Chapter 11: Chapter 11 – Knowing Someone

When my work shift ended, I prepared myself to go home alone for the very first time. I didn’t notice it before, but Ozekar must’ve been put in at least some harm while going through that mine incident. He also wasn’t with the leftover people when I came back, which wasn’t a good sign.

Surprisingly though, as I left the building, he was standing there as always, ready to pick me up. It was when I got closer to greet him, that I saw.

“Hey, Ozekar. Pretty bad day, eh? And- “

He had a nasty gash on his right arm. There was no blood coming out from it, but it looked extremely painful. Did that happen while we were in the mines, or was it sometime after that? I didn’t know. Apparently, he was still in good enough shape to work, though. Otherwise, he might’ve been at home already.

Oh, what am I even thinking? This is the time to say something. I’ve been looking at his wound, dumbfounded, for far too long.

“…”

Yet, the words could not escape me. I wanted to try and be cheerful like Agham, or maybe even try one of Maya’s techniques for conversation, but that wasn’t my style, after all. If there was any way on how I could comfort Ozekar, it would have come to me before thinking of those approaches.

I just shut my mouth on impulse, which was a response in of itself. It was hard to admit, but this was the easiest way of dealing with the situation. A way of not having to think, and inviting the other party to say something instead. With Ozekar as a talking partner, that wasn’t the best idea.

However, Ozekar seemed to pick up on my intentions. He began to smile a little, and creepy as that smile coming from a man whose face looked like out of a cursed painting was, it comforted me. So much so that I could give back a faint smile in return, half-assed as it was, and try and initiate it myself after all.

“You know, I-”

“IT’S FINE.”

Ozekar tried to make his voice sound as calm and smooth as possible, with meager results. But again, the intention was clearly there, I could feel it. With an awkward smile, I said to him:

“Man, that voice is still a bit much for me. But I guess if even I can get used to it, anyone can. Just do as you like. Don’t hold back.”

Hearing his voice must’ve been pretty therapeutic for me, like a wake-up call. It was a good way to shake off all that’s been on my mind, and made me focus on the present instead. Maybe, all I needed was a decent talking partner to cope with what had happened. And I wasn’t alone in this.

Ozekar became a bit shaky with his expression. Maybe those were some words he always wanted to hear. Because I already forgot half of what I said to him, I felt bad. I wondered whether Agham ever bothered to say it to him. Judging by that pure reaction, it didn’t seem to be the case. I wasn’t sure what to feel at him glowing up like that, but I knew that, at least, it was a good thing.

Who knew this would be an opportunity to bond with someone from another race.

Ozekar thought a little about what he was about to say, but then replied with this:

“I CAN TEACH YOU MLANLENDJOILIENNE.”

“Mlan- what?”

What he said was definitely not a word used by humans. However, it definitely sounded pleasant, in a way, maybe? The guide read that the Forn language can’t be properly comprehended by humans, and hearing that, I could see where the scholars were coming from. But this was a golden opportunity.

Above all, it would strengthen the bond between me and Ozekar. And the situation didn’t allow me to refuse, anyway.

“Oh, uh…really? Would you teach me?”

An enthusiastic nod from Ozekar confirmed it. If it was possible to learn this language for real, that’d be almost unheard of, right? Extremely valuable, too. My eagerness started rearing its head.

“Oh, well then…Please do. I’m in your care. Really, that’s a huge favor. Thanks.”

I was a bit flustered, but also somewhat ashamed thinking about how I wouldn’t be able to repay him. Ozekar took my response really well. It seemed he was already racking his brain on how to best teach me his native language.

But first, he said for us to go home. Of course, if he didn’t mention it, I would have. The sun was about to sink into the bottom of the horizon, and everything was drenched in red by the time we started walking. Going back home at night was no joke, and I had a slight fear of the dark.

Almost halfway through the route, Ozekar had an idea. He slowly, but surely came towards me with his huge body. I was adamant about keeping a safe distance of around 2 meters between me and him as to make sure he wouldn’t accidentally crush me or something, but now he had intently closed that gap.

That giant Forn was right beside me. I began to believe that maybe I’m still a little scared of him, after all that’s happened. He grabbed me by the hips and effortlessly lifted me into the air.  

“Woah, what the- “

Then, he placed me on his shoulders. Ozekar was big, undoubtably. He could probably reach 2,5 m if he walked on his toes. But that was all. He was no true giant. Being on his shoulders simply didn’t feel right. But I didn’t seem to have a say in what was happening. Like a son riding the shoulders of his father, our image twisted that perception into something vaguely inappropriate.

“A-are we going like this? Really?”

Ozekar readied himself, tapping on the ground with his feet a few times, and then began walking home. He walked faster, and faster, and faster. Knowing what he was going to do, I called out to him.

“Come on, Ozekar. You don’t have to do this. I can walk, too. What’s with an extra hour or so, right? Right?”

He didn’t listen. It soon became a jog. Then a run. Then at some point, it was like a sprint, and soon went even further beyond that. I had to hold on to Ozekar’s head for dear life. The wind pressure I felt on my body was so strong it actively hurt not only my ears, but also my whole face as well.

We reached the giant tree in a mere few minutes. Normally, from where we started, it would have taken at least over half an hour. Ozekar’s strength, stamina and spirit were just out of this world. Wasn’t he wounded? But as we took the usual five-minute break on the benches, I noticed it. His gash was leaking blood, having reopened itself a little.

Overall, the treatment given to his arm at work was slim to none. One could only imagine how much dust and dirt might have crawled inside while I wasn’t looking. What if he got an infection? The thought of something crawling inside of him was disgusting. I wanted to prevent that at all costs. If there was something I could do, I would do it.

Near the giant tree there was a river with a little bridge leading to the villa parts of the route. I remembered that river to be very clean, so from that, I formed an idea. After our little break, I stopped Ozekar as soon as we reached the bridge.

I took Ozekar with me to the water and cleaned his wound. Obviously, through this, he would lose more blood than necessary. His blood that was still red, but with a more pinky tone than human blood. However, cleaning the wound was priority number one. After that, I took off my robe and wrapped it around the massive arm, serving as an improvised bandage.

It was Ozekar alone who had to really bind it to his arm, since he was the one with the required strength to do it. And so, he did. A good chunk of the robe got ripped by this, but it served its job well enough.

“SORRY.”

“Oh, it’s fine.”

Of course, I was never an expert at treating wounds. I knew how to cauterize open wounds with fire, or how to apply some band-aid, but my medical knowledge didn’t go beyond that. This could’ve been my pride acting up, only making the situation worse. Still, the gratitude I felt from Ozekar seemed genuine, and that was all I needed.

Having my green butterfly jacket exposed in its entirety to the world was a first, but it didn’t feel bad at all. I had only worn the worn-out robe because of a weird habit. It wasn’t like I would feel cold not wearing it on top of my other clothes. Having it off of my body, a sense of freedom overcame me.

As I finished performing my attempt of first aid on Ozekar’s arm, we went back on track. Passing by the villas, I started checking for the little boy once again. And this time, he was actually there, just beyond the fence wall.

“Ah-!”

The little boy gasped in shock, seeing the two of us. Some random guy sitting on the shoulders of a giant Forn running down the road. Oh, what a sight it must’ve been. I couldn’t contain a smile. It was just too ridiculous.

Before, I would have been embarrassed, but now I didn’t even care anymore. I didn’t even want to say anything. This has turned into something great, and those were my true feelings.

The whole exchange of looks lasted for about two seconds. That’s how fast Ozekar was now running, even faster than before.  

In just another 10 minutes we reached our place. Was that a long time by any stretch? Well, my ears certainly felt it. I couldn’t quite fix the ringing until a few minutes later, when we were already inside. Other than that, no. To me, it was over in the blink of an eye. To my dismay? Maybe.

However, what came next was just as worthwhile. I was hanging out with Ozekar in the kitchen while he cooked. There, he also showed me some recipes, saying that we should cook together sometime.

Didn’t we break that ice between us way too quickly? I already knew Ozekar was a good man, but for things to turn out like this…I didn’t expect that.

But there was this hidden conflict in me.

Ozekar wasn’t meant to be a replacement for Agham. However, I still had to sort out my feelings. It would be pretty bad if I only latched onto the nearest thing for comfort instead of being a real friend to someone. I was uneasy. Also, I had yet to repay any of my debts. To Agham, and also to Ozekar. Certainly, my improvised first aid didn’t really count.

But that day, whenever I went into deep thought, Ozekar had some way of pulling me out of it by showing me his cooking or telling me something about the Forn language.

What I understood was that the Angal name for it was “Maljien”, although that sounded a bit too far away from what the name sounds like in its original tongue. Well, not that I could replicate it at this point anyway, if ever.

At dinner, Ozekar then taught me some Forn eating manners. Even though the Forn were originally cave-dwellers, they still used a variety of tools. They had their own kind of tableware, similar to what knives, forks and spoons were.

Everything they made was from pure stone that got shaped into form by using the pure strength and dexterity of a skilled Forn’s hands.

All tableware was to be put on the right side of the plate. Any drinks would go to the left side. No matter if you were left-handed or right-handed, you had to use your right hand to eat and your left to drink.

Cultural aspects such as these were reflective of the mostly ambidextrous nature of the Forn, another great skill to have in an industrial setting.

The space behind the plate was to be left open at all costs. This came with the fact that the Forn were always so big that the middle of the table would have been fully occupied by the larger plates that held the food.

It was also a way to show humility, a symbol of not overstepping what nature has given to you. At least, that’s what he said. Now that Ozekar felt more comfortable talking, there was no stopping him.

After a good cultural lesson from Ozekar, we finally got to the eating. As always, it was delicious. The Forn are omnivores just like humans, so Ozekar had free rein over what he cooked, and he made sure to cook with variety, coming up with both new and old recipes every so often.

It reminded me a bit of Miss Tallier, after all. At my next visit to the Brigade, I would finally get to ask Turvi on how she was doing. Her, and Maya.

I thought of distracting myself by throwing some generic questions at Ozekar.

“Hey, what’s your favorite number?”

“HM?”

This wasn’t the most intriguing question to ask, but it let me control the conversation for a while.

“Mine’s 5. It’s uneven, but when you think about it, it’s clean. 5, 10, 15, 20. It’s so easy to count. You can think of a star with it, too. The five points. You know, when you had to draw one as a kid.”

Using my arms, I tried to recreate the shape of a star in midair, like the ones depicted in a children’s book.

“HMM…”

My reasoning probably wasn’t very relatable to him. I should’ve figured. Even so, he answered with his own number.

“3.”

“3? That’s a pretty good choice. Why?”

“I HAVE TWO BROTHERS. THAT MAKES THREE.”

“Oh…”

A moment of silence ensued. Was it right for me to ask about his family? Agham said he found Ozekar isolated, maybe even abandoned in a cave. That, or maybe he was the only one left of his tribe? There were so many unlucky circumstances he could have had.

However, it didn’t hold me back from asking. This was a great opportunity to learn who Ozekar really was and why he was here at Agham’s place.

“So, those two brothers…Do you know where they are right now?”

“NO.”

“Oh, okay…”

We had finished eating dinner, so the only thing left on the table were empty plates. An owl could be heard from outside, somewhere in the dark. I had a sudden thought that if somehow, we were to forget to clean the dishes today, the remains of them would be a pain to remove later on.

With open windows, there was also the option of flies coming in. A little fruit fly circled around my plates already. It’s one of the few insects I would tolerate in my household, since they’re found in every home and are harmless. They can also be killed easily, if need be. However, they’re also a sign that some cleaning was due again.

“Alright, let’s go do the dishes and then hop into bed. We haven’t long until tomorrow.”

I let out a big yawn. It’s not that I wanted to be by my lonesome, but I was drained. The only thing I had planned for the rest of the night was sleeping, nothing else.

After doing the dishes, we both went our separate ways to our bedrooms. This must’ve been the first time Ozekar went to bed at the same time as me. Speaking of which, I had never personally entered Ozekar’s room before. It might have been the only one that wasn’t cleaned by me. Then again, the Forn seem to have this whole “nature” thing going on with them, so it probably was for the best.

As I went to bed, I tried to clear myself of any thoughts. In the back of my mind, I knew what kind of things I could be thinking all about. But the bed was a place to get rest, not to drain myself. I made big breaths and exhaled slowly. As I assumed a comfortable position, I relaxed my entire body. Every muscle, every fiber of my being. My body got warm, and the bed followed suit.

I drifted away, began to dream. A big, mysterious forest. Within, a grand wall with a grand gate to…something. It oozed out energy and was coated in bright light. I knew the name of this place. I must’ve been here before. Why would I be dreaming of it now?

It was ancient. Roots caved in the flat stone pavement. Plants grew out of the many cracks, trees stomped on metal. Not a single soul was around. And above all, I felt one thing. Nothingness.

But the daze I was in didn’t last long. The cracks bore not only plants, but arms and hands. Arms? Hands? I could hear faint screams coming from their direction. They were furiously waving around. It was as if they tried to grab me, even though they were much too far away from me.

What were they? Did they come to take me? Are those the souls of the workers who died at the Mines or something? What was my mind trying to tell me? How was I to interpret this?

Those arms. They looked…pitiful. I wasn’t scared. If anything, giving those flailing arms a helping hand seemed…appropriate? It seemed so…alluring.

I went closer to the arms. Maybe I could even pull a human out from this, to save them. And then, the dream would end or something like that. A happy ending of sorts.

With that in mind, I tried choosing between the arms stretched out in front of me. There were all kinds of shapes and sizes, so it was hard to decide. 

The arm I picked had a delicate figure, like that of a woman. Young, beautiful. That’s what this arm told me. And it was desperately crying for help, wasn’t it? So, I’ve got no choice but to take it, is what I thought.

I stretched out my hand. It would only be a moment until the tips of my fingers touch that vulnerable, porcelain skin. And then, I would hold it and…

However, things didn’t turn out that well. Something pulled me away. A pitch-black darkness coming from my back, dragging me somewhere else. The scenery in front of me whitened and then merged with the blackness from behind. The squealing arm collapsed and disintegrated. That darkness soon changed into the dark of night I looked upon as I opened my eyes, covered with sweat.

The owl was still there, somewhere near here. A light breeze let the trees around the house gently rustle. A certain freshness hung around in the air. I forgot what I had even dreamt about. The sweat began to quickly settle, and I was dry again in no time.

As there was nothing else to do but try and sleep again, I did. And this time, it worked. Contrary to the first attempt, I now wouldn’t dream of anything. It would all just be black until I woke up again, with the rising sun covering my face.

Morning came, and even though I was awake, I was very sleepy. It was hard to move. As I tried to get a leg out of bed, a loud creaking sound appeared, followed by the sound of something falling on the ground. It was so sudden, I shot right awake.

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Having stood up straight by reflex, I checked the underside of the bed. One of the wooden beams was broken and split in two, the remains laying on the floor.

“Seriously…?”

Losing only one beam was no big deal in of itself. Sleeping in this bed didn’t become impossible through its loss. As I applied pressure on various spots on the sheets, there was hardly any difference to be felt. However, the truth was that the bed was now missing a component. In a way, the bed broke.

I am no craftsman, is what I thought. And even if asking Ozekar to fix it was an easy solution to this new-found problem, I couldn’t bother doing it this early in the day. This evening, I would consult him about it, and that would be the end of the story.

We ate breakfast and prepared to walk to work as usual. Whether Ozekar was going to pick me up and run again, I left that up to him. At the very least, saving time wasn’t something I would be against.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, leaving through the front door on this day wasn’t the same as usual.

On a normal day, whatever that was supposed to be at this point, nothing but grass would greet my view on our trip to the mines. Today, that wasn’t the case. To be precise, someone was standing on the minimally overgrown grass I looked towards whenever I left Agham’s home.

Turvi stood right there on the courtyard with her arms crossed. Accompanying her was another person with a blue uniform.

I must’ve still been sleeping. What was she doing here?

“…Turvi? You come to visit at this hour? You know, the sun only came up just now and- “”

“We have a warrant to search this property. That, we will carry out immediately. We ask for your cooperation.”

She was still on about keeping up that cold, authoritarian demeanor. In that tired state of mine, it truly was hard to talk to her.

But wait, a warrant? For what? Did Agham do something bad while we weren’t looking? Is that why he ditched us or something?

A wave of anxiety overcame me.

“A-a warrant? May I see it?”

I had to stall for time. This was more important than work. More than anything, I needed a moment to catch my bearings. Also, it was a good opportunity to see some legal documents to get a better grasp of what kind of laws the Inmar Duchy had.

Without speaking a word, Turvi handed me the warrant. I began skimming through the huge chunks of text in front of me, trying to find some keywords.

But for all intents and purposes, this was a very normal warrant, simply allowing a leading commander of the Blue Saint Brigade (in this case Turvi) and an extra member (if need be) to search the premises and look for suspicious material that would in some way incriminate the individual Agham Melian.

On what basis? Nothing of the sort was written in the warrant. The brigade must’ve either had some degree of influence around here, or obtaining a warrant of this degree wasn’t that hard to begin with.

As ridiculous as that idea was, for a moment, I thought of taking that warrant and destroying it somehow. Then, without a warrant, Turvi couldn’t search the house and I would be arrested instead. But that wasn’t a good long-time solution, since the brigade could simply issue a new one, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to prison over this.

Also, what kind of fervor would I need to have to go this far for Agham when even I didn’t find anything suspicious in his home? No, I probably just thought being confronted with such a situation at such short notice was quite frankly an affront to me, like a child who doesn’t get told anything because all the others thought it didn’t need to get the big picture, as if it wouldn’t be able to understand it anyway. It really, really vexed me.  

It was insulting. However, faced with such a degree of authority, the logical thing was to bow my head and let them in. I glanced over to Ozekar, who gave me the OK-sign with a slight nod.

Did I stow away the guide properly down the bed? What if they were to find it? Speaking of which, I really wanted to read some of it later. Maybe there were some clues in there pertaining to my dreams. In my opinion, you could have already called them visions.

“Alright, feel free to search as much as you’d like. I will open the door for you. However, Ozekar and I both will have to leave for work now. Turvi, I do not doubt you will handle this matter carefully, but I hope I can also trust you with not bringing the place out of order.”

“You have my word as commander.”

I let out a big sigh.

“Well then…”

Signaling Ozekar to come and go, we went on our way, leaving the two people clad in blue behind. I already knew I wouldn’t be able to think about anything but the state the house was going to be in all day.

The brigade got into this so much so that they went and got a warrant. Turvi couldn’t have just come and, you know, asked me to let her in? Or even Ozekar, for that matter. I was sure Turvi knew who was living in that place. And maybe she even knew Agham wouldn’t be here anymore, so she took her chances right then and there.

What was all that mystery about? One could only wonder.

Throughout the day, as expected, my thoughts were fully occupied of this whole affair. It made my time at the bathhouse almost unbearable. The only saving grace was that I went from someone who had been the target of coin-throwers to someone who was ignored all the time to finally reach the level of being treated as a normal receptionist.

People would actually treat me with respect now. Was it because of the mine incident? Either way, this was a fresh experience that severely lightened my mood.

As Ozekar and I returned home, Turvi was still there, in the kitchen. She seemed to have finished her work, but waited for us to come back. Her plus one was nowhere to be seen.

“Good evening, Turvi. Sorry for making you wait like this. Did you have some business left with us?”

“As member of the brigade, no. Personally, yes.”

“Oh?”

“You yourself wanted this, no?”

I began to understand. How thoughtful of her. She spared me the extra mile of going to Edel.

“I see. Well, right now is as good a time as ever. I’m sure we can talk it all out here, in a more…relaxed environment.”

“Hm.”

Her orange eyes were silently simmering. I knew that whatever I wanted to get off my chest, I would have to do it in a slow, patient manner. If I were to anger Turvi again, it would just end up like last time.

I sat down on the dinner table. Ozekar was starting his cooking without saying a word. Turvi crossed her arms and leaned back, expecting me to make the first move.

“So, uh…”

“Yes?”

This was way more awkward than I thought. There were a million things I wanted to say, but I didn’t have them organized in my head. However, I couldn’t just stumble my way through this conversation. Surely, Turvi wouldn’t allow me to. And I couldn’t allow it, too.

I thought about it for a few seconds, then decided to go by chronological order. In other words, what happened in Casla came first.

“I never got a real answer as to what happened in Casla while I was away. I still don’t know what happened to the others.”

“…”

She looked down on the table, deep in thought. There were probably some things that she couldn’t tell me, because of her position or whatnot. Her eyes began wavering a bit, flickering.

<That night, members of the Black Mark started fires around the city. The local guard, soldiers, mercenaries…Nowhere to be found. The brigade was the only one intervening. At the time, I was with Maya Fay. I quickly got contacted by a fellow member, but a Black Mark got him. There was no way of assuring anyone’s safety. You can’t hide in your house when it burns down. I led Maya Fay to the brigade quarters. People were running about, screaming. There were a few casualties, but the number of Black Marks was low. They used fancy technology, but they weren’t a big problem to deal with. It was all over in about 3-4 hours. I actively participated, killing 2 members myself. However, I didn’t gain any useful info. When I went back to base to report to Commander Martin, Maya…Maya Fay wasn’t there anymore. No one knew where she left. I visited the Fay home, but it was no more. It burnt down along with the houses beside it. Maya’s mother is…>

“…Dead, isn’t she?”

“…Yes.”

A few moments to catch a breath. Silence. The only thing that could be heard was Ozekar’s cooking efforts just a few meters away from us. Even though I was only sitting on a chair in a kitchen, I didn’t feel this kind of innate heaviness on my body in a long time.

“…So, you don’t know where Maya is right now?”

“No.”

“And what about Sofia Tallier?”

“Her restaurant got burned down. A good portion of the city did.”

“So, there were more houses being burned down than people killed?”

“Yes. But large-scale arson automatically kills people. For your information, Sofia Tallier’s address was the same as her restaurant.”

“So that means…”

“We have no confirmation of her death.”

“I see…”

What a revelation. But it didn’t tell me about the whereabouts of those two. Did Maya know her mother would…Yeah, probably. How awful. Even if her mother didn’t have much time left, not being able to see her again like this, that’s just too much.

And then there’s Miss Tallier. I never knew much about her in the first place, but I didn’t take her for someone who would die easily. She came from Marin, right? Maybe she was on her way to Marin right now as we were speaking. Hopefully, with Maya in tow.  

Then, there’s the Black Mark. What even was their intention? They laid fire to the city, and no one but the brigade seemed to care. And, the brigade wasn’t some native force of Casla. From what I knew, the brigade made themselves known there only recently, having not touched it before even once.

Was everyone just okay with having their houses burned down to the ground? Judging by Turvi, that certainly wasn’t the case. If so, then…maybe it had to do with that Trade Association? Like the one mentioned in the guide…

Either way, this wasn’t the time to pry into potential political affairs that might or might not have been a part of this disaster. I was sure Turvi didn’t know either, so there was no reason to cause a spark in discussion.

“Well, I’m glad that, finally, I know about what happened. Still, that’s a hard pill to swallow. In all honesty, I thought you would just tell me everyone was safe and that would have been the end of it. I guess I have some learning to do, haha.”

There was no way to not have an awkward moment here. What was I supposed to respond with? I just wanted to move the conversation along, that was all that mattered.

“Then, what happened? You got promoted to commander?”

“Out of scarcity. We needed someone in Edel, and there wasn’t anyone suitable but me.”

“Oh, well…yeah. I can see that.”

I couldn’t even make a joke of telling her she was full of herself, since she probably did indeed possess the qualities to be a decent leader. Not that I had gotten to see much of them for myself yet, though.

“It was Commander Martin who appointed me to this task. That’s why I’m here. Also…”

This time, Turvi looked me straight in the eye. Her own eyes were flaring up a bit. I became uncomfortable. Her next words would be directed at me, and me only.   

“Commander Martin told me to thoroughly investigate Agham Melian and his new companion, Mr. Lenn.”

I heavily gulped down the spit that accumulated in my mouth in one fellow swoop. My fingertips went wet, and my legs slowly became restless. There was something slimy and cold forming on my back. Why was I feeling this way? Getting to know more was always a plus. However, when it came to me…

“I, uh, uhm…I assure you I am not someone suspicious. Really.”

“Right. So-called amnesiacs are very trustworthy, after all. Especially when they run around the continent with people they, apparently, don't even know.”

I didn’t expect sarcasm to come from Turvi’s mouth, but that one cut deep. In truth, she really hit the nail on the head, so there was nothing I could use to refute her words.

In the end, I didn’t know Agham. I still didn’t know Ozekar too well. For that matter, I didn’t even really know Turvi, Maya, Miss Tallier…anyone. Not even me, at least to some degree. But in that case, what did it really take to know someone? If the criteria were so harsh on this, then in actuality, I didn’t know anything or anyone…

Perfect for someone like me, huh?

“You’ve…got a point. But you also know that because I’m in this state, there isn’t much I can tell you.”

“Exactly. That’s why I held off on you. Agham Melian is a far more important case right now.”

“Well, he does have a lot of influence and all…”

“What kind of influence?”

“Uh, so, the other day…”

Turvi already held some notes in her hands. When she got those and how, I didn’t know. But they were there. She had some ink prepared as well, and was fully prepared to absorb everything I was going to say.

“No, uh, you know…”

Was it okay to discuss anything related to Agham? Was he okay with that? I had a feeling it wasn’t, and that he wasn’t. However, I had already dug my hole.

“Go on.”

The orange flames building up inside Turvi’s eyes were fully ignited. Anything I was going to say from now held me accountable for…Well, anything.

I tried to use some hand signs to get Ozekar’s attention, but he was absorbed in his cooking, having that creepy smile on his face. At that point I realized, there was absolutely no way out of this, after all.

And all I could think about this whole situation was: Lenn, you fucked up. You fucked up big time. Look at what you did. You’re such a dumbass, Lenn. Really. You deserve this. Fuck.

 

-End Of Chapter 11-

 

 

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