CHAPTER 407: 407 I CAN FEEL YOU, YOU KNOW?

[El’s POV: ]

[ "Tell me you aren’t dead." ]

[ "I am not..." ]

[ "But You surely did something very dumb, didn’t you?" ]

[ "I’m dumb. What else do you expect a dumb person to do other than dumb things?" ]

[ "Fucking dumbass..." ]

I left him alone for a day and he was now on the verge of dying. That dumb bastard.

[ "I can feel you, you know?" ]

[ "Of course I know. I’m dumb." ]

Our link worked even though we were so far away. I can still feel the things that he was feeling, and right now, he was in pain.

A pain unlike anything he had experienced.

Something so bad that he was almost on the verge of death. Perhaps something worse. Something that could not even be explained with words.

’He was definitely half dead.’

That was the only thing I could think of from how intense this dreadful pain was.

[ "Haaa... the hell are you doing there?" ]

I knew something was off.

When he asked me to go and said he wanted to rest, I knew there was something that he was hiding. Something that was Definitely not something he wanted me to know or worry about.

He was up to something. And now that I know it was not something as simple as what I can understand, I can tell this was not good.

[ "Well... You will be mad if I tell you so I won’t." ]

[ "You want to die? That’s it? I’m already fucking enraged, you damn bastard." ]

It was even difficult for me to maintain my emotions before these delegates from the Temple.

I was in a fucking serious meeting with these bastard and he was almost dying there. Where the hell was I supposed to focus?!

[ "Oh, looks like you’re already angry. No helping it then." ]

[ "No shit, genius!" ]

He was in a kind of pain that was indescribable. I can feel it but it was not the same as what he was feeling.

I can tell he was in pain, but I can not feel the exact feeling of pain that he was feeling.

’All I could feel was his pain, the emotion that he was in pain. And even that was not something I liked.’

If he was feeling something like that when he had told me he was going to rest, then it either meant that he was either doing something crazy, or there was something seriously wrong with him right now.

’But if there was something wrong with him, I would have known it through Cary or through the artefacts in that garden.’

When I left, he was a ticking time bomb filled with a kind of energy that one could not handle by themselves even if they wanted to.

He was handling it well and it would have resolved on its own if he had just sat his fine ass down there and just rested as he was supposed to.

But, no...

Mister went ahead and did something crazy.

[ "Well... so, well... you see... I’m trying to cultivate the energy in-." ]

[ "You’re doing what...?!" ]

The fuck?!

He was cultivating that energy even when he knew he could very well die if something fucks up?!

[ "Are you fucking crazy?!" ]

The delegates and we were talking about something very important right now and I needed to focus on this, but he was trying to get himself KILLED?!

[ "It’s not as serious as you think-." ]

[ "You think I’ll believe a word you say after this?!" ]

He already lied to me and said he wanted to rest.

The only freaking reason I even left that bastard there was because I thought there was no way he would be so foolish that he would try something so crazy!

He was dumb, yes, he was the dumbest person in this entire freaking worldline!

But he at least wasn’t crazy enough to try and willingly get himself killed!

[ "I’m coming back as soon as I’m done with this shit!" ]

[ "There’s no need for that." ]

[ "Like hell there’s no need-." ]

[ "I’m already done anyway." ]

[ "...hun?" ]

Done? Done with what? Dying?

[ "Don’t worry about me. I’m alright now. And I will be finer when you get back when you were supposed to get back." ]

[ "Hun?" ]

He was fine?

But... wait... right...

’I can’t feel the pain from a while ago anymore.’

He was also speaking without any signs of pain.

His voice seemed fine as well... but, what the hell?

[ "You got that white energy? Like, you can use it now?" ]

[ "Almost." ]

[ "Now what does that mean...?" ]

I don’t understand half of the things he does since they aren’t logical or something I can explain with the simple equations.

The energy of wills we were talking about right now was not something a human was supposed to possess in their mortal bodies in the first place.

The only reason he was able to gather it and use it was because of the system and that special stone we used.

It was not simply because people wanted him to kill the emperor. He was just a vessel to hold their combined belief.

’This power was closely related to the divinities and was very unique... but he can control it now?’

What the hell was he up to after sending me away...?

[ "Don’t worry about it. When you get back, you will see some fun changes." ]

[ "...I’m more worried now, Lucy." ]

He neither sounded convincing nor there was any solid proof for what he was saying.

I cannot talk with my own familiar because of the distance so the two of us were the only connected ones right now.

I can’t tell if he was being serious or was just hiding more stuff from me. In the first place, it was absurd that he had gained control over that kind of energy.

We were talking about a power that could kill a being that was on the verge of ascension effortlessly.

It wasn’t something simple, and more than that, logically, it made no sense.

[ "El, I’m fine. I am alive and I’m not hurt anymore. Just finish everything you have to do instead of worrying about me." ]

[ "I noticed the way you just said ’anymore’ you bastard. Don’t fuck with me..." ]

That bastard.

He definitely got hurt. Perhaps he wasn’t anymore, but whatever he was doing definitely hurt him.

He seems fine for now but there’s a certain chance that he was just lying. He was already good at lying and stuff so there’s no way I was going to believe that bastard anymore.

[ "Don’t do anything stupid. I’m coming back as soon as I’m done here." ]

I left that dumb bastard Cary to look after him but Lucy must have coaxed him into doing something for him as well.

He must still be up to something even though his voice sounded well.

I didn’t have a good feeling about this... he might very well be on the verge of death right now.

[ "Haaa... well, sure. Do as you wish." ]

His reply was normal and fine. It didn’t even seem like he was worried about anything.

And this was even more fishy.

[ "I’m killing you if I find you dead, you hear me?" ]

[ "People die if they are killed, dummy." ]

Yeah, sure.

Joke all you want but the moment I see something I don’t want to, you better be ready to face consequences.

"Ahem. Miss?"

"Hmm?"

Right. As I said, we were in the middle of something important right now.

"Excuse my rudeness. So..."

I was a little lost for a moment so they must have thought I was not paying attention to their talk.

Rex was talking before me, but I didn’t respond when it was already my turn because of that bastard.

"As Rex said, we are willing to hand over the capital to the Temple."

The whole talk was revolving around the message that was sent by the Pope.

The delegation’s main party, the important people who were accompanying the Knight in white armour, were all now sitting before us in the discussion chambers.

We had already received the ’divine’ words of their pope and lords, and were ready to give them our answer already.

’Just that the answer that they were getting from us was pretty unexpected for the party members of the knight.’

They were asking for the entire capital city, the very place that defined the rule of the empire. And we were willingly handing it over to them.

It was pretty crazy sounding from their perspective since ’we’ the ones who were actually controlling the empire now were in fact just some unholy thieves.

We were nothing that could ever be compared to them, their holiness, or anyone in their orders.

’Sure they were looking down on us, but the surprise was still there.’

Handing over the capital that allegedly once belonged to the Temple was as crazy as handing over the entire empire to them.

And since we were even agreeing to it without any kind of resistance, they all were pretty surprised.

Not that I was crazy enough to give something so important for free.

"However, since we are thieves who understand transactions more than Theology, we would like to propose a trade."

"I knew it."

"Thieves..."

"Tsk."

As soon as those words left my mouth, the party members of the knights all frowned.

They were here to ask for what was rightfully theirs, what their ’gods’ told them to reclaim, but we thieves were making it sound like we were doing some kind of trade here.

’It was disrespectful to them, but they can go fuck themselves if they thought I was crazy enough to just give up this golden capital.’

We had the rest of the empire so we could just establish a new capital anytime we wanted. Giving up just one city wasn’t a big thing for us.

As long as I’m getting at least ten times the profits, this one city was pretty much nothing.

If anything, it was a good investment for the future that we were seeing right now.

"Silence."

The knight in white knew we wouldn’t just accept their Orders. And since he was here as a messenger and a massage carrier, he had his duties.

"Please. Tell us what you want."

"Of course."

He was a smart one.

That was one of the reasons I recruited him in Spades.