Sensing the urgency in Thorne's voice, I couldn't help but slightly tense up.
"What is it? Is it about yesterday?" I walked up to him.
"No, no, this has nothing to do with that."
Turning to his side, he slightly signaled his butler, who then turned around and began walking away in the opposite direction.
Making sure that he had walked far enough. Thorne began.
"Vale, I thought I should tell you—remember how my world was supposed to be delivered yesterday."
"Yes?"
"The Nebula Nexus Exchange informed us that there were some problems. Apparently, some beasts are closing in on the lifeless body of the boy I am supposed to transmigrate into, so I don't have the whole month anymore. Factoring in the time dilation between the Worlds, the best I've got is five days."
Hearing him, I sucked in a deep breath. "Five days? You have to dive in under five days?"
Thorne solemnly nodded. "I don't have a choice. If I'm even a couple of minutes late and that body is crippled... This is the perfect world for me, Vale. I can't lose it."
"…So you're leaving today?"
"Yes, I'm flying to Neonspire in two hours to meet my father and the rest of the family before leaving."
I slowly nodded. "I... I'm going to miss you, I guess."
Thorne chuckled a little. "About the call and your messages—sorry I wasn't able to pick them up. Things have been hectic since yesterday."
"Is that why you called me here?"
"Yes, I asked the Blood Witch to call you to say goodbye one last time. This was kind of my only chance. See the guy behind me?"
He subtly pointed towards the butler standing in the distance. "The man has stuck to me since last night. I couldn't even go to the bathroom without him timing me from outside. Anyways, that isn't the only reason I wanted to talk to you."
Eyebrows tensing up, he put both his hands on my shoulders and gazed right into my eyes.
"Vale, you are my friend, and I want what's best for you. That's why I am begging you, don't dive into that world." His gaze intensified. "I am begging you, Vale. Unlike before, I cannot spend a whole lot of time convincing you out of this. That's why I am begging you. Please, go to the Nebula Nexus Exchange and buy a safe yet decent world. Heck, I will give you the last of my assets. That should be worth some hundreds of millions. Use them to buy a good one."
Listening to him, I didn't know what to say.
Oh, I so wish I could tell him. I really wanted to tell him.
"Yeah, I understand." Instead, I smiled. "Actually, believe it or not, I bought one already yesterday."
"What?" Thorne questioned, his eyes narrowed.
"Yes, our visit to Nebula Nexus Exchange yesterday changed my mind. I figured if I sold my entire family's fortune, I could not only show them what's what, but I could also buy a new world. Besides, with all the money I had, it was definitely going to be better than whatever is in my basement."
"You..." Thorne let go of my shoulder. "You are lying to me."
"No, I swear. Look," I opened up my banking app and pulled up my passbook. "See, I transferred all my money yesterday. What else would I have used it for?"
Looking at the transaction details, Thorne's eyebrows finally eased up a bit and his shoulders relaxed.
"Thank God you came to your senses. You have no idea how worried I was," he let out a heavy sigh. "By the way, what kind of world is it?"
"Oh, it's a tech-based one. Type-3 civilization. Follows a weird ritualistic potion system. It doesn't matter to me, though; I will be the first son of a very prominent family. I mean, you should have looked at this guy. His talent is off the charts. Way better than the guy you'll be stuck within five days."
"Ha," Thorne snorted. "You wish. I'll show you my new body's talent when we meet in the league. By the way, when will you be able to participate in the league?"
"Shouldn't be more than a decade. I didn't go into too much detail about that. The salesman said it was somewhat uncertain. Still, it shouldn't be more than that. Fifteen years tops."
"Fifteen years? How could you not clear that up?"
"It was late. I had to go to sleep, so I decided to wing it."
"You winged it? Couldn't you have waited for a couple more days?"
Just like that, Thorne and I began chatting, and before we knew it, more than half an hour had already passed.
"Seriously, you should have heard him. 'Young Master, it has been 3 minutes.' I swear I would have choked him if we weren't on a tight schedule."
Suddenly, the door to the Blood Witch's office opened up, and a small human-shaped droid walked out.
"Miss will see you now, please enter," The droid spoke.
…
…
"I guess I'll see you in a decade," I faced Thorne.
"I guess so." Thorne reached out and hugged me for the last time.
"Alright, just don't die while you're in there."
Thorne chuckled and signaled the butler to come. Looking at me for the last time, he walked inside the office.
I, too, turned around, about to return when—
"Miss has also asked you to wait here," the Droid spoke flatly.
Damn it, was she still going to punish me? Nodding in helplessness, I silently stood in the hallway, waiting.
In no less than ten minutes, Thorne and his butler walked out of the office. It seemed like Thorne wanted to talk a bit more, but under his butler's sharp gaze, he only gave me a last nod and left.
"Miss will see you now," the Droid informed me, and I walked into the office, praying.
Inside the office, the Blood Witch sat on her seat, going through several holographic screens displayed over her desk. These were likely documents about Thorne's sudden leave.
Noticing that I had entered, she gave me a short glance and gestured for me to sit down. I did as I was told and waited.
It took a while before she took her eyes off the screen. With a swipe of her hand, the screens disappeared.
"So, how did it go? Your last goodbye?" she questioned.
"It was good enough; besides, it wasn't our last goodbye. We'll see each other—just maybe a decade from now. You might get old by then, though." The Blood Witch smiled.
"From my perspective, Thorne would return in less than two years. What about you, though?" Her crimson eyes bore into mine. "How much time would you take to come back?"