Capítulo 30: Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
TIMES CHANGE, PEOPLE CHANGE
"Are we permitted to get rid of the lockdown, sir?"
"No, not fully. However, loosen up just the slightest bit."
These words were being exchanged by guards and higher-ups on a daily basis. The world was still in a moment of terror, and the ones that were actually the cause of the terror were nowhere to be found.
Concerning Dionysus, he had just finished his cup of tea and was beginning to walk away from the cafe. He had left the money he had to pay on the table, so he wasn't committing an eat and run.
'Huh, what to concern myself about . . .'
When Dionysus was off-work, he didn't really have much to do. He usually passed the time by walking around, sleeping, eating, and getting bullied, though the last one wasn't as often. He decided to go for the first option and to just walk around for a bit.
HOOH
PUFF
'I wonder if mommy would buy me that teddy bear . . .'
'I hope Suzy doesn't ask me about buying her a doll, I don't have the money.'
'Bill, are you cheating on me?'
'I hope Margaret doesn't find out I'm cheating . . .'
Dionysus hadn't been this perceptive before, not even close. Before, he could usually tell how a person felt by looking at their facial expression and body language, but now, it was as if he had developed the ultimate insight. He could fully see a person for who they were on the inside.
'This isn't a skill that anybody can just naturally anybody. This must be my awakened ability.'
Ever since he got mugged by the teenage delinquents and was about to get kicked, he had been able to see everything. His mind was slightly bugging him with pain, but he didn't mind it too much.
"Crasker, we should head to a restaurant, I'm feeling hungry!"
"Betty, we just ate an hour ago. There's no need to do such a thing."
"My, my, does the captain not have money?"
A couple walked past Dionysus. He thought that they were just the usual people on the street, but then he heard the woman's words. As they continued to walk past Dionysus, Dionysus himself stopped moving.
'Captain . . .?'
Dionysus looked over his shoulder and stared intently at Crasker's face. The man was smiling while talking to the woman, the one supposedly named Betty. If anyone were to look at Crasker in this form, nobody would think that he was a powerful person.
However, Dionysus could not have the truth hidden from himself, even if he wanted to.
'He's strong.'
Dionysus' face slightly tightened. His chest also tightened the slight bit as he continued to stare at Crasker, who was still walking away with Betty.
'Cerberus told me the hit that was ordered on me was from a captain at the military, and that he was no joke.'
Dionysus wasn't a fool. He knew that many people could fit the bill for the person that Cerberus described, but Dionysus was still suspicious.
"Hmph."
Dionysus swirled around and kept his head low. He was intending to follow them until he gained the knowledge he required. In his mind, he had nothing else to do, and this might actually turn out to be productive for him.
"Fine, we'll head to a restaurant, ok?"
"I knew you'd come around Crasker!"
Betty hugged Crasker's hand and continued to walk besides him.
'I could use some food too . . .'
Meanwhile, Dionysus could hear his stomach rumble.
--- SEQUENCE 2 ---
Dionysus had been following the couple for three hours now. In that time, he had also come to understand just how his new ability worked. He had found his results by constantly using the couple as test subjects.
'If I actively focus on a specific person, I'll know their current thoughts. However, by being within a certain radius of a person, I will naturally gain the knowledge of them and their life.'
This was the conclusion that he had arrived upon when studying his ability. While he certainly did know quite a bit about the crowd, he knew the most about the couple because he had been passively gaining knowledge about them for the past three hours.
However, Dionysus also saw this as a somewhat fatal weakness to this ability. The fact that it took three hours to understand half of a person's life meant that it would take six hours to fully understand it. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it would be like to understand the life of elders.
"Hey Betty, I think we should stop here for today. It's getting late, and I wouldn't want to keep your family worried."
'Ah, the date's ending.'
The couple was standing out in the middle of the street and talking to each other while Dionysus was right around the corner in an alleyway, listening to everything they had to say.
"Oh, ok! It was really fun today Crasker, I hope we can go out again."
She gave him a light kiss on the cheek and said her goodbyes before she walked away. Cracker stared at her back until she completely disappeared from his view before he turned around and walked in the complete opposite direction that she went.
'Damn, I couldn't make a move today.'
Crasker was disappointed with himself. He had fully intended to ask Betty to move in with him tonight, yet he did none of that. Instead, he waved goodbye to her just like any other day and let her walk away.
'. . . I'll do it next time.'
Dionysus was now following him out in the open road. Because he was actively focusing on Crasker, he could see his direct thoughts at the forefront.
'Romance seems to be a big part of his mental conflicts . . .'
He continued to follow Crasker until they reached a more residential part of the city. At this point, the crowd was starting to get really thin, and Dionysus could tell that following him for any longer would begin to make him suspicious.
'Eh, I'll just continue the next time I see him.'
Dionysus quickly disappeared from the street. He had used his strength to get to the top of a roof, where he intended to relax for the rest of the night. He laid down and stared at the sky, which wasn't nearly as cloudy anymore.
HOOH
PUFF
He had already pulled out the pipe, as it was a habit to pull it out whenever he had free time at this point.
'Even if he is the captain that ordered the hit on me, what do I intend to do?'
". . ."
He closed his eyes and continued to think about what he would do if Crasker was the captain. However, at some point, the pipe was lying on the roof besides him, and he was about to fall asleep.
'I guess I can think about it later . . .'
--- SEQUENCE 3 ---
Everything was blurry, and Dionysus could hear a couple of sounds. He didn't quite know where he was, but it was most definitely not the roof.
Though, once his vision returned to it's right state, he quickly wanted to wake up from his sleep.
'C-Crap, why am I here?'
He was back in the alternate dimension he had been locked in for three decades. He was once again chained up, and the pain that he had endured for a long, long time was back. He had gotten used to it already, so it didn't hurt him very much, but he could still feel a little sting.
"Dionysus . . .? Why are you here?"
'. . .'
Dionysus slowly lifted his head up, scared of what he was going to see.
'The Chained King should be dead, there's no way he's here, right?'
Dionysus didn't believe it, and his faith turned out to be true. The one in front of him wasn't the Chained King, but it was still a familiar face.
". . . Lich? You're still here?"
It was the third member of the dungeon that he never got to conquer, in the zombified flesh. The lich stared at Dionysus with surprise embedded in its face, and Dionysus quickly realized the most likely scenario.
"Wait, don't tell me that even after the Chained King died, you're still . . .?"
". . ."
His worst option came to fruition. It seemed as if the lich really had still been contained here, even after the Chained King's leaving.
"I'm too dangerous for them to let out. I'm assuming that since you're back here in your sleep, you're not as dangerous, but still a threat to them."
Dionysus wanted to assume who 'them' was, but he looked the lich dead in the eyes and asked him.
"By them, do you mean . . . heaven?"
"Yeah, I do."
'. . .'
They stopped staring at one another and began to just look around the chamber. It was a bit awkward for them, to say the least. Previously, the only way they were connected was through the Chained King, but now that he was gone, it felt awkward.
"Dionysus, you've changed, haven't you? I can feel it, you've gotten stronger."
The lich struck up a conversation. However, this conversation wasn't merely to make talk, but to actually deduce something, as it had, indeed, noticed that Dionysus was stronger than before.
"What are you talking about? I've dropped fighting, I'm just a bartender these da-"
"I don't know what you're doing in your life, but there's no need to conceal it. You've gotten stronger. Now, whether or not you did it on purpose is something different. Also, stronger doesn't just mean physically. You felt like you had conviction before, a goal that nothing would stop you from getting to. Now . . ."
Dionysus looked at him straight in the face, as if he had nothing more to say to the words coming from the lich.
"You feel like an empty shell."
"Now, don't just jump to assumptions. I'm no wise old geezer, but just because I've changed, I haven't become an empty shell. I'm just . . . thinking, these days."
Truth be told, Dionysus really did have nothing to say in reply to everything that the lich had said, besides the last line. He didn't think of himself as an empty shell, but he understood the human psyche very well. After spending three decades in this alternate dimension, he had plenty of time to think about the world, life, and so on.
"If you say so, I'll believe you. I've been in here for around a century now, but the sad part about being a lich is that I can't develop my mind past what it was when I was alive. For that reason, I'll never change."
The lich understood it wasn't perfect, not in the least bit. Along with that, because of its circumstances of being an undead, it could never develop anymore. It still hadn't forgotten its days as a human, a proud son of an esteemed noble.
'I was a real fool back then . . .'
"Dionysus, you better watch yourself."
"Hmm?"
Dionysus just wanted to lay down in peace by now, as he was already fed up with all the talking. However, it seemed the lich wouldn't permit it.
"I'm forever bound to this dimension, so nothing is going to happen to me. However, you're living a very, very cursed life. Even if you want to return to being just a normal civilian, your connections will lead to your demise. If, by chance, things happen and your connections and history is revealed . . ."
"To say the least, you'd be in quite the pickle. Many people would be after you."
"Don't worry about it, I'm just a normal bartender these days. Nobody suspects me of anything, nor am I involved in something seri- . . ."
Near the end of the sentence, Dionysus collected his mind and remembered Daphne and her little group. He frowned, and a look of annoyance entered his face.
"From the look on your face, you're already getting wrapped up in big stuff. Whatever the case, just watch out. You and I have no reason to watch out for each other anymore, but even then . . ."
"It'd be quite sad to lose the only person I can interact with."
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
Glypsumduke
Glypsumduke Yo NGL sakura is actually pretty useful.
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