Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Going to the Capital
Jake’s reaction was much more frantic than Zerra had expected. His eyes widened; he looked over at the incoming person in panic.
His hands clenched, hesitating between dashing away or staying. Zerra noticed the unusual reaction, and she recalled that when she first stumbled upon him, he took a few steps back in fright until he recognized it was her.
She initially thought that he was just shocked...
"What are you doing here?" Nyra’s gaze swept over Jake, sizing up his expression. When her eyes landed on Zerra, they contained disapproval, as if she were looking at an incompetent, love-brained sister who was eloping with her lover.
She grabbed Zerra’s hand, pulling the thin girl beside her.
"What’s wrong, sister?" Zerra’s eyes held confusion. In a nonchalant tone, she explained, "I just greeted Jake. He just arrived here, and we might not meet again since I am going to the Capital soon."
Nyra’s expression faltered when she heard her younger sister’s last words. They seemed to be directed especially at her.
"Don’t wander alone." She cleared her throat and awkwardly told her. Without waiting for Zerra to respond, she pulled her away. "Let’s go."
Zerra pursed her lips as Nyra’s tight grip locked on her wrist. The force was so strong that she couldn’t help but walk along with Nyra, or she would fall.
She wasn’t done asking Jake questions yet. Unfortunately, she could only drop it for now. She used her other free hand to wave at Jake.
The nervousness on his face had lessened a lot, and he appeared to be more relaxed now, watching them. In response to Zerra’s action, he merely gave a stiff smile and waved back.
His eyes turned to the surroundings, surveying them again, very alert.
Zerra found it weird. Jake was on guard with something, and she could vaguely guess what it was.
The people who had absorbed too much of the mutated mushroom powder, turning into a mentally unstable bunch. After they left him, someone approached Jake; he pulled his bag and walked away, avoiding the man.
She was also suddenly struck by a question; if they... specifically Jake, respected that unknown man for teaching them, why did he spill all information about him so easily to her? She didn’t get it.
But now she couldn’t naively believe all the words he said. They might be half-truth and half-lies.
"Don’t get too close to suspicious people." Nyra warned her, narrowing her eyes. "You don’t know what’s inside their heads, and their motive."
Zerra wanted to refute, yet she caught a glimpse of Nyra’s eyes and closed her mouth again. She was truly concerned. Zerra hid the emotions swirling in her eyes, lowering her head and focusing on the path ahead.
"Alright," She answered softly.
An arc formed on her lips, and she suddenly asked, "Have you decided to go to the Capital, sister?"
Caught off guard, Nyra cleared her throat and answered vaguely, "I haven’t decided yet."
Even so, Zerra knew Nyra had decided on it. She no longer sensed hesitation from her. Darren’s coaxing really worked, huh?
With Darren and a few others gone, she silently thought; the Moon Cloud city human base might seriously plunge into conflict because of the people Henry just brought back.
He didn’t even put those people under some kind of observation, letting them mix with the base people freely...
***
When they visited the Ashborn siblings in their ward, Laziel spilled about their plan to go to the Capital. As a result, they became interested.
"When will you all depart?" Isryn, as the more talkative one between them, asked.
Zerra immediately took the bait. "Oh, you told me you were on the way to the Capital too. It should be safer if you join our group."
They shouldn’t have recovered so quickly, but it seemed that Isryn had used her wood ability on her younger brother. Although it wasn’t an instant recovery, Eryx’s healing speed became faster than normal people.
Laziel looked surprised. "Then, you should join us! I don’t know how you even think about going there with just the two of you. What if you meet someone like Scott again?"
Earlier today, after Nyra returned to their room, Laziel came and tried to persuade her. He threw away all his shame, clinging to her like a spoiled child and begging to go to the Capital.
Even Zerra couldn’t bear to watch her silly brother doing such a thing. Where had he learned such a trick ?
Disgusted, Nyra finally managed to get rid of the octopus that was Laziel and agreed. One could see how relieved Laziel was at that time, like he had just solved a math problem none could in a classroom.
"All thanks to you, Zee." Laziel had smiled, nearly blinding her eyes. "I learned this trick from you. Every time you want something and Dad doesn’t want to give it to you, you always pull such a trick."
She had raged at him, calling his embarrassing display nonsense, and ran away from the room, following what Nyra had done.
Unexpectedly, Laziel went after her. Unwilling to endure his bickering, she decided to go to the Ashborn siblings’ place. Then, there they were right now.
In front of his friend’s elder sister, at least heaved a bit.
Yet, Zerra couldn’t resist the smile that tugged on her lips. It felt like she hadn’t ever been interacting with her siblings in such a lighthearted way; everything they said used to be filled with sarcasm and mockery.
Maybe this round of reincarnation wasn’t that bad.
"Is that okay, though?" Eryx asked worriedly. "It wouldn’t be a bother, right?"
Laziel turned to his friend and clicked his tongue. "I will go ask Darren. It should be fine. You are also an ability user, right? He will most likely agree."
"Act a bit more shamelessly, man. It will save your life later," he added. His face was a mask of seriousness, as if he was imparting an important life lesson to him.
Eryx’s eyes visibly widened, and he bit his lip. A bit embarrassed, yet didn’t refute Laziel’s words.
Zerra was seriously wondering how these two became friends... her shameless brother and the taciturn, polite Eryx.
After they returned, they packed and prepared for the journey to the Capital. She had a feeling that this time, it also would be fraught with danger.