Chapter 295 Did you notice?
While gazing at the clear sky, Kyle was about to doze off again, but then Yue asked him once more if he wanted to eat.
"Huh? I'm not hungry though..."
Kyle started to say, but his words trailed off when a delicious aroma of meat filled the air. Slowly, he peeked behind the boulder and saw Sia sitting by a fire.
'Oh, so I just need to eat? right?'
He turned back to Yue.
"Now that you mention it, I think I am quite hungry. Let's eat."
Yue raised her brow with a tiny smile and the two of them joined Sia by the fire. As Kyle took a bite of the meat, he couldn't help but sigh. It was delicious, unlike his cooking, which was rather ordinary.
'Bia could have enjoyed this, but thanks to someone she's late. So, maybe next time.'
After they were done, Kyle looked at the girls. He couldn't help but think deeply. Surely, the girls were strong. He could sense it from their auras. Sia was (D+)-Rank while Yue was (C-)-Rank, but after roaming around in the realm, he knew their survival would be hard if he left them alone. Not to mention, the dark race.
He sighed but before he could speak, Yue beat him to it.
"We will go in different directions."
Kyle's brow knitted together. From her voice he could feel it, she did not want to trouble him, but how could he let them go alone after witnessing what happened a while ago?
"It's dangerous.."
He was not able to complete his sentence due to Sia's panicked interruption.
"Wait wait... There's no way I am going alone! What if something similar to what happened a while ago happened again? We should follow Kyle.. even if it's just for a while. He is strong!"
Ignoring Yue's glaring eyes, she slowly moved closer to Kyle with a pleading expression.
"I promise I will just quietly follow behind!"
Yue's eyebrow twitched. Immediately, she pulled her back. She knew staying alone was dangerous, but relying on others was not the solution to their problem. Instead of being shameless, it was better to grow stronger.
A blank expression appeared on Sia's face as she gazed at the beautiful hands clenching her arm. This was the second time, Yue pulled her back from Kyle. She could not help but narrow her eyes at her actions.
'Am I thinking too much?'
In an instant, their eyes met mid-air, and the girls became absorbed in a silent confrontation. Almost, forgetting about the person watching them from the sidelines.
Kyle massaged his temples, not sure what he should do, but then like a ray of sunlight, a familiar voice echoed in his head.
-'I am almost there. Where are you? I can not see you.'
He stood up abruptly and narrowed his eyes in the distance before musing with a smirk.
"It seems she is fine. I can see her body parts are intact."
A pair of heads snapped toward him when the girls heard the word 'She'. Moreover, Kyle's words where he talked about someone's body parts so causally were everything but good. Still, before the girls could question him, he jumped to stand above a nearby boulder. His movement was so fast, almost like a blur. As if noticing the stunned pairs of eyes behind him, Kyle looked back.
"I am going to enter the nearest treasure land. Let's go together, it's better that way."
He paused remembering Yue's unwillingness. It made him realize that she didn't want to be seen as someone who relied on others, even in the face of danger.
"It's not that I am going to help out every time, but moving together is not a big deal. Just follow me for a while. You can leave when you are strong enough to survive on your own."
The last sentence was specially spoken for Yue. Maybe, it was because of the encounter they had when they were kids or maybe it was because Kyle had spent a lot of time with her silently in Kingdom tersia, but he was sure he could not let anything happen to her in his presence.
After his words fell, he jumped down from the boulder without even waiting for an answer. His gaze traveled up toward the nearest floating island. Subconsciously, he wanted to float but stopped because now he was not alone.
Sia cheered loudly and jumped behind Kyle. As a fox demi-human, she was more agile compared to people her rank. On the other hand, Yue gazed at his back and blinked her eyes in contemplation.
"It's okay if it's only for a while. Also..."
She fiddled with her storage ring.
'I am worried, except Faith.. no one else picked up when I sent the signal. I hope Regius and Niamh are alright.'
She shook her head to get rid of the bad thoughts and joined Sia and Kyle silently.
Only after half a minute, the trio started climbing the stairway leading up toward the brightly lit castle. In the midst of their walk, Sia could not help but narrow her eyes in the distance, before placing her hand on Yue's shoulder with a surprised expression.
"Did you notice?"
"What?"
"It's strange. We walked in an open area and now we are climbing the stairway... So why is it that we did not encounter even a single monster? Not just monsters, we did not even encounter any individual from any other race!"
Yue raised her head to peer at the black dots flying above in the sky. At least for now, they were far away in the distance.
"Maybe it's because of the bat-like individuals. They are hunting almost everything."
In front of them, Kyle stopped mere inches away from the castle gate. He looked up in the sky to find Bia, but his expression immediately sank when he saw that she was not alone.
'Damn, I told you to just toss him somewhere why are you bringing him with you?'
-'He begged me. I wanted to ignore him and fly away but this leech grabbed my feet! Ugh! That's why I had to take him with me!'
Yue slowly walked beside Kyle and followed his gaze.
"What are you looking at?"
Her question was answered when a boisterous laughter filled the air.
"Hahaha, Kyle my bro! We finally meet again!"
Kyle's eyebrow twitched at the red-haired youth hanging on Bia's toes. Instantly, the phoenix's huge figure overshadowed the trio. Yue's eyes widened slightly at the huge firebeast and she instinctively stepped back.
Behind them, Sia's eyes were practically glued on Bia. She clenched her excited tail tightly and let out a surprise shout of awe.
"OMG! It's the phoenix! I can't believe I am seeing one so closely!"