Chapter 269 (1/2)

Heaving a sigh, Randidly used Living Blood to manipulate the red fluid back into his body.

Azriel spared him a glance. “Take a break. I’m hungry.” Then she walked off, leaving him bleeding, or almost bleeding, in the courtyard of her building. After several minutes of sitting on the ground, recovering, Randidly stood, and he left the building, wandering towards one of the bathhouses in Deardun.

After cleaning himself off, and giving his body time to heal through some of the deeper damage that Azriel had inflicted on him, Randidly headed back towards his inn. Then he froze. Then, chuckling, Randidly continued walking.

It was probably pretty foolish for him to just walk around Deardun.. Especially after those three had ambushed him so directly, right in the middle of the city, and seemed to have the implicit support of the Styles of Deardun. It could happen again.

But Randidly was tired. And up until now, it had completely slipped his mind. So after putting on clothes that would cover his face, giving him at least some semblance of cover as he returned to his inn. Then, at the door, he hesitated again, then shook his head, annoyed at himself. If they truly lost him after the ambush, his old inn would probably be the place they were waiting for him, huh…?

Truly, Randidly wasn’t designed for this sort of sneaking around. But it’s not like he had the strength to stand up to them directly, at least right now, so. Best to take precautions, belated as though they may be.

Randidly entered the building, and found Divvet and Claptrap, who both looked sharply up at him, seemingly surprised by his intrusion.

Very quickly, Divvet smiled widely. “Ah, good you’re back. Shal’s been… better. He still is asleep, but his struggles had largely quieted. Your friend Claptrap has been there the entire time, watching over him.”

Claptrap seemed nervous, which seemed odd to Randidly. Perhaps he wanted something? Trouble at work? Either way, Randidly was quite glad that Claptrap had done it. Walking up, Randidly patted him on the back.

“Thanks Claptrap. Next time you need it, I’ll give you some good business ideas to expand your corporation.”

To Randidly’s surprise, Claptrap visibly flinched, pulling away, his eyes flashing. Then Claptrap seemed to deflate, and just said. “Yea… Thanks.”

Then he left. Randidly scratched his head, and turned to Divvit. Divvit just shrugged. “How am I supposed to keep up with the moods of the young? Maybe he’s annoyed that you absolutely destroyed that girl he had a crush on- oh, that’s right. She stopped by. Wanted to talk to you about a bet? And Helen wanted to speak with you ask well.”

Randidly had no idea what bet Ciel wanted to speak with him about, but Helen’s desire to talk filled Randidly with a certain level of dread. Through their connection of Aether, he could feel her, not her location really, but the constant proximity of her life and meaning, as they flowed back and forth between them, freely mixing.

Wasn’t that enough…? What did she want to talk about…?

But that, of course, was a stupid question. She wanted to talk about the fact that he was pumping Aether into her body. Randidly just wasn’t sure what he wanted to SAY about it. At the moment, it had felt right. Helen had been dueling that asshole, and she just needed a small boost to push her strength up to the level where she could win. Randidly had given her that strength.

Now Randidly was glad he hadn’t pursued the option of giving other people, including Divveltian, an Aether Donation anymore. If he had to explain things to them in the same way… Although it was abated for now, Randidly was still aware that the System itself considered him a Heretic. Even though the system was much, much larger than the individual people, Randidly still didn’t think it was a smart idea to let people know about his idea, in case they secretly had a connection to the system.

Although Earth had the Village Spirits, Randidly had yet to see any here, which made him leery of everyone. It certainly was like… a strange vacation here, away from his planet. But Randidly knew that was coming to an end, and didn’t want to jeopardize it so close to his return.

Besides, with what Randidly was suspecting about the spear inside of the obsidian spear, after training with Azriel-

Randidly shook his head. One thing at a time.

After going up to Shal’s room, checking on him briefly, and then returning to his own room for books, Randidly headed to the roof. After a long amount of time away, Randidly activated the Weeping Cloud skill, letting the cleansing rain wash over him, relieving him of a lot of his tension. Then he brought out and equipped his concentration belt and some other engraved equipment, boosting his stats to their highest possible levels.

Then Randidly produced his spear and looked over it with a critical eye. It was certainly strange, using such a slender and light spear after he had used the large obsidian one for so long. But there was something… strangely compelling about this spear, he had discovered, while using it against Azriel. A certain… energizing factor.

It wasn’t much, just a small boost, that helped stave off exhaustion in the earlier training rounds with Azriel. It was barely anything, not nearly as powerful as his own regeneration, but it was still a push in the right direction. Something noticeable.