Chapter 10: Chapter 10 – Time and Dust

Agham followed up with a laid back, “Anyway, take your time. But no touchy touchy, okay?”.

“Right…”

I looked around some more. Having access to a room filled with fine treasure…When would I ever get the chance again? I’ve got to make the most out of it, I thought. And so, I carefully inspected each one of them. The big, the small. The blue, the green. Their cases, not so much. But I could see even those were well-made.

But it was the strangest thing. I had a realization.

To me, the color and size didn’t actually matter. It was the clarity, the cut, the cleanliness. Looking at those finely handled, sparkling stones was comforting. I was looking at the ever-elusive concept of perfection. And on the other hand, the thought of a literal diamond in the rough with massive cracks and darkened spots was the worst my imagination could show me.   

It somehow reminded me of the cleaning I did. The floor would glimmer, the windows shine…what bliss. A great feeling indeed. An accomplishment. But if there was even a single speck of dust left, I would feel like I accomplished nothing. That’s why I keep putting great effort into it.

Shrub, shrub, shrub some more. I must’ve been cleaning my entire life.

But the dust only keeps coming back, right? So, by that logic, there might not have been anything to accomplish in the first place. My work, meaningless. Of course, a dusty room can only become dustier, so not doing anything is not the right solution. Yeah, surely that couldn’t be it.

However, I can scrub it for as long as I want. It doesn’t last, it cracks and breaks eventually…Sooner or later. It’s kind of funny. It’s utterly depressing, too.

I was beginning to lose where I was going with my line of thought. But this came so naturally, maybe it was-

“You’ve really taken a liking to this. Well, not that I’m surprised.”

Agham was looking over my shoulder. My eyes weren’t looking at anything in particular, but I was still standing in front of a case with a diamond in it, one of the main attractions of the room. Like all the other gems, this diamond was spotless, absolutely formidable. The look of it, marvelous as it is, must have escaped me for some time. A true shame.

“You were absolutely right in showing me this place. Did I say that already?”

“Yeah, but hearing it again makes me feel even better about it. I’m quite proud of this.”

“I think this is jogging my memory a little. Not by much, but it’s something.”

“Really? That’s nice. But hey, I hate to rain on your parade, but…”

“Yeah, I’ve been taking my time. It’s fine. Let’s go.”

Even while leaving the room, my eyes were still fixated on the diamond in the case. Was it possible to see an imperfection on it, with my bare eye? Did it have a spot on it, after all? I wanted to know. But at this point, it was too late.

It was around sunset when we were back on the streets. It seemed a part of me hadn’t left that room yet, but I had no choice but to refocus my efforts. I started by asking Agham.

“What’s next?”

He looked around, before saying:

“We should probably start heading back to my place. You’ve got work tomorrow.”

“…Yeah.”

Did I expect Agham to say otherwise? Heading home was the most rational thing one could do here. Disregarding some of his behavior, Agham is a very rational person, after all, so it shouldn’t have come off as a surprise. At least, that was my thinking.

We were almost out of town and the sun kept cramming closer towards the bottom. At this time, there were almost no people outside. Instead, little lights crept out of the surrounding buildings. Everyone prepared for the coming of night, while Agham and I still had two hours’ worth of marching through the land in front of us.

But it was just us two. There was someone missing.

“What about Ozekar? Aren’t we going to meet up with him?”

“No, he’s probably home already.”

“Oh.”

Agham stopped, making a huge gesture with his arms.

“If he wanted to, he could get from here to there in about 20 minutes. I measured it myself.”

Clearing the route in just 20 minutes wasn’t something I could ever hope to achieve, and it almost sounded unbelievable. But since it was him who said it, and having seen Ozekar myself, I was inclined to believe him.

“I didn’t know his legs were actually wheels…The Forn are incredible.”

Disregarding the way Agham had measured it, that kind of speed really was astonishing. It rivaled other great runners, like… horses. Yeah, humans couldn’t compete with that. But seeing a horse running on two legs would be interesting, too. Agham was eager to add to the awesomeness of the Forn.

“Yeah, they really are. Carrying huge boulders like they’re nothing, working throughout the entire day without breaking a sweat…That’s the stuff. Tons of people got laid off when they were officially introduced into the labor force.”

“Laid off, you say? Just like that?”

“Yeah. Next time you work, take a good look at the workers. You won’t find a single Forn being friends with a human. No, not even with any other races. They’re all thinking that if another Forn comes to the mines, they’re finally going to lose their jobs. And of course, they would. When you think of it from an employer’s perspective, that’s what anyone would do.”

“That makes for some shitty atmosphere…”

“You bet. It won’t take too long before a certain something happens, given that environment. It’s a miracle there have been no reports of any “accidents” so far. Then again, it’s the Forn we’re dealing with. What can you even do? Haha.”

“Aren’t you worried about Ozekar?”

“Yeah, but it’s the one job he excels at. I can’t tell him to quit. You, however…”

“Me?”

He scratched at the back of his head. It was the first time I saw him openly make an awkward pose.

“I thought it would be best to not bring you into that environment at all. Also, you can’t lift much anyway, so I assumed you wouldn’t have had any problems with that decision.”

“I guess so. You definitely got me a more suitable job, anyway. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.”

On our way back, instead of doing that whole standing in front of the tree thing Agham did before, he just slapped it and moved on, and then I did the same. It just looked fun, and Agham didn’t seem offended by it, even giving me an okay-sign for it.

Once back at Agham’s place, it was already pitch-black outside. Not even the moon was to be seen. Even so, Agham wasn’t bothered by it at all. He probably knew the way to his home blindfolded.

Ozekar was already there, as expected. He was about halfway done with his cooking and just like before, it smelled delectable. It was hard to compare to what I tasted at Miss Tallier’s place, but it certainly was on a similar level of expertise.

And after a lavish dinner, Agham’s story time began.

“So. There’s a lot to tell, but where to begin?”

“How about that ruby? The one in that room.”

“Oh, that’s a great one. Thanks, Lenn. Should be no problem, right, Ozekar?”

“HRM.”

That was Ozekar’s way of saying “yes”, that much I could tell.

“Well then…It was like this.”

<It was in the pale mountain range, on the north side of Mt. Duke. At the time, miners would still float towards this part of the map, hearing stories of all kinds of hidden treasure beneath all that snow and stone. I was no exception. The dangers were all too well-known, but to me, that didn’t matter. So, I persevered through the harsh conditions and treaded through untrodden territory like no other. One day, I happened upon a cave. In it, there was a ferocious animal I had never seen before. Turns out it was just Ozekar, though. He quickly picked up on my words, and we took off together after I gave him some clothes. Well, “took off” might not be the right words to use. We didn’t go outside, but deeper into the cave. We fought against a bunch of pesky monsters and then, deep down, we struck gold. Red gold. I took out a huge chunk to bring home, but then the cave decided to slowly come down and collapse. Fortunately, we came out unharmed. I brought the chunk to a craftsman I knew, and they fixed me that ruby out of it. And that’s the story.>

“…That was a great story and all, but with all the interesting parts left out. And that’s how you met Ozekar?”

“Yep.”

“HRM.”

Ozekar was nodding a little, so that probably meant Agham was right. Still, that didn’t tell me much about who Ozekar really was. Nor who Agham was, for that matter.

“You already said you were going to blur some things out, but I didn’t think you would blur out this much when talking about it. But hey, I get the picture. You’ve been quite the adventurer.”

“Hey, I still am, you know? Being in Casla during these troubling times was an adventure in of itself. Not to mention the mines. I didn’t get to work as much in those as I wanted, but I even had a few cave-ins here and there. And then there’s what happened to us at the end- “

“What, does that happen that often when mining? Cave-ins.”

“Hm. It depends. The security around the mines was usually tight, but when it came to the inside, that was another story. Well, it’s only to be expected when you dig around one single place for decades and don’t really care for working conditions. It’s different here. The Iron Mines have been stabilized multiple times, so the fatality rate on the job there is really low.”

“I see…”

“Well, don’t think too much about it. Do you have any other questions?”

“So, earlier in that room, you were talking about someone, right? You said you had a similar discussion before, or something…”

It was slight, but Agham flinched a little at those words. Maybe he had thought I would have forgotten.

“Ah, that. Well, I hope you understand. I can’t just tell you who they are without their consent. It’s difficult. Oh, but I can give you a hint.”

“A hint?”

“It’s the same guy that you might have seen in Vermas.”

“Oh, that guy. Okay.”

So, it was the same person Agham had been meeting up with while there. It felt weird that he would not tell me who they actually were. Whoever that guy was, he seemed pretty important.

Before I could go any deeper into my thoughts, Agham energetically clapped his hands together.

“Alright, that concludes it for today. I’ve got to have more stuff to tell tomorrow as well.”

“So, this will be a daily thing now?”

“Yeah, well, let’s just see how things will go. You’ve got a hard day tomorrow in front of you, you better get some rest. As do I.”

I thought that Agham would be more enthusiastic about telling his stories, talking like a waterfall. But he was right, we had to prepare for tomorrow. It was deep in the night, who knows how much sleep I could get at this point?

“Well then, good night! I’m going ahead.”

“Oh, yeah. Good night.”

Was he in a hurry? No, that couldn’t be. It was Agham we were talking about. Maybe he needed to go to the toilet or something. If he was going to meet anyone, he would have told me so already. That, I trusted him with.

Ozekar made a gesture with his hand that told me he would be staying up a bit longer, so I excused myself and leisurely went to Agham’s bedroom. We hadn’t talked about where I would actually sleep before, so before I knew it, I was in front of the door to the bed I had been sleeping in so far.

I thought there would be no harm in checking whether Agham was there. After all, if he was in that room, I could at least discuss with him where I should be going instead.

A quick knock on the room, to no reply. I slowly opened the door.

The room was empty. I somewhat expected that. Nothing in that room changed while I was away. So, where was Agham? Did he know what was up and choose another room to sleep in? Was he even in this house anymore?

Well, that was the Agham I knew. Therefore, I chose to sleep in the master bedroom once again. Who could resist such a high-quality bed? I couldn’t.  

Morning arrived. There was no need to have some kind of mechanism put up to get me to wake up at the proper time. The two windows of the room were located on the east side so that the sun would grill my face at sunrise.

Once down in the kitchen, Ozekar had already finished his breakfast, but left some for me. Indeed, what a nice guy. Someday, I would have to repay this favor, too.

But Ozekar didn’t seem like someone enticed by something as simple as money, and if I were to try and get him a gift, extra efforts would be necessary. What does Ozekar like? Over the next days, my observational skills would be tested.

After finishing breakfast, Ozekar and I were on our way. Agham was nowhere to be seen, but I was no longer worried about that. Ozekar himself didn’t seem like anything was out of the ordinary, either. It’s just what Agham does, we thought.

Passing by the various villas, a young boy with fine clothes, possibly 9 or 10, was staring at us from beyond a fence wall. He was intently looking at us, making me rather uncomfortable. It wasn’t a look of curiosity or excitement for people he’s never seen before. Rather, it was…cold. Apathetic.

Imagining that I would have to see this boy each time I went to and back from work, I got depressed. If there was another route Ozekar didn’t tell me of, I would now feel inclined to take it. Ozekar didn’t pay the boy any intention, though. He might’ve not even noticed him, but the boy was mostly looking at the Forn walking in front of his father’s property.

“It’s not just the miners, I guess…”

Ozekar must be really used to it if he pretended not to notice someone staring daggers at him. I wondered how it would be at his workplace. Does he have any friends? It didn’t look like it.

After a good long tour to the bathhouse, Ozekar and I parted ways. At work, I then tried to figure things out on my own by taking a closer look at the people coming in.

There were usually little groups of 3-4 people that went in together. Of course, all of them were male. The female bath might actually just be for the staff, I thought. Maybe I had the wrong idea on how the two rooms were separated, and maybe I would have the chance to dip in sometime as well. Naturally, alone, if possible.

Most of the people coming into the bathhouse were human, but that didn’t prove much. People of other races might not come to a place such as a bathhouse at all. Also, there are some people who just don’t bathe that often. Given the job as a miner, it would only make sense to come in after work. And going by that logic, if everyone were to be done for the day at the same time, then the bathhouse would immediately be overcrowded.

But that’s not what was happening. People came in at somewhat regular intervals, so there had to be some kind of ruling to it. A ruling made by their company or something.

Over the course of a full day, I didn’t see a single Forn. That in of itself was probably a clue, but not a big one. The businesswoman came to take over for me, and then I received my wage. 1500 gan per hour. What an improvement. Luckily, I was paid daily, so if something were to happen that made me relocate again, I would still have some money on me.

It was almost weird how, in the end, nothing happened. The day ended before I could realize it. Ozekar and I just silently walked back home, enjoying a good, red sunset while it was still there. Of course, it might’ve been only me. We didn’t talk, and trying to figure things out by looking at Ozekar’s monotone facial expression yielded me no results on what he was thinking.

You are reading story Stomrider at novel35.com

At that point, I concluded that there really was this barrier between different races. Or rather, the fact we weren’t of the same race made it harder to relate to each other, and to start a somewhat normal conversation.

I could have started one, but I didn’t. Honestly, I didn’t want to hear that raspy, creepy voice. Ozekar could be the sweetest guy to exist, and I would still fear for my life whenever he opened his mouth. So, it’s not that I have anything against him, but…yeah. The reasons I had for keeping my distance were easy, but acknowledging them fully would make me feel guilty.

On our way back, we once again crossed the villa parts. This time, however, there was no boy staring at us. At least, not from beyond the fence. Maybe from the window? If so, I really didn’t notice, but it still made me feel a little on edge. The only good thing was that we would arrive home soon.

The patches on the ground grew dark, and it became much harder to navigate the way. There were many twists and turns along the way, so I reluctantly had to put my whole trust in Ozekar to properly guide us.

When we got home, we saw him, as a shadow illuminated by very dim lighting. Agham was right there, loading some crates onto the carriage. They probably were the same ones from Casla. It seemed as if he was readying to leave.

We came up to him, and I asked the obvious question.

“Hm? Agham? What are you doing?”

But he was off in his own world. When he put down the box he was carrying and raised his head, I saw him wide-eyed and elevated, a kind of expression unusual for him. He was clearly in a hurry, and his words supported that theory.

“Oh, you two. Perfect timing. Listen, this will be a team effort. Ozekar, I need you to take these babies and put them in the back. Lenn, please go get me the letter laying on the table in the kitchen.”

Ozekar moved without question, grabbing onto some wooden crates, but I had yet to finish processing as to what was going on here. Trying to make sense of it, I responded:

“W-What? Are you going somewhere?”

“Yep. Pretty big deal. I’ll need about two weeks, then I’ll be back.”

“Two weeks? What?”

Agham grabbed onto more boxes, before walking off to the carriage.

“Come on, Lenn. I’m sorry, but I don’t have much time. Go get me that letter, if you will.”

Countless thoughts raced through my head. What was even going on? The situation was beyond me, but I didn’t have time to think. Everyone and everything around me told me it was time to act first, then ask questions later. Of course, that saying only applies to when there is someone left to ask questions at the end of the day, but I digress.

I quickly got inside the house and grabbed the letter with the purple stamp on it from the kitchen. Then, I got outside as soon as I could. Agham and Ozekar were working incredibly fast, and it showed. As if they suddenly just popped into existence, two strong looking horses were already affixed to the carriage, raring to go. Agham shouted at me from the coachman’s seat, waving his hand.

“Quick, quick!”

At that point, I knew. There really wasn’t going to be an “asking questions” part to this later. I ran over and reached up the bench, handing him the letter.

“Thanks. Alright, that’s everything. Get along, you two. Though I’m sure you’re already doing that. I’ll see you!”

“Yeah.”

With that, he took off. I didn’t even get to think about what I was going to say to him before he left. After all was said and done, I was now left alone with Ozekar, and a handful of question marks I couldn’t get rid of.

“What the hell is going on…”

I simply stood there, my mind turning blank. Before I knew it, I was the only one outside. Ozekar had teleported into the house while I wasn’t looking. There was some sense of defeat in this whole situation. It seemed I was the only one being unable to handle it. Also, a damning thought entered my head.  

Now, if anything were to happen, who was going to take responsibility? Me?

This was Agham’s property, as far as I was concerned. And Ozekar was…a renter? I didn’t even know. I didn’t know any of the specifics that might be crucial to be aware of. During my short period here, I just went along with whatever flew my way. There was so much I didn’t understand. But unfortunately, that wasn’t anything new.

I went back inside and checked all rooms, an endeavor that cost me a whole hour. In between the time that Agham was there, while Ozekar and I weren’t, Agham might’ve put something here or there, or maybe removed something from somewhere that I wasn’t aware of. If he wasn’t going to answer any questions, it would be my job to go and search for clues myself.

In other words, this was the right moment to investigate whether anything had changed. A little hint to who he was, what he liked, anything. It was better than knowing nothing.

However, I couldn’t find that anything. After a few whole hours of searching, absolutely nothing came up. The idea of Agham only stopping at his place to pick up the carriage was reasonable enough.  All the more that it kind of frustrated me. He’s never telling me anything, I thought.

With a heavy heart, I went to bed, and that was the end of it. Really, that was it. That. Pathetic.

The next day, I got to work as usual. However, things seemed different there. Not the bathhouse, no. Before that. At the entrance to the mines, people were shouting and running about. It was strange. There were some workers with their eyes on that large hole leading inside, but they wouldn’t go inside like they normally would.

Speaking of which, that hole looked much bigger than it did in my eyes when I first laid mine upon it.

The carts that usually carried heaps of dirt were left unattended. Not a single soul was on the job, even though it was right on front of them. Instead, they were either just staring or running. Running where? I took a closer look.

Running somewhere far away from the mines, that was for sure. The ones simply staring seemed like they were in shock, rather than simply ogling at someone else’s affairs. From the inside, a few people emerged, carrying something. No, someone. Someone was being carried away on a stretcher.

I flinched at the sight. That wasn’t something one should look at. Could you have even called that a person anymore? Half the parts were missing. Crushed, cut away. The chances of survival were zero. He must’ve died immediately. And from that, I drew my conclusion.

“A…cave-in?”

Ozekar was still with me, and he quickly caught on to what was going on. However, he had a much different reaction to what he saw. As such, he sprinted into the mines headfirst. I couldn’t believe it.

“Huh? Hey!”

There was no stopping him. As he passed by the other people, not one person said a word to him. Was it because he was a Forn? No, this wasn’t the time to think about it. If anything happened to that guy…

Why does this always happen to me?

Against my better judgment, I followed him. I had never been in the mines before, so this would be a first for me. Also, it raised the chances of me losing my way back. I couldn’t catch up to Ozekar’s speed either, but I could keep him in the corner of my eye, just enough to not lose him, partly thanks to the fact that he regularly stopped to look after any casualties. Either victims or…what remained of them.

The mines were incredibly dusty, just like the sandy gusts the workers would spit out on the surface. While running, my lungs felt like they were about to explode. The pebbles and dirt on the ground made it extremely hard to not trip and fall. All the while, Ozekar unapologetically rushed forward, carving out a path all by himself and crushing any resistance with his pure body strength.  

I could finally reach him after he found someone lying near a corner. However, it was too late for them. Before I had the chance to even breathe, I got to witness another brutal sight.

This time, it wasn’t a human, but a Forn. Miraculously, they were still alive, but only barely. Their right arm had been shattered to an irreparable state. Their legs had been crushed under a thick rock so large it must’ve been a good part of the whole ceiling just a few minutes earlier.

This person lying only a few meters away from me had little time remaining, if not only seconds.

Ozekar was aware of this. Otherwise, he would’ve already tried to help them, given what he was here for. Instead, he went down on his enormous knees and began to speak to them.

The language he spoke seemed fundamentally different from Angal, and I didn’t understand a single word. From my perspective, it didn’t have any rhyme or reason to it. But these two, they understood each other perfectly. It was perplexing that when speaking in this tongue, Ozekar’s voice sounded a bit more normal. His raspy voice turned soft to the point of sounding smooth.  

Hearing Ozekar’s words, the Forn looked happy. But soon after, their eyes turned dark.

Ozekar closed the Forn’s eyes and then stepped away from them. A moment of silence. That was the one thing I felt was right to do. Useless as I was here, I could at least show some respect. But we couldn’t remain in this place.  

Countless other people have shared the same fate, to various extents. Why not try to help some while we’re already here? And if I was going to be crushed under a rock, then that would be fine, too. After all, it was my decision to take that risk.

This time, the two of us carefully navigated the halls and rooms, searching for other victims. We found some dazed men lying with their backs against the wall, but as they had no visible injuries, it wasn’t hard to direct them outside.

Sometimes there were leftover pickaxes and other tools laying on the floor, so we had to be extra careful to not step into them. The leftovers of the ceiling would block a few paths, and the leftover parts above seemed unstable.

Ozekar, with his massive strength, could clear some of the paths. This helped a few men who were trapped to flee to the outside. While he did all the labor, I did my best at instructing the men on how to escape.

The workers would know this place better than me, but in a situation of unbridled panic, one can lose their head. I might have been successful in easing their minds, since most of them thanked me anyway.  

It didn’t take too long before other people would arrive to help with this mess. Mixed in with those people was someone in a blue uniform. I gave them a quick overview over the situation and the damages, but all they would say to me is to just evacuate and leave the mines. Well, duh. Why would anyone think I was still in this hellhole?

With new people coming to the rescue, the operation ran much smoother. It didn’t take long until most of the workers reached the outside. The rest…didn’t make it. I could vouch for that, although I would have preferred not to be able to.  

A part of me didn’t even want to leave the mines anymore. There must have still been someone buried under rubble. The thought of it greatly itched my mind. I wanted to help, but I was mostly useless. In the end, I could only hope this wouldn’t become a recurring nightmare.

Ozekar and I eventually decided to get out ourselves. I could hear another part of the mines crashing down from far below while we headed back to the surface. Towards the entrance, a familiar presence waited for us.

“…You?”

Turvi was there, standing against a wall. She seemed genuinely confused at seeing me.

“Oh…I guess I could have figured. Hi, Turvi. What’s up? Bit of a…bit of a…yeah.”

Those orange eyes were out cold today, not to my bewilderment. Even a little surprise like seeing me didn’t change that. It was only understandable, given where we were.

“You’ll come with me to the station.”

“…Right.”

I wanted to wave at Ozekar to tell him I would be away now, but he already left before me. The wounded were probably still on his mind. Who would have thought he really is such an amazing person? Actions, not words. There were a few things I could learn from him.

The brigade handled things from there, aiding the wounded and providing first aid before carrying them to a proper hospital. Whether they would actually receive treatment there was a different story. I didn’t know what Edel’s hospitals were like, but I had the image of needing to pay loads for medicine in mind.

For the unwounded still at the mines, work had officially been put on hold for the time being.

As the main issues were resolved, Turvi and I went to the temporary Blue Saint Brigade encampment, also called the station, according to Turvi herself. I was to report on what I saw and what I did in the mines together with Ozekar. Strangely enough, Ozekar wasn’t brought in with me to the questioning.

I explained what had happened patiently, concretely and as objectively as possible. This was in spite of my rather…upright emotional state. Still, I was met with a short, lukewarm response.

“I see. This has been helpful. Thank you for your service.”

“Yeah…Wait, that’s it?”

The embers inside Turvi’s eyes were flaring up.

“Is there anything else?”

That unnecessary passive-aggressiveness she put on in front of me was extremely aggravating. As much as I didn’t want this to happen, my emotions ended up pouring outside.

“I just wanted to have a real talk with you. Besides, this whole cave-in situation was more than just a handful. It was crazy! You can imagine what I saw, right? People died, horribly! You could be at least a little more open. I don’t even know why you are so mad with me in the first place! And it’s clear as day that you ARE mad! And because of this, I’m getting mad too!”

We hadn’t even talked for a minute, and Turvi certainly didn’t want to hear any of this. But at what other time was I going to tell her? Even so, she tried to brush over it. Looking back, that was probably the right course of action.

“This is no place for personal affairs.”

But I wasn’t going to let her off the hook like that. Not yet. Even though I tried to sound a little bit calmer, my impatience leaked out in mass. This is where it almost got unsightly. 

“Then, we can change the place.”

“We cannot.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I have personal responsibility over this case. I am busy. Come back another time.”

“You- “

I had to hold myself back. She made a great point. So many, in fact. She was right. But it was so damn frustrating with her. We could have talked this through in a matter of seconds. What is wrong with her, I thought. She could easily go about her business AND put up with me for a few moments. There should have been no problems with such a solution.

Not once had I put enough thought into what she herself was possibly going through. Rather, I thought about how she pulled out the business card again. And that as someone who was just there and witnessed a great deal, she had all sorts of stuff to go through for her job, but that was the extent of it.

All in all, what calmed me down was me detaching myself from the situation, and instead looking to return to the bathhouse to do my job. If Turvi wasn’t going to talk to me, I would have to try again on a different day. This helped me formulate a calm response, too.

“Alright, I understand. I will return another time. Thank you for your efforts.”

Turvi, possibly noticing my efforts to control myself, nodded and then slowly stood up. It was also the signal for me to do the same, and take my leave. With mixed feelings, I left the brigade encampment, and found myself back on the streets of Edel.

Edel. A beautiful place that, right now, I didn’t have the time to enjoy. All that was left for me was to go back to my workplace and see how things went there. Hopefully, I wouldn’t lose my job over this, that would just be painful.

Returning to the site, everything was truly resolved now. The miners were already putting away some dirt again, possibly to clear up the remaining paths that were still blocked by the rubble. The bathhouse seemed peaceful, with next to no people around. Overall, the number of people on the site were significantly less than before, and you could feel that.

There was no one behind the reception, but I heard a few voices from outside the baths. Money had been placed at the counter, so even without me, everything went on smoothly in this place. As I sat down, my body began to sink into the seat.

What a day. What a shitty ass day. Witnessing what I didn’t want to witness, doing things I didn’t want to do. I had almost died, Ozekar probably almost died, people have actually died…what was I to make of this? For the first time in what felt like forever, I made the active wish of wanting it to have been just another dream.

My body had decided to collapse before my brain could even think of doing the same. I was completely slumped over. My eyes went full tunnel vision. Breaks weren’t good for anything when you feel horrible regardless of it, and through this experience, I remembered that very well.

A certain piece was missing in me, one that would be able to magically solve all my problems and make me not dependent on my surroundings. I wondered whether I had had it sometime in my life before. The piece that would end it all.

“And where the hell is Agham?!”

 

-End Of Chapter 10-

 

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