Chapter 164: Got You
The house had fallen into complete silence.
Outside, the insects had claimed the night, their steady chorus drifting through the slightly opened window. Somewhere farther away, a dog barked once before everything settled again.
Denzel lay on his back, staring at the wooden ceiling.
Sleep refused to come.
His body should’ve surrendered the moment his head touched the pillow. Hours of training with the Knight had left every muscle aching, yet his eyes remained stubbornly open.
A quiet sigh escaped him.
His thoughts refused to stay in one place.
The village chief.
Maria’s warning.
Sophia’s lie at dinner.
Tomorrow’s academy registration.
Everything overlapped until it became one tangled mess.
He closed his eyes.
’Thinking keeps you alive.’
The Knight’s voice surfaced almost immediately.
"...Yeah."
He muttered under his breath before opening his eyes again.
"You’re making it hard to sleep."
A faint smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
For all her brutal training methods...
She’d somehow found a way to keep talking even after leaving him alone.
He rolled onto his side.
The room was dim, illuminated only by pale moonlight spilling through the window.
His gaze drifted toward the wall separating his room from Sophia’s.
Another sigh.
’Guess I did tell her I’d come by tonight.’
It had been a while.
Long enough that he’d actually been looking forward to a quiet night with her after surviving another day of the Knight’s "gentle" training.
"...Can’t believe I’m doing this."
He pushed himself upright.
The floor creaked softly beneath his feet.
He froze.
Silence.
Nothing.
No one had stirred.
Satisfied, he quietly opened his door and stepped into the hallway.
The house slept peacefully.
Maria’s room was shut.
The Knight’s room was just as silent.
Only the faint glow of moonlight stretched across the wooden floor.
Denzel walked past Maria’s door without a second glance before stopping in front of Sophia’s.
He raised his hand.
Then paused.
"..."
Instead of knocking, he reached for the handle.
It wasn’t locked.
The door eased open with barely a sound.
"Sophia?"
No answer.
His eyes swept across the room.
The bed...
Empty.
The blanket had been pushed aside.
His gaze shifted toward the window.
It stood half open.
The curtain swayed gently as the cool night breeze drifted inside.
Denzel stared at it for a long second before letting out an irritated breath.
"...Seriously?"
He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Now?"
Of all the nights...
She picked tonight.
His eyes lingered on the open window.
"...God damn it."
He clicked his tongue.
For a brief moment, he simply stood there, weighing his options.
’So what...’
’Am I supposed to go back to Maria now?’
Denzel stood there for another moment before shaking his head.
"...Forget it."
It wasn’t as though tonight absolutely had to be Sophia.
Maria was still here.
She’d probably still be awake.
Or at least...
He could wake her.
The thought barely formed before he sighed again.
"...This is incredibly annoying."
It had already been long enough since he’d spent the night with Sophia.
Now that he’d actually set aside the time...
She vanished.
Almost like she’d planned it.
He ran a hand through his hair, letting out another quiet breath.
’Whatever.’
’No point standing here all night.’
He gently pulled Sophia’s door shut behind him and turned back toward the hallway.
The house remained just as quiet as before.
Moonlight stretched across the wooden floorboards, interrupted only by the shadows cast through the windows.
His feet carried him a few steps toward Maria’s room.
Then—
Creak.
A faint sound drifted in from outside.
Denzel stopped.
"...?"
It hadn’t come from inside the house.
His gaze shifted toward the nearest window.
Another soft rustle followed.
This time...
He walked over.
Carefully.
Keeping his footsteps light.
The moment he reached the window, he leaned just enough to look outside.
A figure slipped across the yard.
Dressed in dark clothing.
Moving with practiced familiarity.
His eyes narrowed.
Sophia.
She didn’t head toward the village road.
Nor toward the training grounds.
Instead...
She moved along the edge of the property, deliberately avoiding the open paths.
Like someone making sure they wouldn’t be seen.
Denzel watched her disappear between two neighboring houses.
For a heartbeat...
He simply stared.
Then a small smile appeared on his face.
"...There you are."
Without another thought, he quietly opened the front door.
The hinges barely made a sound.
He stepped outside, closing it just as gently behind him.
The cool night air brushed against his face.
Sophia already had a decent lead.
Not enough to lose her.
But enough that charging after her would be stupid.
’Don’t rush.’
He steadied his breathing almost instinctively.
One quiet step after another.
Keeping to the shadows.
Maintaining just enough distance that even if she glanced back...
She’d see nothing.
As he followed her through the sleeping village, his mind refused to stay quiet.
’Should I confront her?’
The question surfaced almost immediately.
If he called out now...
She’d stop.
She’d turn around.
And then what?
Would she tell him the truth?
...Or simply another convincing lie?
His expression hardened.
He still remembered dinner.
The smile.
The easy congratulations from Maria.
The casual way Sophia had spoken about her "new job."
If he hadn’t already known something was off...
He would’ve believed every word.
’No...’
’Talking now won’t get me anywhere.’
If there really was something she was hiding...
Then tonight might finally give him the answer.
So he kept following.
Silent.
Patient.
Waiting to see where she would lead him.
Sophia never once looked back.
She moved through the village with the confidence of someone who had walked this route more times than she could count.
Every turn came without hesitation.
Every step carried quiet purpose.
Denzel remained several paces behind, matching her pace without realizing it.
The village grew quieter the farther they walked.
The scattered homes gradually gave way to narrower paths lit only by pale moonlight.
Even the sounds of insects seemed to fade, leaving only the soft rhythm of their footsteps against the packed earth.
Denzel found himself unconsciously regulating his breathing, just as the Knight had drilled into him throughout the day.
Slow.
Even.
Controlled.
The habit had already begun taking root.
Soon...
The familiar alley came into view.
Denzel’s eyes narrowed.
’Again...’
It was the exact same place.
The same narrow passage tucked between two aging stone buildings.
The same cracked stone walls.
The same weathered barrels pushed into forgotten corners.
The same corner where she’d vanished before.
A faint chill crawled up his spine.
Either this was one unbelievable coincidence...
Or she’d been coming here long before he ever arrived in this village.
Sophia slowed her pace ever so slightly.
Then, without hesitation...
She turned into the alley.
Denzel waited.
One heartbeat.
Two.
Just enough to avoid walking directly behind her.
Then he rounded the corner.
"..."
Nothing.
The alley was empty.
He stopped in the middle of the narrow passage, his eyes sweeping from one end to the other.
Stone walls.
Discarded wooden crates.
A broken barrel leaning against the far side.
Moonlight spilled into the alley, leaving very few places for anyone to hide.
No footsteps.
No open doors.
No windows large enough for someone to climb through.
Most importantly...
No Sophia.
"...You’ve got to be kidding me."
He walked farther in, checking every possible hiding spot.
Behind the crates.
Between the stacked barrels.
His fingers brushed against the rough stone walls as if expecting to discover some hidden mechanism.
Nothing.
He clicked his tongue.
"So either I’m losing my mind..."
"...or you’re a lot more troublesome than I thought."
His gaze lingered on the dead end ahead.
It made no sense.
He hadn’t taken his eyes off her.
Not even for a second.
Yet somehow...
She had disappeared again.
His frustration slowly gave way to something else.
Curiosity.
People didn’t simply vanish.
There had to be a reason.
A trick.
A clue he’d overlooked.
Denzel let out a slow breath.
For a moment, he considered giving up.
Whatever trick she was using...
He clearly wasn’t figuring it out tonight.
He turned to leave.
Then...
His foot stopped mid-step.
’Thinking keeps you alive.’
The Knight’s calm voice echoed through his mind.
His expression shifted.
Then another memory surfaced.
The clearing.
His breathing.
His mana.
The feeling of simply...
Letting it flow.
"..."
Without thinking, he closed his eyes.
He didn’t force his mana to move.
He didn’t search desperately.
He simply allowed himself to settle into the rhythm he’d finally grasped that afternoon.
One breath.
Then another.
The tension slowly drained from his shoulders.
His senses sharpened.
The night air brushed against his skin.
The breeze carried the scent of old stone and damp earth.
His mana flowed naturally through his body.
Steady.
Unbroken.
For the first few seconds...
Nothing happened.
Only silence.
Then...
A faint sensation brushed against his awareness.
Tiny.
Almost impossible to notice.
Like a single ripple spreading across the surface of an otherwise perfectly still lake.
His eyes slowly opened.
"..."
There.
Near the right side of the alley.
Beside one of the weathered stone walls.
Something felt...
Wrong.
Not visible.
Not exactly.
But the mana there wasn’t behaving like everything else around it.
The flow bent unnaturally around a point no larger than a person’s shoulder, as though the air itself were quietly breathing.
If he hadn’t crossed that first threshold today...
He would’ve walked past it without a second thought.
Now...
He could feel it.
Clear enough that he couldn’t mistake it for coincidence.
His lips curled upward.
"...Gotcha."
Without taking his eyes off the distortion, Denzel stepped toward the wall.