Chapter 24: New Life (4)
"Empty cage?" I frown while looking at Valeria, then gaze into Genelos' cage. "It does seem empty, but I am sure he is inside—I have just fed a Wyvern in this cage, Miss. Valeria."
"In the cage?" Valeria is already beside me at this point, and she still can't believe what I said. Extending her hand to touch the bars, she lifts them with a touch. "What an impudent mentee you are. It's only your first day, but you have already lied to your mentor?"
I blink my eyes at how genuinely unhappy Valeria's tone sounds as I stand up. I step forward to be side by side with her, then wonder about what she will do after lifting the bars of the cage.
"Lying to your mentor is a sin. Just be honest with me, and I will not do anything to you."
"What do you mean, Miss. Valeria?"
"There is no Wyvern here."
"There is a Wyvern here." I look at Valeria weirdly, still wondering what she is on about. "What is the point of lying about such a thing? With Magic, you should be able to detect whether there is a Wyvern here."
As I point my hand to the dark room, realization also dawned upon me. 'Someone of Valeria's caliber will never state something unless they are sure of it. That means, Valeria really can't see any Wyvern inside it.'
I frown once again, then look at Valeria hesitantly. "There were 10 lumps of meat and I distribute them evenly to the 10 Wyverns in this stable. If one of the cages was indeed empty, there should be one meat left."
"So your point is, since I can't see any lump of meat left, you are not lying?"
"I mean, you said it yourself, Miss Valeria. There are 10 Wyverns in this cage, and there are also ten cages inside the stable."
"That was my miss. I forgot to tell you that one of them has died yesterday."
I am honestly confused as hell, so I can only look at Valeria silently. She seems to understand my confusion, but she doesn't do anything about it.
In the next moment, she extends her hand, and shoots a ball of light into the dark room. The ball moves like a flash, before exploding in the middle of the room, illuminating the entire room.
I can see everything inside the room—it's a long and vast tunnel like room—and I can't see Genelos inside.
At that, I gape in bewilderment, disbelief, shock, and fear while thinking about what will await me now that I have been proven to be lying. The room returns to its normal state after 10 seconds or so, but I still keep gaping while looking at the now dark room.
"Did you see any Wyvern here?"
Only after registering Valeria's question did I stop gaping and take a breath to calm myself down. "I didn't see anything, Miss. Valeria. However, I want to let you know that I didn't lie to you; I really fed a Wyvern inside this cage."
"Are you that eager to get punished?" Valeria quirks her eyebrow. "You seem really adamant about it."
As I weakly pull in my hair—I don't want to ruin my hair—I grit my teeth indignantly. 'I am imagining things, is what she wants to say, huh?!' I can't accept the fact that I am to be blamed in this situation.
I am sure I gave a lump of meat to Genelos. I am sure he opened the cage for me. I am sure he talked to me. I am sure we know of each other already. I am sure he has eaten the meat I gave him. I don't want to believe that it's all a delusion.
"Everything felt so real: our conversation, and the energy I spent to bring the meat to Genelos' cage. There is no way that..." I can't continue my speech as I am reminded of something. It is about what happened to me after my morning run.
I couldn't remember what had actually happened at that time, and it was only after Valeria did something to me did I remember about what happened. Although I regretted knowing what happened to me, I, at least, was reminded that I am just a normal human.
Human's mind is simple and profound at the same time. It is the most important part of us, humans, and it controls every decision we make—our course of life.
It is sometimes supple, and sometimes firm—it's changing as the time goes. What can be said for sure however, our mind decides what's best for us.
I can't remember anything about the scene where my mother killed my bastard of a father along with his girlfriend despite having my eyes opened the entire time. I am pretty sure my blurry eyes could still see many things at that time.
It all happened because my mind wanted to always picture my mother as a good person, so it erased the scene from my memory. It is also the case with the repeated Reset I have faced in the Training Field.
I felt all the pain and the agony from the injuries Millonia inflicted on me or the crazy things she did to my body before I Reset, but I stopped being afraid of death after my eighth Reset. Even the idea of facing a Reset doesn't scare me any longer.
Have I been numbed to the pain? No. Have I got used to the gory things? No. My mind has just simply accepted that all of them are unavoidable, and normalized everything to me just so I can keep going on with my life—to keep me sane.
The case maybe the same with Genelos. His might be just a coping mechanism my mind created to make me forget the exhaustion I was feeling at that time.
Although I don't know what I was actually feeling at that time, but I must have been afraid of being alone if that was really the case.
"I don't understand." I look up at Valeria. "I don't understand everything. Everything happens so fast, I can't keep up with it. Many things have happened to me, and all of them confused me. I want to ask about them, but no one is there to answer me."
By the time I realized it, my cringey-ass is already so into my speech, my eyes start to water. I feel all of my suppressed feelings—anxiousness, fear, confusion, indignation, wrath—have finally exploded out of my heart.
As I said, I am not a manly dude; I cried a lot on Earth. If not for the fact that I am not too confused about the bewildering development, I would have already wailed like a bitch due to how scared I am since yesterday.
In other words, I am fine with Valeria seeing my ugly face. I don't have that stupid pride that tells a man shall never cry in front of a woman; I cry when I want, and no one can stop me.
"Are you fine?"
"Hell, no! I am starting to doubt my sanity here. It's my biggest existential crisis ever since I find I looked so much like a girl."
Valeria seems to be too flustered to respond to what I said as she keeps silent after that. I cry silently for another 30 seconds or so, before wiping the tears off my eyes when I think that I have cried enough.
"You are done?"
"I have a good time management."
I don't need her to say it out loud; I know she must be thinking that I might have two personalities. I am a pretty level person—I rarely have mood swings—but I won't deny what she thinks about me.
No one sees us better than others. Of course, that means we are the only one who understand ourselves, so I don't really care about what she thinks about me.
"Kuhum! Since you have finished your job, I will let you rest for today." Valeria takes her blind mask off, and stores it somewhere I don't know. Her aura instantly changed, and she feels more familiar to me. "Let's return to your hut."
She extends her hand to pat my head, but I slap her hand away even before it reaches my head for an impulsive reason.
"I don't need your pity. Just... Just leave me alone for the time being." Even while saying this, I am screaming inside.
Valeria looks at me silently, then nods her head. "Very well. If that's what you wanted, I can't do anything but to respect it."
I can't still feel Mana yet, but the moment Valeria raises her hand, I know she is about to disappear.
"Wait!" So, I hold her hand to stop her before it is too late. Valeria quirks her eyebrow at me, and looks at me with a hidden amusement in her eyes. "Kuhum! I don't remember the way back to the hut. Please, guide me there..."
Valeria doesn't need to see the blush on my face to know that I am embarrassed; my tone says it all. She chuckles faintly, pats my head briefly much to my annoyance, then leads me to my hut.
Upon arriving at my hut, she immediately disappears without saying anything just like what I wanted ... At least, that's what it looks like.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone