The carriage jostled around, and Grey leaned back in silence. He hadn’t spoken a word since he had come down, and he could feel Silva’s gaze on him from time to time.
The feeling was quite visceral. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his increased PER, but it was like any pair of eyes that landed on him was almost sticky and uncomfortable to sense. The feeling when Silva did it, though, was particularly overwhelming.
The silver fox man didn’t trust him.
That much made sense. By this point, Grey had already killed the man twice, and one of them was a sudden surprise attack that came out of nowhere. If the Genesis Games really could remember his loops, then it was only natural their NPCs felt the same way.
What Grey really wondered was if this also extended to normal people as well. Would they react the same way?
If that was the case, Grey couldn’t help but wonder if part of the reason Stella and the others were so hostile to him in this loop was because the emotional tugging of heartstrings that the Great Udon had done in a previous loop was still lingering.
Toward this, Grey could only sigh. What else could he do?
’This better bloody work,’ Grey cursed inwardly as his eyes opened. ’Fuck me, they scrambled my brains so much they turned me British. I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.’
Grey stood, feeling the carriage come to a stop. He was the first one to step out this time, his steps confident and almost lonely as he went on ahead without the group.
His mind was inundated with thoughts, half of which were doubt, and the other half of which was a fear of how much more painful things would be if he had to experience the Genesis System’s wrath once again.
’At least this time if I die it’ll be by sword...’ he thought, shaking his head.
"Halt."
Grey stopped and looked up. A sneer almost spread across his face, but he managed to resist the urge.
’Maybe I should have tested this ahead of time...’
Some of the doubt was starting to form blaring warnings in his mind, but the last thing Grey wanted to do was let his sour mood ruin things before he even got a chance to do what he wanted.
"Excuse me, kind sir. This is our guest of honor for today, the future Sir Temolt of our Zone 234."
Silva stepped in and saved the day before Grey had to waste another minute suppressing his worst urges.
This was the third time he had been through this, and the third time a guard had stopped them. It wasn’t always the same guard, but it was like they were looking for a reason to be antagonistic toward him as well.
What kind of guest of honor was treated this way?
At first, Grey had thought that it was because he had always had his mask on before, so they didn’t recognize him. But now he was starting to wonder if Terran was responsible for this as well.
It was impossible to tell and even more annoying to consider.
Why couldn’t things just go smoothly for once?
Pushing down the thoughts, Grey managed to make it into the venue and behind the velvet ropes once again. He took deep breaths, keeping his eyes closed even when the Holy Knights and Joaquin continued their way down the steps.
If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed that Joaquin frowned imperceptibly when he realized that Grey wasn’t actually paying attention. It disappeared just as quickly as it formed, a silent calmness, and then a gentle smile spreading across his face once more.
Soon, they had reached the bottom of the stairs, or at least near them, and Captain Terran took it upon himself to step forward once again.
The moment he heard the voice, something within Grey churned. His blood circulated around him once, then twice, then again.
The Loops Necklace reacted beneath his robes, a searing heat coming from it as it tried to keep—
’This has to work. This has to work.’
Crimson Cognition kicked in, and it progressed to Level 7. At a point unknown to most, it had already forged ahead to Level 6, but now its momentum was only speeding forward all the more with every passing second.
Grey’s stamina drained step by step—literally. He walked past the velvet ropes when his name was called, a calm echo thrumming in his ears.
And then, when he reached the bottom of the steps, when he had reached the closest point to Captain Terran that he could...
He coughed.
A mouthful of blood splattered across Captain Terran’s chest. In every other loop, he might very well have taken the small sign of disrespect as a moment to cut Grey down. But this time, a blooming net of Grey’s Neural Frame extended from his body.
And then Grey wiped his mouth clean, lowering his gaze in apology.
"I’m sorry," he said. "I came here directly from conquering the lands that formed the outpost, and my body still hasn’t recovered yet."
The small hesitation on Captain Terran’s part lost him the room to maneuver, and by the time he felt like he had regained a small bit of his senses, Grey had already looked up.
"I don’t mind personally, but I don’t think the Goddess would like one of her chosen to be knighted like this. I have this towel here. I could wipe you down, or someone else could do it."
Captain Terran frowned, his temper about to flare up. What absolute nonsense was Grey talking about? It didn’t even make any logical sense.
His energy flared, and he was about to continue speaking as though he hadn’t heard what Grey said at all, when an old man behind him stepped forward. There was a slight rush to the old man’s footsteps, almost as though he was scared that Terran was about to do something rash.
"There’s no problem, no problem at all," the old knight said quickly. "I will take over the ceremony from here."
Before Terran could say anything, the old knight stepped in front of him and unsheathed his sword.
Something in Captain Terran’s eyes twitched. What was happening here?
At the same time, Joaquin’s eyes showed shock as well. He didn’t understand what was happening at all either.
This wasn’t how this was supposed to go?
There was one last group that was feeling the exact same way:
The Producers and Caldrin.