Chapter 294 - 289 — Stare
Bam!
A blast of air slammed into Lumi and Fiona, ruffling their hair as dust billowed around them. As it slowly settled, Zephyrion stared at the aftermath.
’Hm, impressive.’
Countless runes had lit up just before his fist struck, and he had felt them mitigating the force behind his punch. Now, despite the incredible power packed into that blow, only a deep dent had formed in the shield.
As the runes flared brighter, Zephyrion narrowed his eyes.
’The dent...’
It was slowly fixing itself, the warped metal gradually returning to its original shape as though it were healing. Seeing his reaction, Fiona quickly explained.
"I added an extra feature. It lets the shield repair itself using the surrounding metal. Well... if you give it enough time."
Zephyrion couldn’t help but stare at Fiona. At merely Mark Five, it was an impressive feat. There was no doubting her talent for crafting.
Turning back to the shield, he threw several more heavy punches.
It took about five continuous blows before the shield finally gave way. Zephyrion stared at the hole now punched through it, slowly nodding in approval. A moment later, he turned to the grinning Fiona and smiled.
"It’s really good. You did a good job, Fiona."
"Right!"
Fiona practically jumped to her feet. Then, she stared at Zephyrion with a strange glint in her eyes.
"And it’s all thanks to you! Without you pushing me, I wouldn’t have pushed myself this far!"
Before he could respond, Fiona suddenly rushed forward and threw her arms around him.
Zephyrion frowned, instinctively about to pull away, but stopped himself. Doing so, especially so abruptly, would not only make the situation unnecessarily awkward, it would probably devastate Fiona after she had put in so much work.
So, reluctantly, he decided to accept the hug.
’It-it actually worked! He didn’t move away!’
Fiona’s eyes widened. Somehow, despite being the one who had plotted the entire thing, she hadn’t actually expected it to work.
But soon, the shock gave way to utter intoxication.
Zephyrion’s hard, toned body pressed against her, and coupled with that addicting scent of his, Fiona practically melted into the embrace. Without even realizing what she was doing, she drew in a deep breath, shamelessly savoring his scent.
Then, a moment later, her eyes widened in horror.
’No! No, no, no! Why did you do that!? Did he notice?’
Smelling him so obviously during their first hug was not at all what Fiona had intended.
’I hope not. Please tell me he didn’t notice. I’ll never live this down.’
A moment later, a thought suddenly occurred to her.
’Wait... I can just check.’
Carefully, she peeked up at him and almost sighed in relief when she saw that Zephyrion’s expression remained completely unchanged.
’Good! He didn’t notice. Alright, Fiona. Keep it together. You got this. Act normal!’
But contrary to her thoughts, something that obvious could hardly escape Zephyrion’s notice. It was just that his attention had somehow been drawn to something else entirely.
Lumi was staring at the two of them, a small frown slowly forming on her face.
For some reason, the moment Zephyrion noticed that frown, he felt the sudden urge to immediately end the hug. Unfortunately, the urge came on rather strongly, and before he could properly think about it, he had already pulled himself forcefully out of Fiona’s embrace, causing her to stumble forward and nearly fall.
Fiona blinked, stunned by the abrupt action. Then, as she turned toward Zephyrion, she froze.
It had only been for a brief moment, but she had caught it.
Zephyrion had glanced at Lumi with a hint of worry.
"You did a good job, Fiona, you really did. These shields will be invaluable to the others." Zephyrion said, forcing a small smile. "Get some rest, alright? Tomorrow will be a long day."
Then, without waiting for a response, he turned and left, with Lumi quickly following after him. Even as she did, however, Lumi kept glancing back at Fiona, her brows still slightly furrowed.
As the two disappeared behind the doors, the light in Fiona’s eyes slowly dimmed.
...
Leaving the forge, Zephyrion headed toward the clinic section next.
The frown had refused to leave Lumi’s face since they left. And now, with Fiona no longer around to receive it, she had apparently decided to direct her stare at him instead.
Zephyrion wasn’t exactly sure what the issue was.
At the very least, he had left the hug, right? So everything should be fine.
’...Right. Why did I even do that?’
He had seen Lumi’s frown and immediately acted on impulse.
That realization bothered him.
Acting on impulse sounded bad on so many levels, yet he had done exactly that. Worse, despite doing what he assumed she wanted, Lumi was still somehow staring at him unblinkingly, as though he had done something wrong.
’She was the one who decided to distance herself anyways. I didn’t do anything wrong.’
Zephyrion sighed, feeling rather mentally burdened.
This entire issue was taking far more mental power than he would have liked.
As he entered one of the clinic rooms, Zephyrion cleared his thoughts and turned his attention to the figure lying on the bed, staring blankly into the distance.
His ward, Tobias, was in a much better state than earlier. The healing elixirs they had gotten from their resource drop had done a remarkable job of healing his injuries. His hair, however, was still completely gone, leaving him with a smooth bald head like a Kharadun.
"M-my lord!"
Tobias jolted upright the moment he noticed him, quickly bowing his head in respect.
Zephyrion silently noted the tear streaks running down his cheeks but said nothing.
"I-I didn’t know you were—"
"Are you healed?"
"...Yes, my lord. Bu—"
"Good." Zephyrion nodded, his expression unchanged. "I need you to find two hundred cadets who can withstand the most force among the others and bring them to me tonight. We’re fighting tomorrow."
With that, he turned and began walking away.
Tobias gritted his teeth, a complicated look crossing his face.
"My lord... I-I... I can’t."
Zephyrion paused. Slowly, he turned and fixed Tobias with a look.
"Why?"
"I... I..." Tobias stammered, his hands gradually clenching into fists. "I-I failed you again, my lord. Again. I can’t just... I can’t—"
"So?"
Tobias lifted his head, only to find Zephyrion staring at him with a frown.
"You failed. Does that mean you’ll give up?"
Tobias gave a wry smile, his gaze dropping slightly. "If my limits are already this obvious... maybe I should."
A long silence followed, during which Zephyrion simply stared at him without saying anything. Eventually, he sighed.
"I’m getting tired of having this conversation with you, Tobias. Life isn’t a fairy tale. If there’s something you truly want, you’re going to fail. Probably more times than you’d like. What matters is that you keep going until you get it."
Zephyrion noticed the slight clench of Tobias’ jaw and immediately realized the ward was holding something back.
"What is it?"
"...It’s nothing."
"Speak. I won’t ask again."
Gritting his teeth, Tobias finally lifted his head and stared at him.
"It’s just... you say all that like you understand. But what does my lord know about failing? Everything you do always seems so effortless. You’re good at everything, everyone looks up to you, and I don’t think I’ve ever even seen you fail. You... you don’t know what it’s like to be me."
Zephyrion’s eyes slowly grew fierce, and before he could stop himself, the words slipped out.
"If only you knew."
He had never failed?
It was clear Tobias was speaking from his own perspective. To Zephyrion, he had failed so badly that he was still trying to get back on his feet. To say he had never failed was almost like making a mockery of all his struggles until now. Just because everything seemed effortless from the outside didn’t mean everything had been roses for him.
Hearing the coldness and seriousness in his tone, curiosity immediately burned in Tobias’ eyes.
"My lord... what do you mean?"
But Zephyrion had no intention of sharing.
"In any case, if you want to give up, that’s your choice." He turned and began walking away. "But remember, you’re not doing this for me. You’re doing it for your sister lying on that bed. Unless you’re fine with letting her down, stop sulking like a child and follow my order."
Lumi, who was now staring at Tobias as well, clenched both hands into fists and gave him a firm, encouraging look, as though to say, Fight!
Tobias found himself staring at those tiny fists. Slowly, tears began streaming down his cheeks.
Zephyrion had already reached the door and was about to step out when a quiet but firm voice came from behind him.
"...Yes, my lord."
A small smile formed on his face as he left.