.
They stood there in silence for an unknown period of time.
But, someone finally spoke.
"He likes you, you know? Noah…" Rey slightly glanced at Esme as he muttered those words.
"I know."
Herresponse was brief, accompanied by a light shrug and a knowing smile.
"And?"
"And what?"
"Do you like him back?" These words followed each other in quick succession, but after this question, there was a long pause.
"Do you like Britta?"
"Huh? What does that have to do with the question I asked?"
"I mean, she likes you."
"Does she? I don't think so."
"Sure… keep saying that."
"Just answer my question." Rey said, slightly raising his voice.
He didn't realize this, but his cheeks were a little red as he stared intensely at Esme's clear blue eyes.
However, rather than answering honestly—as she normally would—the Half Elf pulled back, placing both hands behind as she playfully walked away.
"H-he—!"
"I'll tell you when you show me what's hidden underneath that mask."