Chapter 115
They walked a mile away from Rotell, crossing street after street toward the border between Racon and Baram without exchanging a single word.
For some reason, lately Zavi had begun to feel as though there was an invisible barrier separating him from Aaron.
He knew, he understood very well that if he fought him again, Aaron would definitely win easily, at least for now. Even though Prisoner belonged to the Suppression Type, the natural enemy of Exorcists, especially abilities that fell under the Spreader Type. But because of the lack of information regarding Prisoner's other capabilities at the first stage, Error, Zavi had to think twice and devise a plan that would benefit him.
'That man is really cunning from everything I've seen so far. Pretending to be innocent? Following our directions without asking too many questions? Even when he does ask something, it's either out of curiosity or just to strengthen his relationship with us. And even worse, he told me to work harder back in Forgenate.'
Zavi slowed his steps as he took the pocket watch from his jacket pocket, staring at it for quite a while with an uneasy feeling pressing against his chest before continuing his complaints about Aaron in his mind.
'He could understand those codes... whatever they were, after hearing them only once from that bartender. Heh, even I can't remember that mustached guy's words from beginning to end.'
He still felt suspicious of Aaron as he followed behind him, still holding the pocket watch and staying alert before it became too late.
'I thought staying with him to avoid supernatural creatures that might attack me was the best idea I had. But it looks like I've finally come up with a way to make this scenario work.'
Zavi thought back to the woman who was actually an Evil Spirit at the fifth rank, Mastering, whom he intended to use as a stepping stone to completely control Aaron.
The corner of his lips lifted upward as a sinister smile spread across his face. Then he slipped the pocket watch into the front pocket of the white shirt beneath his soft fur-lined jacket.
Aaron had noticed it ever since they left the bar and walked all the way here, traversing the silent roads beneath the stillness of the falling night snow.
'I don't know what that man thinks about me. And if he intends to kill me, then go ahead and kill me willingly. But before that, I finally have a reason to keep living, and let me make more friends until I'm satisfied.'
Aaron muttered to himself in lament, yet he held no regrets for having lived twenty-five years. It still felt insufficient to make friends and properly talk with the three of them, including the woman who saw him as a traitor, Celina.
Ever since he obtained Exorcist from who-knows-where after killing a man named Aaron Kwok; an ordinary fifteen-year-old teenager who, after only a few days, managed to kill a Receivers user whose Exorcist had already reached the second stage, Extraction, it was an insane achievement for someone his age.
Even though the real Aaron Kwok had actually died in a weakened state after leveling up and being hunted by a secret organization operating in the underworld, allowing that teenager to kill him so easily.
'Forgive me if I sound arrogant because of my experience. I genuinely don't know what to talk about because I never know what to say. I'm afraid of saying the wrong thing, afraid people will avoid me, and afraid you'll hate this strange side of me.'
Amid the hundreds of millions of snowflakes steadily falling from the sky, carried by the cold night wind brushing against Aaron's utterly expressionless face, he half turned and accidentally caught sight of golden brown beams of light rising into the air.
'Is there a party nearby?' he thought as he stared at the lights with a weary face, letting the snowflakes cling to his skin while he slightly tilted his head upward.
Zavi instinctively stopped walking, curious about what Aaron had seen to make him react like that.
"A party?" Zavi asked just to make sure, even though lately he had felt too lazy to talk.
For a moment, Aaron forgot how to blink after realizing Zavi had finally opened his mouth.
Then he straightened his gaze and answered hesitantly, "Maybe."
'I don't know what time it is now. Should I just ask him directly?' Aaron suddenly felt awkward as the back of his neck and his ears grew warm despite the freezing atmosphere around them.
He nodded, deciding to ask.
"What time is it now?"
Zavi said nothing as he took out the pocket watch, pressed open the cover, and held it directly toward Aaron's face.
'How tall is this guy actually?' Zavi became confused as he felt like a peanut standing beside a watermelon.
"It's half past eleven at night, but they're still throwing a party?" he muttered softly as he looked again toward the lights moving steadily from side to side, though the buildings ahead partially blocked the smaller lights beneath the golden brown beams.
Out of curiosity, and because his mouth felt like it was burning from his brain constantly urging him to satisfy that curiosity, Zavi finally decided to ask with an awkward and hesitant feeling.
"How tall are you exactly in centimeters?" Zavi genuinely felt like an idiot after asking something that absurd.
The serious question Aaron had imagined and prepared to answer carefully instantly vanished after hearing that ridiculous question born from Zavi's curiosity about his height.
Aaron chuckled softly and answered while trying to remember,
"I rarely measure my height, but if I remember correctly, I'm around 186 centimeters."
Zavi was left speechless after learning the huge difference from his own height of one hundred seventy centimeters.
'He's taller than me by seventeen centimeters? If I were in my original body back on Earth, I'd look like a pair of pants standing next to him.'
Aaron furrowed his brows as he began wondering again about Zavi's strange behavior, something he had heard from Zuhen and witnessed firsthand himself.
"Why are you asking that?"
"..."
Zavi panicked and couldn't say a word as cold sweat began covering his face.
'Damn you, Zavi... why am I becoming like you now...'
He screamed inside his heart. There was embarrassment because that strange behavior still clung deeply to his mind, yet his thoughts remained consumed by curiosity. Even the most trivial things would make him ask questions.
And because of that... the original Zavi eventually died because of his curiosity regarding the nine mythical creatures, especially Rhythm Mystical, which became one of the true reasons why he ended up inside this body.
Aaron took a deep breath as he realized why Zavi couldn't answer, or rather, because he already knew Zavi was weird.
'No need to answer. I already know. Damn it, how unlucky to end up with a friend this weird and absurd.'
Aaron shook his head in disbelief before deciding to explain why they had come here.
"We didn't come to the border between Racon and Baram just for a walk." He paused briefly to arrange his next words while looking at Zavi, who listened with full enthusiasm.
"You just stay quiet and keep watch. Leave the rest to me," he continued with a sincere smile, while his heart gradually softened like the endlessly falling snow.
"You're seriously going to fight the enemy alone?"
Zavi still had no idea what kind of secret code Aaron had deciphered from the bartender earlier, and if he had known, he would have agreed one hundred percent with Aaron's statement.
With his usual calm yet confident smile, Aaron gestured lightly as he turned around and resumed walking, eager to meet the client before they changed their mind and hired someone else.
Zavi simply nodded as he followed behind him, wondering whether he would get the answer to his curiosity in a few minutes... or several hours.
The atmosphere along the sidewalk that had once felt suffocating now came alive again as the two of them talked, sharing their thoughts and making every footprint left neatly atop the snow feel like a warm memory that could never be forgotten, like an unpaid debt.
After losing themselves in conversation for several dozen minutes, the two of them finally reached the border corner, and beyond the gate stood a vast area that felt overwhelmingly eerie, silent, and oppressive enough to make the hairs on their necks stand up. At the top center of the gate was a name written in the Talazze Vana language, deeply associated with the supernatural and the mysteries of realms beyond the human world.
Black Graveyard.
'Why did he bring me to a place like this?' Zavi was confused by Aaron for a moment, but a few seconds later he sensed the presence of around three people hidden behind the bushes forming a natural fence on his left side.
"Ah, sorry for arriving late," complained a man dressed like a shaman, followed by one woman and another man dressed similarly, all in white garments resembling robes, though not exactly robes since these clothes were specifically worn for supernatural practices.
Aaron immediately stepped forward toward the white-haired man before asking about the job to make sure, "How many do you need, and how much will you pay afterward?"
The white-haired man thought for a moment while releasing a restrained breath.
Then afterward, he answered carefully because he had no intention of being corrupt.
"150 Pace for two captures?"
"Two captures, huh?" Aaron muttered softly, occasionally glancing back toward Zavi, who stood silently six meters away from where he was.
After confirming that the amount of money matched the effort and spiritual energy that would be drained while capturing demons for whatever purpose those three people intended, Aaron finally nodded in agreement.
"Alright, I'll take it," Aaron said while extending his hand as proof of their agreement and cooperation.
The white-haired man let out a booming chuckle.
"Accepted," the man said, then continued, "Put the demons into these bottles and you'll get your payment afterward."
Aaron nodded with a serious face as he turned around and walked steadily toward Zavi before nudging him with his elbow. Now he stood staring at the writing on the gate ahead for quite a long time.