Chapter 98: Diary
Arthur’s room was simple. A simple bed, a working place, and a balcony outside where it showed the pouring downfall of the rain outside.
His workplace was positioned beside his bed, and a single book rested atop it, as if wanting to be seen and heard.
It was calling out to Cillian, even though it was pretty much a normal book.
Mouthful Eye, who had been resting and disconnected from Cillian earlier that day, had woken up and sneaked through Cillian’s breast pocket, peeking toward the front.
He pretty much confirmed that it was a normal book and not an Artifact since he himself is an Artifact.
"It’s nothing special, Cillian."
Cillian didn’t mind the confirmation coming from Mouthful Eye, but he could determine whether it was an Artifact simply by putting it into his Inventory and checking if it had any effects.
"Thanks."
Still, Cillian felt reassured.
He then calmly walked inside before sitting down at the workspace and looking at the ordinary book in front of him.
There was no title, and the book was three inches thick, judging from the front, which was facing towards him.
Cillian calmly picked up the book and opened the front page as if he were savoring the feeling of discovering something about Arthur. But it wasn’t anything like that.
Cillian just didn’t want to miss a single detail regarding this book that might contain anything important.
Usually, these types of books were hidden, yet this one was left out in the open. It was unlike Arthur’s character, as he was a smart individual.
The first text was simple.
/Everyone died, except me./
The handwriting was neat and was understandable enough for Cillian to be able to read. It was then that he realized it was Arthur’s diary.
/This is a book that my deceased beloved, my squad mates, and the Happy Guild had contributed to and gifted on my birthday. A single book./
Cillian could see old marks that looked like teardrops near the letters Arthur had written in the book. He read them with cold eyes, unbothered by whether Arthur had been crying while writing this or not.
/Hahaha. I don’t know where to start. I don’t even know why I am writing this to begin with. I hated writing ever since that time happened. But... this is my job. As a writer whose job is to write the report for our group, this much doesn’t bother me.../
Cillian continued flipping through the pages of the book.
/Hahh... I wonder where I should begin. Ah, right, maybe that time will be a good introduction./
...
"Huh?"
Arthur stared at the man wearing a stupid smile on his face while he was busy managing the papers in his hands.
"As I said, I want to recruit you, kiddo. Become our support! Our Guild recently opened, but not that recently! However, our management is a mess. We’ve heard that a man from Xesie territory came recently and has done well in this place that has no future. I mean, you’re a great manager! You also write, right? Can you just join us, pretty please?"
This man, who suddenly introduced himself as Smiling Knight, kowtowed to the ground, which made Arthur embarrassed because people were already watching nearby.
He was being made into a villain through their eyes, even though he had done nothing wrong.
"Hey, stand up, will you?! Are guilds in this age crazy?!"
Arthur forced this old man to stand up after seeing this shameless behavior, as if the knight didn’t respect himself. Then, Arthur grabbed the Smiling Knight’s shoulders tightly.
"Can you just leave? I might report you if you keep doing this."
’Ugh, Ruiners are really a different breed on their own. How are this guy’s shoulders so strong?!’
Arthur complained inwardly while wearing an annoyed expression before seeing the Smiling Knight not smiling at all after hearing it.
He thought he had offended him in any way, but...
"Is there a reason why you are not leaving this old newspaper company?"
The Old Time Newspaper.
It was a newspaper company that both of Arthur’s parents had started with all of their savings as their retirement plan. Eventually, the business flopped because his parents weren’t suited for that type of business.
Arthur returned to his hometown after he heard that both of his parents had passed away due to old age, and he had been managing the newspaper company alone. He had done a great job restoring a little of its subpar reputation by trying to get it back to working.
Arthur tilted his head and retorted rather frankly.
"I guess so? But why would I tell you that? That’s besides the point anyway! I genuinely ask you to leave right now."
The Smiling Knight, who thought to himself that he had been bothering Arthur about renovating the company, couldn’t help but look at the building with a calm gaze.
The Old Time Newspaper Building is big enough to host multiple people, and Arthur was alone managing it and continued to keep it going for almost a month.
Arthur is bound to attract people because of his performance alone. That’s why Smiling Knight is here in the first place.
Smiling Knight finally decided.
’I’ll make you mine.’
A devilish smile appeared on Smiling Knight’s face that made Arthur slap his face, feeling creeped out seeing it face to face.
"Get out!"
Arthur shooed the Smiling Knight away, which, thankfully, he accepted and disappeared from his sight.
Arthur thought he had finally gotten the message through to Smiling Knight and felt relieved for the next three days, during which the front desk of the Old Time Newspaper remained quiet.
He thought it would be just any other day when someone barged their way inside the Old Time Newspaper at its closing time.
"We’re closed—woah!"
Arthur’s eyes sparkled when he spotted a gorgeous woman with brown hair that fell over her off-the-shoulder dress. Her smooth, pale skin exuded a cold aura, but even that fell short of overshadowing the points she earned simply by possessing such a killer face that would make every man swoon.
Ignoring the frown that she was wearing, Arthur could definitely say she was one of the most beautiful women he had seen in his entire life.
And this woman walked toward him with a glare that seemed to say one wrong word from him would end the conversation on the spot.
"Hey."
This woman called out with a commanding tone that made Arthur, who’s weak with beautiful women, immediately follow and straighten his body while staring at his front.
’What is she doing here? Wait, that’s not the right question. Who is this person?!’
Beautiful women aside, Arthur hasn’t recognized this woman at all from his memories. Well, there’s no way he wouldn’t recognize such a gorgeous figure.
That only meant they had just met today.
’She had quite a nasty, angry face. How the hell is she still so beautiful, though?’
Arthur couldn’t contain himself any longer.
He felt that he had been love-struck and couldn’t take his eyes away from his woman, who was about to introduce herself to him.
"My name is Ivana. You?"
Arthur coughed slightly, his face slightly embarrassed.
"Arthur Potter."
"I see."
Ivana got closer, her face almost touching Arthur’s lips, and calmly spoke.
"Let’s get married."
Arthur stared at Ivana’s delicate beauty for a brief moment before his mind raised exponentially high.
’Huhhhhhhhhhh?’
Arthur’s mind quickly spiraled into confusion, but his emotions got the best of him as, instead of questioning what the proposal meant, a stupid, comical answer escaped from his mouth.
"I do?"
Within a minute of meeting each other, and a few more seconds of talking, and another few seconds of asking him to get married, one instant answer came from Arthur’s mouth.
’Mother, Father. Your son is getting married...’