Ash sighed.
"Slow down or you'll end up choking—"
Just as he warned her, Aisha found herself struggling to breathe, as part of the buns was now stuck in her throat. As she stuffed her fist into her chest, her eyes grew wide.
"What did I just say?" Ash had an exasperated voice as he reached into the bag and pulled out a small bottle of water.
Handing it to her, Aisha didn't think twice before she grabbed it and began chugging it down her throat.
Once she was done, she immediately lowered her gaze in shame.
"I—I am sorry."
At some point, Ash found her continuously apologizing for every little thing irritating. Then again, it wasn't like he didn't understand why she was like that.
"Just eat slower next time. We don't exactly have much to waste on water every time you choke."
Aisha nodded slightly.
With that, Ash grabbed his own buns and unwrapped them before eating.
While doing this, he brought out the communicator the old woman had given him and poured in a bit of his mana into it.
Doing this caused the artifact to react, and then a hologram appeared right on top of the gem.
It was a woman who appeared to be in her 20s, although only her face was visible. However, he cared very little about who was delivering the information.
Most of the news was about the sudden rise in monsters appearing around the cities of Ulom and Yajna.
None of which Ash had any reason to care about.
As such, he kept swiping, moving through the catalogue of gathered news.
Along the way, he noticed other news as well, one of which was the presence of a member of the hero's party, stationed in Forgina city for a mission.
Though important, he still paid no mind to it, not yet.
He scrolled once more.
That was when he found it, the one he was looking for. A week ago—
{Good day, esteemed citizens of the Lumberg Kingdom. We bring you a solemn update from the Royal Embassy regarding the hero and his valiant party. On this day, it is with heavy hearts that we must deliver truly heartbreaking news. A member of the hero's party has been exposed as a servant of the dreaded Devil King.}
Ash's gaze darkened.
{The name of this traitor… is Ash Grimore, a member of the hero's party who was summoned alongside the hero himself. It has been revealed, by the hero and the king, that this individual possessed the power of the Devil King and harbored the insidious aim of destroying our beloved kingdom from within.
To protect us all, the hero bravely took it upon himself to confront and defeat this traitor. However, during this pivotal moment, a grave incident occurred... the hero was tragically too late. Before he could vanquish this betrayer of our kingdom, the Devil King had been revived.}
Gawking at the hologram, Ash could barely hide the anger on his face. He gritted his teeth, his fist clenched so tightly that it felt like his fingers were going to sink into his skin.
"That bastard!"
He turned around and angrily drove his fist into the wall.
The impact caused a huge hole to appear on the wall, leaving a wide crack resembling that of a spider web.
Aisha, who was still eating at the side, became instantly terrified with the food still inside her mouth as she chewed slowly, trying her best not to make eye contact with Ash.
'That bastard, I knew he would do something like this. It wasn't bad enough that he killed me; he also ran my name through the mud just to get a little fame!'
Paa!
He punched the wall again, blood dripping from his knuckles after the impact.
'No, not just him. Fuck the king. And fuck this stupid kingdom. I am done.'
For a brief moment, the anger on his face faded, giving way to a gradual look of confusion.
'Hold on. The announcement said something about the devil king appearing. Did the devil king come out after my death? I thought the system said the devil king was trapped and unable to react with the outside world.'
He thought to himself for a while, his gaze drifting to the side.
'Yeah, I might be jumping to conclusions here. John has never seen the devil king before; it could be something else that appeared. If that is the case, could it also be what moved my body all the way here to Forgina?'
A huge sigh soon left his mouth. He realized no matter how long he thought about it, he would never get his answer unless he confronted John.
If he were to journey back to the royal capital, he would need to not only get stronger but also gather enough money for the trip.
Slowly, he pulled his hand from the wall, his blood dripping to the ground. He watched as his injury slowly closed, sucking the dried blood back into his body.
'Right, I need strength, before anything else.'
[That is correct.]
Once they were both done eating and relaxing in the alleyway, they soon made their way to Aogin's guild, not too far from where they were.
Standing in front of the counter, Ash stared at the receptionist and uttered—
"I would like to register as an adventurer."