With just Til calling out to them, the rest of the team hurriedly grabbed their bags and followed him. They were really exhausted from walking for an entire day, so they rushed toward the inn to get some rest before continuing their journey tomorrow morning.
Meanwhile, while Til was calling the rest of the team, Tala was already inside the inn and had entered her room. It seemed that drowsiness had overtaken her, and she fell into a deep sleep.
At that time the team reached the inn. They entered carrying their luggage, then went up the stairs together, but there was a problem; it seemed the stairs were only wide enough for two people. Everyone looked at each other, as if asking one another to make way, but it seemed none of them wanted to give up and let the others go first. At first glance, you might think they were joking, but the looks in their eyes told a completely different story.
Ryan broke the silence: "Hey Carlos! Don't you think you're blocking the way? Move a little!"
"Haaah!? I'm blocking the way?! Look at yourself! You're the one blocking the path! You shouldn't be selfish like children!"
"Haaaah! Like children? What do you mean by that!?"
Carlos answered: "Yes, that's exactly it. You're selfish and childish!"
While Carlos and Ryan were engaged in a heated argument, there was someone stuck between them, trying to slip to the other side, but he seemed to be struggling a lot to do so. Til was also watching from the first steps of the stairs, and his facial expressions clearly showed how disgusted he was with this sight, as they always behaved like children. To avoid embarrassment with the innkeeper, Til was forced to move a little forward, and it seemed like he was about to speak—but before he could utter a single word, all he saw was a mountain of things collapsing on him like an avalanche.
"AAAH!"
He didn't even have the chance to complete his scream before he ended up under piles of luggage—and on top of that, three bodies! And since he was the youngest among the entire team, enduring all that weight and pressure was extremely difficult. It looked as if he had lost consciousness. After it was already too late, the two who were fighting, along with Raven, finally realized they had crushed Til beneath them, so they all hurried to where he had fallen, trying to lift him and wake him up:
"Hey Til! Answer us!"
"Til! Til!"
"AAAH! Get your ugly face away from me!"
Those were Til's first words the moment he heard voices right above his head.
Ryan sighed as if a great burden had been lifted from him:
"Haaah… Oh, so you're alive then!"
Those words felt like a dagger piercing Til's heart.
"Aaah! 'Alive then'?! Did you actually think I was dead!?"
Ryan became flustered:
"Haaah… no, actually… I mean… it's… it's nothing! Come on, you should go up first."
"Tch…" Til stood up and went up the stairs heading toward the room. The room was large and had four beds. As soon as Til lay down on one of them, he immediately fell asleep, while the rest stayed behind gathering the luggage that had scattered when they fell.
In the early hours of the morning, Raven woke up startled as if he had seen some kind of nightmare. He took a deep breath and then exhaled, as if trying to calm his panic. Then he looked to both sides—his companions were still asleep. He got out of bed, left the room, and gently closed the door behind him, leaving the others sleeping.
Raven went down the stairs, and right in front of him was the innkeeper.
"Good morning, I hope you had a good night in our inn."
Raven looked at the innkeeper with a slightly strange expression; he still wasn't used to talking to humans. All Raven did was completely ignore the man and walk out.
"Tch! People these days don't know manners at all…"
The man was clearly annoyed by Raven ignoring him, and it showed on his face. But the moment Raven stepped outside, he simply ignored it himself and continued cleaning the floor.
While Raven was outside, some time passed until the sun fully rose. Then the moment to leave once again had truly come.
Tala woke up and began gathering her belongings, but Til, Carlos, and Ryan were still sleeping soundly—that was exactly how Tala found them when she entered their room. But the strange thing was that Raven was not there among them. Tala looked around the room, but she couldn't find any trace of him.
Then she quickly hurried to wake Carlos and the others:
"Hey! Come on, wake up! You… and you too, wake up!"
While Tala was trying to wake them, it seemed she failed, and that annoyed her a little. Her hand clenched slightly into a fist, then she punched Carlos, who was sleeping in his bed.
"AAAH!"
Carlos jumped up instantly from his sleep. It was unexpected, and the punch wasn't exactly light.
"Hey Tala! What is this?! What do you want!?"
While Carlos was staring at her with half-open eyes, Tala looked nervous and a little worried:
"Carlos, didn't you see Raven? He's not in his place!"
Carlos turned to his right and saw Ryan lying on his bed, sleeping deeply. Then he turned to his left and saw Til sleeping beside him, while there was an empty, neatly arranged bed. Carlos's eyes widened slightly, as if sleep had suddenly vanished from him.
"Haaah! Where on earth could he have gone!?"
"Haah… Tala, I'm going to search for him. Wake up the others."
And so Carlos headed downstairs to look for Raven.
As soon as he went down the stairs, he saw the innkeeper. He seemed a bit annoyed, and strangely, he didn't speak to Carlos and simply ignored him—it seemed he still held some resentment toward Raven. Carlos didn't pay much attention to it.
"Good morning, is it possible that you saw one of my companions leave earlier?"
Carlos was the one to start the conversation, and with that, the annoyance began to disappear from the man's face:
"Ah, yes. He left the inn a while ago, early in the morning. I don't know where he went. He didn't tell me anything; he just left without saying a single word."
After hearing the man's words, annoyance was clearly visible on Carlos's face:
"Haaah! Does this mean I have to search for him from scratch? Where could he have gone this early!?"
Carlos left the inn annoyed and shut the door forcefully behind him. Because of that, the innkeeper got an even worse impression:
"Tch! Looks like there's really no hope from this generation at all…"
While Carlos was outside searching for Raven, Tala was battling Ryan's dreams.
"Tch! Didn't I tell you to wake up!?"
Pulling and shaking… punches… slaps… none of that worked to wake Ryan up. It truly seemed like Tala was fighting Ryan's dreams, trying to free him from them.
Meanwhile, Til had woken up not long ago and was standing there watching Tala's desperate struggle, so he had to intervene. He glanced toward the table beside him and saw a pitcher filled with water. The moment he saw it, a mischievous expression and smile appeared on Til's face. He grabbed the pitcher and headed toward Tala.
"Hey Tala, there's no need for all of this. I know how he can wake up. Step aside a little."
Tala obeyed and stepped back. Then Til poured the pitcher of water straight onto Ryan's face. This was the best way to wake him up.
"AAAAAH!! What is this!? Haah… haah… haah!!"
"Finally, you woke up! We would've had to wait until noon if we left you like this!"
While Ryan was wiping the water off his face, he spoke to Til:
"What do you think you're doing now!? How dare you do this!?"
Tala answered instead of Til:
"This is all because of you! If you had woken up from the beginning, we wouldn't have poured water on you! Come on, get out of bed, this is not the time to sleep. We have to head toward our destination!"
While Tala was talking, Ryan was looking around the room as if he was ignoring everything she said.
"Hey! Where is Carlos? And Raven isn't here either!"
"Tch! Were you even listening to what I said!?"
While Tala was angry, Til handled the answer:
"Raven is gone. We don't know where he went, and Carlos went out to search for him."
"Haaah! He's gone? Where could he suddenly disappear like that!?"
End of the chapter.