CHAPTER 26: A THANK YOU WOULD BE NICE

"Tch. A thank you from them would’ve been nice." Lilly says with a bit of an irritated tone.

When I went to look towards Lilly I noticed Lukas was already gone again. That guy really is a master of disappearing without a trace huh?

"They did thank us in the speech." I reply with a bit of confusion in my voice.

"That’s not what I meant, Usually a reward would be a lot better." Lilly says while looking towards the Velgrade building.

I guess that’s where we differ quite a bit since a thank you feels fine to me. Lilly isn’t human after all so it makes sense that she would think a lot differently than me.

But I guess some humans even think like that so it’s not really a valid excuse.

"A rank Promotion will probably be our reward." Ghost chimes in with a bit of excitement in her voice.

"That is a decent reward in my opinion." I say with a calm tone.

Ghost seems to be getting a lot better with her emotions, or was it always that way? Maybe she never really struggled to show them but it’s definitely showing a lot more than before.

She’s coming along quite well but I think I’ll have to do some work on her at some point. Finding better parts or material will definitely make a difference with some of her movement.

"Heading for the Velgrade guild hall would be the next best option then." Lilly says with a bit of disgust in her voice.

"Let’s go then." I reply while leading the way.

We headed for the guild hall since that was the only way we’d get the rank Promotion but people were still blocking the path. Hunters seem to be talking with citizens of the city about what took place.

"Maybe we rest for the night and get the promotion tomorrow instead. This is exhausting already." Lilly says while putting her arms behind her head.

"I actually agree with her this time." Ghost speaks up.

"Alright we’ll go get a room at the hotel here for the night." I respond.

Hotel, inn, basically the same thing at the end of the day. At least the purpose they serve is basically the same for each of them.

Like before I went up to the counter and paid for a room for the night. No need to have a long conversation with the woman at the counter.

This time we got a room with multiple beds since we now had Lilly here as well. I’m unsure of how ghost rests or if she needs sleep like us but there was four beds in here anyway.

I’m still wondering what caused the sudden increase in monsters though, why would they be attacking here in such force all of a sudden? I doubt anyone has an answer for that right now but it’s a really good question to be asking.

I’ve never seen such a variety of monsters before either so that’s also a pretty big deal. Whisperspawn were usually the only ones that lurked around the city and even by the junkyard.

I really do think it’s related to what happened in the dungeon, maybe Lilly was something that held them back in a way. Not that I believe that she’s the answer to it but it’s definitely odd.

Before I could say goodnight to Lilly or even ghost, both of them were already fast asleep on the beds across the room. Should’ve guessed that they would be exhausted after a whole night of fighting.

It’d probably be smart to get some food in the morning too.

Can you hear it? The flapping of the wings.

This voice always seems to call to me... Even more than usual lately. After realizing it wasn’t me I began to understand that it has to be related to this power.

The flapping of wings does occasionally pass by me but I don’t have any reason to think about it.

Lack of control will be your downside.

I’ll figure out how to control this power properly in no time, there’s no reason for me to panic about it right now. I just need to focus on getting some rest for the night instead.

I laid back on my bed and closed my eyes, letting the darkness surround me like it always does. Except this time it wasn’t darkness, I was surrounded by a white void.

It was extremely bright in here, nothing at all seems to be around in this place.

"There’s always been two places." A woman’s voice echoes.

Two places? I don’t really understand what she’s talking about right now or who she even is. None of this makes a whole lot of sense to me... Just feels like some stranger dream in all honesty.

"The abyss is the place most humans fall into after death or even when they fail to awaken anything within themselves." She continues on.

I’ve seen the abyss more times than I can count then. I was stuck down in that damn place for a long time....

I tried to speak but found that it was impossible to do such a thing, why couldn’t I speak here? I looked up to see a woman in the distance.

She’s wearing a dark black dress, has long white hair that almost seems to have some sort of elegant look to it, red eyes, and was holding some sort of book in her hands.

"Nobody is ever lucky enough to find this place, not even the most talented of hunters in your world." She speaks while staring directly at me.

So I’m not in some dream after all, but a place that exists within the world itself somewhere. At least that’s what I’m gathering from her so far.

You may speak now.

"W...Who are you?" I struggle to ask at first.

The words didn’t want to come out but I managed to make it happen somehow. Will she even give me an answer to my question?