163 Trap on the road. (1/2)

Then again, it seemed unlikely with the way he had closed his eyes again.

Unknown to her, Ozul was thinking about her at this moment just that his line of thoughts did not match what she fantasized about.

The Light Element's particles flocking around her bothered him to no end. He tried to endure it and go back to enjoy his peacetime, but he could not stop thinking about it. Like an annoying fly, it did not let him focus on anything else.

Since he could not focus, there was no point in being here either. He stood up, startling Clara, who did not have the chance to properly look at his body before he had gotten out of the water and fog covered him.

A little regretful and relieved, Clara wondered if she had disturbed him or he got irritated because of her.

But since she had this place to herself now, she began to wash off the dirt with various thoughts running through her mind.

After another hour or so, she was finished and could not relax in the warm water either.

As she went near her clothes, she frowned, looking at its dirty appearance and the worn-out condition. She had almost forgotten that she had spare clothes in her Spatial Ring.

After changing into those clothes, she was about to walk back to the woods when she noticed something from the corner of her eyes.

She turned to look to her side and noticed Ozul lying on the ground with a barely noticeable black cat near him. Jinx was really hard to notice once she closed her eyes in the dark.

Clara nervously looked around before she took a deep breath and approached Ozul. He had his prosthetic arms under his head as he gazed at the sky.

As if she had made up her mind, she nodded to herself before sitting a few meters from him. Ozul had, of course, noticed her presence, but he ignored it for now.

At least she was not so clingy as before. She maintained her distance, which was enough for Ozul to be able to endure without losing his interest.

”...”

She stayed like this for a long time. Just then, she noticed that Ozul had put back his prosthetic arms.

”So... what happened?” Clara said while pointing towards his hands.

Hearing this sudden voice, Ozul turned around to face her before noticing that her finger was pointing at his prosthetic arms.

”They got cut,” Ozul stated the obvious.

Clara stared back at his eyes for a couple of seconds to see if he was intentionally doing it. But she could not see through him no matter how much she tried.

Although she could not properly see his body, just the hands part was something that she could not ignore so easily.

”... I can see that. I meant, what happened?” Clara emphasized her question.

Clara waited for a while before she sighed, realizing that he was now ignoring her. It meant that she had indeed been disturbing him for him to ignore her so coldly.

Although she understood the situation, it did not help improve her mood. With the princess's temperament from childhood, getting ignored by someone was probably the first for her.

She stood up with a huff, disgruntled, but she could not even express her anger before Ozul.

Ozul finally felt some peace again as she walked off.

Clara walked all the way back to her spot. Cyril and Mark had already killed off the Beasts lurking around, so they were also back to their drinking and smoking.

When Clara walked past them, she did not even bother to spare them an extra glance.

”She was not satisfied even after so long?!” Cyril commented after Clara had gone off in the distance.

”Hmhm. They probably fought,” Mark suggested.

”Yeah. Whatever...” Cyril said as both of them shrugged before changing the topic.

——————

The next day, they quietly ran through the forest.

It hadn't even been a few hours before Ozul felt some presences ahead. He focused and noticed that there was a road right next to them.

A road meant that there would usually be people passing by. He credited the presence up ahead to that and continued their advance.

As they passed by the road, the group noticed a disabled man from the corner of their eyes.