164 What would you choose? (1/2)
The image of her trying to help that man who, in turn, was about to stab her before getting himself killed kept flashing past her mind.
She was not contemplating because of the decapitation in front of her. She had already recovered from that since she had seen her fair share of bloodshed even as a pampered lady.
Instead, she was reflecting on her actions because of how close she had been to death. Although she did have a couple of artifacts that would have saved her life, it reminded her how just a single mistake from her could have such consequences.
This was also the reason that Mages under Rank-6 took caution not to get close to their enemy. Their physical bodies were at most only slightly sturdier than ordinary people. It would have undoubtedly resulted in her death if she ignored the fact that she had the artifacts to protect her, and Ozul did not help either.
Being so close to death made her think some things through. Not to mention, she was quiet because it was her own fault. Ozul had stopped her, but she had insisted on helping.
Cyril and Mark remained quiet. They assumed that Clara probably had inner conflicts, but Ozul did not care.
As far as he was concerned, her emotions were not erratic and all over the place. This meant that she was just reflecting on her actions.
Others might have called it cruel of him, but he had tried to stop her once. She insisted on helping, and he knew that he could not win an argument with a believer, so he let her do as she wished. And at the critical time, he also saved her life.
Ozul did not have any reason to go out of his way to teach her stuff. He did what he could, and that was the extent of it. Besides, Clara was someone he had no relation to, unlike Raven and Blaze. He had already done enough.
Only the rustling of leaves could be heard as they passed by a few other roads. It seemed that there was probably a city or a town nearby judging by the increase in routes.
Since there was a city nearby, Ozul decided that it might be a good idea to rest in a room, alone, once in a while.
'Thinking about it, I can always have a separate room for myself!' Ozul realized that Raven wasn't with him now. It was only her that always forced him to share his room. And now that she wasn't here, he could always have the room booked solely for himself.
He asked the duo if they knew about the city, and Mark told him it was just a small town.
Mark explained the exact direction before the group advanced towards the town.
Half a day later, they were already in the town. Both Cyril and Mark changed into their disguise out of nowhere. They changed their clothes and put on wigs even while running.
Both of them had turned into slightly obese men and wore expensive-looking clothes. Ozul did not ask why they had disguised themselves since it seemed to be their habit.
Before they entered the town, Ozul had created the pointed hat on his head, and Clara also wore the veil again. They would attract all the attention with their appearance. Even if they could not disguise themselves as the duo did, at least they could hide their faces.
It seemed that Mark knew almost every place as he brought them directly to a remote area that had a small hotel.
Fortunately, the hotel was in a remote place, so it had many rooms left. Ozul directly asked for a room with a single bed for himself and took the keys before striding off.
After he left, Clara had no choice but to book a room for herself as well. Meanwhile, Cyril and Mark picked up a room with two beds.
It hadn't gotten dark yet, but it did not matter to them. Being high ranked Mages, the concept of night and day only matter when they were in a serious situation.
Ozul got inside his room, noticing the rundown condition. There were small cracks on the ceiling, but he was satisfied as the room was clean overall.
He did not plan to go to sleep directly and was going to read the book.
*Tak..Tak*
However, he had just sat on the bed when he heard the knock.
He stared at it for a while before he got up and opened the door. As he did so, Clara's figure came into his view.
She was standing there while looking down at the floor. Fidgeting with her fingers, she suddenly looked up at him when she realized that the door was already open.
”... I wanted to say thank you...” Clara said with such a low voice that it seemed that she was only muttering to herself.
”Hmm.” Ozul only stared at her since it seemed that she still had things to say.