Chapter 111
As the tense atmosphere overtook the room, Raki quickly drew in a breath and slowly let it out. Then he took one last sip of the warm tea before walking away with a heavy heart, leaving the room without another word.
Afalan Norwich looked at him indifferently before returning to enjoy his tea to warm himself against the coldness of the room.
On the left side past the stairs, Raki walked down the hallway with clouded thoughts, unable to understand what truly went on inside Afalan Norwich's mind, how he could create a plan from beginning to end, and strangely enough, that plan moved forward without the slightest flaw.
The destruction of the cathedral towers in every city, including the main city, Kuranda, in Havanuheta Province, along with eleven other cities; with villages excluded because they had no cathedrals, the mastermind behind it all was a man with a ponytail.
Afalan Norwich.
Or more precisely; Jack The Ripper, whose countless actions had become one of the main causes behind Sanerva standing on the brink of destruction after riots broke out two years ago. Within days, public facilities along the major streets were destroyed because of those riots, and amid the chaos, many citizens and even authorities themselves were killed while trying to suppress the unrest.
Some died from projectiles, knives, wooden planks taken from the market, even bombs and cannons that turned Sanerva into a place both lively and grim as dust mixed with the scent of blood and iron drifted through the air for an entire week.
A master of disguise, connected to major organizations such as the "Intersection Society" and "Black Cage," led by Vabian Roca and Kharensya Zorca, with seven core members including themselves, along with dozens of Jack The Ripper's subordinates who moved according to his commands.
And the peak of his plan was ordering one of the seven main members of "Black Cage," Vabian Roca, to destroy Eaurealis Castle as a sign that the plan had reached its final stage, and as proof that the prophecy of the apocalypse they all feared would soon come to pass.
The destruction of Moran at the beginning of November was carried out through ten demon horses, summoned from hell by two Receivers, one of whom controlled and directed them while casting an invisible barrier from a third-level spell, Domain, to accelerate the destruction process.
Even though it nearly failed because an intruder interfered with the activation controlling the demon horses and managed to defeat one out of the ten demon horses.
Then disguising himself once more as a refugee, freely wandering around to continue his plan of driving the remaining citizens out of the refugee camp so they would leave that cursed place as quickly as possible.
Too much time passed, until the moment a comet with its brilliant light turned the night into daytime before the sound of its impact rang out thunderously, followed by black smoke rising into the sky.
Watching the citizens panic, he immediately called the other three people who had also disguised themselves as ordinary civilians inside the refugee camp, including Raki. However, at that time, Afalan Norwich only managed to meet Raki, while the other two; a man and a woman, had unknown whereabouts.
At this very moment, the person he was searching for was in Niki District, specifically on Suncrise Street No. 11, surveying the location where the next stage of the plan would be carried out.
Especially after the plan he had carefully arranged over the past few days failed, or more accurately, was never carried out successfully because of the tailed star he had witnessed earlier.
That incident guaranteed his plan's perfection, turning the city into a dead, uninhabited land while leaving the soil barren. Even though he himself never descended directly onto the scene, remaining hidden in the shadows, he still carried the burden, hatred, and anger of both the surviving residents and the dead citizens because of that massive incident.
Upon arriving at his room lit dimly by a lantern, Raki lay sideways on the soft warm bed, his eyes staring blankly at the lantern as those memories resurfaced once again.
'Damn you, Afalan. How dare you sacrifice your own friend and not feel even the slightest guilt for losing them.'
Then he shifted into a face-up position and continued the thoughts that made him dizzy and irritated.
'I don't completely understand it myself. Well, I never went to school. I can barely read and write, and I just did whatever he suggested to help his plans move smoothly. But... is this really an ending he can accept? And of course, that woman named Niva Herana as well?'
Raki immediately rose from the bed the moment the thought of why Afalan Norwich had hidden that truth from him flashed through his mind.
His pupils widened as he continued thinking.
'No way... Could it be that the two of them actually agreed to this together?'
With a panicked face and a guilt-ridden heart, Raki hurriedly put on his brown leather shoes and rushed toward the door, opening it quickly before breaking into a run, his footsteps echoing throughout the hallway.
The moment he arrived at the room where they had spoken earlier, Raki grabbed the doorknob with labored breathing and threw the door open, his eyes immediately locking onto the pair of sofas with a round table between them and a neatly arranged tablecloth resting on top.
"Afalan," Raki said between heavy breaths. "Were you... were you actually making a secret agreement with that woman? Without me knowing?"
He shut the door before walking forward with his body slightly leaning ahead and sitting down as before.
Afalan, who had been reading a book, was startled by Raki's sudden arrival and by the strange words that reached his ears unclearly, while the crackling sound of fire from the semi-circular brick heater echoed softly from the concrete floor in the corner of the room.
Afalan closed the book while letting out a sigh before speaking calmly, "Can you say that one more time?"
Raki repeated his words as before, but after seeing Afalan's outwardly calm reaction while his legs could not stop moving, creating a constant tapping sound, he decided to abandon his intentions, realizing that Afalan's current condition was far from stable. He was consumed by panic, and Raki knew that well after spending around six years beside him.
"Uh, I just felt uncomfortable being alone in my room," Raki said with a bitter smile.
"I see?" Afalan stood up and walked toward the shelf on the left side of where he had been sitting. He placed the book he had just read back in its original spot before turning around while carrying two books, one of which he intended to give to Raki.
"Take this." He held the book out, nearly hitting his friend's face with it.
"For me? Why?" Raki tried to make sure there was no hidden meaning behind the action.
"Just something to read," he answered calmly. "And in weather this cold, chatting while reading sounds like the right idea, doesn't it?" Afalan tried to ease the awkward atmosphere filling the room where they sat talking.
With an uncertain expression, Raki finally decided to read the contents of the book. The moment he opened it, it landed directly on page fifteen, a number that felt strangely familiar to him, and he was startled when he read the text that seemed intentionally meant for him. The sentence was bolded and clearer than the rest of the text.
"This... this is the exact date we met six years ago, isn't it?" Raki tried to guess what Afalan was thinking right now.
Meanwhile, Afalan smiled faintly and made gestures with both hands, movements so measured they almost resembled a dance even while he remained seated, skillfully showing them to Raki even though it was far from the first time he had done something like that to someone else.
"You want to rest until the fifteenth?"
At last, Raki understood the meaning behind both the gesture and the earlier text.
The text read: A Horse. Which meant one word representing the number one. And Horse, with its five letters, represented the number five.
'He's really willing to go this far just to deliver such a short message?'
Raki could only shake his head in amazement at Afalan Norwich's actions. Trivial as they seemed, he truly meant every bit of it.
"Fourteen more days. That's the perfect amount of time to wait for the weather to improve."
"You're not entirely wrong about that, and I still need to find them because there are things I need to do," Afalan said with a serious expression, as though he did not want to lose the moment he was about to convey.
About the appearance of a mysterious person who had reopened his thoughts after seeing the way that person acted, thought, and arranged everything so skillfully.
Raki clearly remembered how he searched for information throughout that massive city, asking one person after another to confirm whether they had seen a group of people arriving from eastern Minehold.
The effort was pointless, until eventually it led both him and Afalan to the building where the New Year's theater performance and celebration had been held, searching for information through the conversations of other people.
And there, without realizing it, he encountered a blond-haired man with deep gray eyes and an indifferent gaze, a man who made it possible for him to search for the people he sought through that friend's assistance.
"Staying in a comfortable place like this might help them finally free themselves from the burdens they've been carrying all this time. I don't know what else to say, but I want to tell you that those six people will definitely search for that woman's whereabouts."
He knew absolutely nothing about the death of one of Black Cage's core members, Keilta Zamora, who had been killed by Ren Actitus through a pistol enhanced with a first-stage Transmiter, Controller.
The corner of Afalan's lips lifted slightly, almost forming a smile as he spoke in a restrained voice, "This time, I'll follow your advice."
Raki snorted, feeling like Afalan was making fun of him.
"Huh, are you following my advice, or are you just too lazy to go outside while that snowstorm is raging out there?"
"Both are true," Afalan answered calmly.
"Seriously, you're such a troublesome man," Raki complained while slowly massaging his forehead.