Chương 35: Growing Stigma
Initially, the second Soul Shard he had obtained was supposed to be used in situations that determined whether he would be able to survive or die miserably. However, upon realizing that Phillip, his father and every other Blessed with the same Stigma as their were in a cahoot and somehow the cause of the Undead Cave mystery, Zayn changed his point of view of the situation almost immediately.
'There might not be a proper piece of evidence that connects the Undead Cave to the Cerk family and their followers but I am certain that they are up to no good!'
Thus, he ended up nourishing the Sparrow Spirit in an attempt to make use of it later. Zayn felt that it was necessary for his survival!
A few hours passed until Zayn finished his preparations. The Sparrow Spirit had merged with the Grimoire of the Ancient where it would rest and digest the soul particles that had been transferred to the little Spirit.
Meanwhile, Zayn made his way back to the Adventurer Inn, where he sat down on the only vacant seat at the counter.
The entire Adventurer Inn was filled to the brim and many were already drunk even though it was only early in the evening. The sun had yet to disappear behind the horizon, but everyone's stomach was full and their mood was jolly good.
'This is weird…' Zayn could only think, not understanding why everyone was already drunk at this hour, just to receive the answer to his doubts merely moments later.
"You came back already? I won't give you any beer even if that brat over there treats everyone today!" Innkeeper teased lightly, while pointing at the large table that was located in the corner next to the counter.
The table was littered with empty plates and dozens of mugs that were filled not too long ago.
'Is he actually playing around like that?'
When Zayn looked over to the table, he only saw Phillip Cerk and his bodyguards. His father and the other Blessed that belonged to the group the Sparrow Spirits had seen leaving the Undead Cave together weren't around, but that was probably for the better.
The Blessed that were present were rather 'weak' if one could put it like that. Only one of them seemed to be in possession of a Soulring. It was the bulky man who had picked Zayn up, the man whose wrist had been broken by the Normie King back at the Adventurer Hall.
The man's wrist had been healed, just like Phillip Cerk's hand had been reattached without any permanent issues.
As Zayn watched the group of six dead-drunk Blessed, he felt extremely disgusted.
'They cannot even control the ominous hue that oozes out of their arms,' He thought, nearly cursing out loud.
Zayn felt like cursing Phillip's group for the rest of the night but he couldn't keep staring at them because his seat was not too far from their position. They would notice him glaring daggers at him and soon would surround him in the blink of an eye.
In fact, Zayn's seat was just around the corner and the table at the corner was less than five meters away from him.
If Phillip and his people weren't that drunk, they might have actually noticed him. But Zayn was not really worried about getting found out.
Did it make sense for him to calmly drink his cold beverage while the people who were looking for him were only a few steps away from him? Definitely not!
"They look happy. Looks like they made some big gains," Zayn said to the Innkeeper who nodded his head while tapping a few mugs of beer.
"If you don't know the young man in the center of that group, his name is Phillip Cerk. His Stigma has grown in size, so it's only obvious that he is happy. I wonder what he did for his God to reinforce Phillip's Blessing."
The Innkeeper looked rather calm on the outside but Zayn could see a glint of frustration mixed with jealousy in his eyes. His eyes kept flicking to Phillip's group every now and then, and it was quite obvious that he was vigilant of them.
'He senses the animosity as well…well, it's not like these drunk bastards are hiding it right now…' Zayn thought, shaking his head lightly.
Under normal circumstances, it was not possible for a Stigma to enlarge. However, there were certain unique missions and other means that granted the reinforcement of a Blessed's Blessing.
However, that knowledge caused Zayn to feel even more disgusted with Phillip and his people because it reaffirmed his suspicion once again.
"This…" He blurted out just to stop himself by shutting his mouth with his hand. Zayn nearly cursed out loud, throwing a fit in the middle of the Adventurer Hall. Fortunately, he had stopped himself before doing any real damage so he was safe…for now.
A moment of rage had made him nearly forget that he was weak and just a Normie in everyone's eyes, which meant that his accusations would be groundless for everyone else.
"Is everything alright with you? Here take this…" The Innkeeper said all of a sudden, replacing his empty beverage mug with a new one before giving him a wink, "It's on the house."
The Innkeeper could tell that Zayn needed some time to collect himself and that he was a little bit confused, maybe even in an emotional crisis.
He also understood that it would do no good by bombarding the young Zayn with a bunch of questions.
Furthermore, it was not as if the Innkeeper had the time to pay a lot of attention to Zayn. His Inn was filled to the brim and everyone wanted to get drunk and eat their fill.
That way, Zayn was given more than enough freedom to eavesdrop on the conversation between Phillip and his subordinates. They were all drunk and still getting drunker as the night turned darker.
It was quite obvious that they weren't afraid of anyone in the Inn because they spoke loudly enough for the server and Zayn to hear them quite clearly.
This was good for Zayn but it created a dark atmosphere in the corner of the room as the ominosity exuding from the six Blessed intensified.
And the cause of the change in the atmosphere was a seemingly simple sentence.
"Looking at your smug expression, you seem to have forgotten that a Normie humiliated you in the middle of the Adventurer Hall!"
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